Season 2 -- Act 1
Patch 26.11: Smolder Gutted, Support Meta Flipped, Imperial Mandate Returns
Live May 28, 2026. The biggest support patch since Season 2 dropped. Imperial Mandate has been reworked into a tank-support immobilize item, ranged enchanters get hit across the board, and tank/melee tools are getting pulled up. Plus Smolder takes the nerf hammer everyone's been asking for, and Diana finally gets jungle help.
If 26.10 was the cleanup crew for the Season 2 launch chaos, 26.11 is Riot finally admitting that ranged supports broke bot lane in half. Two weeks of "why does Brand support hit like a truck while Leona does nothing" complaints landed. Three damage enchanter items are getting nerfed, three tank-support items are getting buffed, and Imperial Mandate is being yanked out of the mage support toolkit and rebuilt as a tank engage item.
The champion changes feel almost like an afterthought next to the system overhaul. But Smolder finally getting hit (53.5% WR going into this patch is criminal), Brand losing armor to make him squishier in lane, and Teemo's E ratios getting cut are real changes that will move winrates. Diana, Ekko, and Quinn jungle all get help. Quinn especially needed it -- 43.1% WR last patch is brutal even for a niche pick.
Quick take: If you play tank support (Leona, Nautilus, Alistar, Rell), this is your patch. Aftershock buffed, Knight's Vow buffed, Locket buffed, Heartsteel buffed. If you play enchanter support (Lulu, Janna, Soraka, Karma) or Brand bot, your free LP train is over. Smolder mains, sorry -- the 53% reign is done. Smurfing onto fresh accounts to grind the new meta? That's exactly what we sell at AussyELO.
Pre-Patch Winrates (Going Into 26.11)
These are the Emerald+ winrates from Patch 26.10 that drove these changes. We'll update with live 26.11 data once we've scraped a few days post-launch.
Why These Champs Got Nerfed
- Smolder -- 53.5% WR. Highest winrate ADC in the game and nobody was banning him. The Doran's Bow buff in 26.10 plus Statikk Shiv changes pushed him over the edge.
- Brand -- 50.5% WR support. Quietly one of the most picked supports despite the role being designed around utility, not 600-damage W combos at level 6.
- Teemo -- 51.5% WR top. AD Teemo with Statikk Shiv was a problem. Riot is also nerfing his armor growth so AD top laners can punish him harder in lane.
Why These Champs Got Buffed
- Quinn -- 43.1% WR jungle. Catastrophic. Second buff in a row and she's still going to need more.
- Heimerdinger -- 49.0% WR. Turret range bump fixes the edge cases where his turrets lose vision and stop firing.
- Diana -- 51.1% WR but specifically weak in jungle. The +40% monster damage on passive should fix her clear.
- Ekko -- 49.5% WR. Passive cooldown reduction makes his 1v1 trades hit harder.
- Kassadin -- 49.0% WR. Q cooldown drop helps him survive the lane phase he was never good at.
Check the live tier list once 26.11 gets some games on it -- we update with patch-day winrate, pickrate, and banrate data every cycle.
Champion Nerfs
Three nerfs total. Smolder is the headliner -- he's been dominating Solo Queue since 26.10 and Riot finally pulled the trigger.
Nerfed
Passive E bonus magic damage: 12% of stacks → 8-12% of stacks
E poison AD scaling: +20% bAD → +10% bAD
Armor growth: 4.95/lvl → 4.5/lvl
Champion Buffs
Five champions getting help. Quinn is the most desperate (43% WR), Diana and Ekko get jungle-focused boosts, and Heimerdinger and Kassadin get general kit polish.
Buffed
Q monster damage: 150% → 200%
W shield bHP ratio: 9% / 18% → 11% / 22% (single / full orb)
E vision duration: 1s → 1.25s (fixes turret beam edge case)
W passive damage: 20 (+10% AP) → 25 (+10% AP)
Champion Adjustments
Adjusted
Passive healing AP ratio: +50/65/90% AP → +45/55/80% AP
Patch 26.11 Tier List Updated
Live winrates, pickrates, and ban data refreshed every patch. See exactly who's S-tier this cycle.
