The League of Legends Preseason 2023 changes are upon us, and developer Riot Games has announced that it has a whole lot in store for the hit MOBA game as we head into Season 13.
Heading into the new year, the studio is set to reintroduce a familiar winged beast to the Rift, offer up new, non-verbal in-game communication tools, implement a slew of jungle changes, and make a number of tweaks to existing game systems in order to make it healthier.
Needless to say, there’s a lot going on, and the League that we know today is going to undergo a metamorphosis as the League of Legends Preseason 2023 changes hit the PBE on October 4. If you don’t have PBE access, don’t fret, as the changes are set to hit live from November 16.
League of Legends Preseason 2023 changes
Check out the League of Legends Preseason 2023 changes.
Return of the Chemtech Drake
Babe, wake up, new Chemtech Drake’s just landed. But don’t worry, both the revive mechanic and pesky fog which permeated the Rift once the dragon’s soul had been captured have been removed in favour of far less-egregious effects.
- Chemtech Drake buff: +5% increased tenacity and heal/shield strength
- Chemtech Soul buff: +10% bonus damage and damage reduction when below 50% health
When it comes to the Chemtech Rift, Riot has played mad scientist with Zaunite chemicals, resulting in mutations to the numerous plants that call the jungle their home… or at least would if they could speak.
Now, when the Rift transforms, Chemtech plants gain the following characteristics:
- Blast Cone: Will now blast players twice as far
- Stim Fruits: Honey fruits no longer slow when consumed, and give a small shield
- Stalker’s Bloom: Grants movespeed in the direction revealed, reveal an extra circle around the plant itself, and reduce revealed ward health to one.
Jungle changes
The return of the Chemtech Drake isn’t the only thing going on in the jungle heading into 2023.
Jungle avatars
It’s out with the pointy and in with the adorable as League’s jungle items – Emberknife and Hailblade – are being dropped in favour of three new companions which evolve over the course of a game.
However, these new jungle avatars require a diet of champions and monster kills in order to speed up their growth, though they will naturally, slowly evolve over time regardless.
- Ixtali Ixamander (Defensive): Provides a shield and tenacity
- Ionian Cloudleaper (Mobility): Provides utility and movement speed
- Noxian Embercat (Aggressive): Provides slows and extra damage
Though the jungle avatar names have yet to be confirmed by Riot, the studio has had its fair share of fun naming them internally – looking at you, Foxy McCloudfox.
Camp patience rework
Riot is adding visual indicators so players can see the maximum leashing range for jungle camps. This is definitely going to come in handy for junglers old and new, as the leashing range for all camps has been reduced to the point that it is no longer possible to clear two camps at once.
Recommended pathing options
In order to make the jungle more accessible for both newer players and those having to fill, Riot is introducing recommended pathing options.
Each champion will get its own custom first clear recommendation, based on data gathered from some of the top junglers around the world. Riot confirmed to The Loadout during a recent Q&A on the changes that there will be an option to disable this feature.
Quality of life additions
Jungle pathing isn’t the only recommendation system being added to League in 2023. Optional Rune page, Summoner Spell, and champion ability levelling path recommendations will also be added, with the recommendations themselves – which are updated each patch – grounded in data based on what is optimal and popular at the time.
Lane Gold and XP changes
The jungle isn’t the only area of the map receiving changes, with both the top and mid lanes having their Gold or XP rates adjusted.
Top lane
In the top lane, solo lanes will now receive more XP (95%, up from 93%), while duo lanes will receive slightly less (22% bonus XP, down from 24.73%).
Mid lane
All minions spawned in the mid-lane prior to the 14-minute mark will now grant one less Gold when last hit.
Item updates and additions
It’s not a new League of Legends season without an overhaul to optimisation. Veteran players will be overjoyed to know that Rod of Ages is returning to the shop. Here are all the items being added to the shop (note that those with an * are not finalised names, and are subject to change):
- Icathia’s Endurance* (Tank Mythic)
- Radiant Virtue* (Top/Jungle Tank Mythic)
- Goliath’s Ascendiary* (Tank Mythic)
- Rod of Ages
- Catalyst of Aeons
- Spear of Shojin
And here are all the items that are being tweaked in League of Legends Preseason 2023:
- Abyssal Mask (updated for sustain and magic resistance)
- Sunfire Aegis (downgraded from Mythic status)
- Turbo Chemtank (downgraded from Mythic status)
- Randuin’s Omen (updated for tanking critical strikes)
- Ravenous Hydra (updated to make it better for splitpushing)
For a full rundown on what each item will do in 2023, check out Riot’s Preseason 2023 PBE preview.
New communication tools
Preseason 2023 is set to add plenty of new ways to help teams better-coordinate their actions.
Expanded ping wheels
Riot has really said ‘hey I see you like pings, so I added pings to your pings’, doubling the size of the standard ping wheel. Alongside the classic Missing, Retreat, On My Way, and Need Assistance pings, players will now be able to motion to their teammates to Bait, Push, Hold, and All In.
The studio is also adding an extra ping wheel exclusively for vision-related callouts Vision Cleared, Enemy Vision, and Need Vision.
Objective planning
Players will now be able to ping objectives which are either alive or soon to come up, bringing up a voting prompt to gauge whether or not teammates want to take or give up on it.
Offscreen pings
From now on, when an ally pings, players will get a visual notification of which direction it came from at the edge of their screen.
This will occur globally for the Missing ping and within 3,000 units of the edge of the player’s screen for the others.
Vision system changes
There are a couple of major quality-of-life changes coming that will make it easier for players to keep tabs on vision. From now on, the duration of allied wards will be shown on the minimap, with wards that are close to expiring getting their own indicator.
On the flip side, pinging or attacking an enemy ward you have vision of will apply a tracker to it that will persist until the ward dies or expires.
And that’s all you need to know about the League of Legends Preseason 2023 changes. Now you’ll be primed to take on the LoL ranks climb when Season 13 finally rolls around.