Category: LoL

Patch 26.3 notes for League of Legends are here, with a large amount of buffs and nerfs to many champions, along with a big update to ARAM Mayhem (Source)

Patch 26.3 Overview

ARAM Mayhem

Champion Bounties

Control Wards

Faelights and Vision

Turret Plates

Champions

Ahri

See Highest Win Rate Ahri Builds

As the new season has shaken out, Ahri is performing worse than last year and worse than she ought to. Now that she’s back on high burst builds, we’re reverting a nerf from her “Rod of Ages every game” phase of her K-pop career. Some artists just fall off, you know?

W – Fox-Fire

• Cooldown: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 ⇒ 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5

Bel’Veth

See Highest Win Rate Bel’Veth Builds

Bel’Veth is one of several AD junglers who suffered in the new season and we’re here to buff her back up. We’re aiming to bring up her late game in ways that synergize with squishy high attack speed builds by giving her a better payout for that attack speed and enough health to not need to buy as much of it.

Base Stats

• Health Growth: 99 ⇒ 105

R – Endless Banquet

• True Damage on attack per stack: 6 / 8 / 10 (+ 12% Bonus AD) ⇒ 6 / 10 / 14 (+ 12% Bonus AD)

Braum

See Highest Win Rate Braum Builds

Braum has easily become a top tier support with the start of the new season. New items like Bandlepipes have been instrumental in helping him and his allies stick onto enemies and take them down. Given that Braum is still looking quite strong even after the nerf to Bandlepiepes, we’ll be looking to revert the health buffs we gave him at the end of last year and bring down some of his overall fighting power.

Base Stats

• Health: 630 ⇒ 610

Q – Winter’s Bite

• Damage: 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+ 2.5% HP) ⇒ 75 / 120 / 165 / 210 / 255 (+ 2.5% HP)

Briar

See Highest Win Rate Briar Builds

Briar lost some of her luster in the new season and as someone with ample counter-play, she deserves to win more games than she currently does. We want to make sure her lifesteal-focused durability can manifest by giving her enough health and resists to make that healing efficient and while we’re here, we’re also throwing top lane Briar a bone by letting her trade more efficiently as well.

Base Stats

• Health Growth: 95 ⇒ 100
• Armor Growth: 4.2 ⇒ 4.5

Q – Head Rush

• Health Cost: 6% current health ⇒ 5% current health

W – Blood Frenzy

• Health Cost: 6% current health ⇒ 5% current health

E – Chilling Scream

• Health Cost: 6% current health ⇒ 5% current health

R – Certain Death

• 6% current health ⇒ 5% current health

Diana

See Highest Win Rate Diana Builds

Diana has gone to the moon due to seasonal changes, and in addition to Dusk & Dawn adjustments, this nerf should make sure her power wanes.

Passive – Moonsilver Blade

• Monster Damage: 280% ⇒ 230%

Draven

See Highest Win Rate Draven Builds

Draven’s Q was initially bugged to deal less damage at the start of the season, which was micropatched within the first week. Players are also trying Essence Reaver over Bloodthirster, which currently performs worse. After accounting for all of these factors, Draven’s still not doing as well as he was last year, so we’re coming to prop him back up by reverting one of our preemptive pre-season nerfs.

Base Stats

• AD Growth: 3 ⇒ 3.4

Ekko

See Highest Win Rate Ekko Builds

Time has been on Ekko’s side this year. We’re taking a swing at both his clear speed and burst after early game to prevent him from going haywire after getting a lead.

Passive – Z-Drive Resonance

• AP Ratio: 80% ⇒ 90%
• Monster Damage: 300% ⇒ 270%

Ezreal

See Highest Win Rate Ezreal Builds

Ezreal’s been in a pretty weak spot for most players this season, especially after Essence Reaver got nerfed in the micropatch. While we think there’s some winrate to be gained through players optimizing their builds, we still want to bring Ezreal more in line.

Base Stats

• AD Growth: 3.25 ⇒ 3.5

E – Arcane Shift

• Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+ 50% Bonus AD) (+ 75% AP) ⇒ 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280(+ 60% Bonus AD) (+ 75% AP)

Hecarim

See Highest Win Rate Hecarim Builds

Hecarim isn’t doing very well in the new season so he’s got a buff coming up. We’re doing this by giving him a strong mid game power spike that he can use to try to run the map and get his team a lead. And even if he fails to do so, at least he’s got slightly better base damage to fall back on. For those who don’t want to do the math, the net result of both Q changes is a strict buff until around 225 bonus AD.

Q – Rampage

• Damage per hit: 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+ 90% Bonus AD) ⇒ 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 90% Bonus AD)
• Damage amp per Rampage stack: 3% (+ 4% per 100 Bonus AD) ⇒ 3% (+ 3% per 100 Bonus AD)

Heimerdinger

See Highest Win Rate Heimerdinger Builds

Slaps roof We can fit so many Arcane champs in this patch. Heimerdinger’s been performing worse in the new season and he was balanced before then, so we’re here to return him to his former glory. We know top lane Heimer can feel suffocating when his turrets are all setup, so we’re looking to re-buff him in ways that allow him to be proactive instead of turtling.

Base Stats

• Health Growth: 101 ⇒ 105

Hextech Micro-Rockets

• Initial hit damage: 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+ 55% AP) ⇒ 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+ 55% AP)
• Follow-up damage: unchanged

Jayce

See Highest Win Rate Jayce Builds

Jayce’s build has bounced around a lot over time. He’s been a tank, he’s been (and currently is) a lethality burst mage, and he’s been a fighter. We’d like if Jayce were an AD fighter, caring about both his damage output and durability to stick it out in melee once in a while. He’s also still better in the jungle than in the top lane after last patch’s nerf, so we’re here to re-visit him. Ultimately our goals for Viktor’s better half are to give him a viable fighter build and a viable but not overbearing jungle role. To achieve these goals, we’re reducing his reliance on bonus AD and shifting power from his poke into his melee damage and follow-up.

Q – To the Skies!

• Damage: 60 / 105 / 150 / 295 / 240 / 285 (+135% Bonus AD)⇒ 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 / 310 (+ 135% Bonus AD)
• Monster bonus damage: 25 ⇒ 10

Q – Shock Blast

• Damage: 80 / 126 / 172 / 218 / 264 / 310 (+ 140% Bonus AD) ⇒ 80 / 121 / 162 / 203 / 244 / 285 (+ 130% Bonus AD)
• Monster bonus damage: 25 ⇒ 10

R – Cannon Stance: Mercury Cannon

• Armor/Magic Resistance Shred: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25% ⇒ 20 / 25 / 30 / 35%

Kayn

See Highest Win Rate Kayn Builds

Blue Kayn specifically became much weaker in the new season and we’d like to fix that with some direct buffs. There’s not much fancy here except that as an assassin, he should be lethal when fighting up close and personal with his targets. As a reminder, Slayer Kayn replaces his Q when transformed.

Q – Reaping Slash

• Damage: 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 (+ 85% Bonus AD) ⇒ 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 / 195 (+ 85% Bonus AD)

Maokai

See Highest Win Rate Maokai Builds

Maokai has been struggling to find his place both in the top lane and in the jungle. We want to give him a little bit of extra power to find relevance in our new season by boosting hist damage

Q – Bramble Smash

• Flat Damage: 65 / 110 / 155 / 200 / 245 ⇒ 75 / 120 / 165 / 210 / 255

Mel

See Highest Win Rate Mel Builds

This changelist is intended to help lower player frustration while playing against Mel through opening up additional counterplay opportunities for opponents beyond the ban button.

One big change we have is changing her reflect damage immunity to a shield which will ensure when Fizz successfully lands his ultimate she no longer completely negates the damage with a late W. We also want to make sure when you’re laning against her that you can see her Q coming and dodge out of the way at long ranges like many spammable projectile spells. Both her Q and E should now be more visually clear (thus easier to dodge) and we’ve reduced some of the power from her reflect in some situations where her reflections resulted in unexpectedly high damage.

While we believe that champion agency can yield frustrating interactions, we also believe there should be avenues for counterplay to balance that out. Frankly, we underestimated how frustrating the play-against experience for Mel would be and are aiming to improve that with this change list. And for players looking to play Mel we want her to be playable more consistently after the ban phase while making sure her core gameplay that her players have come to love isn’t lost.

Our goals with these changes are that more players feel they can outplay Mel in ways that match their expectations, and that Mel players can feel more skillful and that their success is a result of that skill. We expect that there will continue to be players whose main champions are highly impacted by Mel’s reflection that may continue to prioritize her as a ban, but we’re targeting to get her out of must-ban territory for many players.

Base Stats

• Attack Speed Ratio: 0.4 ⇒ 0.625

Passive – Searing Brilliance

• Projectile Damage: 8-50 (based on level) (+ 5% AP) ⇒ 8-25 (based on level) (+ 3% AP)
• Total Projectile Damage: 24-150 (based on level) (+ 15% AP) ⇒ 24-75 (based on level) (+ 9% AP)
• Reduced the visual clutter by no longer displaying the passive mark on non-champions for enemies.
• Fixed certain champion spawned units dying to Overwhelm from an unempowered basic attack.

Q – Radiant Volley

• Now deals additional damage the first time an explosion hits with reduced effectiveness from subsequent hits.
• Initial Hit: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 60% AP)
• Subsequent Hits: 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 (+ 5% AP)
• Total Damage: 78 / 109 / 144 / 185 / 230 (+51-85% AP) ⇒ 85 / 126 / 169 / 214 / 261 (+ 85-105% AP)
• Mana Cost: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 ⇒ 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
• Minion Damage: 75% ⇒ 100%
• Cast Time: 0.25s ⇒ 0.35s
• Projectile Speed: 4500 ⇒ 3800
• Explosion Radius: 230 ⇒ 200
• Area Spread: 30 ⇒ 25
• Channel Time: 0.75s ⇒ 0.5s
• Damage type is now DoT AoE (reduced effectiveness in resetting Arcane Comet).
• Stronger area telegraph visual.

