Season 2 -- Pandemonium

Patch 26.9: The Biggest Patch of 2026

Live April 29, 2026. Season 2 launches with Deathfire Touch and Stormraider's Surge returning, Phase Rush removed, Statikk Shiv reworked into an on-hit scaling item, three new items added, two items removed, Arcane Comet reworked, Hail of Blades reworked, Arena completely overhauled, WASD enters Ranked, role quest changes, and champion balance across 10 champions. This is the meta reset.

This is not a normal patch. 26.9 is the Season 2 launch -- the biggest single update League has gotten since the item rework. Two keystones return from the dead, two items get deleted, three new items enter the shop, and the rune system gets reshuffled in ways that will change how every champion in the game builds. If you read one patch notes article this year, make it this one.

For the full Season 2 breakdown including Arena, WASD, and everything else, check our Season 2 Pandemonium guide. This article focuses on the Summoner's Rift changes -- the stuff that directly affects your ranked games starting April 29 at noon.

Quick take: The meta is going to be chaos for at least two weeks. Deathfire Touch gives DoT mages a real keystone for the first time. Stormraider's Surge replaces Phase Rush but requires 25% HP damage to proc -- that kills it for most of the champions who relied on Phase Rush. Statikk Shiv is now a late-game on-hit item, not a waveclear rush. Opportunity and Trailblazer are gone. The mid lane role quest now gives +6% bonus AD/AP instead of empowered recall. Play what you know for the first week, then adapt.

The Rune Overhaul

This is the headline. Three keystones changed, and the ripple effects touch every champion in the game.

Deathfire Touch Returns

New Keystone

Sorcery Tree. Damaging a champion with an ability burns them for 4 seconds (single-target), 2 seconds (AoE), or 1 second (DoT). The burn deals 4-12 base (level scaling) + 8% bonus AD + 3% AP adaptive damage per second. After the burn has been on a target for 3 seconds, the damage doubles.

This is the keystone DoT mages have been waiting for. Brand, Malzahar, Swain, Lillia, Singed -- anyone whose kit revolves around sustained damage over time now has a keystone that actually synergizes with their playstyle instead of awkwardly borrowing Comet or Aery.

The 3-second ramp to double damage is the key mechanic. Champions who can keep reapplying the burn (Brand passive, Malzahar E, Lillia Q) will hit the doubled damage consistently. Champions who do one burst combo and walk away won't get the full value.

Phase Rush Removed, Stormraider's Surge Added

Reworked Keystone

Phase Rush is gone. Stormraider's Surge takes its slot in the Sorcery tree. It triggers when you deal 25% of a champion's max HP within 3 seconds, granting 40% movespeed (75% for ranged) and 50% slow resistance for 3 seconds. 20-10 second cooldown based on level.

The 25% HP threshold is the critical difference from Phase Rush. Phase Rush triggered off three separate attacks or abilities -- easy to proc with any combo. Stormraider's requires you to chunk someone for a quarter of their health bar. That's a much higher bar, especially against tanks.

Winners: Burst mages and assassins who already deal 25% HP in a combo (Syndra, Viktor, Cassiopeia in extended trades). Ranged champions get 75% movespeed which is absurd if they can proc it.

Losers: Gragas, Taliyah, Ryze, Aurelion Sol, and anyone who used Phase Rush as a safety net to trade and disengage. These champions often proc'd Phase Rush with low-damage combos just for the movespeed. They can't hit 25% HP thresholds as easily, especially in lane against full-HP targets.

Arcane Comet Reworked

Reworked

The cooldown refund mechanic for DoT abilities is removed (that's Deathfire Touch's job now). Instead, Comet now deals up to 100% increased damage based on distance from the target, maxing out at 750 range. Base damage reduced from 30-130 to 15-100.

This is a massive shift. Comet is now the artillery mage keystone -- Xerath, Vel'Koz, Ziggs, Lux. The further away you are when you land the ability, the harder the Comet hits. Point-blank Comet is actually weaker than before. Long-range Comet can deal double damage.

Hail of Blades Reworked

Reworked

Attack speed reduced from 160%/80% (melee/ranged) to 120%/60%. Now deals 4-20 (+8% bonus AD)(+6% AP) bonus true damage per empowered attack. Auto-attack resets can now grant up to +2 bonus attacks instead of +1.

