Welcome to our patch notes breakdown for League of Legends Season 26.13 (Split 2 for LoL)!
Let’s break down all the new changes in LoL coming this week.
We recommend following along with the official patch notes since we won’t be listing all the specific stat changes, but rather focusing on the impact of the changes and the champions updated place in the current meta.
If you’re wondering how these changes will affect the meta, check out our LoL champion tier list!
Buffs, Nerfs, and Changes
New Hero Released: Locke
Locke will be released sometime on Patch 26.13. Here’s a breakdown of his abilities:
Passive - Silver Stake
His auto-attacks are empowered and deal bonus damage to enemies. The more missing health the enemy has, the more damage he will deal to them.
Q - Ritual Nails
Locke throws a nail, dealing damage and slowing enemies that it hits. He can activate this ability up to 3 times in total. The slow is increases with the more stacks of Q he lands on the same target.
If Locke attacks the champion who is hit by the nails, it will deal increased damage and consume all the nails.
W - Soul Ignition
He gains bonus movement speed briefly. While this ability is active, he suffers from true damage based on his current health. When recast or when the ability ends, he heals based on the damage taken. You can recast this ability when you’re CC locked as well.
E - Ashen Pursuit
He blinks, dealing damage to targets. He will then dash towards them, dealing damage to enemies in the path. Any enemies who are impacted by Ritual Nail stacks will be triggered. If you get a kill, then this ability will be reset.
Ultimate - Purgatory
He throws out an AOE ability that deals damage and slows enemies in the area. While active, enemies who are below the threshold will be executed. After the Ultimate times out, it will remain on the map where Locke can pick it up to reduce his Ultimate’s cooldown and get some additional stats.
Here are some other Locke articles we have been working on:
Champion Buffs and Nerfs
Aphelios (Buff)
- Aphelios’ weapon scaling is increased for Calibrum, Severum, Infernum and Crescendum.
- It will benefit Aphelios as a whole, but I am unsure whether it will make him a pick or a ban.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 49% win rate.
Bard (Nerf)
- Bard’s Passive damage is reduced. This is going to make him weaker during skirmishes with the enemy in the bot lane. It will benefit everyone facing Bard, as his burst from Q and his empowered auto are quite high.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 50.3% win rate.
Brand (Nerf)
- Brand’s base mana regen is changed, which is going to help him poke and push waves.
- His E mana cost is increased, which is not going to help him.
- Brands’ Passive detonation damage is reduced. This will make him weaker during team fights and in full-scale skirmishes with the enemy.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 54.4% win rate.
Cassiopeia (Nerf)
- Her health per level is reduced. This will make her weaker against all champions in the game, and Cass will be squishier overall.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 48% win rate.
Draven (Buff)
- Draven’s E cooldown is reduced. This will help him go for picks during the laning phase, and also give him extra protection vs all-ins.
- His Ultimate damage fall-off is reduced as well. This is going to make his Ultimate deal more damage in team fights.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 47.8%win rate.
K'Sante (Nerf)
- K’Sante’s shield strength is reduced.
- It will reduce his durability and make trading a bit riskier for K’Sante.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 46.2% win rate.
Kai'Sa (Buff)
- Kai’Sa’s W cooldown is reduced. This will make both AD and AP Kai’Sa stronger. It will also help her in ARAM game modes.
- Her Ult shield is also increased, which is going to help Kai’Sa in those post-6 skirmishes.
- While these buffs are cool, I don’t think they are going to make much of a difference in the current meta.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 48.4% win rate.
LeBlanc (Buff)
- Leblanc Ult version of her core abilities damage is increased.
- This will make her a bigger threat post-6, and her kill pressure will increase.
- I fully expect Leblanc to be picked more often moving forward.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 48.5% win rate.
Olaf (Buff)
- Olaf’s Q damage against monsters is increased. It will make Olaf’s jungle clear faster and healthier.
- We might start seeing Olaf in the Jungle role moving forward.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 51.2% win rate.
Poppy (Buff)
- Poppy’s Q monster damage cap is increased. This will make Poppy’s jungle clear more efficient and faster.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 50.9% win rate.
Qiyana (Buff)
- Qiyana’s Q damage versus monsters is increased.
- This will make Qiyana a stronger Jungler and make her clear speed even quicker.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 47% win rate.
Rek'Sai (Nerf)
- Rek’Sai’s E damage is changed. This is going to make her weaker in those 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 fights. She will be weaker in those skirmishes.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 48.7% win rate.
Rumble (Nerf)
- Rumble’s Q damage is changed.
- This is going to make his trading less effective early on, but more effective later in the game.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 46.8% win rate.
Senna (Nerf)
- Her Passive soul drop rate is heavily reduced when she is last hitting. Her Crit damage reduction is changed.
- Senna’s Q cooldown refund has changed as well.
- Let’s face it, Senna is very strong right now, and these changes are going to definitely make an impact for both ADC and Support Senna.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 54.9% win rate in the ADC role.
Sion (Nerf)
- Sion’s mana cost of his W is increased, and the base damage of his Q is reduced (max damage is unchanged, though).
- The W change is going to mean he needs to keep an eye on his mana bar before looking to trade.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 51.2% win rate.
Vex (Buff)
- Her E cooldown and Ultimate reset timer are changed.
- This change to Vex is quite good because the E change will help with wave clear and poke, and her Ultimate change could help her get more kills or clean up fights.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 51.5% win rate.
Zaahen (Buff)
- Zaahen’s W cooldown is reduced. This is going to give him more all-in potential nd pick potential. This will increase his kill pressure moving forward.
- On patch 26.12, they had a 50.9% win rate.
Item Changes
Doran's Helm
- Armor and MR is reduced
- However, it gives more health.
Imperial Mandate
- The build path has changed.
- It now gives less AP, but gives more ability haste, and the command Vulnerability is increased.
Thank you for reading. We hope you enjoyed this patch breakdown. How do you feel about this patch? Let us know in the comments. As always, if you have any questions, find us on our Discord!