LoL Patch 26.22: Mel Midscope, TFT Moves Out and Nerfs for Thresh, Yasuo and Locke

Patch 26.22 is a big one. Riot is pushing another round of buffs to pro-suppressed champions like Corki and Rumble, swinging the nerf bat at some of the most-banned picks such as Locke and Yasuo, reworking Mel’s kit in a midscope, and tuning Doran’s Bow and Gluttonous Greaves so they stop being the default ADC build. On top of that, Teamfight Tactics is officially moving out of the League client.

TFT is moving to its own client

Starting November 4th, 2026, Teamfight Tactics lives in a standalone client. Riot promises that swapping between League of Legends and TFT will be as easy as clicking a button.

• All existing TFT cosmetics stay usable in League.
• The first batch of TFT-only Little Legends arrives December 1st.
• December 15th marks the full separation of TFT cosmetics, including emotes and icons.
• A future patch will let you fully opt out of TFT downloads inside League patches – which is exactly why 26.22 is a bigger download than usual.

Champion buffs on Summoner’s Rift

Aurelion Sol

Most Aurelion Sol players max Singularity (E) second over Astral Flight (W) even though it has been the weaker option. Riot agrees the intuitive choice should also be the correct one.

• E – Singularity total magic damage: 50/75/100/125/150 (+60% AP) over 5s ⇒ 50/80/110/140/170 (+60/65/70/75/80% AP) over 5s

Corki

Riot was careful with Corki going into Worlds, but now – like Azir and Orianna – he gets room to be better for everyone.

• R – Missile Barrage damage: 90/170/250 (+85% bonus AD) ⇒ 100/190/280 (+90% bonus AD)
• Big One damage: 180/340/500 (+170% bonus AD) ⇒ 200/380/560 (+180% bonus AD)

Kayle

Kayle’s relevance has steadily dropped since the top lane shake-up from role quests, and Riot wants more scaling options up top.

• Q – Radiant Blast cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8s ⇒ 10/9.5/9/8.5/8s
• R – Divine Judgment cooldown: 160/120/80s ⇒ 140/110/80s

Maokai

Maokai has been almost entirely stuck in support, so the buff is aimed at his top and jungle play.

• Q – Bramble Smash: target max health ratio 2/2.5/3/3.5/4% ⇒ 2.5/3/3.5/4/4.5%

Naafiri

After earlier nerfs Naafiri fell out of mid lane entirely and has been mediocre in the jungle. This buff mostly helps her mid.

• Q – Darkin Daggers heal: 45/60/75/90/105 (+40% bonus AD) ⇒ 55/70/85/100/115 (+45% bonus AD)
• W – The Call of the Pack bonus AD: 20% ⇒ 22%

Rumble

Like Corki, Rumble was tuned around pro play. This should help the average Rumble more than the pros.

• R – The Equalizer damage per second: 120/200/280 (+35% AP) ⇒ (+40% AP)
• Maximum damage AP ratio: 175% ⇒ 200%

Shen

Shen jungle got pushed too far out of the meta, and the earlier jungle tank changes didn’t bring him back. If you want to know what you’re actually fighting over down there, we have a separate jungle objectives guide.

• Q – Twilight Assault monster damage modifier: 100/125/150/175/200 ⇒ 120/140/160/180/200

Sneeze champion (W – ACHOOO!)

The previous buffs landed softer than expected, but the balance between Crit and Caster builds is good, so this one is a more generic buff. The Doran’s Bow nerf should help too.

• W – ACHOOO! explosion damage: 10/35/60/85/110 ⇒ 25/50/75/100/125 (+50% bonus AD, +80% AP unchanged)

Viktor

Last patch’s nerf hit Viktor harder than intended, but Riot likes what it did to his early-game bullying – so the power comes back in scaling.

• Health growth: 100/level ⇒ 105/level
• R – Arcane Storm conjure damage AP ratio: 50% ⇒ 60%

Zaahen

Zaahen delivers on his scaling fantasy but had too little to do in lane. Early skirmishing should feel much better now.

• Q – The Darkin Glaive cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6s ⇒ 8/7.5/7/6.5/6s

Nerfs: Locke, Thresh and Yasuo

Locke

Locke’s overall performance is reasonable, but he turned out to be a much deeper champion than Riot expected and high-level Locke players are clearly too strong, especially early.

