League of Legends Lead Gameplay Designer Matt “Riot Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison posted a preview of the LoL patch 26.16 notes on X, followed by detailed patch notes the next day.
This update focuses heavily on systemic balance. Rather than swinging a heavy sledgehammer at every outlier, Riot is taking a targeted approach: protecting core class identities while fixing the agonizing laning experiences that have crept into regular play.
Here is everything you need to know about where the Rift is headed in LoL patch 26.16.
State of bot lane mages in LoL patch 26.16
While mages in the bot lane saw a massive surge following MSI, it is now on a downward trend because teams have adapted, Riot Phroxzon reported.
Despite this, Riot still wants to address the dynamic to improve the quality of gameplay experience in regular play.
“[We want to] tap down on Support roaming, which we think is undesirable gameplay overall. Many ADC’s weren’t designed with being duelists in mind, 1v1 is less exciting and lower [the] depth of gameplay [as] players enjoy the 2v2 lane,” wrote Riot Phroxzon.
At the same time, Riot wants to preserve what makes bot mages unique—their distinct power spikes, high mana pools via Lost Chapter, and superior waveclear—without gutting the class identity.
So instead of nerfing these core mage strengths, the developers are buffing the ADC class as a systemic whole. All ADCs are receiving an increase to their baseline Magic Resist to help them endure early poke and burst damage.
“We want to give ADC’s back some power in surviving some of the early magic damage from champs that aren’t typically seen in Pro Play and are frequently killing them in early lane—for example, Brand and Swain—and buffing some of the weaker systems pieces of the class,” wrote Riot Phroxzon.
This systemic approach is also being backed by direct buffs to weaker marksman items and runes, including Berserker’s Greaves, Fleet Footwork, and Runaan’s Hurricane.
By bolstering early survival tools and item scaling, marksmen should finally have the fighting chance they need to stay afloat in lane.
Reigning in the Roaming Supports in LoL patch 26.16
The trend of support players abandoning their bot laners at level three has officially hit a breaking point. While coordinate roams make for exciting pro play highlights every now and then, the trickle-down effect into solo queue has created an unhealthy dynamic.
As explained by Riot Phroxzon above, marksmen were never designed to be isolated duelists, and forcing them into a constant 1v1 state strips away the classic 2v2 lane expression that players actually enjoy.
To put an end to immediate lane abandonment, Riot is modifying the Support Role Quest to penalize early, prolonged out-of-lane roaming. As a result, roaming supports are likely to find themselves returning to lane around level five, which naturally softens the impact of comeback experience at crucial breakpoints.
Specific champions and runes driving this hyper-aggressive roaming playstyle are taking direct hits as well. Poppy, support-role Camille, and Hail of Blades are all lined up for nerfs.
For Camille in particular, the balance team is shifting power out of her support builds and funneling it back into her home in the top lane.
LoL patch 26.16 notes
Champion buffs
| LOL PATCH 26.16 CHAMPION BUFFS | PATCH NOTES |
| Kennen | R Armor & Magic Resist: 20–60 → 25–75 R Damage: 40–110 (+22.5% AP) → 40–120 (+25% AP) |
| Gwen | Passive Healing against Champions: 50% of post-mitigation damage, up to 10–25 (+6.5% AP) → 66% of post-mitigation damage, up to 12–24 (+7% AP) |
| Azir | Q Damage: 60–140 (+35–55% AP) → 70–150 (+35–55% AP) |
Gwen
Gwen is receiving top-focused buffs aimed at making her sustain far more impactful in trades.
Azir
Azir is finally receiving help after disappearing from both pro play and solo queue win rate charts.
While recent player experimentation with Press the Attack on Azir has shown genuine promise, Riot is still moving forward with a moderate direct buff and continue to monitor Azir’s performance as more players switch over to Press the Attack.
Champion nerfs
| LOL PATCH 26.16 CHAMPION NERFS | PATCH NOTES |
| Poppy | Base AD: 60 → 56 Base Mana: 280 (+40/level) → 300 (+45/level) Base HP: 8 → 9 Q Damage: 30–130 (+100% bonus AD) (+9% target max HP) → 30–130 (+75% bonus AD) (+7–9% target max HP) Q Slow: 20–40% → 20–32% (+8% per 1,000 bonus HP) W Total Armor/MR: 12%, doubled below 40% max HP → 16%, doubled below 40% max HP |
| Camille | Base Mana: 339 → 375 Passive Shield: 20% max HP every 18–6s (levels 1–19) → 10–25% max HP every 14–8s (levels 1–13) W Outer Damage Bonus: 7–9% (+2.5% per 100 bonus AD) target max HP → 6–8% (+2.5% per 100 bonus AD) target max HP W Cooldown: 15–11s → 12–10s |
| Bel’Veth | HP Growth: 110 → 105 R Bonus Attack Speed: 5/15/25% → 6/13/20% |
Champion adjustments
| LOL PATCH 26.16 CHAMPION ADJUSTMENTS | PATCH NOTES |
| Nasus | Q stacks Minions: 3 → 4 stacks Champion/Large Minion/Monster bonus: 12 → 10 stacks |
Nasus
Despite community chatter around Nasus Jungle, Riot Phroxzon clarified that his high win rate in the jungle is largely a symptom of a shallow mastery curve and high novice proficiency.
