Teamfight Tactics Patch 13.8 Balance Highlights

Teamfight Tactics Set 8.5 Monsters Attack! Glitched Out!! has been out for nearly a month, and with TFT’s predictable bi-weekly patch cadence comes the second patch of Set 8.5. Patch 13.8 focuses on bringing balance back to the galaxy, with Nerfs to the Hacker/Gnar and Lucian Reroll meta. Along with these balances also comes a rework of the Ox Force Trait, some additional skins, and a sneak peek at Patch 13.10’s upcoming feature, the Mythic Arena.

Buffs

Currently, whenever at least 2 Champions with the Heart Trait are on board when Heart units cast their Ability, your team gains stacking Ability Power for the rest of combat. The only change to this trait is that when 6 Champions with the Heart Trait are on board, the Ability Power increase per Ability cast will be +11, increased from the current +10.

Gangplank is receiving a slight Armor and Magic Resist buff from 30 to 35 for each stat. Gangplank’s ability, Trial by Fire, currently lets Gangplank fire a flaming bullet, which deals 230/345/515 (depending on Gangplank’s current star level) magic damage and reduces the target’s healing by 30% for 8 seconds. The amount of damage caused by this ability will be increased to 240/360/540.

Since Lux has been one of the least-played Champions of set 8.5, the damage from her ability will be receiving an upgrade. Currently, Lux’s Lucent Singularity detonates, dealing 220/330/500 damage to nearby enemies and reducing the Attack Damage of the enemy in the center by 40% for 4 seconds. In order to try to get more players to use Lux, Lucent Singularity’s damage will be increased to 230/345/520.

Nasus will also be receiving a slight stats buff, including an increase in hp from 650 to 700 and an increase in Armor & Magic Resist from 40 to 45. Nasus’s ability, Bonk!, currently slams Nasus’s staff onto his target, dealing 200% physical damage and slowing the target’s Attack Speed by 40% for 3 seconds. The amount of physical damage dealt by this ability will be increased to 225%.

Jinx will be receiving a few stat buffs as well. Her Attack Damage will be increased from 50 to 55, and her starting mana will be changed from 20/80 to 0/65. This means that while Jinx’s first Ability cast of combat will be slightly slower than it currently is, she should be able to cast her Ability more often overall.

Rammus’s Sand Slam ability will be receiving a buff. Sand Slam currently allows Rammus to power himself up and leap to the largest group of nearby enemies, dealing 150%/175%/205% magic damage, knocking them up for 1.25 seconds, and reducing their Attack Damage by 40% for 4 seconds. When Patch 13.8 releases, Sand Slam’s knock-up effect will be increased to 1.5 seconds.

Bel’Veth’s ability, Endless Banquet, currently allows Bel’Veth to dash around her target and unleash a flurry of attacks (250% of her Attacks per second), each dealing 75%/75%/200% physical damage. Each time Endless Banquet is cast, Bel'Veth gains an additional 25% bonus Attack Speed for the rest of combat. In patch 13.8, the Attack Speed bonus that Bel’Veth receives after casting her ability will increase to 30% for the rest of combat.

Hero Augments

Renekton’s Reign of Anger trait currently gives the player a Renekton, and he gains 40% Attack Speed and an extra 4% Attack Speed per 100 missing Health. The additional Attack Speed per 100 missing Health will be increased to 5% in the upcoming patch.

Wukong’s Trait, Cyclone, gives the player a Wukong, and he has 10 Ability Power and +1 hex Ability range. This Ability Power bonus will be increased to 18.

Lee Sin’s Trait, Cleansing Safeguard, gives the player a Lee Sin, and his Ability costs 30 less Mana to cast. When Lee Sin casts, he sheds all negative effects and heals 10% of his missing Health. This healing will be increased to 15% of Lee Sin’s missing Health on the ability cast.

LeBlanc’s Trait, Mirror Image, gives the player a LeBlanc, and at the start of combat, the player’s strongest LeBlanc duplicates her nearest ally (without items or traits at 75% Health). This clone will now spawn with 99% Health instead.

Rammus's Trait, Armored-dillo, gives the player a Rammus, and when you field him, your team gains 35 Armor, doubled for Rammus. This bonus Armor will be increased to 40.

Vex’s Trait, Joy Siphon, gives the player a Vex, and Vex heals the 2 lowest health units on your team for 22% of the damage that Vex deals. This healing will be increased to 30% in patch 13.8.

Leona’s Trait, Perfected Solar Flare, gives the player a Leona, and she has 30 Ability Power & her Abilities cost 30 less Mana to cast. The Ability Power of this Trait will be increased to 40, and the mana cost reduction will be changed to 40 less Mana to cast her Abilities.

