February 3, 2026

Patch 26.3 Notes

Champions Summary

Nunu and Willump BUFF

Items Summary

Actualizer BUFF

Dusk and Dawn NERF

Endless Hunger ADJUSTED

Protoplasm Harness ADJUSTED

Armored Advance ADJUSTED

Chainlaced Crushers ADJUSTED

Runes Summary

Cash Back NERF

Phase Rush NERF

Triple Tonic NERF

Patch Overview

Mid-Patch Updates

The February 5 hotfixes restored power to Mel and jungle Zed after early 26.3 tuning moved too far.
ARAM Mayhem also received fast follow-up balance, set reward trims, and bugfixes for several launch issues.

Patch Highlights

Patch 26.3 is the first broad Season 2026 follow-up, focusing on AD junglers, vision pressure, item tuning, rune follow-ups, and ranked updates.
Firecracker skins arrive February 4, 2026 alongside the first large ARAM Mayhem content update.

ARAM Mayhem

ARAM Mayhem gets 45 new augments, themed augment sets, and a 32-level progression track with rewards and unlockable augments.
The mode also receives early balance tuning, quality-of-life support for active summoner augments, and several Mayhem-specific bugfixes.

Champion Bounties

Champion kill gold now devalues less quickly after repeated deaths, making kills feel less empty than they did in 26.1.
Farming restores bounty value more slowly, landing the system between the 25.24 and 26.1 tuning points.

Turret Plates

Bulwark resist scaling is reworked so grouped pushes can convert won fights more reliably.
Solo split-push pressure gets more resistance, and turret hit VFX are reduced for readability.

Faelights & Vision

River pixel brush faelights reveal less of nearby jungle entrances, reducing the strongest early vision pockets.
Yellow trinket cooldown is higher at early levels, base-gate Scryer's Blooms are removed, and faelight disguise visuals are cleaned up for Fiddlesticks and Neeko.

Support Control Wards

Support players now start Summoner's Rift games with control wards in the role quest slot.
Together with double-bind support, the change makes early control ward access smoother without changing ward stats.

Champions

AD junglers and underperforming fighters receive much of the help, including Bel'Veth, Hecarim, Kayn, Naafiri, Vi, Xin Zhao, and Zaahen.
Early-season outliers such as Braum, Diana, Ekko, Nilah, Riven, Ryze, Varus, Volibear, and jungle Zed are pulled back, while Mel gets a larger counterplay rework.

Items

Actualizer becomes cheaper, Dusk and Dawn loses burst, and Endless Hunger gets a smoother recipe with more Attack Damage.
Protoplasm Harness and upgraded defensive boots are shifted away from extreme outlier cases toward more consistent audiences.

Runes

Cash Back and Triple Tonic are trimmed after late-2025 buffs made them too attractive.
Phase Rush is nerfed only for ranged users, preserving its melee skirmish identity.

Arena

Arena gets a focused Hellfire Hatchet adjustment before the larger 26.4 balance pass.
The char effect is reshaped around health-difference value, cooldowns become per-target, and several Arena bugs are fixed.

SR Ranked System Updates

Apex negative LP issues are being narrowed, Aegis of Valor eligibility moves from C to B, and top Challenger duo strength is targeted.
The Climb Indicator is enabled to identify players whose visible rank is still catching up to their MMR.

Champions

A broad Season 2026 balance pass buffs struggling AD junglers and fighters, trims early-season outliers, and reworks Mel around clearer counterplay.

BUFF

Ahri

Ahri gets a shorter Fox-Fire cooldown, giving burst builds more frequent skirmish access.

W - Fox-Fire

Cooldown: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 ⇒ 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5

BUFF

Bel'Veth

Bel'Veth gains health scaling and stronger late-rank true damage, aimed at restoring AD jungle power without forcing tankier builds.

Base Stats

Health Growth: 99 ⇒ 105

R - Endless Banquet

True Damage on attack per stack: 6 / 8 / 10 (+ 12% Bonus AD) ⇒ 6 / 10 / 14 (+ 12% Bonus AD)

NERF

Braum

Braum loses base durability and Q damage, trimming both his lane staying power and fight setup.

Base Stats

Health: 630 ⇒ 610

Q - Winter's Bite

Damage: 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+ 2.5% HP) ⇒ 75 / 120 / 165 / 210 / 255 (+ 2.5% HP)

BUFF

Briar

Briar gets better scaling defenses and lower health costs across her kit, helping both jungle durability and top-lane trades.

