League of Legends Patch 26.19: Pre-Worlds Balance Pass, Nasus Nerf and Graves Back in League Classic

The Worlds patch is the next one, so 26.19 is the first round of Summoner’s Rift changes aimed at the pro scene. Riot picked out a few potentially interesting picks that could spice up the tournament and add some variety to normal games without being disruptive after a light buff, and on the other side toned down individual champions who didn’t fit the meta (and Nasus). On the systems side, the top lane role quest did a good job of freeing players in that role from having to bring Teleport, so it’s considered fair to raise their overall power by giving them more map impact when they do have the spell — whether they take it at the start of the game or unlock it through the quest.

Team voice chat is being delayed

Team voice chat — the planned expansion of the existing premade voice chat that lets you talk to everyone on your team — was originally announced for a test launch in North America and Oceania with patch 26.20. After extensive testing, the release has been pushed back so the final quality matches what you deserve. There’s no exact timeline yet, but the bug hunt is in full swing, because this is a long-awaited feature that can’t be half-finished.

Champion buffs

Aatrox

The Darkin Blade lost a lot of power when Sundered Sky got nerfed to open up the jungle meta, so he’s getting a hand to stay a threat to all of existence.

• W – Infernal Chains cooldown: 20/18/16/14/12s ⇒ 18/16.5/15/13.5/12s
• E – Umbral Dash healing per 100 bonus health: 1.1% ⇒ 1.3%

Aphelios

Aphelios has been flying under the radar even though he’s a hyper carry in an enchanter meta that should suit him, so he’s getting a nudge out of his comfort zone.

• Calibrum Moonshot damage: 70–160 ⇒ 80–170 (ratios unchanged)
• Severum healing: 2–7.1%, up to 5–17.75% ⇒ 2–8%, up to 5–20%
• Gravitum slow decay: down to 10% ⇒ down to 15% after 0.7s
• Infernum Duskwave cooldown: 9/8.25/7.5/6.75/6s ⇒ 8/7.25/6.5/5.75/5s
• Crescendum mini-Crescendum damage: 15% AD ⇒ 16% AD, decaying to 5% AD at the 9th chakram instead of the 8th

Aurora

Aurora hasn’t been touched since last year, but her performance dropped after Rocketbelt was brought to a fairer level. She gets wave clear and more outplay potential on her ultimate.

• E – The Weirding base damage: 70/110/150/190/230 ⇒ 80/120/160/200/240
• R – Between Worlds rift duration: 1.75/2.5/3.25s ⇒ 2.25/2.75/3.25s

Draven

With every bot laner earning far more gold from role quests, Draven’s Adoration gold lead matters less. He gets early damage instead.

• Attack damage: 62 ⇒ 64

Elise

AP junglers with access to Dawncore started the year strong, but Elise has been weak for a while, so the spider lady gets faster clear and more damage.

• Passive – Spider Queen magic on-hit damage: 12/22/32/42 ⇒ 14/24/34/44
• W – Skittering Frenzy attack speed: 60/75/90/105/120% ⇒ 70/85/100/115/130%

Fiora

The Grand Duelist gets room to shine when she picks her moment — without sharper 1v1 tools.

• Health growth: 99 ⇒ 105
• R – Grand Challenge heal range: 550 ⇒ 600
• Heal per tick: 18.75/25/31.25 (+15% bonus AD) ⇒ 20/26.25/32.5 (+17.5% bonus AD)
• Max heal: 375/500/625 (+300% bonus AD) ⇒ 400/525/650 (+350% bonus AD)

Kha’Zix

With Sundered Sky users no longer dominating the jungle, some of Kha’Zix’s weaker evolutions get a push so he can adapt more flexibly.

• Passive – Unseen Threat damage: 17–136 ⇒ 22–141 (+50% bonus AD)
• W – Void Spike evolved slow duration: 2s ⇒ 2.25s
• E – Leap evolved range bonus: +200 ⇒ +300

Lillia

Her style asks her to put herself in danger, so she gets durability — and enemies she lulls to sleep stay down longer.

