April 28, 2026

Patch 26.9 Notes

Champions Summary

Items Summary

Axiom Arc NERF

[NEW] Doran's Bow ADJUSTED

[NEW] Doran's Helm ADJUSTED

Dusk And Dawn ADJUSTED

Endless Hunger BUFF

[NEW] Gluttonous Greaves ADJUSTED

Hubris ADJUSTED

Staff of Flowing Water ADJUSTED

[REWORKED] Statikk Shiv ADJUSTED

[REWORKED] Voltaic Cyclosword ADJUSTED

Runes Summary

[NEW] Deathfire Touch ADJUSTED

[NEW] Stormraider's Surge ADJUSTED

Arcane Comet ADJUSTED

Hail Of Blades ADJUSTED

Patch Overview

Mid-Patch Updates

The April 30, 2026 mid-patch update trims Deathfire Touch after its launch strength.
Its burn keeps the same basic shape, but the bonus AD, AP, and delayed amplification values are all lower.

Patch Highlights

Patch 26.9 opens Season 2: Pandemonium with wide changes to role quests, minion waves, champions, items, and runes.
Pandemonium Annie, Pandemonium Kindred, Demoncursed Vayne, and Prestige Pandemonium Shaco arrive on April 29, 2026.

Role Quests

Role Quest progress is less tightly bound to standing near the outer turret, with banked roaming time making lane movement less punishing.
Rewards are reshaped across lanes: top shifts toward champion takedown XP, mid gains 6% bonus AD and AP, and bot's bonus takedown gold drops to 40g.

Game Systems

Minion waves get a durability profile aimed at creating more lane action and larger wave states.
Melee minion health scaling changes, while minion damage against other minions is slightly lower for ranged and siege units.

Champions

The champion pass is heavy on build-shaping updates, including AP Ezreal, AD Kennen, AD Teemo, AP/attack-speed Xin Zhao, and a broad Shyvana direction split.
Ambessa, Briar, and several overperforming lane patterns are trimmed, while Zeri receives a larger identity adjustment.

Items

New starter items and omnivamp boots expand early item options for auto attackers, resistance stackers, fighters, and casters.
The item pass also reworks Shiv and Voltaic, reshapes Hubris and Dusk and Dawn, and removes Opportunity and Trailblazer from the ecosystem.

Runes

Deathfire Touch and Stormraider's Surge enter the Sorcery tree as Phase Rush leaves, giving sustained-damage and burst-mobility users new keystone homes.
Arcane Comet moves toward long-range poke, while Hail of Blades trades some attack speed for bonus true damage and better reset handling.

SR Ranked Season 2

Summoner's Rift Ranked Season 2 starts at 12:00 noon on April 29, 2026 local server time.
Apex ranks reset to Master, 0 LP in selected regions, Victorious Ranked Mission progress resets globally, and Season 1 rewards are distributed after the patch is live.

Arena

Arena receives a major update with a Season 2 event roadmap, augment levels, new and reworked augments, and a new Fame track.
The mode also adds new Guests of Honor, crafting-round choices, Petricite Grove, item changes, general pacing updates, and future 3x6, Bravery, and Swift Arena events.

ARAM

ARAM has a small item-specific balance adjustment.
Hubris loses Attack Damage and Ability Haste in the mode.

ARAM: Mayhem

ARAM: Mayhem gets targeted champion, system, and augment tuning focused on Bard, Ornn, Health Relics, and several high-impact augments.
The mode also receives a bugfix pass for item haste, Overflow, empowered attacks, revive interactions, and several champion-specific edge cases.

WASD

WASD controls are enabled for Ranked and Clash shortly after Patch 26.9 goes live.
The update also fixes a bug where some mouse macros were not properly supported with WASD controls.

Champions

Summoner's Rift champion balance leans into alternate builds, while Ambessa, Briar, Zoe, and a few lane patterns lose pressure.

NERF

Ambessa

Ambessa's ultimate has a longer cast time, giving targets more time to read the engage and respond before the execution lands.

R - Public Execution

Cast Time: 0.55 ⇒ 0.70

NERF

Briar

Briar loses health growth, lowering her late-game durability without directly touching her ability to finish targets.