• Q – Ritual Nails stack bonus damage: 18/26/34/42/50 ⇒ 15/22/29/36/43
• Maximum stack damage: 75.6/109.2/142.8/176.4/210 ⇒ 63/92.4/121.8/151.2/180.6
• W – Soul Ignition duration: 6s ⇒ 5s

Thresh

Even after the previous nerf, Thresh stayed at the very top of the support pecking order for top-tier players.

• Attack damage: 56 ⇒ 54
• R – The Box damage: 250/400/550 (+100% AP) ⇒ 200/350/500 (+100% AP)

Yasuo

Riot was on the fence last patch, but Yasuo’s winrate and banrate kept climbing as players shifted to crit builds, so he gets the same treatment as Yone.

• Q – Steel Tempest damage ratio: +105% total AD ⇒ +100% total AD

Mel midscope

Mel gets a proper midscope adjustment. The short version: power moves from early game into scaling, her W becomes an area-of-effect missile destruction that retaliates instead of reflecting, and Q and R get lower late-game cooldowns so she can stack her passive much higher.

Base stats

• Health: 640 + 99/level ⇒ 590 + 107/level
• Mana: 480 + 28/level ⇒ 455 + 38/level
• Armor: +5.2/level ⇒ +5.4/level
• AD: 54 + 3.3/level ⇒ 52 + 3.3/level
• Attack speed: 2.5%/level ⇒ 2.75%/level

Passive – Searing Brilliance

• Bonus damage per bolt: 8-30 (+4% AP) ⇒ 4-30 (+4% AP)
• First stack damage against minions: 50% less ⇒ 45% less

Q – Radiant Volley

• First hit damage: 60/85/110/135/160 (+55% AP) ⇒ 60 (+25% AP)
• Multi-hit damage: 5/7/9/11/13 (+5% AP) ⇒ 5/10/15/20/25 (+8% AP)
• Total damage: 85-277 (+80-100% AP) ⇒ 85-285 (+65-97% AP)
• New: refunds 0.5-1.0s of cooldown (scaling with level) if it hits an enemy champion at least once
• Mana cost: 70/75/80/85/90 ⇒ 60/65/70/75/80
• Missile speed: 3800 ⇒ 3200

W – Rebuttal (reworked)

• Unleashes a nova expanding to 400 units over 0.75s that destroys enemy projectiles, shields, and grants move speed to Mel and allies inside. Destroyed missiles are retaliated against at the end of the nova.
• Retaliation damage: 35/40/45/50/55 (+10% AP), reduced to 5/10/15/20/25 (+5% AP) on subsequent hits against the same enemy, up to 7 retaliations per enemy for a total of 65-205 (+40% AP)
• Shield: 80/110/140/170/200 (+70% AP) for 2s
• Move speed: 10-30% for 2s
• Mana cost: 100/80/60/40/0
• Cooldown: 30/28.5/27/25.5/24

E – Solar Snare

• Root duration: 1.5s ⇒ 0.8-1.6 / 0.85-1.75 / 0.9-1.9 / 0.95-2.05 / 1.0-2.2s, increasing with distance
• Slow: 30% ⇒ 20/25/30/35/40%
• Mana cost: 50/60/70/80/90 ⇒ 40/50/60/70/80

R – Golden Eclipse

• Cooldown: 120/100/80s ⇒ 120/90/60s

Items

Two item changes land this patch, and both shift what you should be buying. If builds are still a mystery to you, start with our items guide.

• Doran’s Bow – attack damage: 8 ⇒ 7. It settled slightly but clearly too strong, pulling marksmen who should be leaning toward Doran’s Blade into being pure Doran’s Bow users.
• Overlord’s – attack damage: 30 ⇒ 40, Retribution: +0-12% total AD based on missing health ⇒ +0-10%. A net buff for most juggernauts without ballooning its power on Sett, who gets the most out of Retribution thanks to Haymaker (W).

