League of Legends Patch 26.18 is here with another round of champion balance changes, targeting several picks that have become too strong while giving some struggling champions a much-needed boost. Riot is also making adjustments to Cassiopeia, buffing Guinsoo’s Rageblade, expanding League Classic, and improving ARAM: Mayhem.
The patch also celebrates Caps becoming the third player inducted into the League of Legends Hall of Legends, bringing a new event pass alongside Immortalized Legend Tristana and other cosmetics.
In brief:
- Ekko, Kassadin, Master Yi, Viego, and Zaahen are receiving buffs.
- Bard, Nautilus, Seraphine, Syndra, and Zeri are getting nerfed.
- Cassiopeia receives a larger adjustment that trades early power for stronger AP scaling.
- League Classic adds Fiora, Galio, Poppy, Shyvana, and Xin Zhao, while ARAM: Mayhem gets Augment improvements.
League of Legends Patch 26.18 Champion Buffs
Ekko
Riot is giving Ekko more room to scale while also making Timewinder less expensive to use.
- Q, Timewinder Mana Cost: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 ⇒ 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80
- Q Return Damage AP Ratio: 60% ⇒ 70%
Kassadin
Kassadin’s early and mid-game damage is going up without significantly increasing his already powerful late-game scaling.
- Q, Null Sphere AP Ratio: 70% ⇒ 80%
- R, Riftwalk Base Damage: 70 / 90 / 110 ⇒ 80 / 95 / 110
Master Yi
Master Yi should become slightly more durable as games progress, while Highlander will give him more movement speed at every rank.
- Armor Growth: 4.5 ⇒ 5 per level
- R, Highlander Movement Speed: 35 / 45 / 55% ⇒ 40 / 50 / 60%
Viego
Viego is getting better scaling and additional support for bruiser-oriented builds.
- Attack Damage Growth: 3.5 ⇒ 4
- Passive, Sovereign’s Domination: Now gains additional healing based on bonus health, adding 2% per 500 bonus HP to its target maximum health healing calculation.
Zaahen
Zaahen’s second Q strike deals more damage, while Riot has also changed how the ability interacts with resurrection effects.
- Q2 Damage: 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 ⇒ 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150
- If Q is active when Zaahen enters Resurrection, the ability is now immediately placed on cooldown.
League of Legends Patch 26.18 Champion Nerfs
Bard
Bard has been one of the strongest supports throughout much of 2026, so Riot is reducing his durability.
- Armor: 34 ⇒ 32
- Armor Growth: 5 ⇒ 4.7 per level
Nautilus
Nautilus is also being targeted after remaining a consistent presence in the support meta.
- Attack Damage: 61 ⇒ 58
- Q, Dredge Line Damage: 85 / 130 / 175 / 220 / 265 ⇒ 85 / 125 / 165 / 205 / 245
The 90% AP ratio remains unchanged.
Seraphine
Riot is specifically targeting Seraphine’s bot lane performance while attempting to leave support Seraphine mostly unaffected.
- E, Beat Drop Cooldown: 11 / 10.5 / 10 / 9.5 / 9 seconds ⇒ 11 seconds at all ranks
Syndra
Syndra loses some mana sustain from her passive while Force of Will becomes available less frequently.
- Passive Splinter Mana: 20 to 255 ⇒ 20 to 199
- W, Force of Will Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 ⇒ 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 seconds
Zeri
Zeri’s recent rise following buffs to items such as Runaan’s Hurricane and Yun Tal Wildarrows has prompted Riot to reduce her burst and wave-clear potential.
- W Damage AD Ratio: 120% total AD ⇒ 100% total AD
- W Wall Damage AD Ratio: 180% total AD ⇒ 150% total AD
Her W base damage remains unchanged.
Cassiopeia Adjustments in Patch 26.18
Cassiopeia is one of the biggest individual champion changes in Patch 26.18. Riot wants to reduce some of her strength in professional play while allowing AP-heavy builds to scale better.
Passive, Serpentine Grace
- Movement Speed Bonus: 6% to 40% ⇒ 5% to 36%
Q, Noxious Blast
- Damage: 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 / 215 ⇒ 65 / 100 / 135 / 170 / 205
- AP Ratio: 65% ⇒ 75%
E, Twin Fang
- Mana Cost: 40 ⇒ 45
- Base AP Ratio: 10% ⇒ 20%
- Enhanced AP Ratio: 55% ⇒ 45%
- Total Enhanced AP Ratio: Remains 65%
- Damage: 52 to 120 ⇒ 50 to 120
R, Petrifying Gaze
- Damage: 150 / 250 / 350 ⇒ 125 / 225 / 325
- AP Ratio: 50% ⇒ 75%
Overall, Cassiopeia loses some base power and mobility but gets noticeably stronger AP scaling, particularly on Q and her ultimate.
