Riot Games shipped Patch 26.21 for League of Legends on October 21, 2026, delivering a broad set of balance changes across champions and items, a new replay download cap, five True Damage Know My Name skins, and a substantial overhaul of ARAM: Mayhem. The patch was authored by Austin “Riot wroadie” Wright, Erika “Riot Cashmiir” Haas, and Steven “Riot sternest” Earnest, who described it as “a pretty chunky patch” targeting champions “on top of the game, either in presence in their role or in power.”
Champion and Item Balance
The headline nerfs land on three champions that have been persistent presences in ranked and competitive play. Jinx loses attack damage growth (from 3.25 to 3 per level) and 20 base health (630 down to 610). Riot Games said she has been “similarly dominant in the meta, even with the Hurricane nerf last patch,” a direct reference to the changes made in Patch 26.20. The goal is to make her snowball slower rather than remove her from the pick pool entirely.
Lee Sin takes two hits: W Safeguard cooldown rises from 7 to 8 seconds, and R Dragon’s Rage damage drops at every rank (175/400/625 down to 150/350/550, with the 200 percent bonus AD ratio unchanged). The W change is the more consequential one for jungle pathing and skirmish trading, since it widens the window where Lee Sin cannot shield an ally or dash to a ward.
Nidalee’s W Pounce damage and E Primal Surge attack speed were both reduced. Riot Games noted she has been “sitting at an extremely high winrate in high skill brackets, toeing the line into overpowered territory for some time now, even if she’s not currently meta.” Qiyana’s Q damage was partially reverted from a buff applied in Patch 26.17, dropping from 80/110/140/170/200 back to 70/100/130/160/190 at the same 90 percent bonus AD ratio.
On the buff side, Sion gains health growth (87 to 95 per level) and a reworked R Unstoppable Onslaught damage ramp: the channel-time bonus damage now scales up to 200 percent of base damage, up from the previous split of 166.67 percent base and 100 percent ratio. Riot Games framed the change as rewarding players who use the ult “to GET IN THERE rather than run away.”
Item changes target ranged champions specifically. Gluttonous Greaves costs 100 more gold (1,000 to 1,100). Hubris is now split into two variants: melee champions get 15 base AD and 3 AD per stack, while ranged champions get 10 base AD and 2 per stack. Riot Games stated: “We’ve been seeing Gluttonous Greaves & Hubris overperform on ranged characters in particular, so those are getting nerfed a bit.”
Replay Download Cap
Starting with this patch, players can download no more than 10 replays per hour. Riot Games attributed the change to abuse: “This change is necessary to prevent large-scale abuse of downloaded replays by bad actors using vibecoded apps to scrape thousands upon thousands of replays.” The studio said it chose a time-based limit to “still allow creators to make content, while preventing mass exploitative downloads.”
The phrasing “vibecoded apps” is Riot’s own, referring to applications generated rapidly with AI coding tools rather than built through traditional development. The limit will be felt most by analysts, coaches, and content creators who batch-download replays for review sessions or video production.
ARAM Mayhem and League Classic
ARAM: Mayhem received a large update called Journey to Stardom. Eight Headliner rules were added, themed around music and skin lines: K/DA, HEARTSTEEL, True Damage, Pentakill, Disco, Cafe Cuties, Bees, and Command Line. Thirty-five new augments entered the pool while 13 previous augments were removed. A Superstar Rank progression system was also introduced. Butcher’s Bridge and Koeshin’s Crossing maps are disabled for this patch and scheduled to return in the next one.
League Classic, the legacy mode that restores older champion kits, added Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hecarim, and Lucian with their original skill sets. Kassadin and Atma’s Impaler were restored to their peak stats.
What Changes for Ranked Players
- Jinx players lose early trading power and all-in potential. The 20 base health reduction makes level-1 and level-2 trades noticeably worse, and the reduced AD growth compounds over the game. Expect her pick rate to dip in Emerald and above.
- Lee Sin players need to adjust skirmish timing around the 8-second W cooldown. The ult damage reduction matters less in teamfights (where the displacement is the point) but hurts dueling and pick potential in the mid-game.
- Sion players get a meaningful durability bump and a stronger reason to commit to full-channel ults. Top-lane Sion should feel more threatening in engage compositions.
- Ranged assassins and fighters building Hubris (Qiyana, Talon in some builds) lose a meaningful amount of stacking AD. Melee champions are unaffected.
- Content creators and analysts should plan replay downloads in batches of 10 or fewer per hour. There is no stated timeline for revisiting this cap.