Patch 26.9 shook up the meta hard, and the fallout was predictable: some champions came out way too strong, others got stripped of what made them work. League of Legends Patch 26.10 is Riot's course correction, and lead designer Matt Leung-Harrison (RiotPhroxzon) dropped the full preview on May 6.
Here's the lowdown on what's changing and why it matters for your next ranked session.
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Zeri finally gets her damage back
Zeri has been in a rough spot since Riot redesigned her playstyle away from ult-reliant burst and back toward fast, spammy auto attacks. The vision was right, but the numbers weren't. Patch 26.10 addresses that directly.
Her Q base damage climbs from 21-33 to 22-38, and the excess attack speed to AD conversion improves from 50% to 60%. There's also a bugfix worth noting: attacks during her R now extend its duration by 2.5 seconds instead of 1.5. That last point is not a small thing. For a champion whose identity revolves around staying in motion and extending her ultimate, that's a meaningful correction.
The key here is that Riot isn't reversing the design direction, just making the numbers viable. Zeri players who adapted to the new style should feel noticeably better after this patch drops.
Lee Sin gets the fixes players have wanted for years
The Lee Sin changes are less about raw power and more about fixing long-standing frustrations. His W shield is getting a small reduction (70-250 down to 60-240), and his E AD ratio drops from 100% to 90%, so this isn't a straight buff.
What it is, though, is a quality-of-life pass that Lee Sin mains have wanted for a long time. He now receives his shield when jumping to a minion or ward (the ward or minion itself won't be shielded), and killing his R target sends the body flying, which can knock up nearby enemies on impact. That second change in particular makes the Blind Monk feel much more satisfying to play at a high level, where body positioning after an R kick is a genuine skill expression tool.
The W cooldown also gets simplified: previously it varied between 12 seconds on non-champions and 6 on champions, now it's a flat 7 seconds regardless of target. Cleaner, more predictable.
The Cyclosword cleanup: Zed and Naafiri take hits
Zed and Naafiri both benefited heavily from the Cyclosword changes in the previous patch, and both are getting dialed back in 26.10.
Zed's E damage drops (70-160 at max rank instead of 70-170), and his passive percent max HP damage scales down from 6/8/10% to 5/7.5/10% at early ranks. Naafiri loses some jungle efficiency with her passive monster modifier dropping from 155% to 145%, and her W mana cost increases significantly at early levels (60 flat up to 85/80/75/70/65 by rank).
Neither champion is being gutted, but Riot is clearly signaling that Cyclosword-fueled overperformance won't be left untouched.
Shyvana nerfs, Anivia trimmed, and the rest of the board
Shyvana has been the best champion in the game since her AP rebalance, and the nerfs here target both her durability and her W cooldown (13-10 at max rank instead of 13-9). HP per level also drops from 100 to 95. It's a measured reduction, not a dismantling.
Anivia is getting hit on base armor (21 to 19) and armor growth (4.5 to 4.1), specifically targeting her top lane presence, where she's been a flavor-of-the-month pick in pro play across multiple roles.
On the buff side, Galio gets a mana cost reduction on Q and his R now scales with 100% bonus magic resistance, which makes full tank MR builds genuinely threatening. Wukong sees clone duration extended to 4 seconds (up from 3.25) alongside minor damage and attack speed improvements. Ambessa gets her Toplane damage restored after losing too much in 26.9, though her monster damage is trimmed to compensate.
System changes worth tracking
A few item and rune changes round out the patch. Lich Bane gets a bump to both its AP ratio (40% to 45%) and movement speed (4% to 6%). Stormraider's Surge becomes significantly stronger, with movement speed duration extending to 4 seconds and the speed amount increasing for both melee and ranged users.
Doran's Bow gains 2 AD (now 8), and Doran's Helm adds 20 health (now 130). Leung-Harrison noted that Doran's Bow is currently the most efficient starting item, but leaves you vulnerable to early ganks and all-ins, so the tradeoff is real.
Gluttonous Greaves takes a cost increase (950g to 1,000g) and its omnivamp stacking is restructured: 0.6% per stack up to 10 stacks, instead of 1% per stack up to 6. The cap stays at 6%, but reaching it now requires more time in combat.
For the full picture on how this patch fits into the broader Season 2026 meta shifts, the LoL Patch 26.5 breakdown covering every buff, nerf, and meta shift is worth revisiting. Patch 26.10 is expected to go live on the standard two-week cycle, and the League of Legends strategy guides collection will have updated build recommendations once it does.
