League Arena’s New Augment Levels Could Change Every Mid-Game Draft

Posted on by Geekmandem

Since Arena was added back to League of Legends, it’s been a popular mode for players looking for something different. In recent weeks, Riot has teased some major changes to the mode, as it looks to capitalise on the popularity.

The headline change is the new Augment Levels system. Augments can now be levelled up from 1 to 3 tiers mid-match, with some reaching a Keystone effect at max level, unlocking entirely new passive abilities on top of their base kit. Over 30 augments debut with the levelling system, including fan favourites like Glass Cannon, Final Form, and Speed Demon. Once you’ve got two levelable augments, you’ll start being offered level-ups in place of new augments, fundamentally shifting how you think about the mid-game draft.

“Once you reach the maximum number of augments, you’ll only be offered augment levels or the ability to tier up an existing augment, allowing you to remove one and select another that is one tier higher.”

It’s a system that opens up a new layer of decision-making: do you spread wide with a varied augment kit, or go deep on two or three synergistic picks and push them to their Keystone potential? The answer will likely differ every game.

New Guests of Honor, maps, and a revamped schedule

Sixteen new Guests of Honor join the roster this season, including Atakhan, Kindred, Shaco, Morgana, and Taric. Each brings a unique passive effect that shapes how the entire lobby plays. Two favourites have also been reworked: Swain now rewards the last teams standing with a prismatic stat anvil at the halfway point. At the same time, Katarina now runs augment tier-ups alongside new offerings during her reign.

On the map front, the new Petricite Grove joins the rotation, a Demacian-themed arena scattered with unexploded mining bombs that roll and detonate on impact, adding an environmental hazard element to positioning. The existing Ancestral Woods and Koipond maps have also been reworked with new interactive elements.

Arena level up

The season’s event schedule is designed to keep Arena fresh well beyond launch:

  • 26.9 Arena Season 2 Launch: No event, time to learn the new systems
  • 26.10 3×6 Arena: Three players per team, six teams total, wider champion diversity
  • 26.13 Bravery: Limited champion select, embrace the random, adapt and conquer
  • 26.14 Swift Arena: Back to 2v2v2v2, faster games, familiar opponents

You can see a full breakdown in the Riot Arena patch notes.

ARAM and Mayhem Changes Come to the Bridge

While Arena is the focus for this patch, ARAM Mayhem remains the most popular mode outside of standard League of Legends. As such, it’s also getting some love in 26.9.

ARAM Changes:

ARAM’s changes in 26.9 are more focused than Arena’s but still carry a meaningful impact. Hubris has been a dominant component of assassin and snowball-heavy champions for some time. Both the Attack Damage (60 → 55) and Ability Haste (15 → 10) have been trimmed, nudging the item down a tier without gutting its identity.

ARAM Mayhem Changes:

Bard receives a quality-of-life boost to his Caretaker’s Shrine. Both the Move Speed bonus and its AP scaling have gone up, and the shrine’s ammo cooldown drops from 10 to 8 seconds, making him a more reliable and rewarding pick on a map that heavily punishes slow shrine placement. Ornn’s Living Forge passive cooldown now scales with level (90 down to 10 seconds at max), making him far more useful in ARAM’s shorter game times, where the default 120-second cooldown often felt punishing.

  • Health Relic: The AoE heal on pickup has been increased from 16% to 22% missing health and mana
  • Prom Queen: Cooldown increased from 25 to 35 seconds.
  • Grandma’s Chili Oil: Base damage per second goes up (100 → 150), while the bonus damage per burn source and all healing values are reduced.
  • Upgrade Sword of Blossoming Dawn: The 50% bonus damage to basic attacks against champions has been removed entirely

Overall, it’s a patch focused on Arena, while making meaningful changes to ARAM. The changes to Bard and Orn seem the most standout. Something that maybe needs looking at for other champions that struggle to adapt to the flow of ARAM’s quicker game time.

Riot’s Discord Integration Lets You Invite Friends Without Alt-Tabbing

Posted on by Geekmandem

Riot Games and Discord have put into Beta a major integration between the two platforms. For those on the Beta, you’ll see an increased level of information about what your friends are doing if they are playing Riot games.

The process is incredibly easy, and the payoff is pretty decent. Link your accounts, and you can invite your Discord friends straight into your party without ever alt-tabbing. You can also copy a lobby link and drop it directly into your server, which honestly should have existed ages ago.

Once linked, you’ll also be able to see which of your Discord friends actually play Riot games, so no more “wait, are you on this account or that one?”

Riot Games and Discord

It’s rolling out in a few regions first while they iron out any bugs, so if your region isn’t live yet, you can still link your accounts now, and the features will just pop up once it reaches you. Discord integration is currently available for League and VALORANT, with more games coming down the line.

