League Patch 26.16 brings, among other things, balance changes for Azir, Bel’Veth, Nasus, and several fighter items.
Patch 26.16 may look like a standard balance patch at first glance. But on closer inspection, it is about more than just a few champion buffs and nerfs. According to Matthew “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, Lead Gameplay Designer for League of Legends, Riot is targeting several larger meta issues at once: AD mids, AP junglers, fighter items, ADC resistances and the first effects of the new Season 3 ranked changes.
Azir, Gwen and Kennen Are Getting Help
Among the champion buffs, Azir stands out the most. The Emperor of the Sands has recently been almost absent from both the pro meta and regular play. For a champion who has historically had to be balanced very carefully around pro play, that is notable. Riot is therefore looking to buff him moderately, even though Phroxzon mentions that some players have already been experimenting with Press the Attack and that the build looks stronger than it may seem at first.
Gwen, meanwhile, is receiving a more top-lane-focused buff. Her healing in particular should matter more there. That fits her identity as a scaling AP duelist who becomes dangerous in longer fights, but should not necessarily dominate every lane from the start.
Kennen is also being buffed, but with a clear goal: Riot does not want Kennen to become a super lane-dominant pick again. Instead, his scaling should help define him more through huge teamfight ultimates. That makes sense, because Kennen has often become problematic in the past when he could reliably control both lane and teamfights.
Bel’Veth Is Being Adjusted Again After Patch 26.15
Bel’Veth is once again in focus. After Riot pushed her more toward her late-game fantasy in Patch 26.15, she is now showing especially strong results in average skill brackets, according to Phroxzon. As a result, she is receiving a nerf aimed more at regular play and later stages of the game.
What is interesting, however, is that Riot also wants to add a bit more power specifically to her level 6 spike. That shows Bel’Veth is not simply meant to become weaker. Riot is still trying to shape her power curve more cleanly: less constantly oppressive, but with clearer moments where she feels strong.
Nasus Gets an Adjusted Stacking System
Nasus is also receiving an interesting adjustment in Patch 26.16. His Q, Siphoning Strike, will now grant 4 stacks instead of 3 from regular last hits. In return, the bonus from champions, large minions, and monsters is being reduced from 12 stacks to 10.
This is not a simple buff or a straight nerf. Riot is shifting Nasus’ scaling slightly away from individual big stacking moments and more toward consistent farming. Players who last-hit regular minions cleanly will be rewarded a bit more reliably over time. At the same time, Nasus will snowball slightly less from cannon minions, jungle camps, or champion kills.
That matters because Nasus’ entire game plan is built around his Q stacks. Too many stacks too early can quickly turn him into a frustrating side-lane monster. Too little access to stacks, however, makes his core champion fantasy fail. This change therefore looks like an attempt to make his growth smoother without removing his identity as a late-game scaler.
Riot Wants to Make AD Mids and AP Junglers More Attractive
One of the most interesting points is not about individual champions, but team compositions. Riot wants to encourage more AD mids while also strengthening AP junglers. To do that, changes around Berserker options and AP jungle pet damage are planned.
The logic behind that is fairly clear: if AP junglers work better, it becomes easier to pick AD champions in mid lane without the whole team ending up with too much physical damage. At the same time, AP junglers benefit when AD mids are a realistic option. That could make drafts more flexible and open up the mid-jungle dynamic a bit.
Especially after MSI and EWC, that matters. If too many strong compositions revolve around the same fighters, bruisers and standard damage profiles, the meta quickly becomes narrow. Patch 26.16 looks like an attempt to create more viable alternatives.
Sundered Sky Is Being Nerfed, Competitors Get More Room
Sundered Sky is another major focus. Phroxzon describes the item as a strong generalist that does too many things at once: healing, damage and durability. Items like that are difficult to balance because they are not only strong in specific situations, but often feel correct for many AD fighters almost all the time.
Riot is therefore nerfing Sundered Sky while buffing some of its competitors. The goal is for the first and second item slots for AD fighters to become more contested again. Instead of always buying the same all-rounder, players should have to choose more deliberately between items with sharper strengths and weaknesses.
Sunfire Aegis also remains under observation. Riot has seen the discussion around the item, but does not currently seem to view it as clearly too strong or clearly too weak. The planned changes will go live first, and Riot will reassess afterward.
Why All ADCs Are Getting Magic Resist
A larger system point is additional Magic Resist for ADCs. Phroxzon explains that Riot is applying this broadly because it is making a structural statement about the class. The relationship between burst and ADCs should be preserved regardless of which lane a marksman is played in.
That means champions like Akshan or Kindred could also be affected, even though they are not traditional bot lane ADCs. Riot wants class rules to be easier to understand and maintain, rather than balancing every champion through special cases. That may briefly make some individual picks stronger than needed, but should create clearer system logic long-term.
Ranked Changes Are Showing Early Effects
Finally, Phroxzon also discussed the Season 3 ranked changes from Patch 26.15. According to Riot, internal data already shows meaningful improvement in match quality relative to queue times. For Apex players in particular, Riot is still asking for feedback.
In smaller regions such as MENA and OCE, queue times appear to have increased too much. Riot is therefore looking to pull back some of those changes during 26.16 so strong players can still reliably find games.
Patch 26.16 is not a spectacular rework patch, but it is an important fine-tuning patch. Riot is trying to break up stuck meta patterns without completely reshaping the game. AD mids, AP junglers, fighter items and ADC resistances in particular could feel noticeably different after this patch.