Movistar KOI build an LEC superteam for 2027 with BrokenBlade and Carzzy

Posted on by Geekmandem

Movistar KOI roster for the 2027 LEC season is shaping up to be something special. Rather than build a superteam from scratch, Movistar KOI’s roster looks to build on the talent the roster already has with two new major additions.

The most interesting of the two is Carzzy, who heads back to KOI after three seasons with Team Vitality. Joining him is BrokenBlade, who leaves a G2 Esports side going through a major shake-up of its own for 2027.

Movistar KOI’s Reported 2027 LEC Roster

RolePlayer2026 teamWhat changed
TopBrokenBladeG2 EsportsReported verbal agreement (Sheep Esports)
JungleElyoyaMovistar KOIStaying
MidJojopyunMovistar KOIStaying
ADCCarzzyTeam VitalityReported verbal agreement (Sheep Esports)
SupportAlvaroMovistar KOIStaying

Myrwn and Supa are the two leaving the roster, and with the changes, it looks like MKOI, who have been the third wheel in Europe when it comes to the international stage, might now look to step up.

The move also ends one of the more consistent rosters in the LEC. Movistar KOI has been one of the brightest rosters in the LEC in recent times, alongside KC, who have both filled the void left by Fnatic. However, G2 Esports remain the kings of Europe, so BrokenBlade making the move is an interesting roster move.

BrokenBlade joins Movistar KOI Roster

BrokenBlade is an interesting move, and a player who had a lot of options. According to SheepEsports, Fnatic and NAVI offered him a deal, but MKOI is who he has decided to join. Interestingly, reports also suggest that G2 Esports had offered him a deal, alongside the other rosters.

BrokenBlade has won almost everything at G2, having joined from Schalke 04 in 2021, with only Caps having been with the side longer. G2 won it all in 2026 in terms of EU glory, but struggled on the international stage, which is likely why they are also having a major roster shuffle.

Carzzy returns to Movistar KOI Roster

Movistar KOI roster

After three seasons with Team Vitality, Carzzy is set to return to Movistar KOI. The worry for Team Vitality was their lack of wins in best-of-five games, and with Carzzy having made multiple LEC All-Pro teams, his time on the roster was always on thin ice.

Fnatic were interested, but according to Team AAA, Carzzy didn’t want to wait around and chose KOI instead, where he’ll reunite with Elyoya. He was head coach Melzhet’s first choice too, ahead of Massu and Jopa.

When Will Movistar KOI Announce Their 2027 Roster?

There’s no date yet. BrokenBlade’s G2 contract runs until 16 November, so don’t expect anything before then, and Riot hasn’t confirmed when the 2027 LEC season starts. We’ll update this as soon as KOI make it official.

Patch 26.23 Preview – League of Legends

Posted on by Geekmandem

The League of Legends Patch 26.23 Preview is here. Riot Phroxzon on X has the usual post in a week that only really sees champion changes coming to the game. We are a week into Mel’s rework, with buffs on the way.

Champions

– Yi and Syndra continue to be champions that rate highly on our frustration surveys.
– Yi for regular play and Syndra and Leblanc for the higher levels of play.
– Syndra got a nerf a few patches ago and it was not super heavy by intention, so as to not go further than we need to, but we think she could use another tap down this patch.
– So far, Mel has landed in a pretty stable spot, with a decently low banrate (touch wood).
– That said, at this power level, we aren’t really able to test our hypothesis of whether she is less frustrating when she’s at a power level, so we’re giving her some buffs to let her sit at a normal power level for a champion of her type of shape and mastery curve.
– She shows a bit of a bot skew, similar to many other mages that have been inhabiting bot lane recently.
– This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but just something to watch.
– This set of changes is aimed at making Azir’s interactions with on-hits like Nashors/Lethal Tempo stronger.
– This is especially true because PTA is now picking up as a lot of popularity and Lethal Tempo is considered a bit weaker for many players.
– The 525 AA range on Azir also often results in him walking up and getting himself damaged, or sometimes killed (especially in laning phase) for lower mastery Azir players.
– So we’re upping this range to make him more comfortable to play.
– W is K’Sante’s second max in many cases and so we’re giving power back here, given that this ability has clearer signaling.
– W is also more regular skewed as higher skilled players are more likely to dodge K’Sante’s W’s in both forms.

Items

Voltaic Cyclosword

We considered going harder on the item here, but feel like it’s not that far off.
Items like this (especially 1st item spikes) need to be on the stronger side in order for Assassin classes to spike hard relative to some of the more scaling classes.

Worlds 2026 Final Preview: Gen.G vs BLG

Posted on by Geekmandem

Gen.G and Bilibili Gaming will meet in the Worlds 2026 grand final on Saturday 14 November at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Both are chasing something long overdue. Gen.G haven’t lifted the Summoner’s Cup since 2017, when the roster still played as Samsung Galaxy. BLG have never won it, and they lost the 2024 final to T1.

The semifinals set this up nicely. Gen.G swept Invictus Gaming 3-0 in Allen, Texas. A day later, BLG beat T1, champions for three years running, 3-1. Whatever happens on Saturday, T1’s run is over, and someone else lifts the cup.

When is the Worlds 2026 final?

The grand final is a best-of-five on Saturday, 14 November 2026, starting at 19:00 UTC. It’s at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, which holds about 19,000. It’s the first Worlds final on the US East Coast.