W – Rebuttal

• No longer provides Damage Immunity.
• Shield: 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+ 60% AP)
• Physical damage reflected is reduced by 30% before magic damage conversion.
• Now destroys projectiles that target each unit in an area instead of reflecting them when those projectiles aren’t targeting Mel. (ex. Ryze E, Brand E, Katarina R, Samira R, Yunara Q)
• Decaying Move Speed: 30% over 0.75s⇒ 40% over 1.5s

E – Solar Snare

• Root Missile Radius: 80 ⇒ 70
• End of Travel Linger Duration: 0.5s ⇒ 0.25s
• DoT Radius: 260 ⇒ 230
• Cast Range: 1050 ⇒ 1000
• Projectile Speed: 1000 ⇒ 1100
• Cooldown: 12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10 ⇒ 11 / 10.5 / 10 / 9.5 / 9
• Root Duration: 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4 / 1.5 ⇒ 1.5
• Damage: 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 ⇒ 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240
• Damage per Second: 16 / 26 / 36 / 46 / 56 ⇒ 16 / 28 / 40 / 52 / 64
• No longer visually pops at the end when descending terrain.

R – Golden Eclipse

• Damage per Stack: 4 / 7 / 10 (+ 3.5% AP) ⇒ 4 / 7 / 10 (+ 4% AP)

Naafiri

See Highest Win Rate Naafiri Builds

Naafiri’s doing pretty well in the mid lane at the moment but her jungling hasn’t kept up so we’re giving our favorite pack of dogs more of a fighting chance with her current slow clear.

Passive – We Are More

• Packmate Monster Damage: 1.35x ⇒ 1.55x

Nilah

See Highest Win Rate Nilah Builds

Even after her micropatch nerfs, Nilah is still sooo happy (overpowered) about the new season. We’re looking to bring her overall power down now that the dust has settled.

Base Stats

• Attack Damage: 60 ⇒ 58
• Armor Growth: 4.5 ⇒ 4.2

Nunu & Willump

See Highest Win Rate Nunu & Willump Builds

We aimed to give Nunu & Willump a hefty nerf but overshot our goals so we’re here to walk back part of the nerf package.

W – Biggest Snowball Ever!

• Maximum Damage: 150 / 195 / 240 / 285 / 330 ⇒ 180 / 225 / 270 / 315 / 360

E – Snowball Barrage

• Base Damage per hit: 14 / 21 / 28 / 35 / 42 ⇒ 15 / 22.5 / 30 / 37.5 / 45

Riven

See Highest Win Rate Riven Builds

Riven’s been crushing it ever since she discovered Axiom Arc. We like that she’s swift and lethal in the early game but ultimately she’s bursting down her competition too quickly once mid game arrives. Additionally, with all the extra gold and experience in the game right now, players have cited that late game fights resolve too quickly. So, all that considered, we’re here to take out some of her late game burst power.

Passive – Runic Blade

• Total AD Ratio: 30-50% (based on level) ⇒ 30-45% (based on level)

Q – Broken Wings

• Damage: 40 / 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 (+ 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85% Bonus AD) ⇒ 40 / 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 (+ 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80% Bonus AD)

Ryze

See Highest Win Rate Ryze Builds

Ryze has risen up the ranks this season and is due for a reduction in power. While we’re nerfing Phase Rush, we’re also buffing Actualizer so we think he deserves a direct nerf in this patch. With his late game damage going up and the overall game being more lethal than we’d like, we’re reducing some late game damage in kind.

W – Rune Prison

• Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+70% AP) (+ 4% Bonus Mana) ⇒ 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180(+ 60% AP) (+ 3% Bonus Mana)

Trundle

See Highest Win Rate Trundle Builds

Trundle’s doing very poorly in both of his main roles and as a very straightforward champion should be much more successful than he is now. We want to make sure he’s good at playing the role of the front-line juggernaut who’s great at tank-busting, so we’re playing up his late game sustained damage output and resilience

Base Stats

• Armor Growth: 3.9 ⇒ 4.5
• Attack Damage Growth: 4 ⇒ 4.5

Tryndamere

See Highest Win Rate Tryndamere Builds

After his micropatch buffs back in 26.1, Tryndamere’s power level is close but not quite back to its former glory so we’d like to bring him back up to where he was and continue pushing him toward strong sustained damage.

Base Stats

• Attack Damage Growth: 4 ⇒ 4.5

Varus

See Highest Win Rate Varus Builds

Last patch’s Varus buffs heavily overshot our target and has resulted in him becoming one of the game’s strongest top laners as well. We’re sorry for the inaccurate tuning and now that we’ve got more room to work with, we’re looking to weaken his top lane performance as much as possible by rendering him more susceptible to all-ins, reducing his affinity for the top lane role quest, and weakening his top-specific build of AP and maxing W first.

Base Stats

• Armor Growth: 4.6 ⇒ 4

W – Blighted Quiver

• On-hit damage: 8 / 17 / 26 / 35 / 44 (+ 35% AP) ⇒ 8 / 17 / 26 / 35 / 44 (+ 25% AP)
• Max health damage: 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5% (+1.5% per 100 AP) ⇒ 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5% (+ 1.3% per 100 AP)

Vi

See Highest Win Rate Vi Builds

Vi certainly does not stand for victory anywhere but pro play. We’d like to make her much more successful for the average League player without indexing too hard into her strengths in tightly coordinated environments, which means we’re aiming to play up her self-sufficiency and long-term brawling.

Base Stats

• Health Growth: 99 ⇒ 105
• Attack Damage Growth: 3 ⇒ 3.5

Volibear

See Highest Win Rate Volibear Builds

We’re happy that Volibear is seeing action at all levels with a new build as our signature garage sale enjoyer, but we want to make sure he’s a little less overBearing, primarily in jungle. We’re targeting his main build path’s Q max burst without changing how it feels to get into combat, as well as his clear speed so that he has to work a little harder to show up to fights, and compensating with some AD ratio for anyone who’s gotten a good deal on a Triforce or Gunblade recently.

Q – Thundering Smash

• Bonus Physical Damage: 10 / 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 (+ 120% Bonus AD) ⇒ 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 (+ 140% Bonus AD)

E – Sky Splitter

• Cooldown: 14 ⇒ 16
• Non-champion damage cap: 190 / 305 / 420 / 535 / 650 (+ 70% AP) ⇒ 150 / 265 / 380 / 495 / 610 (+ 70% AP)

Xin Zhao

See Highest Win Rate Xin Zhao Builds

Xin Zhao just can’t catch a break. First he dies to Atakhan, now he’s underpowered in solo queue? When will these tragedies cease? Today. They cease today. Xin Zhao buff time! Much like Vi’s changes in this patch, we want to play up Xin Zhao’s ability to stick up for himself and scrap with enemy champions in long-term fights.

Passive – Determination

• Heal every third hit: 3 / 3.5 / 4% max HP (Level 1/6/11) ⇒ 3/4/5% max HP

E – Audacious Charge

• Bonus Attack Speed: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60% ⇒ 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80%

Yone

See Highest Win Rate Yone Builds

Yone’s on the weaker side of the roster right now so we think he could use a buff. We know it can feel unfair to simply lose to him right clicking you during his E but we don’t want him to be super bursty either, so we’re pushing power into his Q, which has more gameplay around predictions and dodging.

Q – Mortal Steel

• Damage: 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 (+ 105% Total AD) ⇒ 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125(+ 110% Total AD)

Zaahen

See Highest Win Rate Zaahen Builds

Zaahen was meant to have a secondary player base in the jungle and while he’s great in the top lane, he’s not performing well enough elsewhere. So we’re delivering some straightforward jungle-specific buffs to bring him back up where he was at the end of last year.

Q – The Darkin Glaive

• Monster Modifier: 1.75x ⇒ 2x

E – Aureate Rush

• Bonus Monster Damage: 50 ⇒ 75

Zed

See Highest Win Rate Zed Builds

We regret having jungle Zed in three of the past four patches now but players keep getting better at playing and itemizing this shadow ninja to the point where he wins more frequently today than he did before we shipped that first nerf. We’re comfortable with how mid lane Zed is sitting but he’s still overshadowing too many champions in the jungle. While this nerf looks very large on paper, the net impact of nerfing his jungle mod from 2.0 to 1.2 was under 1% of win rate movement, and we’re looking for more than that here.

Passive – Contempt for the Weak

• Damage to monsters: 1.2x ⇒ 0.5x
• Maximum damage to epic monsters: 300 ⇒ 100

Items

Actualizer

Actualizer is not looking particularly powerful and has a very painful combine cost. While we know players haven’t had enough time to fully optimize the use cases yet, we’re looking to give it a bit of a boost because it’s not looking competitive on any champions besides a certain rune mage.

• Total Gold Cost: 3100 Gold ⇒ 2800 Gold
• Combine Cost: 1050 Gold ⇒ 750 Gold

Dusk and Dawn

We’ve landed Dusk and Dawn into a spot where it has a healthy number of good users, but it’s a bit too good at bursting and taking a little too much of Lich Bane’s space, so we’re hitting it with a slight nerf that should shift it towards more fighter-y builds.

• Spellblade Damage: 100% Base AD + 10% AP ⇒ 75% Base AD +10% AP
• Health: 300 ⇒ 350 Gold

Endless Hunger

This item is looking okay late in builds for the intended caster fighter audience but could be a bit better earlier in the game and can be awkward to build. A small change to the build path and a bit more AD should help this item really shine for the caster champions it was made for.

