The pre-season for Season 13 of League of Legends began on October 4, 2022, which gave players plenty of time to get acclimated with the changes to Riot Games’ hit MOBA immediately following the conclusion of Season 12. After a handful of patches across the past few months, League of Legends will officially enter Season 13 with Patch 13.1 on January 11, 2023. Because we already covered the adjustments being made to LoL in 13.1, let’s take a look at what players can expect when they load onto Summoner’s Rift in the new season.
LoL Season 13 Release Date & Ranked Rewards
Unlike previous League of Legends seasons, Season 13 will be divided into splits, which will see players’ ranks to reset. End-of-season awards like Victorious skins and regalia-like ranked icons are still in play, but for split 1 of Season 13, players will be able to earn additional rewards through split points:
150 points – Victorious Maokai Icon
250 points – Victorius Maokai Emotes
500 points – Maokai Permanent
750 points – Eternals Capsule
League of Legends Season 13 Jax Rework
No matter what statistics can tell you, it’s difficult to see how a reworked, augmented, or updated champion is going to perform without some test runs. As a result, the top lane (and at times, the jungle, too) will be absolutely swarming with Jax players.
Any time a champion is reworked in any capacity, its play rate tends to rise as players new to the champion test out the new digs and oldheads make adjustments to a reliable pick. Jax has been popular since his release due to his late game hyperscaling and colorful personality, and has long been a favorite for many a pro top laner for the past decade. Whether his update results in him being better or worse will take a bit of time to deduce, so expect to see the Grandmaster at Arms on Summoner’s Rift far more frequently than in recent patches on 13.1.
Season 13 Meta: League of Jak’Sho
The League of Legends pre-season is important for getting players acclimated with the changes to the game, but it’s also important for Riot’s balance team to gather data and feedback from the playerbase about the healthiness of the current game state. The return of Rod of Ages has put champions like Swain into the stratosphere this pre-season, but the item – as well as its fellow Catalyst of Aeons building partner Abyssal Mask – is getting tweaked in 13.1.
What isn’t getting touched in the new patch, however, is Jak’Sho, the Protean.
Intended as a tank item in its design, Jak’Sho’s power on Summoner’s Rift have led to many players innovating by building it on damage-focused melee champions to great success because of the utility the item offers. Some players in high-level South Korean solo queue are even building the item on Ezreal – not a melee champion at all, let alone a tank.
Surprisingly, Jak’Sho has been left untouched in Patch 13.1, so unless last minute changes are announced to the item, expect to see its 70% pre-season build rate not to change all that much come January 11.
