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.
Just to get a timestamp on it and set expectations appropriately: the team has just now pushed live the functionality for game termination voting in cases of egregious inting.
Interested in any feedback folks have on the feature as they encounter it. Thanks!
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
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.”
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’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.
chat you can literally get a free skin for watching @jynxzi’s League tournament
— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) May 10, 2026
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.
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.
our terms of service prohibit account sale and transfer as well as a number of ranked manipulation and boosting patterns of behavior. the account in question has been banned and we'll continue to combat inauthentic account leveling practices where we detect them.
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…
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
[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.
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.
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).
-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.
