League of Legends Patch 26.17
Irelia and LeBlanc get real power back, Vayne eats the heaviest nerf on the list, and the three champions running solo queue right now, Nasus, Nocturne and Thresh, all get trimmed.
Patch 26.17 is a straight balance patch. No new champion, no ranked reset, no mode overhaul. Riot spent this one pulling down the champions that were choking the ladder and handing a few mid-tier picks enough to matter again.
The short version: Nasus, Nocturne and Thresh were the problem picks of the cycle and all three got nerfed, though the cuts are light enough that they stay strong. Vayne is the one to actually drop, she loses health, attack speed and W true damage all at once. On the other side, Irelia and LeBlanc are the buys, with Irelia's R now scaling at 100% AP and LeBlanc getting a huge attack-speed ratio fix.
Our Patch 26.17 tier list is refreshed with settled Emerald+ win-rate, pick-rate and ban-rate data across all five roles.
Patch 26.17 at a Glance
Eight buffs
Aurelion Sol, Cho'Gath, Irelia, LeBlanc, Qiyana, Trundle, Yasuo and Yone.
Six nerfs
Graves, Nasus, Nocturne, Thresh, Vayne and Xerath.
Item changes
Stormrazor gains attack speed. Sundered Sky loses health and AD.
No reset
Season 3 rolls on. League Classic gets rune pages, faster IP and XP, and champion swapping in select.
Patch 26.17 Tier List: The Changed Champions
Because this data is a full week into the patch, it already accounts for the nerfs and buffs settling in. The story it tells is blunt: the champions Riot cut were the ones dominating, and most of them are still winning.
| Champion | Role | Change | Tier | Win rate | Pick rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thresh | Support | Nerf | S | 53.42% | 14.91% |
| Nocturne | Jungle | Nerf | S | 52.96% | 6.21% |
| Nasus | Top | Nerf | S | 52.91% | 8.66% |
| Yasuo | ADC | Buff | S | 53.13% | 2.47% |
| LeBlanc | Mid | Buff | S | 52.39% | 5.69% |
| Xerath | Mid | Nerf | A | 52.47% | 4.48% |
| Irelia | Top | Buff | A | 52.20% | 4.48% |
| Graves | Jungle | Nerf | A | 51.08% | 10.48% |
| Qiyana | Jungle | Buff | D | 50.03% | 4.56% |
Thresh sits at a 53.42% win rate on a 14.91% pick rate, which is why he got touched at all. A nerf that only shaves 10 base E damage and 10% AP ratio is not going to move him out of S. Same story with Nasus in top and Nocturne in the jungle: still winning above 52%, still S tier, just no longer untouchable.
The buffs that actually landed are LeBlanc and Yasuo. LeBlanc's attack-speed ratio fix turns her into a real threat again at 52.39% in mid, and Yasuo bot is quietly a 53.13% pick. Irelia climbed to A in top. Qiyana got a Q buff but the monster-damage cut hurt her jungle clear, and she is still stuck at a coin-flip 50%.
The full-role S-tier leaders right now are Nasus in top, Rammus in jungle, Zed in mid, Jinx in bot and Thresh in support. Pull the live tier list for the complete role-by-role board.
Champion Buffs
Q mana cost per second drops from 35/40/45/50/55 to 30/35/40/45/50, and W cooldown improves from 22/20.5/19/17.5/16 to 22/20/18/16/14 seconds. Both changes ease his biggest weakness, the mana crunch that stops him snowballing stacks, and the W buff gives more uptime on his roam tool. He is a B-tier mid at 52.69% right now, so this is a nudge, not a takeover.
E base damage across three attacks rises from 20/40/60/80/100 to 30/50/70/90/110 with a 30% AP ratio. That is a flat 10 more per rank on his most reliable damage source, which helps his lane trades and his jungle clear equally. Cho'Gath jungle already quietly sits at 53.58% in a low sample.
Q gains AD scaling from 70% to 80%, W damage reduction scales better at 8% per 100 AP instead of 7%, and R jumps from a 70% to a 100% AP ratio. The R change is the real one: her ult now converts a full-build AP investment into serious teamfight damage. She climbed to A in top at 52.20% and is a legitimate pick again.
Attack-speed ratio is corrected from 0.4 to 0.625 (growth trimmed from 2.35% to 1.5% to compensate), and both W and chain-W damage go from 80% to 90% AP. The attack-speed fix matters more than it reads: her waveclear and tower pushing between kills stop feeling broken. She is back in S tier mid at 52.39%.
Q base damage rises 10 per rank to 80/110/140/170/200 with a 90% bonus AD ratio, but the monster modifier drops from 175% to 160%. Lane trades get stronger, jungle clear gets slightly slower. It has not been enough: Qiyana jungle is still D tier at a 50.03% win rate, so treat this as a lane-Qiyana buff.
W attack speed scales harder, from 30/45/60/75/90% to 30/50/70/90/110%. His Frozen Domain now hands him a genuine attack-speed steroid for tower dives and objective duels. Small pick rate, but he is winning at 52.78% for the players who commit.
Both keep more of their crit damage: the passive crit-damage reduction shrinks from -10% to -5%, so every critical strike hits about 5% harder. Yasuo bot is already S tier at 53.13%, and Yasuo top and mid both sit in A. This is a clean damage buff to two champions that were already fine.
