Throughout its decade-long history in League of Legends, the Summoner Spell has undergone numerous changes. Now, it is once more under adjustments. Riot Games is concerned about how top laners can easily dominate their lanes using the Rift-hopping spell and aims to reduce its power and influence.

On July 8, League balance boss Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison acknowledged that this rework has been anticipated for a long time.

“It’s been a long time coming, but we’re investigating changes to Teleport to resolve its ability to wash lanes, while also still avoiding the bot lane party”

There are two main challenges in Phroxzon’s balance plan as the League team works on the Spell in preparation for the 2024 World Championship.

First, any significant changes made in Season 14 could potentially bring back the “bot lane” issue, where Teleport allows tanky top laners to join the bot lane fights too easily—a situation Riot wants to avoid.

Second, the team has yet to find a solution that works well in testing.

Phroxzon didn’t specify the exact changes Riot has been testing, and he likely won’t reveal them soon. However, he did describe the attempts as “inelegant.” We can expect to learn more about some of these planned changes later this week.

Riot has a long history of altering Teleport and its effects. Since the League alpha, the spell has seen over 100 changes. Notable updates included making it uncancellable in Season 9 and an overhaul in Season 12.

Currently, Teleport has a base cooldown of 360 seconds and transforms into a more versatile Unleashed Teleport at the 10-minute mark.

The League balance team hopes that the upcoming changes to Teleport will help create a more interactive and balanced top lane experience for players.

K’Sante, a champion hailing from the desert lands of Shurima, has been a peculiar addition to the League roster since his introduction. Designed to diverge from the traditional tanks, K’Sante was intended to bring a fresh dynamic to the top lane with mobility and greater potential for skillful plays.

K’Sante has become a boring champion to watch in League of Legends

The concept of K’Sante revolves around being more than just a damage-absorbing champion. His kit allows for fast movement and the capability to execute impressive outplays.

However, the frequency of these outplays in professional games speaks volumes about the strengths of K’Sante as a champion, rather than highlighting the individual skills of the players. This has led to K’Sante becoming a predominant choice in the top lane for pro play.

Over the past year, particularly in the LCK, K’Sante has maintained an impressive 60% pick-ban rate. His popularity stems from his ability to fulfill the roles expected of a top laner: self-sufficiency, tanking abilities, and the power to eliminate an enemy from a teamfight with proper positioning.

Despite K’Sante’s effectiveness on the field, his dominance in the pro scene has sparked a degree of controversy. Some League players argue that the overreliance on K’Sante in professional matches detracts from the excitement and unpredictability that fans crave.

This sentiment was echoed by a player on the League of Legends subreddit, who expressed frustration at the predictability and seeming invincibility of K’Sante in pro play. The player criticized K’Sante’s scaling ability, his resilience to damage, and his combination of CC and damage, which collectively make him a less engaging champion to watch.

“The 4 months stalled meta is boring to watch. I have no problem with a Ksante game, problem comes when it’s pick it ban in 99% of the pro play games.”

“Its boring because he can be shited on half Game and then suddenly he outscales everyone else.”

The community’s call for more dynamic and active professional games is not new. This desire for a shift in the competitive meta was also evident in the response to the removal of the Stopwatch item at the onset of the League of Legends 2024 season.

Players have consistently shown a preference for League of Legends’ meta that promotes a variety of strategies and champion picks, ensuring a more vibrant and unpredictable competitive scene.

LeBlanc, a champion who has caused balance issues throughout the latter part of League of Legends Season 13, has been a concern. Despite significant nerfs to Statikk Shiv, she has now emerged as a dominant pick in the meta once again due to a new top lane build.

In South Korea, professional players have been experimenting with this new build, causing concerns among fans that LeBlanc might become a prevalent pick in the tournament. Kim ‘Kiin’ Gi-in from KT Rolster, known for his versatility in the top lane, has also been exploring this LeBlanc build.

Riot is nerfing AD Leblanc

In response to these, game designer David “Phreak” Turley has outlined several changes on the League of Legends subreddit. These changes are intended to address the impact of the new LeBlanc build and include nerfs to Statikk Shiv, Trinity Force, and adjustments to her mana pool.

Additionally, a slight buff to LeBlanc’s ability power ratio is planned to encourage players to opt for the traditional AP build instead of the AD split-pushing.

Phreak mentioned that Statikk Shiv was initially meant to be adjusted until it was on par in power with other AD item options like Stormrazor. Initially considered underpowered by many players, the strength of Statikk Shiv became apparent when utilized by specific champions, such as LeBlanc.

By building Hullbreaker and Trinity Force into her build, LeBlanc evolved into a formidable split-pushing champion who proved difficult to catch while still retaining her ability to provide significant damage through her AP scaling.

Furthermore, she could withstand a considerable amount of damage in the late game by opting for the Resolve rune tree and equipping a few tank items to enhance her durability.

It’s worth noting that League of Legends Patch 13.19 will serve as the patch for the 2023 World Championship. While the initial patch notes did not include any LeBlanc nerfs, it’s important to remember that these changes are not final, and we do not yet have specific numerical details.

