Gamescope

Patch notes

Patch 16.12

Data Dragon 16.12.1 · 6/9/2026 · Official notes

TL;DR

A spicy start to Season 2 Act 2

We've got some more changes to follow up the recent Season 2 & support meta with a nerf to AP Xin Zhao and buff to Yuumi, as well as preparation with an eye towards MSI on the patch after this one through creating opportunities for some diversity in champion picks in the tournament. While some of these changes are specifically pro-oriented (sorry, Varus), most of them should be pretty applicable across all levels of play, like Lee Sin and Nocturne being less menacing in the jungle. We'll be continuing this approach for one more patch before going back to business as usual. Looking for more information on all things League of Legends? Check out our community-run wiki here! Wrong patch notes? You can find the TFT patch notes here!

Champions

  • CHANGEDAatrox

    We're looking to give Aatrox some love as he's been sitting on the sidelines for some time now, even though signs point to the Darkin being a solid pick in the current meta.

    We're looking to give Aatrox some love as he's been sitting on the sidelines for some time now, even though signs point to the Darkin being a solid pick in the current meta. We're putting more power into his Q sweet spot to reward him for his core skill check and make him a real threat against lumbering tanks and squishies alike.

    • Q - The Darkin Blade

      Sweet Spot Bonus Damage: 70 → 75

  • NERFEDGwen

    Gwen has been cut out of the meta for quite some time across all skill brackets.

    Gwen has been cut out of the meta for quite some time across all skill brackets. She lost some power with 26.09's minor rework to Dusk and Dawn, so we're giving her some of that power back in the early game. She'll remain a scaling pick, but a weaker first item spike has cost her early game a bit too much. These changes should help Gwen players live that snip and skip fantasy at all stages!

    • Q - Snip Snip!

      Base Damage Per Snip: 10/13.5/17/20.5/24 → 10/14/18/22/26

    • E -Skip 'n Slash

      Bonus Attack Speed: 20/35/50/65/80% → 30/42.5/55/67.5/80%

  • BUFFEDHwei

    Hwei's 26.08 changes to how his ability slows stack and interact with other sources of slows had a larger negative impact than expected.

    Hwei's 26.08 changes to how his ability slows stack and interact with other sources of slows had a larger negative impact than expected. While we had put in a compensation buff along with that change, it's clear after a few patches that he has ended up worse off from the change, so we are giving him some power spread between his Q and E to keep all his abilities feeling relevant.

    • Q - Subject

      Disaster: QQ Damage: 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+70% AP) (+3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7% Target Max HP) → 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+80% AP) (+3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7% Target Max HP)

    • Q - Subject

      Disaster: QW Damage: 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+25% AP), increased to up to 120 / 201.875 / 302.5 / 421.875 / 560 (+50 / 59.375 / 68.75 / 78.125 / 87.5% AP) → 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+30% AP), increased to up to 120 / 201.875 / 302.5 / 421.875 / 560 (+60 / 71.25 / 82.5 / 93.75 / 105% AP)

    • Q - Subject

      Disaster: QE Slow: 30% → 35%

    • E - Subject

      Torment: Cooldown: 13 / 12.5 / 12 / 11.5 / 11s → 12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10s

  • BUFFEDJax

    Our favorite Grandmaster at Angling has been patiently waiting for his time to strike.

    Our favorite Grandmaster at Angling has been patiently waiting for his time to strike. Jax is meant to be a high-damage threat who ramps up in fights, but currently he's been a (fish)bait pick against durable opponents. These changes should help with that, without pushing him over the (fishing) line.

    • Q - Leap Strike

      Mana Cost: 65 → 50

    • E - Counter Strike

      Target Max Health Damage: 3.5% minimum damage / 7% maximum damage → 4% minimum damage / 8% maximum damage

  • NERFEDLee Sin

    The recent changes taking away some of Lee Sin's kit restrictions have been cool for Lee players, but he's clearly just too powerful now.

    The recent changes taking away some of Lee Sin's kit restrictions have been cool for Lee players, but he's clearly just too powerful now. With more outplay potential, we are nerfing his raw damage to balance him out.

    • Base Stats

      AD Growth: 3.7 → 3.4

    • Q1 - Sonic Wave

      Damage: 65 / 95 / 125 / 155 / 185 (+95% bonus AD) → 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+90% bonus AD)

    • Q2 - Resonating Strike

      Damage: 65 / 95 / 125 / 155 / 185 (+95% bonus AD) → 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+90% bonus AD)

  • CHANGEDNocturne

    Nocturne has been in quite a strong spot for a while, especially in the higher echelons of play.

    Nocturne has been in quite a strong spot for a while, especially in the higher echelons of play. We like how distinct he feels to play with his relatively low ultimate cooldown, but that means we are going to pull power out of his 1v1 and farming since he has such strong tools to quickly create unequal fights.

    • Q - Duskbringer

      Damage: 65 / 110 / 155 / 200 / 245 → 65 / 105 / 145 / 185 / 225

  • BUFFEDOrianna

    Often called League's "perfect champ," Orianna in recent years has been doing it all and more: dominating lane, protecting allies, and outputting extremely reliable damage in teamfights.

    Often called League's "perfect champ," Orianna in recent years has been doing it all and more: dominating lane, protecting allies, and outputting extremely reliable damage in teamfights. As the highest pro priority in recent patches, we feel like too much of her power is in early lane dominance. She should still show up - just more situationally and for 3k elo shockwaves rather than early game bullying.