• Armor: 22 ⇒ 24
• R – Lilting Lullaby sleep duration: 2s ⇒ 2.5s

Lucian

Vigilance was added years ago so bot lane Lucian players wouldn’t feel punished for mid lane Lucian. It worked, so the tuning is being rebalanced between his two roles.

• Passive – Vigilance empowered on-hit: 15 (+20% AD) ⇒ 5 (+15% AD)
• Q – Piercing Light base damage: 80/115/150/185/220 ⇒ 90/130/170/210/250 (+100% bonus AD)

Master Yi

With Duskblade long gone, the ability haste penalty on Yi’s Q cooldown refund is being removed. Minimal impact on Summoner’s Rift, but Brawl and Arena players will notice.

• Q – Alpha Strike cooldown refund on hit: -1s scaling with ability haste ⇒ 1s

Volibear

AD Volibear got careful buffs this year, but his unique AP version is still too weak, so both builds get help.

• Passive – The Relentless Storm attack speed per stack: 5% (+3% per 100 AP) ⇒ 5% (+4% per 100 AP)
• Lightning on-hit damage: 11–60 (+45% AP) ⇒ 11–60 (+45% AP) (+20% bonus AD)

Champion nerfs

Nasus

Nasus has been hard to stop, partly because fast early stacks snowball into more stacks. Higher ceilings come with a lower floor, so he’s more vulnerable early and takes longer to get going.

• Q – Siphoning Strike bonus damage: 40/60/80/100/120 ⇒ 30/50/70/90/110

Nocturne

A pro and solo queue favorite for a while now, so his map pressure and dueling power from the ultimate take a hit.

• R – Paranoia cooldown: 140/115/90s ⇒ 160/130/100s

Poppy

Her flexibility and jungle presence were problematic because she shut down so many champions, so the previous jungle clear buff is reverted.

• Q – Hammer Shock max damage to minions and monsters: 85/120/155/190/225 ⇒ 70/105/140/175/210

Rumble

Even after the early-year lane nerfs he kept dominating high-level play, so his passive gets adjusted with elite players in mind — with a little compensation for jungle Rumble.

• Passive – Junkyard Titan attack speed while overheated: 50–130% ⇒ 30–100%
• Cap against monsters: 65–150 ⇒ 90–175

Ryze

Strong item sets plus the best skirmishing and roaming in his class means it’s time to rein the archmage in, while helping him survive a bad solo queue matchup.

• Armor growth: 4.2 ⇒ 4.7
• Q – Overload bonus damage from Flux: +25/50/75/100% ⇒ +15/40/65/90%
• E – Spell Flux mana cost: 35/45/55/65/75 ⇒ 40/50/60/70/80

Vi

A year-long meta staple. With Sundered Sky in better shape, her durability and early clear get targeted — she becomes a riskier pick that still hurts if you build for it.

• Attack damage: 63 + 3.5/level ⇒ 61 + 3.9/level
• Passive – Blast Shield: 12% max health ⇒ 10% max health

Systems: support items and Teleport

Melee supports draw too much power from roaming and one-shot ability rotations, while being weak when they stay in lane longer. World Atlas and Runic Compass therefore trade flat health for health regen, which benefits those champions more thanks to their higher base stats.

• Health: 30/100/200 ⇒ 0/60/200
• Health regen: 25/50/75% ⇒ 50/75/75%

As the meta adapts to role quests, top lane looks slightly weaker, especially for split pushing. Both the free Teleport from the role quest and upgraded Unleashed Teleport get shorter cooldowns to support those strategies.

• Free Teleport from the top lane quest: 420s ⇒ 390s
• Unleashed Teleport upgraded by the top lane quest: 330–240s ⇒ 300–210s
• Unleashed Teleport outside top lane: unchanged

League Classic: four new champions and three returning items

The third big batch of champions arrives here, with four new faces and long-lost fan favorite Graves as the highlight. The first set of changes from the previous Council Vote also lands, which means Cloak and Dagger, Moonflair Spellblade and Zz’Rot Portal are back. If you haven’t tried the mode yet, we have a separate guide on League Classic, and the previous batch of returning champions was covered in patch 26.18.