Base Stats

Health Growth: 95 ⇒ 100
Armor Growth: 4.2 ⇒ 4.5

Q - Head Rush

Health Cost: 6% current health ⇒ 5% current health

W - Blood Frenzy

Health Cost: 6% current health ⇒ 5% current health

E - Chilling Scream

Health Cost: 6% current health ⇒ 5% current health

R - Certain Death

Health Cost: 6% current health ⇒ 5% current health

NERF

Diana

Diana's monster damage is cut to slow down her new-season jungle strength.

Passive - Moonsilver Blade

Monster Damage: 280% ⇒ 230%

BUFF

Draven

Draven regains some scaling AD after his early-season item and preseason tuning left him below target.

Base Stats

AD Growth: 3 ⇒ 3.4

NERF

Ekko

Ekko loses passive AP ratio and monster damage, reducing his burst snowball and jungle clear speed.

Passive - Z-Drive Resonance

AP Ratio: 90% ⇒ 80%
Monster Damage: 300% ⇒ 270%

BUFF

Ezreal

Ezreal gets more AD scaling and stronger Arcane Shift damage, helping him recover after Essence Reaver pressure.

Base Stats

AD Growth: 3.25 ⇒ 3.5

E - Arcane Shift

Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+ 50% Bonus AD) (+ 75% AP) ⇒ 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+ 60% Bonus AD) (+ 75% AP)

BUFF

Hecarim

Hecarim's Q hits harder through the mid game, with Riot framing the stack-scaling tradeoff as a buff until very high bonus AD.

Q - Rampage

Damage per hit: 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+ 90% Bonus AD) ⇒ 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 90% Bonus AD)
Damage amp per Rampage stack: 3% (+ 4% per 100 Bonus AD) ⇒ 3% (+ 3% per 100 Bonus AD)

BUFF

Heimerdinger

Heimerdinger gains health scaling and more first-hit rocket damage, rewarding proactive poke without leaning harder on turrets.

Base Stats

Health Growth: 101 ⇒ 105

W - Hextech Micro-Rockets

Initial hit damage: 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+ 55% AP) ⇒ 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+ 55% AP)
Follow-up damage: unchanged

ADJUSTED

Jayce

Jayce shifts power from Shock Blast poke and jungle speed into melee damage and stronger form-swap shred.

Q - To the Skies!

Damage: 60 / 105 / 150 / 295 / 240 / 285 (+135% Bonus AD)⇒ 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 / 310 (+ 135% Bonus AD)
Monster bonus damage: 25 ⇒ 10

Q - Shock Blast

Damage: 80 / 126 / 172 / 218 / 264 / 310 (+ 140% Bonus AD) ⇒ 80 / 121 / 162 / 203 / 244 / 285 (+ 130% Bonus AD)
Monster bonus damage: 25 ⇒ 10

R - Cannon Stance: Mercury Cannon

Armor/Magic Resistance Shred: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25% ⇒ 20 / 25 / 30 / 35%

BUFF

Kayn

Kayn gets higher Q base damage, specifically helping Shadow Assassin recover in the new season.

Q - Reaping Slash

Damage: 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 (+ 85% Bonus AD) ⇒ 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 / 195 (+ 85% Bonus AD)

BUFF

Maokai

Maokai's Bramble Smash deals more flat damage, giving top and jungle builds more early relevance.

Q - Bramble Smash

Flat Damage: 65 / 110 / 155 / 200 / 245 ⇒ 75 / 120 / 165 / 210 / 255

ADJUSTED

Mel

Mel receives a counterplay-focused rework: less reflect frustration and passive damage, clearer Q and E play patterns, and compensation through shields, spell damage, and utility.

Base Stats

Attack Speed Ratio: 0.4 ⇒ 0.625

Passive - Searing Brilliance

Projectile Damage: 8-50 (based on level) (+ 5% AP) ⇒ 8-25 (based on level) (+ 3% AP)
Total Projectile Damage: 24-150 (based on level) (+ 15% AP) ⇒ 24-75 (based on level) (+ 9% AP)
Reduced the visual clutter by no longer displaying the passive mark on non-champions for enemies.
Fixed certain champion spawned units dying to Overwhelm from an unempowered basic attack.

