Patch notes
Patch 16.1
Data Dragon 16.1.1 · 1/7/2026 · Official notes
TL;DR
Demacia rises in Patch 26.1 🛡️
Welcome to a brand new season of League of Legends! We've got a plethora of far-reaching changes in this patch so if you don't want to read thousands of words, here's a brief overview: Strategic gameplay moves toward turret pushing and away from epic monster contests with tuning changes and the brand-new Crystalline Overgrowth. Role power is rebalanced, with brand-new Role Quests for each role. New vision mechanics to learn and master await you with Faelights. New items for each class yearn for a new home in your inventory, plus most champions' base crit damage is now 200%. Ranked play has new changes to reduce the pain of auto-filling. The game is also a little faster, both in conventional SR and Swiftplay. If you want to learn more about these changes, check out the dev blog here or simply read on! Alongside the new Seasonal changes we have the new Demacia themed Summoner's Rift map, ARAM Mayhem balance updates, an overhaul to Swiftplay to make it even swifter, Lobby Hostage taking, and more! Best of luck in your climbs, or your augment rolls, and we'll see you in Demacia! 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
CHANGEDAkshanAkshan's abilities currently scale crit in three different ways and we're making that more consistent here.
Akshan's abilities currently scale crit in three different ways and we're making that more consistent here. His passive auto, being functionally a true basic attack, will crit for 100% value. Meanwhile, the crit scaling on E and R are going down as compensation. We're also doing some discretionary adjustments to allow Q-max and E-max to perform at similar levels of power by adjusting their rank-up incentives.
Passive - Dirty Fighting
P second shot crit damage: 30% of bonus crit damage (1.225/1.345x) → 100% of bonus crit damage: 2/2.3x
Passive - Dirty Fighting
Fixed a bug where the second shot could bypass blind if it didn't crit.
Q - Avengerang
Damage: 5/25/45/65/85 (+ 80% total AD) → 45/75/105/135/165 (+ 70% bonus AD)
E - Heroic Swing
Damage: 15/30/45/60/75 (+ 15% total AD) → 8/16/24/32/40 (+ 25% total AD)
E - Heroic Swing
Crit Scaling: 1.575/1.935x → 50% of bonus crit damage: 1.5/1.65x
E - Heroic Swing
Clarified that damage scales with attack speed in tooltip.
R - Comeuppance
Crit Scaling: 1.5/1.7x → 30% of bonus crit damage: 1.3/1.42x
CHANGEDApheliosAphelios has a lot of intricacies and some of his abilities try to behave exactly like basic attacks.
Aphelios has a lot of intricacies and some of his abilities try to behave exactly like basic attacks. With that in mind, we're converting Severum's active to total attack damage in line with similar abilities and generally lowering the bonus AD ratios of several abilities that already scale well due to firing off basic attacks that can crit as part of their cast.
Calibrum
Bonus Damage per Mark: 15 (+ 20% bonus AD) → 15 (+ 10% bonus AD)
Severum
Onslaught Damage per Hit: 10/15/20/25/30/35/40 (+ 22/25/28/31/34/37/40% bonus AD) → (+ 19/22.5/26/29.5/33/36.5/40% total AD)
Severum
Still critically strikes for 100% crit damage (1.75/2.15x → 2.0/2.3x)
Infernum
Duskwave Active Damage: 25/31.67/38.33/45/51.67/58.33/65 (+ 56/60/64/68/72/76/80% bonus AD) → 20/35/50/65/80/95/110 (+ 10/11/12/13/14/15/16% bonus AD)
Infernum
Follow-up attack still critically strikes for 100% crit damage (1.75/2.15x → 2.0/2.3x)
Crescendum
Sentry Active Damage: 35/50/65/80/95/110/125 (+ 42/45/48/51/54/57/60% bonus AD) → 35/50/65/80/95/110/125 (+ 30/32/34/36/38/40/42% bonus AD)
Crescendum
Still critically strikes for 100% crit damage (1.75/2.15x → 2/2.3x)
R - Moonlight Vigil
Follow-Up Attack Critical Damage: 1.2/1.6x with IE → 30% of bonus critical strike damage: 1.3/1.39x with IE
BUFFEDAsheAshe is already quite attack-reliant and pretty balanced but considering she buys about 1.5 crit items per game, we're lowering her late game a little to make room for the incre…
Ashe is already quite attack-reliant and pretty balanced but considering she buys about 1.5 crit items per game, we're lowering her late game a little to make room for the increased damage coming her way.
