Notes published Sept. 9, 2026, live on servers Sept. 10, 2026
Patch 26.18 is the Hall of Legends patch, and Caps is the third player ever inducted. That comes with a battle pass, a Tristana skin line he helped build, and a Risen Legend Orianna to go with it. On the Rift, Riot is taking apart the pro support duo of Nautilus and Bard, trimming Seraphine bot and Zeri, and handing buffs to Viego, Zaahen, Master Yi, Ekko, and Kassadin. Cassiopeia gets the only proper adjustment of the patch, trading laning power for scaling to cut down how far ahead pro Cassiopeia sits over everyone else's. League Classic runs a Demacian reunion with five new old champions in Fiora, Galio, Poppy, Shyvana, and Xin Zhao, plus the results of the first Council vote. ARAM: Mayhem keeps cleaning up which Augments show up on which champions.
Rasmus "Caps" Winther is the third inductee into the Hall of Legends and the first Western player to get there. The voting panel weighs international berths, regional and international titles, role stats, and what a player did for the sport, and Caps has the most decorated career in European League history to point at.
Bard has been a fixture in pro drafts all year. The damage nerfs from earlier patches never touched the part that actually frustrates opponents, which is how safely he gets away with roaming at his range, so his armor is what gives this time.
Base Stats
Armor:34 + 5/Level⇒32 + 4.7/Level
CassiopeiaAdjusted
Her lane is worse and her scaling is better. Noxious Blast [Q] loses 10 base damage at every rank and Petrifying Gaze [R] loses 25, while their ability power ratios climb from 65% to 75% and from 50% to 75%.
Passive - Serpentine Grace
Move Speed Bonus:6% - 40% (based on level)⇒5% - 36% (based on level)
Ekko settled a little under where Riot wants him after the Dusk and Dawn update, and mid lane is the version that scales worst. Cheaper mana and a fatter return hit are pointed at that lane without making the Hail of Blades build any better.
Kassadin started 2026 strong and never came back from the nerfs that followed. These give him something to do before he hits his spike instead of farming and waiting for the game to start.
Q - Null Sphere
Ability Power Ratio:70% AP⇒80% AP
R - Riftwalk
Base Damage:70 / 90 / 110⇒80 / 95 / 110
Master YiBuff
The Rageblade bugfix earlier this year was minor for most of the item's users and a real loss for Yi, because his double strike interacted with it differently. He gets that back plus a little more, since he hasn't been scaling the way a melee carry should.
Base Stats
Armor Growth:33 + 4.5/Level⇒33 + 5/Level
R - Highlander
Move Speed:35 / 45 / 55%⇒40 / 50 / 60%
NautilusNerf
Riot spent months bringing the other tank supports up and Nautilus stayed on top anyway. Cutting his attack damage and his early rank damage makes the lane trades cost him something. Locking a carry down for four seconds still works exactly the same.
This one is aimed squarely at bot lane Seraphine, and it's a clean way to do it. Flattening the rank scaling on Beat Drop [E] only costs the build that maxes it, and support Seraphine leaves it last.
E - Beat Drop
Cooldown:11 / 10.5 / 10 / 9.5 / 9s⇒11s
SyndraNerf
The MSI changes worked. They worked in solo queue too, in the brackets where she was already fine. Her mana breakpoints now lean on Lost Chapter again, so the builds that skipped it lose the most.
Viego's win rate has been sliding for a while and his players left before Riot moved. More attack damage per level plus a possession heal that finally scales off what he actually builds gives the bruiser version a reason to exist again.
Base Stats
Attack Damage Growth:3.5⇒4
Passive - Sovereign's Domination
Heal:2% (+…. )⇒2% (+ 2.5% per 100 bonus AD) (+ 2% per 100 AP) (+ 5% per 100% bonus attack speed) (+ 2% per 500 bonus HP) of the target's maximum health
ZaahenBuff
It reads like a nerf and it isn't. The Darkin Glaive [Q] used to line up with his passive so that he always came out of a resurrection with it down, and now the cooldown starts the moment he goes into one. Same fix covers Guardian Angel and a Zilean ultimate. His second cast is also a clean double of the first now.