New: Fizz

Fizz launched in 2011 and wasn’t reworked until late 2016. He plays very similarly to how you remember, but the passive part of his W has no bleed — so maybe stack a Sunfire Cape, or two.

• Passive – Nimble Fighter: can move through units and takes reduced damage from basic attacks.
• Q – Urchin Strike: dashes a fixed distance through an enemy, dealing damage and applying on-hit effects.
• W – Seastone Trident: passive on-hit damage over time that scales with the target’s missing health; on activation his attacks deal bonus damage and apply Grievous Wounds (50% healing reduction) for a few seconds.
• E – Playful/Trickster: first cast vaults him up untargetable before slamming down for damage and a slow; second cast hops off early for a longer dash with a smaller damage area and no slow.
• R – Chum the Waters: throws a lure that sticks to the first enemy champion hit, then a shark deals heavy damage, knocks up and slows enemies in the area.

New: Graves

This is pre-rework Graves from 2011–2015, a genuine bot lane ADC rewarded for extended fights and lethal burst against short-range enemies. His bonus resistances take time to stack, so assassins can snack on you in the jungle.

• Passive – True Grit: gains stacking armor and magic resist every second while in combat, up to a cap.
• Q – Buckshot: fires three bullets damaging enemies in a line, with reduced damage on additional hits.
• W – Smoke Screen: a smoke grenade that damages, slows and reduces enemy vision.
• E – Quickdraw: a short dash with bonus attack speed; basic attacks reduce its cooldown.
• R – Collateral Damage: an explosive shell that damages enemies in a line and explodes on the first champion hit, dealing reduced damage in a cone behind them.

New: Nami

Not much has changed since her 2013 release. Heads up if you’re coming from the modern game: her E only buffs attacks, so forget about the modern Nami–Karthus synergy.

• Passive – Surging Tides: allies hit by her abilities get a short movement speed boost.
• Q – Aqua Prison: a bubble that damages and stuns on landing.
• W – Ebb and Flow: a wave bouncing between enemies and allies, damaging and healing with reduced effect per bounce.
• E – Tidecaller’s Blessing: empowers an ally so their next three attacks deal bonus damage and slow.
• R – Tidal Wave: a huge wave that damages, knocks up and slows everyone hit.

New: Nautilus

Released in 2012 and, like Nami, his kit aged well. Remember you can buy several Doran’s Rings at once for laning, and that he used to be a solid jungler. The big difference is that his ultimate disrupts targets hit by the traveling part far less.

• Passive – Staggering Blow: basic attacks deal bonus damage and root, once per enemy every few seconds.
• Q – Dredge Line: hooks the first enemy or terrain, damaging and pulling them while pulling himself closer; hitting terrain refunds part of the cooldown.
• W – Titan’s Wrath: a shield that makes his attacks deal damage over time in an area while it holds.
• E – Riptide: shockwaves that damage and slow, with reduced damage on subsequent waves.
• R – Depth Charge: a shockwave that damages and knocks up enemies on its path, then damages, knocks up and stuns everyone around the target.

