League of Legends Solo Queue Tier Lists for Patch 26.18:
Patch 26.18 barely touches the top of the board. Top lane isn't in the notes at all, the leading four mid laners aren't either, and the two supports Riot did nerf are both sitting below God Tier. What we do expect to move is Viego, who picks up the only buff aimed at a champion already in God Tier, and Twitch, who gets more out of Guinsoo's Rageblade than anyone else in bot lane. Nautilus finally taking a real nerf is the change that should open the most room further down.
SEASON 16 - PATCH 26.18 Changelog
Patch 26.18 Tier List Predictions
Patch 26.18 Changes At a Glance
Buffs: Ekko, Kassadin, Master Yi, Viego, Zaahen
Nerfs: Bard, Nautilus, Seraphine, Syndra, Zeri
Tweaks: Cassiopeia
One item moved: Guinsoo's Rageblade holds its stacks a second longer. Everything else in the patch lands in League Classic, which gets five new old champions, or in ARAM: Mayhem, which gets another pass on its Augment pools. Full patch notes recap here.
Where We Think Each Role Lands
Top Lane
Top lane is the one role Patch 26.18 skips completely. Nasus, Garen, Yone and Malphite are all absent from the notes, no top laner in Tier 1 is mentioned either, and no item a top laner builds moved. We expect the same four names in the same order.
Zaahen is the only exception worth writing down, and he's in Tier 3. His second Q cast goes up by 20% at every rank, and the cooldown fix means he now comes out of a resurrection with The Darkin Glaive [Q] available instead of on cooldown. That should be worth a tier. It is not worth four.
Jungle
Viego is the only God Tier jungler in the notes and Riot buffed him. Half a point of attack damage per level is about eight extra damage by the end of the game, and his possession heal now scales off attack damage, ability power, attack speed and health rather than sitting flat. He should move up to third.
Shyvana, Nocturne, Graves and Briar all hold, for the same reason top lane holds: the patch never mentions them. There is no nerf anywhere in the jungle this cycle, so nobody vacates anything.
Master Yi is the other one to watch. He was hit hardest by the Rageblade bugfix earlier in the year and this patch pays him back for it twice, with armor growth and five more percent move speed on his ultimate at every rank. We'd expect him to climb inside Tier 1 rather than break into the top five.
Mid Lane
Nothing happens to Fizz, Viktor, Yone or Yasuo, so the top of mid should look identical next week.
Syndra is the one that moves. Her passive mana ceiling drops by 56 and her W costs a full second more at every rank, and both changes push her toward a build she was doing better without. We have her leaving Tier 1.
Cassiopeia is the patch's only adjustment and the interesting thing about it is who it's for. Every base number comes down and every ratio goes up, which is a tax on the pro build and a raise for everyone else. She should climb out of Tier 3.
Ekko's mana cut is pointed at mid on purpose, so he should move up a tier too. Kassadin got the smaller half of the same treatment and isn't ranked anywhere right now, which one buff won't fix.
Support
Thresh, Seraphine, Lux and Leona are all missing from the notes, so God Tier support should hold exactly as it is.
The interesting movement is underneath. Nautilus has been the best support in Tier 1 all year and Riot went after him properly: three flat attack damage off his base plus up to twenty damage off his hook at every rank past the first. He drops.
Bard's armor nerf is much smaller and he sits in the middle of Tier 2, so we'd expect him to slide a few places rather than fall out. Between the two of them, this is the first patch in a while where the engage supports below God Tier have room to work with.
Bot Lane
Twitch is the only marksman this patch actually helps, and the help is real. Guinsoo's Rageblade holds its stacks for four seconds now instead of three, which matters most to the champion who leaves a fight and comes back to it. We have him moving past Caitlyn.
Jinx isn't mentioned and stays on top.
Zeri had been climbing on the back of the Runaan's Hurricane and Yun Tal Wildarrows buffs, and losing 20% and 30% of the attack damage scaling on her W should stop that. She holds Tier 2 rather than continuing up.
Seraphine's nerf is written for bot lane specifically, since flattening the rank scaling on Beat Drop [E] only costs the build that maxes it. She slips as a marksman replacement and holds at support.
Everything above is a forecast written the day the patch went live, before a single ranked game had been played on it. The League of Legends tier list hub carries the measured rankings, and gets its first read on 26.18 once the games exist.
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