ARAM Mayhem: Journey to Stardom

Riot is lowering the power of some new augments, buffing survivability ones, and fixing a pile of bugs. Fighters have been closing out games extremely well and poke dominated early while tanks struggled, so augments like Take ‘Em Down Down Down and Weapon of Destiny come down, while Soul Eater and Stay Resolute go up. Butcher’s Bridge and Koeshin’s Crossing are back in rotation with Headliner performances, and the last page of Journey to Stardom is now accessible – finish all the missions to collect every reward. Two new augments join the pool, one based on a classic Worlds Anthem.

Champions

• Hecarim ability haste: 10 ⇒ 0

Augment changes

• Armored Impact damage: 50-125 + 250% bonus armor ⇒ 25-125 + 220% bonus armor
• BEES!!! base damage: 75-200 ⇒ 75-140 (+150% bonus AD, +70% total AP), hive travel time 0.75s ⇒ 1.1s
• Brass Blast cooldown: 75s ⇒ 50s, minion damage removed
• Crimson Cobalt mark VFX: visible to all players ⇒ visible only to the owner
• One Hit Wonder: the ability now gains increased damage based on your ability haste but no longer benefits from ability haste
• Ravenous Bind: bonus health heal ratio 0.1 ⇒ 0.12, base heal 50-200 ⇒ 75-300
• RISE!: killing enemy champions with your ultimate resets its cooldown, up to 3 times
• Squishy Slappy Grab shield per pulled target: 50-200 + 50% bonus armor/MR ⇒ 100-300 + 70% bonus armor/MR
• Soul Eater health per stack: 20 ⇒ 30
• Stay Resolute armor and MR per ability hit: level 1/7/11 – 1/2/3 ⇒ level 1/11 – 2/3
• Take ‘Em Down Down Down five-hit proc: (15 + 5% bonus attack speed + 0.15% total ability haste)% missing health ⇒ 17% missing health
• Titan’s Resolve: stacks needed per Juggernauting level 10 ⇒ 7
• Weapon of Destiny: flat armor pen 35 ⇒ 20, flat magic pen 25 ⇒ 15, percent armor pen 0.25 ⇒ 0.15, percent magic pen 0.15 ⇒ 0.09

Mayhem bugfixes

• Get Jinxed no longer locks you in place when killed by the fountain turret
• Jeweled Gauntlet now gives correct crit chance with escAPADe and ADAPt
• Bee Band headliner tooltip matches its in-game effect
• Crimson Cobalt: some empowered basic attacks now consume the mark properly
• Pentakill headliner now offers an Udyr ultimate upgrade at level 18
• Karma’s Mantra-empowered abilities now count for the Ultimate Damage K/DA band mission
• Superstar mission descriptions display correctly
• Mosh Monster’s slow no longer persists after death
• Weapon of Destiny no longer swaps the empowered item when it transforms

League Classic: Volibear, Swain and Elise

The penultimate content patch adds three old champions. If you haven’t tried the mode yet, our guide to League Classic explains how to get in, and we covered the previous batch in the Patch 26.20 notes.

Volibear (2011-2018 version)

• Passive – Chosen of the Storm: heals a portion of max health over time at low health, long cooldown
• Q – Rolling Thunder: bonus move speed (more toward enemy champions), next attack deals bonus damage and flips the target
• W – Frenzy: stacking attack speed on-attack; at max stacks it can be activated for high single-target damage scaling with missing health
• E – Majestic Roar: damages and slows nearby enemies, fears minions and monsters
• R – Thunder Claws: basic attacks inflict chain lightning for several seconds

Swain (2010-2016 version, the Laser Bird)

• Passive – Carrion Renewal: recoups mana on kills
• Q – Decrepify: raven slows and damages a target over time while in range
• W – Nevermove: after a delay, damages and roots enemies in a small area
• E – Torment: damage over time plus increased damage taken from Swain – including true damage like Ignite
• R – Ravenous Flock: transforms into a giant raven, draining mana, releasing ravens that heal him based on damage dealt

Elise

• Passive – Spider Swarm: abilities store Spiderlings in human form, released in spider form
• Q – Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite: bonus damage based on current health (human) or missing health (spider)
• W – Volatile Spiderling / Skittering Frenzy: exploding spiderling, or bonus attack speed and on-hit healing
• E – Cocoon / Rappel: stun projectile, or untargetable rappel with a re-cast descent
• R – Human Form / Spider Form: ranged human form, melee spider form with bonus on-hit damage

