League of Legends patch 26.22 brings Mel midscope, Locke and Yasuo nerfs, and three Classic champions
LoL patch 26.22 nerfs Locke, Yasuo and Thresh, reworks Mel's W, adds Volibear, Swain and Elise to Classic, and readies TFT's move to its own client.
League of Legends patch 26.22 trims some of the most-banned champions on Summoner’s Rift, gives Mel a midscope update and brings three older champions into Classic. It’s also a bigger download than usual, because Teamfight Tactics moves to its own client.
TFT moves out
TFT gets its own standalone client from 4 November 2026. Riot says swapping between League and TFT will be as easy as clicking a button, and after this patch you’ll be able to opt out of TFT downloads in League patches.
Existing TFT cosmetics stay usable in League for now. The first TFT-only Little Legends arrive on 1 December, and full separation of TFT cosmetics, including emotes and icons, lands on 15 December.
Summoner’s Rift
Nerfs
- Locke: weaker Q stack damage and a shorter W duration (6s down to 5s), as Riot says he’s still too strong early.
- Yasuo: Q’s AD ratio drops from 105% to 100%, matching the earlier Yone nerf.
- Thresh: lower base attack damage and less damage on his ultimate (The Box).
- Doran’s Bow: attack damage goes from 8 to 7.
Buffs
- Corki and Rumble get stronger ultimates, after being tuned for pro play.
- Aurelion Sol’s Singularity (E), Maokai’s Q, Naafiri, Shen, Smolder, Viktor, Kayle and Zaahen all get tweaks.
- Overlord’s Bloodmail gains attack damage (30 to 40), with a slightly smaller Retribution bonus.
Mel has power shifted from early game to scaling. Her W (Rebuttal) is reworked into an expanding nova that destroys enemy projectiles and shields, grants move speed and retaliates against destroyed missiles. Her Q and R get cooldown changes so she can stack her passive higher.
ARAM: Mayhem
Riot is lowering the power of augments such as Take ’Em Down Down Down and Weapon of Destiny, as tanks have been struggling. Survivability augments like Soul Eater and Stay Resolute are getting buffs.
- Butcher’s Bridge and Koeshin’s Crossing return to the rotation.
- The last page of the Journey to Stardom is now open, and two new augments join.
- Nine bug fixes are included, among them a Jinx movement bug and Pentakill’s missing Udyr upgrade.
Classic
Volibear (winner of Council Vote #2), Swain and Elise arrive as older versions of the champions. The balance changes are bigger than usual:
- Janna’s global passive move speed drops from 3% to 2%.
- Amumu is brought down, with a longer ultimate cooldown and less Q damage.
- Rammus loses base armour and attack damage per level.
- Evelynn, Ezreal, Gangplank, Nami and Olaf get buffs, and Fiddlesticks is trimmed.
- Aatrox’s passive cooldown now properly scales with level.
- Classic Pass token grants rise by 50% for the rest of Classic’s run, after a configuration mistake slowed progress.
Skins
K/DA Firestarter Ahri, Evelynn and Kai’Sa, K/DA Firestarter Ignition Akali, K/DA Hitmaker Evelynn and Prestige Classic Baron Kog’Maw arrive with this patch.