RegionStart time
US Pacific (PT)11:00, Saturday
US Eastern (ET)14:00, Saturday
UK (GMT)19:00, Saturday
Central Europe (CET)20:00, Saturday
China (CST)03:00, Sunday
Korea (KST)04:00, Sunday

You can watch on the LoL Esports Twitch and YouTube channels, or at lolesports.com, where you can earn viewer drops if your Riot account is linked. The winners take US$1,000,000 from the US$5,000,000 prize pool, and the runners-up get US$800,000.

If you’re in New York, the Worlds Fan Fest runs at Pier 36 in Lower Manhattan from 12 to 14 November.

Gen.G’s road to the final

Gen.G have dropped one game in the whole tournament. They came in as the LCK’s top seed and went 3-0 in the Swiss stage, beating IG, Hanwha Life and LYON. LYON took game one off them in that Bo3, which is still the only game Gen.G has lost.

In the quarterfinal, they swept LYON, then did the same to IG in the semis. Games one and two were tidy. In game three, IG led 6-0 in kills and by over 4,000 gold, but Gen.G picked off the right targets around the objective and turned it around. Going 3-0 after a start like that is about as convincing as it gets.
This is also Gen.G’s first Worlds final since 2017. They’d finished in the top four in four of their last five Worlds without getting past the semis, so breaking that streak matters.

BLG’s road to the final

BLG made it the hard way. They came in as the LPL’s second seed and went 3-2 in the Swiss stage. They lost to Movistar KOI in round one and to Top Esports later on, so they needed to beat Hanwha Life in the final round to go through.

They’ve been a different team since. BLG swept Dplus KIA in the quarterfinal, then beat T1 3-1 in the semis. T1 levelled the series in game two, but BLG won games three comfortably but game four wasn’t so easy, especially with Faker reducing the gold deficit solo. T1 had won all 13 of their previous Worlds best-of-fives against LPL teams, so it’s a big result.

It’s also BLG’s third international final of the year. They won First Stand in March, beating G2 in the final, and lost the MSI final 3-2 to Hanwha Life in July.

Rosters and key matchups

RoleGen.GBLG
TopKiinBin
JungleCanyonXun
MidChovyKnight
ADCRulerViper
SupportDuroON
Head coachRyuDaeny

Gen.G haven’t changed their roster all year. All five have played together since Ruler and Duro joined in 2025. BLG brought in Xun and Viper over the 2025-26 winter and have tried a few players in top lane, with Flandre on the bench.

Mid lane is the matchup everyone will watch. Chovy and Knight are two of the best mids in the world, and neither has won Worlds. One of them will on Saturday.

The bot lane matters just as much, and both ADCs have won Worlds. Ruler did it with Samsung Galaxy in 2017, so he’s the one link to the organisation’s last title. Viper won it with EDG in 2021. Watch how Duro and ON handle that two-on-two, because an early lead there opens the map for both junglers.

Top could swing it. Bin is one of the best performers in international history, and Kiin is one of the most consistent tops in the LCK. If Bin gets ahead and takes over the side lanes, that’s BLG’s best way to win.

Prediction: Gen.G 3-2

I’m going with Gen.G in five. They’ve lost one game all tournament, they have the same five players they’ve had all year, and the IG comeback showed they don’t panic when they go behind. Chovy and Ruler, with a week to prepare, are a scary combination. Plus, I backed Gen.G since day one, so why not keep that up?

BLG are the team to watch if it goes long, though. They lost twice in Swiss and have improved every series since, and they’ve already reached three international finals this year. If Bin and Knight get the early leads they found against T1, this goes the distance, and BLG could win it.

ARAM Mayhem Augment Tiers Are Now In-Game With the U.GG App

Posted on by MaxLeveled

Choosing the right augment in ARAM Mayhem is a split-second decision. And it isn’t easy.

There are over 200 augments in ARAM Mayhem, and understanding which ones to choose requires a deep knowledge of the game and how each augment synergizes with your champion.

The U.GG app now handles that for you!

▼ Download App

In-Game Augment Tiers

When your augment choices appear, the U.GG app displays a tier directly above each card. Every ranking is specific to your champion.

You never have to tab out, open a browser, or search mid-game. Rankings seamlessly appear exactly when you need them.

Ranked by Our LoL Experts

Our augment tiers are made by our team of LoL experts and are continuously updated to reflect new augments and balance changes.

One of Dozens of Features

In-Game Augment Tiers are just one part of the U.GG app. For League of Legends, the app also includes:

  • In-game builds and skill leveling order
  • Auto-import for runes and summoner spells
  • Champion select scouting with picks and counters
  • Live stat tracking and team gold difference
  • Post-game analytics and LP tracking

The U.GG app is free, Riot Games compliant, and works with League of Legends, Valorant, Deadlock, and World of Warcraft.

▼ Download App

Download button not working? Click here.

Posted in LoL

Patch 26.22 Notes – League of Legends

Posted on by U.GG

Patch 26.22 notes for League of Legends are here. (Source)

TFT Standalone Client

Hooray! TFT is all grown up! They’re officially moving to their own standalone client starting on November 4th, 2026. To accommodate their new home, you can expect this patch to be larger than usual. We are making sure that it’s as easy as clicking a button to swap between League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics whenever you want. 

