Patch 26.20 is Riot's last balance pass before Worlds. It takes durability away from the mages who buy Rocketbelt in pro play and gives some power back to Lucian and Vayne.
Also inside: why Riot is fine with a 47% win rate on Azir, and whose numbers it balances with.
Red Post Roundup
September 26 to 29
Issue #8Patch 26.20 is Riot's last balance pass before Worlds. It takes durability away from the mages who buy Rocketbelt in pro play and gives some power back to Lucian and Vayne.
Also inside: why Riot is fine with a 47% win rate on Azir, and whose numbers it balances with.
The short version
Everything quoted below is about modern League.
- 26.20 is the final Worlds patch. After it, Riot doesn't see much left to fix for pro play without hurting solo queue.
- Hextech Rocketbelt gets better at diving in and worse as a safe, flexible buy for mages.
- Experimental Hexplate gets nerfed on ranged champions, and that nerf is what lets Vayne get buffed.
- Lucian gets general buffs because 26.19 hit the enchanter supports he pairs with.
- Riot balances with its own internal data, and says a 47-48% win rate is fine on a champion that's genuinely hard.
- Riot's Worlds artists put out a teaser. The full song arrives October 8.
Want these as they happen?
Our League of Legends Red Tracker collects everything Riot devs say in public and refreshes every fifteen minutes. This roundup is the weekly read. The tracker is the one you leave open.
Open the Red TrackerThe big one: Rocketbelt goes back to being a dive item
Modern LeagueMatt Leung-Harrison, Riot's lead gameplay designer, posted the 26.20 preview late on Monday. It opens by calling this the end of the road for Worlds tuning, then goes straight at the mage item pros keep buying.
This is the final World's patch and we've been pretty happy with the meta from playoffs and don't feel like there's much more we can improve it (aside from this patch) without causing excess damage to SoloQ, which is also a high priority for us [...]
1. Rocketbelt continues to be one of the premier items on Pro Play mages that gives them a bit too much durability. We think Rocketbelt is better positioned as a "go in button" and so we're making it better at that use case and worse at the flexible use cases for mages (though it is skill expressive).
It mostly results in Mage champions having minimal weaknesses in the highest levels of play while also making them need to be nerfed for regular players (see Orianna's winrate)
That said, there are some "go in" Ranged champions that we expect this to be power neutral on (eg. Annie, Neeko) that their player bases still love this item on, it should just take a larger tradeoff on damage repeatability
Matt Leung-HarrisonLead gameplay designer, Leagueon X
What it means: Rocketbelt gives 350 health on top of its ability power, plus an active dash. Pro mages have been buying it mostly to stay alive. Riot wants it bought by champions like Annie who dash in to start a fight, and those champions should come out about even.
The Orianna aside is how this reaches solo queue. When a mage is safe in pro play, Riot ends up nerfing her for everyone, and ordinary players carry the cost of a problem that only shows up on stage.
A Hexplate nerf buys Vayne her buffs back
Modern LeagueVayne's recent nerf was aimed at top lane, and it landed on her bot lane players too. This time Riot changes the item her top laners lean on first.
2. We're further nerfing Experimental Hexplate to allow us to buff up some champions that have been balanced around it (Vayne top). This will also allow us to give Vayne bot a buff
Matt Leung-HarrisonLead gameplay designer, Leagueon X
We're being very careful about adding more Ranged tops back into the meta as that has been something players have been complaining about, but think that a generic buff + a nerf to Hexplate will make her neutral there (or at least have to go for squishier builds) while buffing Vayne bot back up
Matt Leung-HarrisonLead gameplay designer, Leagueon X
What it means: Experimental Hexplate is a fighter item with 450 health. Top lane Vayne builds it to survive the lane. Riot's preview graphic lists it as Hexplate (Ranged), so melee fighters keep their version. Take the item away and the buff to Vayne herself mostly shows up in bot lane.
