Tag: Mayhem

Another fortnight, and Patch 26.17 brings a new round of changes to ARAM, Mayhem, and Arena.

ARAM: Mayhem

The fighter buffs are still coming, as Riot looks to nail down how to get the best out of them. Two new Augments this patch, both aimed squarely at the “dive in and refuse to die” playstyle.

Ultra Hydra is one of the key new ones. Finish any Hydra item, and you’re handed a free Tiamat on top. Then there’s the quest: pick up Ravenous, Profane and Titanic Hydra, and you unlock Ultra Hydra as the reward.

Upgrade Death’s Dance is the other one, and slightly more chill of the two. You get 250 gold up front, a slice of incoming damage spread out over 3 seconds instead of landing all at once, and a chunky instant heal every time you score a takedown. It should give fighters that bit of extra sustain, while also stopping them from getting crushed by early burst damage.

On the nerf side, Riot’s gone after the ADC Augments so fights are getting a second buff almost. Critical Missile fires fewer missiles at the top end. Tripleshot now prioritises enemies near your main target rather than pinging off into the void. And Double Tap got shunted from Gold up to Prismatic. The effect’s untouched, but now it’s eating your Prismatic pick, so you’re paying for it in what you give up. Upgrade Infinity Edge also quietly lost its crit chance, while Upgrade Ravenous now cleaves minions and heals a touch more.

Arena

Arena’s going back to alternating patches and will land on odd-numbered ones in the future. So no balance pass every fortnight anymore; instead, the builds are going to be left to sit each month. That said, we do have one this week!

Kled’s remount cooldown drops from 12s to 5s, and Garen’s W actually hands out resists worth caring about now. LeBlanc’s R cooldown got taken down a fair whack, while Gragas, K’Sante, Renekton, Senna, Tahm Kench and Teemo all got nudged up too. Heading the other way: Ambessa eats a real nerf across her E and R, while Zilean and Vel’Koz both had their ult cooldowns pushed up.

On items, anti-tank is back on the menu. Lord Dominik’s and Mortal Reminder both got big AD bumps, and Serylda’s penetration climbed. Meanwhile, the enchanter healing items (Ardent Censer, Redemption, Staff of Flowing Water) had their Arena-specific heal and shield power stripped back to the base 10%, so sustain takes a small haircut.

If you’ve been running riot on the Mayhem Bridge as Vayne, Tristana, or pretty much any hyper-carry you fancied, patch 26.11 has some news for you. Riot has swung the nerf hammer at a long list of damage-favoured champions in ARAM Mayhem. A bunch of them back to neutral in what feels like a pretty significant rebalancing sweep.

Mayhem’s Carry Club Takes a Hit

The bulk of the Mayhem changes in this patch are nerfs. Mostly targeted squarely at the champions who’ve been dealing a bit too freely. Vayne loses her damage boost (105% down to 100%) and her damage reduction (95% back to 100%), so she’s now fully exposed on both ends.

Same story for Tristana, Fizz, and Xayah, who all drop to baseline across the board. Fizz also loses his 10% Tenacity bonus, which is a quiet but meaningful cut for a champion who loves diving into the chaos and getting out clean.

Fiddlesticks is the one champion getting a buff, with his damage taken and damage done going back to 100%.

One small note, over in normal ARAM, Qiyana is getting a bit of love. Qiyana picks up 20 flat Ability Haste, going from zero to twenty. It’s not the most dramatic buff in the world. But on a champion who really wants to spam her abilities to chain elemental effects, that extra haste adds up

Arena Working in Threes

Three-person Arena is apparently doing well, because Riot isn’t pulling back; they’re doubling down with balance tweaks specifically designed around the format. The big theme this patch is pulling enchanters back in line while giving marksmen a bit more room to breathe.

On the enchanter side, Locket of the Iron Solari takes a significant shield reduction (600-1200 down to 300-900) and now has reduced effectiveness for 20 seconds after you’ve been healed. Mikael’s Blessing, Redemption, and Dawncore all drop their Heal and Shield Power from 16% to 12%. While Wordless Promise loses a chunk of its AP and AH sharing while its cooldown explodes from 10 seconds to 60. That last one is a pretty severe change for a support item that felt like a must-buy.