Q - Radiant Volley

Now deals additional damage the first time an explosion hits with reduced effectiveness from subsequent hits.
Initial Hit: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 60% AP)
Subsequent Hits: 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 (+ 5% AP)
Total Damage: 78 / 109 / 144 / 185 / 230 (+51-85% AP) ⇒ 85 / 126 / 169 / 214 / 261 (+ 85-105% AP)
Mana Cost: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 ⇒ 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Minion Damage: 75% ⇒ 100%
Cast Time: 0.25s ⇒ 0.35s
Projectile Speed: 4500 ⇒ 3800
Explosion Radius: 230 ⇒ 200
Area Spread: 30 ⇒ 25
Channel Time: 0.75s ⇒ 0.5s
Damage type is now DoT AoE (reduced effectiveness in resetting Arcane Comet).
Stronger area telegraph visual.

W - Rebuttal

No longer provides Damage Immunity.
Shield: 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+ 60% AP)
Physical damage reflected is reduced by 30% before magic damage conversion.
Now destroys projectiles that target each unit in an area instead of reflecting them when those projectiles aren't targeting Mel. (ex. Ryze E, Brand E, Katarina R, Samira R, Yunara Q)
Decaying Move Speed: 30% over 0.75s⇒ 40% over 1.5s

E - Solar Snare

Root Missile Radius: 80 ⇒ 70
End of Travel Linger Duration: 0.5s ⇒ 0.25s
DoT Radius: 260 ⇒ 230
Cast Range: 1050 ⇒ 1000
Projectile Speed: 1000 ⇒ 1100
Cooldown: 12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10 ⇒ 11 / 10.5 / 10 / 9.5 / 9
Root Duration: 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4 / 1.5 ⇒ 1.5
Damage: 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 ⇒ 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240
Damage per Second: 16 / 26 / 36 / 46 / 56 ⇒ 16 / 28 / 40 / 52 / 64
No longer visually pops at the end when descending terrain.

R - Golden Eclipse

Damage per Stack: 4 / 7 / 10 (+ 3.5% AP) ⇒ 4 / 7 / 10 (+ 4% AP)

BUFF

Naafiri

Naafiri's packmates deal more monster damage, helping her jungle clear while leaving mid lane largely untouched.

Passive - We Are More

Packmate Monster Damage: 1.35x ⇒ 1.55x

NERF

Nilah

Nilah loses base AD and armor growth after new-season tuning left her too strong.

Base Stats

Attack Damage: 60 ⇒ 58
Armor Growth: 4.5 ⇒ 4.2

BUFF

Nunu and Willump

Nunu and Willump get part of their previous damage nerf walked back on snowball and barrage spells.

W - Biggest Snowball Ever!

Maximum Damage: 150 / 195 / 240 / 285 / 330 ⇒ 180 / 225 / 270 / 315 / 360

E - Snowball Barrage

Base Damage per hit: 14 / 21 / 28 / 35 / 42 ⇒ 15 / 22.5 / 30 / 37.5 / 45

NERF

Riven

Riven loses bonus AD scaling on passive and Q to reduce mid- and late-game burst after Axiom Arc builds took off.

Passive - Runic Blade

Total AD Ratio: 30-50% (based on level) ⇒ 30-45% (based on level)

Q - Broken Wings

Damage: 40 / 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 (+ 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85% Bonus AD) ⇒ 40 / 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 (+ 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80% Bonus AD)

NERF

Ryze

Ryze's Rune Prison scaling is reduced to lower late-game damage alongside the ranged Phase Rush nerf.

W - Rune Prison

Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+70% AP) (+ 4% Bonus Mana) ⇒ 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 60% AP) (+ 3% Bonus Mana)

BUFF

Trundle

Trundle gains armor and AD growth, strengthening his sustained front-line and tank-busting profile.

Base Stats

Armor Growth: 3.9 ⇒ 4.5
Attack Damage Growth: 4 ⇒ 4.5

BUFF

Tryndamere

Tryndamere gains more AD growth, continuing the push toward stronger sustained damage.

Base Stats

Attack Damage Growth: 4 ⇒ 4.5

NERF

Varus

Varus loses armor growth and AP W scaling to pull back his overtuned top-lane performance.

Base Stats

Armor Growth: 4.6 ⇒ 4

W - Blighted Quiver

On-hit damage: 8 / 17 / 26 / 35 / 44 (+ 35% AP) ⇒ 8 / 17 / 26 / 35 / 44 (+ 25% AP)
Max health damage: 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5% (+1.5% per 100 AP) ⇒ 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5% (+ 1.3% per 100 AP)

BUFF

Vi

Vi gets more health and AD growth, boosting solo queue brawling without directly amplifying coordinated pick tools.

Base Stats

Health Growth: 99 ⇒ 105
Attack Damage Growth: 3 ⇒ 3.5

NERF

Volibear

Volibear loses Q max burst and jungle clear speed, with a bonus AD ratio bump as partial compensation for fighter builds.

