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.

Patch 26.21 Notes – League of Legends

Posted on by MaxLeveled

Patch 26.21 notes for League of Legends are here. (Source)

Replay Download Limits

Starting during Patch 26.21, replay downloads will be limited to 10 per hour. You will still be able to download your own replays, as well as replays from your friends and other players.

This change is necessary to prevent large-scale abuse of downloaded replays by bad actors using vibecoded apps to scrape thousands upon thousands of replays. We opted for a time-based limit to still allow creators to make content, while preventing mass exploitative downloads. We’ll continue to monitor how many replays are downloaded to ensure players have access to this important feature while preventing clear misuse.

Champions

We’ve kept the Emperor of the Sands’ mana pool pretty dry to make sure he needs to use soldier attacks properly for lane control early instead of just spamming [Q] Conquering Sands, but this is overly restrictive now that there are strong rank up incentives on his [W] Arise! We’re buffing his Mana Growth so he can more freely use his abilities to contest lane.
Base Stats
Mana Growth: 40/Level ⇒ 50/Level
Caitlyn’s been at a very high pick and ban rate for most players for months now despite adjustments to other marksmen and the bot meta, so it’s time to nerf her. We have felt that her late-game scaling has been too strong for a while now, so we’re moving some of her power from her eyepopping full build headshots into her early game Q damage to rebalance her power curve.

Passive – Headshot

Damage: 60 – 100% AD (+1% AD per 1% per Crit Chance) (+1% AD per 1% Bonus Crit Damage) ⇒ 60 – 80% AD (+0.8% AD per 1% per Crit Chance) (+0.8% AD per 1% Bonus Crit Damage)

Q – Piltover Peacemaker

Base Damage: 50 / 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 ⇒ 50 / 95 / 140 / 185 / 230
Darius has moved a bit too far away from being a persistently durable damage threat that needs to be kited to more of a one shot combo playstyle. Since he has some room for power, we’re giving him a slight boost so he can swing that axe more often in sustained fights.

Q – Decimate

Cooldown: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5s ⇒ 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 4s
Like her best friend Caitlyn, Jinx has been similarly dominant in the meta, even with the Hurricane nerf last patch. We’re slowing her roll to make it a tad harder to get her snowballing.
Base Stats
Attack Damage: 59 + 3.25/Level ⇒ 59 + 3/Level
Health: 630 + 105/Level ⇒ 610 + 105/Level
Lee Sin has continued to be extremely popular since his adjustments to how his [W] Safeguard cooldown works with allies. While we like the extra flexibility that has given him, it’s a bit too much power, so we’re nerfing the cooldown a bit along with a minor bug fix to how his E reveal works against invisible enemies and another small nerf to his [R] Dragon’s Rage damage.

W – Safeguard

Cooldown: 7s ⇒ 8s

E – Tempest

Bugfix: No longer reveals invisible enemies if they stealth after being hit by Tempest.

R – Dragon’s Rage

Kick Damage: 175 / 400 / 625 (+200% bonus AD) ⇒ 150 / 350 / 550 (+200% bonus AD)
Collision Damage: 175 / 400 / 625 (+200% bonus AD) (+12 / 15 / 18% Kicked Champion’s Health) ⇒ 150 / 350 / 550 (+200% bonus AD) (+12 / 15 / 18% Kicked Champion’s Health)

Locke

Locke’s been out for long enough now that we have a better picture of where he’s overly excelling and where he’s falling a bit short. Some of those areas are his extremely generous mana tuning and ability to shrug off harass, and we’re also refining his power curve by improving his scaling damage slightly, because he falls off a bit too fast if he’s not able to close out games early.
Base Stats
Mana Growth: 70 ⇒ 60

Q – Ritual Nails

Unused Charge Refund: 20 – 35% mana and cooldown refund ⇒ 10 – 40% mana and cooldown refund

W – Soul Ignition

Mana Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 ⇒ 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Grey Health Store Based on Current Health: 40 – 200 (both level based) ⇒ 20 – 200
Current Health Store: 150 – 450 (both level based) ⇒ 100 – 500 (+60% AP)

E – Ashen Pursuit

Blink Damage: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 (+40% AP) ⇒ 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 (+50% AP)
Miss Fortune has been in a relatively decent place throughout the year, but with the Hubris nerf this patch, we’re looking to compensate with a couple buffs to her damage output.

