Riot Games has released the full League of Legends Patch 26.17 notes, bringing another round of champion and item balance changes to Summoner’s Rift alongside major updates for League Classic, ARAM: Mayhem, and Arena.
Riot is targeting several champions that have become too dominant, including Nasus, Vayne, Graves, Nocturne, Xerath, and Thresh. At the same time, melee AD carries such as Irelia, Qiyana, Yasuo, and Yone are receiving buffs designed to improve their scaling instead of forcing them to snowball early.
In brief
- Irelia, Qiyana, Yasuo, Yone, Aurelion Sol, Cho’Gath, LeBlanc, and Trundle receive buffs.
- Nasus, Vayne, Graves, Nocturne, Thresh, and Xerath are getting nerfed.
- Stormrazor is buffed while Sundered Sky receives another nerf.
- League Classic, ARAM: Mayhem, and Arena also receive substantial balance and progression updates.
LoL Patch 26.17 Champion Buffs
Aurelion Sol
Aurelion Sol struggled following the mage adjustments from the previous patch, so Riot is improving both his mana efficiency and access to Astral Flight.
- Q, Breath of Light mana cost per second: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 ⇒ 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50
- W, Astral Flight cooldown: 22 / 20.5 / 19 / 17.5 / 16 seconds ⇒ 22 / 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 seconds
Cho’Gath
Cho’Gath is getting some early-game damage back after previous changes to Hail of Blades and Hextech Rocketbelt weakened some of his aggressive builds.
- E, Vorpal Spikes base damage: 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 ⇒ 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110
Irelia
Riot wants Irelia to function as a more reliable scaling carry instead of depending so heavily on building an early lead.
- Q, Bladesurge AD ratio: 70% AD ⇒ 80% AD
- W, Defiant Dance AP damage reduction ratio: 7% per 100 AP ⇒ 8% per 100 AP
- R, Vanguard’s Edge AP ratio: 70% ⇒ 100%
The AP adjustments are mainly intended to open up unconventional ARAM and Arena builds rather than establish AP Irelia as a standard Summoner’s Rift option.
LeBlanc
LeBlanc receives stronger AP scaling alongside an attack speed adjustment.
- Attack Speed Ratio: 0.4 ⇒ 0.625
- Attack Speed Growth: 2.35% ⇒ 1.5%
- W, Distortion AP ratio: 80% ⇒ 90%
- Mimic Distortion AP ratio: 80% ⇒ 90%
Qiyana
Qiyana gets more champion damage, particularly aimed at helping mid lane, while her monster modifier is reduced to avoid excessively buffing jungle Qiyana.
- Q base damage: 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 ⇒ 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200
- Q bonus AD ratio: 85% ⇒ 90%
- Monster damage modifier: 175% ⇒ 160%
Trundle
Trundle gets considerably more attack speed from Frozen Domain at later ranks.
- W attack speed: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90% ⇒ 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110%
Yasuo
Yasuo’s critical strike penalty is being reduced to improve his scaling and make early crit builds more appealing.
- Passive critical strike damage reduction: 10% ⇒ 5%
Yone
Yone receives the same scaling-focused critical strike adjustment.
- Passive critical strike damage reduction: 10% ⇒ 5%
LoL Patch 26.17 Champion Nerfs
Graves
Graves has benefited from several indirect buffs recently, so Riot is cutting the bonus AD scaling on End of the Line.
- Q initial bonus AD ratio: 65% ⇒ 55%
- Q return bonus AD ratio: 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 / 115% ⇒ 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 / 105%
Nasus
Nasus’ improved stacking has made him particularly effective in top lane. Riot is reducing his ability to sustain through minion waves.
- Passive life steal: 12 / 18 / 24% ⇒ 10 / 15 / 20%
Nocturne
Nocturne is losing some early durability to make reaching his powerful level six spike slightly riskier.
- Armor: 38 ⇒ 36
- Health: 655 ⇒ 640
Thresh
Thresh has quietly maintained strong performance while becoming increasingly popular, prompting a Flay damage nerf.
