Riot Games Details League of Legends Patch 26.19 Preview Ahead of Worlds

Riot Games has revealed all of the planned buffs, nerfs, and changes for League of Legends Patch 26.19. This will be the last update before the patch that the League of Legends World Championships will be played on, which is designated as patch 26.20. As a result, Riot is looking to make substantial changes to the meta with one more update to tweak things before the major tournament.

Lead gameplay designer Matt Leung-Harrison, also known as Phroxzon, offered extra context behind the buff and nerf choices. Phroxzon revealed that Orianna has been pulled from the patch due to concerns about nerfing an already weak champion for regular Ranked play. Meanwhile, Phroxzon explained that Riot is making Top Role Quest changes due to the disparity of the role region by region. In Eastern regions, even at higher skill brackets, the top position contests for the third most popular position. However, in many Western regions, it is often close to the bottom in popularity at higher skill brackets. Phroxzon claims it is pretty clear that players in those regions either think the role is not fun to play, not powerful, or both. As a result, Riot is buffing top lane Teleport so high-skill players can make big plays on the map and strengthen the side lane raid boss split push identity that many top laners possess.

The upcoming update features adjustments to numerous champions. Aatrox receives changes to his W cooldown and E heal health ratio. Aphelios sees updates to Calibrum damage, Severum healing, Gravitum slow decay floor, Infernum Duskwave cooldown, and Crescendum chakram damage. Aurora gets adjustments to her R rift duration and E base damage. Elise receives changes to her W bonus AS and passive magic damage on-hit. Fiora gets base HP per level, R heal range, and R heal per tick adjustments. Kha'Zix sees passive damage, W evolve slow duration, and E evolve range bonus updates. Lillia receives base armor and R sleep duration buffs. Master Yi gets a flat Q cooldown refund on hit instead of being reduced by ability haste. Volibear receives passive stack AP ratio and lightning on-hit damage adjustments. Nasus sees changes to Q bonus damage. Nocturne receives R cooldown increases. Poppy gets a Q monster percent HP cap adjustment. Rumble sees passive overheat attack speed and monster damage cap updates. Ryze gets changes to E mana cost, Q flux bonus damage, and armor growth. Vi receives base ad and passive shield adjustments. Lucian sees passive vigilance on-hit and Q base damage changes aimed at supporting a Lucian mid meta.

System changes also accompany the champion adjustments. The Top Role Quest Teleport cooldown is adjusted to 390 seconds, and the upgraded Teleport cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds. Additionally, World Atlas and Runic Compass items receive HP and HP regen changes.