League of Legends Jungle Buffs Getting Significant Changes in Patch 13.14
League of Legends, the popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed by Riot Games, is known for its ever-changing gameplay. From champion updates and map changes to meta shifts, the game is constantly evolving to keep players engaged. However, there are some elements that have remained unchanged for years. That is until now.
In the upcoming update, scheduled for League Patch 13.14, the main jungle buffs, Crest of Cinders (Red Buff) and Crest of Insight (Blue Buff), will be receiving significant changes. This was confirmed by Riot developer Phroxzon on July 10.
Crest of Cinders, also known as Red Buff, received its first balance adjustments in Patch 13.12. However, with the recent announcement, both Red and Blue Buffs are getting a tune-up as part of Riot’s plan to shake up the jungle meta.
“Gonna be on Threads as riotphroxzon and posting on both platforms! A pretty big patch coming back from break! The dogs are out this patch! (Naafiri) We’re nerfing the power of early ganks with (mainly) a nerf to red buff, but compensating a bit with treat gold.”
– Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon), July 10, 2023
For the first time in almost five years, the Crest of Insight, or Blue Buff, will also be changed. Previously, Blue Buff provided a flat 10 ability haste at all levels. Now, the ability haste received will scale depending on the player’s level. At the start of the game, junglers will only receive five ability haste, which increases to 10 once they reach level six.
As the player levels up, the ability haste granted by Blue Buff will increase. At level 11, the buff provides 15 ability haste, and it caps at 20 ability haste at level 16. These changes will have an impact on champions that heavily rely on their abilities for farming, as their clear times in the early game will increase.
It’s worth noting that Blue Buff hasn’t undergone such extensive changes since Patch 6.24, which took place six years ago on December 7, 2016. The changes back then included the removal of the 15% bonus ability power and an increase in duration to two minutes. The Patch 10.23 change in 2021 was a minor adjustment following the introduction of ability haste as a stat, but the cooldown reduction offered by Blue Buff remained similar.
Red Buff, on the other hand, received changes in June’s Patch 13.12, marking the first adjustment to Crest of Cinders since the removal of bonus true damage to turrets in Patch 8.7 in April 2018. The previous changes in June removed bonus health regeneration, physical true damage, and a movement slow after dealing damage. These aspects are once again under scrutiny for Patch 13.14.
In the early game, the movement slow inflicted by Red Buff on melee champions has been halved to five percent. However, the slow returns to its pre-nerfed levels once a champion levels their ultimate ability. This adjustment means melee junglers will need to put in more effort to close the gap early on, as enemy movement won’t be as impeded.
It remains to be seen how these changes will affect the meta, but with League Patch 13.14 scheduled for release on July 19, players won’t have to wait long to find out.
As always, it’s important to note that these changes are subject to alteration before they are implemented in the live game.