Q - The Darkin Glaive
NEW Cooldown Behavior: If Q is active, it is now placed on Cooldown immediately upon being put in Resurrection
The Runaan's Hurricane and Yun Tal Wildarrows buffs have pushed Zeri well above where she normally rests, and she's started appearing in pro on top of that. Riot would rather take her burst and waveclear down now than watch her take over the patch.
The bugfix pushed back when the first double hit triggers, which cost the item a small amount. An extra second on the stack window hands a similar amount back, and it helps most when you're trying to hold stacks between fights rather than rebuild them.
Seething Strike Stack Duration:3s⇒4s
Classic
Champions
New Fiora
Passive - Duelist
Fiora regenerates health whenever she damages enemies. This regeneration can stack when hitting champions.
Q - Lunge
Fiora dashes to strike a nearby enemy. Lunge can be cast a second time at no additional cost..
W - Riposte
Passive: Fiora gain bonus Attack Damage
Active: Fiora parries the next attack within a short time, dealing damage back to her attacker.
E - Burst of Speed
Fiora gains Attack Speed for a few seconds. Attacks and Lunges during this time grant her a stacking Move Speed bonus.
R - Blade Waltz
This is why you're really here. Fiora becomes untargetable and dashes around the battlefield, striking nearby enemies for (say it with me) tons of damage. All strikes apply on-hit effects and repeated hits on the same target deal reduced damage.
New Galio
Passive - Runic Skin
Galio gains a portion of his Magic Resist as Ability Power. Hooray for one-sentence passives!
Q - Resolute Smite
Galio fires a concussive blast from his eyes that damages and slows enemies where it lands.
W - Bulwark
Galio gives a nearby allied champion bonus Armor and Magic Resist. While buffed, whenever they take damage, Galio is healed.
E - Righteous Gust
Galio unleashes a gust of wind that damages enemies in a line and leaves behind a directional draft, which gives all allies movement speed as long as they're moving with the current.
Hwei stole this ability. What a jerk.
R - Idol of Durand
Galio channels to taunt all nearby enemies, taking reduced damage in the process. After channeling, Galio damages all enemies caught in the area, increasing based on how many times he was hit while channeling.
New Poppy
Passive - Valiant Fighter
All damage to Poppy beyond 10% of her current health is reduced by 50%
Just in case you thought she was too easy to kill already
Q - Devastating Blow
Poppy's next attack deals bonus damage based on her target's max HP
W - Paragon of Demacia
Passive: Poppy gains Armor and Attack Damage (up to a cap) whenever she deals or takes Attacks herself.
Active: Immediately gain max stacks of Paragon of Demacia and gain increased Move Speed for several seconds
E - Heroic Charge
Poppy charges at an enemy, damaging and knocking this back. If they collide with a wall, they take more damage and are stunned.
R - Diplomatic Immunity
Poppy picks an enemy. For the next few seconds no one else can do anything to her and she deals bonus damage to them.
Don't be fooled by the bonus damage. Ult Soraka and then kill the enemy ADC. There's no counter-play.
I can't believe they got rid of this spell during her rework.
New Shyvana
Passive - Fury of the Dragonborn
Shyvana's basic attacks enhance each of her basic abilities. They reduce Q's cooldown, increase W's duration, deal a fraction of E's initial damage, and generate Fury for her ultimate.
Q - Twin Bite
Shyvana's next attack strikes her target twice, dealing bonus damage.
In dragon form, Twin Bite deals damage in a cone in front of her.
W - Burnout
Shyvana gains Move Speed and continually damages enemies around her.
In dragon form, Burnout leaves a trail of fire that damages enemies who stand on it.
E - Flame Breath
Shyvana unleashes a fireball that damages the first enemy hit and reduces their armor
In dragon form, she unleashes a cone of fireballs, hitting more enemies.
R - Dragon's Descent
Passive: Shyvana gains bonus Armor and Magic Resist. This bonus is doubled while in dragon form.
Shyvana transforms into a dragon, flying forward to damage and knock back all enemies encountered during her flight.
New Xin Zhao
Passive - Challenge
Xin Zhao Challenges his most recent attack target, reducing their Armor.
Q - Three Talon Strike
Xin Zhao's next three basic attacks deal bonus damage and reduce his other cooldowns by 1 second. The third attack knocks up his target.
W - Battle Cry
Passive: Every third basic attack heals Xin Zhao.
Active: Xin Zhao gains bonus Attack Speed for several seconds.
