Riot Games has revealed the first League of Legends Patch 26.16 preview, and the update is heavily focused on the bot lane meta. Alongside several champion changes, Riot is targeting roaming supports, mage bot laners, underperforming ADC systems, and powerful items that have been limiting build diversity.
Patch 26.16 includes buffs for Azir, Gwen, and Kennen, targeted changes to roaming supports, adjustments intended to encourage AD mid laners and AP junglers, and increased early magic resistance for marksmen. Riot is also planning changes to Season 3 ranked matchmaking in smaller regions.
These values are part of the preview and may still be adjusted before the official patch notes are released.
In brief:
- Azir, Gwen, and Kennen are receiving confirmed numerical buffs
- Poppy and Camille are being adjusted to weaken support while preserving other roles
- Bel’Veth is losing late-game power but receiving a slightly stronger level-six spike
- Several AD fighter, ADC, jungle, support, and boot systems are changing
- Riot plans to partially reverse ranked queue restrictions in MENA and OCE
LoL Patch 26.16 Preview Changes
The current preview contains three champion buffs, three champion nerfs, one champion adjustment, and a much larger collection of system changes.
| Champion | Patch 26.16 change |
|---|---|
| Azir | Q damage increased from 60/80/100/120/140 to 70/90/110/130/150 |
| Gwen | Passive champion healing increased from 50% to 66% of post-mitigation damage. Healing cap increased from 10-25 (+6.5% AP) to 12-40 (+7% AP) |
| Kennen | R damage per strike increased from 40/75/110 (+22.5% AP) to 40/80/120 (+25% AP). Bonus Armor and Magic Resistance increased from 20/40/60 to 25/50/75 |
| Poppy | Base AD reduced from 60 to 56. Base mana increased from 280 to 300. Mana growth increased from 40 to 45. Base health regeneration increased from 8 to 9 per five seconds |
| Poppy Q | Bonus AD ratio reduced from 100% to 75%. Maximum-health damage changed from 9% at all ranks to 7/7.5/8/8.5/9%. Slow changed from 20-40% to 20-32%, with bonus-health scaling added |
| Poppy W | Total Armor and Magic Resistance increase raised from 12% to 16%, doubled while below 40% health |
| Camille | Base mana increased from 339 to 375 |
| Camille Passive | Shield reduced from 20% maximum health at all levels to 10/15/20/25%. Cooldown changed from 18/14/10/6 seconds to 14/11/8 seconds |
| Camille W | Outer-cone maximum-health damage increased from 6-8% to 7-9%. Cooldown reduced from 15-11 seconds to 12-10 seconds |
| Bel’Veth | Health growth reduced from 110 to 105. R total attack-speed bonus changed from 5/15/25% to 6/13/20% |
| Nasus | Q stacks from basic units increased from 3 to 4. Stacks from champions, large minions, and large monsters reduced from 12 to 10 |
The Azir, Gwen, and Kennen buffs are intended to improve their mid-to-late-game impact rather than making their lanes excessively oppressive. Bel’Veth’s adjustment gives her more power at level six but lowers her scaling at later ultimate ranks.
Azir, Gwen, and Kennen Receive Confirmed Buffs
Azir’s Q base damage is increasing by 10 at every rank. Riot says the champion has been largely absent from professional play while continuing to record low win rates in regular matches. Press the Attack Azir has shown some promising results, but Riot still believes he has room for a moderate buff.
Gwen’s passive healing against champions is receiving a top-lane-focused improvement. She will now heal for 66% of the post-mitigation damage dealt by A Thousand Cuts, while the maximum healing cap and AP ratio are also increasing.
Kennen’s buffs are concentrated entirely on Slicing Maelstrom. Riot does not want to make him excessively dominant during the laning phase and would rather strengthen the large teamfight ultimates that define his gameplay.
Poppy, Camille, and Bel’Veth Nerfs Explained
Poppy’s early damage is being reduced through lower base AD and weaker Q scaling, particularly for support builds. She is receiving more mana, health regeneration, and defensive scaling in return, helping tank-focused versions of the champion remain viable.
Camille is receiving a similar role-focused adjustment. Her early passive shield is becoming weaker, but its cooldown will be shorter. Tactical Sweep is also gaining more maximum-health damage and a significantly shorter cooldown, giving top-lane Camille stronger sustained trading tools.
Bel’Veth’s health growth is being reduced, while the attack-speed bonus from her ultimate will become stronger at rank one but weaker at ranks two and three. Riot describes this as a regular-play and late-game-skewed nerf.
Nasus Changes Will Target Top Lane
Nasus is receiving a farming-focused adjustment intended to strengthen top lane without increasing jungle power.
