← Back to Patch Notes
April 14, 2026

Patch 26.8 Notes

Patch 26.8 Notes artwork

Champions Summary

Dr. Mundo icon Dr. Mundo NERF Hwei icon Hwei BUFF Karma icon Karma NERF Lillia icon Lillia BUFF Lucian icon Lucian BUFF Mel icon Mel NERF Tahm Kench icon Tahm Kench ADJUSTED Yuumi icon Yuumi BUFF Zilean icon Zilean ADJUSTED Zyra icon Zyra ADJUSTED

Patch Overview

Patch Highlights

  • Patch 26.8 pairs targeted champion balance with updates for ARAM, ARAM: Mayhem, Arena, ranked timing, and new social tooling.
  • PsyOps Vladimir, PROJECT: Sivir, Space Groove Zac, and PROJECT: Command Line Master Yi arrive on April 15, 2026.

Ranked Season 1 End

  • Summoner's Rift Ranked Season 1 ends at 23:59:59 local server time on April 28.
  • Season 2 begins at 12:00:00 local server time on April 29, with ranked missions reset and Season 1 rewards granted on 26.09.

Champion Specific Keybinds

  • Champion-specific keybind overrides go live, including per-champion smartcast settings for picks like Rumble and Viktor.
  • These settings must be configured in game, so practice tool is the safest place to set them before queueing ranked.

Discord Integration

  • Linked Riot and Discord accounts unlock party invites, shareable party links, and faster visibility into friends playing Riot games.
  • The beta starts April 16 across the US, Canada, and Brazil before Riot expands it to more regions.

Champions

  • Ten champion entries headline the patch, with Dr. Mundo, Karma, and Mel pulled down while Hwei, Lillia, Lucian, and Yuumi get help.
  • Tahm Kench receives role-balancing passive work, while Zilean and Zyra get level-one quality-of-life restrictions.

ARAM: Mayhem

  • ARAM: Mayhem reduces passive movement-speed pressure from several augments so fights have more readable windows.
  • The mode also lowers cooldowns on multiple defensive item actives, buffs the Health Relic system, and ships a large bugfix batch.

ARAM

  • Regular ARAM inherits a smaller set of Mayhem-style active item cooldown reductions.
  • Mel's Rebuttal cooldown is also increased in the mode to match the ARAM: Mayhem treatment.

Arena

  • Arena opens more AP and alternate-build angles for champions including Tristana, Sivir, Jarvan IV, Senna, Sion, and Seraphine.
  • Several ultimate cooldowns are shortened for champions whose kits benefit from larger Arena spaces.

ARAM Clash - Ixtal Cup

  • The Ixtal Cup brings Clash to ARAM for this patch cycle.
  • Registration begins April 13 at 11:00 AM local time, with tournament windows on April 18 and 19.

Bugfixes & QoL Changes

  • The general bugfix pass covers Zilean VO, Shyvana ultimate ping progress, Mel blocking Zac Q, Katarina recall interactions, and Yuumi fountain behavior.
  • Most fixes are small reliability cleanups rather than balance-facing changes.

Upcoming Skins & Chromas

  • PsyOps Vladimir, PROJECT: Sivir, Space Groove Zac, and PROJECT: Command Line Master Yi are the skin releases for the patch.
  • Chromas follow for PsyOps Vladimir, PROJECT: Sivir, and Space Groove Zac.

Champions

Patch 26.8 trims strong jungle and midlane pressure while giving several struggling carries and utility picks cleaner power windows.

NERF
Dr. Mundo icon

Dr. Mundo

Dr. Mundo's jungle clear is slowed by lower monster caps on both Bonesaw and Blunt Force Trauma.

Q - Infected Bonesaw

  • Monster Damage Cap: 300 / 375 / 450 / 525 / 600 ⇒ 250 / 325 / 400 / 475 / 550

E - Blunt Force Trauma

  • Monster Damage Cap:: 200%⇒ 140%
BUFF
Hwei icon

Hwei

Hwei gets stronger passive payoff for combo casting, with slow-stacking cleanup attached to the same pass.

Passive - Signature of the Visionary

  • Base Damage: 35 - 230 (Levels 1 - 18) ⇒ 40 - 285 (Levels 1 - 18)
  • Comboing Slows: Slows from Hwei's abilities now stack with diminishing values.
  • Bugfix: Slows from Hwei's QE and R abilities no longer stack with slows from other champions / items.
NERF
Karma icon

Karma

Karma loses base damage stats and pays more mana for Inspire, making her shielding and lane trades less automatic.

Base Stats

  • Base AD: 51 ⇒ 49
  • AD Growth: 3.3 ⇒ 3.0

E - Inspire

  • Mana Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 ⇒ 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
BUFF
Lillia icon

Lillia

Lillia's passive monster cap now scales much higher with level, improving her jungle clear as the game progresses.

Passive - Dream-Laden Bough

  • Monster Damage Cap: 65 ⇒ 70-180 (based on level)
BUFF
Lucian icon

Lucian

Lucian gets more access to Relentless Pursuit through lower cooldowns and mana costs, especially before rank five.

E - Relentless Pursuit

  • Cooldown: 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14 ⇒ 16 / 15.5 / 15 / 14.5 / 14
  • Mana Cost: 40 / 30 / 20 / 10 / 0 ⇒ 32 / 24 / 16 / 8 / 0
NERF
Mel icon

Mel

Mel's Q hits softer after the first rank, and Rebuttal becomes less available with a shorter movement-speed window.

Q - Radiant Volley

  • Initial Explosion Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 60% AP) ⇒ 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+ 55% AP)

W - Rebuttal

  • Cooldown: 35 / 32 / 29 / 26 / 23 ⇒ 38 / 35 / 32 / 29 / 26 seconds
  • Bonus Movement Speed Duration: 1.5 ⇒ 0.75 seconds
ADJUSTED
Tahm Kench icon

Tahm Kench

Tahm Kench's passive is reshaped to reduce bonus-health and AP scaling while extending the base-damage curve.

Passive - An Acquired Taste

  • Damage: 6 - 48 (Levels 1 - 11) (+1.5% AP per 100 Bonus HP) (+4.5% Bonus HP) ⇒ 5 - 60 (Levels 1 - 12) (+1.25% AP per 100 Bonus HP) (+4% Bonus HP)
BUFF
Yuumi icon

Yuumi

Yuumi's ultimate gains stronger listed healing and better best-friend scaling, alongside fixes that remove unintended extra healing behavior.

R - Final Chapter

  • Heal Per Wave: 30 / 40 / 50 (+10% AP) ⇒ 30 / 50 / 70 (+12% AP)
  • Best Friend Enhanced Heal: 30% More Healing ⇒ 30 - 60% More Healing (Levels 6 - 12)
  • Bugfix: The attached ally is no longer healed an additional time whenever Final Chapter heals another ally
  • Bugfix: Final Chapter's overhealing shield now takes into account Heal/Shield power as well as Grievous Wounds
ADJUSTED
Zilean icon

Zilean

Zilean can no longer spend his first skill point on Rewind, preventing a level-one choice that cannot function yet.

W - Rewind

  • W Level Up: No longer can level W at level 1.
ADJUSTED
Zyra icon

Zyra

Zyra's first skill point can no longer go into Rampant Growth, removing an unusable level-one start.

W - Rampant Growth

  • W Level Up: No longer can level W level