Urgot’s Trait, Rising Tide, gives the player an Urgot, and at the start of combat, Urgot grants adjacent allies an additional 40% Attack Speed. This Attack Speed bonus will be increased to 50% in the upcoming patch.

Finally, the Neutral Trait, Scoped Weapons I, currently grants units that start combat in the back 2 rows +2 Attack Range and 10% Attack Speed. This Attack Speed bonus will be increased to 12%.

Nerfs

Hacker/Gnar

Currently, when at least 3 Hackers are present on a board, all Hackers gain Omnivamp, which is a stat that grants healing equal to a percentage of damage dealt. In addition, a H4ckerr!m is summoned to the player’s board, which allows the player to place any unit in the rider hex, where the unit is sent to the enemy backline and is untargetable for the first seconds of combat. This strategy has been viable for multiple patches and is now a meta staple when including Gnar. In order to reduce the overuse of this team comp, the Hacker Trait benefits will be nerfed.
Currently, with 3 Hackers on the board, Hackers gain +30% Omnivamp, and the H4ckerr!m rider gains +10% Omnivamp.
With 4 Hackers on the board, Hackers gain +40% Omnivamp, and the H4ckerr!m rider gains +20% Omnivamp.
And with 5 Hackers on the board, Hackers gain +50% Omnivamp, and the H4ckerr!m rider gains +30% Omnivamp.
In Patch 13.8, 3-Hacker Omnivamp will be reduced significantly, from 30% to only 10%. Additionally, the H4ckerr!m rider’s Omnivamp will be reduced from 10% to 0%.
Similarly, 4-Hacker Omnivamp will be reduced from 40% to 20%, while the rider’s will be reduced from 20% to 15%.
And finally, 5-Hacker Omnivamp will be reduced from 50% to 40%, while the rider’s will remain as it is currently, at 30%. In addition, Hacker riders will now attack the closest enemy first, rather than prioritizing the back row.

To further combat the Hacker meta, a few of the comp’s staples, Gnar & Shen, will also be seeing Nerfs. As many players of patch 13.7 have probably experienced, Gnar is a little overpowered. This is one of the main reasons that Hacker is being nerfed. But just to solidify this sentiment, Gnar’s Attack Damage is also being reduced from 60 to 65. In addition to this Nerf, there was also a bug that will be fixed which will no longer allow Gnar to double-crit his primary target.
Interestingly, Shen’s ability, Stand United, is being buffed in its 1-star level and nerfed as a 3-star. Currently, when Shen casts Stand United, he tethers himself to the ally who has done the most damage this round and reduces all damage that Shen takes by 45%/50%/55% for 3.5/4/5 seconds. While the tether is active, Shen’s ally is invulnerable and any damage that they would take is redirected to Shen instead. In patch 13.8, the duration of Stand United will become uniform, changing to 4 seconds across all star-level versions of Shen, which increases his 1-star ability by 0.5 seconds and decreases his 3-star ability by 1 second. The damage reduction of Stand United is also being reduced at every star level to 40%/45%/50%.

InfiniTeam

Currently, the InfiniTeam Trait takes effect when at least 3 InfiniTeam champions are present on a board. When activated, a portal opens, and at the start of combat, any InfiniTeam unit placed on that portal summons an alternate version of themselves with different items.
Currently, with 3 InfiniTeam members on board, 1 portal opens, creating a copy of the InfiniTeam unit placed on that portal which deals 50% of the damage and has 50% of the HP of the original.
Similarly, with 5 InfiniTeam members on board 2 portals open, with the units causing 60% damage and having 60% of the HP of their originals.
And finally, with 7 InfiniTeam members on board 2 portals are opened, with the units dealing 95% of the damage and having 95% of the HP as the originals.
The upcoming changes to the InfiniTeam Trait are as follows:
With 5 InfiniTeam members on board, InfiniTeam copies will have 55% damage and 55% HP.
With 7 InfiniTeam members on board, InfiniTeam copies will have 85% damage and 85% HP.

