Tag: Locke

Patch 26.15 Preview – League of Legends

Posted on by Geekmandem

The League of Legends Patch 26.15 Preview is here, as Locke gets his first round of nerfs since release. Riot Phroxzon on X.

Champions

Morde’s ult changes from last patch were really cool
However, they overshot in magnitude and we haven’t been super happy with the ult gameplay after seeing it on live, losing a lot of the tension in whether or not he will successfully 1v1 them and also making Morde feel a lot weaker outside of his R moment
One of the core concepts of the Juggernaut class is that they should have windowed moments of target access, but should have on average less continuous target access than other classes (eg. lower base movespeed for example)
We think that Morde could do with more target access broadly, but through this type of windowed access, hence buffing his E
Since the release of Gluttonous Greaves + a lot of healing from Endless Hunger buffs and the surrounding ecosystem, she has risen to the top of the pack
As a light fighter broadly, she’s having the shape that we think is reasonably healthy, though long term, giving her more choices in the first slot other than Axiom (eg. more durable paths as well) would be broadly desirable (though she synergizes very well with the ability haste there), that would allow her to have other modes of success that aren’t just one shotting her target
Alistar has been closer to the bottom of the pecking order for the melee support. That said, our meta adjustments to move melee supports up relative to ranged supports has been reasonably successful, so we’re pretty happy with how that’s played out

Locke

Locke is still pretty strong; he has been tapering off in the lowest skill brackets and the high skill brackets, but in the “skilled” skill brackets (around Emerald/Diamond), Locke is able to both take over the game and also not throw it
At the higher skill brackets, he can snowball but needs to play very well without throwing as he falls off sharply
At the lower skill brackets, the executional demands and constant throws can make him fall off faster
Overall, we feel his release has landed well

Systems

  • Bastionbreaker has been a pretty niche item and is pretty expensive to deviate for a strategic output. We’re looking to make it more accessible.
  • Jack of All Trades nerf was also pushed to this patch; it has been a bit too strong and too present, especially for users that opt into strong defenses and are able to also supplement that with strong offence.
  • Sundered Sky has been strong and meta-defining at the highest levels of play for quite a while now, so we’re looking to take a pass at the fighter item system, now that we’re out of the tournament windows.
  • Notably, we think it’s been suppressing a bit of meta diversity, especially for things like AP jungle or Tank JG. Part of that is intentional, but the magnitude is a bit off

Patch 26.14 Preview – League of Legends

Posted on by Geekmandem

The League of Legends Patch 26.14 Preview is here, the first patch since the week break Riot Phroxzon on X.

Champions

Locke

Locke has had a really resonant start. Players have resonated with his executes, resets and stack into burst gameplay
he’s shown to be a little skill skewed in the same way that a Katarina, akshan or other resetty, roamy champions might be, but not overly so. That said he’s still a bit strong when account for mastery growth and true power level
his level of early game snowballing is a bit too high right now. We think his damage is appropriate if he needs to work a little harder to access it. As a result we’re nerfing his waveclear (currently) to hit his ability to access it so reliably
we know that one of the things that players find confronting is his damage output right now, but we think it’s valuable to retain these types of unique edges in the game for champions

Passive – Darkness Rise

move speed increased from 3-9% to 3-11%

E – Death’s Grasp

base damage increased from 60-120 to 60-140
AP ratio increased from 40% to 45%
AD growth increased from 2.5 to 3

Q – High Note

AP ratio reduced from 50% to 40%
Crit damage reduced from 85% to 80%

Q – Piercing Darkness

heal AP ratio reduced from 50% to 30%
slow AP ratio reduced from 10% per 100 AP to 5%

Q – Aqua Prison

cooldown reduced from 12-8 seconds to 11-7

E – Tidecaller’s Blessing

base damage increased from 20-60 to 20 – 80
Cannon bonus resists reduced from 5-35 to 5-27.5
Cannon resist bonus AD ratio reduced from 7.5% to 5%

R – Demacian Justice

base damage reduced from 150-350 to 125-275
Growth increased from 2 to 2.5

R – Missile Barrage

Cooldown refund (based on crit) increased from 2-4 seconds to 2-6

Passive – Blaze

Explosion monster damage cap increased from 270-525 to 300 – 555
Dot monster damage cap increased from 50 to 70

Systems

  • Rocket Belt has been one of the premier items for mages (especially immobile) at the highest level for several months now.
  • We like and embrace this type of innovation, but it’s also providing a bit too much versatility and removing a core weakness of these champs (ability to be killed), so forcing a bit stronger of a tradeoff
  • The other major systems change for this patch is a nerf to the mid boots upgrade for gluttonous greaves
  • it’s adding a nice texture for playing say, mid vs top riven, but it’s also the strongest performing boot in that lane and lacks clear counterplay
  • again, the innovation here is great, but just a bit strong

Protoplasm Harness


When looking at our jungle nasus nerfs, we ended up deciding that a better nerf would be to target proto harness
Other users like shen jungle are also pretty strong, so we think pulling the champ nerfs and nerfing the item instead is a better direction and helps retain the power level of top nasus for example

T1 Worlds Skins

T1 Worlds Skins 2025
T1 Worlds Skins 2025

LoL Patch 26.14 will also see the T1 Worlds skins added to the game.

