January 7, 2026

Patch 26.1 Notes

Mid-Patch Summary

Patch Summary

Miss Fortune ADJUSTED

Mid-Patch Updates

1/9/2026 Mid-Patch Updates

We have a few changes to 26.1 that we wanted to get out before the weekend. We have a few early balance changes, some quick fixes to ARAM Mayhem, and some bugfixes that we have ready to go. Appreciate all your reports and your early feedback on the new season!

NERF

Aphelios

Many of Aphelios's abilities can crit, and while we compensated for this power increase, he's still become one of the strongest champions in the game. We're here to reduce some of that burst damage while preserving the power of his weaker AD-AS builds.

Passive - The Hitman and the Seer

Lethality per E rank: 5.5 ⇒ 4.5

BUFF

Graves

Graves is looking worse for wear in the new season and seems to not need some of the preemptive crit damage mitigations we put in place. So we're here to help his crit attacks have more oomph.

Passive - New Destiny

Crit Scaling: 35% bonus crit damage ⇒ 50% bonus crit damage
Maximum damage on crit relative to non-crit: 1.8x ⇒ 2x

NERF

Kayle

Q max is looking very strong this patch due to the top lane XP buffs. Removing some AP scaling we added back when there were less AP items available that improved attack power.

Passive - Divine Ascent

Attack Speed per stack: 6% (+1% per 100 AP) ⇒ 6%

Q - Radiant Blast

Mana Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 ⇒ 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100
Slow: 26 / 32 / 38 / 44 / 50% ⇒ 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45%

NERF

Nilah

Nilah has been the biggest winner of this patch's systemic changes to bot lane and so is deserving of a meaningful adjustment. Because she gets plenty of attack speed from her Q, we're taking a chunk out of her base stat growth.

Base Stats

AS Growth: 2% ⇒ 1.25%

Q - Formless Blade

Crit scaling multiplier: 80% bonus crit damage ⇒ 70% bonus crit damage

BUFF

Quinn

Quinn has suffered more than most in the new season from systemic changes like the removal of Symbiotic Soles and role quests. Since she was hit hardest in top lane, we are targeting her level scaling and giving a boost to her passive.

Base Stats

AD Growth: 2.7 ⇒ 3.2

Passive - Harrier

Base Cooldown: 8 seconds ⇒ 7 seconds

NERF

Rammus

Rammus has had a lot of success with some of the new map changes. We still want him to maintain his identity as a particularly strong pick into an AD comp, but we look to curve a bit of that power against magic damage champs.

Base Stats

Health: 675 ⇒ 645

W - Defensive Ball Curl

Magic Resist: 27 / 32 / 37 / 42 / 47 ⇒ 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40

BUFF

Tryndamere

We overcompensated for how much Tryndamere would gain from the base crit damage increases. We're leading with a big E buff to make him less reliant on lucky crits for successful trades, plus a W slow duration buff for extended fights.

W - Mocking Shout

Slow Duration: 2.5 seconds ⇒ 3.25 seconds

E - Spinning Slash

Base Damage: 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 ⇒ 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240

NERF

Essence Reaver

Total Cost: 2900 Gold ⇒ 3050 Gold
Recipe: Sheen + Caulfield's Warhammer + Cloak of Agility + 350 Gold ⇒ Sheen + Caulfield's Warhammer + Cloak of Agility + 500 Gold
Attack Damage: 55 ⇒ 50

Patch Highlights

Season 1 Kickoff (Demacia)

Season 1 lands with a Demacia-themed Summoner’s Rift and a big strategic nudge toward turret pushing (and away from constant epic monster contests).
The patch is intentionally “system heavy”: new objectives/turret mechanics, new vision tech, and role power being rebalanced via Role Quests.