Despite this upcoming separation, all existing Teamfight Tactics cosmetics will remain usable in League. The first batch of TFT-only Little Legends will arrive on December 1st, with December 15th marking the date of full separation for TFT cosmetics including emotes and icons. 

After this patch, you’ll be able to fully opt out of TFT downloads in League patches. To make this possible, 26.22 will be a larger download than usual. For more information, read more here and we’ll see (some of) you on the Convergence!

Champions

The majority of Aurelion Sol players have made it pretty clear that they would much rather rank up his Singularity (E) second over his Astral Flight (W) even though it’s a much weaker second max. We agree that his (E) is a very cool signature spell, so we’re giving him a buff there to help make doing the intuitive fun thing the right thing.

E – Singularity

Total Magic Damage: 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+60% AP) over 5s ⇒ 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80% AP) over 5s
We were cautious about Corki’s power level going into Worlds, but now (like Azir and Orianna), he has some more space to be better for everyone.

R – Missile Barrage

Damage: 90 / 170 / 250 (+85% bonus AD) ⇒ 100 / 190 / 280 (+90% bonus AD)
Big One Damage: 180 / 340 / 500 (+170% bonus AD) ⇒ 200 / 380 / 560 (+180% bonus AD)
We’ve seen Kayle’s relevance decrease steadily from earlier this year as the game’s moved past the top lane shake up from role quests. We’re giving her a small bump to help out her early laning since we believe that top lane could use some more scaling options.

Q – Radiant Blast

Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8s ⇒ 10 / 9.5 / 9 / 8.5 / 8s

R – Divine Judgment

Cooldown: 160 / 120 / 80s ⇒ 140 / 110 / 80s

Locke

While Locke’s performance in general is within reason, he’s proven to be a much deeper champion than we initially expected and players who have reached that level of Locke play have shown him to still be clearly too strong, especially early game.

Q – Ritual Nails

Stack Bonus Damage: 18 / 26 / 34 / 42 / 50 ⇒ 15 / 22 / 29 / 36 / 43
Maximum Stack Damage: 75.6 / 109.2 / 142.8 / 176.4 / 210 ⇒ 63 / 92.4 / 121.8 / 151.2 / 180.6

W – Soul Ignition

Duration: 6s ⇒ 5s
Maokai has remained a very still tree this year, and has been almost entirely stuck in support. We’re buffing him in a way that helps out his top and jungle more.

Q – Bramble Smash

Damage: 75 / 120 / 165 / 210 / 255 (+2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4% Target Maximum Health) (+50% AP) ⇒ 75 / 120 / 165 / 210 / 255 (+2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5% Target Maximum Health) (+50% AP)
This patch, Mel is getting a midscope adjustment. You can read more about it here. For the spark notes version, she is having some power moved from early game to scaling, her W is being reworked into an Area-of-Effect missile destruction that retaliates rather than reflects effects, and her Q and R are getting adjustments to lower their cooldowns later on in the game so she can stack her passive to ever higher amounts.
Base Stats
Health: 640 + 99/Level ⇒ 590 + 107/Level
Mana: 480 + 28/Level ⇒ 455 + 38/Level
AR: +5.2/Level ⇒ +5.4/Level
AD: 54 + 3.3/Level ⇒ 52 + 3.3/Level
AS: 2.5%/Level ⇒ 2.75%/Level

Passive – Searing Brilliance

Bonus Damage Per Bolt: 8 – 30 (+4% AP) ⇒ 4 – 30 (+4% AP)
First Stack Damage Against Minions: 50% Less ⇒ 45% Less

Q – Radiant Volley

First Hit Damage: 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+55% AP) ⇒ 60 (+25% AP)
Multi-Hit Damage: 5 / 7 / 9 / 11 / 13 (+5% AP) ⇒ 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+8% AP)
Total Damage: 85 – 277 (+80 – 100% AP) ⇒ 85 – 285 (+65 – 97% AP)
New – Now Refunds CD it hits an enemy champion at least once: 0.5s – 1.0s Refund (scaling with Champion Level)
Mana Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 ⇒ 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Missile Speed: 3800 ⇒ 3200 (takes .047s longer to travel to max range)

W – Rebuttal – Reworked

Unleashes a nova that expands to 400u Radius over 0.75 seconds. The nova destroys enemy projectiles and shields and grants move speed to Mel and Allies within. Destroyed missiles are retaliated against at the end of the nova.
Retaliation Damage: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 (+10% AP), reduced to 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+5% AP) for subsequent hits against the same enemy, up to 7 retaliations per enemy for a total of 65 – 205 (+40% AP)
Shield: 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+70% AP) for 2 seconds
Move Speed: 10 – 30% (scaling with Champion Level) for 2 seconds
Mana Cost: 100 / 80 / 60 / 40 / 0
Cooldown: 30 / 28.5 / 27 / 25.5 / 24

E – Solar Snare

Root Duration: 1.5 seconds ⇒ [0.8 – 1.6] / [0.85 – 1.75] / [0.9 – 1.9] / [0.95 – 2.05] / [1.0 – 2.2] seconds, increasing with distance
Slow Amount: 30% ⇒ 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
Mana Cost: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 ⇒ 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80

R – Golden Eclipse

Cooldown: 120 / 100 / 80 seconds ⇒ 120 / 90 / 60 seconds
After a series of nerfs earlier this year, Naafiri has largely fallen out of mid lane entirely and has been pretty mediocre in the jungle. We’re giving her a buff that should primarily help out her mid, bringing her role power closer to parity.

