League of Legends Patch 26.11 Full Preview Buffs, Nerfs, System Changes & Developer Notes (Release Date: May 2026)

Riot Games has revealed the full preview for League of Legends Patch 26.11, featuring major balance adjustments aimed at bot lane support diversity, top lane item tuning, and several champion changes targeting both solo queue and emerging meta picks.

This patch focuses heavily on balancing Ranged vs Melee supports, adjusting powerful rune interactions like Deathfire Touch, and improving underperforming picks such as Quinn Jungle and Heimerdinger.

League of Legends Patch 26.11 Champion Buffs

Diana Buffs

• Passive monster damage increased: 230% → 270%

• W health bonus ratio:

  • Initial hit: 9% → 11%

  • Full orb detonation: 18% → 22%

These buffs are aimed at improving Diana’s jungle clear speed and scaling durability.

Ekko Buffs

• Passive cooldown per target reduced: 5s → 4s

A straightforward quality-of-life buff that improves Ekko’s sustained skirmishing.

Heimerdinger Buffs

• Q turret range increased: 530 → 550

• Turrets now deal +50 damage against minions

• E vision duration increased: 1s → 1.25s

Riot Developer Notes

Following previous minion changes, Heimerdinger’s turrets struggled to retaliate against ranged minions before being destroyed. Riot says these changes should make lane interactions feel much smoother while also fixing edge cases where the beam failed to fire due to lost vision.

Kassadin Buffs

• Q cooldown reduced: 10–8s → 9–7s

• W passive damage increased:

  • 20 (+10% AP) → 25 (+10% AP)

These buffs improve Kassadin’s early trading and scaling damage.

Quinn Buffs

• Passive bonus monster damage: 50 → 75

• Q monster damage: 150% → 200%

Riot Developer Notes

Riot believes Quinn Jungle is currently too weak to be considered viable. These jungle-focused buffs are intended to push the pick into a more competitive state without overtuning lane Quinn.

League of Legends Patch 26.11 Champion Nerfs

Brand Nerfs

• Base armor reduced: 27 → 24

A small survivability nerf targeting Brand Bot Lane, which has become increasingly dominant.

Smolder Nerfs

Passive Bonus Magic Damage on Q

• 40–60% of passive stacks → 25–55%

Passive Bonus Magic Damage on E

• 12% of passive stacks → 8–12%

Riot Developer Notes

Riot says Smolder still remains too strong even after Deathfire Touch interaction changes. These nerfs are designed to make squishier crit builds more punishable while maintaining his scaling identity.

Teemo Nerfs

• E on-hit poison scaling reduced:

  • Bonus AD: +10% → +5%

  • Bonus AP: +20% → +10%

• Armor growth reduced:

  • 4.95 → 4.5

Riot Developer Notes

Teemo continues to perform extremely well in top lane while also generating high frustration levels. Riot is lightly tuning him down, especially since Statikk Shiv is receiving buffs that indirectly help him.

Champion Adjustments

AP Xin Zhao Adjustments

Passive Damage

• Old:

  • 15 / 30 / 45 / 60% Bonus AD

• New:

  • 15 / 30 / 45 / 60% Bonus AD

  • Added AP scaling:

    • +5 / 10 / 15 / 20% AP

Passive Healing

• Old:

  • 3 / 4 / 5% Max HP

  • (+50 / 65 / 90% AP)

• New:

  • 3 / 4 / 5% Max HP

  • (+45 / 55 / 80% AP)

This adjustment shifts AP Xin Zhao toward more hybrid damage patterns while slightly toning down sustain.

System Buffs in Patch 26.11

Aftershock Buffs

• Bonus resistances:

  • 35 (+80% Bonus AR/MR) → 45 (+75% Bonus AR/MR)

Guardian Buffs

• Cooldown changed:

  • 90–40s → 75–40s

• Shield amount adjusted:

  • Old:

    • 45–180 (+25% AP) (+5% Bonus HP)

  • New:

    • 40–150 (+20% AP) (+6% Bonus HP)

These changes are intended to help melee supports compete more effectively in lane.

Heartsteel Buffs

• Permanent HP conversion increased:

  • 8% → 10%

Riot Developer Notes

Riot says Heartsteel lost too much of its fantasy and snowball potential after earlier nerfs. These changes partially restore its identity while also helping tank supports in niche situations.

Knight’s Vow Buffs

• Damage reduction:

  • 12% → 14%

• Healing ratio:

  • 10% → 12%

Locket of the Iron Solari Buffs

• Armor and Magic Resist:

  • 25 → 30

Zeke’s Convergence Changes

• Now waits up to 5 seconds after casting ultimate before triggering the Storm effect if enemies are not immediately nearby.

System Nerfs in Patch 26.11

Dreammaker Nerfs

Blue Bubble Damage Reduction

• 75–255 → 50–194

Now affects the entire first damaging spell rather than only the first damage instance.

Purple Bubble Damage

• 50–170 → 40–160

Now triggers on damaging attacks or abilities with AoE reduction.

Echoes of Helia Nerfs

• Damage stored reduced:

  • 35% → 30%

Moonstone Renewer Nerf

• Starlit Grace no longer double dips with:

  • Heal/Shield Power

  • Grievous Wounds

Summon: Aery Nerfs

• Shield value:

  • 30–100 → 20–100

System Adjustments

Void Grubs Adjustments

Structural DoT Damage

• Melee:

  • 3 / 9 / 12 → 4 / 12 / 16

• Ranged:

  • 1.5 / 4.5 / 6 → 2 / 6 / 8

Summoned Grub HP

• 60% of melee minions → 100% of melee minions

Hexplate Nerfs (Ranged Champions)

Passive Attack Speed / Movement Speed

• Ranged:

  • 50% AS & 20% MS → 35% AS & 14% MS

• Melee champions unchanged

Riot Developer Notes

Riot says Hexplate has become overly optimized for champions like Varus and Vayne Top. The goal is not to remove the item from them, but to reduce how much those champions dictate the item’s overall balance.

Imperial Mandate Rework

New Build Path

• Blasting Wand + Bandleglass Mirror + 700 Gold

• Total Cost: 2400 Gold

New Stats

• 65 AP

• 15 Ability Haste

• 150% Base Mana Regen

Unique – Control

• Immobilizing abilities grant an additional +15 Ability Haste

Unique – Command

• Immobilizing an enemy applies:

  • 6% Vulnerable for 4 seconds

  • Vulnerable causes enemies to take increased damage

Deathfire Touch Changes

• Now deals Magic Damage

Riot Developer Notes

Riot says Deathfire Touch had overly strong synergy with Black Cleaver while also feeling more thematically “magic coded.” The adjustment is intended to preserve the rune’s fantasy while improving overall balance.

Statikk Shiv Buff

• Attack Damage increased:

  • 40 → 45 AD

Final Thoughts on Patch 26.11

League Patch 26.11 appears focused on:

• Improving melee support viability

• Reducing oppressive ranged support interactions

• Tuning problematic rune synergies

• Supporting weaker off-meta picks like Quinn Jungle

• Rebalancing top lane item abuse cases

The patch also includes several quality-of-life improvements, especially for Heimerdinger and tank itemization.

With support systems receiving large adjustments and several scaling carries being tuned down, the meta could shift significantly heading into the next ranked cycle.