League of Legends Support Players Can Finally Farm Minions Again

Posted on by Geekmandem
Support Item patch 26.6

Patch 26.6 is set to revert a frustrating Support change after it was added to alter Support play. The change was designed to stop Support players “funneling” minions, with Riot now claiming they are happy with the outcome overall.

The change was first added to the game in late 2025, with the aim of pushing Support players to participate in the lane more. The idea was that if they earned less gold from last-hitting minions and more from attacking enemy champions, the bot lane would be more involved.

Support Lane Change

We first knew the change was coming in the 26.6 patch preview, with Matt Leung-Harrison, Lead Gameplay Designer – League of Legends, giving us a brief update.

“The support item minion penalty has been a pain point for support users and with role quests, the risk of funneling (why it was there in the first place) has been reduced pretty significantly, so we’re removing that drawback”

Now, with the full Patch 26.6 notes we get a look at what is actually changing.

FARMING AS SUPPORTS

“At one point in League’s history it was optimal to run several support items on the same team, which was nerfed by making these items track your income and penalize it if you killed too many minions. Now that it’s impossible to have more than one support on the team in any competitive environments, we’re heavily softening this restriction, to the joy and elation of mage support players everywhere. Look, you were just going for some harass, it’s not your fault the caster minions were nearby! I’m on your side. We’re looking into whether or not we can fully remove this mechanic, but want to make sure it’s not optimal to play “Support” role carries in bot lane and take the income from both roles, so you may see more from us here in the near future. “

  • Minion Kills Before Gold Penalty Activates (Before 5 Minutes): 7 ⇒ 24
  • Minion Kills Per 5 Minutes Before Gold Penalty Activates (After 5 minutes): 20 ⇒ 30

The intention now will be that Support players are more used to fighting in the bot lane since the change. Thus, the change being reverted won’t make Support tunnel minions again. According to Riot, they saw a huge improvement in this area. Hopefully, it remains this way, as more passive Supports were being punished more so than aggro Supports.

Posted in LoL