Classic balance highlights

• Akali buffed: Crescent Slash energy cost 60 at all ranks ⇒ 60/55/50/45/40, cooldown 7/6/5/4/3s ⇒ 5/4/3/2/1s, AP ratio 30% ⇒ 40%.
• Fiora nerfed: Blade Waltz damage 160/330/500 (+115% bonus AD) ⇒ 125/255/385 (+85% bonus AD), cooldown 130/120/110s ⇒ 150/130/110s, damage starts 0.25s later, now prioritizes unhit targets, return range 1500 ⇒ 2500; single-target damage stays similar, AoE in teamfights is weaker.
• Galio gets a colossal buff pack: Righteous Gust cast time 0.4s ⇒ 0.25s, projectile speed 1200 ⇒ 1300, width 60 ⇒ 160, range 1100 ⇒ 1175, plus fixes to Bulwark and Righteous Gust.
• Kassadin buffed: Riftwalk range 600 ⇒ 700, Null Sphere AP ratio 60% ⇒ 70%, Force Pulse reworked to 80/130/180/230/280 (+70% AP) with a 30–50% slow.
• Malphite: Brutal Strikes AoE can now crit and no longer interrupts his attack wind-up, plus fixes to Ground Slam and Unstoppable Force.
• Morgana nerfed: Tormented Soil mana 70–130 ⇒ 80–160 and cooldown 10s ⇒ 12s, Black Shield 95–355 ⇒ 100–300, Soul Shackles cooldown 120/110/100s ⇒ 120 at all ranks.
• Nidalee: Bushwhack grants 0.5s of vision in a 250 radius and deals its damage over 2.5s instead of 4s; Aspect of the Cougar resets her attack timer again.
• Poppy: Devastating Blow can crit on its total AD portion and converts Spellblade damage to magic.
• Shyvana buffed: Burnout max duration extension 4 ⇒ 6, Dragon’s Descent resistances 10/15/20 ⇒ 15/20/25 (still doubled in dragon form).
• Twisted Fate nerfed: Gate cooldown 120–60s ⇒ 135–75s, Destiny cooldown 130/110/90s ⇒ 180/150/120s with mana 150 ⇒ 150/125/100, and Loaded Dice no longer gives allies bonus gold while he’s dead.
• Zilean: no bonus XP while dead, Time Bomb reveals him when cast from fog of war, Time Warp range 550 edge-to-edge ⇒ 700 center-to-center.

Returning items

• Cloak and Dagger — Cloak of Agility + Dagger, 1130 gold, 20% attack speed, 20% crit chance, unique 35% tenacity (shared with Mercury’s Treads, Zephyr and Moonflair Spellblade).
• Moonflair Spellblade — Seeker’s Armguard + Negatron Cloak, 2300 gold, 50 AP, 50 armor, 50 MR, unique 35% tenacity.
• Zz’Rot Portal — Chain Vest + Negatron Cloak + Rejuvenation Bead, 2700 gold, 50 armor, 50 MR, 5 HP5, active places a Void gate for 150 seconds that spawns Voidlings marching down the nearest lane (150s cooldown).

If you’re figuring out what to actually build in the mode, we have a separate piece on Classic champions and builds.

Council Vote and misc

The second community survey for League Classic is live. This time it asks about six specific areas, including which champion should get kit restoration priority. Head to the “Council” tab in the LoL client and vote — the poll runs for seven days and you can change your answers while it’s active, with results in the next patch notes. The first vote’s results were published in patch 26.18, and three of the items you voted to bring back arrive right here.

• More ways to report inappropriate behavior in game.
• Pings updated to use the old art.
• Clearer team and position visuals at the start of champ select.
• More classic-looking loading screen.
• Better visual clarity for the Council Vote.
• New “Recommended” sorting in the rune shop to help new accounts.

The patch also brings a long list of bug fixes, from Janna’s Tailwind lingering on dead allies, through Runaan’s Hurricane bolts triggering minion aggro effects, to Sivir’s Spell Shield not blocking Miss Fortune’s Double Up and Tristana’s Explosive Charge not detonating on minion kills.

Brawl

This update focuses on bug fixes and small quality-of-life improvements, with ongoing evaluation of the augment pool so every option you’re offered is meaningful for your champion. On balance, the Gambler augment proved very strong when picked up early, so it gets another nerf to limit early snowballing.

• Gambler offer rate: reduced again.
• Fixes include Mad Scientist granting +30% AD and AP instead of 30% adaptive force, Multishot’s extra quest requirements on Nami and Ezreal ultimates, Yuumi repeatedly triggering Bilgewater Cannon impacts, Bel’Veth’s Q not resetting after her ultimate with Ultimate Awakening, and Ravenous Hydra removal turning all item omnivamp negative.

Arena

Arena gets three new guest gods, over ten augments imported from Brawl, and two brand new augments created with VestionOCE and SoyJamiie, the winners of the season 2 For The Win Creator Invitational. A full overview of how Arena fits among the other LoL game modes is on the site as well.

Guest gods

• Ivern: when a team loses a round, a bush spawns at each member’s position and stays for the rest of the match.
• Senna: three portals to the Death Realm open; anyone can pass through and return the same way.
• Thresh: while you’re knocked out, you throw a lantern to allies every 8 seconds, shielding those nearby; anyone can click it to get pulled to the downed player.