Lucian gets his power back for a related reason. The 26.19 support changes cut into his lane, and his favorite partners took a hit with them, so he now gets buffs that apply wherever he's played.
Lucian's best pairings (eg. Enchanters like Milio) have received a large nerf as a result of the 26.19 changes and so we're returning some power back to Lucian in generic power
Matt Leung-HarrisonLead gameplay designer, Leagueon X
Sylas gets "a bit of a reshape" too. His mid lane version comes out a little stronger in the matchups he already wins, and his jungle stays roughly where it is. The full buff and nerf list is on our PBE page.
Every 26.20 change, in one place
Riot's preview gives you the names. Our PBE Changes page lists every buff and nerf Riot announced, then fills in the values as they're read out of the game files on the test server, with each entry marked as announced by Riot or found on the PBE only.
See what's on the PBEA 47% win rate on a hard champion doesn't worry Riot
Modern LeagueIn the comments under the preview, Leung-Harrison explained why Azir isn't on the buff list.
[...] I think Azir could be buffed, but we're not going to risk it this close to worlds. Realistically, for these high skill champs, 47-48% doesn't seem too bad if they have a skill fantasy and legitimately are hard to master. It's bad if they're 47-48% and present as easy to master. [...]
Matt Leung-HarrisonLead gameplay designeron Reddit
What it means: a hard champion's average win rate includes every game played by people still learning him. Riot reads a low number there as the cost of a steep curve. The same number on a champion that looks simple would mean he's weak.
Over the weekend a community thread argued that one popular stats site shows the wrong win rates. Leung-Harrison stayed out of the argument about anyone's method and said which numbers Riot uses.
I'm not going to comment on how external sites construct their data and whether that approach is right or wrong, but I just want to make it clear that we use our internal data to balance the game, because that's the ground truth. We try our best to provide the best data through the API to 3rd party sites. [...]
Matt Leung-HarrisonLead gameplay designeron Reddit
From a principles PoV: 1. Is exposing data a net good thing for the game I'd probably say yes, but to an extent. However, there's bad versions of this; there is a real risk that data can get weaponized to bully other players, force meta conformity that harms game diversity among other things (Ivern mid is 44% winrate!) [...]
Matt Leung-HarrisonLead gameplay designeron Reddit
What it means: the API is the feed of match data Riot hands to outside sites. Each site picks its own filters and presentation, so two of them can put the same champion at different win rates. Patches get tuned on Riot's internal numbers.
Hurricane gets trimmed, and Riot teases the Worlds song
Hurricane comes down a notch, and so does Yunara
Modern LeagueRiot says "Hurricane was a little overbuffed" and is trimming it slightly. Yunara gets her own nerf, sized so the two changes together don't overshoot.
on X
Cassiopeia's last nerf undershot for pro play
Modern LeagueAmbessa, Cassiopeia and K'Sante have been fixtures in pro games for a while, and "our Cassio nerfs recently undershot a bit for Pro Play". All three are on the nerf list.
on XThe 26.19 Rundown is out
Modern LeagueLeung-Harrison's Rundown for 26.19 covers Lucian, the top lane Teleport buff, the Nasus nerfs and the support health changes. His summary of where balance sits: "we're not looking to change a huge amount."
on XThe Worlds song lands October 8
Modern LeagueRiot's Worlds artists posted a short clip of this year's track. The caption says to "catch the whole track on Oct 8."
on YouTubeNext week
The preview names eleven buffed champions but only explains a couple of them. It ends "More on other champs tomorrow", so Diana, Kennen, Smolder and the rest should get their reasons in the next few days. Our PBE Changes page fills in their numbers as they reach the test server, and 26.20 is the last patch Riot tunes for Worlds.
Don't wait a week
The Red Tracker carries every one of these within minutes of Riot posting it, plus everything that didn't make the cut here. Filter by subject, search the archive, check it whenever a patch drops.
Open the Red Tracker
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