E – Make It Rain

Damage: 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 (+120% AP) ⇒ 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 / 210 (+120% AP)

R – Bullet Time

Critical Strike Damage: 130% (+0.3% per 1% Bonus Crit Damage) ⇒ 145% (+0.45% per 1% Bonus Crit Damage)
Our favorite huntress has been sitting at an extremely high winrate in high skill brackets, toeing the line into overpowered territory for some time now, even if she’s not currently meta. Now that we’re bringing down the power of some other powerful meta junglers like Lee Sin, we’re giving Nidalee a minor nerf to prevent her from getting out of paw.

W – Pounce

Damage: 55 / 88.75 / 122.5 / 156.25 / 190 (+50% bonus AD) (+30% AP) ⇒ 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+50% bonus AD) (+30% AP)

E – Primal Surge

Attack Speed: 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70% ⇒ 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60%
The boy and his yeti lost some power when we nerfed Hextech Rocketbelt earlier this year so that ranged mages weren’t just buying it for a dash to safety, so we’re restoring some of that damage elsewhere.

R – Absolute Zero

Maximum Damage: 625 / 925 / 1275 (+300% AP) ⇒ 750 / 1100 / 1450 (+300% AP)
We’re tapping up Orianna’s scalings to help her chunk a bit harder with her bread-and-butter combo in the late game without giving too much additional power to her laning phase.

Q – Command: Attack

Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+55% AP) ⇒ 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+60% AP)

W – Command: Dissonance

Damage: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+80% AP) ⇒ 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+85% AP)
Damage on Qiyana’s Q turned out to be a lot more impactful than we anticipated, so we’re partially reverting the buff we gave her back in 26.17.

Q – Elemental Wrath / Edge of Ixtal

Damage: 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+90% bonus AD) ⇒ 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 (+90% bonus AD)
While Nidalee’s winrate has been borderline overpowered in the high skill levels, Rammus has been rolling over pretty much everyone else, so he’s getting a light nerf too, ok?

W – Defensive Ball Curl

Bonus Armor: 27 / 32 / 37 / 42 / 47 (+30 – 60% Armor) ⇒ 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 (+30 – 50% Armor)
Bonus Magic Resistance: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (+30 – 60% Magic Resistance) ⇒ 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (+30 – 50% Magic Resistance)
After the significantly early game nerfs to Ryze in 26.19, he hasn’t been rewarded enough for succeeding when he does scale, so we’re buffing that.

Q – Overload

Flux Bonus Damage: 15% / 40% / 65% / 90% increased damage ⇒ 10% / 40% / 70% / 100% increased damage
Bonus Move Speed: 28% / 32% / 36% / 40% / 44% ⇒ 30% / 35% / 40% / 45% / 50%

W – Rune Prison

Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+60% AP) (+3% bonus mana) ⇒ 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+70% AP) (+3% bonus mana)
Our favorite unstoppable juggernaut is looking rather stoppable in recent patches. We’re giving him some buffs to his baseline durability and rewarding him when he succeeds at using his ult to GET IN THERE rather than run away.
Base Stats
Health: 655 + 87/Level ⇒ 655 + 95/Level

R – Unstoppable Onslaught

Damage Increase over the First 3s of Channeling: +0 – 166.67% Base Damage, 0 – 100% Ratio Damage ⇒ +0 – 200%
Bugfix: Tooltip now displays the correct minimum and maximum bonus AD ratios (40-120%). It displayed an incorrect Bonus AD Scaling (60%-120%). It was never actually changed in patch 25.16 beyond the tooltip.
Taliyah is one of a handful of mage junglers, and we think she can be better supported for meta diversity. We’re buffing her [E] Unraveled Earth damage to make it more satisfying to land her CC combo.

E – Unraveled Earth

Damage: 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+60% AP) ⇒ 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+70% AP)
Detonation Damage: 25 / 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 (+30% AP) ⇒ 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+30% AP)
Monster Damage: Deals 225% damage to monsters.
We’re smoothing out some of the rough edges in Taric’s kit to allow him to shine a bit more. Way back in the day, Taric’s W was adjusted to combat the popular Master Yi + Taric funnel strats. A consequence of this was that his spells would fizzle if they were cast at the same time that his bound ally became untargetable. We believe this harsh restriction to how his abilities function is no longer necessary given the existence of Role Quests, so we’re partially reverting this change so that spells now work on untargetable allies, though we are still keeping an existing exemption on [E] Dazzle for champions that disappear on screen because the gameplay is too unclear (sorry, Master Yi).

