League of Legends finally has Arena back, more ARAM content and the MSI Patch is here and Patch Notes for 25.12-13 went live in June. With Uzi’s Hall of Legends event, Riot gets another excuse to sell a 500 dollar skin and pocket all the profit. The next flavour of Balance changes includes buffing and nerfing movement speed, arguably the most impactful stat a champion can have. ARAM enjoyers can also rejoice with the return of Butcher’s Bridge and the introduction of the new Ionian map, Koeshin’s Crossing, along with a new system for Champion rolls allowing for more Champion choice. Expect lots of volatility and well intentioned but poorly executed changes for the June Patch.
Patch Note Changes
This extended list of Buffs, Nerfs and Adjustments include the two balance change patches before MSI, meaning expecting more pro-skewed changes to come live for the user base. This is especially prominent in the nerf column, with many of the omnipresent S-Tier Pro Champions getting hit with nerfs which is Riot’s attempt to stop the same 5 champions from handshaking for the first 2 rounds of fearless draft every single time. Time will tell with MSI already starting if these adjustments hit home, but a lot of the buff column leaves more questions than it does answers which should make it both a new and perhaps head scratching double Patch.
the wyldbloom brings more emotes, icons, and other goodies with the act 2 spirit blossom battle pass 🌸 pic.twitter.com/6f3KTVAujl
— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) June 24, 2025
Champion Buffs
The buffed Champions include:
- Aatrox
- Aphelios
- Aurora
- Bard
- Bel’veth
- Fiddlesticks
- Gangplank
- Garen
- Irelia
- Jax
- Kindred
- Leblanc
- Lee Sin
- Mordekaiser
- Nidalee
- Rammus
- Samira
- Twisted Fate
- Zeri
Why did Riot give Bard a movement speed buff? He was played fairly regularly as a pocket pick in pro play and does decently in both solo queue and pro, but giving a roaming support more speed? Riot employees are never beating the allegations that their balance team is hardstuck Silver. The other buffs such as those to Aurora and Aphelios are probably more pro-skewed but buffing stat stompers like Garen and Mordekaiser is going to make anyone under platinum cringe.
25.13 sees Irelia get buffed to the dismay of every non-Irelia player, giving her more early game strength, which makes her less useless at the early levels to harass without giving her the potential to fight back. The Rammus buffs and adjustments have Riot desperately pushing him to be more appealing to the player base but he struggles against power creep in comparison to other champions both in and out of role.
Hefty changes preparing for MSI in 25.12
Champion Nerfs
The nerfed Champions include:
- Ahri
- Azir
- Gwen
- Kalista
- Neeko
- Rumble
- Senna
- Shen
- Taliyah
- Twisted Fate
- Ryze
- Varus
- Vi
- Yorick
Have any of these champions not been S or A Tier Pro Play champions within the previous months? All of these champions have been highly sought after in Fearless at the start of the draft, and so it is understandable to nerf them Pre-MSI to see different champions at the international stage.
Speaking specifically, since Yorick’s introduction in pro play, his presence in the solo queue has become even more omnipresent. The nerfs do not change the fact he scales well while having very few losing matchups post 6, while being difficult to punish early outside of very snowball skewed champions. Despite the nerfs, Rumble’s identity as stable, early top laner shouldn’t be compromised, and Kalista and Neeko are so different in the hands of pros that they’ll probably just be used later on down the fearless draft for automatic bot lane priority.
The nerfs to Champions like TF and Ryze will likely land more as only a buff propelled them into pro play in comparison to the previous mentioned Champions that have been omnipresent in pro despite numerous adjustments. It is a shame that Shen is still probably going to be strong, as his presence through his ultimate warps how the map has to be played. Teams either have to beat the map through Shen or live with the fact he will protect his carry with a press of a button, which makes him a frustrating play pattern that almost acts as a secondary layer of protection for squishy carries.
25.13 was a more quiet Patch pointing to more stability pre-MSI
Adjusted Champions
The adjusted Champions include:
- Briar
- Rammus
- Vi
Briar gets some QOL bug fixes, Vi gets nerfed again, and Rammus gets a whole bunch of changes that end up skewing him towards Magic Resist rather than armour, while making him decent at both rather than the armour specialist he was before. It’s an attempt to make Rammus viable and get Vi completely out of pro play, which are both failures, and a bug fix to Briar. Underwhelming is an understatement.
Also shoutout Riot for grasping nerf for ranged champions. Imagine a ranged champion stacking health and healing off hitting you with their range as a melee. Hopefully it eliminates one of the more frustrating play patterns in the game.
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