Q – Darkin Daggers

Heal: 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 (+40% bonus AD) ⇒ 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 (+45% bonus AD)

W – The Call of the Pack

Bonus Attack Damage: 20% ⇒ 22%
Similar to Corki, Rumble was tuned for pro play. This change should help out the average rumble a bit more than pros when they catch back up to the patch cycle.

R – The Equalizer

Damage per Second: 120 / 200 / 280 (+35% AP) ⇒ (+40% AP)
Maximum Damage Ability Power Ratio: 175% AP ⇒ 200% AP
Along with Maokai, Shen jungle has been pushed too far out of the meta. We were watching to see if some of the previous patches’ changes to help jungle tanks would bring him back up, but now we’re confident we can just buff him .

Q – Twilight Assault

Monster Damage Modifier: 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 / 200 ⇒ 120 / 140 / 160 / 180 / 200
Our buffs a few patches ago landed a bit softer than we expected, but he’s ended up with a good balance between his Crit and Caster builds, so we’re giving him a more generic buff this time. We also expect the Doran’s Bow nerf in this patch to help him out a bit.

W – ACHOOO!

Explosion Damage: 10 / 35 / 60 / 85 / 110 (+50% bonus AD) (+80% AP) ⇒ 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 (+50% bonus AD) (+80% AP)
Despite our prior nerf, Thresh has remained at the very top of the support pecking order for top tier players, so it’s time for another.
Base Stats
Attack Damage: 56 ⇒ 54

R – The Box

Damage: 250 / 400 / 550 (+100% AP) ⇒ 200 / 350 / 500 (+100% AP)
Last patch’s nerf to Viktor hit him harder than we expected – but we are happy about the impact it had on his early game bullying, so we are buffing him back in scaling.
Base Stats
Health Growth: 100/Level ⇒ 105/Level

R – Arcane Storm

Conjure Damage: 100 / 175 / 250 (+50% AP) ⇒ 100 / 175 / 250 (+60% AP)
We were on the fence last patch with whether Yasuo would also need a nerf like Yone, but he’s also continued growing in winrate as players migrate to crit builds and banrate reflecting that so he’s getting the same treatment.

Q – Steel Tempest

Damage: 20 / 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 (+105% total AD) ⇒ 20 / 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 (+100% total AD)
Zaahen is living up to his scaling fantasies, but hasn’t had enough to do in lane. This should make his early scrapping and skirmishing much more satisfying.

Q – The Darkin Glaive

Cooldown: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6s
⇒ 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6s

Items

Doran’s Bow

We’re nerfing Doran’s Bow by a minor amount, as it’s settled into a spot that is slightly but clearly too strong, resulting in marksmen that we expect to be leaning towards Doran’s Blade instead being almost purely Doran’s Bow users.

Attack Damage: 8 ⇒ 7

Overlord’s Bloodmail

Overlord’s should be one of the premier juggernaut capstone items, but outside of Sett hasn’t been able to carry enough power to justify greeding for. We are adjusting Overlords in a way that should be a net buff for most other users while hopefully not ballooning its power level too far on Sett, who benefits the most from the Retribution passive because of synergy with his Haymaker (W).

Attack Damage: 30 ⇒ 40
Retribution: +0 – 12% total AD, based on % Missing Health ⇒ +0 – 10% total AD, based on % Missing Health

Classic Patch Notes

Our penultimate content patch arrives with three new old champions to play. Up first, winner of Council Vote #2, Volibear! Run down your enemies, fear nearby minions, and take a bite out of crime. Swain also makes his re-entrance, full of bird-fueled mayhem. And finally, Elise, while not particularly different, has a lot of single-target damage with which to lay waste to her opposition. 

We’ve also got a bigger balance patch than usual, taking aim at some of the game’s largest outliers on both the top and bottom end. Yes, Janna, your time has come.

NEWVolibear

This version of Volibear was active from 2011 to 2018, before his E got the knock-back and anti-dash synergy. He’s a tanky melee fighter who excels in sustained combat before finally dealing a significant burst of damage to low-health enemies.
Passive – Chosen of the Storm: When reduced to low health, Volibear heals for a portion of his maximum health over time. This effect has a long cooldown.
Q – Rolling Thunder: Volibear gains bonus movement speed, increased while running toward enemy champions. His next attack deals bonus damage and flips his target over his head.
W – Frenzy: Volibear passively gains stacking bonus attack speed on-attack. While at max stacks, Frenzy can be activated to deal high single-target damage, increased based on their missing health.
E – Majestic Roar: Volibear damages and slows nearby enemies. Minions and monsters are additionally feared.
R – Thunder Claws: Volibear harnesses the power of the storm for several seconds, causing all basic attacks to inflict chain lightning.

NEWSwain

This version of Swain was active from 2010-2016, where he received a minor rework. If you never experienced the glory of the Laser Bird, now is your time!
Passive – Carrion Renewal: Swain recoups some mana every time he kills an enemy.
Q – Decrepify: Swain sics his raven on a target enemy, slowing and dealing damage over time while they remain in range.
W – Nevermove: After a brief delay, Swain damages and roots all enemies in a small area.
E – Torment: Swain afflicts an enemy with Torment, dealing damage over time and causing them to take increased damage from him. Unlike most other damage amps, this also impacts true damage, like Ignite.
R – Ravenous Flock: Swain transforms into a giant raven, consuming increasing amounts of mana while transformed. In this state, he releases lesser ravens to damage enemies and return to heal Swain based on the damage they dealt.