Q – Starlight’s Touch

Cast Behavior: Q casts when allies are untargetable will now successfully fire.

E – Dazzle

Cast Behavior: E casts when allies are untargetable will now successfully fire.
Tooltip: Updated to include “Dazzle will not cast from Vanished allies”.

R – Cosmic Radiance

Cast Behavior: R casts when allies are untargetable will now successfully fire.
Tristana’s early laning has devolved a bit into “Level 1 press [Q] and just auto attack to take complete control of the lane”, which is a pretty low gameplay and off flavor way for her to succeed. We’re hitting her early [Q] attack speed so she’ll have to work a bit harder before jumping on her foes.

Q – Rapid Fire

Attack Speed: 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 120% ⇒ 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120%
Alongside the Taric QoL changes, we’re giving Twisted Fate’s R the same treatment so he can reveal champs even if they’re untargetable at the time of activation.

R – Destiny

Reveal: Now reveals untargetable units.
In this set of changes, we’re mainly looking to snipe top lane Varus, where he tends to max W, unlike the more common Q max in bot. This won’t bring his [Q] Piercing Arrow back up to prior Lethality Varus levels of power, but we believe it will help a lot with our ability to tune him for bot lane. As a maxed ability, it also offers more gameplay to Varus and his opponents to interact with than some more passive damage on W.

Q – Piercing Arrow

Damage Calculation: Max Damage scaling, 53.33 – 240 (+80% bonus AD) to 80 – 360 (+120% bonus AD) ⇒ Min Damage scaling, 50 – 230 (+80% bonus AD) to 85 – 391 (+136% bonus AD)
Damage Increase over Channel Time: Up to 50% ⇒ Up to 70%

W – Blighted Quiver

On-Hit Damage: 4 / 13 / 22 / 31 / 40 (+15% bonus AD) (+25% AP) ⇒ 4 / 10 / 16 / 22 / 28 (+20% bonus AD) (+30% AP)
Per Stack Damage: 3 – 5% (+1.3% per 100 AP) Target Maximum Health ⇒ 2.5 – 4.5% (+1.4% per 100 AP) Target Maximum Health
Active Missing Health Damage: 6 – 14%, increased by up to 50% based on Q Channel ⇒ 6 – 10%, increased by up to 70% based on Q Channel
Basic Ability Cooldown Refund: 13% per stack, increased by up to 50% based on Q Channel ⇒ 11%, increased by up to 70% based on Q Channel
Vel’Koz has been a fairly quiet pick this year, having little presence or meta impact in mid and support. We’re looking to give him a little bit of help by rewarding him for landing his combos.

Passive – Organic Deconstruction

Damage: 35 – 180 (+60% AP) ⇒ 35 – 205 (+65% AP)

Q – Plasma Fission

Cooldown: 7s ⇒ 6s
It’s time for the Glorious…Devolution. It seems Viktor has evolved past the point of exploitable weaknesses, so we’re opening that up a bit by making him slightly more vulnerable in early game skirmishes and across the board.
Base Stats
Move Speed: 335 ⇒ 330

Q – Siphon Power

Shield: 40 – 140 (based on level) (+25% AP) ⇒ 30 – 130 (+20% AP)
Shield Uptime: 2.5s ⇒ 2s
Like Lee and Qiyana, Wukong has been a meta staple whirlwind of a force in the jungle for a while now. We’re looking to tap down his strength in the jungle while compensating for lane Wukong.
Base Stats
Health Regeneration: 3.5 + 0.65/Level ⇒ 5.5 + 0.65/Level

Passive – Stone Skin

Armor per Stack: 6 – 10 (based on Champion Level) ⇒ 4.5 – 10 (based on Champion Level)
Following Sundered Sky’s nerfs, we feel like Xin Zhao has room for buffs to both his AD Bruiser and AS focused builds, so we’re helping out his scalings.

Q – Three Talon Strike

Damage per Strike: 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 (+40% bonus AD) ⇒ 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 (+45% bonus AD)

E – Audacious Charge

Attack Speed Scaling: 1% per 5% bonus Attack Speed from permanent sources ⇒ 1% per 4% bonus Attack Speed from permanent sources
The last changes to Yone successfully got him to start considering crit in his first item purchases, but also put him at a somewhat unsustainable power level. We are giving him a moderate nerf to bring him down a bit.