Instead, the upcoming tweaks are specifically structured as a net buff for Top Lane Nasus while keeping his jungle presence power-neutral.
System buffs
| LOL PATCH 26.16 SYSTEM BUFFS | PATCH NOTES |
| Sunfire Aegis | Immolate Damage Base scaling: 20 (+1% bonus HP) → 20 (+1.5% bonus HP) Minion modifier: 160% → 150% Monster modifier: 200% → 180% Cost: 2700g → 2800g |
| Eclipse | Ever Rising Moon Damage Melee: 6% → 8% target max HP Ranged: 4% → 5% target max HP Ever Rising Moon Shield Melee: 160 +40% bonus AD → 150 +40% bonus AD Ranged: 80 +20% bonus AD → 75 +20% bonus AD |
| Tiamat | Attack Damage: 20 → 25 |
| Tier 3 Sorcerer’s Shoes | Magic Penetration: 18 → 20 |
| Tier 3 Berserker’s Greaves | Attack Speed: 40% → 45% |
| Berserker’s Greaves | Attack Speed: 25% → 30% |
| Jungle Pet | Damage to Monsters AP ratio: 12% → 16% Bonus Armor ratio: 20% → 25% Bonus MR ratio: 20% → 25% Bonus HP ratio: 3% → 4% |
| Fleet Footwork | Healing: 10–130 → 15–160 AD and AP ratios unchanged. |
| Runaan’s Hurricane | Movement Speed: 4% → 5% Wind’s Fury Damage: 55% AD → 65% AD |
| Sterak’s Gage | The Claws That Catch: 45% base AD as bonus AD → 50% base AD as bonus AD |
System nerfs
| LOL PATCH 26.16 SYSTEM NERFS | PATCH NOTES |
| Sundered Sky | Recipe Old: Tunneler + Caulfield’s Warhammer + Ruby Crystal + 500g New: Tunneler + Caulfield’s Warhammer + 900g Healing Melee: 100% base AD + 6% missing HP → 90% base AD + 4% missing HP Ranged: 50% base AD + 6% missing HP → 45% base AD + 4% missing HP Health: 400 → 450 |
| Tier 3 Mercury’s Treads | Magic Resist: 30 → 25 |
| Support Role Quest | World Atlas Gold/Quest Progress on champion/turret damage: Melee: 22 → 18 Ranged: 20 → 18 Gold/Quest Progress on CS: 15 → 18 Runic Compass Gold/Quest Progress on champion/turret damage: Melee: 24 → 21 Ranged: 22 → 21 Gold/Quest Progress on CS: 20 → 21 |
Sundered Sky
Sundered Sky is generalist staple offering high damage, durability, and sustain all at once, which suppresses item diversity in the first and second item slots.
The nerf aims to reopen competition among fighter items, giving alternative choices with clearer, sharper strengths and weaknesses.
System adjustments
| LOL PATCH 26.16 SYSTEM ADJUSTMENTS | PATCH NOTES |
| Hail of Blades | Attack Speed: 120% / 60% → 90% / 60% True Damage: 4–20 (+8% bonus AD) (+6% AP) → 2–20 (+12% bonus AD) (+10% AP) |
| ADC Base Magic Resist | All marksman champions*: Base MR: +3 MR Growth: -0.2 per level |
| Black Cleaver | Attack Damage: 40 → 45 Fervor Movement Speed: 20 → 20 (Melee) / 10 (Ranged) |
Magic Resist base stat buff for all ADCs
The game developer believes the relationship between burst damage and marksmen should remain consistent regardless of which lane an ADC is played in, which is why all 26 marksman champions are receiving the same Magic Resist adjustment.
Champions such as Akshan and Kindred may require follow-up balancing depending on how they perform after the patch. However, the team prefers applying systemic changes across an entire class instead of making exceptions for individual champions.
As an example, Riot Phroxzon compared the update to adjusting the base movement speed of all immobile ADCs. Even if an off-meta top lane pick like Varus didn’t need the buff, it would still make sense to apply the change universally and evaluate its impact afterward.
Maintaining consistent class-wide rules makes the game easier to balance, understand, and maintain over time, rather than having every champion follow different baseline stats.
*Full list of affected marksman champions:
- Akshan
- Aphelios
- Ashe
- Caitlyn
- Corki
- Draven
- Ezreal
- Graves
- Jhin
- Jinx
- Kai’Sa
- Kalista
- Kindred
- Kog’Maw
- Lucian
- Miss Fortune
- Quinn
- Samira
- Senna
- Sivir
- Smolder
- Tristana
- Twitch
- Varus
- Vayne
- Xayah