Passive - Frost Shot
Crit Scaling: 100% (up to 1.75/2.15x) → 100% (up to 2/2.3x)
W - Volley
Damage: 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+ 110% Bonus AD) → 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+ 100% Bonus AD)
BUFFEDCaitlynCaitlyn's top-end Headshot damage has gotten out of hand and with the value of critical strikes going up it's about to get even stronger, so we're taking a heavy swing to Headshot's top end.
Caitlyn's top-end Headshot damage has gotten out of hand and with the value of critical strikes going up it's about to get even stronger, so we're taking a heavy swing to Headshot's top end. We're also making her R scale with Infinity Edge, as it already scales with critical strike chance, but we're reducing its damage to make room for her stronger basic attacks.
Passive - Headshot
Crit Scaling: 0-148.75/182.75% total AD → 100%*Bonus Crit Damage (0-100/130% total AD)
R - Ace in the Hole
Crit Scaling: Up to 1.5x → 30% of bonus critical strike damage: up to 1.3/1.39x with IE
CHANGEDCassiopeiaWhile Cassiopeia's no boots passive is very thematic, the addition of more boot based systems over the years (like role quest rewards) has made it feel like a punishment at times instead of a boon.
While Cassiopeia's no boots passive is very thematic, the addition of more boot based systems over the years (like role quest rewards) has made it feel like a punishment at times instead of a boon. We think it's important for Cassio to have the opportunity to engage with these new systems so we're reworking the passive into a new movement based effect. (We also wanted to do Soobin a solid.)
Passive - Serpentine Grace
Passive Rework: Gain 4-72 Movement Speed (Based on level), but she cannot purchase boots. → Increased effectiveness of all Movement Speed buffs by 6-40% (based on level).
CHANGEDCorkiCorki isn't particularly strong at the moment, so while this is a nerf on paper, we expect Corki will be overall stronger at the start of the season.
Corki isn't particularly strong at the moment, so while this is a nerf on paper, we expect Corki will be overall stronger at the start of the season. This nerf is aimed at weakening his ability to crush a minion wave right before a Recall.
W - Valkyrie
Damage per second: 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 (+40% bonus AD) (+ 30% AP) → 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+40% bonus AD) (+ 30% AP)
CHANGEDDravenDraven is very auto-attack focused and averages about two crit items per game, so he's also in need of some compensation.
Draven is very auto-attack focused and averages about two crit items per game, so he's also in need of some compensation. Considering he's gaining direct auto-attack DPS, we're trying to compensate him directly on the same axis.
W - Blood Rush
Attack Speed: 30/35/40/45/50% → 20/25/30/35/40%
BUFFEDEliseElise is in a silly spot where ability power quickly fails to scale her damage against monsters after the mid game.
Elise is in a silly spot where ability power quickly fails to scale her damage against monsters after the mid game. We're delivering a change that will be a slight buff on average but is primarily meant to let her damage scale up with AP like it would for anyone else.
Q - Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite
Monster Damage Cap: 75/100/125/150/175 → 65/85/105/125/145 (+ 90% AP)
Q - Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite
Maximum Damage to Monsters: 115/170/225/280/335 → 105155/205/255/305 (+ 90% AP)
BUFFEDGangplankGangplank is one of two champions (alongside Smolder) who we think is going to gain extra power due to Essence Reaver once again building from Sheen.
Gangplank is one of two champions (alongside Smolder) who we think is going to gain extra power due to Essence Reaver once again building from Sheen. We expect him to perform much, much better with his increased critical strike damage, so we're pulling out many of the unique crit scalars that have been added over the years and delivering an extra hit to his E on top.