Q – Mortal Steel

Damage: 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 (+110% AD) ⇒ 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 (+105% AD)
Like Vel’koz, Zyra has had relatively little impact in the meta as tanks and enchanter supports have reigned supreme. We’re giving Zyra a greener thumb this patch to help her combat the forces trampling over her plants.

W – Rampant Growth

Seed Ammo Cooldown: 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10s ⇒ 16 / 14.5 / 13 / 11.5 / 10s

Items

Bastionbreaker

Bastion Breaker was buffed into being a bit of a generic stat stick in order to give it a proper swing in the meta. Now, we’re nerfing that generic power with a QoL improvement to keep it a satisfying item in its niche.

Lethality: 22 ⇒ 18
Shaped Charge Damage: 50 Melee + 1.5/Lethality / 25 Ranged + 0.75/Lethality ⇒ 40 Melee + 1.5/Lethality / 20 Ranged + 0.75/Lethality
Sabotage Duration: 90s ⇒ Infinite
Sabotage Duration Context: This is how long you have to use the bonus damage against objectives.

Dawncore

Dawncore is the enchanter capstone that isn’t, and currently only Soraka picks it up. Even when other supports get to full build, they often prefer other purchases. We’re buffing its AP value to make it less purely bound to Healing and Shielding.

Ability Power per 100% Base Mana Regeneration: 10 ⇒ 15

Gluttonous Greaves

The greaves are overperforming for marksmen, even when getting very few stacks, so we’re hitting it with a nerf to its cost to delay early acquisitions from getting too much value.

Total Cost: 1000g ⇒ 1100g

Hubris

While Hubris has been a bit weak for melee champions, it’s clearly been overperforming for ranged users. We’re delineating between the two now to encourage melees and disincentivize ranged users from building it.

Base Bonus Attack Damage: 12 ⇒ 15 Melee / 10 Ranged
Bonus Attack Damage per Stack: 3 ⇒ 3 Melee / 2 Ranged
League of Legends Classic

Classic Patch Notes

NEWMordekaiser

Mordekaiser is back with his kit from 2010-2015! Would you like to eat every single possible minion wave, plus both your and your enemy’s Wraith camps? Mordekaiser is the champion for you. All his abilities cost health, but damaging enemies generates a shield, so you can keep fighting no matter how low you go. And when it’s time to win a fight, your ultimate can turn it into a 6v4. Beat them with their own AD Carry!
Passive – Iron Man
Mordekaiser converts damage dealt by his abilities into a decaying shield.
Q – Mace of Spades
Mordekaiser’s next attack damages multiple nearby enemies. If his target is isolated, he deals extra damage to them.
W – Creeping Death
Mordekaiser buffs an ally with a swarm of shrapnel that grants bonus armor and MR and damages nearby enemies over time.
E – Siphon of Destruction
Mordekaiser deals magic damage to enemies in a cone. That’s it. That’s the tooltip.
R – Children of the Grave
Mordekaiser curses an enemy champion, dealing damage over time and stealing their stats. If the target dies while cursed, Mordekaiser raises their spirit as a controllable ghost.

NEWYorick

Ghostman yannik cannot compete to mojo style master yu, but he can do the babushka trick to make him double the champion and unleash omen of smell and omen of battle. If that didn’t make any sense to you, you missed out on an all-timer of a forum post. Yorick is back to his original version from 2011-2016, summoning ghouls with every ability he casts and cloning or temporarily reviving his teammates. If you want a quick jumpstart to playing Yorick to his frustratingly immovable best, consider maxing Omen of Famine and getting an early Chalice of Harmony so that you’ll never run out of mana as you constantly drain your opponents and heal while doing so.
Passive – Unholy Covenant
Yorick takes reduced damage and his attacks deal bonus damage for every summon he has active. This counts his Q, W, E, and R.
Q – Omen of War
Yorick’s next attack deals bonus damage and summons a Spectral Ghoul. Spectral Ghouls have bonus attack damage and movement speed, and give Yorick bonus movement speed while they live.
W – Omen of Pestilence
Yorick summons a Decaying Ghoul in an explosion that damages and slows all nearby enemies. Decaying Ghouls continue to slow enemies around them.
E – Omen of Famine
Yorick summons a Ravenous Ghoul, damaging an enemy and healing himself in the process. Ravenous Ghouls heal Yorick every time they attack an enemy.
R – Omen of Death
Yorick conjured the revenant of an allied champion, who can attack for a portion of their total attack damage. If the ally dies while the revenant is active, they are temporarily revived to fight at full power.