• Recipe: Caulfield’s Warhammer + Pickaxe + 1075 Gold ⇒ Caulfield’s Warhammer + Pickaxe + Longsword + 825 Gold
• Total Gold Cost: 3000 ⇒ 3100
• Attack Damage: 60 ⇒ 65

Protoplasm Harness

The current shape of this Lifeline effect ended up being a bit too sharp, where it’s extraordinarily powerful for the users that can leverage the resistance scaling and somewhat unexciting for most other potential users. We’re shifting some power around to make the item more consistently useful and less eye-popping in the outlier cases.

• Lifeline max health gain: 200 ⇒ 200-300 (based on level)
• Lifeline healing: 200-400 (based on level) (+ 250% Armor) (+ 250% Magic Resistance) ⇒ 200-400 (based on level)(+ 175% Armor) (+ 175% Magic Resistance)
• Ability Haste: 15 ⇒ 20

Armored Advance

When we updated the mid lane quest boots we wanted to make sure that champions had the option to pick items that strongly suited them. We did not want to let early defensive purchases trivialize their competition, as mid lane is a home of many assassins. So in this patch we’re adjusting the upgraded versions of Mercury’s Treads and Plated Steelcaps to make them weaker anti-burst options for champions who aren’t buying any other durability items. These changes represent a tuning close to the end of last season, but with numbers that are more readily apparent at first glance, as no one can acquire these boots at level 1, and the prior max HP ratio carried most of the shield’s value, even to squishies.

• Noxian Endurance Shield: 10-120 (based on level 1-18) (+ 7% max HP) ⇒ 100-200 (based on level, scaling begins at level 9) (+ 8% Bonus HP)

Chainlaced Crushers

See Armored Advance.

• Noxian Endurance Shield: 10-120 (based on level 1-18) (+ 7% max HP) ⇒ 100-200 (based on level, scaling begins at level 9) (+ 8% Bonus HP)

Runes

Cash Back

Cash Back was buffed late last year and finally has an audience of its own. However, that buff shot a little overboard. We’re happy that it’s turned some heads but now it’s time for the rune to be balanced across its rune competitors.

• Gold Refund: 8% ⇒ 7.5%

Phase Rush

We think Phase Rush restricts the viable mid lane pool at the highest levels of play, as it’s very easy for any ranged champion to trigger Phase Rush and escape most ganks or would-be melee opponents. Among its most common ranged users, Orianna, Vladimir, and Taliyah all have viable alternatives, and for Ryze, we intend for a direct reduction of power due to his general strong performance and an Actualizer buff in this patch. Ultimately, we are nerfing this rune for ranged champions only and retaining its power for melee users to swiftly navigate fights and skirmishes.

• Ranged Effectiveness: 75% (18.75 – 37.5% Movement Speed) ⇒ 50% (12.5% – 25% Movement Speed)

Triple Tonic

Like with Cash Back, we buffed Triple Tonic strongly late last year and it’s been enough to get people to switch over to their old favorites. Now that senpais everywhere have noticed me the rune, we’re bringing its power level to a more balanced state, namely by reducing the eye-popping level of burst the level 6 elixir provides.

• Elixir of Force Adaptive Force: 30 ⇒ 25

Riot Games has revealed the 2026 Lunar Skin line for League of Legends. The 2026 lineup is split into two halves: Firecracker Ziggs, Caitlyn, Ashe, Poppy, Seraphine, & Yuumi, and Petals of Spring Yasuo, Katarina, Jayce, Camille, and Lilia.

The 2026 Lunar Skins will celebrate the 2026 Chinese Lunar New Year. Which is the year of the fire horse, hence the theming and overall fire aesthetic.

Lunar 2026 Skins Cost

Each of the skins will cost 1350 RP, meaning each skin costs around $10 each with some change.

Closer Look at the Lunar 2026 Skins

The second patch of 2026 is here, and includes a handful of buffs, nerfs and adjustments. Check out the full patch 26.2 notes for additional details from Riot (source).

Champions

Aatrox

See Highest Win Rate Aatrox Builds

Aatrox has struggled to find a place on the Rift in the new season with split pushing on the rise and fewer chances to flex his team fighting strengths. We’re giving him some additional power this patch, primarily in the jungle, where his growing audience has been kneecapped, as well as in the top lane where he could use more ways to benefit from experience. We hope this satiates Aatrox players, especially those with Endless Hunger.

Passive – Deathbringer Stance

• Bonus Magic Damage based on Target Max Health: 4-8% (based on level) ⇒ 4-10% (based on level)

Q – The Darkin Blade

• Bonus Damage to Monsters: 15 ⇒ 25

Ashe

See Highest Win Rate Ashe Builds

Ashe is underperforming in the new season so we’re here to bring her back up near her former power level. We like that she has a strong affinity for buying attack speed, so we’re just making those purchases multiply a little bit harder.

Base Stats

• Attack Damage Growth: 3 ⇒ 3.5

Gwen

See Highest Win Rate Gwen Builds

Gwen jungle has skyrocketed in both pickrate and winrate. While we’re excited to see her loving the new season and snipping from dusk til dawn, we need to make sure she’s not turning all opponents (especially jungle camps) into paper.

Passive – A Thousand Cuts

• Monster Damage Cap: 5 (+10% AP) ⇒ 3 (+5% AP)

Jayce

See Highest Win Rate Jayce Builds

Jayce jungle (AKA Jungle Jayce) has become extremely popular and is also much too strong. One of those two things is awesome and the other isn’t. We’d like to retain JJ as a viable option in the jungle, but without him dominating the competition. So we’re delivering a light nerf that’s intended to bring him more in line with other junglers.

Q – To the Skies / Shock Blast

• Bonus Damage to Monsters : 50 ⇒ 25

Lillia

See Highest Win Rate Lillia Builds

Lillia has been in a dream since the changes to Rift. Unfortunately we need to wake her up as it’s become a nightmare for her opponents. We want her to maintain her spot as our premier in-and-out skirmisher in the jungle, but without her prancing out of control. We are looking to nerf her ability to stay topped up as well as bring down some of her late game damage.

Passive – Dream-Laden Bough

• Heal Against Large Monsters: 39 (+15% AP) ⇒ 39 (+9% AP)

Q – Blooming Blows

• AP Ratio: 35% AP ⇒ 30% AP

Malphite

See Highest Win Rate Malphite Builds

Malphite’s been a frontrunner on the Rift for a while, both in top and in the jungle. We’re actually very happy that he’s found a real audience in the jungle! That said, he’s still overperforming, so we need to bring him down now while still leaving him with two roles to play. To do that, we’re reducing some of his trading and clearing damage while retaining his high durability to physical damage and strong engage power. We’re also hitting jungle a little more as it’s meant to be slightly weaker than his top lane, as opposed to slightly stronger, which is currently the case.

W – Thunderclap

• Monster Damage: 2x ⇒ 1.8x

E – Ground Slam

• Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+ 60% AP) (+ 40% armor) ⇒ 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+ 60% AP) (+ 40% armor)
• Mana Cost: 50 ⇒ 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70

R – Unstoppable Force

• Cooldown: 130 / 105 / 80 ⇒ 130 / 115 / 100

Master Yi

See Highest Win Rate Master Yi Builds

Master Yi has been struggling as a result of the changes in the new season. We’re looking to return some of his power so that he can keep up with other junglers and better live up to his full hyper carry potential.

Base Stats

• Armor Growth: 4.2 ⇒ 4.5

Q – Alpha Strike

• On-Hit Damage Mod: 65% ⇒ 75%

Nunu & Willump

See Highest Win Rate Nunu & Willump Builds

Nunu & Willump are devouring the competition in the new season, so we’re here to bring them back to a fairer level of power. To do that, we’re reducing a mix of the PvP and PvE power out in their kits to give opponents a fighting chance.

Q – Consume

• Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 ⇒ 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 seconds

W – Biggest Snowball Ever!

• Maximum Damage: 180 / 225 / 270 / 315 / 360 (+ 150% AP) ⇒ 150 / 195 / 240 / 285 / 330 (+ 150% AP)

E – Snowball Barrage

• Damage per Hit: 16 / 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 (+ 15% AP) ⇒ 14 / 21 / 28 / 35 / 42

Sivir

See Highest Win Rate Sivir Builds

Sivir has become an extremely dominant ADC pick, regardless of whether or not she buys Essence Reaver, so it’s time to bring her down a notch. Since she has very strong wave control and great damage scaling, we’re looking to bring down her top end a little.

Base Stats

• Attack Speed Growth: 2% ⇒ 1.6%
• Armor Growth: 4.45 ⇒ 4.0

Smolder

See Highest Win Rate Smolder Builds

As expected Smolder has become much more powerful with the new Essence Reaver and increased minion counts. Since we’ve tuned our systems to our liking for now, it’s time to take stock of individual champions, Smolder being one. We want to make sure Smolder’s strong late-game damage has durability tradeoffs, even when buying the occasional HP item.

Base Stats

• Armor Growth: 4.7 ⇒ 4.0

Taliyah

See Highest Win Rate Taliyah Builds

Taliyah’s been missing from the jungle as of late and the gameplay changes for the new season didn’t help her, quite the opposite actually. To that end we want to get her rocking and rolling in the jungle again so we’re buffing up her mid game clear speed to help her out.

Q – Threaded Volley

• Bonus Damage to Monsters : 20 ⇒ 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (Note: Empowered Boulder damage is still increased by 80% to primary target.)

E – Unraveled Earth

• Monster Damage Modifier: 190% ⇒ 225%

Varus

See Highest Win Rate Varus Builds

Varus isn’t doing very well in the new season so we’re here to lift up his two primary builds, on-hit and AD caster.

