Draft Coach Patch 26.2 Notes
Champions Summary
Items Summary
Patch Overview
Patch Highlights
- Patch 26.2 follows up on the 26.1 season start by trimming early winners and restoring power to champions that fell behind.
- Aegis Frame skins, Battle Academia releases, Revenant Reign Viego, ARURF, Demacia Cup Clash, and several alternate-mode updates arrive with the patch.
Revenant Reign Viego
- Revenant Reign Viego enters the Sanctum for the 26.2 through 26.5 window.
- The release is paired with the animated Crowned as King emote in the Mythic Shop for the same duration.
Thoughts on How 26.1 Landed
- Riot is still gathering data on faelights, vision uptime, snowballing, game length, role balance, and tower durability before making larger system calls.
- Support quest usability gets immediate quality-of-life work, including double-binding the role quest slot and exposing its keybind in the client.
Champions
- Fourteen champions are adjusted, with jungle outliers taking the heaviest hit after the season start.
- Aatrox, Ashe, Master Yi, Taliyah, Varus, and Viego receive help while Gwen, Jayce, Lillia, Malphite, Nunu, Sivir, Smolder, and Zed are pulled back.
Items
- New-item follow-up focuses on three early balance misses from 26.1.
- Bandlepipes becomes more expensive, while Fiendhunter Bolts and Hexoptics C44 gain stronger marksman profiles.
ARAM
- ARAM and ARAM: Mayhem receive bug fixes around Hexgates, portals, augment interactions, snowball effects, and several champion/item edge cases.
- The fixes target mode-specific reliability rather than broad balance changes.
Arena
- Arena's Combo Breaker threshold is lowered so long crowd-control chains release victims sooner, with a new true-damage consequence when it triggers.
- Zaahen, Bel'Veth, Zyra, Master Yi, Taric, Gangplank, Lulu, several augments, and two items receive mode-specific tuning.
ARURF
- ARURF returns for players who want rapid-fire cooldowns and chaotic level-one fights.
- The mode comes back alongside the broader 26.2 event and alternate-mode updates.
Solo/Duo Ranked - Apex Duo Rule Improvements
- Apex duo restrictions tighten after 26.1's looser rules created concerns about premade rank gaps.
- Master, Grandmaster, Challenger, D1, and D2 matchmaking limits are clarified, with KR and CN remaining on their stricter regional rules.
Swiftplay
- Swiftplay surrender timing drops to match the shorter game lengths seen after the new-season changes.
- The surrender time moves from 15 minutes to 12 minutes.
Clash - Summoner's Rift Demacia Cup
- The Demacia Cup becomes the first Summoner's Rift Clash event of the year.
- Registration opens January 19 at 11:00 AM local time, with tournament days on January 24 and 25.
WASD
- WASD movement tuning shifts toward helping melee champions while lightly reducing most non-marksman ranged cases.
- Marksman tuning is mostly unchanged, with Ezreal, Kai'Sa, and Kindred noted as slight reductions.
Champions
Season-start follow-up trims the strongest jungle and scaling winners while giving several struggling picks clearer paths back into play.
Aatrox
Aatrox gets more scaling threat through his passive and a stronger monster-damage lever for jungle clears.
Passive - Deathbringer Stance
- Bonus Magic Damage based on Target Max Health: 4-8% (based on level) ⇒ 4-10% (based on level)
Q - The Darkin Blade
- Bonus Damage to Monsters: 15 ⇒ 25
Ashe
Ashe receives a simple late-game damage lift through higher attack damage growth.
Base Stats
- Attack Damage Growth: 3 ⇒ 3.5
Gwen
Gwen jungle loses a large chunk of passive monster damage to slow down her overperforming clear.
Passive - A Thousand Cuts
- Monster Damage Cap: 5 (+10% AP) ⇒ 3 (+5% AP)
Jayce
Jayce jungle keeps the role option, but his Q monster burst is cut sharply to reduce clear dominance.
Q - To the Skies / Shock Blast
- Bonus Damage to Monsters: 50 ⇒ 25
Lillia
Lillia loses jungle sustain and Q AP scaling, lowering both her clear comfort and late skirmish damage.
