The MSI hype hasn’t slowed down one bit, and neither has Riot’s patch schedule. With the tournament in full swing and the pro meta looking healthier than it has in a while, the balance team is turning its attention back to Summoner’s Rift for Patch 26.14. Lead gameplay designer Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison shared the full preview, and it’s a mix of overdue buffs, targeted nerfs, and a couple of system shakeups that could ripple across the solo queue.
Here’s everything coming in LoL Patch 26.14.
According to Phroxzon, the team is pretty content with where the game sits right now. MSI has produced some strong games, and class representation is looking solid across the board, with assassins showing up in the jungle and even a few LeBlanc picks sneaking into the mix.
One of the more interesting side effects of this split has been the rise of mages in the bot lane. Recent nerfs to the strongest bot lane picks opened the door for mage bots to become more common, and while Riot doesn’t see that as a problem on its own, it’s clearly a topic the team keeps circling back to. The power level of mage bots, especially the ones posting high win rates, is something they’re watching closely. It’s a nuanced conversation that comes down to specific pairings, how familiar players are at facing them, and more.
Full Patch 26.14 Preview:
| Category | Champion / Item | Changes |
|---|---|---|
| Champion Buffs | Azir | Bugfixes |
| Corki | AD Growth: 2 → 2.5 • R Passive CD reduction on auto: 2-4s → 2-6s | |
| Mordekaiser | R Stat Steal: 10% → 13% • E Damage: 60-120 (+40% AP) → 60-140 (+45% AP) | |
| Nami | E Damage: 20-60 per hit (60-180 total) → 20/35/50/65/80 (60-240 total) | |
| Yunara | AD Growth: 2.5 → 3 | |
| Champion Nerfs | Garen | R True Damage: 150/250/350 (+25/30/35% of target’s missing health) → 125/200/275 (missing health same) |
| Jayce | P Movespeed on form swap: 40 MS for 0.75s → 30 MS • R Hammer Resists: 5/15/25/35 (+7.5% bonus AD) → 5/12/19/26 (+7.5% AD) | |
| Locke | Q Nail Damage: 50-90 → 50-82 • Q Stack Base Bonus Damage: 20-60 → 18-50 • Q Nail Recast Hold Time: 5s → 4s • W Base Grey Health Cap per Rank: 40-200 → 40-160 | |
| Senna | Crit Damage Modifier: -15% → -20% • Q AP Slow: 10% per 100 AP → 7% per 100 AP • Q AP Healing: +50% AP → +35% AP | |
| Seraphine | Q Damage AP Ratio: 50% → 40% | |
| System Buffs | Blue Buff | 10 AH → Level scaling AH (lvl 1/6/11 AH = 10/15/20) |
| System Nerfs | Hextech Rocketbelt | Build Path: Alternator + Codex + Tome + 300 → Alternator + Kindlegem + Ruby + 350 • Active CD: 40s → 50s • Stats: 70 AP → 60 AP, 300 HP → 350 HP |
| Immortal Path (Gluttonous Greaves Mid Quest Upgrade) | Now and Forever: 5% Damage Increase, 15% Increased Healing/Shielding/Regen → 4% Damage Increased, 12% Increased Healing | |
| Jack of All Trades | Adaptive at 5 and 10 Jack Stacks: 10, 25 → 6, 20 | |
| Protoplasm Harness | Cost: 2500 → 2600 • Bonus Health: 200-300 → 100-300 • Healing: 200-400 → 100-400 |
Patch 26.14 Champion Buffs
Six champions are getting some love this cycle, including a couple of newer faces and a fan favorite bruiser:
- Azir (Bugfixes)
- Corki (AD Growth 2 to 2.5, R passive cooldown reduction on auto 2-4 seconds to 2-6 seconds)
- Mordekaiser (R stat steal 10% to 13%, E damage 60-120 at +40% AP to 60-140 at +45% AP)
- Nami (E damage reworked to 20/35/50/65/80 per hit, total climbs from 60-180 to 60-240)
- Yunara (AD Growth 2.5 to 3)
Azir’s changes are listed as bugfixes rather than power, and there is a story behind it. Ever since Riot made on-hit effects work on his soldiers, players had been reporting a pile of bugged interactions. The team says it has now fixed the vast majority of them, including jungle monsters not getting shuffled properly, Press the Attack failing to trigger, and Conqueror stacks not applying correctly. Phroxzon thanked players for the bug reports and asked them to keep coming.
Corki gets a small scaling bump alongside a longer window on his passive cooldown refund, which should reward aggressive auto-weaving in the mid game. Mordekaiser is the standout, with both his ultimate stat steal and his E scaling going up, so his solo-lane bully patterns get meaner. Nami’s E rework front-loads more value per hit and gives supports a bigger poke and setup threat, while Yunara’s growth buff quietly pushes her scaling curve.