Riot Games and Discord

To get set up, you can link through the game client, Discord itself, or your Riot account page. Overall, it looks like a fairly simple process that isn’t too intrusive. It will likely still have some annoying problems, such as friends with multiple accounts or multiple Discords, but that’s their problem.

Discord continues to cater to the gaming community, and this is the next step in that. For those who remember Xfire, Discord is becoming more and more a modern version of that, mixed with TeamSpeak.

Riot Games and Discord

Patch 26.11 Preview – League of Legends

Posted on by Geekmandem

The 26.11 patch preview for League of Legends is out. As Season 2 has now been with us for a few weeks. Just six champion changes in Patch 26.11, with Keystones the main priority. From @RiotPhroxon on X Source.

Champion Changes

AP Xin Zhao has popped out as one of the most striking and fun champs, but his healing is a bit on the high side, especially when he’s outhealing some of the champs designed around healing.
That said, we still think healing a bunch is exciting and worth supporting, just not at this magnitude.
– Brand Botlane and Smolder have both benefitted from Deathfire Touch
– While we are making changes to the Deathfire Touch interaction that will affect Smolder, we still think he will be too strong after these changes
– The changes to Smolder are targeted at also making his squishy Crit builds more optimal so he is more assailable later in the game
– After the minion changes in the previous patch, Heimer’s turrets are a bit worse for wear
– We’re giving him a feelsgood QOL change so that his turrets aren’t killed by ranged minions without being able to attack back
– Despite being 550 range on paper, 550 range champions (which are most of them) will still be able to outrange turrets at max range due to the way this range is calculated
– In addition, there is a small increase to the E vision duration so that the Beam actually manages to fire before losing vision in some cases
– For Teemo, he is one of the more powerful Top laners, while also being on the higher end of frustration
– He is also receiving a small buff to Statikk Shiv this patch and so we’re compensation nerfing him with an intent for this to be lightly power down

System Changes

Deathfire Touch

– We’re adjusting Deathfire Touch this patch to deal Magic Damage
– Part of the impetus for this is how strong the synergy is with Black Cleaver and in addition, it feels like more of a magic coded effect
– So we think this strikes a reasonable balance of fantasy fulfilment and practical balance considerations
– Otherwise, we think Deathfire Touch is in a pretty reasonable spot
  • With the role quests in Season Start, ranged supports have risen to the top of the pecking order.
  • They’re both the best at multiplying ADCs who are strong currently, as well as benefiting the most from being in lane for role quests.
  • Roaming also pays a higher systemic cost as it puts both you behind on quest progress and makes it so your ally ADC can’t stack their quest.
  • Overall, this has been desirable, as we think in 2025, roaming was too high for the most part and especially undercut the satisfaction of players in bot lane wanting to a play a “real laning phase.”
  • At the same time, though, we do want to open up a bit of roaming power on the grub timing after the early lane is done, and so we’re buffing up the reward of grubs just slightly.
  • We’re making a broad set of changes to both improve the desirability of some underpurchased items, as well as more finely tune the purpose of various items in the ecosystem.
  • Other systems adjustments in this patch are changes to Experimental Hexplate that aim to make it shine on both melee and ranged users.
  • Currently, the best users are champs like Nocturne, Olaf, Vayne, Varus, and we think we can strike a better balance on more champions while also making the item trade-offs more apparent for durability vs damage on Vayne and Varus (mostly manifesting in Top).
  • The other systems impacting changes are some adjustments to Diana and Ekko jungle, who have been slightly worse for wear there (though Mid is mostly fine).

League Players Can Finally Queue Arena With a Third Friend

Posted on by Geekmandem

League of Legends patch 26.10 is looking to continue the momentum in the Arena after the big changes in Season 2. For those who are more fans of ARAM, it’s a QoL update for the most part as ARAM Mayhem continues to thrive.

Patch 26.10 Arena Changes

The headline feature of the patch is the introduction of 3×6 for Arena. You can now queue up with a third friend to take on other teams to fight for the win.

Riot has tuned augments based on player feedback, with stat anvil builds getting a buff to make them more viable after complaints that they felt underwhelming. Tahm Kench’s Guest of Honor has also been rebalanced, punishing greed and rewarding restraint.

A cryptic teaser hints at a new mechanic tied to shared suffering and group celebrations. “Those who have found themselves in agony from another’s desire, a collective celebration will bring your health higher.”