- E base damage: 75 / 120 / 165 / 210 / 255 ⇒ 65 / 110 / 155 / 200 / 245
- E AP ratio: 70% ⇒ 60%
Vayne
The biggest goal of Vayne’s changes is to weaken her top lane performance without hitting bot lane equally hard.
- Health: 550 + 103 per level ⇒ 580 + 98 per level
- Health regeneration: 3.5 + 0.55 per level ⇒ 4 + 0.5 per level
- Attack Speed Ratio: 0.658 ⇒ 0.67
- Attack Speed Growth: 3.3% ⇒ 2.8%
- Q mana cost: 30 ⇒ 46 / 42 / 38 / 34 / 30
- W max-health true damage: 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10% ⇒ 4 / 5.5 / 7 / 8.5 / 10%
- W minimum damage: 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110 ⇒ 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100
The changes hit early Silver Bolts damage particularly hard, which should make top lane opponents less vulnerable to Vayne’s early harassment.
Xerath
Xerath has been performing especially well in mid lane following the previous mage changes.
- Health: 596 ⇒ 575
- Q damage: 75 / 115 / 155 / 195 / 235 ⇒ 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230
LoL Patch 26.17 Item Changes
Only two standard Summoner’s Rift items are directly adjusted this patch.
Stormrazor Buff
Stormrazor has struggled to secure a consistent spot in marksman builds, so Riot is increasing its attack speed.
- Attack Speed: 20% ⇒ 25%
Sundered Sky Nerf
Riot says the previous Sundered Sky nerf did not reduce the item’s strength enough.
- Health: 450 ⇒ 400
- Attack Damage: 45 ⇒ 40
League Classic Gets a Huge Patch 26.17 Update
Patch 26.17 is also the second major balance update for League of Legends Classic. Riot is giving players two extra Rune Pages, dramatically increasing progression speed, reducing rune costs, adjusting Summoner’s Rift visuals, and adding Champion and Role swapping to Champion Select.
Some of the biggest Classic champion changes include:
- Ahri: Lower health, regeneration, and a longer Spirit Rush cooldown.
- Annie: Longer passive stun plus increased Q and W damage and AP scaling.
- Ashe: Volley gains more damage and increases from 1200 to 1300 range.
- Blitzcrank: Rocket Grab range and mana nerfs, weaker Mana Barrier, and longer ultimate cooldown.
- Dr. Mundo: More base health, health growth, and level-one attack speed.
- Evelynn: Reduced mana regeneration, weaker Hate Spike, and a more expensive Dark Frenzy.
- Ezreal: Mystic Shot loses AD scaling and range while Trueshot Barrage gains AP scaling.
- Garen: More AD, armor growth, defensive scaling, and Judgment damage.
- Gragas: Higher cooldowns and lower Barrel Roll damage.
- Heimerdinger: His upgraded turret double-damage bug has been fixed.
- Kayle: Righteous Fury cooldown reduced.
- Lux: Gains attack speed, a larger E, faster shield activation, and new spell interactions during Final Spark.
- Miss Fortune: Receives movement speed, Q, E, and Bullet Time buffs.
- Sivir: Ricochet gains more bounce range and less damage falloff.
- Tristana: Attack speed growth reduced and Rapid Fire becomes more expensive at higher ranks.
- Tryndamere: Major crit, sustain, and ultimate cooldown nerfs.
- Twitch: Lower health and attack speed.
Classic’s Innervating Locket also drops from 2,650 gold to 2,250 gold while gaining more health, cooldown reduction, and stronger restoration. Wriggle’s Lantern and Feral Flare are meanwhile being reshaped from AD items into attack speed items.
League Classic Progression Is Getting Much Faster
Riot is responding to complaints about Classic progression taking too long.