NEWElise

Elise hasn’t changed too much over the years, but this older version put a lot more power into her Q spells. She is seriously bursty and an incredibly potent top laner with all her health-based damage. Make sure to stack some magic pen!
Passive – Spider Swarm: While in human form, abilities that hit enemies store a Spiderling, up to a cap. In spider form, Elise releases these Spiderlings to attack nearby enemies.
Q – Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite: In human form, Elise spits neurotoxin that deals bonus damage based on her target’s current health. In spider form, Elise and her Spiderlings lunge at an enemy and deal bonus damage based on their target’s missing health.
W – Volatile Spiderling / Skittering Frenzy: In human form, Elise releases a volatile spiderling that explodes on the first enemy it hits, dealing damage in an area. In spider form, Elise and her Spiderlings gain bonus attack speed and heal Elise on-hit.
E – Cocoon / Rappel: In human form, Elise fires a cocoon that stuns the first enemy it hits. In spider form, Elise and her Spiderlings rappel into the air, becoming untargetable. She can then re-cast Rappel to descend upon her choice of target.
R – Human Form / Spider Form: Elise transforms back and forth between human form and spider form. In human form she’s ranged. In spider form, she is melee and deals bonus damage on-hit.

Aatrox

We didn’t update Aatrox’s passive cooldown properly in the last patch and an unrelated bug slipped in that prevented him from doing anything with his ultimate-empowered attacks. We fixed the auto-attack bug with a day-1 micropatch but the cooldown change was tooltip only until now.
P – Blood Well
Cooldown: 225 ⇒ 225/200/175/150 (for real this time)
Q – Dark Flight
Failure to Land: Fixed a bug from 2013 where the ability would occasionally fail to affect enemies after max-range casts.
R – Massacre
Attacks: Fixed a bug where Aatrox’s basic attacks did nothing during his ultimate. (Fixed in a day-1 micropatch)

Amumu

With bug fixes and balance changes combined, Amumu has wound up as one of the game’s strongest junglers. We’re here to tap him back down to where a straightforward fast-farming jungler is meant to rest. We’re reverting some of our earlier buffs and pulling another one from history to bring down his team-wiping AoE power.
Passive – Cursed Touch
Magic Resistance Shred: 15 / 25 / 35 ⇒ 15 / 20 / 25 (Levels 1 / 7 / 13)
Q – Bandage Toss
Damage: 80 / 140 / 200 / 260 / 320 ⇒ 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280
R – Curse of the Sad Mummy
Cooldown: 150 / 130 / 110s ⇒ 170 / 145 / 120s

Evelynn

Evelynn has fallen off as time went on and now looks like one of the weaker junglers, so we’re here to give her a boost. We’re undoing her Hate Spike damage nerf to ensure she can keep up with everyone else.
Q – Hate Spike
Base Damage: 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 ⇒ 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120

Ezreal

AP Ezreal has never quite hit the mark so it’s time for buffs. As AD Ezreal is doing just fine, we’re delivering simple AP ratio buffs and playing up his healer alternate playstyle since it’s so unique to this version of the champion.
W – Essence Flux
Ability Power Ratio: 60% ⇒ 80%
Healing Effectiveness: 50% ⇒ 70%
E – Arcane Shift
Ability Power Ratio: 75% ⇒ 80%

Fiddlesticks

Fiddlesticks, like any good scarecrow, is outstanding in his field. Well, fields. He’s a great jungler and support, so we’re going to prune some power from both. With how much his E’s mana cost goes up with rank, we want to make sure ranking it is valuable, but he otherwise outputs too much damage too quickly.
E – Dark Wind
Damage per Bounce: 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 / 145 + 45% AP ⇒ 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 + 45% AP

Gangplank

Gangplank is still one of the game’s weakest top laners and junglers, so we’re back for more buffs. While some of these may feel a little scattershot, they’re all period-accurate buffs and reverted-nerfs from before his subsequent 2015 rework. The only novel changes here are to his base stats, where we hope to make him more resilient and allow him to play bruiser builds in addition to crit burst.
Base Stats
Base Health Regeneration: 5 ⇒ 7
Health per Level: 81 ⇒ 89
Passive – Grog-Soaked Blade
Maximum Stacks: 3 ⇒ 4
Q – Parrrley
Mana Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 ⇒ 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
R – Cannon Barrage
Cooldown: 120 / 115 / 110s ⇒ 120 / 110 / 100s

Janna

Janna has been an extreme top performer for a while so it’s time to bring her down to size. We aim to keep her global passive intact, but want to make sure it’s not so dominant that it crushes other lanes’ interactions.
Passive – Tailwind
Global Bonus Movement Speed: 3% ⇒ 2%