Less attack speed, but the true damage per hit is new and significant. Champions like Bel'Veth, Xin Zhao, and Rek'Sai who use HoB for quick burst trades now get true damage on top. The reduced attack speed hurts champions who needed the raw speed to fit abilities between autos.

Champion Buffs

Four champions getting direct power increases. Gragas and Taliyah are compensated for losing Phase Rush, Warwick gets late-game scaling, and Tahm Kench support gets help.

Buffed

Gragas

GragasPhase Rush compensation

W damage reduction: 10/12/14/16/18% → 10/14/18/22/26% (+4% per 100 AP unchanged)

Gragas top lived on Phase Rush. Without it, he loses his primary trading pattern of E-auto-W-Q-run away. Riot is compensating by making him tankier in extended fights. The W damage reduction at max rank goes from 18% to 26% -- that's a massive 8% increase. Combined with the AP scaling, a Gragas with 300 AP now reduces incoming damage by 38% during W. He's going to be harder to kill in teamfights, but his lane trading pattern is fundamentally different without Phase Rush. Expect Grasp or Comet Gragas to emerge.

Tahm Kench

Tahm KenchSupport focused

E grey health conversion: 45-100% (lvl 1-18) → 60-100% | R ally devour movespeed: 40% → 60%

Last patch's adjustment was a slight nerf. This compensates with support-focused buffs. The E grey health conversion starting at 60% instead of 45% means early-game Tahm Kench heals back significantly more from his grey health -- that's a big deal for support trades where you're chunked but not killed. The R movespeed going from 40% to 60% when carrying an ally makes his save plays way more reliable. You can actually get your ADC out of danger now instead of slowly waddling away with them in your mouth.

Taliyah

TaliyahPhase Rush compensation + buff

Q base damage: 50/67.5/85/102.5/120 → 55/72.5/90/107.5/125 | Q bonus monster damage: 23/28/33/38/43 → 20/25/30/35/40

Same boat as Gragas -- Phase Rush gone, needs compensation. Taliyah was also nerfed recently for pro play, so Riot is walking that back. +5 base damage per rock on Q doesn't sound like much, but Q fires 5 rocks. That's +25 damage per full Q at all ranks. The monster damage going down slightly keeps her jungle clear in check so the Q buff doesn't make her a 2:20 clearer. Mid lane Taliyah is the main winner here.

Warwick

WarwickLate-game scaling

P on-hit damage: 6/16/26/36/46 → 6/18.25/30.5/42.75/55

Warwick falls off a cliff after 25 minutes. This buff targets his passive on-hit damage scaling, adding +9 damage at max rank. That's per auto attack, and Warwick autos a lot. In a 10-auto fight (which happens with his attack speed steroid), that's +90 bonus damage. Not going to make him a late-game carry, but it softens the transition from "I'm unkillable" at 15 minutes to "I'm a cannon minion" at 35.

Champion Nerfs

Two nerfs. Ambessa's ult is too fast to react to, and Briar's mastery curve has caught up with her.

Nerfed

Ambessa

AmbessaR clarity nerf

R cast time: 0.55s → 0.70s

Ambessa's ult has been a "what just happened" moment for the person on the receiving end. 0.55 seconds is barely enough time to register the animation, let alone react. Adding 0.15 seconds to the cast time opens a small but meaningful window for Flash, Zhonya's, or a well-timed dash. It's a clarity nerf more than a power nerf -- she still kills you, you just get to see it coming. Riot says they're watching for follow-up work.

Briar

BriarSurvivability nerf

Health growth: 100 → 95

Briar has one of the steepest mastery curves in the game, and enough players have climbed it that her high-Elo performance is too strong. -5 health growth means -90 HP at level 18. That's roughly one auto attack less of survivability in late-game fights. Riot is specifically targeting her tankiness while keeping her kill potential intact. She'll still delete people, she just can't facetank as much while doing it.

Champion Adjustments

Six champions getting build diversity changes. Riot is deliberately reopening old playstyles -- AP Ezreal, AD Kennen, on-hit Teemo, AP Xin Zhao, and bruiser Udyr all get new scaling options. Shyvana gets a full AD/AP build split.