Classic balance changes

• Aatrox – passive cooldown 225 ⇒ 225/200/175/150 (this time for real), fixed a 2013 bug where Dark Flight (Q) sometimes failed at max range, and the day-1 micropatch fixed his basic attacks doing nothing during Massacre (R)
• Amumu (nerf) – Cursed Touch MR shred 15/25/35 ⇒ 15/20/25, Bandage Toss damage 80/140/200/260/320 ⇒ 80/130/180/230/280, Curse of the Sad Mummy cooldown 150/130/110s ⇒ 170/145/120s
• Evelynn (buff) – Hate Spike base damage 40/55/70/85/100 ⇒ 40/60/80/100/120
• Ezreal (AP buff) – Essence Flux AP ratio 60% ⇒ 80% and healing effectiveness 50% ⇒ 70%, Arcane Shift AP ratio 75% ⇒ 80%
• Fiddlesticks (nerf) – Dark Wind damage per bounce 65/85/105/125/145 ⇒ 50/75/100/125/150 (+45% AP)
• Gangplank (buff) – base health regen 5 ⇒ 7, health per level 81 ⇒ 89, Grog-Soaked Blade max stacks 3 ⇒ 4, Parrrley mana cost down by 10, Cannon Barrage cooldown 120/115/110s ⇒ 120/110/100s
• Janna (nerf) – Tailwind global bonus move speed 3% ⇒ 2%
• Mordekaiser – attacks come out roughly 70% faster, pet bonus AD now 75% of Mordekaiser’s AD instead of the target’s, pets can’t crit structures, and bonus damage to inhibitors and the Nexus 75% ⇒ 0%
• Nami (buff) – Aqua Prison damage 75/130/185/240/295 + 65% AP ⇒ 90/145/200/255/310 + 100% AP, Ebb and Flow damage reduction per bounce 30% ⇒ 15%
• Olaf (buff) – Vicious Strikes bonus AD 7/14/21/28/35 ⇒ 10/17/24/31/38, Reckless Swing cooldown 9/8/7/6/5s ⇒ 8/7/6/5/4s
• Rammus (nerf) – base armor 28.8 ⇒ 25, AD per level 3.5 ⇒ 2.75

Classic items and Pass

• Health and Mana Potions now show buff text
• Shushei’s Mana Jug no longer triggers on Clone takedown
• Statikk Shiv procs again for Kayle after Righteous Fury (E)
• Wit’s End now maintains 4 stacks correctly
• The Classic Pass was misconfigured, making token progress slower than intended. It’s fixed, and per-game token grants are buffed by 50% for the rest of Classic’s run.

Other bugfixes

• Aatrox’s R attacks now play a critical strike animation; his passive cooldown scales with level
• Anivia’s resistances now change in Egg Form
• Caitlyn’s Yordle Snap Trap (W) expiration animation restored
• Master Yi’s Double Strike (P) no longer hits through Blind
• Sivir’s Spell Shield (E) now blocks Ezreal’s Mystic Shot (Q)
• Classic Kayle plays her crit animation; her Holy Fervor (P) tooltip is corrected
• Classic Miss Fortune’s Make It Rain (E) and basic attack fire VFX appear on her pistols again
• Nunu’s Absolute Zero (R) is no longer visible from brush and no longer shows both a green and red outline
• Yorick’s Spectral Ghoul finishes its death animation
• Multiple Oracle Elixir sparkle VFX fixes (Caitlyn, Xin Zhao and others)
• Shield VFX fixes for Morgana’s Black Shield (E), Shyvana’s Dragon Form (R) and Janna’s Eye of the Storm (E)
• Aurora’s R is no longer blockable by Samira’s W
• Quinn’s R no longer deals double damage after recalling or respawning
• Hail of Blades is consistent on Ekko
• Viego no longer misses a jungle treat when transforming into an enemy champion
• Renekton no longer cancels abilities when right-clicking during an R combo
• Sion’s R, Briar’s R and Kled’s R SFX are audible in Spectator Mode
• Kog’Maw’s W no longer damages structures when cast with an auto mid-air

Where to go next

If you want to compare how the pre-Worlds balance pass played out, check the Patch 26.19 notes, and everything else we’ve written is collected under League of Legends news.

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