LoL Patch 13.17 is set to be released on August 30, 2023, but we already know a few things about incoming changes for the Duskblade of Draktharr.
The Duskblade of Draktharr might be one of the more controversial items in League of Legends and has seen many changes in the last couple of years. At the moment everybody is waiting for Patch 13.16, which will be released on August 16, and the adjustments it brings with it.
But now, there are already announced changes for the Duskblade for Patch 13.17, so it seems the item is even more important than we thought.
LoL Patch 13.17: Duskblade Might Be THE Item For Assassins Again
We're just a few days away from the release of LoL Patch 13.16, which will bring a huge amount of item and champion changes with it. One of the items, that will receive some adjustments is the notorious Duskblade of Draktharr. Originally created as an item for assassins, the Duskblade has become one of the more popular items for all kinds of champion classes and roles in League of Legends.
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But now, we got insights in even more planned Duskblade of Draktharr changes, already announced for Patch 13.17. So it seems to be the case, that Riot Games is seeing an even deeper problem with the item and already knows, that the changes in the upcoming patch might not be enough to balance the blade. Let's take a look at the changes for Patch 13.16 and 16.17.
So, for the upcoming Patch 13.16, Riot's Balancing Team changes the following aspects of the Duskblade:
The cooldown of the items will be increases by 300%, from 10 seconds up to 30 seconds. This will severely hinder champions to go for multiple tower dives or dangerous teamfights, which they would have survived with the former cooldown timings. Especially tanks and bruisers will suffer from this.
Also, the maximum damage of the item will be reduced from 20% to 18%. This number regards the increased damage you are dealing, based on the target's missing health. So in the future one-shots and 1-vs-1 fights against tanks and bruisers will be harder.
These are the changes for Patch 13.16, but the well known Twitter user "Spideraxe" revealed further planned changes for Duskblade:
According to Spideraxe there will be more adjustments for the Duskblade in Lol Patch 13.17, which is set to be released in roughly 2 weeks. These changes can be seen as a buff and a nerf at the same time, and surely will make many players happy and maybe even more players miserable.
The biggest change will be, that the Duskblade will now destroy incoming projectiles when triggered. So you might see champions with some kind of Yasuo or Samira Windwall in the future. Also, the item will no longer make the player immune to damage, that's already applied to the champion. So DoT's and ignites will finally hurt them, even when the item is active.
Some Duskblade changes for 13.17:
— Spideraxe (@Spideraxe30) August 11, 2023
Now destroys incoming projectiles when triggered
No longer makes the target immune to damage that's already on them like DoTs
Still immune to targeted and free targets spells and not immune to turret shots pic.twitter.com/RhVM46ZyVK
The third change regards the most annoying part of the Duskblade of Draktharr. According to Spideraxe, the item will still make you immune to targeted and free target spells, but will not make the champion immune to turret shots.
In a later post, Spideraxe clarified some things about the destruction of incoming projectiles
I want to be clear this change doesn’t turn Duskblade into walking wind wall. On live it makes the target invulnerable and untargetable, the change retains the untargetablility but removes the invulnerablility and adds a measure for missiles in flight.
It will be interesting to see, how the changes will affect the popularity of Duskblade, after Patch 13.16 and again after 13.17. It might still be one of the more common items for assassins, but maybe we won't see it on bruisers and tanks anymore. Only the future will tell, if these changes are enough to finally balance the item.
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