The Top Lane area becomes the focus that will “take a hammer” from Riot in the first version of the 2023 season.
Riot Games celebrates the new year with a series of changes, big and small tweaks to champions and equipment in version 13.1 of League of Legends. Version 13.1 is also the version that will kick off the new Ranked season after major changes in the 2023 Pre-Season.
The first version of League of Legends also marked up to 7 champions that will be nerfed this time, among them, Riot has paid special attention to the Top lane area when up to 4 characters will be nerfed. In particular, K’Sante will be the champion with the heaviest nerf after his reign in late 2022.
K’Sante is the name that received the heaviest nerf in the first version of the 2023 season
Four of the seven nerfed champions in patch 13.1 are Top lane champions, including Aatrox, Dr. Mundo, Fiora and K’Sante. In addition, the 5th champion, Moderkaiser, may have been nerfed, but Riot has officially announced the postponement in later versions.
K’Sante is the most heavily nerfed champion in version 13.1, specifically as follows:
Basic stats:
Movement speed reduced from 335 to 330
Passive – Warrior Instinct:
Damage reduced from 10-25 to 5-20
Skill W – Paving:
Damage as a percentage of Minimum Health reduced from 4.25% – 5.25% to 2% – 3% Damage as a percentage of Maximum Health reduced from 8.25% – 9.25% to 7% – 8%
With this change, the early game of K’Sante will no longer be as simple as before. The amount of damage that Nazumah’s Pride can deal when approaching enemies with W – Paving the way has also been drastically reduced.
ShowMaker is helpless against Riot’s latest champion – K’Sante is extremely stubborn despite being in the opponent’s home field
In addition to K’Sante, Aatrox – the top lane champion who “made a splash” in Worlds 2022 also continues to be targeted by Riot in this version 13.1. Perhaps Riot noticed that Darkin Demon Sword is still too strong for the rest of the game, so Aatrox will be nerfed as follows:
Passive – Blade of Extinction:
Damage as a percentage of Health reduced from 5% – 12% to 4% – 10%
Skill E – Dark Magic:
Total Lifesteal while Aatrox is in Doomsday Warrior (R) reduced from 25% – 45% to 20% – 36%
Skill R – Doomsday Warrior:
Movement Speed bonus reduced from 60% – 100% to 50% – 80%
This nerf probably makes a lot of sense for Aatrox as he’s showing an amazing amount of healing when paired with new items like the Serpent Ax or Jak’Sho, Adaptive Sheath. The amount of healing, along with the reduced movement speed will make it easier for enemies to take down Aatrox than before. But the amount of damage from the Q – Darkin’s ability has not been changed, which makes him more likely to favor more damage-rich items like Moon Blade – which was Aatrox’s favorite item before Pre-Sea 2023.
Aatrox with outstanding resilience proves extremely sturdy when combined with Snake Ax and Jak’Sho, Adaptive Sheath
Fiora, a very hot Top laner in the 2023 Pre-Season as a card against too strong Tank champions. Not only popular in ranked matches, Fiora was also the top choice at the last Demacia Cup 2022, next to K’Sante in the Top Lane area. But overall, Fiora is still quite balanced when her opponent is other Gladiator champions. Therefore, Riot only reduced the power of Female Swordsman slightly as follows:
Passive – Dance of the Sword Master:
Weakness damage reduced from 4.5% to 3.5% of Max Health
Skill Q – Rushing:
Bonus Attack Damage ratio reduced from 95% – 115% to 90% – 110%
Whether showing destruction in Ranked matches or even Demacia Cup 2022, Fiora was only slightly nerfed by Riot in patch 13.1.
In general, Riot only slightly nerfed the Swordsman when she showed off her very good Tank kill. However, many players think that Fiora needs to be nerfed more because she will still be a pretty strong champion in Top lane in the upcoming patches, when tank champions are popular.
The last name on this list is Dr. Mundo – the champion with the highest win rate among Top lane champions in patch 12.23 according to lolalyctics.com. Zaun’s Madness has been a strong Tank pick in Top lane ever since the new Mythic item – Heart of the Gods of God was released. Combined with equipment that increases with maximum Health such as the Great Serpent Ax or Solar Shield, Dr. Mundo is truly a monster with great durability and damage over time. In the next version, Riot will focus on reducing the basic stats of Dr. Mundo and his E skill are as follows:
Basic stats:
Base health reduced from 653 to 613 Armor per level reduced from 4.2 to 3.7
Skill E – Smashing Smashing:
Attack Damage reduced from 2.5% – 4.5% of max health to 2% – 4%
Dr.Mundo became popular with the new Mythic item – Heart of the Giants in the 2023 Pre-Season
With this change, Zaun’s Crazy player will need to play more carefully in the early game when he’s not as tough as before. At the same time, the damage from E – Smashing is also reduced, causing Dr. Mundo is also harder to shock damage when combining this ability with Giant’s Heart and Great Serpent Ax.
With a series of changes, the Top lane area will have many changes in this upcoming patch. Version 13.1 will soon land on the upcoming January 10, this is also the version marking a new season to continue the start of League of Legends.
See also: League of Legends: Jayce, Lissandra and new equipment for Mage are buffed in the first version of 2023