View 26.11 Tier ListSystem Changes -- Support Item Overhaul
This is the headline of the patch. Riot has been signaling for weeks that ranged supports got out of hand after the Season 2 role quest changes. Patch 26.11 is the response: enchanter items down, tank items up, Imperial Mandate reworked.
Imperial Mandate -- Fully Reworked
Item Rework
This is the biggest individual change in the patch. Old Imperial Mandate was a damage-amp item built into ranged enchanter mages. The new version is built into engage tank supports.
New build path: Fiendish Codex + Bandleglass Mirror + 500 gold (or Blasting Wand + Bandleglass + 700g, total 2400g)
New stats: 65 AP, 15 AH, 150% base mana regen
New uniques:
- Control: +15 ability haste on immobilizing abilities
- Command: When you immobilize an enemy champion, apply 6% Vulnerable for 4 seconds (they take +6% damage from all sources)
This isn't a small tweak. The old item marked enemies for ADCs to amplify damage. The new item is built specifically for tank supports who land hard CC -- Leona, Nautilus, Alistar, Thresh, Rell. The 6% Vulnerable debuff is huge for follow-up damage from your team. The +15 AH on immobilize abilities means Leona's E and R come back faster, Nautilus's hooks come back faster, every tank support gets ability uptime they didn't have before.
If you played Lux support, Senna support, or any AP poke support that built old Mandate, your build is dead. If you play Leona, Nautilus, Alistar, or any engage tank, you have a new mythic-tier build.
Other System Buffs (Tank/Engage Supports Win)
System
Aftershock (Rune)
- Bonus resists: 35 (+80% bonus AR/MR) → 45 (+75% bonus AR/MR)
- Net result: Stronger early-game resists for engage tanks. Aftershock Leona is going to feel like a wall again at level 3.
Heartsteel (Item)
- Damage to permanent HP conversion: 8% → 10%
- Net result: 25% faster stack accumulation. Heartsteel Sett, Cho'Gath, Mundo, and Sion are getting a real boost.
Knight's Vow (Item)
- Damage redirection: 12% → 14%
- Healing ratio: 10% → 12%
- Net result: Tank supports protecting their ADC just got 16% better. Pair this with Locket and you can keep an ADC alive through assassin engages.
Locket of the Iron Solari (Item)
- Armor and MR: 25 → 30
- Net result: +5 to both resists is a real defensive buff. The active is unchanged but the stat sheet is better.
Zeke's Convergence (Item)
- Now waits up to 5 seconds after R cast for a valid enemy to trigger Storm
- Net result: Previously you had to ult into someone immediately or waste the proc. Now Leona can ult, miss the engage, and still proc Zeke's when she catches the next target. Quality of life buff.
System Nerfs (Ranged Enchanters Lose)
System
Dream Maker (Item -- Reworked Effect)
- Blue Bubble DR: 75-255 (entire first damaging spell, was first instance) → 50-194 (entire spell, lower numbers)
- Purple Bubble Damage: 50-170 on-hit → 40-160 on damaging attack/ability with AoE reduction
- Net result: Dream Maker was an enchanter staple for poking lanes. The blue bubble nerf hurts shielding for trades, the purple bubble nerf hurts AoE poke procs. Soraka, Sona, and any healer-poker is significantly weaker.
Echoes of Helia (Item)
- Damage stored: 35% → 30%
- Net result: Heal-amping enchanters lose 5% damage threshold on procs. Soraka and Sona players will feel this.
Moonstone Renewer (Item)
- Starlight Grace no longer double dips with Heal/Shield Power AND Grievous Wounds
- Net result: Moonstone was secretly broken because it was getting boosted twice and ignoring antiheal in some cases. This is a bugfix that functionally nerfs the item by 15-20% on heal-stacking comps.
