A very buff-heavy patch for the post-Worlds meta in League.
While Worlds 2026 continues on Patch 26.20, Riot has already shifted its attention back to the meta. According to Matthew “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, Lead Gameplay Designer for League of Legends, Patch 26.22 brings ten champion buffs, three nerfs, Mel’s major midscope update and changes to Overlord’s Bloodmail and Doran’s Bow. The patch is scheduled to release on November 4.
Viktor Gets His Scaling Back
One of the most interesting buffs is going to Viktor. Riot weakened him in Patch 26.21 through his Movement Speed and Q shield in order to emphasize his weakness when moving around the map without assistance. According to Phroxzon, those nerfs ended up overshooting slightly.
Instead of simply reverting them, Riot is giving Viktor more scaling again. His health growth increases from 100 to 105 per level, while the AP ratio on his ultimate rises from 50 to 60 percent.
The direction is clear: Viktor should remain more vulnerable when rotating without help, but receive more payoff in the late game. Riot is keeping the new weakness and returning power where the champion’s identity already lies.
Locke Loses Early Damage and Mobility
On the other side, Locke receives one of the most notable nerfs of the patch.
According to Phroxzon, Riot is generally happy with how his strengths and weaknesses have developed since release. Two areas are still too strong, however: the early damage on his Q and the duration of the Movement Speed on his W.
The bonus damage on Q is reduced at every rank. Because the effect can stack up to three times, the change adds up to significantly more than the individual numbers may suggest. Phroxzon estimates roughly 30 less damage at maximum stacks.
His W duration also drops from six to five seconds. Riot wants to create clearer windows where Locke is genuinely mobile instead of allowing him to constantly spam the ability while moving around the map.
Riot Buffs Several Scaling Champions
Patch 26.22 is noticeably buff-heavy overall.
Aurelion Sol gets more damage on his E. Riot wants E-max and W-max second to be closer in strength because many players intuitively level E second even though W currently performs better.
Kayle receives lower cooldowns on Q and R, while Corki’s ultimate gains more damage and better AD ratios. Smolder also gets another follow-up buff after Riot felt the previous one had less impact than intended, with the explosion on his W receiving more base damage.
Rumble is another interesting case. His ultimate gets a higher AP ratio per second. According to Phroxzon, Rumble had been one of the strongest champions in pro play for a long time. Now that the pro-play patches are finished, Riot can return some Solo Queue power.
Once again, that highlights the difference between Worlds balance and normal League: champions that had to be kept down for professional play can become slightly stronger once the tournament window is over.
Riot Deliberately Gives Shen Jungle Some Help
A smaller but interesting buff is going to Shen.
Riot believes he is already in a good position in top lane and support, but deliberately wants to make his jungle role a little stronger. His Q therefore receives a higher modifier against monsters.
Phroxzon explicitly mentions player enjoyment as part of the reasoning: some players have discovered Shen Jungle and enjoy the playstyle, so Riot wants to give it a little more support.
This is not an attempt to suddenly turn Shen into a meta jungler. But it shows that Riot does not always want to remove niche roles as long as they are not unhealthy for the game.
Overlord’s Bloodmail Should Become Less of a Sett Item
Riot is also taking a more structural approach with items.
Overlord’s Bloodmail gains ten additional AD, while its maximum bonus from missing health drops from twelve to ten percent total AD. That may initially look like a simple tradeoff, but according to Phroxzon, the main goal is moving the item away from being so heavily tied to Sett.
The item is currently too weak overall while also being too Sett-skewed. Riot wants it to become more attractive for other champions who convert health into damage, such as Dr. Mundo or Sion.
Doran’s Bow moves in the opposite direction. Riot likes the basic tradeoff compared to Doran’s Blade, but believes Bow is slightly too strong, particularly at higher skill levels. The item therefore loses one AD, dropping from eight to seven.
Yasuo and Thresh Get Smaller Corrections
The other two champion nerfs are much lighter.
Thresh loses two base AD and 50 damage on his ultimate. Yasuo loses five percent total AD ratio on Steel Tempest. Neither change is designed to remove the champions from the meta.
For Yasuo in particular, the nerf fits Riot’s direction from recent patches. The developers have already tried to make his laning phase less safe without destroying his first-item power spike. Patch 26.22 pushes him slightly further in that direction.
Mel Is Still the Biggest Part of the Patch
The largest change in 26.22 is, of course, Mel’s midscope update.
Riot is completely removing her reflect and replacing it with a more defensive W that destroys projectiles, protects allies and grants Movement Speed. At the same time, Mel is being shifted from an early lane bully toward more of a scaling mage.
We already covered the midscope in detail separately, but the important part in the patch context is this: Mel is not simply another buff or nerf. Riot is changing a core mechanic of her kit because the reflect generated too much frustration even when her win rate was low.
26.22 Is a Classic Post-Worlds Patch
That is why Patch 26.22 feels very different from the updates leading directly into Worlds.
There is far less concern about keeping professional drafts stable. Instead, Riot is buffing scaling champions such as Viktor, Aurelion Sol and Kayle, giving niche picks like Shen Jungle more room, and correcting Solo Queue outliers like Locke.
That is what makes the patch interesting. Riot no longer has to worry that a small Rumble or Viktor buff could completely reshape the Worlds meta.
Patch 26.22 can once again focus more directly on what feels good in regular League.