Why Is Locke’s Win Rate in the Bin? Breaking Down the New Champ’s Patch 26.13 Stats

Posted on by Geekmandem

Locke has been out for a few days now, and with him being the only champion we get this year, it’s good to look at how he’s doing. The short answer is, very badly. In every role, most likely because people can’t get the hang of his kit.

Locke is being played in three roles primarily: top, jungle, and his intended role of mid lane. So, let’s take a look at how things are going for him in Patch 26.13.

Locke – A Look at the Stats

So, it’s not a great start. These are all ranked stats, at Emerald + Elo, but it’s fair to say Locke is having a rough time.

For a start, Jungle is not looking like the place to play him. Just over 7000 games of data, and it’s looking bad. Even some early rough data, people learning a champion, etc., 38% reads more like you’ve tried to play Lulu in the jungle than it does someone viable. This may change, but for now, the jungle does not look like his home.

Top lane things start to improve, the win rate climbs to 43%, though the sample size is much smaller at just 3000. Give the kit, Locke might well have a life in the top lane eventually, but right now, he’s the worst-ranked top laner.

In mid lane… It’s a little better, but it’s still bad. Locke was designed as an AP mid. These stats will settle eventually. Right now, after just over 18,000 games, however, it’s not looking great. The nearly 9% pick rate is high, but a 36% ban rate means that his name appears in nearly 50% of lobbies. That’s to be expected given he’s new, of course.

Patch 26.13
Locke The Patch 26.13 Preview

So why is the win rate actually this bad?

Strip away the panic, and you are looking at a textbook fresh-release pattern. The win rate is in the bin for three reasons stacked on top of each other, and only one of them is about the champion himself.

The three things dragging Locke down.

  • Nobody can pilot him yet – this is the key issue; Locke is new, so even people playing him every game will have only a handful of games at most.
  • The 36.6% ban rate skews who is left to play him – Often means people are picking him because he’s open, and not because they want to play.
  • Squishy AP with weak early game in a bully meta – Possible tuning may be required in the next patch.

It’s also worth noting that this isn’t actually normal. In fact, the most recent example is Zaahen, released in November 2025. Zaahen was actually a little too strong, coming in hot at 50% win rate, which is very high for a new champion, causing him to get a small nerf in patch 25.23; however, those nerfs were actually delayed until 25.24.

Time Will Tell

Ultimately, it’s been less than a week, and Locke will need some time to cook. A patch, people getting a chance to play him, and people not banning him. The sad reality when a character is released is, even your own team will ban him, because people know you’re new to the role.

The best bet is to get lucky and get him in ARAM, try your luck in Arena or just do a Draft pick.

We’ll check back in next week to see how things are looking and update on anything else that changes with Locke.

Patch 26.13 Notes – League of Legends

Posted on by Geekmandem

Patch 26.13 notes for League of Legends are here. (Source) The patch will be used for MSI and the EWC. The patch is also the first introduction of Locke.

System Changes

Last Hit Indicator
We’re going to be enabling Last Hit Indicators for Normal Draft & Ranked SR games. This feature has been live in Swiftplay & Co-op vs. AI for a while, and we’ve seen it result in new players being more successful at last-hitting than before. These players are now graduating into Normals & Ranked and are interested in continuing to use them.
We think it’s better to focus on skill expression in other parts of the game—rather than understanding exactly when you can last-hit a minion—and are also pretty confident that these don’t degrade skill expression in lane. You still need to be mindful of positioning, harassing your opponent, considering where both junglers are, understanding power spikes, and more.
We’ve seen that experienced players are disabling it, as they find it more distracting than helpful, but we believe it should be available for those who want it. Let us know what you think!

Doran’s Helm

We overshot a bit with the 26.11 Doran’s Helm buff, so we’re tapping it back down while keeping the base health high and targeting the users it’s overperforming on.
Armor and Magic Resistance: 10 ⇒ 8
Health: 140 ⇒ 150

Imperial Mandate

Imperial Mandate has landed softly, and the build path has been too awkward for many of its likely users, especially supports. We’re smoothing out the path and shifting some of its power accordingly.
Build Path: Blasting Wand (850g) + Bandleglass Mirror (900g) + 650g ⇒ Amp Tome (400g) + Bandleglass Mirror (900g) + Amp Tome (400g) + 700g
Ability Power: 65 ⇒ 60
Unique – Control: 15 AH For Immobilizing Abilities ⇒ 20 AH For Immobilizing Abilities
Unique – Command: 6% Vulnerable ⇒ 7% Vulnerable

Champion

Since his nerfs earlier this year, Aphelios has fallen in priority and win rate. With some power budget freed up, we’re pulling back on some of those earlier nerfs to highlight each gun’s unique strengths.