Role Quests

A new lane-phase quest system is added for every role, expanding the long-standing Support/Jungle quest structure to Top/Mid/Bot as well.
Your quest is assigned based on your queued position (so swapping roles should happen in champ select), and rewards are tied to playing out your lane matchup early.
Support and Jungle quests are updated, while solo lanes and bot carry now have new quest rewards and progression rules.

Turrets & Map Progress (Crystalline Overgrowth)

Crystalline Overgrowth is introduced as a new lane-turret mechanic to help convert pressure into real structure damage over time.
Turret pacing is tuned to reward incremental sieges: turret plates are expanded beyond the usual early-game context, and turret durability/damage curves are adjusted to fit the new system.
Overall intent: make pushing and partial progress feel more meaningful and less “all-or-nothing.”

Faelights & Vision Updates

Faelights are added as a new ward interaction on the map: warding specific rings temporarily reveals a nearby region that isn’t automatically obvious to enemies.
Vision tools are tuned to support proactive plays (like split-push setups) without requiring a support to be present at all times.
Additional vision pacing tweaks arrive alongside Faelights (including trinket/plant tuning and new Scryer’s Bloom behavior/locations as the game progresses).

Jungle Rules & Epic Monster Tuning

Jungle is reshaped to slow early clears and reduce early intervention pressure on lanes, while keeping clearing more comfortable for newer junglers.
Smite/pet and jungle income pacing are adjusted, and there are changes to how team buffs/epic monster power ramps this season.
Net goal: more room for early laning to breathe, while keeping jungle’s mid/late contribution stable.

New Items & Item System Refresh

At least one new item is added for each class, with extra attention on subclasses that previously had thinner item support.
Several older concepts return and multiple existing items are updated to fit the new season’s combat and pacing goals.
System-level item rules get touched too (for example, Tear stacking behavior and other foundational item mechanics are refreshed).

Critical Strike Baseline Update

Most champions’ base critical strike damage is now 200%, and a large set of champions/items are adjusted to keep crit scaling healthy.
Champions with unusual crit rules or guaranteed crit patterns receive compensating adjustments so their power doesn’t spike disproportionately.
Several crit-related items are retuned to better match the new baseline and the intended tank vs squishy dynamics.

Ranked 2026 Updates (Autofill + Duo Rules)

Ranked Season 1 (2026) starts with the seasonal reset and provisionals; end-of-season reward rules and honor requirements are reiterated.
Aegis of Valor launches to reduce autofill pain: strong performance while autofilled can protect you from LP loss on a defeat or boost LP gains on a win.
High-rank duo restrictions are updated for many regions, while KR/CN keep stricter limits (with some temporary adjustments for 26.1).

Swiftplay Overhaul

Swiftplay gets a major push toward “shorter but still real SR”: accelerated start, faster pacing, and more forgiving gameplay for off-meta picks (especially jungle).
Players start at level 3 with 1400 gold, and Swiftplay swaps Doran’s starts for Guardian’s items (ARAM-style) to get action going sooner.
Objectives are simplified/accelerated (ex: some objectives removed, Baron timing updated, dragons condensed), and a Swiftplay-only “Minion Frenzy” helps turn kills into base progress.

Player Behavior: Lobby Hostage Taking

Champion select can now be terminated when a reported player is detected as holding the lobby hostage (to force dodges or similar behavior).
This only triggers with champ-select reports, and Riot notes it won’t be perfect at launch—continued iteration is expected.
Off-meta picks or normal strategic disagreements are explicitly not meant to be treated as “hostaging.”

Demacia Rising Metagame

Demacia Rising is introduced as a season-long metagame, with progression earned primarily by playing LoL/TFT and completing missions.
It’s planned to update multiple times during the season with new upgrades, story beats, and gameplay additions.
Battle Pass ownership and using certain Season 1 skins can accelerate progression via additional rewards.

Champion Summary

Quick read on the champion-level balance changes highlighted in this patch.