Passive - Trial by Fire
Damage: 50-250 (based on level) (+100% bonus AD) (+200% Crit Chance) → 50-250 (+ 100% bonus AD) (+ 0% crit scaling)
E - Powder Keg
Bonus Champion Damage: 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 / 195 → 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 / 155
E - Powder Keg
Timer no longer reduces to 0.25 seconds at level 19.
E - Powder Keg
No longer deals 5% more damage on critical strike.
CHANGEDGarenCritical strike chance on Garen is pretty good since both his basic attacks and Judgment are improved by it.
Critical strike chance on Garen is pretty good since both his basic attacks and Judgment are improved by it. We want to continue to make space for non-crit Garen builds, so we're compensating the global critical strike damage increase and updating the calculation to properly discount bonus crit damage.
E - Judgement
E Crit Ratio: 80% of total (1.4/1.72x) → 30% of bonus (1.3/1.39x)
BUFFEDGravesThe functional result of these Graves changes should be almost nothing.
The functional result of these Graves changes should be almost nothing. He'll deal about 1% more damage with his basic attacks when critically striking.
CHANGEDJaxNow that the top lane quest can raise champion levels to 20, we're looking for any champions who intermittently scale their passives and giving them another breakpoint if they deserve one.
Now that the top lane quest can raise champion levels to 20, we're looking for any champions who intermittently scale their passives and giving them another breakpoint if they deserve one. Jax is one such champion who's gaining a bit more attack speed at level 19.
Passive - Relentless Assault
Now gains an additional 1.5% attack speed per stack at level 19.
CHANGEDJhinJhin won't behave any differently next season as we want to avoid letting his guaranteed crit fourth shot do too much damage.
CHANGEDJinxWe like the overall shape of how Jinx functions and generally just want to preserve the value of her minigun's high attack speed, so we're making sure her two stances are more d…
We like the overall shape of how Jinx functions and generally just want to preserve the value of her minigun's high attack speed, so we're making sure her two stances are more distinguished from one another and generally lowering a bit of spell damage to keep her attack-focused.
R - Super Mega Death Rocket!
Maximum Flat Damage: 250/400/550 (+ 130% bonus AD) → 200/350/500 (+ 120% bonus AD)
BUFFEDKindredKindred's E mechanics are rather confusing and they build several critical strike items already.
Kindred's E mechanics are rather confusing and they build several critical strike items already. So we're updating the E to be much easier to understand and reducing the numbers. We're also modernizing the E's monster cap to allow for more damage when building AD and ranking up the ability.
E - Mounting Dread
Missing Health Crit: 1.5/1.9x if target is below 25-75% (based on crit chance) Health → 50% of bonus crit chance and crit damage always (up to 1.5/1.65x)
E - Mounting Dread
Pounce Damage: 1.75/2.15x on crit → 50% of bonus crit chance and crit damage always (up to 1.5/1.65x)
E - Mounting Dread
Monster Damage Cap: 300 including base damage and bonus AD ratio → 200 to only the %HP portion (This is a buff in almost all scenarios)
NERFEDLucianLucian's builds are pretty sensible and as a spell-focused ADC, but we want to make sure his spell scaling is good.
Lucian's builds are pretty sensible and as a spell-focused ADC, but we want to make sure his spell scaling is good. We're updating R to fire even more bullets with crit damage, which will make crit scale his ult just as well as it scales basic attacks. Considering he's already got extremely strong AD scaling and we want to make sure that Navori Flickerblades feels good, we're bringing down some of his Q's AD scaling.
Q - Piercing Light
Damage: 85/115/145/175/205 (+ 60/75/90/105/120% bonus AD) → 80/115/150/185/220 (+ 100% bonus AD)
R - The Culling
R Extra Bolts from Crit Chance: Up to 25 → 100% of bonus crit damage: Up to 22/28
R - The Culling
Total R Bolts: 22-47 (based on critical strike chance) → 22-44/50 (based on critical strike chance and damage)
BUFFEDMiss FortuneMiss Fortune tends to build quite a lot of critical strike chance and we'd like it to stay that way, but she can't just be directly buffed so we're here to compensate some of that value by softening her Q crit mod.
