Mel’s W is about to lose the one thing everyone hates about it. Patch 26.22 lands on November 4, and Riot is ripping the projectile reflect off Rebuttal for good. After nearly two years of trying to make it work.
So how did we get here? Mel has been under the microscope since she was released, but this next change will be the most impactful yet.
Launch week: nerfed before she settled on the Rift
Mel arrived in Patch 25.S1.2 in January 2025, fresh from Arcane and someone fans couldn’t wait to get to play. Riot reckoned she was a bit too strong and hotfixed her on January 25. Three days after release, cutting the AP ratio on her Overwhelm passive from 25% to 10% and trimming her execute ult.
Patch 25.4 followed with shorter W uptime and a weaker E root, then 25.8 handed back some base health as a little apology.
Most banned, rarely picked
Mel spent most of 2026 as one of the weakest mids in the game while sitting near the top of the ban list. Riot’s 26.3 rework in February sped up her autos and stopped her reflecting area spells that weren’t aimed at her. Patch 26.8 in April went again, cutting her Q’s first hit to a max of 160 and pushing W’s cooldown out to 38 to 26 seconds.
By Patch 26.17, u.gg had her as a D-tier mid with a 45.07% win rate, 56th of 57 mid laners, and still banned in 20.1% of games. That ban rate was pure spite, honestly. Nobody wanted their Jhin Q fired straight back into their own face.
What Patch 26.22 changes
The new W still deletes incoming projectiles. But now it pops a nova that shields Mel and nearby allies, gives them a burst of movement speed and pings attackers for a bit of damage. Riot is also moving power out of her laning phase and into her late game, and reckons ditching the reflect lets them balance her at a higher baseline.
Translation: less lane bully, more teamfight mage. Her win rate will wobble for the first few days while everyone works her out, so check the Mel build once 26.22 goes live. Still getting bullied by her? Her counters page has you covered, and the tier list will show whether the midscope actually drags her out of D tier.