LoL Patch 26.13 Buffs Le Blanc and Draven Ahead of MSI 2026

Riot Games has released a full preview of League of Legends (LoL) Patch 26.13 with huge changes to the meta.

There is a substantial amount of champion buffs and nerfs in this update, as it will be the patch that LoL MSI 2026 will be played on.

Buffed champions like Draven, Le Blanc and Aphelios could be played a lot at the tournament, especially with multiple Fearless best-of-fives.

Meanwhile, nefs to the likes of Senna, Bard, and K’Sante could knock them down on teams’ priorities.

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Phroxzon Explains Buffs and Nerfs

Lead gameplay designer Matt ‘Phroxzon’ Leung-Harrison has given context to Riot’s thinking behind some of these changes.

One champion who is getting substantial nerfs is Senna but Phroxzon claims there are multiple reasons why:

“Senna is the big winner of the Season 2 changes, synergizing well with Doran’s Helm (gets a lot of effective health from her Q heal synergizing with the resists) as well as getting a lot of stats from Jack of All Trades.

“She also synergizes well with Stattik Shiv on-hit, and we’ve made the decision to not support this interaction (Q CD reduction on-hit), even though it is pretty cool.”

He also explained how they’re nerfing Bard, who is doing well in both solo queue and pro play:

“We’re adjusting how much damage his builds do, especially given his tank roaming builds tend to do a lot more damage than expected.”

Meanwhile, Olaf is getting buffs to his jungle clear, but Phroxzon admits they were nervous to give him any more help as he is already doing well in pro play:

“We’re not looking to buff Olaf jungle a huge amount, given that he’s already flex viable in top lane, but given that Jungle was his initial primary role, we want to make it more viable than it currently is.”

LoL Patch 26.13 Balance Changes

Champion Buffs

• Aphelios
  • Calibrum Mark Damage: 15 (+10% bonus AD) ⇒ 15 (+15% bonus AD)
  • Severum Onslaught Damage: 19-40% Total AD ⇒ 20-41% Total AD
  • Infernum Duskwave Damage: 20-110 (+10-16% bonus AD) ⇒ 20-110 (+15-21% bonus AD)
  • Crescendum Sentry Damage: 35-125 (+30-48% bonus AD) ⇒ 35-125 (+34-52% bonus AD)
• Draven
  • E CD: 18-14-⇒ 16-12
  • R Mult-ihit Fall off: -8% multiplicative, to a minimum of 40% ⇒ -5% multiplicative, to a minimum of 50%
• Kai’sa
  • W CD: 22-14 ⇒ 20-14
  • R Base Shield: 70-110 ⇒ 100-200
• Le Blanc
  • RQ1/RE1: 70/140/210 ⇒ 70/150/230
  • Mark(RQ2)/Root(RE2) damage: 140/280/420 ⇒ 140/300/460
  • RW Damage: 150/300/450 ⇒ 150/315/480
• Olaf
  • Q Monster bonus physical damage:
  • 20/35/50/65/80 ⇒ 20/45/70/95/120
• Poppy
  • Q Monster damage cap: 50/80/110/140/170 ⇒ 75/105/135/165/195
• Qiyana
  • Q Monster damage: 155% ⇒ 175%
• Vex
  • E CD: 13 ⇒ 12
  • R Takedown Reset Window: 6s ⇒ 8s
• Zaahen

Champion Nerfs

• Bard
  • P Meep Damage: 35 (+10 per 5 Chimes) (+40% AP) ⇒ 30 (+6 per 5 Chimes) (+40% AP)
• Brand
  • Base Mana Regen: 9 per 5 ⇒ 11 per 5
  • E Mana Cost: 70-90 ⇒ 90
  • P Detonation Damage: 8-12% (+2% per 100 AP) Max Health ⇒ 6-12% (+2% per 100 AP) Max Health
• Cassiopeia
  • Health per level: 104 ⇒ 98
• K’Sante
  • Shield (80-240) (+15% bonus health) ⇒ (70-240) (+13.5% bonus health)
• Rek’Sai
  • E physical damage:
    • 80/108/136/164/192 (+64% bonus AD) ⇒ 70/95/120/145/170 (+60% bonus AD)
    • bonus true damage: 125% ⇒ 120%
• Rumble
  • Q Damage: 60-160 (+100%AP) ⇒ 50-150 (+105%AP)
• Senna
  • Minion/Small Monster Soul Drop Chance: 10% when Senna kills / 28% when Senna doesn’t kill ⇒ 5% when
  • Senna kills / 32% when Senna doesn’t kill
  • Crit Damage Reduction: -10% ⇒ -15% (ex: 170% +25.5% IE)
  • Q Cooldown Refund: 1s On Hit ⇒ 1s On Attack
• Sion
  • W Mana: 65-85 ⇒ 75-95
  • Q Min Damage: 40-120 ⇒ 30-90 (max damage unchanged)

System Buffs

• Imperial Mandate
  • Build Path: Blasting Wand + Bandleglass + 650g ⇒ 2xAmp Tome + Bandleglass + 700g
  • AP: 65 ⇒ 60
  • Unique Passive – Control: +15AH on Immobilizing Abilities ⇒ +20AH on Immobilizing Abilities
  • Unique Passive – Command: 6% Vulnerable on Immobilizing ⇒ 7% Vulnerable on Immobilizing

System Nerfs

• Doran’s Helm
  • Health: 140 ⇒ 150
  • Armor and Magic Resist: 10 ⇒ 8

Which of these changes do you expect to have the biggest impact on the meta? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.

In other news, legendary LoL toplaner TheShy has returned to Invictus Gaming.