Q – Piercing Arrow

• Maximum Charge Base Damage: 80 / 150 / 220 / 290 / 360 ⇒ 80 / 160 / 240 / 320 / 400

W – Blighted Quiver

• On-Hit Base Damage: 6 / 14 / 22 / 30 / 38 ⇒ 8 / 17 / 26 / 35 / 44

Viego

See Highest Win Rate Viego Builds

Viego is performing worse this season due to direct adjustments and overall game-wide changes. As a result he needs some power added back in, both compensating some crit scaling that he lost and generally just making him a better fighter.

Base Stats

• Attack Speed Growth: 2.25% ⇒ 2.75%

Q – Blade of the Ruined King

• Percent HP On-Hit Bonus Crit Damage Mod: 50% ⇒ 70%
• Active Bonus Crit Damage Mod: 50% ⇒ 60%

Zed

See Highest Win Rate Zed Builds

Zed’s recent jungle changes didn’t affect him as strongly as we had anticipated, and players have noticed, resulting in a resurgence of pick and ban rate. We’d like to slow his clear and lower his potency, this time with more accuracy now that we have a better understanding of how to tune him in the jungle.

Passive – Contempt for the Weak

• Monster Damage: 1.8x ⇒ 1.2x

Items

In 16.1, we added nine new items. We’re mostly happy with how they landed in terms of users and use cases, but there’s definitely some balance work to be done here. This patch, we’re adjusting Bandlepipes down and Fiendhunter Bolts plus Hexoptics C44 up as we think they’re the furthest off from where we wanted them to be. At the moment we’re also keeping our eyes on some of the other items/cases like the fast powerspike offered by Dusk and Dawn or the distribution of power on Endless Hunger between damage, haste, and omnivamp. The synergy between Diadem of Songs and Echoes of Helia is very cool, but it’s something we’ll be monitoring to make sure that it doesn’t become the only way to build a champion to exist between the mage and enchanter space.

Bandlepipes

The pipes are sounding good on the rift but they’re crowding out other support options due to their low price point. While we’re excited for their newfound popularity, we don’t want them to completely steal the spotlight.

• Price: 2000 ⇒ 2300 gold
• Combine Cost: 500 ⇒ 800 gold

Fiendhunter Bolts

Fiendhunter Bolts is doing what it’s supposed to do, but it’s not quite well enough to get picked over its competition. We’re buffing up a little bit all around on the Bolts to help it hold up better against the other Zeal items.

• Attack Speed: 40% ⇒ 45%
• Damage Multiplier for Guaranteed Critical Strikes: 75% ⇒ 80%
• Bonus True Damage for Critical Strikes: 10% ⇒ 15%

Hexoptics C44

Hexoptics has found a place in some situational builds for longer range champions, but is a bit too niche and a little weaker than needed for it to function for most of the marksman roster, so we’re giving it a general appreciable AD buff and easing the range requirement.

• Attack Damage: 50 ⇒ 55
• Distance Required for Max Damage Amp: 700 ⇒ 600

Miscellaneous Changes

It’s been a few days since 26.1b dropped and just under a week since 26.1, the first patch of the year. Now we’ve just gotten the full preview for 26.2, which is scheduled to release on January 22nd. Source

Official Patch 26.2 Preview

Patch 26.2 Full Preview!

Jungle

• Some of the main changes this patch are re-distributing some of the jungle power
• This includes buffs to some of the AD junglers like Aatrox, Master Yi, Viego, Trynd (micropatched last patch) and nerfs to some of the outliers like Zed, Jayce who has been strong for a while
• Several of the AP or Tank junglers have really benefitted from being able to kill Epic monsters from increased pet damage, where they otherwise previously lacked DPS to do so and so they’re being tapped down a bit as well
• We expect that this shift within the Jungle role itself is going to have ripple effects into Pro Play, but are waiting to see the outcomes of this before taking larger swings and having Junglers hold more dominion over Epic monsters is an intended directional adjustment

Game Strategy

• One of our major goals with this season was bring into better balance the 3 major strategic decisions
• Sieging, Grouping for Objectives & Split Pushing are all intended to play a part
• In 2025 in particular, Grouping for Objectives was by far the dominant strategy, so the adjustments to tower plates, homeguards, minion spawn rate and nerfs to objective power were intended to change some of this balance
• In particular, it was hard to justify hitting towers sometimes without rewards for doing so and in some situations, champions were ready to hit towers, but there just weren’t minions in the right place at the right time to facilitate that especially in the sidelanes
• We’re curious to see how strategy for this evolves over the course of the Season

Gameplay Thoughts –

Game Time & Snowballing: For the most part, our metrics around snowballing have come in and they’re not looking any higher than last season (and for average play are lower). This is pretty much the same across every region.

Game time is also looking slightly longer in each region, and even moreso given that the game starts earlier.

But at the same time, players have reported that games feel a lot faster. We have a few hypotheses:

Certainly, downtime with more frequent minion spawns and homeguards makes it feel like there’s constant action happening.

Hitting towers and getting those chunks of damage from crystalline overgrowth both feels more rewarding (and more confronting on the receiving end), so it feels like progress is being made faster, even if it’s not actually that much faster.

Barons are being taken earlier, since they’re spawning again at 20 minutes, even though Baron takes are a bit weaker than they were before (gives +150G instead of +300G), so games don’t typically end after the first Baron push. Players have often associated the first Baron take with the game being over, but that is a bit less of the case this Season.

For now, we’re not going to make any changes to Snowballing and Game Length, but will continue to monitor how things play out.

Balancing the needs of the Summoner’s Rift audience is pretty tough. There is a section of the audience who really enjoys the slow, methodical form of “Classical Chess/League” and at the same time, there are some sections of the audience who love “Blitz Chess/League”.

While we don’t intend to go all the way down to Bullet chess speeds, we also need to be very responsive to the needs of our audience, especially global players and younger players who are often looking for a game with less downtime and faster pacing. At the same time, we don’t want to move so quickly that we’re alienating our long time core players who might be looking for a slower, more strategic game. We’ll continue to fine-tune this over the course of the season.

Vision: The amount of vision has also been a hot topic. We’ve heard a lot of your discussions on Faelights and the overall state of vision. We’ve opted not to do anything to do them for 16.2, but are in active discussion for 16.3, especially in terms of how they affect early jungle ganks. Otherwise, we’re not planning anything major until Pro Play starts.

Role Agency & Strategy: We’re going to hold a little bit on taking a definitive stance on which roles are most and least powerful, we don’t feel any are so out of line that we need to act now. It’s been fun to observe how some players are putting roles at the top of their tier list and different players are putting the same role at the bottom (cough ADC cough).

There are a lot of things for players to optimize here, but so far, we’ve been pretty happy with how the game, especially in the mid-game feels a bit more strategic; should I greed tempo to get an Overgrowth proc here, should I push next wave to try and get that turret chunk for gold.

Bugs & Features
– [Fixed] Draven Q: Bug that was causing reduced damage has been micropatched onto Live

– [?] Dropped Inputs: We’ve been actively triaging some reports of dropped inputs on 16.1 when sequencing abilities. Things like Q -> Hydra -> W on Fiora working differently in 15.24 compared to 16.1.

If you have any more examples of these, please pass them over, so we can track them down.
– [16.3] Support Quest + Control Ward Bindings: We’ve been testing 2 changes to address some of the bad feels around control wards. The first is to put the control ward in the role quest slot at the start of the game (this has some weirdness with how the UX of the slot is conveyed and can be confusing to players).

We’re also testing an option where control wards can be double bound to both the role slot and the item slot where you hold it in your inventory.

We’ve also been investigating whether we should be reverting V be defaulted back to caution ping and to re-bind the role quest slot to a different button.

– Cassio: Please remember to buy boots on Cassio, she has feet now

Ranked – [16.2] Champ Mastery: We’re actively resolving an issue where Champ Mastery grades are higher than normal in certain situations (S’s in situations where it’s not warranted)

– [16.2] Aegis of Valor: We’ve resolved an issue where in <1% of games Aegis of Valor was not proccing in situations where it should (eg. when autofilled)

– [16.2/3] Start of Season LP: For players in OCE & China who played games during the period where Ranked placements were compromised, we will be granting players bonus LP for games played during that period

– [16.2] KR and JP Ranked Climbers: For players in Korea and Japan who started their climbs during the compromised period, we’re also looking to remedy their situations sometime during Patch 16.2.

– We’re seeing reduced dodge rates across all MMR’s

– We’ve also been seeing some successful lobby terminations for disruptive behavior and are continuing on our journey to roll this out in more regions

– But overall the Ranked changes have rolled out pretty smoothly and we’re happy with how things have gone there

Following the release of the 26.1 update, League of Legend’s first micro-patch of 2026 has arrived, and it includes a handful of buffs, nerfs and adjustments. Check out the full patch updated 26.1 notes for additional details from Riot (source).

1/9/2026 Mid-Patch Updates

“Here’s a summary of the changes planned for the next update: “We have a few changes to 26.1 that we wanted to get out before the weekend. We have a few early balance changes, some quick fixes to ARAM Mayhem, and some bugfixes that we have ready to go. Appreciate all your reports and your early feedback on the new season!”

Clash Schedule Updates

“We’ve moved the first Clash of the year back one week.

Clash registration will now open on January 19th @ 11:00 AM (Local Time)

Tournament days will now be January 24th and 25th.”

ARAM/ARAM Mayhem Updates

• We’ve disabled the Bastionbreaker item from ARAM and ARAM Mayhem.
• We’ve temporarily disabled the Executioner augment from appearing for Gangplank due to an unintended interaction.
• We’ve temporarily disabled the Flashy augment while we resolve some bugs that have popped up with it.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the ability to roll multiples of the same augment and stack them.
• We’ve identified an issue that caused two Stormrazors to appear in the shop.
• Fixed an issue where Zeri could reach over the attack speed cap. (This was actually fixed in the original 16.1 patch but was missing from the notes)

Champions

Aphelios

See Highest Win Rate Aphelios Builds

Many of Aphelios’s abilities can crit, and while we compensated for this power increase, he’s still become one of the strongest champions in the game. We’re here to reduce some of that burst damage while preserving the power of his weaker AD-AS builds.

