Riot Phroxzon has dropped the League of Legends Patch 26.15 preview, and while the champion list is fairly compact this time, the system changes are where things get spicy. Also, League of Legends Classic launches on July 29, 2026, with Patch 26.15. So the balance team is quietly reshaping Summoner’s Rift while the whole community is busy dusting off Season 3 nostalgia. Here is everything you need to know about the changes coming with this patch.
What Is Changing in LoL Patch 26.15?
Patch 26.15 is shaping up to be one of the busier updates of the summer, and not just because League Classic arrives alongside it. On the balance side, Riot is spreading changes across both champions and systems. Five champions are getting buffs, including Alistar, Kai’sa, Maokai, Volibear, and Zac, while five others are being reined in, headlined by fresh nerfs to the recently released Locke.
The system changes might be the bigger story here. Bastionbreaker is getting made more accessible, Jack of All Trades is finally catching a nerf after being a bit too dominant, and Riot is taking a real pass at the fighter item space by touching Sundered Sky. If you play jungle or top lane, these item tweaks could reshape your builds more than any single champion change.
LoL Patch 26.15 Preview: Full Buffs and Nerfs List
Here is the complete rundown of every champion and system change confirmed in the Patch 26.15 preview.
Champion Buffs
| Champion | Changes |
|---|---|
| Alistar | Base MS: 330 → 335 |
| Kai’Sa | P damage on-hit: 4-24 (+12% AP), +1-6 (+3% AP) per prior stack → 4-30 (+12% AP), +1-8 (+3% AP) per prior stack |
| Maokai | Q Monster Mod: 140/150/160/170/180 → 150/160/170/180/190 Q Damage: +40% AP → +50% AP |
| Volibear | Q CD: 14/13/12/11/10 → 12/11.5/11/10.5/10 |
| Zac | Armor Growth: 4.7 → 5.2 E Cooldown: 22-10 → 21-9 |
Champion Nerfs
| Champion | Changes |
|---|---|
| Locke | Base HP: 655 → 620 Q Nail Damage: 50-82 (+20% AP) → 40-72 (+20% AP) W MS: 40-60% (+2% per 100 AP) → 40% (+2% per 100 AP) W Grey Health Base: 40-160 (+120% AP) → 40-120 (+120% AP) |
| Mordekaiser | R Stat Steal: 13% → 10% E CD: 18-10 → 16-8 |
| Naafiri | R Damage: 150/225/300 (+120% AD) → 125/200/275 (+100% Bonus AD) Per Packmate: 15/22.5/30 (+12% AD) → 12.5/20/27.5 (+10% Bonus AD) |
| Riven | R AD Bonus: 25% → 20% R2 min damage bonus AD ratio: 60% (180% max) → 55% (165%) |
| Sylas | Q1 Damage: 40-140 (+45% AP) → 40-120 (+40% AP) |
Champion Adjustments: Bel’Veth
| Section | Changes |
|---|---|
| Base Stats | Level 1 AS: .85 → .67 AS ratio: .85 → .67 AD: 60 → 55 AA Damage mod: 75% → 100% Attack cast time: .25 → .22 AA total time/animation adjusted to feel better at lower Attack Speeds Armor: 32 +4.7 → 28 +5 HP: 610 +105/lvl → 580 +110/lvl Model size reduced by 5% |
| Passive | AS after spell cast: 20-40% for 2 attacks → 20% for 3s AS per stack: .28-1.1% → .1-2% (gains more at later levels) |
| Q | Speed: 800-1000 → 850 Between cast CD: 1 → 4-1 Monster mod: 55-95% → 70% Minion mod: 60-100% → removed Damage: 0-20 (+100% AD) → 12-20 (+105% AD) AS to AH conversion: .25 → .2 |
| W | Damage: 70-230 (+100% BAD) (+125% AP) → 80-320 (+150% AP) Slow duration: 1.25-2.25 (50% slow) → 2 (30% slow) Knockup duration: .75 → .6-1s |
| E | Damage: 6-10 (+8% AD) (+8% on-hits), increased up to 300% based on missing health → 10-18 (+12% AD) (+12% on-hits), increased up to 100% based on missing health Number of strikes: 6 +1 per 33% bonus AS → 6 +1 per 40% bonus AS DR: 35-55% → 20-60% Lifesteal: 20% → 20-40% Lifesteal scaler: 100% → removed CD: 20-16 → 24-12 Monster mod: 150% → 200% |
| R | Passive on-hit now applies every attack instead of every other attack Passive no longer removed when swapping targets Passive true damage: 6-14 (+12% BAD) → 2-6 (+3% BAD) Max stacks on Epic monster: 10 → 8 Passive applications on E and Q no longer require Bel’Veth to have attacked the target first Explosion damage: 150-250 (+100% AP) (+25% missing HP) → 150-250 (150% AP) (+20% missing HP) Heal/bonus health: 100-200 (+120% BAD) (+90% AP) → 100-400 (150% BAD) (+150% AP) AA range bonus: 75 → 25/75/125 Total AS: 10/15/20% → 5/15/25% Size: 10% → 10/15/20% Unempowered buff duration: 60 → 45/90/infinite @ 0/40/80 stacks Empowered buff duration: 180 → 45/90/infinite @ 0/40/80 stacks Post cast lockout: .5s → .25s |
System Buffs
| Item | Changes |
|---|---|
| Bastionbreaker | Cost: 3200g → 3000g Shaped Charge Base Damage: 30 → 50 |
| Terminus | On Hit Damage: 30 → 30 (+10% bonus AD) (+10% AP) |
| Yuntal | Total Cost: 3100g → 3000g AS: 40% → 45% |
System Nerfs
| Item | Changes |
|---|---|