LoL players often learn about Riot Games’ balancing changes around two weeks before the patch is released with a patch preview. The developers, however, are adopting a different technique this time and are revealing their balancing plan for the remainder of the year.

Riot revealed LoL balancing for the rest of the year

Riot’s intentions for balancing the rest of 2023 were revealed by Matt “Riot Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, LoL’s lead designer, on July 21. He said in a tweet that there are still four significant adjustments they want to make this year. These adjustments are as follow:

• Continue buffing weak top laners up (rather than nerf the strong down)
• For other roles, nerfing the top down (rather than buff up)
• Continue nerfing JG
• Take a look at early snowballing

The adjustments for the top lane will be well received, but the major adjustments will be to the jungle and early-game snowballing.

The jungle has been a rather weak role since the preseason overhaul, thus Riot had to progressively make the role not suck. Now that we’re starting over again with jungles nerfs, even a skilled jungler might have some difficulty to genuinely influence how the game will end.

Another notable pattern in LoL is early-game snowballing, and frequently the game is lost even before you leave your lane in the middle of the match. It only depends on how Riot executes them whether or not all of these improvements will improve the game.

As of now, many players are wondering why Riot even makes these changes at the first place, especially buffing top lane and nerfing junglers. Further details when the actual changes are implemented in the game might reveal why.

On July 21, Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, the lead designer for League’s team, posted a poll on Twitter asking players what improvements they would most want to see in the top lane. There are four choices in the poll, most of which also fit into other lanes as well.

LoL players will decide on upcoming top lane changes

In the Twitter post, there are 4 options players can choose from, those includes:

• Junglers ganking top
• Junglers ganks bot, but I scale
• Win my lane, then roam
• More tools to affect bot

The option “junglers ganking top” might refers to giving junglers a more advantageous place to gank in the top lane. Riot is also mulling a different strategy in which junglers would engage in more bot ganking, enabling top lane players to scale better.

The other two options include giving top laners the ability to win their lane before roaming and having additional tools to affect bot lane. The last option most likely has something to do with Teleport, which has recently been heavily modified for players.

After the most recent changes, the developers feel top is getting near to their state, but it still requires a tiny buff. It’s difficult to disagree with it from our perspective. Early on, the top lane is frequently a game unto itself, with junglers seldom engaging because it doesn’t provide much value.

Additionally, it is better for them to concentrate on other parts of the map because minor results in other lanes like the bottom or mid lane let them to gain more control over important objectives. Early snowballing can frequently result in resounding triumphs.

As of now, the option “win my lane, then roam” has received over 44% of the total votes, making it the choice that is most likely to be made. The least voted one, “Junglers ganking top,” had only 11%of the vote, while the other two have around 21 and 22%.

Multiple changes have been seen for 11 champions on the game’s PBE server for patch 13.13. All of these changes affect champion damage, including a move from basic damage to scaling ratio damage.

League of Legends patch 13.13 top lane champions reduced damage

Some players have already made assumptions about how this will affect these various champions, with some claiming that these are straight nerfs because most of these champions cannot build enough damage items to handle these ratio increases, making it an overall nerf when implemented in the game.

Sett’s second punch basic damage is reduced as he progresses through each level, but his AD ratio increases by 15%. His ultimate ability receives a basic damage decrease at all levels, but its bonus AD ratio increases by 60%.

Malphite’s Q ability will have its base damage reduced at all levels, but its AP ratio will be boosted by 15%. The ability’s steal movement speed has also been raised by 5% at all levels, making it more useful while chasing down enemies or preparing for an engage immediately before a teamfight.

Sion, on the other hand, is getting a complete nerf to his Decimating Smash ability, with minor damage decreases for both its minimum and maximum strikes. At higher levels, his shield is likewise reduced, making him less tanky.

These are just some examples of the damage changes for top lane champions. The next League update, Patch 13.13, is set to go live on ,June 28, which means the devs have plenty of time to delay or reverse any forthcoming changes as they see right.

Top laners have been feeling a little forgotten as bot lane has seen major changes to the role’s items and relative power in any given match. As a result, rather than attempting to build pricey top-lane bruiser items, many of the top-tier players have resorted to purchasing support items. Redemption Urgot and Evenshroud Aatrox are two builds that have recently gained popularity.

Top lane players prefer support items rather than bruiser items

Top laners have been feeling a little ignored with the most crucial goal in the early game and the scaling champion on the team all centred in the bot lane.

Furthermore, top lane items are notoriously pricey. Almost every top lane Mythic items exceeds 3000 gold. They’re powerful items, to be sure, but getting enough of them developed before the opponent ADC hard scales is no easy task. As a result, top laners have brought about the change by fundamentally rethinking how they build.

An Urgot one-trick demonstrating the build behind creating Redemption on his primary champion is one of the most renowned instances. Redemption allows top laners to not only impact different sections of the map while pressing their lanes, but it also helps them to accept trades efficiently by healing themselves and punishing opponents.

Aatrox is yet another top lane champion that has been accumulating support items, and veteran pro player Gabril ‘Bwipo’ Rau discussed why he chose Evenshroud over other strong Aatrox Mythic items.