Base Stats

Health Growth: 100 ⇒ 95

BUFF

Ezreal

Ezreal gets a substantial AP ratio pass, reopening mage-style builds and making Trueshot Barrage scale harder with AP.

Q - Mystic Shot

AP Ratio: 15% AP ⇒ 40% AP

W - Essence Flux

AP Ratio: 70 - 90% ⇒ 90%

R - Trueshot Barrage

AP Ratio: 90% ⇒ 110%
Damage To Minions / Non-Epic Monsters: 175 / 275 / 375 (+50% bonus AD) (+45% AP) ⇒ 150 / 225 / 300 (+100% bonus AD) (+110% AP)

BUFF

Gragas

Gragas gains much stronger mid-to-late Drunken Rage damage reduction, helping him frontline after Phase Rush leaves the rune pool.

W - Drunken Rage

Damage Reduction: 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 / 18% (+ 4% per 100 AP) ⇒ 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26 (+ 4% per 100 AP)

BUFF

Kennen

Kennen gets new critical strike hooks on Electrical Surge and Lightning Rush, giving AD and crit builds a real scaling direction.

W - Electrical Surge

[NEW] Passive: When ready, now applies the passive effect to the entire attack as an On-Hit, rather than just the first On-Hit trigger
[NEW] Passive Damage: Can now Critically Strike for 140% (+40% of Bonus Critical Strike Damage)

E - Lightning Rush

[NEW] Attack Speed Buff: Critical Strikes now extend the duration of Lightning Rush's Attack Speed buff by 1 second, up to the initial duration of 4s. This can happen any number of times.

ADJUSTED

Shyvana

Shyvana is reshaped around clearer AD bruiser and AP burst identities, with stronger base and W durability offset by ratio and damage-profile changes.

Base Stats

Attack Speed: 0.625 ⇒ 0.638
Attack Speed Ratio: 0.69 ⇒ 0.638
Attack Damage Growth: 3 ⇒ 4

Q - Emberstrike

Passive: 1% (+ 1.1% per 100 bonus AD) (+ 1.1% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health ⇒ 1% (+ 1.1% per 100 bonus AD)
Hit Reduction: 1 second ⇒ 0.5 seconds
Area Physical Damage: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+ 110% AD) (+ 25% AP) ⇒ 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+ 110% AD) (+ 30% AP)
Cooldown ticks in the background if you do not finish the sequence. Cooldown starts ticking at the last activated input in that sequence.

W - Inferno Aegis

Cooldown: 14 / 13.5 / 13 / 12.5 / 12 ⇒ 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9
Shield: 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 (+ 5% max health) ⇒ 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 / 155 (+12% bonus health)
Damage: 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 (+ 40% bonus AD) (+ 20% AP) ⇒ 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 (+ 65% AP)
Dragon Form Heal: 75 – 214.71 (based on level) (+ 10% bonus AD) (+ 5% AP), increased by 0% – 100% (based on her missing health) for a maximum heal of 150 – 429.41 (based on level) (+ 20% bonus AD) (+ 10% AP) ⇒ 60 - 100 + 4-8% missing health (based on level)
W move speed separate from shield

E - Molten Burst

Cooldown: 12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10 ⇒ 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8
Magic Damage: 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+ 35% bonus AD) (+ 70% AP) ⇒ 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110 (+ 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80% AP) + 5% Target Max Health
Subsequent Explosion Damage Against Same Target: 50% ⇒ 40%
Slow: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40% ⇒ 30%

BUFF

Tahm Kench

Tahm Kench gets support-focused help through better Thick Skin conversion and a faster ally Devour escape.

E - Thick Skin

Grey Health to HP conversion: 45 - 100% (Level 1 - 18) ⇒ 60 - 100% (Level 1 - 18)

R - Devour

Move Speed On Ally Devour: 40% for 3 seconds ⇒ 60% for 3 seconds

ADJUSTED

Taliyah

Taliyah gets lane damage back on Threaded Volley while losing some bonus monster damage to keep jungle clears in check.