| Jack of All Trades | Adaptive at 5 and 10 Jack Stacks: 10, 25 → 8, 20 |
LOL Patch 26.15 Preview:
Belveth
- This patch, we’re launching a set of Bel’Veth changes that are aimed at making her gameplay pattern around her early levels weaker (which is currently very high skill-skewed), in order to allow her to fulfil her fantasy as a late-game scaling champion
- The major changes here are making her Q at early levels function more like a regular dueling ability (4-1s CD) to still allow her to have high uptime on this skill, but also reduce just how heavily she can put certain champions behind with early invades in particular when her Q is at 1s CD
- Historically, this has caused us to repeatedly nerf her when she is particularly strong at doing this, resulting in her being balanced around this capability at a loss to many of her other more core, resonant functions
- While we acknowledge that there’s a subset of Bel’Veth players who love this capability, broadly, we think it’s paying too many tradeoffs for the rest of her audience
- She’s also receiving a pretty significant hit to her base stats to allow power budget for some of the other areas that Bel’Veth players have had strong fantasy and resonance with
- Mainly, the major change on this patch is giving her empowered form infinite duration at level 16, which hopefully feels like a good blend of mechanics and fantasy alignment
Riven
- Since the release of Gluttonous Greaves + a lot of healing from Endless Hunger buffs and the surrounding ecosystem, she has risen to the top of the pack
- As a light fighter broadly, she’s having the shape that we think is reasonably healthy, though long term, giving her more choices in the first slot other than Axiom (eg. more durable paths as well) would be broadly desirable (though she synergizes very well with the ability haste there), that would allow her to have other modes of success that aren’t just one shotting her target
Morde
- Morde’s ult changes from last patch were really cool
- However, they overshot in magnitude, and we haven’t been super happy with the ult gameplay after seeing it on live, losing a lot of the tension in whether or not he will successfully 1v1 them and also making Morde feel a lot weaker outside of his R moment
- One of the core concepts of the Juggernaut class is that they should have windowed moments of target access, but should have on average less continuous target access than other classes (eg. lower base movespeed for example)
- We think that Morde could do with more target access broadly, but through this type of windowed access, hence buffing his E
Systems
- Bastionbreaker has been a pretty niche item and is pretty expensive to deviate for a strategic output, so we’re looking to make it more accessible
- Jack of All Trades nerf was also pushed to this patch; it has been a bit too strong and too present, especially for users that opt into strong defenses and are able to also supplement that with strong offense
- Sundered Sky has been strong and meta-defining at the highest levels of play for quite a while now, so we’re looking to take a pass at the fighter item system, now that we’re out of the tournament windows
- Notably, we think it’s been suppressing a bit of meta diversity, especially for things like AP jungle, or Tank JG. Part of that is intentional, but the magnitude is a bit off
Buffs
- Alistar has been closer to the bottom of the pecking order for the melee support. That said, our meta adjustments to move melee supports up relative to ranged supports have been reasonably successful, so we’re pretty happy with how that’s played out
Nerfs
- Locke is still pretty strong; he has been tapering off in the lowest skill brackets and the high skill brackets, but in the “skilled” skill brackets (around Emerald/Diamond), Locke is able to both take over the game and also not throw it
- At the higher skill brackets, he can snowball but needs to play very well without throwing as he falls off sharply
- At the lower skill brackets, the executional demands and constant throws can make him fall off faster
- Overall, we feel his release has landed well
More on other champs tomorrow with the detailed changelists. So, we will also update this article when more information is available.
When Does LoL Patch 26.15 Release?
Patch 26.15 hits live servers on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, with the following update scheduled for Wednesday, August 12. Just remember this is the same day League Classic goes live, so expect the servers to be busy and the queue times to be a little chaotic during launch week.
