League of Legends Patch 26.22 - Locke Nerfs & More Changes

League of Legends patch 26.22 notes were published on November 3, 2026, and the patch is a bigger download than usual. Riot is getting Teamfight Tactics ready to move to its own standalone client on November 4th, 2026, and the patch also brings a fresh round of champion tweaks, two item changes and a long list of ARAM: Mayhem adjustments.

On Summoner's Rift, Corki and Rumble get buffs after being tuned for pro play, while Locke and Yasuo take nerfs as some of the most-banned champions. Doran's Bow and Overlord's Bloodmail are adjusted as well. We will go over every change in patch 26.22, from the TFT split to the smaller bug fixes.

League of Legends 26.22 Highlights

• TFT standalone client: TFT officially moves to its own client starting November 4th, 2026, with full cosmetic separation on December 15th.
• Champion balance: Corki, Rumble, Maokai, Shen, Viktor, Naafiri and others are buffed, while Locke, Yasuo and Thresh are nerfed. Mel gets a midscope adjustment with a reworked W.
• Items: Doran's Bow loses 1 Attack Damage and Overlord's Bloodmail gains 10.
• ARAM: Mayhem: Augment tuning, bug fixes, and Butcher's Bridge and Koeshin's Crossing return to the rotation.
• Classic: Volibear, Swain and Elise arrive as three new old champions, alongside a bigger balance patch.

TFT Standalone Client

Riot says TFT is "all grown up" and moves to its own standalone client starting on November 4th, 2026. That is why this patch is larger than usual. A later patch will add the option to fully opt out of TFT downloads in League patches, and 26.22 is a larger download to make that possible.

Your existing TFT cosmetics keep working in League. The first batch of TFT-only Little Legends lands on December 1st, and full separation of TFT cosmetics, including emotes and icons, follows on December 15th.

26.22 Champion Changes

Aurelion Sol

Players clearly prefer to rank Singularity (E) second over Astral Flight (W), so the E gets a buff to make that intuitive choice the right one.

• E - Singularity Total Magic Damage: 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+60% AP) over 5s ⇒ 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80% AP) over 5s

Corki

Riot was cautious about Corki's power level going into Worlds, but now, like Azir and Orianna, he gets more space to be better for everyone.

• R - Missile Barrage Damage: 90 / 170 / 250 (+85% bonus AD) ⇒ 100 / 190 / 280 (+90% bonus AD)
• R - Big One Damage: 180 / 340 / 500 (+170% bonus AD) ⇒ 200 / 380 / 560 (+180% bonus AD)

Kayle

Kayle gets a small early-laning bump, since top lane could use more scaling options.

• Q - Radiant Blast Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8s ⇒ 10 / 9.5 / 9 / 8.5 / 8s
• R - Divine Judgment Cooldown: 160 / 120 / 80s ⇒ 140 / 110 / 80s

Locke

Riot says Locke has proven to be a deeper champion than expected and is still clearly too strong, especially early.

• Q - Ritual Nails Stack Bonus Damage: 18 / 26 / 34 / 42 / 50 ⇒ 15 / 22 / 29 / 36 / 43
• Q - Ritual Nails Maximum Stack Damage: 75.6 / 109.2 / 142.8 / 176.4 / 210 ⇒ 63 / 92.4 / 121.8 / 151.2 / 180.6
• W - Soul Ignition Duration: 6s ⇒ 5s

Maokai

Maokai has been stuck in support, so the buff is aimed at his top and jungle play.

• Q - Bramble Smash Damage: the Target Maximum Health scaling goes from 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4% to 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5%, with the base damage and the +50% AP ratio unchanged

Mel

Mel gets a midscope adjustment. Power moves from early game to scaling, her W becomes an area-of-effect missile destroyer that retaliates rather than reflects, and her Q and R get lower cooldowns later on so she can stack her passive higher.

Base stats: Health 640 + 99/Level ⇒ 590 + 107/Level, Mana 480 + 28/Level ⇒ 455 + 38/Level, AR +5.2/Level ⇒ +5.4/Level, AD 54 + 3.3/Level ⇒ 52 + 3.3/Level, AS 2.5%/Level ⇒ 2.75%/Level.

Passive - Searing Brilliance

• Bonus Damage Per Bolt: 8 - 30 (+4% AP) ⇒ 4 - 30 (+4% AP)
• First Stack Damage Against Minions: 50% Less ⇒ 45% Less

Q - Radiant Volley

• First Hit Damage: 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+55% AP) ⇒ 60 (+25% AP)
• Multi-Hit Damage: 5 / 7 / 9 / 11 / 13 (+5% AP) ⇒ 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+8% AP)
• Total Damage: 85 - 277 (+80 - 100% AP) ⇒ 85 - 285 (+65 - 97% AP)
• New: it now refunds 0.5s - 1.0s of cooldown (scaling with champion level) if it hits an enemy champion at least once
• Mana Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 ⇒ 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
• Missile Speed: 3800 ⇒ 3200

W - Rebuttal (reworked)