Q - Threaded Volley

Base Damage: 50 / 67.5 / 85 / 102.5 / 120 ⇒ 55 / 72.5 / 90 / 107.5 / 125
Bonus Monster Damage: 23 / 28 / 33 / 38 / 43 ⇒ 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40

BUFF

Teemo

Teemo gains bonus AD scaling on Toxic Shot, opening more room for on-hit and hybrid auto-attack builds.

E - Toxic Shot

[NEW] Initial Damage Bonus AD Ratio: 10% Bonus AD
[NEW] DoT Damage Bonus AD Ratio: 30% Bonus AD over 4 seconds

ADJUSTED

Udyr

Udyr moves some AD-build power out of Wildling Claw and into Iron Mantle and Blazing Stampede, making stance swaps matter more.

Q - Wildling Claw

Bonus Damage on First 2 Attacks: 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8% (+4% per 100 bonus AD) of the target's Max Health ⇒ 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8% (+3.5% per 100 bonus AD) of the target's Max Health
Bonus Damage On-Hit for 4 seconds: 5 / 13 / 21 / 29 / 37 / 45 (+25% bonus AD) ⇒ 6 / 12 / 18 / 24 / 30 / 36 (+20% bonus AD) (+1 - 2% bonus HP)
Awakened Bonus Damage on First 2 Attacks: An additional 2 - 4% (based on level) (+3% per 100 bonus AD) of the target's Max Health ⇒ An additional 2 - 4% (based on level) (+1.5% per 100 bonus AD) (+1% per 1000 bonus HP of the target's Max Health)
Awakened Chain Lightning Damage Per Bounce: 1.5 - 3% (based on level) (+.8% per 100 AP) ⇒ 1.5 - 3% (based on level) (+.6% per 100 AP)

W - Iron Mantle

[NEW] Shield AD Ratio: 50% bonus AD
[NEW] Awakened Shield AD Ratio: 100% bonus AD
[NEW] Awakened Heal AD Ratio: 50% bonus AD

E - Blazing Stampede

[NEW] Move Speed AD Ratio: 5% move speed per 100 bonus AD
[NEW] Awakened Move Speed AD Ratio: 10% move speed per 100 bonus AD

BUFF

Warwick

Warwick's passive on-hit damage scales higher after the earliest levels, softening his late-game falloff.

P - Eternal Hunger

On-hit Damage: 6 / 16 / 26 / 36 / 46 ⇒ 6 / 18.25 / 30.5 / 42.75 / 55

ADJUSTED

Xin Zhao

Xin Zhao trades some default attack-speed value for AP and permanent attack-speed scaling, supporting AP and on-hit fighter variants.

P - Determination

Healing: 3 / 4 / 5% Max HP (+65% AP) (levels 1 / 6 / 11) ⇒ 3 / 4 / 5% Max HP (+50 / 65 / 90% AP) (levels 1 / 6 / 11)

W - Wind Becomes Lightning

Slow On Thrust: 50% for 1.5 seconds ⇒ 50% for 1.5 (+.5 per 100 AP) seconds

E - Audacious Charge

Magic Damage: 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+60% AP) ⇒ 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+120% AP)
Attack Speed Buff: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80% for 5 seconds ⇒ 38 / 46 / 54 / 62 / 70% (+1% per 5% permanent AS) (+10% per 100 AP) for 5 seconds

ADJUSTED

Zeri

Zeri shifts away from late burst and excess attack-speed conversion toward stronger early shots, better mobility uptime, and longer ultimate stacks.