The 10% additional damage passive not only procs on every hit of Aatrox’s Q if you hit it, but it also offers some decent base stats and a powerful passive for the price of 2300 gold. Furthermore, Evenshroud provides the player extra resistances for each Legendary item finished, increasing the worth of the purchase as the game progresses.

It will be interesting to see what other off-meta strategies top laners come up with, but they are definitely striving to innovate to stay relevant in the meta game.

New Teemo cheese from Korean players

Spha358, a League of Legends player, recently shared a stunning outplay on the official League subreddit by Teemo and Neeko at the start of their game. The two players build a trap in the top lane, resulting in an early Mordekaiser kill.

Nothing looked out of the usual at first. Mordekaiser began his laning versus Teemo in a typical way. The champion wasn’t hitting the minions, and Mordekaiser’s mid-lane teammate, Malzahar, reported that his opponent, Neeko, was gone.

The Teemo is revealed to be a disguised Neeko, with the real one hidden behind Mordekaiser’s back with his passive. After a few seconds, the “fake” one began assaulting Mordekaiser, while the real one revealed himself and focused on the other champion.

Mordekaiser had practically little hope of escaping death with the unexpected change of events and his weak position. The champ attempted to rescue himself without using a Flash, but Teemo’s Ignite proved his undoing, earning the latter first blood in a spectacular way.

Users in the comments of the video also expressed their thoughts on this unique cheese from Korea, claiming that this tactic can genuinely damage the players psychologically.

While this tactic is certainly annoying for the other team and should put the top laner at a significant disadvantage early on, especially against a range opponent, Neeko also likely lost a large number of minions in the mid-lane. As a result, it’s difficult to determine whether it’s worthwhile unless you want to perform a genuinely amazing trick on your enemies.

In League of Legends PBE patch 12.23, the River King has gotten a number of substantial buffs. These buffs appear to be aimed towards improving his performance as a tank in the game.

It’s worth noting that Tahm Kench previously received many improvements in the PBE during the patch 12.23 cycle around a week ago. Those, though, were more focused on increasing his damage and AP scaling, which was beneficial but did not assist with his survivability.

New Tahm Kench buffs in League Patch 12.23

• Q heal health ratio increased from 3% – 5% missing HP to 5% – 7%
• E damage store as grey health increased from 13% – 45% to 15% – 47%
• E damage store as grey health near multiple enemies increased from 40% – 50% to 42% – 50%

These improvements will now make him viable as both a support and a toplaner, increasing his flexibility as a champion significantly.

Thus, given on the buffs, it is obvious that Riot Games is targeting his tank capabilities. Tahm Kench’s enhanced health ratio will now help him stay healthy in the lane, both as a support and as a toplaner.

His grey health buffs can allow him to absorb more incoming damage than ever before. Finally, his improved grey health near enemies means he can now be the team’s more reliable front-liner. 

These are major modifications that will supplement the ones Tahm Kench received before in terms of AP damage. The most recent adjustments appear to be fairly nice and balanced, while their exact impact cannot be predicted until the changes are implemented in the game.

One thing is certain: these changes will make him a much better support option than a toplaner. It’s because, aside from Tahm Kench, numerous other tanks are getting buffs and will perform far better than him.

The updates will be implemented on League of Legends live servers with Patch 12.23, which is set to be released on December 7, according to League’s patch schedule.

Riot Games has drastically buffed Maokai in an effort to improve tank performance in League of Legends. These buffs are intended to strengthen his potential as a jungler and his performance in the meta.

Complete information about the jungle Maokai in League of Legends PBE

• P heal health ratio increased from 4% – 10% to 4% – 12%
• Q base damage increased from 65 – 245 to 70 – 270
• Q bonus monster damage increased from 80 – 160 to 120 – 200

There are two important elements that players should be aware of in these changes. The first is the heal ratio provided by his passive. This modification will increase Maokai’s endurance and presence in any matchup.

The nicest part about the modification is that the buff isn’t game-changing in any forms.

In reality, in patch 12.20, this heal ratio was lowered to its current range of 4%-10%. That adjustment had a negative impact on his performance, and fans urged the creators to rethink. Riot Games appears to consider that the first nerf was unnecessary with the latest buff.

The buff will also greatly assist Maokai in the top lane. When he was previously nerfed, the champion quickly dropped out of the meta.

Maokai’s most noticeable adjustment in the upcoming patch is perhaps the increased monster damage. This buff significantly increases Maokai’s jungle clearing pace, putting him among one of the best clearing champions in the game.

Because to the Scuttle Crab modifications, he should now be able to clear the jungle camps in under 3 minutes, which is critical in League of Legends preseason 2023 with its jungle meta. Aside from that, his Q’s improved base damage will boost his wave clear and his viability in the top lane.

Overall, the buffs are geared toward increasing his survivability and his clearing speed in the jungle. Though, it will also guarantee that he has a greater lane presence. The buffs are now on the PBE and will be released alongside patch 12.23, which is set on December 7.