• Unleashes a nova that expands to 400u radius over 0.75 seconds. It destroys enemy projectiles and shields and grants move speed to Mel and allies within. Destroyed missiles are retaliated against at the end of the nova.
• Retaliation Damage: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 (+10% AP), reduced to 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+5% AP) for subsequent hits against the same enemy, up to 7 retaliations per enemy
• Shield: 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+70% AP) for 2 seconds
• Move Speed: 10 - 30% (scaling with champion level) for 2 seconds
• Mana Cost: 100 / 80 / 60 / 40 / 0
• Cooldown: 30 / 28.5 / 27 / 25.5 / 24

E - Solar Snare

• Root Duration: 1.5 seconds ⇒ [0.8 - 1.6] / [0.85 - 1.75] / [0.9 - 1.9] / [0.95 - 2.05] / [1.0 - 2.2] seconds, increasing with distance
• Slow Amount: 30% ⇒ 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
• Mana Cost: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 ⇒ 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80

R - Golden Eclipse

• Cooldown: 120 / 100 / 80 seconds ⇒ 120 / 90 / 60 seconds

Naafiri

After a series of nerfs, Naafiri has largely fallen out of mid lane, so this buff mainly helps her there.

• Q - Darkin Daggers Heal: 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 (+40% bonus AD) ⇒ 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 (+45% bonus AD)
• W - The Call of the Pack Bonus Attack Damage: 20% ⇒ 22%

Rumble

Rumble was tuned for pro play, and this change should help the average Rumble a bit more.

• R - The Equalizer Damage per Second: the AP ratio goes from +35% to +40%
• R - The Equalizer Maximum Damage Ability Power Ratio: 175% AP ⇒ 200% AP

Shen

Shen jungle has been pushed too far out of the meta, so he gets a straight buff.

• Q - Twilight Assault Monster Damage Modifier: 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 / 200 ⇒ 120 / 140 / 160 / 180 / 200

Smolder

Riot expects the Doran's Bow nerf in this patch to help Smolder as well.

• W - ACHOOO! Explosion Damage: 10 / 35 / 60 / 85 / 110 (+50% bonus AD) (+80% AP) ⇒ 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 (+50% bonus AD) (+80% AP)

Thresh

Thresh has stayed at the top of the support pecking order for top players despite a prior nerf, so he gets another one.

• Base Attack Damage: 56 ⇒ 54
• R - The Box Damage: 250 / 400 / 550 (+100% AP) ⇒ 200 / 350 / 500 (+100% AP)

Viktor

Last patch's nerf hit harder than expected, so Viktor gets some scaling back.

• Base Health Growth: 100/Level ⇒ 105/Level
• R - Arcane Storm Conjure Damage: 100 / 175 / 250 (+50% AP) ⇒ 100 / 175 / 250 (+60% AP)

Yasuo

Yasuo's win rate and ban rate keep growing as players move to crit builds, so he gets the same treatment as Yone.

• Q - Steel Tempest Damage: the total AD ratio goes from +105% to +100%

Zaahen

Zaahen needs more to do in lane, and this should make his early skirmishing more satisfying.

• Q - The Darkin Glaive Cooldown: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6s ⇒ 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6s

26.22 Item Changes

Doran's Bow

Doran's Bow is slightly but clearly too strong, leaving marksmen who might lean toward Doran's Blade almost purely on the Bow.

• Attack Damage: 8 ⇒ 7

Overlord's Bloodmail

Overlord's Bloodmail should be a premier juggernaut capstone item, but outside of Sett it has not carried enough power.

• Attack Damage: 30 ⇒ 40
• Retribution: +0 - 12% total AD, based on % missing health ⇒ +0 - 10% total AD, based on % missing health

ARAM: Mayhem Changes

The latest ARAM: Mayhem release, "Journey to Stardom," gets augment tuning and bug fixes. Fighters have become exceptionally good at closing out games and poke dominates early, while tanks have been struggling. Riot is lowering the power of augments such as Take 'Em Down Down Down and Weapon of Destiny and raising survivability augments such as Soul Eater and Stay Resolute.

Butcher's Bridge and Koeshin's Crossing return to the rotation with Headliner performances. With Worlds in full swing, the last page of the Journey to Stardom is now accessible, and two new augments join the mode, one based on a classic Worlds Anthem.