Passive – The Hitman and the Seer

Passive Mark Damage: 15 (10% bonus AD) ⇒ 15 (15% bonus AD)

Q – Weapon Abilites

Onslaught Damage: 19 / 24.25 / 29.5 / 34.75 / 40% Total AD Dmg per attack ⇒ 20 / 25.25 / 30.5 / 35.75 / 41% Total AD Dmg per attack
Duskwave Damage: 20 – 110 (Level 1 – 18) (10 – 16% bonus AD) ⇒ 20 – 110 (Level 1 – 18) (15 – 21% bonus AD)
Sentry Damage: 35 – 125 (Level 1 – 18) (30 – 48% bonus AD) ⇒ 35 – 125 (Level 1 – 18) (34 – 52% bonus AD)
Bard has been a tanky roaming meta staple for much of the season, so we’re trimming his damage so tank Bard doesn’t get to hit nearly as hard without investing in AP.
Damage Per Meep: 35 (+10 per 5 Chimes) (+40% AP) ⇒ 30 (+6 per 5 Chimes) (+40% AP)

Passive – Traveler’s Call

Brand continues to dominate bot lane for most players, so we’re nerfing his early passive detonation damage while offsetting some of that hit for more skilled players and supports through mana tuning.
Base Mana Regeneration: 9 ⇒ 11

Passive – Blaze

Detonation Damage: 8 – 12% (Levels 1 – 17) (+2% per 100 AP) ⇒ 6 – 12% (Levels 1 – 18, scaling above 18) (+2% per 100 AP)

E – Conflagration

Mana Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 ⇒ 90
Cassiopeia has risen to the top of pro play presence, even before our 26.12 nerfs to her major competition. We would like to preserve some of her unique strengths, like her rewarding laning and slippery speed, but she should have a less gigantic health bar for when opponents actually lock her down!
Health per level: 104 ⇒ 98
As the marksman meta has evolved around crit, on-hit, and caster builds, Draven has fallen behind. We’re buffing his heavy-AD pattern instead of trying to redirect his itemization.

E – Stand Aside

Cooldown: 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14s ⇒ 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12s

R – Whirling Death

Damage Reduction on Enemy Hit: -8% multiplicatively, down to 40% (at 11 hits) ⇒ -5%, down to a minimum of 50% (at 14 hits)
Kai’Sa has struggled to get through lane and find her big Killer Instinct moments, so we’re buffing her fallback W pattern early and her later-game backline dive threat.

W – Void Seeker

Cooldown: 22 / 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 ⇒ 20 / 18.5 / 17 / 15.5 / 14

R – Killer Instinct

Shield: 70 / 90 / 110 (+90 / 135 / 180% AD) (+120% AP) ⇒ 100 / 150 / 200 (+90 / 135 / 180% AD) (+120% AP)
K’Sante has been a major beneficiary with Doran’s Helm entering the mix in Season 2, so we’re lightly tapping down his early reliability while still rewarding successful all-ins.

E – Footwork

Shield: (80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240) (+15% bonus health) ⇒ (70 / 112.5 / 155 / 197.5 / 240) (+13.5% bonus health)
Olaf used to be a staple in the jungle but has been out of favor for a while now, despite our earlier attempts this season to help him out. We are looking to give him a bit more power to entice him back into the wilderness.

Q – Undertow

Monster Bonus Physical Damage: 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 ⇒ 20 / 45 / 70 / 95 / 120
Jungle class diversity has been dominated almost exclusively by fighters for a while now, and we think Poppy is a good pick for a tankier counter option into many of the fighter junglers at the top of the meta. This buff is aimed at her jungle clear and gank windows while minimizing top and support impact.

Q – Hammer Shock

Monster Damage Cap: 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 ⇒ 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 / 195
Another class that’s underrepresented in the jungle is assassins. We feel Qiyana is a great choice for a buff as she’s recently been on the lower end of balanced in the jungle, so we’re giving her a jungle-focused buff to help bring her back without meaningfully juicing mid lane.
Monster Damage: 155% ⇒ 175%

Q – Elemental Wrath / Edge of Ixtal

Rek’Sai’s combination of dueling power and mobility has made her too successful at high ranks, so we’re shaving down her early-to-mid burst windows while preserving her unique map movement and longer fight pattern.

