MSI 2023 will be played on patch 13.8, so League of Legends patch 13.7 is foretelling what’s to come.
Because we’re so near MSI, this patch is more targeted towards champions in pro play. Azir is one of the champions that’s been a staple in pro play since his release in Season 4. He has a high skill cap and prefers to scale into the late game, thriving better in an organized competitive environment compared to the snowball nature of solo queue.
During this season’s meta however, he’s been able to dominate the laning phase just by out-poking champions with Conquering Sands (Q). Picked 193 times in the first LCK, LPL, LCS, and LEC split combined, he currently holds a 51.8% win rate in pro play according to uol.gg.
As such, since patch 13.4, Riot Games been tweaking him consecutively, and this latest update is pretty major.
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Please max W on Azir now in League of Legends patch 13.7, Riot Games begs
Base Stats
- Base Armor increased from 19 to 22
- Attack Speed Growth increased from 5% to 6%
Passive – Shurima’s Legacy
- Duration increased from 30 seconds to 45 seconds
- Cast Range increased from 500 to 700
Q – Conquering Sands
- Mana Cost increased from 65/70/75/80/85 to 70/80/90/100/110
- Stab Range decreased from 370 to 325
W – Arise!
- Magic Damage adjusted from 0-110 (based on level) (+50/60/70/80/90) (+55% AP) to 0-92 (based on level) (+50/67/84/101/118) (+55% AP)
- Assuming W max, this is a damage per hit buff that scales from +0 to +10 by level 11 and then stays there
- Mana Cost decreased from 40 at all ranks to 40/35/30/25/20
(New) Recommended Skill Order: The game will now recommend maxing W first.
The emperor of the desert used to max Conquering Sands (Q) first. However, its mana cost has been increased and its stab range decreased by 45, which definitely reduces his ability to poke in lane.
“It becomes easier to trade against Azir… and if you’re melee, his W will have a lot more value,” analyst and content creator Nick “LS” De Cesare said in his patch notes rundown.
“It also means that his Q poke becomes significantly weaker, so for the champions that actually can counter him such as Corki, they become a lot better against him — any of the longer-ranged champions become increasingly better against him.”
To balance out these nerfs, Arise (W) is now his more spammable ability, costing just 40 mana at rank one, and 20 at max level. Soldiers’ base magic damage was also buffed at later levels.
On the side of Riot, they believe that the max W route makes Azir “much easier to balance” in the long run because he no longer has infinite poke in lane.
The full patch 13.7 notes can be found here.
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