Passive – The Hitman and the Seer

• Lethality per E rank: 5.5 ⇒ 4.5

Graves

See Highest Win Rate Graves Builds

Graves is looking worse for wear in the new season and seems to not need some of the preemptive crit damage mitigations we put in place. So we’re here to help his crit attacks have more oomph. Graves’s critical strikes are pretty complicated but the short of it is that now a crit will deal twice as much damage as a non-crit if all pellets hit.

Passive – New Destiny

• Crit Scaling: 35% bonus crit damage ⇒ 50% bonus crit damage
• Maximum damage on crit relative to non crit: 1.8x ⇒ 2x

Kayle

See Highest Win Rate Kayle Builds

Kayle – Q max is looking very strong this patch due to the top lane XP buffs. Removing some AP scaling we added back when there were less AP items available that improved attack power.

Passive – Divine Ascent

• Attack Speed per stack: 6% (+1% per 100 AP) ⇒ 6%

Q – Radiant Blast

• Mana Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 ⇒ 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100
• Slow: 26 / 32 / 38 / 44 / 50% ⇒ 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45%

Nilah

See Highest Win Rate Nilah Builds

Nilah has been the biggest winner of this patch’s systemic changes to bot lane and so is deserving of a meaningful adjustment. Because she gets plenty of attack speed from her Q, we’re taking a chunk out of her base stat growth.

Base Stats

• AS Growth: 2% ⇒ 1.25%

Q – Formless Blade

• Crit scaling multiplier: 80% bonus crit damage ⇒ 70% bonus crit damage

Quinn

See Highest Win Rate Quinn Builds

Quinn has suffered more than most in the new season from systemic changes like the removal of Symbiotic Soles and role quests. Since she was hit hardest in top lane, we’re targeting her level scaling and giving a boost to her passive. This should further reward effective snowballing and buff the early trading she needs to get her quest online earlier, supporting Quinn players whether they want to continue playing a heavy roaming style or lean more into split pushing.

Base Stats

• AD Growth: 2.7 ⇒ 3.2

Passive – Harrier

• Base Cooldown: 8 seconds ⇒ 7 seconds

Rammus

See Highest Win Rate Rammus Builds

Rammus has had a lot of success with some of the new map changes. We still want him to maintain his identity as a particularly strong pick into an AD comp, but we look to curve a bit of that power against magic damage champs.

Base Stats

• Health: 675 ⇒ 645

W – Defensive Ball Curl

• Magic Resist: 27 / 32 / 37 / 42 / 47 ⇒ 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40

Tryndamere

See Highest Win Rate Tryndamere Builds

We overcompensated for how much Tryndamere would gain from the base crit damage increases, so we’re here to make things better for him. We’re leading with a big E buff to make him less reliant on lucky crits for successful trades and help him not need a Tiamat for wave clear. He’s also getting a W slow duration to make him better at taking extended fights.

W – Mocking Shout

• Slow Duration: 2.5 seconds ⇒ 3.25 seconds

E – Spinning Slash

• Base Damage: 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 ⇒ 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240

Essence Reaver

• Total Cost: 2900 Gold ⇒ 3050 Gold
• Recipe: Sheen + Caulfield’s Warhammer + Cloak of Agility + 350 Gold ⇒ Sheen + Caulfield’s Warhammer + Cloak of Agility + 500 Gold
• Attack Damage: 55 Gold ⇒ 50

Bugfixes

• Fixed several issues where Actualizer could incorrectly increase mana costs indefinitely.

Known Issues

• Some settings are not available when in Ranked games.
• When in spectator mode if you skip forward in time towers will remain standing after being destroyed.
• Winter Rift Baron is still appearing. (sorry Baron just wants to be on the Winter Rift a little longer, we’ll get him to put the mittens away later)

Patch Notes Preview

General

• Patch overall has landed within bounds and a few balance outliers are expected, but nothing major.
• Riot continues to monitor things like Faelights, Homeguards, general game snowballing and will have more details to share on Monday, January 12, after they’ve observed more of how things are playing out.
• More details on how the team currently feels about role power is coming on Monday.
• Game times are slightly up by around 1.5% on average, but long and short games are mostly the same.
• Only the most extreme outliers are being addressed in this pass, they’re saving the rest for patch 26.2.

Bot Lane

• Essence Reaver is the biggest outlier right now, so it’s being nerfed to see what it does.

Miscellaneous

• They’re monitoring weak/strong items, including Bandlepipes, Dusk & Dawn, etc.
• Power levels within the jungle role are looking a bit off, but nothing micro-patch worthy outside of Graves and Rammus.
• Overall, AD junglers have dropped some, Tank junglers are up.

Non-Gameplay Related

• Riot continues to triage a few things with Demacia Rising and there will be updates from LoLDev when it’s back online.
• They intend to rectify KR and JP accounts who landed in the wrong Ranked buckets as soon as possible.
• Some players are not receiving Aegis when they are autofilled and Riot’s investigating the root cause of the bug.

Riot Games has uploaded a new skin trailer for Revenant Reign Viego, set to go live with the 26.0.2 update on January 22, 2026.

A mad king betrayed by his most trusted knights, Viego has returned from the Land of Death to slay those who turned against him and his beloved. And he’ll use their seven traitorous swords to do it.

Earlier today, Riot has posted a video of Pabro and Meddler talking about the upcoming changes in Season 1 of 2026. If you’ve missed the video, you can watch it here.

Highlights

Can’t tune in? Here’s a quick summary of the key takeaways:

• The gameplay and ranked changes announced in December will go live tomorrow, December 9. You will find more details in the official patch notes.
• Shyvana will receive her update in Act 2 of this Season, similar to Dr. Mundo or Volibear.
• The map will feature a Demacia-themed reskin with towers and gold winged acdents.

• Demacia Rising is a new evolving meta-game going live tomorrow, where you’ll help grow the Kingdom of Demacia.
• ARAM: Mayhem’s run is getting extended and it’s also getting a bigger update in the forthcoming 26.03 patch.
• Riot is trialing a new lobby hostage intervention system in some regions to take immediate action on bad actors in your lobbies. The feature will be rolled out over the next few patches.

• This patch comes with new skins for Briar, Samira, Galio, and Ornn.

• The Lunar Revel celebration will re-introduce Firecracker skins and bring a new thematic called Petals of Spring.
• The Victorious skin this season will be for Braum.
• Viego‘s Exalted skin will be out this season.
• The 2026 esports season kicks off with First Stand in São Paulo, Brazil, taking place from March 16 through March 22.
• To decouple side selection and draft order, Riot’s introducing “First Selection”, giving pro teams more flexibility.
• Bigger features currently being worked on include a brand new integrated client, a revamped Summoner’s Rift, changes to pre-game choices such as runes, and a reworked New Player Experience.

Source: League of Legends News

The first patch notes of the new season have arrived, and include a handful of buffs, nerfs and adjustments. Check out the full patch 26.1 notes for additional details from Riot (source).

Patch 26.1 Overview

Atakhan, Blood Roses, Feats, And Kills

Minions

Role Quests

Champions

Akshan

See Highest Win Rate Akshan Builds

Akshan’s abilities currently scale crit in three different ways and we’re making that more consistent here. His passive auto, being functionally a true basic attack, will crit for 100% value. Meanwhile, the crit scaling on E and R are going down as compensation. We’re also doing some discretionary adjustments to allow Q-max and E-max to perform at similar levels of power by adjusting their rank-up incentives.

Passive – Dirty Fighting

• P second shot crit damage: 30% of bonus crit damage (1.225/1.345x) ⇒ 100% of bonus crit damage: 2/2.3x
• Fixed a bug where the second shot could bypass blind if it didn’t crit.

Q – Avengerang

• Damage: 5/25/45/65/85 (+ 80% total AD) ⇒ 45/75/105/135/165 (+ 70% bonus AD)

E – Heroic Swing

• Damage: 15/30/45/60/75 (+ 15% total AD) ⇒ 8/16/24/32/40 (+ 25% total AD)
• Crit Scaling: 1.575/1.935x ⇒ 50% of bonus crit damage: 1.5/1.65x
• Clarified that damage scales with attack speed in tooltip.

R – Comeuppance

• Crit Scaling: 1.5/1.7x ⇒ 30% of bonus crit damage: 1.3/1.42x

Aphelios

See Highest Win Rate Aphelios Builds

Aphelios has a lot of intricacies and some of his abilities try to behave exactly like basic attacks. With that in mind, we’re converting Severum’s active to total attack damage in line with similar abilities and generally lowering the bonus AD ratios of several abilities that already scale well due to firing off basic attacks that can crit as part of their cast.

Calibrum

• Bonus Damage per Mark: 15 (+ 20% bonus AD) ⇒ 15 (+ 10% bonus AD)

Severum

• Onslaught Damage per Hit: 10/15/20/25/30/35/40 (+ 22/25/28/31/34/37/40% bonus AD) ⇒ (+ 19/22.5/26/29.5/33/36.5/40% total AD)
• Still critically strikes for 100% crit damage (1.75/2.15x ⇒ 2.0/2.3x)

Infernum

• Duskwave Active Damage: 25/31.67/38.33/45/51.67/58.33/65 (+ 56/60/64/68/72/76/80% bonus AD) ⇒ 20/35/50/65/80/95/110 (+ 10/11/12/13/14/15/16% bonus AD)
• Follow-up attack still critically strikes for 100% crit damage (1.75/2.15x ⇒ 2.0/2.3x)

Crescendum

• Sentry Active Damage: 35/50/65/80/95/110/125 (+ 42/45/48/51/54/57/60% bonus AD) ⇒ 35/50/65/80/95/110/125 (+ 30/32/34/36/38/40/42% bonus AD)
• Still critically strikes for 100% crit damage (1.75/2.15x ⇒ 2/2.3x)

R – Moonlight Veil

• Follow-Up Attack Critical Damage: 1.2/1.6x with IE ⇒ 30% of bonus critical strike damage: 1.3/1.39x with IE

Ashe

See Highest Win Rate Ashe Builds

Ashe is already quite attack-reliant and pretty balanced but considering she buys about 1.5 crit items per game, we’re lowering her late game a little to make room for the increased damage coming her way.

