LoL Patch 26.20 Notes: Yunara Nerf, Mordekaiser Buff

Patch 26.20 is a pre-Worlds balance pass aimed at what pro play leans on most. Yunara, Ashe, K’Sante, Ambessa and Cassiopeia are nerfed. Mordekaiser, Smolder, Vayne, Lucian and a group of underperformers are buffed. Swain and Hextech Rocketbelt get mixed changes.

The item changes matter just as much in solo queue. Ranged champions now get 50% of Experimental Hexplate’s stats instead of 70%, Rocketbelt trades ability haste for a harder-hitting active, and Runaan’s Hurricane is nerfed. Our pre-patch data shows which buffs land on champions that were already strong and which only prop up weak ones. Earlier balance passes are in our LoL patch notes archive.

Mordekaiser gains the most, because both changes hit the parts of his kit that decide fights. The bot lane buffs go to champions our data had well under the 50.1% average: Lucian sat at 46.82% and Vayne at 47.82% before the patch, so those buffs bring them back toward playable rather than making them dominant.

Yunara takes the headline nerf because of her reach, not her win rate. She had the highest pick rate of any patched champion at 13.48%, with a win rate only slightly above average, so the change targets the passive scaling meta pros were drifting toward.

Every stat line is on the cards below. The changes split into pro-play nerfs, compensation for the Rocketbelt and support item changes, and buffs for champions sitting under the average.

Lillia is buffed for the second patch in a row: her R sleep lasts 2.75s at rank 2 and 3s at rank 3. She was already 1.7 points above average, so this makes her one of the safest jungle picks in solo queue, especially in low elo where one long sleep decides a fight.

Kindred’s buff is aimed at fights, not invades. W deals more damage to monsters and E slows for 1.5s instead of 1s, but E can no longer target small monsters, so you clear camps differently. Diana’s W shield now scales harder with bonus health, which only helps bruiser Diana; the full AP assassin build is unchanged.

Swain gets mixed changes. His W hits harder at higher ranks, up to 250 at rank 5, and its cooldown drops by 2s at every rank, while his base magic resist rises and his base armor falls. Mid Swain gains the most; bot Swain loses a little armor into AD lanes.

Cassiopeia is nerfed again, with base health down from 630 to 610 and base mana from 480 to 450, so her first few levels cost more. Neeko is buffed: E deals 10 more base damage at every rank and roots longer at the early ranks, which offsets her weaker Rocketbelt.

Ambessa’s passive is nerfed at the top end, from 30 to 25 maximum damage with a lower bonus AD ratio. Early trades barely change, but long late-game fights lose damage, which matters most in pro play. Kennen’s E gains 10% bonus attack speed at every rank to make up for Rocketbelt, and Lucian’s attack damage growth rises from 2.5 to 2.9 per level to repay bot lane for last patch’s change.

Two items are nerfed and one is adjusted. Experimental Hexplate is the change that shifts builds; Rocketbelt changes who should buy it.

Experimental Hexplate is nerfed only for ranged champions, whose share of its stats falls from 70% to 50%. The item had made ranged top laners too hard to burst and too lethal in all-ins, so expect them to drop it as a first buy. Melee builds are unaffected.

Hextech Rocketbelt is adjusted. It loses half its ability haste, from 20 to 10, while its active rises from 100 (+10% AP) to 135 (+15% AP). Buy it when you plan to dash in and fight, as AP bruisers do, not as a haste item or an escape button. Runaan’s Hurricane is nerfed slightly, with each bolt dealing 60% of your attack damage instead of 65%.

The scoreboard cleanup is a quality-of-life change with no balance impact. Combat counters on items such as Death’s Dance, Kraken Slayer and Liandry’s Torment are now hidden on the scoreboard, while strategic counters like Tear of the Goddess items and Mejai’s Soulstealer stay visible.

From patch 26.20 you can only download replays of matches you played in, and third-party apps and sites lose replay downloads entirely. The change closes security holes that cheat developers had exploited around game data. Your own VOD review is unaffected: you can still download and watch your replays in the client.

If you study high-elo players, you now need the VODs they publish themselves rather than downloaded replays. Separately, the Ranked 5s queue window has been extended from 4pm-2am to 4pm-4am server time.

On the Howling Abyss, Bel’Veth loses all three of her ARAM bonuses, with damage dealt and damage taken back to 100% and her bonus tenacity removed. Locke’s damage dealt rises from 105% to 115%, a sizeable boost for him in ARAM. ARAM: Mayhem has its own changes on the ARAM: Mayhem Patch 26.20 page.

Favor buffs that land on champions who were already at or above average, and skip the compensation buffs that only restore lost power. Builds and matchups for each pick are on our champion pages.

The HEARTSTEEL Live My Life line arrives on 7 October 2026 for Ezreal, Kayn, Aphelios, Yone and K’Sante, with a Prestige version for Sett, alongside Prestige Classic Baron Kog’Maw. Elite SKT T1 chromas come for Jax, Lee Sin, Vayne, Zyra and Zed.