BUFF

Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia’s passive is reworked so she can better engage with modern boot-based systems (like role quest rewards) without feeling punished.
Her baseline mobility is smoothed out: base MS goes up, and her new passive amplifies movement speed buffs instead of forbidding boots.

ADJUSTED

Samira

Samira’s Q and R are treated more like “auto-attack replacements,” keeping meaningful crit payoff while reducing how much raw AD scaling spikes her damage.
Crit interactions are standardized toward scaling off bonus crit damage, with non-crit damage profiles adjusted to compensate.

NERF

Aphelios

Aphelios has several ability ratios trimmed so his power leans more on improved crit autos rather than spell scaling.
Several weapon actives/secondary hits are updated to follow the new crit-damage rules more cleanly and consistently.

NERF

Caitlyn

Caitlyn’s late-game Headshot ceiling is brought down to prevent her crit-scaling from getting out of hand with 200% crit damage returning.
Ace in the Hole’s crit interaction is updated (including IE interaction) while its overall output is tuned down to make room for stronger basic attacks.

NERF

Tristana

Tristana’s E is one of the sharpest late scalers in the game, so its top-end scaling is reduced to keep her late game in check.
Explosive Charge shifts away from huge crit-driven spikes, especially at higher ranks.

ADJUSTED

Nilah

Nilah gains a more modern crit interaction (including IE relevance), but her late-game scaling is tapped down to compensate for stronger basic attacks.
Some scaling/utility knobs are trimmed (growth, crit-related scaling, and cost) to keep her overall power stable.

ADJUSTED

Jinx

Jinx is kept broadly similar, but with power nudged toward her sustained auto-attack pattern and away from bursty spell damage.
Some late-game and growth tuning helps preserve the value of her minigun attack-speed identity under the new crit baseline.

ADJUSTED

Jhin

Jhin’s guaranteed-crit patterns are protected from over-scaling with 200% crit damage, so his crit damage modifier is reduced.
Overall goal: he should feel basically the same next season, not explosively stronger.

NERF

Sivir

Sivir is expected to gain a lot from stronger Ricochet crits, so her Q scaling is reduced as compensation.
Her Q’s crit-related scaling is standardized to the new “bonus crit damage” approach.

NERF

Zeri

Zeri’s E is updated so its crit behaves like a basic attack, making the crit rules clearer and more consistent.
To make room for that power, some of her other damage knobs (including spell output) are tuned down.

ADJUSTED

Lucian

Lucian’s crit scaling is pushed to feel good on The Culling (more meaningful crit contribution), while some of his other scaling is trimmed to compensate.
Base growth and spell tuning aim to keep his “spell-forward marksman” identity intact without letting crit spike him too hard.

ADJUSTED

Xayah

Xayah’s E is updated to care about crit damage in a clearer way, aligning it with the new crit system.
Her E damage profile is adjusted to be more reliable and less snowbally.

NERF

Draven

Draven is heavily auto-attack focused and often buys multiple crit items, so he receives compensation tuning for stronger crit autos.
Some of his early/stacking combat steroids are trimmed so his overall DPS doesn’t overshoot.

NERF

Yunara

Yunara’s crit and on-hit builds both benefit next season (even on-hit often grabs Hurricane), so she gets preemptive tuning downward.
Nerfs are aimed more at low-attack-speed, high-AD crit patterns that would be most directly buffed by 200% crit damage.

ADJUSTED

Akshan

Akshan’s crit rules are standardized: his passive “true basic attack” payoff inherits full crit behavior, while E/R crit scaling is reduced as compensation.
His rank-up incentives are adjusted so Q-max and E-max land closer together in power.

NERF

Gangplank

With Essence Reaver’s Sheen build path returning, Gangplank is expected to gain a lot—so several unique crit scalars are removed.
Powder Keg and related crit-driven spikes are toned down to keep his scaling from jumping too sharply.

ADJUSTED

Yone

Yone doubles crit chance from items, so his crit damage is reduced to prevent 200% crit from blowing up his guaranteed patterns.
Net intent: he should feel largely unchanged in practice.