Mordekaiser

Mordekaiser had a few bugs when he came out last patch, and while we fixed many of them in a micropatch, some of them took a while. Here’s a full recounting of bugfixes from our micropatches and the ones coming out today.
Base Stats
Attack Timing: Attacks now come out approximately 70% faster. This was fixed about 1 week after his release
R – Children of the Grave
Pet Bonus Attack Damage: 75% of the target’s Attack Damage ⇒ 75% of Mordekaiser’s Attack Damage
Structure Crits: Pets no longer can critically strike structures.
Bonus Damage to Inhibitors and the Nexus: 75% (This was true in 2013, too!) ⇒ 0%

Nami

Nami didn’t make the cut for buffs in her initial patch but as time has gone on, she’s floundering. She doesn’t have any historical buffs or nerfs to key into before the Preseason Four support update, so we’re creating some novel changes. In the interest of experimentation, we’re playing up her ability to deal a lot of damage if she can land everything and optimize for it. And hey, how about Mid Nami?
Q – Aqua Prison
Damage: 75 / 130 / 185 / 240 / 295 + 65% AP ⇒ 90 / 145 / 200 / 255 / 310 + 100% AP
W – Ebb and Flow
Damage Reduction per Bounce: 30% ⇒ 15% (Healing reduction unchanged at 15%)

Olaf

Olaf hasn’t quite kept up with other top laners or junglers so we want to play up his strong sustained damage. As with most of our balance changes, we’re digging up changes from his 2011 and 2012 history.
W – Vicious Strikes
Bonus Attack Damage: 7 / 14 / 21 / 28 / 35 ⇒ 10 / 17 / 24 / 31 / 38
E – Reckless Swing
Cooldown: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5s ⇒ 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4s

Rammus

Rammus is the third of the top-performing junglers, so we’re digging up his past to bring him down to size. The armor nerf should do most of the heavy lifting here, as it impacts both his attack damage and W return damage.
Base Stats
Base Armor: 28.8 ⇒ 25
Attack Damage per Level: 3.5 ⇒ 2.75
Items
Health and Mana Potions
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where Health and Mana Potions had no buff text.
Shushei’s Mana Jug
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where Shushei’s Mana Jug triggered on Clone takedown.
Statikk Shiv
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where Statikk Shiv no longer procced for Kayle after using Righteous Fury (E).
Wit’s End
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where Wit’s End failed to maintain 4 stacks.
Posted in LoL

Worlds 2026 Quarterfinals Predictions: Can LYON and KC Save the West?

Posted on by Geekmandem

Eight teams are left at Worlds 2026, and two of them are flying the flag for the West. LYON are the last LCS side standing, Karmine Corp are the last LEC side standing, and both have been handed the sort of quarterfinal draw that you’d rather avoid at this stage: Gen.G for LYON, T1 for KC.


The rest of the West didn’t make it. Day 7 of the Swiss stage was brutal, with LØS knocking out Team Liquid and Hanwha Life ending G2’s run on the same day. That left LYON and KC to scrap through on the final day, and both did, finishing 3-2.


So can either of them actually pull it off? Here’s how we see both series going.

Gen.G vs LYON prediction

Worlds 2026 quarterfinals predictions
Image Riot Games

Wednesday 4 November, 23:00 CET


LYON’s Swiss run was a proper rollercoaster. They opened 2-0 with wins over Team Secret Whales and Karmine Corp, then dropped two on the bounce to Gen.G and Invictus Gaming. That left them in a do-or-die series against LØS on the final day.


And it nearly went wrong. LØS took Game 1 comfortably, and LYON won Game 2 without holding a gold lead at any point, not even when the Nexus went down. Then in Game 3 they threw away a lead of almost 3K gold and still clawed it back late.


The problem is who’s waiting. Gen.G went through the Swiss stage undefeated, and one of their three wins was a 2-1 over LYON in Round 3. So this is a rematch, and LYON already know what losing it feels like.


The good news for NA is that 2-1 isn’t a stomp. LYON took a game off Gen.G in a Bo3, and a Bo5 gives them more room to find a draft that works. The bad news is that LYON’s best moments at this tournament have come from coming back, and Gen.G don’t usually give you much to come back from.


Our call: Gen.G 3-1. LYON nick a game, probably off a scrappy late-game fight, but Gen.G are too clean to let a series slip twice.

T1 vs KC prediction

Worlds 2026 quarterfinals predictions
Image Riot Games

Friday 6 November, 23:00 CET

KC took the long way round, and they’ve made it to the final stage. They dropped back-to-back series to LYON and Bilibili Gaming in the middle of the Swiss stage, which had the Blue Wall sweating. Then they flipped it, beating CTBC Flying Oyster and Movistar KOI 2-0 each to book their place.

The MKOI series was the one that showed what this team can do under pressure. Though the two sides have become somewhat of an LEC rivalry of late, and KC have been the better of the two overall.

T1 are T1. They went 3-1 through the Swiss stage, and their only loss came against Dplus KIA, who also went unbeaten. They’re the team nobody wants in a Bo5, and they’ve got a long history of making Western teams look silly on the big stage.

Still, this KC team has more upset potential than LYON. Caliste and Yike just won a must-win series between them, and a team that’s spent a week playing elimination games won’t be fazed by the stakes.


Our call: T1 3-2. KC take this further than most people expect, but T1 in a deciding game is still the scariest thing in League.

Worlds 2026 quarterfinals schedule

All four quarterfinals are best-of-five at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, starting at 23:00 CET (17:00 ET).