E - Audacious Charge
Xin Zhao dashes an enemy, Challenging them. Nearby enemies, including the target, take damage and are slowed.
R - Crescent Sweep
Xin Zhao sweeps all enemies around him, dealing damage and gaining Armor and Magic Resist for each enemy struck. Every enemy except his Challenge target are knocked back.
Cast Indicator: Updated the cast indicator to better reflect its cast range
Council - Poll 1 Results
Show all 34 lines
Reviving all 3 proposed items.
Adding modern jungle timers.
Turtle, Duck.
1. Way too short - 1.87%
2. Too short - 5.88%
3. About right - 52.80%
4. Too long - 26.21%
5. Way too long - 13.24%
1. 30 minutes - 16.75%
2. 40 minutes - 32.68%
3. 50 minutes - 29.29%
4. 60 minutes - 11.64%
5. No preferred maximum - 9.63%
1. Zz'Rot Portal - 16.16%
2. Cloak and Dagger - 3.75%
3. Moonflair Spellblade - 5.11%
4. All 3 - 60.67%
5. None - 14.32%
1. Yes – Add modern jungle timers that are always visible on the minimap - 45.74%
2. Yes – Only when the scoreboard is open - 23.46%
3. No – Keep the current minimap - 30.79%
1. Yes - 55.03%
2. No - 44.97%
1. Significantly too snowbally - 8.89%
2. Slightly too snowbally - 24.99%
3. About right - 48.82%
4. Slightly not snowbally enough - 12.24%
5. Significantly not snowbally enough - 5.06%
1. Yes, I like them - 69.72%
2. No, I don't like them - 30.28%
1. Turtle, Turtle - 11.31%
2. Turtle, Duck- 52.09%
3. Duck, Turtle - 28.39%
4. Duck, Duck - 8.21%
Systems
Bugfixes
Fixed a bug where Teemo's traps did not last the appropriate 10 minutes.
Fixed a bug where Akali's Q cast indicator did not accurately reflect its cast range.
Fixed a bug where Akali's W could be cast while moving.
Fixed a bug where Akali's R cast indicator did not accurately reflect its cast range.
Fixed a bug where Skarner's E could heal for less than the full amount.
Fixed a bug where Nidalee's Cougar E hit range was 310 instead of 350.
Fixed a bug where Nidalee's Human E cast range was 900 instead of 600.
ARAM: Mayhem
Another behind-the-scenes pass on which Augments get offered to which champions. The complaint Riot is answering is ability power Augments turning up on champions like Vayne, so a chunk of this patch is exclusion filters rather than numbers. A few Ultra Hydra and Ravenous Hydra interactions that were being abused are closed off too.
NEW Sale Restriction: You cannot sell Hydra Items when having this augment
Bugfixes
Fixed a bug where item damage triggers the cleave effect when you have Upgrade Ravenous Hydra.
Fixed a bug where En Passant fail to function when two or more players have it on the same team.
Fixed a bug where Viego can get multiple Tiamat when possessing others while having Ultra Hydra.
Fixed a bug where extra gold can be gained by selling and re-purchasing a Hydra item with Ultra Hydra augment equipped.
Fixed a bug where players can purchase multiple Ravenous Hydra and gain Upgrade Ravenous Hydra lifesteal on all three when paired with Quest: Ultra Hydra.
Fixed a bug where Clown College's Deceive dealt incorrect damage with critical strike ratio.
Fixed a bug where Rite of Ascension may seal enhanced abilities.
Bugfixes & QoL Changes
Fixed a bug where Baron Nashor's max stacks of Void Corruption was higher than intended.
Fixed a bug where Serpent's Fang's Shield Reaver damage applied Omnivamp.
Fixed a bug where Diana's R VFX may not play properly around different areas of the map.
Fixed a bug where Viego possessing Kled could result in an infinite looping sound effect.
Upcoming Skins & Chromas
The following skins will be released in this patch
BardNerf
CassiopeiaAdjusted
EkkoBuff
KassadinBuff
Master YiBuff
NautilusNerf
SeraphineNerf
SyndraNerf
ViegoBuff
ZaahenBuff
ZeriNerf
Guinsoo's RagebladeBuff
New Fiora
New Galio
New Poppy
New Shyvana
New Xin Zhao
Anivia
Gangplank
Heimerdinger
Kayle
Malzahar
Nasus
Warwick