Key Changes

Augment Buffs


Bravest of the Brave Level 2 gold increased from 750 ⇒ 1500
Fan the Hammer Max level reduced from 3⇒2 Cooldown per side 7/6/5 ⇒ 7/5
Juiced Max level increased to 2 Damage done increased from 4.5% ⇒ 9% of mana spent. Capstone: Whenever you spend 400 mana increase Juiced damage by 10% for the rest of the round. Firesale
Combination Fried Rice Max level 1 ⇒ 3 Auto levels based on levels put into the rice augments. Ability Haste -100 ⇒ -50 Damage per level 100% ⇒ 100/125/150% Healing per level 75%⇒ 75/100/125%
SpellCraft Base slow reduced from 20%⇒10% AP ratio per red sticker reduced from 40% ⇒ 30% BAD Ratio per red sticker reduced from 30% ⇒ 20% Slow per sticker increased from 30% ⇒ 40%
Chroma Flux Movespeed per sticker increased from 20 ⇒ 30
Stats On Stats On Stats Capstone: Stat anvil percent amp increased from 10% ⇒ 20%
Stats On Stats On Stats Capstone: Stat anvil percent amp increased from 10% ⇒ 20%
Stats Capstone: Stat anvil percent amp increased from 10% ⇒ 20%
Bread Sandwich Max level 1 ⇒ 3 Auto levels based on levels put into the rice augments. Ability Haste per level 200 ⇒ 200/300/400
Gamba Anvil Max level 2>1 Legendary item anvil reduction 500 > 750 Stat anvil reduction 150/300 > 250 Ability Haste per level 200 ⇒ 200/300/400

Augment Nerfs


Draw Your Sword Bonus HP: 25/35/45% ⇒ 25/30/35% Bonus AD: 25/35/45% ⇒ 25/30/35%
Righteous Fury Spell damage per stack: 2/4/6% ⇒ 2/3/4%
Jeweled Gauntlet Crit Damage: 140/160/180% ⇒ 140/150/160%
The Brutalizer Max level reduced from 3 ⇒ 2

Champion Changes


Passive refund on takedown reduced from 75s ⇒ 15s

Emberstrike Damage: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+ 110% AD) ⇒ 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+ 100% AD)

Three Talon Strike Damage: 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 (+ 40% bonus AD) ⇒ 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 (+ 30% bonus AD) Cooldown: 7 / 6.5 / 6 / 5.5 / 5 ⇒ 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6
Audacious Charge AS: (+ 10% per 100 AP) ⇒ (+ 5% per 100 AP) Cooldown: 11 ⇒ 13

26.10 ARAM Changes

26.10 Arena and ARAM changes

Just the one champion is getting changes across ARAM, with Viktor getting some love.

Damage Dealt: 95% ⇒ 100%
Damage Taken: 105% ⇒ 100%
Passive Stacks per Kill
Champion: 20 ⇒ 8
Cannon 10 ⇒ 5
NEW In ARAM maps, Viktor gains 1 stack every 5 seconds.

System Changes

Bilgewater Cannon QoL

  • Movement lockout from not taking the canon: 2s ⇒ 0.5s
  • Movement lockout from landing after taking the canon: removed

ARAM Mayhem

ARAM Mayhem is getting a few changes, including the ones above.

Augments

Big Brain

  •   NEW   Refresh on Respawn or every 70 seconds

Fan the Hammer

  • No longer triggers on minions.

Outlaw’s Grit NEW   

  • Stacks now reset based on a 15s duration instead of a fixed timer.
  • Stacks show up on the buff bar.

Upgrade Zhonya’s

  •   NEW   Grants 50% Bonus MS during Stasis.

The rest of the patch is the usual bug fixes and other small changes that you can find in the full official release.

Patch 26.10 Lets League of Legends Players End Ruined Games Early

Posted on by Geekmandem

League of Legends Patch 26.10 is a major patch in the Season 2 cycle, and with it come big changes.

While we’ve covered the big changes to the core game in previous posts, 26.10 comes with some major changes to the way League of Legends is experienced. Riot Games is looking to bring the same “in-game” live auditing of players that we’ve seen in Valorant.

Is League of Legends ready for it? What are the changes, and will they have the same impact in a game that is often at a much lower pace than Valorant?

Disruptive Game Behavior

In patch 26.10, things are changing in LoL when it comes to how the game will hand out punishments. As things stand prior to 26.10, LoL will handle players after the fact. You might see your LP loss recovered or have a priority role queue for a few games. Overall, it’s ok, but it makes the experience at the time awful. Especially when the player in question can hold a game hostage. That’s all set to change in patch 26.10.

Riot Games has stated that “When we detect severely disruptivebehaviors during a match that add up to irredeemably ruining their team’s chances of winning. We’ll allow the team with the disruptive player to vote to end the match so that everyone can save themselves some time. The bar for this is high, and most penalties will still be distributed post-game. We’re looking to improve upon this system by proactively offering a vote to end the match when severely disruptive behavior is detected during a match.”

Disruptive game behavior

Riot Games has had many ways to try to curb disruptive game behavior in the past. With small punishments or by making naughty players “agree” that they understand.

Disruptive Game Behavior Voting

In a practical way, however, this is what is actually going to happen.