• Hecarim: Ability Haste 10 ⇒ 0
• Armored Impact: Damage 50 - 125 + 250% bonus Armor ⇒ 25 - 125 + 220% bonus Armor
• BEES!!!: Base Damage Scaling 75 - 200 ⇒ 75 - 140, and Hive Travel Time .75s ⇒ 1.1s
• Brass Blast: Cooldown 75s ⇒ 50s, and the Minion Damage effect is removed
• Crimson Cobalt: the mark VFX is now visible only to the augment owner instead of all players
• One Hit Wonder: it now gains increased damage based on your Ability Haste but no longer benefits from Ability Haste
• Ravenous Bind: Bonus Health Heal Ratio .1 ⇒ .12, and Base Heal 50 - 200 ⇒ 75 - 300
• RISE!: killing enemy champions with your Ultimate now resets the cooldown, up to 3 times
• Squishy Slappy Grab: Shield per Pulled Target 50 - 200 ⇒ 100 - 300, with the armor and magic resistance ratios going from 50% to 70%
• Soul Eater: Health Gain per Stack 20 ⇒ 30
• Stay Resolute: Armor and Magic Resistance per Ability Hit now applies at levels 1 / 11 for 2 / 3 instead of levels 1 / 7 / 11 for 1 / 2 / 3
• Take 'Em Down Down Down: Five-Hit Proc Damage is now 17% missing health instead of (15 + 5% bonus Attack Speed + 0.15% total Ability Haste)%
• Titan's Resolve: Stacks of Juggernauting required for each level 10 ⇒ 7
• Weapon of Destiny: Flat Armor Penetration Scalar 35 ⇒ 20, Flat Magic Penetration Scalar 25 ⇒ 15, Percent Armor Penetration Scalar 0.25 ⇒ 0.15, Percent Magic Penetration Scalar 0.15 ⇒ 0.09

ARAM: Mayhem Bug Fixes

Riot fixed nine ARAM: Mayhem bugs. They include Get Jinxed leaving a player unable to move after a fountain turret kill, Jeweled Gauntlet giving the wrong Critical Strike chance with escAPADe and ADAPt, Crimson Cobalt not consuming the mark on some empowered basic attacks, and Mosh Monster's slow persisting after death. The rest cover tooltips, mission descriptions and the Pentakill headliner's Udyr upgrade.

Classic Changes

The penultimate Classic content patch brings three new old champions to play: Volibear, who won Council Vote #2, Swain and Elise. It is also a bigger balance patch than usual, aimed at some of the game's largest outliers.

• Volibear (active 2011 to 2018): a tanky melee fighter built for sustained combat who deals a big burst to low-health enemies. His Q flips his target over his head, his W is an activated Frenzy, his E damages and slows nearby enemies and fears minions and monsters, and his R adds chain lightning to basic attacks.
• Swain (active 2010 to 2016): his Q sics his raven on a target, his W roots enemies in a small area after a brief delay, his E amplifies the damage he deals (true damage like Ignite included), and his R turns him into a giant raven.
• Elise: this older version puts more power into her Q spells. She is seriously bursty and a potent top laner, so
• Aatrox: Passive Blood Well cooldown 225 ⇒ 225 / 200 / 175 / 150, plus fixes for Q failing to affect enemies after max-range casts and for basic attacks doing nothing during his ultimate
• Amumu: Passive Magic Resistance Shred 15 / 25 / 35 ⇒ 15 / 20 / 25, Q damage 80 / 140 / 200 / 260 / 320 ⇒ 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280, R cooldown 150 / 130 / 110s ⇒ 170 / 145 / 120s
• Evelynn: Q - Hate Spike Base Damage 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 ⇒ 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120
• Ezreal: W Ability Power Ratio 60% ⇒ 80%, W Healing Effectiveness 50% ⇒ 70%, E Ability Power Ratio 75% ⇒ 80%
• Fiddlesticks: E - Dark Wind Damage per Bounce 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 / 145 ⇒ 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150, with the +45% AP ratio unchanged
• Gangplank: Base Health Regeneration 5 ⇒ 7, Health per Level 81 ⇒ 89, Maximum Stacks of Grog-Soaked Blade 3 ⇒ 4, Q mana cost 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 ⇒ 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60, R cooldown 120 / 115 / 110s ⇒ 120 / 110 / 100s
• Janna: Passive Tailwind Global Bonus Movement Speed 3% ⇒ 2%
• Mordekaiser: pet bonus Attack Damage is now 75% of Mordekaiser's Attack Damage instead of the target's, and pets can no longer critically strike structures
• Nami: Q damage 75 / 130 / 185 / 240 / 295 + 65% AP ⇒ 90 / 145 / 200 / 255 / 310 + 100% AP, W Damage Reduction per Bounce 30% ⇒ 15%
• Olaf: W Bonus Attack Damage 7 / 14 / 21 / 28 / 35 ⇒ 10 / 17 / 24 / 31 / 38, E cooldown 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5s ⇒ 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4s
• Rammus: Base Armor 28.8 ⇒ 25, Attack Damage per Level 3.5 ⇒ 2.75

Riot also fixed a configuration mistake in this act's Classic Pass and is buffing per-game token grants by 50% for the rest of Classic's run.

Upcoming Skins and Chromas

These skins are released in this patch: K/DA Firestarter Ahri, Evelynn and Kai'Sa, K/DA Firestarter Ignition Akali, K/DA Hitmaker Evelynn and Prestige Classic Baron Kog'Maw. The chromas are Music Fan Gragas (FIRESTARTER) and Prestige Classic Baron Kog'Maw (Vivid).

And that covers all of the changes in League of Legends 26.22. You can read the official patch notes on the leagueoflegends.com website. Looking back at the last two patches? Check out our 26.21 patch notes and the 26.20 patch notes, or browse the rewards in our Arena Fame Rewards guide.