League of Legends Patch 26.3 Breakdown: Champion Buffs, Nerfs, and Patch Notes Explained

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League of Legends Patch 26.3 has arrived with a host of updates that will shape gameplay across ranked play, champions, systems, and items. This update aims to balance key champions, refine season progression systems, and adjust the strength of certain mechanics while preserving Riot’s vision for seasonal gameplay. From meaningful buffs for underperforming champions to targeted nerfs against overperforming picks, Patch 26.3 sets an exciting tone for players climbing the ladder in Season 2026.

League of Legends Patch 26.3 brings a wide range of balance and quality of life updates that impact ranked play, champions, systems, and items. Ranked adjustments focus on solving negative LP gains at high tiers and improving fairness with a new climbing indicator, stricter Aegis of Valor eligibility, and tweaks to duo performance at the top of Challenger. Champion buffs include stronger scaling and base effects for picks like Ahri, Ezreal, Kayn, Nunu, Vi, Xin Zhao, and others to boost their presence and jungle effectiveness, while champions such as Braum, Diana, Ekko, Nilah, Riven, Ryze, Varus, Volibear, and Zed receive targeted nerfs to curb overperformance or reduce synergy with popular items.

Patch 26.3 Full Preview!

Ranked
– Apex Negative LP Gains: We've found and are resolving the cause of some of the Apex tier negative LP issues. There will still be some negative LP gains at the super top of the ladder as the very very best players are pushing the limits of… pic.twitter.com/zzDjjGnQuf

— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) January 28, 2026

Patch 26.3 also adjusts broader systems and items to refine game pacing and strategy. System changes feature cost reductions for Actualizer, changes to Cash Back and Phase Rush effectiveness, nerfs to defensive boots and Triple Tonic, and updates to Champion Bounties and turret plate resistances. Items like Dusk and Dawn and Protoplasm Harness are rebalanced with shifts to health, stats, and scaling, encouraging new build paths while maintaining competitive balance. Together, these updates aim to create a more balanced and dynamic competitive experience across Summoner’s Rift.

LOL Patch 26.3 Full Preview:

SUMMONER’S RIFT

CHAMPION BUFFS
Ahri — W CD: 10-6 → 9-5
Bel’veth — HP growth: 99 → 105 — R base on-hit damage: 6/8/10 → 6/10/14
Briar — HP growth: 95 → 100 — Armor growth: 4.2 → 4.5 — Ability health cost: 6% current HP → 5% current HP
Draven — AD Growth: 3 → 3.4
Ezreal — AD Growth: 3.25 → 3.75 — E AD Ratio 50% → 60%
Hecarim — Q base damage: 60-160 → 60-180 — Q bonus damage ramp: 3% + 4%/100 bonus AD → 3% + 3%/100 bonus AD — This is a buff until 225 bonus AD
Heimerdinger — HP growth: 101 → 105 — W first rocket base damage: 40-140 → 50-150
Kayn — Q base damage: 75-175 → 75-195
Maokai — Q Base Damage: 65 / 110 / 155 / 200 / 245 → 75 / 120 / 165 / 210 / 255
Naafiri — P monster mod: 1.35x → 1.55x
Nunu — W maximum base damage: 150-330 → 180-360 — E base damage per hit: 14-42 → 15-45
Trundle — Armor growth: 3.9 → 4.5 — AD growth: 4.0 → 4.5
Tryndamere — AD growth: 4.0 → 4.5
Vi — Health growth: 99 → 105 — AD growth: 3.0 → 3.5
Xin Zhao — P max HP heal: 3/3.5/4% → 3/4/5% — E bonus AS: 40-60% → 40-80%
Yone — Q damage: 25-125 + 1.05 total AD → 25-125 + 1.1 total AD
Zaahen — Q monster mod: 1.75x → 2x — E bonus monster damage: 50 → 75

CHAMPION NERFS
Braum — Health: 630 → 610 — Q Base Damage: 75-275 → 75-255
Diana — Passive Damage on Monsters: 280% → 230%
Ekko — Passive AP ratio: 90% → 80% — Passive Damage on Monsters: 300% → 270%
Nilah — Base AD: 60 → 58 — Armor Growth: 4.5 → 4.2
Riven — P total AD ratio: 30-50% → 30-45% — Q bonus AD ratio: 65-85% → 60-80%
Ryze — W damage: 60-180 + .7 AP + 4% bonus mana → 60-180 + .6 AP + 3% bonus mana
Varus — Armor growth: 4.6 → 4.0 — W on-hit AP ratio: .35 → .25 — W max HP AP ratio: 1.5% → 1.3%
Volibear — Q Damage: 10 / 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 (+120% bonus AD) → 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 (+140% bonus AD) — E CD: 14 → 16 — E Non-Champion Damage Cap: 150 / 255 / 380 / 495 / 610 (+70% AP) from 190 / 305 / 420 / 535 / 650 (+70% AP)
Zed — P monster mod: 1.2x → 0.5x — P epic monster damage cap: 300 → 100