Champion balance

• Buffs: Aphelios (health growth 102 ⇒ 114, AD growth 2.3 ⇒ 3.3, move speed 325 ⇒ 330), Bard (chimes per upgrade 4 ⇒ 3), Elise (Cocoon cooldown 12–10s ⇒ 8–6s, Skittering Frenzy 12s ⇒ 10s), Ezreal, Lee Sin (Safeguard AP ratio 80% ⇒ 120%), Locke, Neeko (secondary hit AP ratio 25% ⇒ 50%), Zeri.
• Nerfs: Bel’Veth, Dr. Mundo, Lillia (passive 4% ⇒ 3% max health), Ornn (discounts 100/200 ⇒ 75/150), Rammus (Powerball cooldown up by 1s per rank), Rell, Sion (stacks per round 133 ⇒ 111), Veigar (stacks per round 12 ⇒ 10, Event Horizon cooldown up), Zed (Q ratio 110% ⇒ 100%, W cooldown 18–15s ⇒ 20–16s).

New augments

• Archmage: every cast reduces a random other ability’s cooldown by 30% of the cast ability’s cooldown.
• Crit Casting: gain ability haste equal to 40% of your crit chance.
• Deathbringer (replaces Flee): activate on a target champion to drag them into the Death Realm for 4/8 seconds, with 2 seconds of invisibility on entry; at max level a kill grants your team an extra revive and delays the victim’s respawn by 1 second.
• Some Like It Hot: a spicy hot dog spawns nearby every 3 seconds; whoever picks it up starts breathing fire, enemies who grab it can hurt their own allies, and dying while breathing fire makes you explode for magic damage per level.
• Murderous Resolve: stack up to 10 times by hitting enemy champions; at 10 stacks you resurrect after lethal damage with 35–75% health and gain a 15-second buff with adaptive force, movement speed toward enemies and omnivamp (90s cooldown).
• Nature Heals: entering a bush heals you for 40–300 plus 15% missing health over 1.5 seconds, with a separate 10s cooldown per bush.
• Rite of Ascension: takedowns within 3 seconds of your damage leave an essence you can attack to consume, teleporting you there for movement speed, healing and a basic ability cooldown reset.
• Shark Bait: lethal damage turns you into a zombie for 3.5 seconds with fixed 400 move speed and a 40% slow aura, ending with a giant shark chomping for 120–350 magic damage plus missing-health scaling and a 1-second knock-up; at max level your whole team turns into sharks on death.
• Sonata: alternately auto-casts modified versions of Sona’s Aria of Perseverance and Song of Celerity every 7.5 seconds, with heals, shields and movement speed auras.
• Surge Field: casting your ultimate creates a 300-radius zone granting 50 ability haste and 40% bonus move speed, and your damage to champions fires a bolt for 20% bonus magic damage before resistances.
• Titanic Resolve: stack Colossal on dealing or taking champion damage; every 10 stacks give adaptive force, resistances, size and 8% tenacity.
• Warlock’s Juice: gain omnivamp based on your ability power.
• Bee Boo Bee Boo: up to 50% move speed toward nearby allies and up to 50% stronger heals and shields, both scaling with missing health.

Augment and system changes

• Guardian Angel health scaling: 350 ⇒ 450; Protein Shake base health scaling 15 ⇒ 25; Spellmaking cooldown 15s ⇒ 10s and base damage 100 ⇒ 150; Scavenger gold 500 ⇒ 1000.
• Giant Slayer damage bonus lowered by 5 at every tier; Prismatic Chromatic Flow moves to Gold rarity.
• Bonus energy regen from missing health: up to 100% ⇒ up to 400%.
• Bug fixes cover Renata’s R damage amp, Taliyah’s W terrain hitbox, Yone’s R warning VFX, Yunara’s attack resets, Renekton’s fury from R after W, Nunu’s camera unlock and clones not getting Guardian on fountain return.

If you want more context around the competitive season these changes are aimed at, we also cover Worlds format in a separate article.

FAQ