Deployed on live servers starting June 24, the preview for Patch 26.13 has been revealed by Riot Games. This patch is particularly significant, as it will be the one used by teams qualified for the Mid-Season Invitational, who will compete in Korea beginning with the play-ins on June 28. The only champion released by Riot Games in 2026 so far, Locke, will also make its debut in 26.13.
In a patch that is expected to play a major role ahead of the second international tournament of the season, several AD Carries that have fallen slightly out of favor since the start of the year could return to prominence. This is notably the case for Aphelios, Draven, and Kai’Sa, each receiving buffs, while Senna, who had been gaining traction in both professional play and solo queue, will be nerfed.
Widely present in both competitive and solo queue environments recently, Bard is also set to be nerfed in this patch, alongside several toplane champions, including Sion, K’Sante, and Rumble. A priority pick on the midlane for some time now, particularly in Korea, Cassiopeia will also receive similar treatment. In contrast, Leblanc and Olaf are expected to see their impact potentially increase further in the upcoming meta.
The Full Patch 26.13 Preview. Credit: @RiotPhreak on X.
Buffs
Champions: Aphelios, Draven, Kai’sa, Leblanc, Olaf, Poppy, Qiyana, Vex, Zaahen
Systems: Imperial Mandate
Nerfs
Champions: Bard, Brand, Cassiopeia, K’Sante, Rek’sai, Rumble, Senna, Sion
Systems: Doran’s Helm
Read more about
League of Legends changes on the X account of
Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison.
Senna
- Senna is the big winner of the Season 2 changes, synergizing well with Doran's Helm (gets a lot of effective health from her Q heal synergizing with the resists) as well as getting a lot of stats from Jack of All Trades
- She also synergizes well with Stattik Shiv on-hit, and we've made the decision to not support this interaction (Q CD reduction on-hit), even though it is pretty cool
- Given all this, we think she does a bit too much damage given how durable she is
Brand
- Brand changes are primarily targeted at his Bot carry tuning, while also trying to affect his support and mid less
- That said, Brand support is also often a frustrating experience for bot laners and so we think he should also sit a little lower sustainably
- Given that Brand Support synergizes better with mana regen, we're compensating through this avenue but adding some amount of mana pressure for the roles that need to use E more often
Cassiopeia
- For Cassio, we want to retain her identity of having strong all-in pressure early as that adds texture to the roster and she's one of the unique mages that can do this
- We're targeting her durability in the mid-game where she is more vulnerable, espeically in skirmishes or when she's playing on the sidelane
- This can help to keep her edges, but present more areas of vulnerability for opponents
Bard
- Bard is the top of the meta for both Pro and in many skill brackets in Solo Q
- We're adjusting how much damage his builds do, especially given his tank roaming builds tend to do a lot more damage than expected
Leblanc
- Helping Leblanc scale a little better into the Mid and Late game with this set of changes
- Given that these buffs help scaling, should also disproportionately help Solo Q
Olaf
- We're not looking to buff Olaf jungle a huge amount, given that he's already flex viable in top lane, but given that Jungle was his initial primary role, we want to make it more viable than it currently is
- A pretty simple targeted buff at his Q that should help how fast he clears, especially into the later portions of the game
Doran's Helm
- Doran's Helm has started to be picked up on a few ADC's, especially ones that have particularly strong synergies with the resists (Senna through healing and the effective health it provides synerging well with the resists) and Jhin (as he has a lot of his early damage in base damage)
- We're looking to keep these incentives intact directionally, but try to make the item a little more balanced for these users, while trying to grow the user pool a bit as a result
Imperial Mandate
- For systems changes, we have an Imperial Mandate buff. So far it has added a few users into the pool, however a bunch of these are midlaners like Galio, fringe TF, Liss, etc.
- This set of changes is meant to position it to be more fantasy forward for Support champions while also giving it a bit of a power up. It's not really the "best item" on any support at current tuning and for an item with as strong kit synergies as this it probably should be if it's appropriately powerful