Passive - Dream-Laden Bough
- Heal Against Large Monsters: 39 (+15% AP) ⇒ 39 (+9% AP)
Q - Blooming Blows
- AP Ratio: 35% AP ⇒ 30% AP
Malphite
Malphite is pulled down across jungle clear, trading damage, mana pressure, and ultimate uptime.
W - Thunderclap
- Monster Damage: 2x ⇒ 1.8x
E - Ground Slam
- Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+ 60% AP) (+ 40% armor) ⇒ 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+ 60% AP) (+ 40% armor)
- Mana Cost: 50 ⇒ 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
R - Unstoppable Force
- Cooldown: 130 / 105 / 80 ⇒ 130 / 115 / 100
Master Yi
Master Yi gets durability scaling and a stronger Q on-hit modifier to help him keep pace in the jungle.
Base Stats
- Armor Growth: 4.2 ⇒ 4.5
Q - Alpha Strike
- On-Hit Damage Mod: 65% ⇒ 75%
Nunu & Willump
Nunu's PvE and fight power are reduced through a longer Q cooldown and lower W/E damage.
Q - Consume
- Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 ⇒ 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 seconds
W - Biggest Snowball Ever!
- Maximum Damage: 180 / 225 / 270 / 315 / 360 (+ 150% AP) ⇒ 150 / 195 / 240 / 285 / 330 (+ 150% AP)
E - Snowball Barrage
- Damage per Hit: 16 / 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 (+ 15% AP) ⇒ 14 / 21 / 28 / 35 / 42
Sivir
Sivir's scaling is trimmed through lower attack speed and armor growth after becoming too reliable in bot lane.
Base Stats
- Attack Speed Growth: 2% ⇒ 1.6%
- Armor Growth: 4.45 ⇒ 4.0
Smolder
Smolder loses armor growth, making his late-game payoff easier to punish through physical damage.
Base Stats
- Armor Growth: 4.7 ⇒ 4.0
Taliyah
Taliyah jungle gets stronger mid-game clear tools through higher Q monster damage and a larger E monster modifier.
Q - Threaded Volley
- Bonus Damage to Monsters: 20 ⇒ 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (Note: Empowered Boulder damage is still increased by 80% to primary target.)
E - Unraveled Earth
- Monster Damage Modifier: 190% ⇒ 225%
Varus
Varus gains damage on both charged Q and W on-hit, helping his caster and on-hit builds at once.
Q - Piercing Arrow
- Maximum Charge Base Damage: 80 / 150 / 220 / 290 / 360 ⇒ 80 / 160 / 240 / 320 / 400
W - Blighted Quiver
- On-Hit Base Damage: 6 / 14 / 22 / 30 / 38 ⇒ 8 / 17 / 26 / 35 / 44
Viego
Viego regains fighter power through better attack speed growth and improved crit modifiers on Q.
Base Stats
- Attack Speed Growth: 2.25% ⇒ 2.75%
Q - Blade of the Ruined King
- Percent HP On-Hit Bonus Crit Damage Mod: 50% ⇒ 70%
- Active Bonus Crit Damage Mod: 50% ⇒ 60%
Zed
Zed jungle is targeted again, with passive monster damage reduced to slow his clear and lower jungle pressure.
Passive - Contempt for the Weak
- Monster Damage: 1.8x ⇒ 1.2x
Items
The first major 26.1 item follow-up makes Bandlepipes less slot-efficient and improves two underpicked marksman options.
Bandlepipes
Bandlepipes keeps its effect package, but the higher total and combine costs make the support spike arrive later.
- Price: 2000 ⇒ 2300 gold
- Combine Cost: 500 ⇒ 800 gold
Fiendhunter Bolts
Fiendhunter Bolts gains attack speed and stronger crit payoff, giving Zeal users a more competitive option.
- Attack Speed: 40% ⇒ 45%
- Damage Multiplier for Guaranteed Critical Strikes: 75% ⇒ 80%
- Bonus True Damage for Critical Strikes: 10% ⇒ 15%
Hexoptics C44
Hexoptics C44 gets more attack damage and an easier range condition so more marksmen can access its damage amp.
- Attack Damage: 50 ⇒ 55
- Distance Required for Max Damage Amp: 700 ⇒ 600