P - Living Battery

Right Click Range: 500 ⇒ 550
Execute threshold: 60 / 82.5 / 105 / 127.5 / 150 (+ 18% AP) ⇒ 70 / 92.5 / 115 / 137.5 / 160 (+ 20% AP)

Q - Burst Fire

Damage: 15 / 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 (+ 104 / 108 / 112 / 116 / 120% AD) ⇒ 21 / 24 / 27 / 30 / 33 (+ 102 / 104 / 106 / 108 / 110% AD)
Excess AS to AD conversion: 70% ⇒ 50%
Now forced quick cast

W - Ultrashock Laser

Wall Crit Multiplier: 175% ⇒ 150%
AP Ratio: 25% ⇒ 50%

E - Spark Surge

Bonus Magic Damage: 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25 (+ 10% bonus AD) (+ 20% AP) ⇒ 22 / 24 / 26 / 28 / 30 (+ 20% AP)
Cooldown: 22 / 21 / 20 / 19 / 18 ⇒ 24 / 22.5 / 21 / 19.5 / 18
Cooldown Refresh: Applies on attacks and abilities vs champions ⇒ Applies on attacks vs everything

R - Lightning Crash

Burst AD ratio: 100% ⇒ 60%
MS per stack: 1% ⇒ 1.5%
Stack duration: 1.5 ⇒ 2.5

ADJUSTED

Zoe

Zoe loses Spell Thief lane damage, but Bubble now refunds cooldown on champion hits to reward cleaner pick attempts.

W - Spell Thief

Damage Per Bolt: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+ 15% AP) ⇒ 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 (+ 10% AP)
Total Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 45% AP) ⇒ 45 / 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 (+ 30% AP)

E - Sleepy Trouble Bubble

Cooldown: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 ⇒ 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14
Refunds 16 / 19.5 / 23 / 26.5 / 30% of cooldown when hitting an enemy champion

Items

New starter choices and omnivamp boots arrive alongside lethality, support, and Energized item reshapes.

NERF

Axiom Arc

Axiom Arc loses early ultimate refund power, making bursty lethality users wait for higher lethality before the passive catches up.

Flux: On takedown, refund 15% (+.15% per lethality) of your ultimate's total cooldown ⇒ 10% (+.25% per lethality)

ADJUSTED

[NEW] Doran's Bow

Doran's Bow gives auto-attack lanes a greedier start with damage, attack speed, and omnivamp instead of defensive health.

Attack Damage: 6
Attack Speed: 12%
Omnivamp: 1.5%

ADJUSTED

[NEW] Doran's Helm

Doran's Helm adds a resistance-focused start for champions that want to survive lane and convert even trades into scaling value.

Health: 100
Armor: 10
Magic Resist: 10
Helping Hand: 5 on-hit vs minions

ADJUSTED

Dusk And Dawn

Dusk and Dawn loses raw stats but gains Spellblade healing, pushing it toward repeated combat instead of one-trigger burst.

[NEW] Spellblade: Now also heals the user for (10% AP) (+3% Bonus HP)
Health: 350 ⇒ 300
Ability Power: 70 ⇒ 60
Attack Speed: 25% ⇒ 20%

BUFF

Endless Hunger

Endless Hunger gives melee AD fighters more Ability Haste from Famine, while ranged users keep the old scaling.

Unique Passive - Famine: Grants 5 (+10% Bonus AD) Ability Haste ⇒ Grants 5 (+[13% Melee | 10% Ranged] Bonus AD) Ability Haste

ADJUSTED

[NEW] Gluttonous Greaves

Gluttonous Greaves add an aggressive sustain boot path with permanent omnivamp stacking on champion takedowns.

Build Path: Boots (300g) + 650g
Move Speed: 45
Omnivamp: 4%
Unique Passive - Slay: On champion takedown, gain 1% Omnivamp permanently, stacking up to 6 times
Tier 3 Immortal Path - Bonus Unique Passive - Now and Forever: While above half health, deal 5% increased damage. While below half health, receive +15% healing, shielding, and regeneration.

ADJUSTED

Hubris

Hubris loses immediate AD but gains more passive AD per stack, widening the gap between neutral first-item power and snowball games.

Base AD: 60 ⇒ 55
Passive AD per Stack: +2 ⇒ +3
Bonus AD: +15 ⇒ +12

ADJUSTED

Staff of Flowing Water

Staff of Flowing Water trades some AP and base haste for an ally-facing Rapids effect that grants both AP and Ability Haste.