NEWHecarim

Hecarim was released in 2012 and hasn’t changed that much over the years, only undergoing some minor mechanical updates to his Q and W. Overall, he goes fast, dives in, and has strong sustained damage while galloping alongside his foes.
Passive – Warpath
Hecarim is ghosted and gains Attack Damage based on his bonus Move Speed.
Q – Rampage
Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies. If he hits an enemy with it, the cooldown of the next cast will be reduced.
W – Spirit of Dread
Hecarim damages nearby enemies over time and heals based on damage dealt to enemies in the area.
E – Devastating Charge
Hecarim gains Move Speed and causes his next attack to deal bonus damage and knock the target back.
R – Onslaught of Shadows
Hecarim charges forward, summoning spectral riders that damage enemies they hit. Hecarim inflicts fear on all nearby enemies when ending his charge.

NEWLucian

Lucian is the newest champion to grace League Classic, as he was released in the back half of 2013, but we couldn’t release a bunch of Shadow Isles champions without having our old pal back to keep them in check. There are a few small differences to Lucian here compared to the one you may have played recently. Most notably, he has 550 attack range, which makes him an extremely potent laner.
Passive – Lightslinger
After casting an ability, Lucian’s next attack fires twice.
Q – Piercing Light
Lucian fires a piercing shot that damages enemies in a line.
W – Ardent Blaze
Lucian fires a cross-shaped missile that damages and marks enemies. Damaging marked enemies gives Lucian bonus move speed.
E – Relentless Pursuit
Lucian dashes and removes all slows affecting him. Unlike the modern version of this spell, it doesn’t reset his attack timer and its cooldown is only refreshed by champion kills during his R.
R – The Culling
Lucian rapidly fires shots in a straight line. He can move and cast Relentless Pursuit while firing.

Aatrox

Aatrox isn’t doing so well, especially in top lane, so we’re delivering some level-scaling buffs and overall tankiness buffs to help top lane more than jungle. These are buffs from 2014 and 2015, before his first minor rework in 2017.
Passive – Blood Well
Cooldown: 225s ⇒ 225 / 200 / 175 / 150s (Levels 1 / 6 / 11 / 16)

Irelia

Say it with me now, “Better nerf Irelia!” Indeed, she’s come out too powerful, so we’re here to bring her down to size. We’re making her weaker by reverting some buffs from back in 2012, making her less outright durable and forcing her to rely on her high mobility and clever target selection. We’re also adjusting her passive to stack with Mercury Treads like it used to, which is a nerf whenever she builds Tenacity items.
Base Stats
Base Health: 546 ⇒ 515
Health Regeneration: 8.15 ⇒ 6.5
Passive – Ionian Fervor
Stacking with Tenacity Items: Additive ⇒ Multiplicative

Karma

Karma is doing poorly, especially in support. As we want her to be viable in both of her primary roles in mid and support, we’re delivering buffs especially skewed toward her low-income role. We’re also delivering a large buff to Spirit Bond, as it can be rather hard to use on teammates.
Q – Heavenly Wave
Damage: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 / 270 ⇒ 85 / 125 / 165 / 205 / 245 / 285
Base Mantra Heal: 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 ⇒ 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 / 150
W – Spirit Bond
Base Damage: 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 / 305 ⇒ 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 / 260 / 300
Move Speed: 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20% ⇒ 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20%

Kassadin

Kassadin has continued to be one of the more-banned champions but at this point, it’s clear he just isn’t his old 90% ban rate self. So we’re reverting every nerf we gave him ahead of launch. Go forth and enjoy your full power self! Make your enemies regret leaving him up!
Q – Null Sphere
Base Damage: 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 ⇒ 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280
Silence Duration: 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2s ⇒ 1 / 1.4 / 1.8 / 2.2 / 2.6s
R – Riftwalk
Ability Power Ratio: 70% ⇒ 80%

Items

Atma’s Impaler

This patch we’re continuing to relive the glory days by returning peak Atma’s Impaler, as it hasn’t had the same impact it historically used to.

  • Critical Strike Chance: 15% ⇒ 18%
  • Maximum Health to Bonus Attack Damage Conversion: 1.5% ⇒ 2%

K/DA FIRESTARTER Release as Band Make Surprise Return Ahead of Schedule

Posted on by Geekmandem

We had a feeling K/DA would be making a return at Worlds 2026. But with even more leaks now starting to show up, Riot Games has had to bring forward the reveal ahead of a likely Grand Final showing.