Guinsoo’s Rageblade Buff
Patch 26.18 also includes a small quality-of-life buff for Guinsoo’s Rageblade following an earlier interaction change.
- Seething Strike Stack Duration: 3 seconds ⇒ 4 seconds
The extra second should make it easier for Rageblade users to maintain their stacks between targets and during short breaks in combat.
League Classic Gets Five More Champions
League Classic receives its biggest champion expansion yet in Patch 26.18, adding older versions of five champions:
- Fiora
- Galio
- Poppy
- Shyvana
- Xin Zhao
These champions use versions of their historical kits, including Fiora’s Blade Waltz, Galio’s Idol of Durand, and Poppy’s infamous Diplomatic Immunity ultimate.
League Classic Balance Changes
Several existing Classic champions are also being adjusted.
Anivia Nerfs
- Q Missile Speed: 950 ⇒ 850
- Q Manual Detonation Stun: 1 ⇒ 0.75 seconds
- Q Manual Detonation Radius: 230 ⇒ 210
- Minimum Q Recast Delay: 0 ⇒ 0.25 seconds
Gangplank Buffs
- Q Bonus Gold: 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 ⇒ 4 / 6 / 8 / 10 / 12
- E Attack Damage: 12 / 19 / 26 / 33 / 40 ⇒ 14 / 22 / 30 / 38 / 46
- E Movement Speed: 8 / 11 / 14 / 17 / 20% ⇒ 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26%
Heimerdinger Buffs
Heimerdinger receives increased health regeneration and turret damage, lower W mana costs, and improvements to his E cooldown and cast range.
Kayle Buff
- Passive AP Gain: 30% bonus AD ⇒ 30% total AD
This significantly increases the amount of Ability Power Kayle can receive from Holy Fervor.
Malzahar Changes
Malzahar gets better attack speed and improved Voidlings, but his Q AP ratio drops from 80% to 70%. Riot has also fixed an issue that allowed Nether Grasp to continue dealing damage after the channel ended.
Nasus Nerfs
Nasus’ Siphoning Strike stacks can no longer critically strike. Wither’s slow now ramps once every second instead of every 0.5 seconds, and Riot has fixed an issue that caused the slow to ramp twice as strongly as intended.
Warwick Nerfs
- Attack Speed: 0.644 ⇒ 0.625
- W Cooldown: 24 / 22 / 20 / 18 / 16 ⇒ 30 / 27 / 24 / 21 / 18 seconds
- R Damage: 250 / 335 / 420 ⇒ 180 / 300 / 420, with its bonus AD ratio unchanged
Warwick’s passive damage scaling is also being adjusted.
ARAM: Mayhem Changes
Riot is continuing to refine ARAM: Mayhem’s Augment system so champions are less likely to receive options that make little sense for their kits.
Clown College has been re-enabled, while Spin to Win now increases applicable ultimate damage by 50% instead of 30%.
Ultra Hydra also receives a new restriction preventing players from selling Hydra items while holding the Augment. Riot has introduced additional Augment exclusion filters and changed several champion-specific pools to improve the relevance of the choices players receive.
Patch 26.18 Bug Fixes and QoL Changes
The update includes several additional fixes, including:
- Baron Nashor’s maximum Void Corruption stacks being higher than intended.
- Serpent’s Fang’s Shield Reaver damage incorrectly applying Omnivamp.
- Diana’s ultimate VFX sometimes displaying incorrectly.
- Viego possessing Kled causing an infinite looping audio effect.
League Classic and ARAM: Mayhem also receive their own collection of bug fixes.
New Patch 26.18 Skins
Patch 26.18 accompanies Caps’ Hall of Legends celebration, with the following skins becoming available on September 10, 2026:
- Immortalized Legend Tristana
- Risen Legend Tristana
- Risen Legend Orianna
New Paragon chromas are also coming for Risen Legend Orianna, Elderwood LeBlanc, Empyrean Akali, and Freljord Taliyah, alongside a Mythclimber chroma for Risen Legend Orianna.
League of Legends Patch 26.18 is not the biggest Summoner’s Rift balance update of the year, but several of its changes could still shift the meta. Ekko, Kassadin, Master Yi, and Viego all have meaningful improvements to work with, while Bard, Nautilus, Syndra, Seraphine, and Zeri players will need to adjust to their respective nerfs.
Meanwhile, Cassiopeia’s redistribution of power toward AP scaling could be one of the most interesting changes to watch as players settle into the new patch.