Adjusted

Ezreal

EzrealAP Ezreal returns

Q AP ratio: 15% → 40% | W AP ratio: 70-90% → 90% | R AP ratio: 90% → 110% | R minion/monster damage reworked with 110% AP scaling

AP Ezreal is back from the dead. Q going from 15% to 40% AP ratio is nearly tripling the AP scaling on his most-used ability. R at 110% AP means a full AP Ezreal ult is going to chunk for 60-70% of a squishy's HP from across the map. The R minion damage formula also changed to scale with AD and AP separately, so hybrid builds might emerge too. This is going to be a menace in ARAM and a legitimate mid lane pick for players who can land skillshots.

Kennen

KennenAD/crit Kennen enabled

W passive: now applies as on-hit, can crit for 140% (+40% bonus crit damage) | E attack speed buff: crits extend duration by 1s, up to 4s

Riot is adding crit synergy to Kennen's W and E specifically to avoid buffing his standard AP builds. The W passive can now critically strike, and critting extends the E attack speed buff. This opens up a crit/on-hit Kennen build that plays completely differently from AP Kennen -- more like a ranged Tryndamere than a teamfight AoE mage. Whether it's actually good depends on whether the numbers justify building crit over AP. Interesting design space either way.

Shyvana

ShyvanaAD/AP build split

Big rework. AD Shyvana now focuses on auto attacks and Q with better base stats and the Q passive losing its AP ratio. AP Shyvana centers around R and E with higher AP ratios but lower base damage. The W changes are the most interesting -- shield now scales with bonus HP instead of max HP, and the heal in dragon form is completely reworked to scale with missing health. Bruiser Shyvana with Sheen items should feel much better. AP Shyvana loses some E base damage but gains 5% target max HP which is huge against tanks.

Teemo

TeemoOn-hit builds enabled

E initial damage: NEW +10% bonus AD ratio | E DoT: NEW +30% bonus AD ratio over 4s

On-hit Teemo with Rageblade and the reworked Statikk Shiv is exactly what Riot is aiming for here. Adding bonus AD ratios to his E poison means attack damage items now amplify his auto-attack damage instead of being dead stats. The 30% bonus AD on the DoT over 4 seconds is particularly interesting with Deathfire Touch -- the DoT reapplies DFT, which reapplies the burn, creating a stacking damage loop. Nashor's Tooth + Rageblade + Shiv Teemo could be a real build.

Udyr

UdyrQ bruiser diversified

Q on-hit AD ratio: 25% → 20% (+1-2% bonus HP) | Q max HP ratio: 4% per 100 AD → 3.5% | W: NEW 50% bonus AD shield ratio | E: NEW 5% MS per 100 bonus AD

Udyr's AD Q builds have been one-dimensional -- press Q, auto attack, ignore other stances. Riot is shifting AD ratios out of Q and into W and E so the "stance swapper" actually swaps stances. Q loses some raw damage, but W now shields for 50% bonus AD (100% awakened) and E gives movespeed scaling with AD. Triforce/Titanic Hydra Udyr should feel much better because you're rewarded for cycling through all three stances instead of just spamming Q.

Zeri

ZeriRange up, ratios shifted

P right-click range: 500 → 550 | P execute threshold: 60-150 (+18% AP) → 70-160 (+20% AP) | Q damage: 15-23 (+1.04-1.2 AD) → 21-33 (+1.02-1.1 AD) | Q excess AS to AD: 70% → 50% | W crit mult: 1.75 → 1.5, AP ratio: .25 → .5 | E on-hit: buffed, CD refresh now works vs everything | R burst AD ratio: 100% → 60%, MS/stack: 1% → 1.5%, stack duration: 1.5s → 2.5s

Zeri is getting pulled in multiple directions. Her right-click range going from 500 to 550 is a genuine quality-of-life buff for last-hitting and short trades. Q base damage goes up but the AD ratio and AS conversion go down -- Riot wants her less dependent on pure attack speed stacking. The R changes are the biggest shift: burst AD ratio halved from 100% to 60%, but movespeed per stack and stack duration both increased. She's less of a "press R and one-shot" champion and more of a "press R and kite forever" champion. The W AP ratio doubling hints at hybrid builds too.