Siphoning Strike will now grant four stacks when Nasus kills a basic enemy, up from three. However, champions, large minions, and large monsters will grant 10 stacks instead of 12.
Top-lane Nasus should benefit because a larger portion of his stacks comes from repeatedly killing regular lane minions. Jungle Nasus, meanwhile, will gain fewer stacks from large monsters, keeping the overall change closer to power neutral in that role.
Support Quest and Roaming Changes
Patch 26.16 will make support quest progression more dependent on minions and less rewarding through champion or turret damage.
World Atlas minion execute progress is increasing from 15 to 18 gold. Champion and turret damage progress is dropping from 22 for melee and 20 for ranged champions to 18 for both.
Runic Compass minion execute progress is increasing from 20 to 21 gold. Champion and turret damage progress is dropping from 24 for melee and 22 for ranged champions to 21.
These changes are designed to discourage supports from abandoning bot lane at level three. Riot is not currently changing comeback experience and wants to evaluate the quest changes before taking additional action. Poppy, Camille, and Hail of Blades are also receiving targeted changes because of their connections to the roaming-support strategy.
ADC Systems and Weaker Items Are Getting Buffed
| System | Patch 26.16 change |
|---|---|
| Sunfire Aegis | Immolate bonus-health ratio increased from 1% to 1.5%. Minion multiplier reduced from 160% to 150%. Monster multiplier reduced from 200% to 180%. Cost increased from 2700 to 2800 gold |
| Eclipse | Maximum-health damage increased from 6% melee and 4% ranged to 8% melee and 5% ranged. Base shield reduced from 160/80 to 150/75 |
| Tiamat | Attack damage increased from 20 to 25 |
| Spellslinger’s Shoes | Magic penetration increased from 18 to 20 |
| Gunmetal Greaves | Attack speed increased from 40% to 45% |
| Berserker’s Greaves | Attack speed increased from 25% to 30% |
| Jungle Pet | AP ratio increased from 12% to 16%. Bonus Armor and Magic Resistance ratios increased from 20% to 25%. Bonus-health ratio increased from 3% to 4% |
| Fleet Footwork | Healing increased from 10-130 to 15-160 |
| Runaan’s Hurricane | Movement speed increased from 4% to 5%. Wind’s Fury damage increased from 55% AD to 65% AD |
| Sterak’s Gage | The Claws That Catch increased from 45% to 50% base AD as bonus AD |
| Sundered Sky | Health increased from 400 to 450. Healing reduced from 100%/50% base AD plus 6% missing health to 90%/45% base AD plus 4% missing health. Ruby Crystal removed from the build path |
| Chainlaced Crushers | Magic Resistance reduced from 30 to 25 |
| Hail of Blades | Melee attack speed reduced from 120% to 90%. Ranged remains at 60%. True damage gains stronger AD and AP scaling but lower early base damage |
| Black Cleaver | Attack damage increased from 40 to 45. Fervor movement speed becomes 20 for melee and 10 for ranged |
| ADC Magic Resistance | Marksmen gain three base Magic Resistance but lose 0.2 Magic Resistance growth per level |
The Jungle Pet, Berserker’s Greaves, and fighter-item changes are partly intended to encourage team compositions that pair AD mid laners with AP junglers. Sundered Sky is being weakened because Riot considers it an overly effective generalist item, while Eclipse, Sterak’s Gage, Tiamat, and Black Cleaver are being strengthened as alternatives.
Marksmen Gain More Early Magic Resistance
Most marksmen will gain three base Magic Resistance while losing 0.2 Magic Resistance growth per level. So, this gives them more protection against early magic damage without meaningfully increasing their late-game resistance.
The change applies broadly across the marksman class, including champions played outside the traditional bottom lane such as Akshan, Graves, Kindred, and Quinn. Riot says structural class changes should remain consistent regardless of the lane in which an individual champion is commonly played.
Tristana will receive the same relative adjustment, moving from 28 to 31 base Magic Resistance while her growth drops from 1.3 to 1.1. Riot may revisit unusual cases such as Akshan or Kindred depending on how the changes perform.
Season 3 Ranked Changes Coming to MENA and OCE
Riot says the Season 3 ranked matchmaking changes introduced with Patch 26.15 have produced meaningful improvements to match quality compared to queue times.
However, queue times have increased too sharply for highly ranked players in smaller regions. Some strong players in MENA and OCE have reportedly struggled to find matches.
Riot therefore plans to partially pull back some of the matchmaking changes in those regions during Patch 26.16. The exact adjustments have not yet been revealed.
These changes remain part of the Patch 26.16 preview and may be adjusted before Riot Games publishes the complete live patch notes.
