League of Legends Patch 26.1

PCJaxBuffShare

Now that the top lane quest can raise champion levels to 20, we're looking for any champions who intermittently scale their passives and giving them another breakpoint if they deserve one. Jax is one such champion who's gaining a bit more attack speed at level 19.

PCQuinnBuffShare

As Quinn builds a decent amount of crit and that crit manifests in stronger autos and more passive procs, we're compensation nerfing those same auto-reliant passive procs.

PCApheliosNerfShare

Aphelios has a lot of intricacies and some of his abilities try to behave exactly like basic attacks. With that in mind, we're converting Severum's active to total attack damage in line with similar abilities and generally lowering the bonus AD ratios of several abilities that already scale well due to firing off basic attacks that can crit as part of their cast.

PCAsheNerfShare

Ashe is already quite attack-reliant and pretty balanced but considering she buys about 1.5 crit items per game, we're lowering her late game a little to make room for the increased damage coming her way.

PCCaitlynNerfShare

Caitlyn's top-end Headshot damage has gotten out of hand and with the value of critical strikes going up it's about to get even stronger, so we're taking a heavy swing to Headshot's top end. We're also making her R scale with Infinity Edge, as it already scales with critical strike chance, but we're reducing its damage to make room for her stronger basic attacks.

PCCorkiNerfShare

Corki isn't particularly strong at the moment, so while this is a nerf on paper, we expect Corki will be overall stronger at the start of the season. This nerf is aimed at weakening his ability to crush a minion wave right before a Recall.

PCDravenNerfShare

Draven is very auto-attack focused and averages about two crit items per game, so he's also in need of some compensation. Considering he's gaining direct auto-attack DPS, we're trying to compensate him directly on the same axis.

PCGangplankNerfShare

Gangplank is one of two champions (alongside Smolder) who we think is going to gain extra power due to Essence Reaver once again building from Sheen. We expect him to perform much, much better with his increased critical strike damage, so we're pulling out many of the unique crit scalars that have been added over the years and delivering an extra hit to his E on top.

PCGarenNerfShare

Critical strike chance on Garen is pretty good since both his basic attacks and Judgment are improved by it. We want to continue to make space for non-crit Garen builds, so we're compensating the global critical strike damage increase and updating the calculation to properly discount bonus crit damage.

PCJhinNerfShare

Jhin won't behave any differently next season as we want to avoid letting his guaranteed crit fourth shot do too much damage.

PCJinxNerfShare

We like the overall shape of how Jinx functions and generally just want to preserve the value of her minigun's high attack speed, so we're making sure her two stances are more distinguished from one another and generally lowering a bit of spell damage to keep her attack-focused.

PCNilahNerfShare

Nilah's in an interesting place where her Q didn't scale with Infinity Edge, so unlocking that avenue marks a small power increase on top of her basic attacks getting better, so we sought to find other ways to slightly lower her late game scaling as compensation.

PCSmolderNerfShare

Smolder, like Gangplank, stands to gain a lot of power from Essence Reaver's changes in this patch so we're taking a swing at how strongly his Q scales with critical strike purchases.

PCTristanaNerfShare

Tristana's E is one of the sharpest-scaling abilities in the game, and considering her late game is already poised to be great with a strong attack speed steroid, long range, and lots of crit damage, we think the top end of her E can stand to go down a few pegs.

PCTryndamereNerfShare

Tryndamere is getting some real gameplay updates with this patch and some very real nerfs due to how much critical strike chance he normally has. To weaken how incredible his early game all-ins can be with 200% crit damage, we're nerfing his early bonus AD from Q and nerfing his early E as well. However, he's also getting some new tools. First, his Q now gives full value at 10% remaining health, meaning he can get the full bonus attack damage during his ultimate and it no longer has a disincentive for ranking up. Second, his W will now slow enemies any time they are running away from Tryndamere, regardless of where they were looking when he cast it. We expect this substantial increase in reliability is a big buff, so we've preemptively nerfed the slow itself. Though the slow duration is going down, the AD reduction is still the full four seconds regardless of facing.

PCTwitchNerfShare

Twitch's late game team deletion with 200% crit damage will probably be too fast, so we're targeting some general late-game DPS nerfs.

