LoL Patch 26.5 Preview: Orianna’s Early Game Nerfed, Varus’ Q Damage Buff Partially Reverted

Still early in the 2026 cycle, Riot Games uses Patch 26.5 to fine-tune balance across key champions and items—buffing bruisers like Volibear and Lee Sin, toning down pro-play staples such as Orianna and Neeko, and reining in Varus’s overperforming lethality build.

Varus’s overperforming lethality build has been balanced. Credit: Riot Games

Patch 26.5 is expected to drop on Wednesday, March 4, 2026

The League of Legends 26.5 Patch Notes are here. Following the official schedule, Patch 26.5 is expected to drop on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, and will be the First Stand patch. This is the second real update of the new season, bringing lots of adjustments from Riot Games for the first 2026 games to be more balanced.

Relatively light, Patch 26.5 focuses on recalibrating some specific champions. Lillia and Volibear receive targeted buffs aimed at balancing their dominant AP builds and restoring their pre-nerf strength, while Garen, Lee Sin, Mel, and Nocturne also get light tuning to improve viability. On the other hand, Kha’Zix, Orianna, Neeko, Taliyah, and Azir see nerfs. Orianna’s early laning safety and Neeko’s pro-level vision strength being prime targets.

Varus undergoes a partial revert to his overtuned Q buff, bringing lethality builds back in line for pro play. Item-wise, Hubris and Locket gain efficiency tweaks as the ranked EUW update faces a short deployment delay to ensure stability.

The Full Patch 26.5 Preview. Credit: @RiotPhreak on X.

Buffs:

Champion: Garen, Lee Sin, Lillia, Mel, Nocturne, Volibear

System: Hubris, Locket

Nerfs:

Champion: Kha Zix, Neeko, Orianna, Taliyah, Azir

Adjustments:

Champion: Varus

Read more about League of Legends changes on the X account of Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison.

“Ranked EUW Test delayed for another day, we're playing it safe to land the changes without breaking anything.

Volibear

Voli changes are targeted at balancing out his AD builds vs his currently strong AP builds; needs a bit more time to land

Lillia

We're looking to pull back on some of the previous changes and bring Lillia's power level most of the way back to where she was before

Orianna

Changes are targeted at reducing the power level of her early laning phase, especially when sitting on Rank 1 Q for several levels

Neeko

Neeko has been strong in Pro Play for a while while not being overly strong in regular play
We're taking some power out of her vision outputs which are better used in Pro Play without overly impacting her regular play

Varus

Varus was overbuffed a while ago and so we're practically reverting the buff to his Q damage
Lethality Varus has been the strongest ADC in Pro and so we're tapping him down to not overrun the Pro meta”