If you’ve been running riot on the Mayhem Bridge as Vayne, Tristana, or pretty much any hyper-carry you fancied, patch 26.11 has some news for you. Riot has swung the nerf hammer at a long list of damage-favoured champions in ARAM Mayhem. A bunch of them back to neutral in what feels like a pretty significant rebalancing sweep.
Mayhem’s Carry Club Takes a Hit
The bulk of the Mayhem changes in this patch are nerfs. Mostly targeted squarely at the champions who’ve been dealing a bit too freely. Vayne loses her damage boost (105% down to 100%) and her damage reduction (95% back to 100%), so she’s now fully exposed on both ends.
Same story for Tristana, Fizz, and Xayah, who all drop to baseline across the board. Fizz also loses his 10% Tenacity bonus, which is a quiet but meaningful cut for a champion who loves diving into the chaos and getting out clean.
Fiddlesticks is the one champion getting a buff, with his damage taken and damage done going back to 100%.
One small note, over in normal ARAM, Qiyana is getting a bit of love. Qiyana picks up 20 flat Ability Haste, going from zero to twenty. It’s not the most dramatic buff in the world. But on a champion who really wants to spam her abilities to chain elemental effects, that extra haste adds up
Arena Working in Threes
Three-person Arena is apparently doing well, because Riot isn’t pulling back; they’re doubling down with balance tweaks specifically designed around the format. The big theme this patch is pulling enchanters back in line while giving marksmen a bit more room to breathe.
On the enchanter side, Locket of the Iron Solari takes a significant shield reduction (600-1200 down to 300-900) and now has reduced effectiveness for 20 seconds after you’ve been healed. Mikael’s Blessing, Redemption, and Dawncore all drop their Heal and Shield Power from 16% to 12%. While Wordless Promise loses a chunk of its AP and AH sharing while its cooldown explodes from 10 seconds to 60. That last one is a pretty severe change for a support item that felt like a must-buy.
For the marksmen getting some new toys. Infinity Edge swaps 40% crit damage multiplier for a flat 20 extra attack damage (55 to 75 AD). Immortal Shieldbow’s shield ceiling jumps from 700 to 1000, and Statik Shiv now scales up to 160 damage instead of being stuck at a flat 60. Diamond-Tipped Spear and Terminus both get attack speed bumps, too, so ADC Arena builds are getting a lot more to work with this patch.
New Guests of Honor
Three new Guests of Honor arrive in the Arena this patch. Yone brings the Inner Demon quest, where you vote whether your team fights alongside the demon hunters or embraces the demons themselves. Hunters earn gold for every demon team they take down, while demons gain an augment level each time a hunter team is eliminated. It’s a fun wrinkle that makes the lobby’s overall composition matter in a way it normally doesn’t.
Nilah joins with Joyful Delight, cutting the cost of Legendary Item Anvils by 500 gold and throwing in bonus rerolls while you’re on a hotstreak. Vayne arrives with Tools of the Hunt, giving access to a curated set of “tool” augments that fit her kit.