Miss Fortune tends to build quite a lot of critical strike chance and we'd like it to stay that way, but she can't just be directly buffed so we're here to compensate some of that value by softening her Q crit mod. For her R, we want to make sure that critical strikes feel like they have some impact, so we're increasing the crit mod slightly, but in order to not push her scaling too hard, have compensated that with a new base damage and a lower AD ratio.
Q - Double Up
Active Critical Damage: 1.75/2.15x → 50% of bonus crit damage (1.5/1.65x)
R - Bullet Time
Damage: 80% total AD (+ 25% AP) → 20 / 30 / 40 (+60% Total AD) (+ 25% AP)
R - Bullet Time
Crit Scaling: 1.2/1.28x → 30% of bonus crit damage (1.3/1.39x)
CHANGEDNilahNilah's in an interesting place where her Q didn't scale with Infinity Edge, so unlocking that avenue marks a small power increase on top of her basic attacks getting better, so…
Nilah's in an interesting place where her Q didn't scale with Infinity Edge, so unlocking that avenue marks a small power increase on top of her basic attacks getting better, so we sought to find other ways to slightly lower her late game scaling as compensation.
Q - Formless Blade
Active Damage: 5/10/15/20/25 (+ 90/95/100/105/110% total AD) → 0/10/20/30/40 (+ 100% total AD)
Q - Formless Blade
Crit Scaling: Up to 2x → 80% of bonus crit damage: 1.8/2.04x
Q - Formless Blade
Armor Penetration Crit Scaling: 0-33% → 0-30%
R - Apotheosis
Mana Cost: 80 → 100
CHANGEDQuinnAs Quinn builds a decent amount of crit and that crit manifests in stronger autos and more passive procs, we're compensation nerfing those same auto-reliant passive procs.
Passive - Harrier
Damage: 10-95 (based on level) (+ 16-50% (based on level) total AD) → 15-120 (based on level) (+ 40% bonus AD)
CHANGEDRengarRengar is getting a heavy re-script. This is mostly intended to maintain current functionality and feel, while addressing bugs and tech debt. The list of bug fixes is too long t…
Rengar is getting a heavy re-script. This is mostly intended to maintain current functionality and feel, while addressing bugs and tech debt. The list of bug fixes is too long to add here so it'll be added to the bugs section. Alongside the crit changes, we're looking to make Rengar's Q work more intuitively by letting the underlying attack itself roll for critical strikes, and if so, deal bonus damage based on his total AD. This removes an optimization around rushing Infinity Edge to enhance the old forced-crit mechanic and also makes him not immediately lose 30% of his damage if his opponents build Randuin's Omen. We'll keep an eye on lethality-vs-crit Rengar and how it performs next season as we suspect Essence Reaver will be a big deal on him.
Q - Savagery
Q is now consumed on plants
Q - Savagery
Q is no longer always always considered a critical strike
Q - Savagery
Q damage no longer deals up to 101.25% total AD bonus damage based on crit chance and damage
Q - Savagery
Q now deals 100/130% total AD bonus damage if Rengar crits the attack.
CHANGEDSamiraWe like that Samira's R and Q are almost direct auto-attack replacements and want to preserve as much of their crit damage as possible.
We like that Samira's R and Q are almost direct auto-attack replacements and want to preserve as much of their crit damage as possible. However, with the value of crit going up, the value of AD must then go down.
Q - Flair
Q Non-Crit Damage: 5/10/15/20/25 (+ 95/102.5/110/117.5/125% total AD) → 0/5/10/15/20 (+ 110% total AD)
Q - Flair
Q Critical Strike Damage: 1.25/1.65x with IE → 50% of bonus crit damage: 1.5/1.65x with IE
R - Inferno Trigger
R Non-Crit Damage: 5/15/25 + 45% total AD → 20/40/60 + 30% total AD
R - Inferno Trigger
R Critical Damage: 1.75/2.15x with IE → 100% of bonus crit damage: 2.0/2.3x with IE
NERFEDSennaLike Jhin, Yasuo, and Yone, Senna's guaranteed critical strikes cannot sustain a 2x modifier, so we're lowering her base crit damage down to a value similar to last year.