Remember Watch Me, the track that tipped everyone off in the first place? Turns out it wasn’t the lead single after all, but the second track of the EP. So, the leaks were correct, but I guess Riot Games gets the last laugh by having it as the backup track.

K/DA FIRESTARTER

So, surprise, they are back. The band is back together, and the virtual League of Legends group has new music. The new track is a return with a bang, and certainly fits with the band’s other tracks. The video also debuts a new look (so look forward to buying those skins soon). Red is a prominent motif in the outfits alongside black, with the two contrasting well to make each of the four characters stand out. What’s always so impressive is that, even with the more grown-up, human-looking designs, you can still tell what League of Legends character they are.

As is the style with this genre of music, it mixes languages throughout, with each member of the group getting a dedicated solo section. The latter half of the video sees the characters change look, so that’s the prestige skins sorted.

K/DA Firestarter
Image Credit – Riot Games

Going by the leaks from earlier this year, Ahri is getting an Ultimate skin with four forms. Akali is down for a Legendary, Evelynn gets an Epic plus a Prestige, and Kai’Sa gets an Epic. Riot hasn’t confirmed any tiers or a release date yet, but reports point towards Patch 26.22 in early November. Start hoarding that Mythic Essence now. We’ll have more on that later.

The new track features returning vocalists Miyeon and Soyeon of i-dle, who previously provided the voices for K/DA characters Ahri and Akali, respectively. Canadian singer Sophie Powers is the new voice of Evelynn, and British singer Mimi Webb takes over as Kai’Sa. The music video was made in partnership with Fortiche, known for their work on the Arcane series.

K/DA Firestarter is the first track in six years by the band, with the EP set to be released on October 21st, featuring four tracks:

  • FIRESTARTER
  • WATCH ME
  • NEVER GOING BACK
  • GIRLS (with DJ Sona)

DJ Sona makes a return, having not been seen since the 2015 reveal of the skin. For those into physical media, CDs and vinyls of the EP will be released.

League Classic is going back in the box in January 2027

Posted on by Geekmandem

Bad news for everyone who’s spent the last few months reliving their Season 1 glory days. League Classic has an end date, and it’s a lot sooner than many expected. Riot’s Meddler and Pabro dropped a fresh /dev post today confirming the mode will stick around until the end of Season 3. After that, it wraps up its current run in January 2027.

Riot wants to bring Classic back down the line, most likely as an event mode with some tweaks and new bits added on top. But it does feel like Riot has done Classic as a test of “Classic LoL was better”, and they’ve proven it isn’t. It’s basically their “You think you do, but you don’t”.

Why is League Classic ending?

Put simply, most people have wandered back to modern League and the modes associated with it. Classic had a massive honeymoon period when it launched in the summer, but Riot says the bulk of players have since drifted off to other modes. In some regions, that’s left Classic queues painfully long, and when you do get a game, the MMR gaps can be pretty brutal. Nobody wants to wait 10 minutes to get matched with someone three ranks above them.

Riot also teased a deeper breakdown later on, covering what they nailed, where they reckon they could have gone even more old school, and where sticking too closely to the past actually held the mode back. That last one should be a fun read.

Queue windows are coming to some regions

If you’re in a region where Classic’s population has dipped hard, you’re getting windowed queues. That means you can only queue up during set hours (server time):

RegionsWhen you can queue
Korea, LAN, LAS, Taiwan, Vietnam, Turkey, SEA, Oceania, RussiaMon to Fri: 4 pm to midnight. Sat to Sun: 10 am to 1 am
Japan (JP1), MENA (ME1)Custom matches only from patch 26.21

Custom games stay open around the clock in every region, so if you’ve got nine mates willing to relive 2011 with you at 3 am, go for it. Riot says to keep an eye on the patch notes for any changes to the windows.

What’s happening with the Battle Pass and store?

The Act II Classic Battle Pass lands in patch 26.21, and it’s a single free track. No premium version this time around.

From 26.21 onwards, the Classic store gets trimmed down to just champions, runes and rune pages. Riot is also refunding any Classic-specific content you bought that won’t be usable anymore, with the details on Riot’s support site.

New (old) champions are still on the way

Riot isn’t just letting Classic quietly fade out; they’re still pumping champions into it right up until the end.