  • When a player is confirmed to be engaging in severely disruptive behavior during a match. Their team will be prompted to vote to end the match. The disruptive player and their premade will not be eligible to vote.
  • If a match termination vote passes, the team with the disruptive player will not lose any LP or MMR. The other team will receive LP as usual for a win. The disruptive player gets banned.
  • If a match termination vote fails, the game will continue. The team with the confirmed disruptive player cannot lose LP, but has the opportunity to win LP if they can claim victory. This is primarily to avoid detected behaviors terminating matches that might be close to resolution. For example, when you’re about to destroy the enemy Nexus, but one of your allies a minute ago decided to sell all of their items and run in circles in your base.

Overall, the changes look good on paper. The third point appears to be the most important, as it means that a vote can fail, but the LP/MMR loss is still active.

It will remain to be seen how it works in practice, but on paper it looks like a good start.

Riot Just Turned the Jynxzi Backlash Into a Free League Skin Drop

Posted on by Geekmandem

Riot’s 40 Streamers LoL Tourney took place on May 11, giving viewers a chance to earn Twitch Drops by watching the event. The broadcast featured LoL creators from around the world, with rewards tied to watch time.

Viewers who watched for 30 mins could earn the “Look Inward” emote, while those who watched for 2 hours could claim the Inkshadow Master Yi skin.

The Jynxzi Situation

The free Master Yi skin drop came from an unusual chain of events. Jynxzi playing on a boosted account, the account getting suspended, and Riot eventually giving him a new account for a more realistic ranked experience. What started as community backlash turned into a major creator event with Twitch Drops!

Here’s how the controversy turned into a free LoL skin drop.

Jynxzi, with help from Tyler1, became the center of LoL discussion after trying the game for the first time. However, Jynxzi started playing the game directly in Gold-ranked lobbies, which sparked a lot of backlash from the LoL community.

The situation drew even more attention when the official LoL account joined and backed Jynxzi’s antics.

The account, allegedly leveled by Jynxzi’s brother, showed a clear shift in gameplay and win rate once Jynxzi started using it. The issue was not that Jynxzi was new to League, everyone struggles at first. The problem was that other players were losing ranked games for the sake of content.

Riot Responded to the Account Buying Backlash

Drew Levin, who works in product and strategy at Riot, addressed the situation directly on X, writing that “buying accounts still illegal FYI.” The post drew expected replies from the community, and Levin continued responding in the thread.

Riot eventually gave Jynxzi a level 30 Iron 4 account so he could play in more realistic lobbies. That appears to have closed the loop for now, though the whole situation likely could’ve been avoided if an account had been aranged before the streams began…

Patch 26.10 Notes – League of Legends

Posted on by U.GG

Patch 26.10 notes for League of Legends are here. (Source)

Patch Highlights

CHAMPIONS

After getting to see the impact of last patch’s ultimate nerfs, they’ve been very effective at increasing counterplay at high skill levels. However, we still see an opportunity to shift some power from jungle into top while promoting a bruiser playstyle. As a result, we’re giving her some better early power, while keeping her jungle clear and general lategame potential the same.

Q – Cunning Sweep / Sundering Slam

Target Max Health Damage: 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6% ⇒ 4 / 4.5 / 5 / 5.5 / 6%
Bonus Monster Damage: 125 ⇒ 75

R – Public Execution

Healing Percentage: 10 / 12.5 / 15% ⇒ 15 / 17.5 / 20%
Healing Effectiveness vs Monsters: 40%⇒ 25%
The Ice Birb has been strong for quite some time, icing out opponents in top, mid, and support without much build or playstyle differentiation, which is why we’re opting for base stat adjustments. While the change will impact her across roles, we’re targeting her durability to allow for more all-in windows to crack the egg in top lane in particular.
Base Stats
Base Armor: 21 ⇒ 19
Armor Growth: 4.5 ⇒ 4.1
As one of our premier utility ADCs, Ashe is pumping out a bit too much damage. We’re giving her a minor nerf to her Q damage so she can’t have the best of both worlds.

Q – Ranger’s Focus

Total Damage: 110 / 117.5 / 125 / 132.5 / 140% AD ⇒ 110 / 115 / 120 / 125 / 130% AD
Our favorite Demacian colossus has been quite sad between the removal of Phase Rush and the mid role quest adjustments. We’re flipping the script and helping him deliver justice by reducing some of his mana costs and tuning up the reward for a well-aimed Justice Punch. His ultimate is also lacking a bit of oomph in the damage department with how epic it is, so we’re helping it scale with his signature stat!

Q – Winds of War

Mana Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 ⇒ 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80

E – Justice Punch

Total Damage: 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 / 250 (+90% AP) ⇒ 100 / 135 / 170 / 205 / 240 (+100% AP)

R – Hero’s Entrance

NEWTotal Damage: Now scales with 100% bonus magic resistance
Over time, Lee Sin has watched as other champs surpass him in both flair and mobility. We are looking to give him more opportunities to use the tools that allow him to fly around the map while making sure his high moments truly feel like such at all moments in the game.

