League of Legends Patch 26.2 brings Exalted Viego skin and jungler nerfs
Riot Games has released the second update of the year with League of Legends (LoL) Patch 26.2 and full patch notes.
This is one patch before LoL ARAM Mayhem gets a huge update, as the game mode stays a while longer.
In these patch notes, Riot reflects on the first patch of the season and makes some necessary meta adjustments.
Riot reflects on 2026 LoL season changes so far
League of Legends was refreshed with huge changes to LoL in Patch 26.1 for the new 2026 season.
Now Riot has reflected on the first patch of the year and how the new systems are working so far.
Faelights and Vision
Riot claims they’ve had a lot of feedback about Faelights, but say they’re still gathering data and analysing these changes’ impacts on how games are playing out.
The publisher is hesitant to make large system changes at this time while everyone is learning how to navigate the new feature.
However, Riot is keeping a close eye on the jungler impact and general vision uptime due to Faelights and might make changes in 26.3.
Snowballing and Game Length
As seen in Week 1 of LEC Versus, pro play games feel very snowbally in 2026.
However, Riot claims their metrics around snowballing aren’t any higher than last season and are lower for average play. This is pretty much the same across every region.
Riot also states that game time is looking slightly longer in each region, and even more so given that the game starts earlier.
Yet, players have reported that games feel a lot faster and Riot suggests a few reasons as to why.
Less downtime with more frequent minion spawns and homeguards can contribute to feeling like there’s constant action happening.
Hitting towers and getting those chunks of damage from crystalline overgrowth both feel more rewarding (and more confronting on the receiving end), so it feels like progress is being made faster, even if it’s not.
Barons are being taken earlier, since they’re spawning at 20 minutes again. That said, Baron takes are a bit weaker than they were before, 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 proving to be a bit less of the case this Season.
For now, Riot isn’t making any changes to Snowballing and Game Length, but will continue to monitor how things play out.
Aegis of Valor
Aegis of Valor, the new autofill system, is in a pretty good spot according to Riot and a bug that was affecting <2% of cases where players would be eligible for Aegis, but not receive it has been fixed.
Riot says they will continue to evaluate disruptive behavior and players will continue to not be eligible for Aegis if they AFK the game.
Role Balance
Riot is reluctant to take a definitive stance on which roles are most and least powerful, claiming they don’t feel any are so out of line that they need to act now.
There’s been a lot of debate on which roles and most and least powerful.
Riot says they’re pretty happy with how the game feels, especially the mid-game which feels a bit more strategic.
The publisher also says they’re content with how each role feels a lot more individualised and distinct. When a role feels powerful, they want it to feel powerful for a unique reason, not just because it has more gold.
Tower Durability
Riot says they’ve seen many comments about turret squishiness, but supposedly early metrics aren’t suggesting any urgent issues for now.
First towers fall at a similar time relative to lane start as they did last year, and later towers fall somewhat later than before (while rewarding partial pushes with Crystalline Overgrowth and Plating gold).
But Riot admits there are many factors besides the tower destruction timestamp, so they’ll revisit this as after gaining more detailed data over 26.2.
Support Quest Usability
One highly requested change was giving more options for supports to change their keybinds.
Many have claimed it’s confusing to switch control ward hotkeys mid-game and it’s disruptive for control wards to move from your inventory to the new quest active slot halfway through a match.
There’s also frustration with having to start a game in order to change this new hotkey and Riot agrees.
To address these issues, Riot have included a few fixes in this patch and another coming in the following one.
Now, players can double-bind the role quest slot. They’ll be able to set their preferred hotkey to both the role slot and the item slot where they used to hold it in their inventory.
Riot is also adding the role quest hotkey to the client keybinds menu so changes can be made before going into a game.
Finally, in the following patch, Riot will move control wards to the support role quest slot at the start of the game instead of halfway through the match when the quest completes. This change should allow support players to more easily build up muscle memory.
Revenant Reign Viego releases
LoL Patch 26.2 will see the release of the Revenent Reign Viego Exalted skin.
The extremely rare skin will see unique animations and multiple different forms based on different weapons.
When eliminating an enemy and taking their body, Revenent Reign Viego’s sword will change depending on the defeated opponent’s class.
The skin will only be available through gambling in The Sanctum, LoL’s gacha system, at 400 RP (~£4.50) a pull.
Revenent Reign Viego will be guaranteed after 80 pulls, meaning it will cost around £220.
LoL Patch 26.2 champion buffs
Aatrox
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.
Riot is 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.
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
Ashe is underperforming in the new season. Riot likes that she has a strong affinity for buying attack speed, so is making those purchases multiply a little bit harder.
Base Stats
Attack Damage Growth: 3 → 3.5
Master Yi
Master Yi has been struggling as a result of the changes in the new season so again, Riot is looking to return some of his power so that he can keep up with other junglers.
Base Stats
Armor Growth: 4.2 → 4.5
Q – Alpha Strike
On-Hit Damage Mod: 65% → 75%
Taliyah
Riot wants Taliyah to work in the jungle again, so they’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 the primary target.)
E – Unraveled Earth
Monster Damage Modifier: 190% → 225%
Varus
Varus isn’t doing very well in the new season according to Riot, so they’re lifting 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
Viego is performing worse this season due to direct adjustments and overall game-wide changes.
Because of this, and maybe his new skin, Riot is adding some power 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%
LoL Patch 26.2 champion nerfs
Gwen
Gwen jungle has skyrocketed in both pick rate and win rate. Riot is happy to see her thriving in the new season but is reeling her back a bit.
Passive – A Thousand Cuts
Monster Damage Cap: 5 (+10% AP) → 3 (+5% AP)
Jayce
Jayce jungle has also become extremely popular and is also much too strong, according to Riot.