    • Base Stats

      Base Health: 585 → 565

    • Passive - Clockwork Windup

      Damage Increase Per Stack: 20% → 15%

    • R - Command

      Shockwave: Damage: 250/400/550 (+95% AP) → 225/350/475 (+110% AP)

  • CHANGEDRyze

    Ryze's early game trading has only gotten stronger with Deathfire Touch.

    Ryze's early game trading has only gotten stronger with Deathfire Touch. For a champion known as a scaling combo mage, we feel his laning has gotten too unassailable. So like Orianna, we're tuning down his early game a bit to keep his power budget in the late game as he's intended to be.

    • Base Stats

      Base Health: 645 → 620

    • Base Stats

      Base AD: 58 → 55

  • CHANGEDSylas

    Sylas is one of the champions who has come out worse for wear since the start of Season 2.

    Sylas is one of the champions who has come out worse for wear since the start of Season 2. We think he is still a powerful early lane bully, but he's lost enough power that his scaling is critically low to the point he's completely one note, so we are helping him out there.

    • Q - Chain Lash

      Initial Damage: 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 (+40% AP) → 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+45% AP)

    • W - Kingslayer

      Heal Amount: 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 (+20% AP) (+5% Sylas' Bonus HP), increased by up to 100% based on Sylas' missing health → 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 (+30% AP) (+5% Sylas' Bonus HP), increased by up to 100% based on Sylas' missing health

  • BUFFEDSyndra

    Pass the ball, Ori! Syndra has had some of her more reliable damage stripped away recently in W and R, so we want to give her the tools to start pushing for that scaling fantasy with Dark Sphere, her highest variance bread and butter ability.

    Pass the ball, Ori! Syndra has had some of her more reliable damage stripped away recently in W and R, so we want to give her the tools to start pushing for that scaling fantasy with Dark Sphere, her highest variance bread and butter ability. We're hoping this mix of exciting and functional buffs gets players across skill brackets interested in her untapped power.

    • Base Stats

      Base Health: 563 → 583

    • Q - Dark Sphere

      Damage: 80-220 (+65% AP) → 90-230 (+70% AP)

  • NERFEDTristana

    it's been two years since we've seen marksmen run over the mid meta, and while we absolutely don't want to go back to that world, we do feel like some marksmen in mid make for an interesting flavor of game.

    it's been two years since we've seen marksmen run over the mid meta, and while we absolutely don't want to go back to that world, we do feel like some marksmen in mid make for an interesting flavor of game. Tristana makes for a good candidate as she's been absent since we added mana costs to her Q in a couple seasons back. We'll be pulling back on some of those nerfs here and improving her level scaling generally.

    • Base Stats

      AD Growth: 2.9→ 3.4

    • Q - Rapid Fire

      Mana: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50→ 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35

  • CHANGEDVarus

    Varus has steadily become the highest priority ADC & top laner over the course of the year among the top tiers of gameplay.

    Varus has steadily become the highest priority ADC & top laner over the course of the year among the top tiers of gameplay. While the changes to Experimental Hexplate should help alleviate his dominance in top lane, in bot lane, we're looking to further disincentivize oppressive early game focused lethality builds, while being relatively less impactful to the most common on-hit builds and helping them scale a bit better.

    • Passive - Living Vengeance

      Damage: 53.33 / 100 / 146.67 / 193.33 / 240 (+100% bonus AD) to 80 / 150 / 220 / 290 / 360 (+150% bonus AD) → 53.33 / 100 / 146.67 / 193.33 / 240 (+80% bonus AD) to 80 / 150 / 220 / 290 / 360 (+120% bonus AD)

    • W - Blighted Quiver

      On-Hit Damage: 8 / 17 / 26 / 35 / 44 (+15% bonus AD) (+25% AP) → 4 / 13 / 22 / 31 / 40 (+15% bonus AD) (+25% AP)

  • CHANGEDXin Zhao

    AP Xin Zhao continues being far too strong in mid lane.

    AP Xin Zhao continues being far too strong in mid lane. We are following up last patch's adjustment with a straight nerf this time to his ability to sustain both his health and mana in lane.

    • Passive - Determination

      Mana Cost: 60 / 55 / 50 / 45 / 40 → 60

    • E - Audacious Charge

      Mana Cost: 50 → 60

  • BUFFEDYuumi

    As the only champion in the game with built in Heal/Shield power, Yuumi was hit hardest by the Moonstone Renewer mechanics changes in 26.09.

    As the only champion in the game with built in Heal/Shield power, Yuumi was hit hardest by the Moonstone Renewer mechanics changes in 26.09. We are giving her AP ratios a compensation buff to help keep enchanter items optimal for her.

    • Passive - Feline Friendship

      Heal Amount: 20 - 110 (+25% AP) (Levels 1 - 18) → 20 - 110 (+30% AP) (Levels 1 - 18)

    • E - Zoomies

      Shield Amount: 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 / 165 (+30% AP) → 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 / 165 (+40% AP)

Systems & modes

  • CHANGED

    Teleport

    You get teleport, you get teleport, everyone gets teleport! In a post-rolequest world, we're still monitoring how top laners that don't want to use combat summoners can have their gameplay fantasies furthered by Enhanced Teleport.

    You get teleport, you get teleport, everyone gets teleport! In a post-rolequest world, we're still monitoring how top laners that don't want to use combat summoners can have their gameplay fantasies furthered by Enhanced Teleport. The current state of top lane TP Shields is not incentivizing the kind of action or tradeoffs we like, and it's pretty clear that expectations are being broken by a 30 second shield, so we're making an adjustment here that we hope encourages more immediate crossmap action.

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