Is the Worlds 2026 Patch a "T1 Patch"?

On October 15, the biggest competition in all of esports will get underway: the League of Legends World Championship. Held in the United States, the tournament will see 19 teams battle for the ultimate title and the chance to succeed three-time defending world champions T1.

With the competition approaching, Riot Phroxzon has released on Tuesday the first info about the much-anticipated patch 26.20 on which Worlds 2026 will be played. In recent years, a theory has continued to gain traction among fans: that the Worlds patch is somehow tailored every year to favor the most successful organization in League of Legends history, T1. But how much truth is there to this theory? Is Patch 26.20 really advantageous for T1?

Let’s first take a closer look at Patch 26.20. In his post, Phroxzon explained that, in their view, there wasn’t much left to change regarding the Worlds meta, with only a few adjustments needed without negatively impacting Solo Queue. As a result, some of the changes aren’t really relevant to pro play, such as Fiddlesticks receiving a buff, unless we get a major surprise with Fearless Draft.

As we can see, the other buffs have little to do with T1’s players’ champion pools. Diana is a good pocket pick for Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun, but his last competitive game on the champion dates back to 2024, while the champion’s strong period in 2021 and 2022 now appears to be behind us. As for Kindred’s buff, if anyone stands to benefit from it, it would be Bilibili Gaming jungler Peng “Xun” Li-Xun rather than Oner, who has a 16% win rate on The Eternal Hunters.

Oner will feel the impact of Patch 26.19 even more, as it brought nerfs to Vi, Nocturne, and Poppy, three champions he is well known for, particularly The Eternal Nightmare, which has his highest win rate among the champions he has played most throughout his career. The patch also saw Ryze nerfed.

In the solo lanes, Choi “Doran” Hyeon-jun doesn’t exactly come out as a winner from this patch either. The buffs to Kennen and Mordekaiser could bring AP champions back into the toplane meta, but neither change gives Doran a significant advantage. On the other hand, the nerfs to K’Sante and Ambessa could have an impact, but these are champions that every modern toplaner plays.

As for Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, there isn’t much new to mention. The GOAT has never been a major Swain player, while the Cassiopeia nerf affects him just as much, if not less, than other midlaners better known for playing the champion. Finally, we’ll have to wait and see what the Sylas adjustment actually entails, but depending on what Riot changes, it’s clear that players such as Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo could benefit more from it.

The botlane is where T1 fans can find some hope, although that has been the case for most of the year, with the organization relying heavily on its bottom lane. On this patch, Lucian’s buff is a significant one for Kim “Peyz” Su-hwan, the third-most-played champion of his career, with an impressive 64% win rate.

The buffs to Vayne and Smolder are much less relevant to him, as he has never played Vayne and has only one game on the Dragon. The buff that will benefit Peyz the most, however, came on the previous patch with Aphelios, his most-played champion of all time.

Finally, Ryu “Keria” Min-seok receives two fairly direct buffs. The first is to Neeko, a relatively common pick among Tier 1 supports, but one on which he particularly excels and with which he has often delivered some of the most memorable plays in the game. The other buff is to Tahm Kench, the seventh-most-played champion of his career, on which he boasts a win rate above 70%.

If we take a look at the Worlds patches from the tournaments T1 has won, we can see that the “T1 patch” theory doesn’t hold up there either. In 2025, Patch 25.20 featured an adjustment to Azir, Faker’s signature champion, which Riot said was intended to reduce his strength in pro play by nerfing his early game while also strengthening his late game to “reward risk-taking.” The patch also included a nerf to Orianna, a champion Faker smurfed on throughout that same Worlds.

Even worse, in 2024, The Emperor of the Sands was nerfed in Patch 14.18, alongside Varus, a champion on which Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong showed time and again that he was among the best AD carries in the world.

Then, in 2023, Patch 13.19 once again saw Azir receive a nerf, this time specifically targeting his Q. A nerf doesn’t necessarily mean that a champion is unplayable, and previous buffs can explain some of these changes. However, calling these patches “T1 patches” is clearly more folklore than fact.