Base Stats

• Attack Speed Growth: 3.33% ⇒ 3%
• Attack Damage Growth: 3.45 ⇒ 3

Passive – Frost Shot

• Crit Scaling: 100% (up to 1.75/2.15x) ⇒ 100% (up to 2/2.3x)

W – Volley

• Damage: 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+ 110% Bonus AD) ⇒ 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+ 100% Bonus AD)

Caitlyn

See Highest Win Rate Caitlyn Builds

Caitlyn’s top-end Headshot damage has gotten out of hand and with the value of critical strikes going up it’s about to get even stronger, so we’re taking a heavy swing to Headshot’s top end. We’re also making her R scale with Infinity Edge, as it already scales with critical strike chance, but we’re reducing its damage to make room for her stronger basic attacks.

Passive – Headshot

• Crit Scaling: 0-148.75/182.75% total AD ⇒ 100%*Bonus Crit Damage (0-100/130% total AD)

R – Ace in the Hole

• Crit Scaling: Up to 1.5x ⇒ 30% of bonus critical strike damage: up to 1.3/1.39x with IE

Cassiopeia

See Highest Win Rate Cassiopeia Builds

While Cassiopeia’s no boots passive is very thematic, the addition of more boot based systems over the years (like role quest rewards) has made it feel like a punishment at times instead of a boon. We think it’s important for Cassio to have the opportunity to engage with these new systems so we’re reworking the passive into a new movement based effect. (We also wanted to do Soobin a solid.)

Base Stats

• Base Movement Speed: 328 ⇒ 335

Passive – Serpentine Grace

• Passive Rework: Gain 4-72 Movement Speed (Based on level), but she cannot purchase boots. ⇒ Increased effectiveness of all Movement Speed buffs by 6-40% (based on level).

Corki

See Highest Win Rate Corki Builds

Corki isn’t particularly strong at the moment, so while this is a nerf on paper, we expect Corki will be overall stronger at the start of the season. This nerf is aimed at weakening his ability to crush a minion wave right before a Recall.

W – Valkyrie

• Damage per second: 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 (+40% bonus AD) (+ 30% AP) ⇒ 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+40% bonus AD) (+ 30% AP)

Draven

See Highest Win Rate Draven Builds

Draven is very auto-attack focused and averages about two crit items per game, so he’s also in need of some compensation. Considering he’s gaining direct auto-attack DPS, we’re trying to compensate him directly on the same axis.

Base Stats

• AD Growth: 3.6 ⇒ 3

W – Blood Rush

• Attack Speed: 30/35/40/45/50% ⇒ 20/25/30/35/40%

Elise

See Highest Win Rate Elise Builds

Elise is in a silly spot where ability power quickly fails to scale her damage against monsters after the mid game. We’re delivering a change that will be a slight buff on average but is primarily meant to let her damage scale up with AP like it would for anyone else.

Q – Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite

• Monster Damage Cap: 75/100/125/150/175 ⇒ 65/85/105/125/145 (+ 90% AP)
• Maximum Damage to Monsters: 115/170/225/280/335 ⇒ 105155/205/255/305 (+ 90% AP)

Gangplank

See Highest Win Rate Gangplank Builds

Gangplank is one of two champions (alongside Smolder) who we think is going to gain extra power due to Essence Reaver once again building from Sheen. We expect him to perform much, much better with his increased critical strike damage, so we’re pulling out many of the unique crit scalars that have been added over the years and delivering an extra hit to his E on top.

Passive – Trial by Fire

• Damage: 50-250 (based on level) (+100% bonus AD) (+200% Crit Chance) ⇒ 50-250 (+ 100% bonus AD) (+ 0% crit scaling)

E – Powder Keg

• Bonus Champion Damage: 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 / 195 ⇒ 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 / 155
• Timer no longer reduces to 0.25 seconds at level 19.
• No longer deals 5% more damage on critical strike.

Garen

See Highest Win Rate Garen Builds

Critical strike chance on Garen is pretty good since both his basic attacks and Judgment are improved by it. We want to continue to make space for non-crit Garen builds, so we’re compensating the global critical strike damage increase and updating the calculation to properly discount bonus crit damage.

E – Judgment

• E Crit Ratio: 80% of total (1.4/1.72x) ⇒ 30% of bonus (1.3/1.39x)

Graves

See Highest Win Rate Graves Builds

The functional result of these Graves changes should be almost nothing. He’ll deal about 1% more damage with his basic attacks when critically striking.

Base Stats

• Crit Damage: 45% of bonus (33.75/51.75%) ⇒ 35% of bonus (35/45.5%)
• Total Damage on Crit: 250-357% total AD ⇒ 252-360% total AD

Jax

See Highest Win Rate Jax Builds

Now that the top lane quest can raise champion levels to 20, we’re looking for any champions who intermittently scale their passives and giving them another breakpoint if they deserve one. Jax is one such champion who’s gaining a bit more attack speed at level 19.

Passive – Relentless Assault

• Now gains an additional 1.5% attack speed per stack at level 19.

Jhin

See Highest Win Rate Jhin Builds

Jhin won’t behave any differently next season as we want to avoid letting his guaranteed crit fourth shot do too much damage.

Base Stats

• Multiplicative Crit Damage Mod: 86% ⇒ 75% (1.505x ⇒ 1.5x)

Jinx

See Highest Win Rate Jinx Builds

We like the overall shape of how Jinx functions and generally just want to preserve the value of her minigun’s high attack speed, so we’re making sure her two stances are more distinguished from one another and generally lowering a bit of spell damage to keep her attack-focused.

Base Stats

• Attack Speed Growth: 1.4% ⇒ 1%

R – Super Mega Death Rocket!

• Maximum Flat Damage: 250/400/550 (+ 130% bonus AD) ⇒ 200/350/500 (+ 120% bonus AD)

Kindred

See Highest Win Rate Kindred Builds

Kindred’s E mechanics are rather confusing and they build several critical strike items already. So we’re updating the E to be much easier to understand and reducing the numbers. We’re also modernizing the E’s monster cap to allow for more damage when building AD and ranking up the ability.

E – Mounting Dread

• Missing Health Crit: 1.5/1.9x if target is below 25-75% (based on crit chance) Health ⇒ 50% of bonus crit chance and crit damage always (up to 1.5/1.65x)
• Pounce Damage: 1.75/2.15x on crit ⇒ 50% of bonus crit chance and crit damage always (up to 1.5/1.65x)
• Monster Damage Cap: 300 including base damage and bonus AD ratio ⇒ 200 to only the %HP portion (This is a buff in almost all scenarios)

Lucian

See Highest Win Rate Lucian Builds

Lucian’s builds are pretty sensible and as a spell-focused ADC, but we want to make sure his spell scaling is good. We’re updating R to fire even more bullets with crit damage, which will make crit scale his ult just as well as it scales basic attacks. Considering he’s already got extremely strong AD scaling and we want to make sure that Navori Flickerblades feels good, we’re bringing down some of his Q’s AD scaling.

Base Stats

• Attack Damage Growth: 2.9 ⇒ 2.5
• Attack Speed Growth: 3.3% ⇒ 2.5%

Q – Piercing Light

• Damage: 85/115/145/175/205 (+ 60/75/90/105/120% bonus AD) ⇒ 80/115/150/185/220 (+ 100% bonus AD)

R – The Culling

• R Extra Bolts from Crit Chance: Up to 25 ⇒ 100% of bonus crit damage: Up to 22/28
• Total R Bolts: 22-47 (based on critical strike chance) ⇒ 22-44/50 (based on critical strike chance and damage)

Miss Fortune

See Highest Win Rate Miss Fortune Builds

Miss Fortune tends to build quite a lot of critical strike chance and we’d like it to stay that way, but she can’t just be directly buffed so we’re here to compensate some of that value by softening her Q crit mod. For her R, we want to make sure that critical strikes feel like they have some impact, so we’re increasing the crit mod slightly, but in order to not push her scaling too hard, have compensated that with a new base damage and a lower AD ratio.

Q – Double Up

• Active Critical Damage: 1.75/2.15x ⇒ 50% of bonus crit damage (1.5/1.65x)

R – Bullet Time

• Damage: 80% total AD (+ 25% AP) ⇒ 20 / 30 / 40 (+60% Total AD) (+ 25% AP)
• Crit Scaling: 1.2/1.28x ⇒ 30% of bonus crit damage (1.3/1.39x)

Nilah

See Highest Win Rate Nilah Builds

Nilah’s in an interesting place where her Q didn’t scale with Infinity Edge, so unlocking that avenue marks a small power increase on top of her basic attacks getting better, so we sought to find other ways to slightly lower her late game scaling as compensation.

Base Stats

• Attack Speed Growth: 2.25% ⇒ 2%

Q – Formless Blade

• Active Damage: 5/10/15/20/25 (+ 90/95/100/105/110% total AD) ⇒ 0/10/20/30/40 (+ 100% total AD)
• Crit Scaling: Up to 2x ⇒ 80% of bonus crit damage: 1.8/2.04x
• Armor Penetration Crit Scaling: 0-33% ⇒ 0-30%

R – Apotheosis

• Mana Cost: 80 ⇒ 100

Quinn

See Highest Win Rate Quinn Builds

As Quinn builds a decent amount of crit and that crit manifests in stronger autos and more passive procs, we’re compensation nerfing those same auto-reliant passive procs.