Patch 26.20 already brought in Irelia, Karma, Quinn, Aatrox and Caitlyn. Then 26.21 adds Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hecarim and Lucian. Riot will keep adding champs every patch through 26.23, and that includes Volibear, Urgot and Udyr, the top three picks from the most recent Council vote. So if you were one of the people spamming votes for OG Udyr, your time has come.

Riot also gave a shoutout to everyone who’s been playing, voting and leashing for their junglers like it’s 2011 again, which is a nice touch. Get your Classic games in while you can, because come January, it’s back to the present.

Patch 26.21 Preview – League of Legends

Posted on by Geekmandem

The League of Legends Patch 26.21 Preview is here. While we’ve not even started Worlds yet, this is the first “post-Worlds patch”. Riot Phroxzon on X with the Patch 26.21 Preview.

League of Legends Patch Preview 26.21

Champions

Lee and Qiyana have been 2 of the strongest junglers, especially in higher levels of play and especially in certain regions.
We’re nerfing here, but also (especially in Qiyana’s case) being mindful of not double nerfing too hard with the Bastionbreaker nerfs also in the patch.
Yasuo and Yone have been picking up Shieldbow first a lot more and it’s been looking pretty strong on them.
Overall, we’re pretty supportive of this as feeling like their passive can kick in early feels great for their fantasy.
Secondly, having access to early lifesteal in lane, (eg. with vamp scepter for bork) makes their lane play lower quality.
Finally, it’s good to open up structural weaknesses for them before they complete first item, but allow them to be quite strong when they get there (and have power in durability vs straight up “kill you power”).
Taric is getting back the ability to have Q and R apply to untargetable allies.
TF ult now reveals untargeable units (eg. Yuumi W, Master Yi Q, Hexgate, etc.).
Overall, we don’t really think Viktor needs a major nerf here and the pattern of his long range hard to dodge poke is always going to be frustrating.
We think that’s a pattern that’s worth preserving for Viktor and something that his players really enjoy about him.
We think making his weakness more apparent (his inability to move around the map and weakness to ganks), while preserving his strengths is an appropriate way to keep players holistically happy without reducing Viktor’s satisfaction overall.
We’re opting to nerf Yone this patch, but not Yasuo, as while Yasuo rates highly on banrate, Yone is showing up significantly higher on our frustration surveys.
Players are also more likely to play against a competent Yone than a Yasuo, so that factors into the overall perception of how powerful he is.

Locke

Locke has overall landed pretty well
One area we think is a bit off is his mana costs and how little consequences there are when he messes up.
We do like his ability to have pop off moments and really high burst when he can meet his success conditions, but it should feel more risky when he messes up (eg. poor usage of W’s and spells in general).
We’re intending this to be an relatively power neutral adjustment and incentivizing Locke to rank up E second and have a higher amount of power in landing E1 (his W second is more powerful in many cases).
Posted in LoL

LoL Worlds 2026 Pick’Ems: Predictions and Crystal Ball

Posted on by Geekmandem

LoL Worlds 2026 Pick’Ems are here ahead of Worlds 2026. This time, the Crystal Ball adds another layer to the event, with even more rewards.

As always with Worlds, we, as players, get the chance to make our Pick’Ems for a selection of rewards. This year, a perfect set of Pick’Ems will even net you every single Ultimate Skin as a reward.

To help you on that adventure, we’ve picked our Pick’Ems, to help you judge your calls. We’re not going to guarantee a win here, but if there is a choice you’re not too sure about, maybe we can help guide it.

Worlds 2026 Pick’Ems

World 2026 teams
Image Credit – Riot Games

Pick’Ems are broken down into three sets. Play-Ins, Swiss, and Knockouts. The Play-Ins stage ends on October 15th, so make sure to get those picks in soon. Here is the breakdown of the dates.

  • October 10th: Pick’Ems and Crystal Ball start.
  • October 15th: Crystal Ball and Play-In predictions end.
  • October 18th: Swiss predictions start.
  • October 23rd: Swiss predictions end.
  • October 31st: Knockout predictions start.
  • November 3rd: Knockout predictions end.
  • November 14th: Worlds ends, and rewards are given out.

Here are our Play-ins picks.

UB – Semifinals – FUR vs MVK – FUR and C9 vs KC – C9

UB – Finals – C9

LB – Semifinals – KC

LB – Finals – KC

Finals – KC

Overall, we think KC will take it. Looking at the data and what other people are suggesting, this is likely the result. C9 will have the home crowd buff, which is why we think they beat KC the first time, but KC will come into the Grand Final off the back of two wins, and then get revenge on C9.