Xin Zhao

Xin ZhaoAP/on-hit builds enabled

P healing AP ratio: 65% flat → 50/65/90% (lvl 1/6/11) | W slow: +0.5s per 100 AP | E AP ratio: 60% → 120% | E AS buff: 40-80% → 38-70% (+1% per 5% perm AS)(+10% per 100 AP)

AP Xin Zhao is being deliberately enabled. E going from 60% to 120% AP ratio is a straight doubling. The passive healing scaling with AP by level means AP Xin heals more at level 11+ than before. The E attack speed buff now scales with both permanent AS and AP, so Nashor's Tooth becomes a core item. Whether full AP or hybrid on-hit, Xin Zhao now has legitimate build diversity beyond Sundered Sky into Black Cleaver every game.

Zoe

ZoePower shifted to E

W damage per bolt: 20-60 (+15% AP) → 15-55 (+10% AP) | E cooldown: 16-12s → 18-14s, NEW: refunds 16-30% CD on champion hit

Zoe's W has been doing too much free damage in lane trades -- you pick up a summoner spell shard, throw it, and the bolts chunk for 180 + 45% AP at max rank. That's getting pulled back significantly (-15 base, -15% AP ratio on total damage). In exchange, her E gets a cooldown refund mechanic when she lands it on a champion. This rewards skillful Bubble usage instead of stat-checking with W procs. Good Zoe players won't mind. Bad Zoe players will feel the W nerf hard.

Item Changes

This is where the meta really shifts. Two items removed, three items added, and several reworked.

Items

New Items

Doran's Bow -- 6 AD, 12% attack speed, 1.5% omnivamp. A high-risk starting item for auto-attack champions who want to trade aggressively. No health, so you're squishy, but the omnivamp and attack speed let you sustain through winning trades. Think Vayne, Kog'Maw, Kalista -- champions who win extended autos but don't need the HP from Doran's Blade.

Doran's Helm -- 100 HP, 10 armor, 10 MR, 5 on-hit damage vs minions. The "I refuse to die in lane" starting item. Dual resistances from level 1 is new territory. Champions who want to survive lane and scale -- Kayle, Nasus, Sion -- now have an option that doesn't force them to choose between armor and MR. The on-hit vs minions helps with last-hitting since you're not buying any AD.

Gluttonous Greaves -- 45 movespeed, 4% omnivamp. Builds from Boots + 650g. Passive: on champion takedown, gain 1% omnivamp permanently (stacks up to 6 times). Tier 3 Immortal Path bonus: above 50% HP deal 5% more damage, below 50% HP get +15% healing/shielding/regen.

These boots are going to be everywhere. 4% omnivamp baseline plus up to 10% when fully stacked is a lot of sustain. Fighters and bruisers who currently default to Ionian Boots now have an aggressive sustain option. The Tier 3 path bonus is particularly strong -- 5% damage amp while healthy, 15% healing amp while low. That's a win-more and a comeback mechanic in one item.

Removed Items

Opportunity -- Gone. Riot felt it overlapped too much with Youmuu's Ghostblade even after attempts to differentiate them. Lethality assassins lose a burst option but Voltaic Cyclosword is being reworked to fill that gap.

Trailblazer -- Gone. Overlapped with Bandlepipes and Dead Man's Plate. Too much visual noise with the trail effect. Tank mobility options are now consolidated into two items instead of three.

Reworked Items

Statikk Shiv -- Completely different item now. 40 AD, 45 AP, 30% AS, 4% MS. Energized trigger fires chain lightning to 4-8 targets, dealing 60 magic damage (90 to minions/monsters). The chain lightning applies on-hit effects to secondary targets. This is no longer a waveclear rush item -- it's a late-game on-hit scaling purchase. The on-hit application to bounced targets means Kog'Maw, Varus, Kayle, and Teemo can spread their on-hit effects to multiple enemies in teamfights. Build path includes Pickaxe + Aether Wisp, so it's a 2900g investment.

Voltaic Cyclosword -- Now triggers Energized from ability damage (not just autos). Grants 15/12 lethality (melee/ranged) for 4 seconds on Energized trigger, plus 9%/7% current HP physical damage. Lethality reduced from 18 to 10 base, cost down to 2900g. This is the new "upfront burst" lethality item for AD casters who don't auto-attack much. Jayce, Pantheon, and ability-focused assassins can now proc Energized with spells.