For the marksmen getting some new toys. Infinity Edge swaps 40% crit damage multiplier for a flat 20 extra attack damage (55 to 75 AD). Immortal Shieldbow’s shield ceiling jumps from 700 to 1000, and Statik Shiv now scales up to 160 damage instead of being stuck at a flat 60. Diamond-Tipped Spear and Terminus both get attack speed bumps, too, so ADC Arena builds are getting a lot more to work with this patch.

New Guests of Honor

Three new Guests of Honor arrive in the Arena this patch. Yone brings the Inner Demon quest, where you vote whether your team fights alongside the demon hunters or embraces the demons themselves. Hunters earn gold for every demon team they take down, while demons gain an augment level each time a hunter team is eliminated. It’s a fun wrinkle that makes the lobby’s overall composition matter in a way it normally doesn’t.

Nilah joins with Joyful Delight, cutting the cost of Legendary Item Anvils by 500 gold and throwing in bonus rerolls while you’re on a hotstreak. Vayne arrives with Tools of the Hunt, giving access to a curated set of “tool” augments that fit her kit.

Since Arena was added back to League of Legends, it’s been a popular mode for players looking for something different. In recent weeks, Riot has teased some major changes to the mode, as it looks to capitalise on the popularity.

The headline change is the new Augment Levels system. Augments can now be levelled up from 1 to 3 tiers mid-match, with some reaching a Keystone effect at max level, unlocking entirely new passive abilities on top of their base kit. Over 30 augments debut with the levelling system, including fan favourites like Glass Cannon, Final Form, and Speed Demon. Once you’ve got two levelable augments, you’ll start being offered level-ups in place of new augments, fundamentally shifting how you think about the mid-game draft.

“Once you reach the maximum number of augments, you’ll only be offered augment levels or the ability to tier up an existing augment, allowing you to remove one and select another that is one tier higher.”

It’s a system that opens up a new layer of decision-making: do you spread wide with a varied augment kit, or go deep on two or three synergistic picks and push them to their Keystone potential? The answer will likely differ every game.

New Guests of Honor, maps, and a revamped schedule

Sixteen new Guests of Honor join the roster this season, including Atakhan, Kindred, Shaco, Morgana, and Taric. Each brings a unique passive effect that shapes how the entire lobby plays. Two favourites have also been reworked: Swain now rewards the last teams standing with a prismatic stat anvil at the halfway point. At the same time, Katarina now runs augment tier-ups alongside new offerings during her reign.

On the map front, the new Petricite Grove joins the rotation, a Demacian-themed arena scattered with unexploded mining bombs that roll and detonate on impact, adding an environmental hazard element to positioning. The existing Ancestral Woods and Koipond maps have also been reworked with new interactive elements.

The season’s event schedule is designed to keep Arena fresh well beyond launch:

• 26.9 Arena Season 2 Launch: No event, time to learn the new systems
• 26.10 3×6 Arena: Three players per team, six teams total, wider champion diversity
• 26.13 Bravery: Limited champion select, embrace the random, adapt and conquer
• 26.14 Swift Arena: Back to 2v2v2v2, faster games, familiar opponents

You can see a full breakdown in the Riot Arena patch notes.

ARAM and Mayhem Changes Come to the Bridge

While Arena is the focus for this patch, ARAM Mayhem remains the most popular mode outside of standard League of Legends. As such, it’s also getting some love in 26.9.

ARAM Changes:

ARAM’s changes in 26.9 are more focused than Arena’s but still carry a meaningful impact. Hubris has been a dominant component of assassin and snowball-heavy champions for some time. Both the Attack Damage (60 → 55) and Ability Haste (15 → 10) have been trimmed, nudging the item down a tier without gutting its identity.

ARAM Mayhem Changes:

Bard receives a quality-of-life boost to his Caretaker’s Shrine. Both the Move Speed bonus and its AP scaling have gone up, and the shrine’s ammo cooldown drops from 10 to 8 seconds, making him a more reliable and rewarding pick on a map that heavily punishes slow shrine placement. Ornn’s Living Forge passive cooldown now scales with level (90 down to 10 seconds at max), making him far more useful in ARAM’s shorter game times, where the default 120-second cooldown often felt punishing.