Patch 26.14 Champion Nerfs
On the flip side, five champions are getting reined in:
- Garen
- Jayce
- Locke
- Senna
- Seraphine
Seraphine’s inclusion ties directly into that mage bot discussion. Riot flagged her as an overperformer in solo queue specifically, so she’s taking a hit even though the broader mage bot debate remains more complicated.
Patch 26.14 Champion Adjustments
- Protoplasm Harness (Cost 2500 to 2600, Bonus Health 200-300 to 100-300, Healing 200-400 to 100-400)
Riot originally planned to nerf Nasus in the jungle, but decided targeting the Protoplasm Harness was the smarter move. Other users like Shen jungle are also strong right now, so hitting the item instead of the champion reins in the whole cluster of abusers while preserving the power level of top lane Nasus, who was never the problem. The change bumps the cost up and cuts the minimum bonus health and healing, so the item stays useful at full stacks but is far weaker before it is fully online.
The Locke Nerf Explained
Locke has had a loud debut, and Riot is happy with how players have connected with his kit. His executes, resets, and stack-into-burst gameplay have clearly resonated with the community.
That being said, the numbers tell a slightly different story. Here’s how Phroxzon broke it down:
- Locke is a bit skill-skewed in the same way champions like Katarina or Akshan are, though not to an extreme degree
- His true power level is a little too high once you account for mastery growth
- His early game snowball potential is currently over the line
- Rather than gutting his damage, Riot wants him to work harder to access it
The result is a waveclear nerf aimed at making his damage output less reliable to reach. Riot acknowledged that a lot of players find his damage confronting, but the team wants to preserve those unique edges that make certain champions stand out instead of flattening them.
Patch 26.14 System Buffs
- Blue Buff (10 AH to level scaling ability haste, hitting 10/15/20 at levels 1/6/11)
Instead of a flat 10 ability haste, Blue Buff now scales with level, starting the same but climbing to 15 at level 6 and 20 at level 11. It is a quiet buff that favors champions who take Blue in the mid and late game rather than just the early clear.
Patch 26.14 System Nerfs
Three system changes round out the patch, and two of them come with detailed reasoning from Riot.
- Hextech Rocketbelt (Build path shifts to Alternator plus Kindlegem plus Ruby plus 350, active cooldown 40s to 50s, stats 70 AP to 60 AP and 300 HP to 350 HP)
- Immortal Path, Gluttonous Greaves Mid Quest Upgrade (Now and Forever: 5% damage increase and 15% increased healing/shielding/regen to 4% damage and 12% increased healing)
- Jack of All Trades (Adaptive at 5 and 10 Jack stacks: 10, 25 to 6, 20)
Rocketbelt trades some of its AP for durability and eats a longer active cooldown, so immobile mages keep the dash but pay more for it and can no longer lean on it as freely. The Gluttonous Greaves upgrade loses a chunk of its damage and sustain, and Jack of All Trades gives noticeably fewer adaptive stats at the 5 and 10 stack breakpoints, softening a stat source that champions like Senna were leaning on hard.
The Gluttonous Greaves mid quest upgrade is the other big one. Riot noted that it adds nice texture to matchups like playing mid against a top lane Riven, but it’s also the strongest performing boot in that lane and lacks clear counterplay. Same story as Rocketbelt: the idea is great, but the execution is currently just a bit too strong.
New section: The Mages Bot Situation Explained
Phroxzon went deep on why mage bots are staying in the game rather than getting swept out. The short version is that Riot sees them as healthy diversity for the bot lane, running roughly a four-to-one ratio of traditional marksmen to mages, and wants players to feel a mix of high-intensity games and lower stress ones rather than the same tension every match. Marksmen are still the most popular carries in both pro and regular play, and mage bots also give teams a way to undoom a draft when the enemy locks in an AD mid like Zed, Yone, or Yasuo.
The obvious counter is that mage bots often post the highest win rates, so surely they are overpowered. Phroxzon argues the numbers do not tell the full story. Simple mages like Brand, Veigar, or Swain have shallow mastery curves, usually only gaining three to four percent win rate after around fifty games, while starting very high on game one, and most mage bot players you run into have not climbed that curve far. He compared it to facing an autofilled Malphite top with a high skill floor. ADCs, by contrast, are harder to master but reward that depth more, which suppresses their raw win rates by comparison.
He also pointed to a few strategic balancing levers already baked in. ADCs get accelerated three-item spikes this season thanks to the bot quest, so mages are stronger early and weaker late. Mage bots also tend to force a composition tradeoff, like committing to an Orianna plus Yunara or Lulu bot that has to win on two or three items. If you are struggling with them, Phroxzon suggested Ezreal, Sivir, or Zeri, since they dodge skillshots and outscale. He says a fuller video breakdown is coming.
When Does LoL Patch 26.14 Release?
The official schedule confirms Patch 26.14 goes live on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. The patch also brings the T1 Worlds 2025 skins, with Gumayusi getting a Miss Fortune Prestige skin as Finals MVP, alongside Ambessa, Xin Zhao, Galio, Yunara, and Seraphine.
We’ll update this piece the moment the complete notes are live.