Riot wants him to remain viable in the jungle, so they’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
Lillia has also been doing very well this season so Riot is hitting her with a nerf.
Riot is trying 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
Malphite’s been a frontrunner on the Rift for a while, both in top and in the jungle, and Riot are very happy that he’s found a real audience in the jungle.
That said, he’s still overperforming, so needs to be brought down now while still leaving him with two roles to play.
To do that, Riot is reducing some of his trading and clearing damage while retaining his high durability to physical damage and strong engage power.
They’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
Nunu & Willump
Nunu & Willump are devouring the competition in the new season, so Riot is 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
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.
Base Stats
Attack Speed Growth: 2% → 1.6%
Armor Growth: 4.45 → 4.0
Smolder
As Riot expected, Smolder has become much more powerful with the new Essence Reaver and increased minion counts.
Since Riot has tuned their systems to their liking for now, it’s time to take stock of individual champions, Smolder being one.
This nerf should make sure that Smolder’s strong late-game damage has durability tradeoffs, even when buying the occasional HP item.
Base Stats
Armor Growth: 4.7 → 4.0
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
Zed’s recent jungle changes didn’t affect him as strongly as Riot had anticipated, and players have noticed, resulting in a resurgence of pick and ban rate.
Riot wants to slow his clear and lower his potency, this time with more accuracy now that they have a better understanding of how to tune him in the jungle.
Passive – Contempt for the Weak
Monster Damage: 1.8x → 1.2x
LoL Patch 26.2 Item changes
Patch 26.1 saw the addition nine new items to LoL.
Riot says they’re mostly happy with how they landed in terms of users and use cases, but admits there’s definitely some balance work to be done.
In LoL Patch 26.2, Riot is adjusting Bandlepipes down, and Fiendhunter Bolts plus Hexoptics C44 up as they think they’re the furthest off from where they wanted them to be.
Riot is keeping their 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 something Riot likes but will 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
Bandlepipes is crowding out other support options due to their low price point.
Riot is excited for their newfound popularity, but doesn’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.
Riot is buffing Bolts a little bit all around 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.
Attack Damage: 50 → 55
Distance Required for Max Damage Amp: 700 → 600
LoL Patch 26.2 Arena changes
Riot is taking a swing at the Combo Breaker system with the goal of letting the CC victim break free a little sooner, while also giving the CCer a bit of a reward for triggering Combo Breaker on their opponent.
This also lets Riot revert their previous Mystic Punch changes that they think players will find exciting.
Last patch’s Zaahen nerfs were meaningful but Arena is still a bit too favourable for his kit, so Riot is looking to tap him down while bringing up a few others that are underperforming.
Systems
Combo Breaker
Riot says they’ve heard frustrations with long CC chains, and are making some changes to Combo Breaker so that it will save players more often, without invalidating tanks and CC heavy comps.
Riot hopes that this allows the target of CC a little more of a chance to fight back, while giving those dishing out the crowd control a path to victory.
Reduced CC chain duration from 5 of the last 7 seconds → 4 of the last 7 seconds.
(NEW) When combo breaker triggers you take 10% + 5% for each time this has triggered max HP true damage. This resets on death and on combat end.
Champions
Zaahen
E Cooldown 10-8 → 12-10
R Armor Pen 10/20/30% → 5/15/25%
Bel’Veth
P Stacks per round reduced from 12 → 10
Bonus HP reduced from 250/400/550 → 250 / 350 / 450
Zyra
Plant Duration reduced from 8s → 6s
Master Yi
Q cooldown now starts when the spell ends (just like in URF).
Taric
Remove P Damage modifier 12.5 – 46.5 (based on level) → 25 – 93 (based on level)
Gangplank
P CD 15 → 10
R CD 160/140/120 → 130/100/90
Lulu
Q: Second bolt damage increased from 50% → 75%
Augments
Mystic Punch
With the above changes to Combo Breaker, Riot feels like they can revert Mystic Punch back to its flat reduction.
Reverted to its old version: Now reduces the Cooldown of all abilities by 1.25s On-Hit.
Hold Very Still
Hold delay 1.25s → 0.75s
No longer goes into stealth when you’re unable to move, and stealth is disabled on crowd controlled.
Mad Hatter
Adaptive Force per hat increased from 10 → 12
The Brutalizer
Moved from Gold → Silver
Items
Statikk Shiv
Bounce Range reduced from 1500 → 750
Bonus AD ratio reduced from 0.65 → 0.5
Bandlepipes
Attack Speed Aura increased from 30% → 45%
MS increased from 20 → 35
ARURF
ARURF is returning to League of Legends in LoL Patch 26.2.
The game mode has returned a patch earlier than expected, but will have to contend with the new crowd favourite, ARAM Mayhem.
LoL Patch 26.2 WASD update
The LoL community lost its mind when WASD controls were first revealed in a polarising move from Riot.
Riot recently enabled WASD everywhere outside of ranked and has been closely monitoring it across all champions and classes.
While it has remained within their overall balance expectations, melee champions on WASD have particularly struggled to perform compared to playing with Point & Click controls.
As a result, Riot is removing the WASD-specific adjustment to how fast a player can attack while holding down movement keys for all melee champions, while slightly lowering it for most non-Marksman ranged champions.
Riot claims the majority of Marksman champions have landed about where they wanted, so they won’t be making any changes to them at this moment.
Attack Delay While Moving for Melee Champions: Removed
Attack Delay While Moving for Non-Marksman Ranged Champions: Reduced
Attack Delay While Moving for Marksman: Unchanged (Note: Ezreal, Kai’Sa, and Kindred were slightly reduced)
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