• Health Relic: The AoE heal on pickup has been increased from 16% to 22% missing health and mana
• Prom Queen: Cooldown increased from 25 to 35 seconds.
• Grandma’s Chili Oil: Base damage per second goes up (100 → 150), while the bonus damage per burn source and all healing values are reduced.
• Upgrade Sword of Blossoming Dawn: The 50% bonus damage to basic attacks against champions has been removed entirely

Overall, it’s a patch focused on Arena, while making meaningful changes to ARAM. The changes to Bard and Orn seem the most standout. Something that maybe needs looking at for other champions that struggle to adapt to the flow of ARAM’s quicker game time.

Since Arena was added back to League of Legends, it’s been a popular mode for players looking for something different. In recent weeks, Riot has teased some major changes to the mode, as it looks to capitalise on the popularity.

The headline change is the new Augment Levels system. Augments can now be levelled up from 1 to 3 tiers mid-match, with some reaching a Keystone effect at max level, unlocking entirely new passive abilities on top of their base kit. Over 30 augments debut with the levelling system, including fan favourites like Glass Cannon, Final Form, and Speed Demon. Once you’ve got two levelable augments, you’ll start being offered level-ups in place of new augments, fundamentally shifting how you think about the mid-game draft.

“Once you reach the maximum number of augments, you’ll only be offered augment levels or the ability to tier up an existing augment, allowing you to remove one and select another that is one tier higher.”

It’s a system that opens up a new layer of decision-making: do you spread wide with a varied augment kit, or go deep on two or three synergistic picks and push them to their Keystone potential? The answer will likely differ every game.

New Guests of Honor, maps, and a revamped schedule

Sixteen new Guests of Honor join the roster this season, including Atakhan, Kindred, Shaco, Morgana, and Taric. Each brings a unique passive effect that shapes how the entire lobby plays. Two favourites have also been reworked: Swain now rewards the last teams standing with a prismatic stat anvil at the halfway point. At the same time, Katarina now runs augment tier-ups alongside new offerings during her reign.

On the map front, the new Petricite Grove joins the rotation, a Demacian-themed arena scattered with unexploded mining bombs that roll and detonate on impact, adding an environmental hazard element to positioning. The existing Ancestral Woods and Koipond maps have also been reworked with new interactive elements.

The season’s event schedule is designed to keep Arena fresh well beyond launch:

• 26.9 Arena Season 2 Launch: No event, time to learn the new systems
• 26.10 3×6 Arena: Three players per team, six teams total, wider champion diversity
• 26.13 Bravery: Limited champion select, embrace the random, adapt and conquer
• 26.14 Swift Arena: Back to 2v2v2v2, faster games, familiar opponents

You can see a full breakdown in the Riot Arena patch notes.

ARAM and Mayhem Changes Come to the Bridge

While Arena is the focus for this patch, ARAM Mayhem remains the most popular mode outside of standard League of Legends. As such, it’s also getting some love in 26.9.

ARAM Changes:

ARAM’s changes in 26.9 are more focused than Arena’s but still carry a meaningful impact. Hubris has been a dominant component of assassin and snowball-heavy champions for some time. Both the Attack Damage (60 → 55) and Ability Haste (15 → 10) have been trimmed, nudging the item down a tier without gutting its identity.

ARAM Mayhem Changes:

Bard receives a quality-of-life boost to his Caretaker’s Shrine. Both the Move Speed bonus and its AP scaling have gone up, and the shrine’s ammo cooldown drops from 10 to 8 seconds, making him a more reliable and rewarding pick on a map that heavily punishes slow shrine placement. Ornn’s Living Forge passive cooldown now scales with level (90 down to 10 seconds at max), making him far more useful in ARAM’s shorter game times, where the default 120-second cooldown often felt punishing.

• Health Relic: The AoE heal on pickup has been increased from 16% to 22% missing health and mana
• Prom Queen: Cooldown increased from 25 to 35 seconds.
• Grandma’s Chili Oil: Base damage per second goes up (100 → 150), while the bonus damage per burn source and all healing values are reduced.
• Upgrade Sword of Blossoming Dawn: The 50% bonus damage to basic attacks against champions has been removed entirely

Overall, it’s a patch focused on Arena, while making meaningful changes to ARAM. The changes to Bard and Orn seem the most standout. Something that maybe needs looking at for other champions that struggle to adapt to the flow of ARAM’s quicker game time.