Updated on September 16, 2026 at 3:51pm: Added detailed patch notes posted by Riot Phroxzon on X. Orianna has been removed due to concerns about nerfing an already weak champion in regular Ranked play.
League of Legends Lead Gameplay Designer Matt “Riot Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison posted a preview of LoL patch 26.19 on X today.
As the countdown to Worlds begins, patch 26.19 marks the first of two dedicated tournament preparation patches ahead of the main event on patch 26.20.
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While major meta shifts are off the table to maintain competitive stability, this update delivers targeted nudges to rebalance lane dynamics, address skill-skewed power gaps in the top lane, and rein in frustrating power spikes ahead of international play.
LoL patch 26.19 notes
Ranged top laners
Ranged champions in the top lane create non-interactive, low-agency laning phases when overtuned. While ranged top laners should remain a viable tactical pocket pick, their overall power curves need to align with healthy laning dynamics.
Minor systemic adjustments are being implemented to give melee champions more breathing room against ranged match-ups, wrote Riot Phroxzon.
Larger structural shifts are being avoided immediately before Worlds. However, stabilizing system-level tuning for ranged top laners will lay the groundwork for future targeted buffs to marksmen previously nerfed due to top-lane flex performance (such as Vayne).
Champion buffs
| LOL PATCH 26.19 CHAMPION BUFFS | PATCH NOTES |
| Aatrox | W CD: 20/18/16/14/12 → 18/16.5/15/13.5/12 E Heal Health Ratio: 1.1% per 100 bonus health → 1.3% per 100 bonus health |
| Aphelios | Calibrum Damage: 70-160 → 80-170 Severum Healing: 5-17.75% → 2-8%, increased to 6-20% Gravitum Slow Decay Floor: 10% → 15% Infernum Duskwave CD: 9-6s → 8-5s Crescendum Chakram Damage: 15% AD (min 5 at 8th) → 16% AD (min 5 at 9th) |
| Aurora | R Rift Duration: 17.5/2.5/3.25 → 2.25/2.75/3.25 E Base Damage: 70-230 → 80-240 |
| Draven | Base AD: 62 → 64 |
| Elise | W Bonus AS: 60/75/90/105/120% → 70/85/100/115/130% P Magic Damage On-Hit: 12/22/32/42 → 14/24/34/44 |
| Fiora | Base HP/Level: 99 → 105 R Heal Range: 550 → 600 R Heal Per Tick: 18.75/25/31.25 (+15% bonus AD) → 20/26.25/32.5 (+17.5% bonus AD) |
| Kha’Zix | P Damage: 17-136 (+50% bonus AD) → 22-141 (+50% bonus AD) W Evolve Slow Duration: 2s → 2.25s E Evolve Range Bonus: +200 → +300 |
| Lillia | Base Armor: 22 → 24 R Sleep Duration: 2s → 2.5s |
| Master Yi | Q CD Refund on Hit: 1s (reduced by AH) → 1s (flat) |
| Volibear | P AS Per Stack AP Ratio: 3% per 100 AP → 4% per 100 AP P Lightning On-Hit Damage: 11-60 (+45% AP) → 11-60 (+45% AP) (+20% bonus AD) |
Master Yi
Master Yi’s Q cooldown has historically scaled negatively with Ability Haste, a mechanic originally introduced because of Duskblade.
With Duskblade no longer in the game, this functionality is no longer necessary, Riot reasons. Patch 26.19 therefore makes the Q cooldown refund flat rather than reducing it based on Ability Haste.
Champion nerfs
| LOL PATCH 26.19 CHAMPION NERFS | PATCH NOTES |
| Nasus | Q Bonus Damage: 40-120 → 30-110 |
| Nocturne | R CD: 140/115/90 → 160/130/100 |
| Poppy | Q Monster % HP Cap: 85-225 → 70-210 |
| Rumble | P Overheat AS: 50%-130% → 30%-100% P Monster Damage Cap: 65-150 → 90-175 |
| Ryze | E Mana Cost: 35-75 → 40-80 Q Flux Bonus Damage: 25/50/75/100% → 15/40/65/90% AR Growth: 4.2 → 4.7 |
| Vi | Base AD: 63 +3.5/Level → 61 +3.9/Level P Shield: 12% Max HP → 10% Max HP |
Ryze
For Ryze, Riot is targeting a roughly power-neutral adjustment. His early-lane pushing power is being reduced, while his durability is being compensated to maintain his overall power level.
