The worst and best Season 13 League of Legends champions

Nicholas James Published 30/01/2023

The 2023 League of Legends season has arrived with new items, a new drake, and tons of big changes for players, so here are the worst and the best Season 13 champions.

Season 13 has brought some serious changes to League of Legends, bringing the usual large-scale rebalances and system changes that players associate with the preseason. This year has brought the return of Chemtech Drake, an overhaul to the jungle, and lots of new items, all combining to make some significant shifts in the game. Wondering who you should try out heading into the new ranked season or who to look out for? Here are the worst and best Season 13 champions.

The worst and best Season 13 champions

The makeup of League of Legends and its metagame change wildly every preseason, and 2023 is no different. In the weeks since Season 13 has begun in earnest, new faces have started popping up in all of the game’s roles. We’re going to look at some of the champions who have been excelling in the new season and some who have fallen to the bottom. So far, there are the worst and best Season 13 champions in League of Legends.

The best Season 13 top lane champions

Top Lane has seen a noticeable shift in the preseason toward fighters, damage dealers, and offensively-oriented champions. Though there are still several tank champions who manage to prosper in the game’s longest and loneliest lane, they’re the exception. Here are a few of the best champions in the top lane in Season 13 and why they’re good.

Akshan

Akshan is rapidly proving himself as one of the premier top laners in the game at the highest levels of solo queue. Ranged top laners have always had niche popularity, with Marksman top laners being able to bully juggernauts and fighters who commonly play top lane. Akshan has a kit loaded with tools to help him keep the enemy laner at arm’s length, with the unique mechanic of reviving dead allies by taking down their killer. Combined with the prevalence of tanky junglers, Akshan becomes an excellent tool for Rift Herald skirmishes, roams with his invisibility, and team fights.

Poppy

Poppy is one of the tanks still crushing her opponents in the top lane. She’s an excellent tank with tons of peel, crowd control, surprising damage, and one key piece of utility. However, she has a unique ability in her kit, her W, Steadfast Presence. This ability speeds her up, grants her resistance, and knocks up enemy champions around her who try to dash while the ability is active. Given the prevalence of top laners like Irelia, K’Sante, Grgas, and others with key dashes, this single interaction helps the champion tons. So if you want a tank that can scrap it out at the front of a team fight and still solo kill the enemy AD carry, Poppy is the tank for you.

Jax

Jax just got a brand new Midscope Update, giving his abilities a brand new spin. Now that the animation issues are being fixed, Jax has taken over as one of the top lane’s best champions. Jax is good this season for the exact same reasons he’s been good before. He’s mobile, counters auto-attack champions, and can become a 1v5 machine with enough time and items.

K’Sante

K’Sante is the latest arrival to the top lane. He’s a hybrid champion who operates as a tanky juggernaut for most of the game. However, once he pops his show-stopping ultimate, he becomes a carry-shredding monster. He’s become a constant presence in pro play, given his lane presence, peel tools, and ability to still kill carries. K’Sante has become a massive part of the Season 13 metagame.

The best Season 13 jungle champions

The jungle got a huge rework at the start of this season, which changed what champions were viable in a major way. In short, earlier clears got easier, and Smite became even more crucial around neutral objectives. As a result, some new and old faces have popped up in the jungle. Here are a few of the best.

Maokai

A classic tank, Maokai has seen success in preseason and Season 13 with jungle builds focusing on his utility and saplings. Maokai’s saplings serve as massive vision control tools, and with a few AP items like Liandry’s or Demonic Embrace, they can chunk out characters who make the mistake of walking through them. Maokai’s builds tend to choose Radiant Virtue or Liandry’s Visage as their mythic, always pairing it with Demonic Embrace before leaning either into take or poke tools.

Udyr

Udyr’s rework has rapidly made him one of the most intimidating junglers in the game. With no ultimate and prowess in skirmishes, Udyr has seen success with tanky AP, bursty AD, and other builds. Right now, he’s seeing the most success focusing on his Phoenix stance, Windborn Storm, and pairing it with Jak’Sho, the Protean, and Demonic Embrace. From there, Udyr itemizes tanky and focuses on shredding down the enemy team by standing in their face for prolonged periods of time.

The best Season 13 mid lane champions

Mid lane has stayed much the same as it was in Season 12, but the return of Rod of Ages, and some changes to Seraph’s Embrace, have shifted the power rankings somewhat. These are some of the best Season 13 champions that have made their way to the mid lane.

Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia has been seeing lots of success at League of Legends’ highest levels of solo queue. Like other mages on this list, she loves the new combination of Rod of Ages and Seraph’s Embrace. As a consistent damage dealer with the ability to build 6 legendary items and a huge ultimate, Cassiopeia is another scaling monster who takes advantage of new itemization changes.

Kassadin

Kassadin is probably the happiest champion on Summoner’s Rift about Rod of Ages returning and Seraph’s Embrace getting changes. The Shuriman mage is still the super-scaling monster he’s always been, threatening to take over the game if you don’t set him behind and keep him there. He unsurprisingly builds both Rod of Ages and Seraph’s Embrace as his first two items before grabbing Zhonya’s Hourglass and Rabadon’s Deathcap.

Anivia

Yet another enjoyer of Rod of Ages and Seraph’s Embrace, Anivia has been, fittingly, reborn in Season 13. She has tons of team fight disruption, insane amounts of damage, and the unique safety of her egg. As another scaling carry who’s very greedy on the mana, she’s flying high with the itemization changes that have pulled so many mages to the top of the standings.

The best Marksman champions in Season 13

For marksman champions, the ones succeeding now may not be the ones succeeding after Patch 13.12 settles onto the live servers. Infinity Edge got a huge buff in the most recent patch, so who’s succeeding is likely to change. Here we’ll highlight AD carries who have been doing well and ones we expect to be doing even better once the season settles.

Samira

Samira is a feast-or-famine marksman who thrives on special combos, good reflexes, and explosive ultimate usage. She’s a brutal team fight presence and, combined with a dash and her ability to deflect projectiles, able to set up her own highlight moments. Samira is good before the Infinity Edge buff and will probably get even better afterward. Her ultimate incentivize her to build critical strike chance and damage, and earlier access to Infinity Edge will only set her further on the road to her carry potential.

Jhin

Jhin is one of the most iconic Marksman in the game, with his completely unique 4-shot passive and reloading mechanic. Another AD carry that is excelling now but will likely get even better after the Infinity Edge changes. Jhin’s ability to find catches and execute enemies from long range has propelled him to major success this season. Jhin is best in lanes that can poke enemies down before turning one single mistake into a kill with long-range catch tools.

Twitch

Twitch is one of the game’s few remaining true hyper carries. He trades unconditional mobility for sheer damage and carry potential. Right now, Twitch is favoring an early Blade of the Ruined King, but the Infinity Edge changes could change that. At the same time, Twitch will be even more potent on three items if he’s packing a Kraken Slayer and Infinity Edge in addition to his Blade of the Ruined King. As more crit carries become popular, Twitch will likely also get more of the melee supports that he often relies on standing behind.

The Best Season 13 support champions

Support champions have become incredibly poke-focused in the preseason. At the highest level, supports like Heimerdinger and Azir, but that’s slowly changing. Here are the supports we’re seeing emerge as the best in the role in the wake of the 13.1B bot lane changes.

Nami

Nami has been one of the strongest picks for support in both solo queue and pro play. Nami brings heals, slows, crowd control, and everything somebody could ask of an enchanter. She pairs excellently with many of the popular AD carries, and can consistently bully lanes in order to secure an early gold advantage. Nami is the game’s best enchanter, pairing exceptionally well with Lucian, a bot lane duo that’s been a high priority in pro play drafts since the season began.

Rakan

Rakan is a hyper-mobile engage support with the ability to engage in fights like no other. Packing a knock-up, two dashes, a heal, and one of the most powerful ultimates for engaging in fights in the game, Rakan offers a lot. He’s best paired with teammates who can follow up on his plays, throwing down more CC and, hopefully tons of damage onto the targets he’s found.

Rell

Rell is getting a rework sometime in the future, but that’s not stopping her from being strong right now. Her best tools are her reliable CC and the ability to set up for allies’ damage with the mass displacement of her ultimate. Rell’s another melee support who pairs well with the crit-focused AD carries who just got buffs.

Nicholas James

About Nicholas James

Nicholas James is a gaming writer with a passion for all things geekdom, as well as live theater. Nicholas is best known for covering League of Legends and other top MOBA titles, but his expertise covers numerous games across multiple genres. When not watching the LCS or playing the latest new release, Nicholas can be found doing some tabletop gaming and painting his favorite miniatures. Nicholas has also published with Hotspawn, TheGamer, Dexerto, Esports.gg and other industry outlets.

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