Champion Nerfs
The heaviest hit on the patch. Base health goes from 550 to 580 but per-level scaling drops from 103 to 98, so she is worse at every level past the first few, her attack-speed ratio and its per-level scaling both fall, Q mana cost becomes a scaling 46/42/38/34/30 instead of a flat 30, and Silver Bolts loses early true damage: the max-HP percentage goes from 6/7/8/9/10% to 4/5.5/7/8.5/10% and the minimum damage drops 10 at every rank. Her early lane and her ability to spam Tumble are both worse. She fell out of the Emerald+ 1% pick-rate sample entirely.
Passive lifesteal drops from 12/18/24% to 10/15/20%. That is a scaling sustain cut, so it bites hardest late when Nasus wants to stand in a teamfight and outheal everything. He is still S tier in top at 52.91%, just a bit easier to burst before he stacks Spirit Fire and Ravenous.
Armor from 38 to 36 and health from 655 to 640. Pure base-stat shave aimed at his early jungle durability and dive survivability. It does not touch his kit, and he is still the second-highest win rate on this list at 52.96%, so expect him to stay S.
E active damage drops 10 at every rank and the AP ratio falls from 70% to 60%. Thresh was the single most oppressive pick of the patch at a 53.42% win rate and a 14.91% pick rate, and this barely dents that. A real Thresh nerf needs a hook or lantern change; this is a slap on the wrist.
Q initial damage scaling drops from 65% to 55% bonus AD, and the return-shot scaling falls from 55/70/85/100/115% to 45/60/75/90/105% bonus AD. His burst clear and his all-in trade both lose a chunk. Graves jungle has the highest pick rate of any changed champion at 10.48% and settled to A tier, 51.08%.
Base health from 596 to 575 and Q damage down 5 per rank. A light poke-mage nerf. He is still A tier in mid at 52.47% and useful in bot, so this only makes him slightly squishier to dive.
Item and Rune Changes
- Stormrazor: attack speed rises from 20% to 25%. A direct buff to the lethality-ADC and crit-tempo builds that rush it, and part of why Yasuo bot looks so healthy.
- Sundered Sky: health drops from 450 to 400 and attack damage from 45 to 40. A nerf to the bruiser-fighter first item, which pulls power off the top-lane and jungle bruisers that were stacking early stats.
League Classic, ARAM and Arena
League Classic got the biggest content pass this patch. Every player now gets 2 rune pages, IP and XP gains are doubled, rune costs are down, and you can finally swap champions and roles in Champion Select. Riot also launched the inaugural Council voting system and refreshed the Summoner's Rift visuals. Its balance is still separate from the live 26.17 tier list.
ARAM: Mayhem added two augments, Ultra Hydra and Upgrade Death's Dance, and rebalanced ADC augment power and visual clarity. Arena moved to an alternating patch schedule and trimmed the outlier champions and items in the mode.
New skins landed on August 26 alongside the patch: Heartsong Seraphine, Ocean Song Soraka and Ocean Song Jinx.
Best Champions to Climb With in 26.17
The honest answer is that the nerfs did not change who wins. Nasus top, Nocturne jungle and Thresh support are still S tier and still the safest points on the map, they just take a little more help now. If you want to abuse the actual patch shift, LeBlanc and Irelia are the buffed picks with real upside, and Yasuo bot is riding both the passive buff and the Stormrazor change into a 53% win rate.
Avoid forcing Qiyana jungle. The Q buff reads nice but the monster-modifier cut kept her clear slow, and the data still has her at a 50% coin flip. If you want to know where you actually sit before you pick into any of this, run your account through the MMR checker first.
See the live Patch 26.17 rankings
Every role is refreshed with Emerald+ win rate, pick rate, ban rate and movement from the previous patch.
View the 26.17 Tier ListPatch 26.17 FAQ
When did League Patch 26.17 go live?
Patch 26.17 went live on August 26, 2026. It is a balance-only patch with no ranked reset, so Season 3 progression continues unchanged.
Who was buffed in Patch 26.17?
Aurelion Sol, Cho'Gath, Irelia, LeBlanc, Qiyana, Trundle, Yasuo and Yone received champion buffs. Stormrazor was also buffed with more attack speed.
Who was nerfed in Patch 26.17?
Graves, Nasus, Nocturne, Thresh, Vayne and Xerath were nerfed. Sundered Sky lost health and attack damage. Vayne took the heaviest set of cuts across health, attack speed and W true damage.
Is Vayne still worth playing after the 26.17 nerf?
She is much weaker in the early game. The health, attack-speed and Silver Bolts changes hit her lane phase hard, and she dropped out of the Emerald+ pick-rate sample. She is still playable as a hyper-carry into the right comp, but she is no longer a safe blind pick.
Did Nasus, Nocturne and Thresh actually get worse?
Only slightly. All three were the top win-rate picks of the patch, and the nerfs were light: base-stat shaves and small ratio cuts. All three are still S tier a week into 26.17, so they remain strong ladder picks.
For the last cycle we covered, read the Patch 26.15 live notes, or browse the full League patch notes archive.