Passive – Harrier

• Damage: 10-95 (based on level) (+ 16-50% (based on level) total AD) ⇒ 15-120 (based on level) (+ 40% bonus AD)

Rengar

See Highest Win Rate Rengar Builds

Rengar is getting a heavy re-script. This is mostly intended to maintain current functionality and feel, while addressing bugs and tech debt. The list of bug fixes is too long to add here so it’ll be added to the bugs section. Alongside the crit changes, we’re looking to make Rengar’s Q work more intuitively by letting the underlying attack itself roll for critical strikes, and if so, deal bonus damage based on his total AD. This removes an optimization around rushing Infinity Edge to enhance the old forced-crit mechanic and also makes him not immediately lose 30% of his damage if his opponents build Randuin’s Omen. We’ll keep an eye on lethality-vs-crit Rengar and how it performs next season as we suspect Essence Reaver will be a big deal on him.

• All abilities rescripted

Q – Bonetooth Necklace

• Q is now consumed on plants
• Q is no longer always always considered a critical strike
• Q damage no longer deals up to 101.25% total AD bonus damage based on crit chance and damage
• Q now deals 100/130% total AD bonus damage if Rengar crits the attack.

Samira

See Highest Win Rate Samira Builds

We like that Samira’s R and Q are almost direct auto-attack replacements and want to preserve as much of their crit damage as possible. However, with the value of crit going up, the value of AD must then go down.

Q – Flair

• Q Non-Crit Damage: 5/10/15/20/25 (+ 95/102.5/110/117.5/125% total AD) ⇒ 0/5/10/15/20 (+ 110% total AD)
• Q Critical Strike Damage: 1.25/1.65x with IE ⇒ 50% of bonus crit damage: 1.5/1.65x with IE

R – Inferno Trigger

• R Non-Crit Damage: 5/15/25 + 45% total AD ⇒ 20/40/60 + 30% total AD
• R Critical Damage: 1.75/2.15x with IE ⇒ 100% of bonus crit damage: 2.0/2.3x with IE

Senna

See Highest Win Rate Senna Builds

Like Jhin, Yasuo, and Yone, Senna’s guaranteed critical strikes cannot sustain a 2x modifier, so we’re lowering her base crit damage down to a value similar to last year.

Base Stats

• Crit Damage: 100% of total crit damage (1.75/2.15x) ⇒ 90% of total (1.8/2.07x)

Shaco

See Highest Win Rate Shaco Builds

When Shaco crits during a Backstab or a Deceive, everything crits along with it for his full crit damage, so his top end can be very, very high. We like that he builds for crit sometimes and want to let as many of these tools inherit the new higher base crit damage, but also want to modernize his other scalings to respect crit damage mods more consistently and generally preserve the total power level of Shaco builds that don’t buy any critical strike chance.

Passive – Backstab

• Damage: 20-35 (based on level) (+25% bonus AD) ⇒ 20-35 (based on level)(+ 20% bonus AD)
• Crit Modifier: 100% (1.75/2.15x) ⇒ 100% (2.0/2.3x)

Q – Deceive

• Backstab Modifier: 1.55/1.95x ⇒ 60% of bonus crit damage (1.6/1.78x)
• Backstab on Crit: 100% (1.75/2.15x) ⇒ 100% (2.0/2.3x)

Sivir

See Highest Win Rate Sivir Builds

As Sivir’s going to gain a lot of power from stronger Ricochet crits, we’re reducing her Q’s scaling.

Q – Boomerang Blade

• Damage: 60/85/110/135/160 (+ 85% bonus AD) ⇒ 60/85/110/135/160 (+ 70% bonus AD)
• Crit Scaling: Up to 1.5x ⇒ 40%: 1.4/1.52x

Smolder

See Highest Win Rate Smolder Builds

Smolder, like Gangplank, stands to gain a lot of power from Essence Reaver’s changes in this patch so we’re taking a swing at how strongly his Q scales with critical strike purchases.

Q – Super Scorcher Breath

• Crit Scaling: Up to 1.75/2.15x ⇒ 50% of bonus crit damage (Up to 1.5/1.65x) (also affects passive Q stacks)

Tristana

See Highest Win Rate Tristana Builds

Tristana’s E is one of the sharpest-scaling abilities in the game, and considering her late game is already poised to be great with a strong attack speed steroid, long range, and lots of crit damage, we think the top end of her E can stand to go down a few pegs.

E – Explosive Charge

• Non-crit Damage: 60/70/80/90/100 (+ 100/110/120/130/140% bonus AD) ⇒ 60/85/110/135/160 (+ 80% bonus AD)
• Crit Scaling: 100%: Up to 1.75/2.15x with IE ⇒ 40% of critical strike damage: 1.40/1.52x with IE

Tryndamere

See Highest Win Rate Tryndamere Builds

Tryndamere is getting some real gameplay updates with this patch and some very real nerfs due to how much critical strike chance he normally has. To weaken how incredible his early game all-ins can be with 200% crit damage, we’re nerfing his early bonus AD from Q and nerfing his early E as well. However, he’s also getting some new tools.

First, his Q now gives full value at 10% remaining health, meaning he can get the full bonus attack damage during his ultimate and it no longer has a disincentive for ranking up. Second, his W will now slow enemies any time they are running away from Tryndamere, regardless of where they were looking when he cast it. We expect this substantial increase in reliability is a big buff, so we’ve preemptively nerfed the slow itself. Though the slow duration is going down, the AD reduction is still the full four seconds regardless of facing.

Q – Bloodlust

• Attack Damage: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+ 0.15 / 0.25 / 0.35 / 0.45 / 0.55% missing HP) ⇒ 0 (+ 0.2 / 0.35 / 0.5 / 0.65 / 0.8% missing HP)
• Maximum Bonus AD: At 0% remaining HP ⇒ At 10% remaining HP
• Clarified the per-fury and maximum heal in Q’s tooltip.

W – Mocking Shout

• No longer slows enemies who are facing away when cast for 4 seconds.
• Now slows any enemy while they’re facing away from Tryndamere during the 2.5 second debuff.
• Slow: 30 / 37.5 / 45 / 52.5 / 60% ⇒ 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50%
• Enemy attack damage is still reduced by 4 seconds.

E – Spinning Slash

• Damage: 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 / 195 (+ 130% Bonus AD) ⇒ 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+ 100% Bonus AD)

Twitch

See Highest Win Rate Twitch Builds

Twitch’s late game team deletion with 200% crit damage will probably be too fast, so we’re targeting some general late-game DPS nerfs.

Base Stats

• Attack Speed Growth: 3.38% ⇒ 3%
• Attack Damage Growth: 3.1 ⇒ 3

Q – Ambush

• Bonus Attack Speed: 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% ⇒ 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60%

Viego

See Highest Win Rate Viego Builds

Viego buys a decent amount of crit chance and we want to make sure those crits allow him to play out a consistent auto-attack pattern, so the larger nerfs are to the active damage of the Q and R.

Q – Blade of the Ruined King

• % Current HP Crit Scaling: 100% of total (1.75/2.15x) ⇒ 50% of bonus (1.5/1.65x)
• Second Strike Crit Scaling: 100% of total (1.75/2.15x) ⇒ 100% of bonus (2/2.3x)
• Active Crit Mod: 100% of total (Up to 1.75/2.15x) ⇒ 50% of bonus (Up to 1.5/1.65x)

R – Heartbreaker

• Crit Scaling: Up to 2x ⇒ 70% of bonus (Up to 1.7/1.91x)

Xayah

See Highest Win Rate Xayah Builds

We’re updating Xayah’s E to care about crit damage and adjusting her E’s overall damage profile to be more reliable and less snowbally.

E – Deadly Plumage

• Damage: 55/65/75/85/95 (+ 60% bonus AD) ⇒ 50/65/80/95/110 (+ 40% bonus AD)
• Crit Scaling: Up to 75% ⇒ Up to 50% of bonus crit damage: 1.5/1.65x

Yasuo

See Highest Win Rate Yasuo Builds

Yasuo won’t be much different this year. Considering he doubles how much critical strike chance he gets from each item, he just isn’t allowed to crit for full damage.

Base Stats

• Crit Damage: 1.75/2.15x ⇒ 90% (1.8/2.07x

Yone

See Highest Win Rate Yone Builds

Yone won’t be much different this year. Considering he doubles how much critical strike chance he gets from each item, he just isn’t allowed to crit for full damage.

Base Stats

• Crit Damage: 1.75/2.15x ⇒ 90% (1.8/2.07x)

Yunara

See Highest Win Rate Yunara Builds

Yunara has a crit build and an on-hit build, but even her on-hit build almost always picks up Hurricane, so she’s getting stronger no matter what she does next season. We’re looking for nerfs that will skew more toward low-Attack Speed high-AD crit builds, as they’ll be more directly buffed by the global crit damage increase.

Q – Cultivation of Spirit

• Attack Speed: 25/35/45/55/65% ⇒ 20/30/40/50/60%

>R+W – Arc of Ruin

• Damage: 175/350/525 (+ 150% bonus AD) ⇒ 160/320/480 (+ 120% bonus AD)

Zeri

See Highest Win Rate Zeri Builds

We’re updating Zeri’s E to crit exactly as a basic attack would, which means re-tuning some of her abilities to make room for that power.