W – Safeguard

Shield: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+80% AP) ⇒ 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+ 80% AP)
Flat Cooldown: 12s when used on non-champions and 6 when used on champions ⇒ 7s at all points
NEWShield on non-champions: Lee Sin gets his shield when jumping to a minion or ward

E – Tempest

Magic Damage : 35 / 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 (100% AD) ⇒ 35 / 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 (90% AD)

R – Dragon’s Rage

NEWUnconditional Collateral: A champion’s body will continue to fly, knock up, and do damage even if killed mid-flight
Naafiri has been top dog for a while now in both mid and jungle. We are looking to tame some of her power by reducing her damage output a bit.

Q – Darkin Daggers

Minimum Bonus Physical Damage: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+ 40% bonus AD) -⇒ 30 / 42.5 / 55 / 67.5 / 80 (+ 40% bonus AD)
Maximum Bonus Physical Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 450 / 180 (+ 140% bonus AD) ⇒ 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+ 140% bonus AD)

R – Hounds’ Pursuit

Physical Damage: 150 / 250 / 350 (120% bonus AD ) + 15 / 25 / 35 (+12% bonus AD) per packmate ⇒ 150 / 225 / 300 (120% bonus AD) + 15 / 22.5 / 30 ( +12% bonus AD) per packmate
Quinn has been struggling in the top lane environment due to a number of system changes across 2026. We’re looking to let her impact the map with her unique ultimate as a laner by reducing her high mana barrier and also want to open the door (bush?) to the jungle. We’re excited to see if she can thrive as a natural predator in the jungle, and see if she and Valor can prey on the latest new jungler we introduced, Fizz (birds like fish)!

Passive – Harrier

NEWBonus Monster Damage: 50

Q – Blinding Assault

NEWBonus Monster Damage : Now deals 50% increased damage to monsters

R – Behind Enemy Lines

Mana Cost : 100 / 50 / 0 ⇒ 50 / 25 / 0
Base Stats
Health per level : 100 ⇒ 95

W – Burnout

Cooldown: 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 ⇒ 13 / 12.25 / 11.5 / 10.75 / 10
Shield: 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 / 155 (+12% bonus health) ⇒ 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 (+12% bonus health)
Across roles, Wukong has been struggling to find success as of late. We’re looking to help him turn things around by empowering his trickster playstyle to reward clever and creative uses of his clones.

W – Warrior Trickster

Clone Damage: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50% ⇒ 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60%
Clone Duration : 3.25 ⇒ 4

E – Nimbus Strike

Bonus Attack Speed: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55% ⇒ 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60%
Zed has soared in power along with huge spikes in pickrate with Season 2’s changes, and we think he’s still going to be extremely solid despite systemic nerfs. We’d like to preserve his identity as a strong laner, but hit some of his most guaranteed damage.

Passive – Contempt for the Weak

Max Health Damage: 6 / 8 / 10% ⇒ 5 / 7.5 / 10%

E – Shadow Slash

Damage: 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 (+80% bonus AD) ⇒ 70 / 92.5 / 115 / 137.5 / 160 (+70% bonus AD)
Zeri’s new direction and feel have seemed really promising across tiers, but with her winrate being lower as players take time to adjust their playstyle and itemization (looking at you Stormrazor, not looking at you Shiv!). We want to make Zeri speed gaming more accessible!

Q – Burst Fire

Base Damage: 21 / 24 / 27 / 30 / 33 ⇒ 22 / 26 / 30 / 34 / 38
Excess attack speed conversion to AD : 50% ⇒ 60%

R – Lightning Crash

[BUGFIX] Overcharged duration: Attacks during R currently extend the R duration by 1.5s. Changing that to 2.5s to match the new Hypercharged MS stack duration.

ITEMS

Doran’s Bow

Having just been introduced last patch, we’re starting to see Doran’s Bow being picked up by a few champions, but the risk of taking a starting item with no health was a bit too great even considering the damage upside. We’re looking to make it a bit more compelling to take that risk.
Attack Damage: 6 ⇒ 8

Doran’s Helm

Doran’s Helm is meant to be an exciting item to hold onto after the early game with the resistances it offers scaling better than Doran’s Shield’s health regeneration. However, it is currently a bit too difficult to make it out of the early game. We are looking to lighten the early game load so that players can get to the mid game high points.
Health : 110 ⇒ 140

Gluttonous Greaves / Immortal Path

The new omnivamp boots line is successfully filling a gap in boot itemization we intended, filling in nicely as a defensive-offensive hybrid item for many of our high damage champs across roles. We’re now seeing them being taken at a bit too high of a rate and are looking to bring them back in line with other options.
Total Cost: 950g ⇒ 1000g
Slay – Omnivamp Per Stack: 1% per takedown, up to 6 stacks max ⇒ .6% per takedown, up to 10 stacks max