E – Furious Bite / Tunnel

Physical Damage: 80 / 108 / 136 / 164 / 192 (64% bonus AD) ⇒ 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 (60% bonus AD)
Bonus True Damage: 125% ⇒ 120%
Rumble has been an extremely reliable blind-pick top laner for a long time, so we’re lowering some of his early staying power and base damage while keeping his scaling pattern intact.

Q – Flamespitter

Damage: 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (100% AP) ⇒ 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (105% AP)
Senna players have moved over to a much stronger Bot lane farming pattern, so we’re softening her farming and Shiv synergy while also tuning her DPS around having access to more souls. The Doran’s Helm nerf should do the rest of the work necessary to get her to the right power level between roles.

Passive – Absolution

Soul Drop Chance (Senna Kill): 10% ⇒ 5%
Soul Drop Chance (Ally Kill): 28% ⇒ 32%
Crit Damage: -10% (180% / 27% with IE) ⇒ -15% (170% / 25.5% with IE)

Q – Piercing Darkness

Cooldown Refund: On Hit ⇒ On Attack
Sion has been resilient in both solo queue and pro play for a long time, so we’re weakening some of his reliable early lane power and resource access without decimating his core tank fantasy.

Q – Decimating Smash

Min Damage: 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 ⇒ 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90

W – Soul Furnace

Mana: 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 ⇒ 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 / 95
We feel Vex has had less of an impact in her games than we think she should, so we’re giving her a quality of life buff that should make her reset pattern feel smoother so she can have more pop off giga plays.

E – Looming Darkness

Cooldown: 13s ⇒ 12s

R – Shadow Surge

Reset Time Window: 6s ⇒ 8s
Zaahen is already seeing more play across audiences, so we’re giving him more room to fish for his early trade patterns and engage in mid game skirmishes without raising his scaling ceiling.

W – Dreaded Return

Cooldown: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 ⇒ 14 / 13.5 / 13 / 12.5 / 12

Locke Kit Revealed – The Latest Mid-Lane AP Demon Enters the Rift

Posted on by Geekmandem

Locke was just officially revealed by Riot Games, who have taken no time at all to also drop his full kit. Rumoured for some time that he was an AP mid-lane Assassin, things have become a lot clearer now.

With a focus on setting up the attack, rather than pressing R and hoping for the best. Locke is set up to be an interesting champion for people to master. With him being the only new champion coming to League of Legends in 2026, there will be a lot of people interested in what Locke can bring to the Rift.

Locke Abilities

Passive – Silver Stake


What it does: Locke pins enemies’ souls with his attacks, dealing bonus magic damage On-Hit, increased based on the enemy’s missing Health.


How it works: A simple passive, dealing heavy bonus magic damage on-hit.

Q – Ritual Nails


What it does: Locke readies a set of Soul Nails to throw forward, dealing magic damage and marking enemies hit. The nails apply a slow based on stacks. Attacking the enemy consumes the Soul Nails, dealing magic damage per stack. Restores a portion of cooldown and mana for unspent Nails.


How it works: Locke’s key ability, and while it has a short range, it can travel through enemies. This will be his key trading tool; damage scaling on Ritual Nails will likely determine how strong Locke is.

W – Soul Ignition


What it does: Locke releases his own seals, gaining Move Speed decaying over time. While this effect is active, he suffers % health true damage per second but heals back a portion of the damage taken, plus an additional amount based on missing health and time passed. The seals remain unbound for a few seconds and can be Recast to end early.


How it works: Soul Ignition is the primary way Locke will punish his enemies. While the damage numbers to him will dictate how good this is, the burst of move speed is likely to guarantee a good few extra auto-attacks.

E – Ashen Pursuit


What it does: Locke blinks to a location, dealing magic damage around him. After, his next attack dashes to his target, dealing magic damage to all enemies in his path. Each of these hits consumes Soul Nails. Cooldown resets on takedown.


How it works: Combined well with his W, Ashen Pursuit is going to be what makes Locke so difficult to get away from. His kit, ultimately, is like Vayne, if she were designed in 2026.

R – Purgatory


What it does: Locke kicks a binding artefact to a location that opens on arrival, shooting chained Soul Nails at enemies in the area, dealing magic damage and slowing. Marked Champions that are brought below a threshold are pulled inside and killed. If a champion is executed, the duration of the binding is reset on other affected champions. After a few seconds, the artefact seals itself and is left on the ground if a Champion was sealed. If Locke picks up the artifact, he permanently increases the execution threshold and refunds a portion of his current cooldown for each Champion sealed.


How it works: The final part of his kit is Purgatory. A deadly ultimate that scales, making him an ideal snowballing champion. This could also make him a glass cannon, especially when you consider his very minimal forms of “support” lacking crowd control outside of a minor slow.

Locke, like any new champion, will get the usual series of buffs and nerfs post-release, but he feels like an interesting champion so far. His kit makes him appear to be a solo-queue demon, rather than a pro-play champion, but time will tell.