Dusk and Dawn -- Gets a new heal on Spellblade proc (10% AP + 3% bonus HP). Health reduced 350 to 300, AP reduced 70 to 60, attack speed reduced 25% to 20%. The heal makes it a sustain-focused Sheen item instead of pure burst. Slightly weaker stats but the healing adds up in extended fights.

Hubris -- Base AD down from 60 to 55, but passive AD per stack up from +2 to +3, and bonus AD down from +15 to +12. More feast-or-famine -- weaker baseline, stronger when you're getting kills. Also lost 5 ability haste (15 to 10).

Axiom Arc -- Ultimate refund nerfed from 15% (+0.15% per lethality) to 10% (+0.25% per lethality). Lower base refund, higher scaling. Early game Axiom Arc is weaker, but late game with full lethality it's roughly the same. This specifically targets the "first item Axiom Arc" rush on champions like Nocturne and Pyke.

Staff of Flowing Water -- Now grants +40 AP and +15 ability haste (instead of just +45 AP) when healing or shielding allies. The item itself loses 5 ability haste (15 to 10). Enchanters who build this now give their carries ability haste on top of AP, which is huge for mages who want to spam abilities in teamfights.

Endless Hunger -- Melee bonus AD scaling on the ability haste passive increased from 10% to 13%. Minor buff to make it more attractive for melee fighters over other lifesteal options.

Role Quest Changes

System

Three significant changes to how role quests work in Season 2:

Mid lane rework: Empowered recall is gone. Replaced with +6% bonus AD and +6% bonus AP. This is massive. Mid laners now get a permanent scaling bonus instead of a utility cooldown. At 200 bonus AP, that's +12 free AP. At 300 bonus AD on an AD mid like Zed, that's +18 free AD. Mid lane carry fantasy is back.

Top lane adjustment: XP bonus changed from +12.5% from all sources to +80 flat XP on champion takedowns and +11% from non-champion sources. Top laners who fight their opponent get more XP. Top laners who AFK split push get slightly less. Riot wants scrappy top lane fights, not Nasus farming for 20 minutes.

Bot lane nerf: Bonus takedown gold reduced from 50g to 40g. Minor nerf to bot lane snowballing. -10g per kill adds up over a game but won't change how bot lane feels moment to moment.

Quest progression overhaul: The "in quest lane" definition is now anywhere in the lane, not just near the outer turret. After level 3, you bank roaming time (up to 60 seconds after 120 seconds in lane) that lets you roam without losing quest progress. Recall now disables passive point earn for 12 seconds instead of the old turret-proximity penalty. All of this makes roaming less punishing and assassin mids less frustrated.

Minion Wave Changes

Melee minion health adjusted from 440 (+25 every 90s, then +35) to 430 (+35 every 90s). Minion damage to other minions reduced slightly. Net effect: waves are slightly more durable in mid-to-late game, which means they stack up more and create bigger slow pushes. This opens roaming windows and makes wave management more impactful. Good players benefit, autopilot players won't notice.

WASD in Ranked

WASD movement controls are now enabled for Ranked queues and Clash, starting with 26.9. If you've been practicing in normals, you can finally take it into ranked. Champion-specific keybinds (added in 26.8) work with WASD too.

Arena Season 2

Arena gets a complete overhaul. New augment leveling system (augments now have 1-3 levels with Keystone effects at max), new crafting round on Round 8, new Guests of Honor (including Atakhan, Fiddlesticks, Kindred, Shaco), a new map (Petricite Grove), reworked maps, and a new Fame Track. 3x6 Arena (three players per team, six teams) is coming in Patch 26.10.

For the full Arena breakdown, check our Season 2 Pandemonium guide.

Season 2 Ranked Reset

Season 2 starts at 12:00:00 noon, April 29, local server time. Apex players (Master, Grandmaster, Challenger) in NA, EUW, EUN, LAN, BR, and TR get reset to Master 0 LP. Everyone else keeps their rank. Victorious Ranked Mission (15 ranked wins) resets. Season 1 rewards distribute shortly after 26.9 goes live.

New Skins

Pandemonium Annie, Pandemonium Kindred, Demoncursed Vayne, and Prestige Pandemonium Shaco available April 29.

