Riot has scrapped the planned League of Legends Patch 10.13 mid lane changes — for now. While they will still be going ahead, you won’t see the changes deployed onto the Rift until after the Worlds patch in September.
Riot had spent the majority of Season 10 touching up not necessarily specific champions, but the roles they fill. Top lane received some buffs, alongside AD carries, while junglers have been getting tinkered with constantly.
The mid lane has been on Riot’s hit list for some time — but with changes moving in the opposite direction. Those nerfs were set to hit the Rift in just a matter of weeks, but Riot is delaying their release.
League of Legends lead gameplay designer Mark ‘Scruffy’ Yetter highlighted the changes on their way for the June 24 update just before the launch of Patch 10.12. They didn’t target champions specifically, but how the lane works.
Riot’s plans were to reduce the number of cannon minion spawns for the first 15 minutes to every fourth wave instead of every third wave. This would bridge the gold gap between mid lane and other positions, with less siege minions spawning.
The minions would also move slightly slower to the mid lane. This will push mid laners onto similar wave timings to their sidelane counterparts, which Riot wanted to do to “reduce clear and roam potential.”
Testing Mid lane 10.13:-Mid lane spawns a cannon every 3 >>> 4 waves for the first 15 min (after it's normal)-Mid minions move slightly slower to the lane (reducing clear and roam potential)
Still evaluating these. The goal is to bring mid economy back to s9 level not below.
— Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) June 9, 2020
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Riot was happy with the initial set of changes they created, but wanted to hang onto it for a bit longer for a number of reasons. One, they wanted to make sure it would be a long term solution. And two, they didn’t want to disrupt the “pro game” too much before Worlds.
“With the extra time we can strike the right balance with mid lane roaming and influence, and build in long term systems that let us adjust position power more easily,” said Yetter.
- Read more: League Patch 10.12 notes
“Our reasoning for the pivot is to avoid disrupting the pro game too significantly late in the season. Draining resources from mid while not increasing roams was going to be hard to accomplish with simple fast changes. These goals push against each other.”
Our reasoning for the pivot is to avoid disrupting the pro game too significantly late in the season.
Also, draining resources from mid while not increasing roams was going to be hard to accomplish with simple fast changes. These goals push against each other.
(3/4)
— Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) June 9, 2020
The Worlds Patch typically arrives on Patch 10.19. It’s the update the pros use when competing at the World Championship every year. In Season 10, Patch 10.19 is set to be deployed on September 16.
As always, we will keep you updated if there are any major changes to mid lane power between now and then.