ADJUSTED

Yasuo

Like Yone, Yasuo’s doubled crit chance means he cannot be allowed full crit damage; his crit damage is reduced accordingly.
Net intent: preserve “Yasuo as usual” rather than supercharging him.

ADJUSTED

Miss Fortune

Miss Fortune’s crit incentives are preserved, but direct buffs are avoided—so her Q crit modifier is softened as compensation tuning.
Bullet Time’s crit interaction is made to feel impactful, with damage knobs adjusted so her scaling doesn’t run away.

ADJUSTED

Tryndamere

Tryndamere gets real gameplay updates plus preemptive nerfs due to how much crit chance he naturally has with 200% crit returning.
Quality-of-life and reliability improvements are added (notably around his sustain and slow patterns), with numbers tuned to keep it fair.

NERF

Twitch

Twitch’s “late-game team deletion” is expected to accelerate with 200% crit damage, so his late DPS is tapped down.
Growth and stealth steroid tuning reduces how quickly he reaches that wipe-the-team breakpoint.

NERF

Ashe

Ashe is already fairly auto-attack reliant, so she gets light late-game compensation nerfs to make room for increased crit damage.
Some spell and growth tuning keeps her overall power stable under the new crit baseline.

NERF

Smolder

Smolder is expected to benefit significantly from Essence Reaver changes, so his Q crit scaling is reduced.
The goal is to keep his crit purchases meaningful without letting them over-amplify his core scaling loop.

ADJUSTED

Kindred

Kindred’s E crit mechanics are simplified to be easier to understand, with numbers adjusted to match the new crit system.
Her monster damage cap is modernized so AP/AD scaling behaves more naturally over the game (often a buff in practical cases).

NERF

Corki

Corki isn’t especially strong right now, so this is framed as a targeted nerf to one specific pain point rather than a full power hit.
His ability to instantly clear a wave right before recalling is reduced.

ADJUSTED

Shaco

Shaco’s crit interactions are updated so his “everything crits” moments don’t become excessively explosive with 200% crit damage.
At the same time, non-crit builds are preserved by modernizing how his scalings treat crit damage modifiers.

ADJUSTED

Graves

Graves receives small crit math adjustments intended to be close to power-neutral.
Practical expectation: almost no gameplay change (around ~1% more crit auto damage).

ADJUSTED

Quinn

Quinn builds a decent amount of crit, which increases her auto-driven passive procs, so her passive damage is retuned as compensation.
Net intent: keep her overall output stable despite stronger crit autos next season.

NERF

Senna

Senna has guaranteed crit patterns that cannot safely scale with full 200% crit damage, so her crit damage is reduced.
This mirrors the approach used for other “guaranteed crit” champions.

ADJUSTED

Garen

Garen’s crit interactions (especially around E) are updated to properly discount bonus crit damage, making room for non-crit builds to still be viable.
This prevents the global crit increase from disproportionately buffing his crit setups.

ADJUSTED

Rengar

Rengar gets a heavy rescript aimed at preserving feel while resolving bugs/tech debt (with additional fixes called out in the bug section).
His Q crit behavior is made more intuitive by letting the underlying attack roll for crits, removing forced-crit optimizations and smoothing item interactions.

ADJUSTED

Viego

Viego’s crit purchases are supported for a consistent auto-attack pattern, but major active damage pieces (notably Q/R actives) are tuned down to compensate.
Several crit scalars are shifted toward the new “bonus crit damage” framework.

BUFF

Elise

Elise’s monster damage scaling is improved so AP doesn’t fall off a cliff against monsters after mid game.
This is intended as a small average buff, mainly to make her scaling behave more intuitively.

BUFF

Jax

With top lane quests enabling level 20, Jax gains an additional late-game breakpoint for his passive.
This adds a bit more attack speed at the very top end without reshaping his early game.