Lich Bane

Last patch, we made adjustments to further differentiate our two AP Sheen items. For Lich Bane, rather than proccing Spellblade through getting in their face (like what Dusk and Dawn builds provide), we’re tuning up Lich Bane’s Movespeed to help you get into position for a better scaling proc.
AP ratio : 40% AP ⇒ 45% AP
Movespeed : 4% ⇒ 6%

Voltaic Cyclosword

Following its adjustments and the removal of Opportunity, we expected Voltaic Cyclosword to see more play. We’re happy to see it making an impact on the meta, but are lowering its power slightly by increasing its price tag.
Total Cost: 2900g ⇒ 3000g

RUNES

Deathfire Touch

Even after the hotfix nerf, Deathfire Touch is burning a bit too strongly in early laning trades. We’re shaving off just a bit of damage at lower levels to make it less oppressive.
Damage Per Second: 4 – 12 (Levels 1 – 18) (+7% bonus AD) (+2.5% AP) ⇒ 3 – 12 (Levels 1 – 18) (+7% bonus AD) (+2.5% AP)

Stormraider’s Surge

Stormraider’s Surge has landed on the soft side, underperforming on most champions trying it out, so we are going to push its duration a bit.
Move Speed: [40% Melee | 30% Ranged] for 3 seconds ⇒ [48% Melee | 36% Ranged] for 4 seconds

SYSTEMS

Minion Aggro

Previously, when an enemy champion attacked an allied minion, the enemy champion would enter the minions’ aggro priority list. We’re removing this action entirely from aggroing minions to prevent it feeling like minions sometimes randomly change their target. They have a nexus to take down, anyway.

Disruptive Game Termination

When we detect severely disruptive behaviors during a match that add up to irredeemably ruining their team’s chances of winning , we’ll allow the team with the disruptive player to vote to end the match so that everyone can save themselves some time. The bar for this is high, and most penalties will still be distributed post-game. We’re looking to improve upon this system by proactively offering a vote to end the match when severely disruptive behavior is detected during a match.
When a player is confirmed to be engaging in severely disruptive behavior during a match, their team will be prompted to vote to end the match. The disruptive player and their premade will not be eligible to vote.
If a match termination vote passes, the team with the disruptive player will not lose any LP or MMR. The other team will receive LP as usual for a win. The disruptive player gets banned.
If a match termination vote fails, the game will continue. The team with the confirmed disruptive player cannot lose LP, but has the opportunity to win LP if they can claim victory. This is primarily to avoid detected behaviors terminating matches that might be close to resolution, like when you’re about to destroy the enemy Nexus but one of your allies a minute ago decided to sell all of their items and run in circles in your base.
Posted in LoL

Patch 26.10 Preview – League of Legends

Posted on by Geekmandem

The 26.10 patch preview for League of Legends is out. With Season 2 now out, this first patch aims to make a few changes to some of the early pain points. While only nine champions are being directly buffed or nerfed, there are lots of changes to other champions, systems, and much more. From @RiotPhroxon on X Source

Champion Changes

Zed and Naafiri

We have to talk about Zed and Naafiri if talking about Cyclosword.

As 2 of the AD Assassins with a functional poke pattern, these champs were always going to benefit from Cyclosword’s new passive in the same way that if there was no AD Sheen item and we added one, it would be disproportionately powerful on those users.

We’re taking care not to overly nerf these two champions, but they’re also too strong with Cyclosword.

We’re giving a small nerf to both champions, but they will still likely be strong after the nerfs, as it seems reasonably likely that we’ll need to adjust Cyclosword in the future as its true balance state becomes more known (and we don’t want to Riot special these champions).

-Last patch, the R changes, which we think are good for the champ long term, ended up being a pretty moderate sized nerf
-We’re restoring a bunch of power back to her now that we know the power level more clearly
-We’re opting not to restore power in any of her mobility capabilities and instead increasing the throughput of each ability cast
-These changes are targeted at nerfing Anivia in non-mid roles, especially Top lane where her trading patterns are a bit more oppressive to play against
– This patch features some modernization changes to Lee Sin to help him feel more fluid and pull off some fancy plays without giving him more net power
– There are a few feelsbad mechanics adjustments that were added to Lee’s kit over 10 years ago (like penalizing ward hops) that don’t really make sense in the modern game anymore [I remember getting an interview question about these changes when I was just starting at Riot!]
– These changes are aimed at providing Lee more opportunities for incredible highlight moments and raising his skill ceiling, given that he’s been out so long and many players are at the top of his mastery curve
– We’ll be keeping an eye on how these changes affect Lane Lee Sin as well

Systems Changes

Probably the biggest chatter on the patch is Deathfire and Gluttonous Greaves.

Deathfire is looking a little too strong, especially in the laning case, but the audience it’s landed on has been great in giving some of these champs a keystone they’re actually happy with.