The team is trying to avoid compensating Ryze with additional damage, noting that he already has strong late-game damage output and can frequently eliminate champions within a single ability rotation.
Riot’s take on “Simple Champions”, including Nasus
Simple champions play an essential role in game health when viable across all skill tiers. Straightforward kit designs can occasionally generate frustration when success conditions are met, but baseline balance policy differentiates between champions that are merely frustrating and those that are genuinely overpowered.
Champions like Viktor, for example, maintain clear, healthy counterplay profiles—strong lane trading offset by low mobility against ganks and weak early skirmishing, Riot Phroxzon explained. Preserving early trading power remains vital to maintaining laning phase complexity.
A “simple champion” like Nasus, however, presents a different challenge. Following the update to 4 stacks per Q in patch 26.16, Nasus’s power curve has become overly sharp. In favorable matchups where he stacks uncontested, his mid-to-late game scaling leaves minimal counterplay for the broader enemy team.
While Nasus’ current kit design is fundamentally sound, Riot is looking to reduce his baseline power level across all tiers with a direct nerf to his Q bonus damage.
The ability’s bonus damage will be reduced from 40-120 to 30-110, making it harder for Nasus to access higher stack counts and giving opponents more opportunities to punish him during the lane phase.
This preserves Nasus’ strong late-game potential while giving him clearer weaker points that opponents can exploit.
Champion adjustments
| LOL PATCH 26.19 CHAMPION ADJUSTMENTS | PATCH NOTES |
| Lucian | P Vigilance On-Hit: 15 (+20% AD) → 5 (+15% AD) Q Base Damage: 80-220 → 90-250 |
Riot is adjusting Lucian to reduce his reliance on specific Support pairings. Lucian Mid and Top currently have very low power levels, with win rates in the high 30% to low 40% range.
The changes are intended to make Solo Queue Lucian pairings less dependent on particular Supports while keeping Bot Lane Lucian roughly power neutral overall. The changes should be considered an adjustment rather than a straightforward nerf.
System buffs
| LOL PATCH 26.19 SYSTEM BUFFS | PATCH NOTES |
| Top Role Quest: Teleport cooldown | TP CD: 420s → 390s (New) Upgraded TP CD is reduced: -30s |
| Support HP Regen | HP: 30/100/200 → 0/60/150 HP Regen: 25%/50%/75% → 50%/75%/75% |
Top Role Quest: Teleport cooldown
High-level and professional play continues to highlight a disparity where top lane yields significantly less map influence compared to bot lane.
Conversely, top lane remains exceptionally popular and impactful across standard matchmaking, requiring a highly targeted solution.
However, its strength and popularity vary significantly by region and skill level:
- The role remains popular and powerful in lower skill brackets through around Emerald, but its popularity drops at higher skill levels in many Western regions.
- In Eastern regions, top lane remains relatively stable and can be the third-most popular position at higher skill levels.
Since cross-map Teleport usage scales heavily with high-skill coordination, this change boosts top lane’s strategic map influence and split-push pressure in elite play without disrupting standard game balance.
Riot says this disparity becomes more pronounced at higher skill levels, where ADCs are better able to position, farm and avoid being caught, allowing them to retain more of their power compared to top laners.
The goal with the Teleport change is to give experienced top laners more opportunities to influence the map while reinforcing the role’s side-lane split-pushing identity.
Support HP Regen
Following LoL patch 26.16 nerfs to early support roaming, pre-Grub roaming metrics—particularly in professional play—have stabilized at healthier levels. However, the shift inadvertently allowed Enchanters and ranged supports to take complete control of the bot lane meta.
Some of the base health provided by Support items have been moved into Health Regeneration. The goal with HP regen buffs is to give melee supports enough durability to withstand poke and reliably commit to engagements without getting completely driven out of lane.
While this is not intended as a massive meta swing, it should provide melee supports sufficient lane presence to challenge range-dominated matchups, Riot Phroxzon explained. The change is expected to have a small but noticeable impact across all skill levels, he added.