Patch 26.17 introduces:
- Two additional Rune Pages for every player
- More than double the Influence Points earned per game
- Double the Classic XP earned per game
- Quintessence cost reduced from 1,250 IP to 1,000 IP
- Minor Rune cost reduced from 650 IP to 500 IP
The Classic version of Summoner’s Rift is also receiving lighting, texture, and decal changes designed to make the map look closer to the original Rift.
ARAM: Mayhem Changes in Patch 26.17
ARAM: Mayhem is adding more tools for fighters while toning down several powerful ADC Augments.
The biggest changes include:
- Critical Missile: Maximum missiles reduced from four to three.
- Double Tap: Upgraded from Gold to Prismatic.
- Tripleshot: Now prioritizes enemies near the primary target.
- Ultra Hydra: New Augment built around collecting Ravenous, Profane, and Titanic Hydra.
- Upgrade Death’s Dance: New fighter-focused Augment with delayed damage and takedown healing.
- Upgrade Infinity Edge: No longer provides critical strike chance.
- Upgrade Ravenous: Cleave now works on minions, and Ravenous Hydra life steal increases from 18% to 20%.
Several Augment-related bugs are also being addressed.
Arena Champion and Item Balance Changes
Arena is returning to an alternating balance schedule, with Riot currently planning Arena balance updates primarily on odd-numbered League patches.
Champion changes hit Ambessa, Garen, Gragas, K’Sante, Kled, LeBlanc, Renata Glasc, Renekton, Senna, Tahm Kench, Teemo, Vel’Koz, Zaahen, and Zilean.
Notable changes include:
- Ambessa’s E cooldown increases, and her ultimate loses armor penetration and bonus AD scaling.
- Garen gets significantly stronger passive healing access and W resistance stacking.
- Kled’s remount cooldown falls from 12 seconds to 5 seconds.
- LeBlanc’s Mimic cooldown drops dramatically to 30 / 20 / 10 seconds.
- Senna’s Q bonus AD ratio increases from 60% to 75%.
- Tahm Kench gets shorter W cooldowns and faster access to Thick Skin out of combat.
- Vel’Koz’s ultimate cooldown increases to 100 / 90 / 80 seconds.
- Zaahen’s Q bonus AD scaling is reduced.
- Zilean’s Chronoshift cooldown increases to 150 / 120 / 90 seconds.
Arena items including Lord Dominik’s Regards, Mortal Reminder, Serylda’s Grudge, Ardent Censer, Redemption, Staff of Flowing Water, and Sword of Blossoming Dawn are also being adjusted. Serve Beyond Death’s duration increases from 3 / 6 seconds to 4 / 8 seconds.
Patch 26.17 Bug Fixes and Quality of Life Changes
Riot has included another set of general fixes in the update.
Among the notable fixes:
- Jayce’s enhanced EQ damage should now display correctly.
- Diana’s E dash speed has been corrected in certain situations.
- Akali can no longer send Shuriken Flip across unintended map distances.
- Vladimir’s passive should correctly convert AP gained from runes.
- A rare Blind Pick bug preventing junglers from buying starting items has been fixed.
- A controller preset has been added for spectator camera movement when ReplayAPI is enabled.
Riot has also updated League of Legends’ minimum and recommended macOS system requirements.
New LoL Patch 26.17 Skins
Three skins are arriving alongside Patch 26.17 on August 26, 2026:
Chromas will also be released for all three skins.
Patch 26.17 Focuses on Scaling Carries and Top Lane Frustrations
League of Legends Patch 26.17 is relatively focused on Summoner’s Rift, but several of its changes could have a noticeable impact on the meta.
Nasus and top lane Vayne are receiving direct hits, while Riot is trying to make champions like Irelia, Yasuo, Yone, and Qiyana less dependent on completely taking over the early game. Graves, Nocturne, and Xerath are also being pulled back after strong performances in their respective roles.
Outside the standard game, League Classic continues to evolve rapidly with significantly faster progression and a lengthy balance pass, while Arena and ARAM: Mayhem receive another round of mode-specific adjustments.
