Riot Games has released a preview of Patch 26.7 for League of Legends. The update teases some April Fool skins, a set of targeted balance changes after the First Stand tournament, and a notable tweak to the Support role quest that could let farming supports make a comeback.

What Riot observed at First Stand

Lead gameplay designer Matt Phroxzon shared that the First Stand meta looked healthy overall. There was strong class diversity in every role and many lanes were able to carry. Objective play and split strategies felt reasonably balanced, and the role quests helped stop lane swaps, letting some top players stand out.

Phroxzon did note a shortfall in certain team compositions. Few teams shifted to AP junglers paired with AD mid laners, a combo Riot wants to encourage more. He also praised the bot lane mix, which included casters, hypercarries, utility supports, and fringe picks like Zeri and Kog'Maw due to Fearless Draft mechanics.

Ranged supports have become more common as players chase role quests. Riot sees this as not entirely negative, given the long run of melee support dominance.

Champion changes in Patch 26.7

Buffs

  • Cassiopeia
  • Kalista
  • Rell
    • Full Tilt - base bonus movement speed increased from 10% to 15%. When facing an empowered ally or a visible enemy the bonus increases from 25% to 30%.
    • Magnet Storm - damage per tick increased from 15/25/35 (+13.75% AP) to 18.75/31.25/43.75 (+13.75% AP).

Nerfs

  • Graves
  • Karma
  • Nami
    • Ebb and Flow - bounce effectiveness ratio adjusted from -10% (plus 10% per 100 AP) to -20% (plus 15% per 100 AP).
  • Ornn
    • Living Forge - Temper Brittle max HP damage reduced from 10-18.94% to 9-16.82% based on Ornn level.
  • Singed
  • Veigar
    • Primordial Burst - cooldown increased from 100/80/60 to 120/90/60 seconds.

Adjustments and notes

  • Shyvana
    • An unintended interaction with Sylas that causes doubled benefit from her on-hit passive will be micropatched soon.
    • Riot is evaluating Shyvana top viability and whether changes can make that role fair without harming Jungle satisfaction.
    • Working changes aim to make her passive and E feel better, reduce matchmaking skew, and add counterplay.
    • Fury ultimate haste behavior adjusted from 0.015 Fury per second per 1 Ultimate Haste to a flat 1% bonus Fury generation from all sources per 1 Ultimate Haste.

System adjustments and the Support quest

Riot is testing a bigger change to the Support role quest to make it less punishing. Previously they reduced some negative effects of the quest to simplify things. In Patch 26.7 they plan to push that further, which could allow supports to farm more gold and experience.

Phroxzon warned that this may enable some farming support strategies that interfere with a bot carry's quest progression. Riot calls this an experiment to see whether the change breaks anything in practice.

Quick take

Patch 26.7 is mostly a targeted round of balance moves plus a system experiment around the Support quest. Expect a handful of buffs and nerfs, small Shyvana fixes, and a test that could revive farming supports. Riot seems to be listening to pro play results and nudging the game toward more team comp variety.

What do you think?

Are you happy with the current meta? Riot is clearly testing stuff based on pro feedback. If farming supports do return it will shake up bot lane dynamics, for better or worse.