DateMatch
Tuesday 3 NovemberTop Esports vs Invictus Gaming
Wednesday 4 NovemberGen.G vs LYON
Thursday 5 NovemberDplus KIA vs Bilibili Gaming
Friday 6 NovemberT1 vs Karmine Corp

The semifinals follow on 7 and 8 November in Allen, then the final moves to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on 14 November.

Mel Rework: Every Big Shift Before the 26.22 Midscope

Posted on by Geekmandem

Mel’s W is about to lose the one thing everyone hates about it. Patch 26.22 lands on November 4, and Riot is ripping the projectile reflect off Rebuttal for good. After nearly two years of trying to make it work.

So how did we get here? Mel has been under the microscope since she was released, but this next change will be the most impactful yet.

Launch week: nerfed before she settled on the Rift

Mel arrived in Patch 25.S1.2 in January 2025, fresh from Arcane and someone fans couldn’t wait to get to play. Riot reckoned she was a bit too strong and hotfixed her on January 25. Three days after release, cutting the AP ratio on her Overwhelm passive from 25% to 10% and trimming her execute ult.

Patch 25.4 followed with shorter W uptime and a weaker E root, then 25.8 handed back some base health as a little apology.

Patch 26.22 Preview for League of

Most banned, rarely picked

Mel spent most of 2026 as one of the weakest mids in the game while sitting near the top of the ban list. Riot’s 26.3 rework in February sped up her autos and stopped her reflecting area spells that weren’t aimed at her. Patch 26.8 in April went again, cutting her Q’s first hit to a max of 160 and pushing W’s cooldown out to 38 to 26 seconds.


By Patch 26.17, u.gg had her as a D-tier mid with a 45.07% win rate, 56th of 57 mid laners, and still banned in 20.1% of games. That ban rate was pure spite, honestly. Nobody wanted their Jhin Q fired straight back into their own face.

What Patch 26.22 changes

The new W still deletes incoming projectiles. But now it pops a nova that shields Mel and nearby allies, gives them a burst of movement speed and pings attackers for a bit of damage. Riot is also moving power out of her laning phase and into her late game, and reckons ditching the reflect lets them balance her at a higher baseline.

Translation: less lane bully, more teamfight mage. Her win rate will wobble for the first few days while everyone works her out, so check the Mel build once 26.22 goes live. Still getting bullied by her? Her counters page has you covered, and the tier list will show whether the midscope actually drags her out of D tier.

Patch 26.22 Preview – League of Legends

Posted on by Geekmandem

The League of Legends Patch 26.22 Preview is here. With Worlds now fully underway, LoL continues to move on with buffs and nerfs. Riot Phroxzon on X with the Patch 26.22 Preview. The key focus of this patch is Mel, who will get the start of a rework in Patch 26.22.

Champions

Mel’s mini-update will be Live on Patch 26.22
When we released Mel, we intentionally went for a new ability that was pretty ambitious; we like to try to push the boundaries with new champions and mechanics to give players new puzzles to solve with each release.
After being on Live for a while, it’s clear that many players feel that Mel’s reflect was too frustrating to play against.
There are things in League that are allowed to be frustrating, as that can create a feeling of triumph when overcoming it and challenging players to grow, but there are some things that are too frustrating even given those upsides.
Realistically, every champion should have something that they do uniquely that other players might feel is frustrating.
So we’re reworking Mel’s W to keep the feeling of destroying projectiles, but not have it hard counter some subsets of the roster.
We tried many versions of Mel’s W that tried to retain the reflect, but we couldn’t find one that would hit the mark for Mel players and would be satisfactory for opponents.
We know this is disappointing for Mel players and we’re sorry we couldn’t uphold this end of the contract with you all.
That said, we hope this will allow Mel to be balanced at relatively higher resting power levels and be more effective for Mel players.
Viktor’s nerfs last patch overshot a bit, but we’re happy with the power redistribution to make his mobility (base movespeed) a bit worse.
This emphasizes his weakness of walking around the map unassisted, but in return, pays for the power budget of his strong laning and good scaling.
As a result, we’re not looking to revert either of his patches from last patch but give him power back in some of that scaling power.

Locke

We’ve been trying to fine tune Locke’s strengths and weaknesses post release and don’t think it’s too far off.
One place we think is a bit off though is how much damage he gets, especially early from his Q, so there’s a decently sized nerf here (keep in mind that this stacks up to 3x and is increased by 40% for 3 stacks to be ~30 dmg nerf at max).
The other place that we think is a bit off is Locke’s W Movespeed.
This nerf will make the spell a bit more windowed while trying to retain satisfaction while it’s active and making it a bit more costly to spam while running around the map.
Shen is decently strong in Top lane and Support, but we also think his jungle could be a bit stronger too.
It’s a playstyle that players have found fun, so we’re throwing it a bit of a bone.
Rumble has been one of the strongest champs in Pro Play, but now that Pro Play patches are done, we’re giving him a bit of power, as it’s not like he’s overly strong in Elite play either.
There are a few Aurelion Sol players who enjoy maxing W second, but most ASol players max E second, even though it’s weaker.
This is mostly the intuitive thing to do, but is quite a bit weaker than the alternative.
In an ideal world, these would be balanced against each other so both playstyles feel powerful.