Patch 26.9 Winners and Losers

Winners

Brand, Malzahar, Swain, Lillia -- Deathfire Touch is their keystone. DoT mages finally have a rune that synergizes with their entire kit instead of borrowing Comet.
AP Ezreal -- Q AP ratio nearly tripled. R at 110% AP. Global snipes are back and they hurt.
Mid lane mains -- +6% bonus AD/AP from role quest is a straight scaling buff. Every mid laner is stronger in Season 2.
On-hit builds -- Statikk Shiv spreading on-hit effects to multiple targets is a game-changer for Kog'Maw, Varus, Kayle, and on-hit Teemo.
Gragas -- W damage reduction at max rank goes from 18% to 26%. He's a wall in teamfights now.
Enchanters -- Staff of Flowing Water now gives ability haste to allies. Lulu/Janna/Nami buffing their carries with AP + AH is strong.
Burst mages -- Stormraider's Surge at 75% movespeed for ranged champions who can deal 25% HP. Syndra, Viktor, and Veigar are going to love this.

Losers

Phase Rush users (Ryze, Aurelion Sol, Cassiopeia, Viktor) -- Phase Rush is gone. Stormraider's Surge requires 25% HP damage to proc, which is a much higher bar. Some of these champions will adapt, others will struggle.
Gragas top (short term) -- The W buff is nice but losing Phase Rush fundamentally changes his trading pattern. He needs to find a new keystone and it'll take time.
Taliyah (short term) -- Same Phase Rush problem. The Q buff helps but doesn't replace the safety of Phase Rush disengage.
Opportunity builders -- Item deleted. Assassins who rushed it need a new first item. Voltaic Cyclosword is the replacement but it's a different playstyle.
Waveclear Shiv rushers -- Old Statikk Shiv waveclear is gone. The new version is a late-game on-hit item, not a lane-clearing rush.
Briar -- -90 HP at level 18. She's squishier in late-game fights where she was already walking a tightrope.

What This Means for Your Climb

The first two weeks of Season 2 are going to be a mess. Everyone is going to be experimenting with Deathfire Touch, trying AP Ezreal mid, testing on-hit Teemo, and figuring out which champions can actually proc Stormraider's Surge. Use that chaos to your advantage.

If you want to climb immediately: play what you already know. Your muscle memory and matchup knowledge are worth more than any rune change. The players who lose LP in the first week are the ones who switch to "the new OP" without understanding it.

If you want to experiment: do it on a smurf. The meta will stabilize in about two weeks once winrate data comes in. Check the tier list -- we'll update it with 26.9 data as soon as there are enough games to be statistically meaningful.

The mid lane role quest change (+6% bonus AD/AP) is the sleeper buff that affects every mid laner. If you play mid, you're automatically stronger in Season 2. That alone might be worth a division.

Season 2 starts April 29

Fresh season, fresh account. Start your Season 2 climb on a Level 30 smurf with 40,000+ BE.

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FAQ

When does LoL Patch 26.9 go live?

Patch 26.9 goes live on April 29, 2026. Season 2 Ranked starts at 12:00:00 noon local server time the same day.

What new runes are in Patch 26.9?

Deathfire Touch returns as a Sorcery keystone for DoT/sustained damage champions. Stormraider's Surge replaces Phase Rush, requiring 25% HP damage to proc for movespeed. Arcane Comet is reworked to deal more damage at longer range. Hail of Blades now deals bonus true damage per empowered attack.

Which items are removed in Patch 26.9?

Opportunity and Trailblazer are both removed. Opportunity overlapped with Youmuu's Ghostblade, and Trailblazer overlapped with Dead Man's Plate and Bandlepipes.

What new items are added in Patch 26.9?

Doran's Bow (AD/AS/omnivamp starting item), Doran's Helm (HP/armor/MR starting item), and Gluttonous Greaves (omnivamp boots that stack on takedowns). Statikk Shiv is also completely reworked into an on-hit scaling item.

Is WASD available in Ranked in Patch 26.9?

Yes. WASD movement controls are enabled for Ranked queues and Clash starting with Patch 26.9.

What changed with the mid lane role quest in 26.9?

The empowered recall reward is replaced with +6% bonus AD and +6% bonus AP. This is a permanent scaling buff that makes mid laners stronger as they build more damage items.

LoL Patch 26.9 Notes: Season 2 Pandemonium — All Changes, New Runes, Items, Arena Overhaul (2026)