PCYunaraNerfShare

Yunara has a crit build and an on-hit build, but even her on-hit build almost always picks up Hurricane, so she's getting stronger no matter what she does next season. We're looking for nerfs that will skew more toward low-Attack Speed high-AD crit builds, as they'll be more directly buffed by the global crit damage increase.

PCZeriNerfShare

We're updating Zeri's E to crit exactly as a basic attack would, which means re-tuning some of her abilities to make room for that power.

PCAkshanChangeShare

Akshan's abilities currently scale crit in three different ways and we're making that more consistent here. His passive auto, being functionally a true basic attack, will crit for 100% value. Meanwhile, the crit scaling on E and R are going down as compensation. We're also doing some discretionary adjustments to allow Q-max and E-max to perform at similar levels of power by adjusting their rank-up incentives.

PCCassiopeiaChangeShare

While Cassiopeia's no boots passive is very thematic, the addition of more boot based systems over the years (like role quest rewards) has made it feel like a punishment at times instead of a boon. We think it's important for Cassio to have the opportunity to engage with these new systems so we're reworking the passive into a new movement based effect. (We also wanted to do Soobin a solid.)

PCEliseChangeShare

Elise is in a silly spot where ability power quickly fails to scale her damage against monsters after the mid game. We're delivering a change that will be a slight buff on average but is primarily meant to let her damage scale up with AP like it would for anyone else.

PCGravesChangeShare

The functional result of these Graves changes should be almost nothing. He'll deal about 1% more damage with his basic attacks when critically striking.

PCKindredChangeShare

Kindred's E mechanics are rather confusing and they build several critical strike items already. So we're updating the E to be much easier to understand and reducing the numbers. We're also modernizing the E's monster cap to allow for more damage when building AD and ranking up the ability.

PCLucianChangeShare

Lucian's builds are pretty sensible and as a spell-focused ADC, but we want to make sure his spell scaling is good. We're updating R to fire even more bullets with crit damage, which will make crit scale his ult just as well as it scales basic attacks. Considering he's already got extremely strong AD scaling and we want to make sure that Navori Flickerblades feels good, we're bringing down some of his Q's AD scaling.

PCMiss FortuneChangeShare

Miss Fortune tends to build quite a lot of critical strike chance and we'd like it to stay that way, but she can't just be directly buffed so we're here to compensate some of that value by softening her Q crit mod. For her R, we want to make sure that critical strikes feel like they have some impact, so we're increasing the crit mod slightly, but in order to not push her scaling too hard, have compensated that with a new base damage and a lower AD ratio.

PCRengarChangeShare

Rengar is getting a heavy re-script. This is mostly intended to maintain current functionality and feel, while addressing bugs and tech debt. The list of bug fixes is too long to add here so it'll be added to the bugs section. Alongside the crit changes, we're looking to make Rengar's Q work more intuitively by letting the underlying attack itself roll for critical strikes, and if so, deal bonus damage based on his total AD. This removes an optimization around rushing Infinity Edge to enhance the old forced-crit mechanic and also makes him not immediately lose 30% of his damage if his opponents build Randuin's Omen. We'll keep an eye on lethality-vs-crit Rengar and how it performs next season as we suspect Essence Reaver will be a big deal on him.

PCSamiraChangeShare

We like that Samira's R and Q are almost direct auto-attack replacements and want to preserve as much of their crit damage as possible. However, with the value of crit going up, the value of AD must then go down.

PCSennaChangeShare

Like Jhin, Yasuo, and Yone, Senna's guaranteed critical strikes cannot sustain a 2x modifier, so we're lowering her base crit damage down to a value similar to last year.

PCShacoChangeShare

When Shaco crits during a Backstab or a Deceive, everything crits along with it for his full crit damage, so his top end can be very, very high. We like that he builds for crit sometimes and want to let as many of these tools inherit the new higher base crit damage, but also want to modernize his other scalings to respect crit damage mods more consistently and generally preserve the total power level of Shaco builds that don't buy any critical strike chance.

PCSivirChangeShare

As Sivir's going to gain a lot of power from stronger Ricochet crits, we're reducing her Q's scaling.

PCViegoChangeShare

Viego buys a decent amount of crit chance and we want to make sure those crits allow him to play out a consistent auto-attack pattern, so the larger nerfs are to the active damage of the Q and R.

PCXayahChangeShare

We're updating Xayah's E to care about crit damage and adjusting her E's overall damage profile to be more reliable and less snowbally.