CHAMPION ADJUSTMENTS
Jayce — Melee Q base damage: 60-285 → 60-310 — Ranged Q damage: 80-310 + 1.4 bonus AD → 80-285 + 1.3 bonus AD — Q bonus monster damage: 25 → 10 — R cannon armor/MR shred: 10-25% → 20-35%
Mel — See Riot Emizery reddit thread

SYSTEM BUFFS
Actualizer — Total cost: 3100 → 2800

SYSTEM NERFS
Cash Back — Cash back: 8% → 7.5%
Phase Rush — Ranged champion effectiveness: 75% → 50% — Bonus move speed: 18.75-37.5% → 12.5-25%
T3 Defensive boots — Shield at level 8+: 55-120 + 7% max HP → 90-190 + 8% BONUS HP (This is a nerf of ~30% and is similar to last year’s tuning)
Triple Tonic — Elixir of Force bonus: 30 → 25

SYSTEM ADJUSTMENTS
Turret Plates — Temporary Resists: 20-100 per plate → 30-50 per plate (both scale with number of nearby enemy champions)
Champion Bounties — Devaluation rate: 1 per 2.5g given out + 1 per 3.5g given out → Revaluation rate from farming: 1 per 5g earned + 1 per 7g earned
Dusk and Dawn — Spellblade damage: 100% base AD + 10% AP → 75% base AD + 10% AP — Health: 300 → 350
Endless Hunger — Additional Long Sword in build path — Cost: 3000 → 3100 — AD: 60 → 65
Protoplasm Harness — Haste: 15 → 20 — Lifeline max health gain increased from 200 → 200-300 (level scaling) — Lifeline healing 200-400 + 250% armor + 250% MR → 200-400 + 175% armor + 175% MR

Ranked

• Apex Negative LP Gains: We’ve found and are resolving the cause of some of the Apex tier negative LP issues. There will still be some negative LP gains at the super top of the ladder as the very very best players are pushing the limits of what’s possible in the system, but it shouldn’t be as widespread as it is
• Aegis of Valor Eligibility: We’re upping the value required for Aegis claims from C to B; we’re seeing C’s be too easy of a criteria, we think B still accounts for players needing to “play well enough” while accounting for players being on an unfamiliar role
• Duo at top of Challenger: After being able to observe the power of duos on Live and how they’re performing across the ladder, the very top of the ladder duos (eg. rank 1&2 together or 2x top 10) are too strong together. So we’re making some adjustments to make these games more fair.
• Enabling climbing indicator on 26.3: Climbing indicator is a feature that will help players understand whether someone’s rank is low, but their MMR is higher (they are still climbing!). This will help players have a better idea about fairness of the match when there’s say a Silver in a Plat game

Jungle Champs

• A lot of the proposed changes yesterday that were causing alarm were actually Jungle specific changes; don’t worry we’re not trying to buff Naafiri mid for example
• In the new Season we wanted to increase Jungler ability to take objectives as part of their unique role power, amongst a few things like Epic monster durability adjustments (+armor to Drakes for example)
• This & some new item additions caused a large internal shift of which champs were strong and weak in the jungle
• This patch is our first pass at rebalancing these champs across the board
• In general, many AD junglers are getting buffed, AP jungler nerfs (along with the Dusk & Dawn context from yesterday)

Item Changes

• There’s a bunch of concern about Riot specialing certain champs (like Dusk and Dawn users)
• For the most part, this is targeted at being power neutral on the item, but shifting its power budget somewhat
• Some champions like Diana, Ekko, Varus synergize disproportionately extremely well with D&D and will receive targeted nerfs (but still find the item very attractive)
• Actualizer is being buffed, and so to compensate as it’s current only user, Ryze is receiving a nerf

Mel

• Riot Emizery put out thoughts on the changelist and I tweeted about it a while ago; can read up on thoughts there for more context
• We will follow up where necessary for any balance adjustments required for Mel
• We intend for these changes to overall be winrate neutral, but frustration down

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