Major fighter item changes hit League of Legends patch 13.2 PBE cycle, Goredrinker tweaks, BotRK nerf, and more

On January 13, 2023, the League of Legends developers announced a series of changes that they will be introducing to fighter items along with the upcoming patch. These changes include tweaks to items like Goredrinker and Blade of the Ruined King (BotRK), among others.

The changes are currently available in the PBE (Public Beta Environment) version of the game for patch 13.2 and should be available on the live servers around January 27, 2023. The changes are being brought forth to balance fighter champions who have been dominating the tier list for quite some time now.

Unfortunately, it looks like these changes will affect champions like Aatrox and Irelia the most. Nevertheless, the fighter items nerfs are still subject to change, and the developers may tone down the nefs before the official release of the patch.

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Full details regarding fighter item changes in League of Legends patch 13.2 PBE cycle

Before proceeding any further, it is first essential to note the changes that have been introduced to the League of Legends patch 13.2 PBE cycle. These changes have been provided in the section below.

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Changes to fighter items in League of Legends patch 13.2 PBE cycle

Eclipse

• Omnivamp: 7% >>> 0%
• Ability Haste: 0 >>> 15
• Shield Cooldown: 8/16s >>> 6/12s
• Caulfield's Hammer replaces Vamp Scepter/Long Sword

Syzygy

• Omnivamp: 8% >>> 0%
• Ability Haste: 0 >>> 20

Goredrinker

• Mythic Passive: 7 Ability Haste >>> 50 Health + 3 Ability Haste

Ravenous Hydra

• Vamp: 0% Ominvamp >>> 10% Lifesteal
• Ability Haste: 20 >>> 25
• Cleave Damage also triggers Lifesteal

Maw of Malmortius

• Lifeline Effect: 10% Omnivamp >>> 10% Lifesteal
• Attack Damage: 55 >>> 65
• Ability Haste: 20 >>> 0
• Pickaxe and Longsword replaces Caulfield's in build path

Death's Dance

• Attack Damage: 55 >>>> 65
• Armor: 45 >>> 50
• Ability Haste: 15 >>> 0
• Takedown Healing: 120% bonus AD >>> 50% bonus AD
• Pickaxe replaces Caulfield's in build path

Blade of the Ruined King

• Siphon Bonus Magic Damage: 40-150 (levels 1-18) >>> 40-103 (levels 9-18)
• Cooldown: 20s >>> 30s

Black Cleaver

• Attack Damage: 45 >>> 50
• Health: 350 >>> 400

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The first major thing to note here is the removal of Omnivamp. This is a stat in League of Legends where a champion gets healing based on the percentage of physical damage that they deal to the enemy.

The thing about Omnivamp is that it allows the champion to heal itself through all forms of damage, including abilities and normal attacks. This, in turn, works well for someone like Aatrox, who can just use a triple Q-combo while using World Ender and heal back up to full from 10% health.

Lifesteal, on the other hand, works only when the champion uses normal attacks in League of Legends. Thus, the fighter item changes will heavily impact fighter champions as most of them rely on their abilities for healing.

The second big nerf is the change to Blade of the Ruined King. This item results in a massive power spike for Irelia and something that she builds even before her mythic item. It looks like Blade of the Ruined King is getting a huge nerf to both its damage as well as its cooldown, which will seriously affect Irelia's viability in League of Legends.

Lastly, it is crucial to mention that the developers are introducing these changes because they want to reduce snowballing. Omnivamp is usually the main problem since it leads to spikey healing compared to lifesteal, which relies on healing through auto-attack scaling.

The developers do not want these fighter champions to suddenly snowball out of control by building one or two items. While it is true that these changes will massively hurt several individual champions, they could end up making the entire game feel more balanced.