PCYasuoChangeShare

Yasuo won't be much different this year. Considering he doubles how much critical strike chance he gets from each item, he just isn't allowed to crit for full damage.

PCYoneChangeShare

Yone won't be much different this year. Considering he doubles how much critical strike chance he gets from each item, he just isn't allowed to crit for full damage.

PCActualizerNEWShare

It's been a while, but we've got a new active item. This one is made to support mana-stacking builds, to create more builds where mana isn't just a limitation but instead make it so that it can be an advantage to have large amounts of mana available to you. Activating Actualizer significantly increases your manacosts in exchange for lower cooldowns and more ability damage, healing, and shielding for a short duration, so get your mana items ready for a very powerful popoff moment.

PCBandlepipesNEWShare

Tank supports don't have very many items, and the ones they do have generally focus on helping them roam or protect their allies. We wanted to go a different direction this time, instead giving them a team-wide attack speed aura you can keep up in fights as long as you're able to frequently apply crowd control to your enemies.

PCBastionbreakerNEWShare

Most AD assassins aren't particularly good at ending games, even when they are capable of getting lots of kills. This can lead to pretty frustrating situations where the assassin player feels like they don't have the tools they need to complete the game, and the players on the receiving end get continuously killed and stay trapped in a game where they can't survive. Bastionbreaker gives AD assassins a new luxury item that can help them close out games by giving them large amounts of damage to epic monsters and turrets as long as they're building lots of lethality and can kill some takedowns.

PCDusk and DawnNEWShare

Most AP fighters have incentives in their kit to autoattack, but they have very little access to items that actually support that pattern since Lich Bane and Nashor's Tooth don't offer the defensive stats that this subclass often needs. Dusk and Dawn offers a Sheen pattern that doubles on-hits to help champions in this space live their dreams of sustained combat with lots of additional on-hits to enhance whatever their kit is already doing.

PCEndless HungerNEWShare

Since the removal of Goredrinker and the removal of omnivamp on Eclipse, AD caster fighters have had little to no access to sustain via the item system. Endless Hunger is a heavy AD-scaling item that rewards building high amounts of AD and can lead to some awesome popoffs in teamfights if you can get a takedown and keep casting through the enemy team.

PCFiendhunter BoltsNEWShare

When marksmen look at Zeal items, we want them to have different options to choose from that are good in different situations or good for particular champions. Fiendhunter bolts allows for a concentrated moment of power after casting an ultimate, which is particularly exciting for the marksman that already have that pattern like Twitch, Zeri, or Yunara. Some others might like the ultimate haste this item offers, or just want to be able to get immediate combat value after ulting.

PCHexoptics C44NEWShare

We've always wanted to support more diversity in crit marksman builds after the first item, so Hexoptics C44 is here to add an additional option for those looking to opt into big teamfight outputs. If you can get one takedown, you can get some extra range to help you secure more kills, and on top of that you also get some bonus damage scaling based on how well you can space your opponents.

PCProtoplasm HarnessNEWShare

Tanks have lots of tools to make them more durable in different ways, but Protoplasm Harness offers them a Lifeline item that has some movespeed and tenacity to enable a choice: do you want to keep going forward, or do you want to try to leave the fight? If you're tanky enough to survive, you can even get the full benefits from the healing over time this item grants, which scales with your armor and magic resistance to make sure it slots well into resistance-building tank builds.

PCEchoes of HeliaBuffShare

Echoes of Helia was intended to help fill in the space between the enchanter and mage system, but it ended up being a bit too far towards the enchanter space and didn't quite fill that space. We're making it more synergistic with mage items and more accessible by making it less necessary to be spamming both heals/shields and damage effects which made it unnecessarily narrow.

PCZeke's ConvergenceBuffShare

All our other ultimate trigger items give ultimate haste, and Zeke's has room for a bit more power and could be a bit more unique in the tank support item space, so we're giving it a bit of ultimate haste to spice it up.

PCInfinity EdgeNerfShare

With baseline crit damage changes, of course Infinity Edge needs a bit of retuning. We want it to remain a powerful capstone item, but with baseline crit being higher it can't give quite as much critical strike damage.

PCLord Dominik's RegardsNerfShare

We're doing a pass on crit Last Whisper items here to help make marksman crit damage a little lower against squishy targets and a bit better against tankier targets.