W – Ultrashock Laser

• Damage: 30/70/110/150/190 (+ 130% total AD) ⇒ 30/70/110/150/190 (+ 120% total AD)
• Through-Wall Damage: 1.75x, 2.15x with IE ⇒ 75% of bonus critical strike damage: 1.75/1.975x
• Tooltip now shows the enhanced damage
• Damage now cosmetically critically strikes its targets when shot through a wall

E – Spark Surge

• Damage: 20/22/24/26/28 (+12% bonus AD) ⇒ 17/19/21/23/25 (+ 10% bonus AD)
• Crit Scaling: Up to 1.85x every hit ⇒ 100% of bonus crit damage on crit: 2.0/2.3x

R – Lightning Crash

• Active Damage: 200/300/400 (+ 100% bonus AD) ⇒ 150/250/350 (+ 100% bonus AD)

New Items

Actualizer

It’s been a while, but we’ve got a new active item. This one is made to support mana-stacking builds, to create more builds where mana isn’t just a limitation but instead make it so that it can be an advantage to have large amounts of mana available to you. Activating Actualizer significantly increases your manacosts in exchange for lower cooldowns and more ability damage, healing, and shielding for a short duration, so get your mana items ready for a very powerful popoff moment.

• Build Path: Lost Chapter + Blasting Wand + 1050g
• Total Gold Cost: 3100g
• Ability Power: 90
• Mana: 300
• Ability Haste: 10
• [ACTIVE] Mana Made Real (60s cooldown): For 8 seconds, your mana is Empowered. While Empowered, your spells cost 100% more mana, you gain (15 + .005% bonus mana)% increased ability damage, healing, and shielding, and your basic ability cooldowns progress 30% faster.

Bandelpipes

Tank supports don’t have very many items, and the ones they do have generally focus on helping them roam or protect their allies. We wanted to go a different direction this time, instead giving them a team-wide attack speed aura you can keep up in fights as long as you’re able to frequently apply crowd control to your enemies.

• Build Path: Kindlegem + Cloth Armor + Null-Magic Mantle + 500g
• Total Gold Cost: 2000g
• Health: 200
• Armor: 20
• Magic Resistance: 20
• Ability Haste: 15
• Fanfare: Slowing or Immobilizing an enemy champion grants Fanfare for 8 (melee) / 4 (ranged) seconds. Fanfare grants 20 Movement Speed. While you have Fanfare, nearby allies, including yourself, gain 30% (melee) / 20% (ranged) attack speed.

Bastionbreaker

Most AD assassins aren’t particularly good at ending games, even when they are capable of getting lots of kills. This can lead to pretty frustrating situations where the assassin player feels like they don’t have the tools they need to complete the game, and the players on the receiving end get continuously killed and stay trapped in a game where they can’t survive. Bastionbreaker gives AD assassins a new luxury item that can help them close out games by giving them large amounts of damage to epic monsters and turrets as long as they’re building lots of lethality and can kill some takedowns.

• Build Path: Brutalizer + Serrated Dirk + 863g
• Total Gold Cost: 3200g
• Attack Damage: 55
• Lethality: 22
• Ability Haste: 15
• Shaped Charge: Dealing Ability damage to a champion or epic monster deals an additional (30 + 150% lethality) true damage.
• Sabotage: Taking down a champion within 3 seconds of damaging them grants Sabotage for 90 seconds. While you have Sabotage, your next attack against an epic monster or turret deals an additional (300 + 2500% lethality) true damage over 3 seconds.

Dusk and Dawn

Most AP fighters have incentives in their kit to autoattack, but they have very little access to items that actually support that pattern since Lich Bane and Nashor’s Tooth don’t offer the defensive stats that this subclass often needs. Dusk and Dawn offers a Sheen pattern that doubles on-hits to help champions in this space live their dreams of sustained combat with lots of additional on-hits to enhance whatever their kit is already doing.

• Build Path: Sheen + Blasting Wand + Kindlegem + Dagger + 300g
• Total Gold Cost: 3100g
• Ability Power: 70
• Health: 300
• Ability Haste: 20
• Attack Speed: 25%
• Spellblade (1.5s cooldown): After using an Ability, your next Attack deals 100% base AD + 10% AP bonus magic damage on-hit and applies on-hit effects an additional time.

Endless Hunger

Since the removal of Goredrinker and the removal of omnivamp on Eclipse, AD caster fighters have had little to no access to sustain via the item system. Endless Hunger is a heavy AD-scaling item that rewards building high amounts of AD and can lead to some awesome popoffs in teamfights if you can get a takedown and keep casting through the enemy team.

• Build Path: Caulfield’s Warhammer + Pickaxe + 1075g
• Total Gold Cost: 3000g
• Attack Damage: 60
• Tenacity: 20%
• Omnivamp: 5%
• Famine: Gain (5 + 10% bonus AD) Ability Haste
• Feast: When a champion that you damaged within 3 seconds dies, gain 15% omnivamp for 8 seconds.

Fiendhunter Bolts

When marksmen look at Zeal items, we want them to have different options to choose from that are good in different situations or good for particular champions. Fiendhunter bolts allows for a concentrated moment of power after casting an ultimate, which is particularly exciting for the marksman that already have that pattern like Twitch, Zeri, or Yunara. Some others might like the ultimate haste this item offers, or just want to be able to get immediate combat value after ulting.

• Build Path: Zeal + Scout’s Slingshot + 850g
• Total Gold Cost: 2650g
• Attack Speed: 40%
• Critical Strike Chance: 25%
• Movement Speed: 4%
• Night Vigil: Gain 30 Ultimate Haste.
• Opening Barrage (45s cooldown): After casting your Ultimate, your next 3 basic attacks within 8s gain 50% attack speed and critically strike for 75% of your normal critical strike damage. If an attack would already critically strike, it deals normal critical strike damage and also deals 10% bonus true damage.

Hexoptics C44

We’ve always wanted to support more diversity in crit marksman builds after the first item, so Hexoptics C44 is here to add an additional option for those looking to opt into big teamfight outputs. If you can get one takedown, you can get some extra range to help you secure more kills, and on top of that you also get some bonus damage scaling based on how well you can space your opponents.

• Build Path: Pickaxe + Noonquiver + Long Sword + 275g
• Total Gold Cost: 2800g
• Attack Damage: 50
• Critical Strike Chance: 25%
• Magnification: Deal up to 10% increased damage with attacks, based on how far away the enemy is (max damage at 750 range).
• Arcane Aim: When a champion that you damaged within 3 seconds dies, gain 100 additional attack range for 6 seconds.

Protoplasm Harness

Tanks have lots of tools to make them more durable in different ways, but Protoplasm Harness offers them a Lifeline item that has some movespeed and tenacity to enable a choice: do you want to keep going forward, or do you want to try to leave the fight? If you’re tanky enough to survive, you can even get the full benefits from the healing over time this item grants, which scales with your armor and magic resistance to make sure it slots well into resistance-building tank builds.

• Build Path: Kindlegem + Giant’s Belt + 800g
• Total Gold Cost: 2500g
• Health: 600
• Ability Haste: 15
• Lifeline: Taking damage that would reduce your health below 30% causes you to gain 200 maximum health for 5 seconds, then heal (200-400 [level scaling] + 250% armor + 250% magic resistance) health over the duration. While regenerating health, you gain 15% increased size, 10% Movement Speed, and 25% tenacity.

Whispering Circlet / Diadem of Songs

This is a two-item pair for enchanters: a new evolving Tear item. Some enchanters really like mana and some even step into the mage system to get it, so we’re going to offer a new item that allows them to get flat mana from the enchanter system but also scales well with additional mana purchases if anyone does want to get into a heal-based mana-stacking build.

Whispering Circlet

• Build Path: Forbidden Idol + Ruby Crystal + Tear of the Goddess + 850g
• Total Gold Cost: 2250g
• Health: 200
• Mana: 300
• Base Mana Regeneration: 75%
• Heal and Shield Power: 8%
• Harmony: Gain (.005% bonus mana)% Heal and Shield Power.
• Manaflow: Landing Abilities grants 4 max mana (doubled vs champions). Transforms into Diadem of Songs at 360 max mana.

Diadem of Songs

• Health: 200
• Mana: 1000
• Base Mana Regeneration: 100%
• Heal and Shield Power: 8%
• Harmony: Gain (.005% bonus mana)% Heal and Shield Power.
• Consonance: While you or any ally you’ve healed or shielded in the last 3 seconds is in combat with champions, each second, heal the lowest health nearby ally champion for (.008% bonus mana).

Returning Items

Hextech Gunblade

Gunblade is one of the most requested removed items, as well as a popular item in alternate game modes despite a relatively limited champion user pool. We think that we can control some of the negative gameplay of this item with tuning, especially on the amount of Omnivamp granted and on the frequency with which users can apply the powerful active effect, so we think this is safe to add back in.

• Build path: Vampiric Scepter + Hextech Alternator + Amplifying Tome + 600g
• Total Gold Cost: 3000g
• Ability Power: 80
• Attack Damage: 40
• Omnivamp: 10%
• [ACTIVE] Lightning Bolt (60s cooldown): Shock the target enemy champion, dealing (175-253 [level scaling] + 30% Ability Power) magic damage and slowing them by 25% for 1.5 seconds.

Stormrazor

Stormrazor complements our efforts at increasing the variety of items available to critical strike-using champions, providing another Energized effect in that system. Stormrazor will be our second Attack Damage + Attack Speed + Critical Strike option in the ecosystem, lowering the degree to which critical strike build paths funnel through Yun Tal Wildarrows.

• Build Path: B. F. Sword + Cloak of Agility + Scout’s Slingshot + 700g
• Total Gold Cost: 3200g
• Attack Damage: 50
• Attack Speed: 20%
• Critical Strike Chance: 25%
• Energized: Moving and Attacking generates an Energized Attack.
• Bolt: Your Energized Attack applies 100 bonus magic damage and grants 45% Movement Speed for 1.5s.

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