CHANGEDShacoWhen Shaco crits during a Backstab or a Deceive, everything crits along with it for his full crit damage, so his top end can be very, very high.
When Shaco crits during a Backstab or a Deceive, everything crits along with it for his full crit damage, so his top end can be very, very high. We like that he builds for crit sometimes and want to let as many of these tools inherit the new higher base crit damage, but also want to modernize his other scalings to respect crit damage mods more consistently and generally preserve the total power level of Shaco builds that don't buy any critical strike chance.
Passive - Backstab
Damage: 20-35 (based on level) (+25% bonus AD) → 20-35 (based on level)(+ 20% bonus AD)
Passive - Backstab
Crit Modifier: 100% (1.75/2.15x) → 100% (2.0/2.3x)
Q - Deceive
Backstab Modifier: 1.55/1.95x → 60% of bonus crit damage (1.6/1.78x)
Q - Deceive
Backstab on Crit: 100% (1.75/2.15x) → 100% (2.0/2.3x)
BUFFEDSivirAs Sivir's going to gain a lot of power from stronger Ricochet crits, we're reducing her Q's scaling.
Q - Boomerang Blade
Damage: 60/85/110/135/160 (+ 85% bonus AD) → 60/85/110/135/160 (+ 70% bonus AD)
Q - Boomerang Blade
Crit Scaling: Up to 1.5x → 40%: 1.4/1.52x
CHANGEDSmolderSmolder, like Gangplank, stands to gain a lot of power from Essence Reaver's changes in this patch so we're taking a swing at how strongly his Q scales with critical strike purc…
Smolder, like Gangplank, stands to gain a lot of power from Essence Reaver's changes in this patch so we're taking a swing at how strongly his Q scales with critical strike purchases.
Q - Super Scorcher Breath
Crit Scaling: Up to 1.75/2.15x → 50% of bonus crit damage (Up to 1.5/1.65x) (also affects passive Q stacks)
NERFEDTristanaTristana's E is one of the sharpest-scaling abilities in the game, and considering her late game is already poised to be great with a strong attack speed steroid, long range, an…
Tristana's E is one of the sharpest-scaling abilities in the game, and considering her late game is already poised to be great with a strong attack speed steroid, long range, and lots of crit damage, we think the top end of her E can stand to go down a few pegs.
E - Explosive Charge
Non-crit Damage: 60/70/80/90/100 (+ 100/110/120/130/140% bonus AD) → 60/85/110/135/160 (+ 80% bonus AD)
E - Explosive Charge
Crit Scaling: 100%: Up to 1.75/2.15x with IE → 40% of critical strike damage: 1.40/1.52x with IE
CHANGEDTryndamereTryndamere is getting some real gameplay updates with this patch and some very real nerfs due to how much critical strike chance he normally has.
Tryndamere is getting some real gameplay updates with this patch and some very real nerfs due to how much critical strike chance he normally has. To weaken how incredible his early game all-ins can be with 200% crit damage, we're nerfing his early bonus AD from Q and nerfing his early E as well. However, he's also getting some new tools. First, his Q now gives full value at 10% remaining health, meaning he can get the full bonus attack damage during his ultimate and it no longer has a disincentive for ranking up. Second, his W will now slow enemies any time they are running away from Tryndamere, regardless of where they were looking when he cast it. We expect this substantial increase in reliability is a big buff, so we've preemptively nerfed the slow itself. Though the slow duration is going down, the AD reduction is still the full four seconds regardless of facing.
Q - Bloodlust
Bonus AD: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+ up to 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 based on missing health) → 0 (+20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 based on missing health)
Q - Bloodlust
Maximum Bonus AD: Max at 0% remaining HP → Max at 10% remaining HP
Q - Bloodlust
Clarified the per-fury and maximum heal in Q's tooltip.