PCSundered SkyNerfShare

With base critical strike damage going up, Sundered Sky needed to be retuned, and we also believe it's a bit too generically powerful as it is now, so we're doing some adjustments that should be overall slightly power down and make the item a little bit less generically appealing to help let other fighter items shine in the system.

PCYun Tal WildarrowsNerfShare

Yun Tal was intended to be a powerful scaling first item with some tradeoffs in terms of its immediate power, but it's so generically powerful that it's crowding out the first item space for crit marksmen. This is a little bit of a power shift to make its unique first item aspect (attack speed) stand out, but also a little bit of power down to make it more comparable to other first items in terms of power.

PCAegis of the LegionRemovedShare

Without Unending Despair, Aegis as an epic item doesn't build into anything and doesn't have any items that it makes sense to build into. As such, it's being removed.

PCSymbiotic SolesRemovedShare

The functionality of Symbiotic Soles was incorporated into the mid lane lane role quest so we chose to remove the item now that it’s a reward for the mid-lane role. While this change does take a boots option away for other roles we want the power associated with this item to reside with the mid lane.

PCVigilant WardstoneRemovedShare

The functionality of Wardstone was rolled into the support role quest so there’s no longer a need for it to be an item.

PCDoran's BladeChangeShare

Now that Omnivamp covers the needs of Doran's Blade as a laning item, we're adding it back into the item in place of the Life Draining passive. Jack Of All Trades enjoyers rejoice!

PCEssence ReaverChangeShare

Sheen Essence Reaver is back! Previously it was removed in favor of a statstick Reaver that was intended to be more broadly appealing, but as it turned out while it did serve some additional champions it ended up just being a fairly flat and unexciting item, so we're bringing back the Sheen with some tweaks to make this version of Sheen Essence Reaver more balanceable.

PCHextech GunbladeChangeShare

Gunblade is one of the most requested removed items, as well as a popular item in alternate game modes despite a relatively limited champion user pool. We think that we can control some of the negative gameplay of this item with tuning, especially on the amount of Omnivamp granted and on the frequency with which users can apply the powerful active effect, so we think this is safe to add back in.

PCHorizon FocusChangeShare

Horizon Focus has bounced around between an artillery mage item, a crowd control synergy item, and a control mage item over the past few years. We're going back to the artillery mage version since that was high-fantasy and exciting for that subclass, whereas the other versions have been mostly functional but not particularly interesting for the other subclasses this item has supported.

Guns are cool, but so are staves. We're bringing this back to the old name.

PCMortal ReminderChangeShare

We're doing a pass on crit Last Whisper items here to help make marksman crit damage a little lower against squishy targets and a bit better against tankier targets.

PCRedemptionChangeShare

Redemption has been an extremely broadly appealing item for supports recently, especially in pro play. When it was first made we had many fewer tank support items and it was intended to be purchasable for both enchanters and tank supports. In the current day, we don't need Redemption to be as broadly appealing so we're pushing it more towards the enchanter space to make sure it works very well for them and making it a higher opportunity cost for tank supports to pick up so that it's not first slot for almost every support every game.

PCStormrazorChangeShare

Stormrazor complements our efforts at increasing the variety of items available to critical strike-using champions, providing another Energized effect in that system. Stormrazor will be our second Attack Damage + Attack Speed + Critical Strike option in the ecosystem, lowering the degree to which critical strike build paths funnel through Yun Tal Wildarrows.

PCUmbral GlaiveChangeShare

In its current form, Umbral Glaive is tailored to fit supports and is not structured to be powerful for anyone that has a real income. This has led to it being a fairly unpopular and mostly unsatisfying item, and it's not fulfilling its purpose as a way for AD assassins to have an advantage in interacting with the vision system. We're giving it an update to make it more functional for jungle and midlane assassins while still looking to retain some of the aspects that make it very exciting to buy as a support for the Pyke players out there.

PCUnending DespairChangeShare

The dual resistance version of Unending Despair was intended to slot well into health-stacking builds in the second or third slot, but it ended up being so generically useful that it overrode the choice structure in top and jungle tank builds regardless of what their first item was. We're returning it to armor-only, but this version has a bit more ability haste in order to differentiate it from the other armor plus health items in the tank system.