Summon Aery (Rune)
- Shield value: 30-100 (+10% bAD) (+5% AP) → 20-100 (+10% bAD) (+5% AP)
- Net result: Early-level Aery shield drops by 10. Lulu, Karma, Janna users will feel this in the laning phase specifically.
Guardian (Rune)
- Cooldown: 90-40s → 75-40s
- Shield: 45-180 (+25% AP) (+5% bHP) → 40-150 (+20% AP) (+6% bHP)
- Net result: This one's mixed. Lower cooldown is a buff, but the shield strength dropped substantially. Net: Guardian is weaker overall but more spammable. Tank supports who couldn't reliably benefit from the shield strength now get more uptime instead.
Other System Changes
System
Grubs (Objective)
- Structural DoT: 3/9/12 melee (1.5/4.5/6 ranged) → 4/12/16 melee (2/6/8 ranged)
- Summoned Grub HP: 60% of melee minions → 100% of melee minions
- Net result: Grubs deal +33% structural damage and the summoned grubs have 67% more HP. This makes the early Grub objective WAY more rewarding. If you take 3 grubs you're getting close to a free first turret. Junglers who prioritize objectives (Sejuani, Maokai, Amumu, Zac) just got significantly stronger. This is the change Riot mentioned would "give roaming supports more reason to leave bot lane."
Experimental Hexplate (Item)
- Ranged ult bonus: 50% AS / 20% MS for 8s → 35% AS / 14% MS for 8s
- Melee ult bonus: Unchanged
- Net result: Ranged Hexplate users (Vayne, Varus top, Nocturne) take a real damage hit. Melee Hexplate (Olaf, Aatrox) is unchanged. Riot wants Hexplate to be a melee-focused item.
Statikk Shiv (Item)
- AD: 40 → 45
- Net result: +5 AD on Statikk is a flat damage buff. Helps ADCs that build it (Caitlyn, Sivir) and gives them more lane pressure. Slightly compensates Smolder for the passive nerfs.
Deathfire Touch (Rune)
- Now deals Magic Damage (was Adaptive)
- Net result: This is a stealth nerf to AD champions running DFT. ADC users like Caitlyn or Smolder building lethality won't get bonus damage from armor pen anymore -- magic damage interacts with MR, not armor. AP DFT users (Brand, Xerath, Vel'Koz, Hwei) are unaffected. Mages who run DFT remain S-tier; AD lethality DFT abusers lose meaningful damage.
Midlane Role Quest
- Bonus AD/AP reward: 6% → 8%
- Net result: Mid laners are getting 33% more reward from completing their role quest. This is an incentive to stay mid and farm hard. Roaming mid laners (Zed, Talon, Akali) get less out of this since they hit the quest threshold less often.
What This Means For Your Ranked Games
Bot lane is unrecognizable now. If you were comfortable spam-picking Brand support or Smolder ADC, both got hit. Tank supports (Leona, Nautilus, Alistar, Rell) just got buffed across the board -- new Imperial Mandate, Aftershock buff, Knight's Vow buff, Locket buff. Enchanters (Soraka, Lulu, Janna) lost Dream Maker, Echoes of Helia, Moonstone, and Aery shield strength. The bot lane meta is shifting hard toward engage tanks and away from passive shield/heal supports.
Jungle is mostly stable with three buffs to underperformers (Diana, Ekko, Quinn). Lee Sin and Naafiri are still S-tier from 26.10. The Grubs change makes objective junglers stronger -- Sejuani, Maokai, Amumu, Zac all benefit.
Mid lane is barely touched. Kassadin gets a small buff but isn't going to S-tier from this. Ekko climbs back into B/A-tier. The midlane quest reward bump (6% → 8%) helps farmers more than roamers.
Top lane lost AD Teemo. Otherwise unchanged. Wukong is still A-tier from 26.10 buffs. Garen, Malphite, Irelia remain safe picks.