Here are our Swiss Stage picks.

We’ll update these on October 18th.

World 2026 Anthem Released Featuring True Damage and Faker

Posted on by Geekmandem

Riot Games has dropped “Know My Name”, performed by True Damage, alongside the official Worlds music video on the League of Legends YouTube channel. The track is also out now on all the major streaming platforms.

It’s True Damage’s first release since “GIANTS” back in 2019, and it’s a first for Worlds too. “Know My Name” is the 13th Worlds anthem, but it’s the first time Riot has handed the job to one of its own virtual artists.

Worlds 2026 Anthem

The video follows Faker on the road to T1’s historic three-peat. It isn’t just a highlight reel of trophy lifts either, with Riot promising a look at the setbacks he had to battle through to get there.

True Damage will perform “Know My Name” at the Worlds 2026 Final Opening Ceremony at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on 14 November. Before that, Worlds gets underway with the Play-In Stage in Los Angeles on 15 October.

League of Legends Mayhem Set 3 Keeps Popular Game Mode Thriving With New Augments and Pass

Posted on by Geekmandem

Mayhem Set 3 is set to continue the dominance of the game mode within the wider LoL framework. While Mayhem was supposed to be temporary, it has turned into a major pillar of what’s on offer within League of Legends. A client that is starting to become its own small game collection.

Set drops with patch 26.20, bringing loads of new augments to the game, alongside a new pass full of cosmetics. Unlike the pass used by the main game, the Mayhem pass will be free, though much shorter as a result.

LoL Mayhem Set 3 New Augments

The key part of any new Mayhem set is the Augments that come with the game. So let’s take a look at the new ones for Set 3. Note that these are from before the official release, so exact wording might change.

Prismatic

  • Big Shot (Damage) gives you 35% Critical Strike Damage and 25% bonus Attack Damage. 75% of your Attack Speed is converted into Critical Strike Damage.
  • Totentanz (Utility) gives you A Dance with Death, which lets you blink forward and become Unkillable. You need to earn a champion takedown within 5 seconds, or you die.
  • Bouncing Bees (Damage) makes your next auto attack after using an ability bounce to the nearest enemy. Quest: bounce auto attacks onto enemy champions. Reward: +30 AD and an extra bounce per Quest Level.
  • Group Hug (Ally) means healing or shielding an allied champion with “spell” also heals or shields 2 more allied champions.
  • Mosh Monster (Resilience, Utility) gives you bonus Health and champion size and slows nearby enemies when you use “spell”. Takedowns permanently increase this effect.
  • Third Times the Harm (Damage) makes every third consecutive attack against an enemy champion deal true damage and permanently increases the damage dealt by this effect.

The prismatic Augments are the big ones, and there’s an interesting selection that mostly focuses on damage. Totentanz is the most interesting; it added a level of jeopardy alongside the positive.

In Gold and Silver Augments, there are way too many to just list, so here are some highlights.

Gold

  • BEES!!! (Utility, Damage) Makes your next ability hit against an enemy champion periodically launch a hive of Bees that explodes, slowing and dealing magic damage for a short duration. Bees apply on-hit effects.
  • Get Jinxed (Damage) gives you Get Jinxed, letting you ride a rocket that explodes after hitting an enemy, structure or wall. Enemies within the blast radius take significant damage.
  • Heavy Is The Crown (General) grants increased Attack Damage, Ability Power and Attack Speed for every takedown, but greatly decreases your Move Speed. This effect is reduced on death.
  • Take’em Down Down Down (Damage) makes attacks and abilities deal bonus magic damage and apply stacks to enemy champions. At max stacks, your next attack deals even more magic damage and heals you for the damage dealt.
  • Enchanting Butterflies (Damage) builds up Butterflies around you when you heal or shield allied champions. After collecting 7, damaging an enemy champion fires all of them to deal adaptive damage.

Silver

  • Ultimate Recursion (Utility) gives you 50 Ultimate Haste.
  • Lonely Warrior (Resilience) gives Attack Speed, Armour and Magic Resist for every nearby enemy champion.
  • Fruitify (Utility) makes the slain champion explode into fruit when you score a takedown. Fruit heals and restores Mana.

Mayhem Set 3 Pass

The Mayhem Set 3 pass will come with a few free rewards, icons, Orange Essence and Superstar Fame. The event will also lean into the True Damage and music theme. We’ll share the full details once the patch is live and the news is official.