Lucian Reroll

To limit the Lucian Reroll meta, Nerfs will be applied to Lucian, Blitzcrank, and Kai’Sa in the upcoming patch. Lucian’s ability, Chrono-Barrage, currently fires 4 shots in the target's direction, with each shot dealing 45/70/105 magic damage per hit. Chrono-Barrage’s damage will be nerfed to 40/60/90 magic damage per hit in the upcoming patch. While Blitzcrank’s ability, Static Defenses, currently allows Blitzcrank to create an empowered field around himself, reducing all damage taken by 55/60/65% for 4 seconds. In Patch 13.8, the amount of damage reduced by Blitzcrank’s ability will be decreased to 50/52/55%. Likewise, Kai’Sa has also been overperforming. The Passive portion of Kai’Sa’s ability, Starcharged, applies Plasma to Kai’Sa’s target. Once Kai’Sa attacks a target that has 2 stacks of Plasma, the attack does an additional 150/225/375 damage. This damage will be reduced to 135/205/335 in the upcoming patch.

Hero Augments

Lucian’s Enchanted Ammunition gives the player a Lucian, and when you field him, your team gains 20 Ability Power, and 2 additional stacking Ability Power whenever they attack. This stacking Ability Power will be reduced from 2 Ability Power per attack to 1 Ability Power per attack.

Shen’s Trait, Recursion Matrix, gives the player a Shen, and when you field him, your team takes 8% reduced damage, tripled (to 24%) for 4 seconds when they cast Abilities. This damage reduction will be changed to 7%, making the damage reduction on Ability cast 21% instead.

Both of Pantheon’s Traits are currently considered to be overpowered, and both of them will be receiving Nerfs. The Best Offense gives the player a Pantheon, and he gains 50 Ability Power and 100 Magic Resistance. This Ability Power gain will be reduced to 40 Ability Power. Pantheon’s other Trait, Chronic Hallucinations, gives the player a Pantheon, and at the start of combat, he and his 4 nearest allies take 70% reduced damage for 6 seconds. The damage reduction bonus of this trait will be changed to 60% instead.

Vayne’s Trait, Spread Shot, gives the player a Vayne, and her Ability fires at 2 other nearby enemies, dealing 50% damage. This additional damage will be reduced to 44% in the upcoming patch.

Other Changes

Ezreal’s Trait, Rising Spell Force is currently not working as intended. Rising Spell Force gives the player an Ezreal, and whenever Ezreal casts his Ability, he is supposed to gain a stacking 16% Attack Speed and a stacking 16 Ability Power for the rest of combat. When players field both an Ezreal and an Ultimate Ezreal, this activates the ‘Parallel’ Trait that alters Ezreal’s ability and causes Rising Spell Force to stop applying stacks whenever Ezreal casts his ability. This will be fixed in Patch 13.8, so that Parallel will continue to allow Rising Spell Force to apply stacks of Attack Speed and Ability Power, regardless of Ezreal’s active ability.

Ekko’s Trait, Destructive Resonance, gives the player an Ekko, and his Ability hits all enemies within 2 hexes and deals 250% increased damage, but no longer slows enemies' Attack Speed. This Ability range will be increased to 3 hexes, allowing Ekko to hit more enemies with his ability. However, the increased damage applied to Ekko’s ability will be reduced to 200%.

The Ox Force Trait will be receiving a rework. Currently, whenever there are at least 2 Champions with the Ox Force Trait on board, Ox Force units gain bonus defenses, and once per combat, when they would drop below one health, they instead go to one health and become immune to damage for 1 second. In patch 13.8, instead of becoming immune for 1 second once they reach 1 hp, Ox Force units will now gain a shield for 50% of their maximum hp that will last for for 1.5 seconds. Ox Force bonuses to Armor and Magic Resist are also being reduced.
Currently, with 2 Ox Force units on board, Ox Force gains 10 Armor and Magic Resist.
With 4 Ox Force units on board, Ox Force gains 40 Armor and Magic Resist.
And with 6 Ox Force units on board, Ox Force gains 90 Armor and Magic Resist.
These Armor and Magic Resist stats will be reduced in the upcoming patch to the following:
With 2 Ox Force units on board, Ox Force gains 5 Armor and Magic Resist.
With 4 Ox Force units on board, Ox Force gains 35 Armor and Magic Resist.
And with 6 Ox Force units on board, Ox Force gains 75 Armor and Magic Resist.

In order to comply with these Ox Force changes, the Ace Trait is also slightly changing. Now, in order to Execute a unit, an Ace unit will need to deal damage. This means that if an Ox Force (or any other unit) has less than 15% or 30% health, but also has a shield that is preventing damage, Ace will not be able to execute these units. This change was primarily made to ensure that Ox Force is not completely underpowered.

Finally, to further reduce bad RNG, the Tome of Traits will no longer drop from Underground’s Heist 4 or higher.

If you’d like to check out the upcoming Little Legends skins or read the entire patch notes yourself, you can read the official 13.8 Patch Notes here.