Systems

Overlord’s Bloodmail

Overlord’s Bloodmail has been pretty weak overall and it’s pretty hard bound to Sett as currently tuned.
We’re looking to try to buff this for other users who should be interested in an item that converts Health to Damage (Mundo, Sion), but some aspects of the item make it too Sett skewed [eg. the missing HP portion].

Doran’s Bow

Doran’s Bow has been a bit too strong relative to Doran’s Blade, especially at higher levels of play.
So we’re looking to balance out the relative tradeoffs of the items a bit.
We’re overall happy wtih the direction of how the tradeoffs are playing out though! Just that the magnitude is a bit off.
Posted in LoL

How to get every Worlds 2026 Twitch chat badge

Posted on by Geekmandem

Heartsteel, True Damage, Pentakill and K/DA each have their own global chat badge up for grabs, plus there’s a Worlds Supporter badge and an in-game goodie for anyone willing to part with a sub.

Watch any channel streaming in the League of Legends category for 30 minutes during each band’s window, and the badge is yours. It doesn’t need to be an official broadcast either, so any official co-streamer counts, the Worlds Broadcast or someone trying to get out of Iron at 3am.

Band badge schedule

  • Heartsteel: 15 October to 27 October
  • True Damage: 28 October to 6 November
  • Pentakill: 7 November to 12 November
  • K/DA: 13 November to 14 November

Heartsteel has been live since 15 October, so if you’ve had League on in the background at any point this week while watching Worlds, you likely have it. K/DA is the one to watch out for. It’s a two-day window, so you have the least amount of time to claim it.

Worlds 2026 Supporter badge

Worlds 2026 Twitch badges

Grab a new recurring sub or gift sub on the official LoL Esports channels, or on any participating co-streamer or broadcast partner, between 15 October and 14 November, and you’ll get the Worlds 2026 Supporter badge. Prime subs don’t count, so you are going to need to actually throw money at the broadcast.

That same sub also unlocks the first Worlds sub drop, an emote called Flex On Em. You’ll need your Riot account connected to Twitch, so sort that out before you sub rather than after. It’s labelled Part 1 as well, which suggests Riot has more sub drops lined up for later in the event.

Drops only progress on one stream at a time, so opening five League streams in separate tabs won’t speed anything up. Badges claim automatically once you’ve hit the requirement, and you can check your progress on the Drops Inventory page. After that, head into your Twitch chat settings to equip whichever badge you fancy flexing.

LoL Worlds 2026 Pick’Ems: Our Swiss Stage Picks

Posted on by Geekmandem

The Play-Ins are done, Karmine Corp is through, and Worlds 2026 moves to Allen, Texas, for the Swiss Stage. That means it’s time to lock in another set of Pick’Ems before the first game on October 23rd.

If you missed our first round of picks, the short version is that we called the winner, but how we got there wasn’t paved in points.

We can’t promise you a perfect card, but if there’s a matchup you keep flip-flopping on, maybe our picks can help settle it.

Worlds 2026 Pick’Ems dates

  • October 18th: Swiss predictions start.
  • October 23rd: Swiss predictions end (before the first match, so don’t leave it until the evening).
  • October 31st: Knockout predictions start.
  • November 3rd: Knockout predictions end.
  • November 14th: Worlds ends at the Barclays Center, and rewards are given out.

How the Swiss Stage works

Sixteen teams, up to five rounds. Win three, and you’re into the Knockouts; lose three, and you’re on the flight home. Round 1 is all Bo1s, and once a team is one win from qualifying or one loss from elimination, it turns into a Bo3.

No team plays the same opponent twice, and teams from the same region couldn’t meet in Round 1. After that, it’s anyone’s game.

Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage Round 1 matchups

  • Gen.G vs Invictus Gaming
  • Team Liquid vs CTBC Flying Oyster
  • Anyone’s Legend vs Karmine Corp
  • G2 Esports vs Dplus KIA
  • Hanwha Life Esports vs Top Esports
  • LOS vs T1
  • Team Secret Whales vs LYON
  • Bilibili Gaming vs Movistar KOI

Some interesting matches for sure, with the home region, North America, getting a nice start. For those in Europe, it was not so good. KC face AL, G2 Esports play Dplus Kia, and MKOI play Bilibili Gaming. So, any one of those winning in Round 1 would be a good look.

Our Swiss Stage picks

Worlds 2026 Swiss Pick’Ems

We have a few different picks to look for here. We need to select one side that will go through with a specific score (3-0, 3-1, 3-2); doing some correctly will net us bonus points. We then need to pick five other sides that will advance, regardless of score.

3-0 (Undefeated): Gen.G
3-1 (Comfy In): AL
3-2 (Close Call): G2 Esports

Also advancing:

  • T1
  • HLE
  • BLG
  • DK
  • Team Liquid

Matchups will be key for who goes through, but we think some wildcards could make it. Gen.G we think, are a good pick for 3-0, while AG.AL at 3-1 also feels safe. G2 at 3-2 is risky, but if they go through, that is the likely score, so why not.

Team Liquid, Lyon, KCorp, and MKOI could all make it, but it will come down to the literal luck of the draw. Invictus Gaming and Secrey Whales could also cause an upset. If we wanted to let our bias come forward, we would knock Liquid off and include KCorp. If there was ever a time for North America to do something, it would be on home soil. But, it would also be peak NA to totally collapse like Cloud9 already did.

Check back for the Knockout Stage pickems once the Swiss Stage concludes.