ADC is the messiest position. Smolder dropping from S+ tier opens room for Caitlyn, Ashe, Yasuo bot, and Brand ADC to reclaim the S-tier slots. Smolder is still playable, just not the free LP machine he was.
For the full breakdown across every champion and role, our tier list gets refreshed within 48 hours of each patch with live winrate data.
Test the New Meta on a Smurf
Don't risk your main's MMR figuring out if Tank Leona is back. 40,000+ BE, instant delivery, lifetime warranty.
Browse LoL SmurfsNew Skins in 26.11
The pasta line is the centerpiece this patch. Plus three Eternal Aspect skins for Diana and Leona.
- Pizza Chef Sion -- Sion in a chef's hat, slamming around pizza dough. Goofy and great.
- Pasta Maker Illaoi -- Illaoi making spaghetti with her tentacles. The animations are absurd.
- Breadsticks Irelia -- Irelia's blades replaced with breadsticks. Yes, really.
- Spaghetti alla Vel'Koz -- Vel'Koz as sentient pasta. The void has tomato sauce now.
- Eternal Aspect Leona -- Premium-tier Leona skin with full new VFX.
- Eternal Aspect Diana -- Eternal Aspect for Diana matching the Leona set.
- Eclipse Eternal Aspect Diana -- Chroma-style upgrade variant.
Available May 28 onwards.
FAQ
When did Patch 26.11 go live?
- Patch 26.11 went live on May 28, 2026 across all regions.
What are the biggest changes in Patch 26.11?
- Imperial Mandate fully reworked into a tank-support immobilize item, Smolder gutted (Q and E passive damage reduced), Brand and Teemo nerfed, three enchanter items nerfed (Dream Maker, Echoes of Helia, Moonstone), three tank-support items buffed (Heartsteel, Knight's Vow, Locket), Diana / Ekko / Heimerdinger / Kassadin / Quinn buffed.
Is Smolder still good after the 26.11 nerfs?
- He's playable but no longer S+ tier. The Q passive damage at low stack counts dropped from 40% to 25%, which significantly weakens his early game. Expect his winrate to drop from 53.5% into the 50-51% range. He still scales hard into late game, you just can't snowball off the early stack threshold anymore.
What happened to Imperial Mandate in Patch 26.11?
- It was completely reworked. Old Mandate was a damage-amp item for ranged enchanter mages. New Mandate is built into tank supports (Leona, Nautilus, Alistar, Rell, Thresh) and grants 65 AP, 15 ability haste, 150% mana regen, +15 AH on immobilizing abilities, and applies 6% Vulnerable for 4 seconds when you CC an enemy.
Are tank supports good in Patch 26.11?
- Yes -- this is the best tank support patch in months. Aftershock buffed (45 base resists), Knight's Vow buffed (14% damage redirect, 12% healing), Locket buffed (+5 armor/MR), Heartsteel buffed (10% conversion), and the new Imperial Mandate is built specifically for engage tanks. Leona, Nautilus, Alistar, Rell, and Thresh all get significantly stronger this patch.
Did enchanter supports get nerfed?
- Heavily. Dream Maker damage and shield reduced, Echoes of Helia stored damage cut from 35% to 30%, Moonstone Renewer's double-dip exploit removed, Summon Aery shield strength reduced. Lulu, Janna, Soraka, Karma, and Sona all lose meaningful power this patch.
Is Diana good in Patch 26.11?
- Especially in jungle. Her passive monster damage went from 230% to 270% (huge clear speed buff), and her W shield bonus HP ratio went from 9% / 18% to 11% / 22% on full orb. She was already 51.1% WR last patch -- expect her to climb into S-tier jungle by mid-patch.
What's the AP Xin Zhao adjustment?
- His passive now scales with AP for damage (+5/10/15/20% AP), but the AP ratio on his healing dropped from +50/65/90% to +45/55/80%. Net result: AP Xin Zhao keeps the build identity and gains some scaling damage, but his sustain (which was the broken part) gets toned down. He'll settle around 50% winrate instead of dominating.