After the micropatch nerfs, the power level is in a much more reasonable spot, so just a small adjustment here. Gluttonous Greaves has picked up a nice new user base, especially Fighters and AD Assassins who might not have another offensive boot option (outside of Lucidity).

We think the boots are too strong, both in non-mid roles and in mid with the boot upgrade.

So far, Stormraider’s has landed a bit weak, so we’re giving it a bit of a tap up.

One of our goals with the Dusk and Dawn changes was to help differentiate it a bit from Lich Bane.

Small buffs to Doran’s Bow and Helm

Doran’s Bow at this tuning is the most efficient starting item, but the tradeoff to all of the others is opening yourself up to dying from ganks and all-ins.

We’re also giving a small buff to Doran’s Helm as it’s predominantly a K’Sante item at this tuning, and we think it can be broadened to more users.

In 26.11, we intend to make a change to Cleaver and its interaction stacking with Deathfire Touch to give it an internal cooldown – These changes were too risky to do on this patch, however.

Lich Bane changes are aimed at providing more differentiation to Dusk and Dawn on the Movespeed and Burst Damage aspect, however we don’t think we can go much higher than these values.

Cyclosword is looking a little strong, and so we’re giving it a nerf. At the same time, we think after these changes it will still be a bit on the stronger side, but we want to give it a bit more time to stabilise, and we can discover the shape of the optimized patterns and what users come out with.

Apex Ranked (reset regions)

Apex MMR’s settle for another patch before re-evaluating whether or not duo should be re-enabled. We have investigated several of the “Emeralds in Masters lobbies” cases, which have so far fallen into:

1. A player who didn’t play much prior to the reset, so they are still starting from Emerald (as if they were playing in the early days of 2026).

2. A person who is climbing a fresh account and has a really high winrate (and close to Masters); though a reminder that this is not faster to climb than playing on your main.

3. An Emerald (or multiple) duoing with another Emerald or Diamond player (especially Diamond player with a high MMR) – So far, I haven’t seen anything broken about these games; they are typically fair both MMR and LP wise, even if visual ranks look a bit off.

We’ll update this post with more details of the 26.10 patch as Riot releases them.

Arena’s New Keystone Augments Will Reshape Every Season 2 Draft

Posted on by Geekmandem

Since Arena was added back to League of Legends, it’s been a popular mode for players looking for something different. In recent weeks, Riot has teased some major changes to the mode, as it looks to capitalise on the popularity.

The headline change is the new Augment Levels system. Augments can now be levelled up from 1 to 3 tiers mid-match, with some reaching a Keystone effect at max level, unlocking entirely new passive abilities on top of their base kit. Over 30 augments debut with the levelling system, including fan favourites like Glass Cannon, Final Form, and Speed Demon. Once you’ve got two levelable augments, you’ll start being offered level-ups in place of new augments, fundamentally shifting how you think about the mid-game draft.

“Once you reach the maximum number of augments, you’ll only be offered augment levels or the ability to tier up an existing augment, allowing you to remove one and select another that is one tier higher.”

It’s a system that opens up a new layer of decision-making: do you spread wide with a varied augment kit, or go deep on two or three synergistic picks and push them to their Keystone potential? The answer will likely differ every game.

New Guests of Honor, maps, and a revamped schedule

Sixteen new Guests of Honor join the roster this season, including Atakhan, Kindred, Shaco, Morgana, and Taric. Each brings a unique passive effect that shapes how the entire lobby plays. Two favourites have also been reworked: Swain now rewards the last teams standing with a prismatic stat anvil at the halfway point. At the same time, Katarina now runs augment tier-ups alongside new offerings during her reign.

On the map front, the new Petricite Grove joins the rotation, a Demacian-themed arena scattered with unexploded mining bombs that roll and detonate on impact, adding an environmental hazard element to positioning. The existing Ancestral Woods and Koipond maps have also been reworked with new interactive elements.

Arena level up

The season’s event schedule is designed to keep Arena fresh well beyond launch:

  • 26.9 Arena Season 2 Launch: No event, time to learn the new systems
  • 26.10 3×6 Arena: Three players per team, six teams total, wider champion diversity
  • 26.13 Bravery: Limited champion select, embrace the random, adapt and conquer
  • 26.14 Swift Arena: Back to 2v2v2v2, faster games, familiar opponents

You can see a full breakdown in the Riot Arena patch notes.

ARAM and Mayhem Changes Come to the Bridge

While Arena is the focus for this patch, ARAM Mayhem remains the most popular mode outside of standard League of Legends. As such, it’s also getting some love in 26.9.

ARAM Changes:

ARAM’s changes in 26.9 are more focused than Arena’s but still carry a meaningful impact. Hubris has been a dominant component of assassin and snowball-heavy champions for some time. Both the Attack Damage (60 → 55) and Ability Haste (15 → 10) have been trimmed, nudging the item down a tier without gutting its identity.