Q - Thundering Smash

Bonus Physical Damage: 10 / 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 (+ 120% Bonus AD) ⇒ 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 (+ 140% Bonus AD)

E - Sky Splitter

Cooldown: 14 ⇒ 16
Non-champion damage cap: 190 / 305 / 420 / 535 / 650 (+ 70% AP) ⇒ 150 / 265 / 380 / 495 / 610 (+ 70% AP)

BUFF

Xin Zhao

Xin Zhao gains stronger third-hit healing and much more late-rank E attack speed for extended fights.

Passive - Determination

Heal every third hit: 3 / 3.5 / 4% max HP (Level 1/6/11) ⇒ 3/4/5% max HP

E - Audacious Charge

Bonus Attack Speed: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60% ⇒ 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80%

BUFF

Yone

Yone's Q gets more total AD scaling, adding power to a more dodgeable part of his damage pattern.

Q - Mortal Steel

Damage: 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 (+ 105% Total AD) ⇒ 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 (+ 110% Total AD)

BUFF

Zaahen

Zaahen receives jungle-specific monster damage buffs to support his intended secondary role.

Q - The Darkin Glaive

Monster Modifier: 1.75x ⇒ 2x

E - Aureate Rush

Bonus Monster Damage: 50 ⇒ 75

NERF

Zed

Zed's monster damage is sharply reduced to keep mid lane intact while cutting back jungle dominance.

Passive - Contempt for the Weak

Damage to monsters: 1.2x ⇒ 0.5x
Maximum damage to epic monsters: 300 ⇒ 100

Items

New-season items get clearer audiences: Actualizer and Endless Hunger are helped, AP spellblade burst is trimmed, and defensive shield items are normalized.

BUFF

Actualizer

Actualizer becomes 300 gold cheaper, making the AP mana option easier to complete and less punishing to build.

Total Gold Cost: 3100 Gold ⇒ 2800 Gold
Combine Cost: 1050 Gold ⇒ 750 Gold

NERF

Dusk and Dawn

Dusk and Dawn loses Spellblade burst while gaining health, pushing it away from Lich Bane-style damage and toward fighter use.

Spellblade Damage: 100% Base AD + 10% AP ⇒ 75% Base AD +10% AP
Health: 300 ⇒ 350

ADJUSTED

Endless Hunger

Endless Hunger trades a slightly higher total cost for a smoother build path and more Attack Damage.

Recipe: Caulfield's Warhammer + Pickaxe + 1075 Gold ⇒ Caulfield's Warhammer + Pickaxe + Longsword + 825 Gold
Total Gold Cost: 3000 ⇒ 3100
Attack Damage: 60 ⇒ 65

ADJUSTED

Protoplasm Harness

Protoplasm Harness shifts Lifeline power toward level-based health and Ability Haste while reducing extreme resistance-scaling heals.

Lifeline max health gain: 200 ⇒ 200-300 (based on level)
Lifeline healing: 200-400 (based on level) (+ 250% Armor) (+ 250% Magic Resistance) ⇒ 200-400 (based on level) (+ 175% Armor) (+ 175% Magic Resistance)
Ability Haste: 15 ⇒ 20

ADJUSTED

Armored Advance

Armored Advance's shield moves from max-health value to bonus-health scaling, weakening squishy anti-burst use while preserving durability buyers.

Noxian Endurance Shield: 10-120 (based on level 1-18) (+ 7% max HP) ⇒ 100-200 (based on level, scaling begins at level 9) (+ 8% Bonus HP)

ADJUSTED

Chainlaced Crushers

Chainlaced Crushers receives the same Noxian Endurance retune as Armored Advance.

Noxian Endurance Shield: 10-120 (based on level 1-18) (+ 7% max HP) ⇒ 100-200 (based on level, scaling begins at level 9) (+ 8% Bonus HP)

Runes

Cash Back, ranged Phase Rush, and Triple Tonic are pulled back after recent tuning pushed them too high.

NERF

Cash Back

Cash Back refunds slightly less gold after its late-2025 buff created too much value.

Gold Refund: 8% ⇒ 7.5%

NERF

Phase Rush

Phase Rush gives ranged champions less movement speed, reducing how easily they escape ganks and melee threats.

Ranged Effectiveness: 75% (18.75 - 37.5% Movement Speed) ⇒ 50% (12.5% - 25% Movement Speed)

NERF

Triple Tonic

Triple Tonic's level 6 elixir grants less Adaptive Force, lowering its early burst spike.

Elixir of Force Adaptive Force: 30 ⇒ 25