Unique Passive - Rapids: Healing or Shielding other ally champions grants both you and them +45 Ability Power for 6s ⇒ Healing or Shielding other ally champions grants both you and them +40 Ability Power and +15 Ability Haste for 6s
Ability Haste: 15 ⇒ 10

ADJUSTED

[REWORKED] Statikk Shiv

Statikk Shiv becomes a hybrid on-hit scaling item, trading pure waveclear identity for Energized chains that apply on-hit effects.

Build Path: Scout's Slingshot (600g) + Pickaxe (875g) + Aether Wisp (800g) + 625g
Attack Damage: 40
Ability Power: 45
Attack Speed: 30%
Move Speed: 4%
Unique Passive - Electrospark: Your Energized trigger fires a chain of lightning, dealing 60 (increased to 90 for minions and monsters) bonus magic damage to up to (4 - 8, scaling with level) targets. Applies on-hit effects to secondary bounce targets.
Unique Passive - Electroshock: Basic attacks grant an additional +9 Energize stacks

ADJUSTED

[REWORKED] Voltaic Cyclosword

Voltaic Cyclosword moves from a slow-focused auto trigger toward ability-enabled Energized burst for AD casters.

Unique Passive - Galvanize: Damaging enemy champions with abilities will trigger Energized if it is ready
Unique Passive - Firmament: Your Energized trigger grants you [15 Melee | 12 Ranged] Lethality for 4s and deals bonus physical damage equal to [9% Melee | 7% Ranged] of the target's current health. This bonus damage is capped to 200 against non-champions.
Cost: 3000g ⇒ 2900g
Lethality: 18 ⇒ 10

Runes

Sorcery keystones are rebuilt around Deathfire Touch and Stormraider's Surge, with Comet and Hail of Blades taking new shapes.

ADJUSTED

[NEW] Deathfire Touch

Deathfire Touch returns as a sustained-damage Sorcery keystone for DoT and repeated-spell champions, then receives a quick mid-patch damage trim.

Sorcery Tree Keystone: Damaging a champion with an ability burns them for (4s singletarget / 2s AoE / 1s DoT). The burn deals 4-12 (level scaling) + 8% bonus AD + 3% AP adaptive damage per second. After the burn has been on a target for 3s, the damage of the burn increases by 100%.
April 30, 2026 Mid-Patch Update: Adaptive damage per second: 4 - 12 (scales on level) + 8% bonus AD + 3% AP, increased by 100% after 3s ⇒ 4 - 12 (scales on level) + 7% bonus AD + 2.5% AP, increased by 75% after 3s

ADJUSTED

[NEW] Stormraider's Surge

Stormraider's Surge replaces Phase Rush as the burst-mobility keystone, asking users to commit meaningful damage before gaining speed.

[NEW] Sorcery Tree Keystone: Dealing 25% of a champion's maximum health within 3s grants a movespeed and slow resistance for 3s. 20-10s cooldown, scales based on level.
[NEW] Speed: 40%; 75% for ranged champs
[NEW] Slow Resist: 50%

ADJUSTED

Arcane Comet

Arcane Comet loses its cooldown refund and lower-range damage, but gains distance scaling for artillery and control mage poke.

[REMOVED] Cooldown Refund: Removed
[NEW] Damage: Now deals up to 100% increased damage based on distance from the target, max damage bonus at 750 range away
Damage: 30 - 130 (based on level) + 10% bonus AD + 5% AP ⇒ 15 - 100 (based on level) + 10% bonus AD + 5% AP

ADJUSTED

Hail Of Blades

Hail of Blades gives up raw attack speed for true damage and better support for champions with attack-reset patterns.

Attack Speed: [160% Melee || 80% Ranged] for 3 attacks, increased by +1 attack if you cast an ability that resets your auto attack ⇒ [120% Melee || 60% Ranged] for 3 attacks, increased by +1 attack if you cast an ability that resets your auto attack up to +2 attacks
New: Attacks empowered by Hail of Blades deal 4 - 20 (+8% bonus AD) (+6% AP) bonus true damage
Bugfixes: Fixed various Attack Reset abilities not properly granting bonus attacks (Bel'Veth Q, Kai'Sa R, K'Sante Q3, Gwen E, Quinn E, Rell Remount W, Riven Q)