ARAM Mayhem Changes:

Bard receives a quality-of-life boost to his Caretaker’s Shrine. Both the Move Speed bonus and its AP scaling have gone up, and the shrine’s ammo cooldown drops from 10 to 8 seconds, making him a more reliable and rewarding pick on a map that heavily punishes slow shrine placement. Ornn’s Living Forge passive cooldown now scales with level (90 down to 10 seconds at max), making him far more useful in ARAM’s shorter game times, where the default 120-second cooldown often felt punishing.

  • Health Relic: The AoE heal on pickup has been increased from 16% to 22% missing health and mana
  • Prom Queen: Cooldown increased from 25 to 35 seconds.
  • Grandma’s Chili Oil: Base damage per second goes up (100 → 150), while the bonus damage per burn source and all healing values are reduced.
  • Upgrade Sword of Blossoming Dawn: The 50% bonus damage to basic attacks against champions has been removed entirely

Overall, it’s a patch focused on Arena, while making meaningful changes to ARAM. The changes to Bard and Orn seem the most standout. Something that maybe needs looking at for other champions that struggle to adapt to the flow of ARAM’s quicker game time.

Mid Laners Just Got the Buff They’ve Been Begging For in League Patch 26.9

Posted on by Geekmandem

Role Quests have been a huge part of League of Legends since they were added. For Season 2 in patch 26.9, however, a number of changes are coming to the popular feature. With the aim of shaking up and improving for the new season.

Role Quests Changes in 26.9

The first key change comes in the form of the penalty for leaving the lane. This was something many players felt was a pain point of the system. “With this update, we’re lessening penalties when you just need to get out of your lane towards the end of the laning phase.”

  • Quest Point Penalty applied to CS / Turrets / Plates: -50% ⇒ -75%, decreasing down to -0% based on Quest Progress

To add to this, Riot is also changing how you earn progress for the quests. The aim is also to help improve the flow at which people earn quest rewards.

  • Passive Point Progression: 0.333 per second, increased to 1.6 per second while they are “in the quest lane” ⇒ 0.333/s, increased to 1.5/s while you are “in the quest lane”
  • “In the quest lane”: Defined as near or past the lane’s outermost turret ⇒ Defined as anywhere in the lane, outside of your base
  • Recall Penalty to Passive Point Earn: Functionally exists because passive point gain was reduced until the outermost turret, creating a minor bias towards mid lane (shorter) ⇒ Disables passive point earn entirely for 12s after recalling

To sum the changes up, Riot seems to be looking at a solution that works as follows. “For every two minutes spent in lane, you can spend one minute out of lane.” This should be good news for many laners, but it feels like mid lane and support could see the most benefit from it.

Role Quest Rewards

To improve things in the Role Quest area, the rewards for the quests are changing as well. These changes impact three lanes in particular and attempt to change the way each of the three lanes flows.

“For top, we’re doing a minor nerf to overall experience gain and adjusting the experience bonus to distinguish between champion and non-champion sources. Effectively, this will help out top laners who prefer scrappy teamfights over split pushing. We’re also ensuring that we avoid top lane experience creep situations where top laners who end up repeatedly killing each other scale their own level and experience rewards.”

  • Top Lane – XP Increase: +12.5% from all sources ⇒ +80 flat XP on champion takedown; +11% from all other sources

“For mid, we’re replacing the empowered recall effect with a percent-based increase to bonus AD and AP. We’ve felt that mid has lost some of its carry and scaling fantasy compared to top and bot’s rewards, which get more levels and XP or more gold and items. We’re hoping this change provides an edge over other lanes to spike harder on item purchases.”

  • Mid Lane – Role Quest Reward: Empowered Recall (300s CD, reduced by 60s on Takedown) ⇒ +6% Bonus AD and 6% Bonus AP

“We feel like bot lane is a little too strong and snowballs a little too hard, given their late-game fantasy. So we’re giving a minor nerf to their bonus takedown gold.”

  • Bot Lane – Bonus Takedown Gold: 50g ⇒ 40

Minion Waves Changes

The last change to laning comes in the form of alterations to minion waves. This won’t impact the early game, with Riot looking to make minions slightly more durable in the mid to late game.

“We’re moderately increasing minion wave durability, mostly around mid and late laning phase, to help increase minion action. This should also have a minor impact on opening up roaming windows as well as slightly increase wave stacking effects, allowing teams to spend a bit more time outside of the lane while a wave builds up.”

  • Melee Minion Health: 440 (+25 every 90s; then +35 after this has happened 5 times)⇒ 430 (+35 every 90s)
  • Minion Slayer (Minion Damage Bonus to other Minions): +[2 Melee | 4 Ranged | 6 Siege]% Current HP On Hit ⇒ +[2 Melee | 3.5 Ranged | 5 Siege]% Current HP On Hit

Season 2 looks set to be an evolution over a revolution for League of Legends. With Riot seems overall happy with the balance of the game.