W - Mocking Shout
No longer slows enemies who are facing away when cast for 4 seconds.
W - Mocking Shout
Now slows any enemy while they're facing away from Tryndamere during the 2.5 second debuff.
W - Mocking Shout
Slow: 30 / 37.5 / 45 / 52.5 / 60% → 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50%
W - Mocking Shout
Enemy attack damage is still reduced by 4 seconds.
E - Spinning Slash
Damage: 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 / 195 (+ 130% Bonus AD) → 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+ 100% Bonus AD)
NERFEDTwitchTwitch's late game team deletion with 200% crit damage will probably be too fast, so we're targeting some general late-game DPS nerfs.
Q - Ambush
Bonus Attack Speed: 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% → 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60%
NERFEDViegoViego buys a decent amount of crit chance and we want to make sure those crits allow him to play out a consistent auto-attack pattern, so the larger nerfs are to the active dama…
Viego buys a decent amount of crit chance and we want to make sure those crits allow him to play out a consistent auto-attack pattern, so the larger nerfs are to the active damage of the Q and R.
Q - Blade of the Ruined King
% Current HP Crit Scaling: 100% of total (1.75/2.15x) → 50% of bonus (1.5/1.65x)
Q - Blade of the Ruined King
Second Strike Crit Scaling: 100% of total (1.75/2.15x) → 100% of bonus (2/2.3x)
Q - Blade of the Ruined King
Active Crit Mod: 100% of total (Up to 1.75/2.15x) → 50% of bonus (Up to 1.5/1.65x)
R - Heartbreaker
Crit Scaling: Up to 2x → 70% of bonus (Up to 1.7/1.91x)
CHANGEDXayahWe're updating Xayah's E to care about crit damage and adjusting her E's overall damage profile to be more reliable and less snowbally.
E - Bladecaller
Damage: 55/65/75/85/95 (+ 60% bonus AD) → 50/65/80/95/110 (+ 40% bonus AD)
E - Bladecaller
Crit Scaling: Up to 75% → Up to 50% of bonus crit damage: 1.5/1.65x
CHANGEDYasuoYasuo won't be much different this year. Considering he doubles how much critical strike chance he gets from each item, he just isn't allowed to crit for full damage.
CHANGEDYoneYone won't be much different this year. Considering he doubles how much critical strike chance he gets from each item, he just isn't allowed to crit for full damage.
CHANGEDYunaraYunara has a crit build and an on-hit build, but even her on-hit build almost always picks up Hurricane, so she's getting stronger no matter what she does next season.
Yunara has a crit build and an on-hit build, but even her on-hit build almost always picks up Hurricane, so she's getting stronger no matter what she does next season. We're looking for nerfs that will skew more toward low-Attack Speed high-AD crit builds, as they'll be more directly buffed by the global crit damage increase.
Q - Cultivation of Spirit
Attack Speed: 25/35/45/55/65% → 20/30/40/50/60%
>R+W - Arc of Ruin
Damage: 175/350/525 (+ 150% bonus AD) → 160/320/480 (+ 120% bonus AD)
CHANGEDZeriWe're updating Zeri's E to crit exactly as a basic attack would, which means re-tuning some of her abilities to make room for that power.
W - Ultrashock Laser
Damage: 30/70/110/150/190 (+ 130% total AD) → 30/70/110/150/190 (+ 120% total AD)
W - Ultrashock Laser
Through-Wall Damage: 1.75x, 2.15x with IE → 75% of bonus critical strike damage: 1.75/1.975x
W - Ultrashock Laser
Tooltip now shows the enhanced damage
W - Ultrashock Laser
Damage now cosmetically critically strikes its targets when shot through a wall
E - Spark Surge
Damage: 20/22/24/26/28 (+12% bonus AD) → 17/19/21/23/25 (+ 10% bonus AD)
E - Spark Surge
Crit Scaling: Up to 1.85x every hit → 100% of bonus crit damage on crit: 2.0/2.3x
R - Lightning Crash
Active Damage: 200/300/400 (+ 100% bonus AD) → 150/250/350 (+ 100% bonus AD)