Riot Games released League of Legends patch 26.22 notes on November 3, 2026, and the update is headlined by Teamfight Tactics moving to its own standalone client. The patch also brings another round of balance changes for Summoner’s Rift, a midscope pass for Mel, and a fresh batch of ARAM Mayhem adjustments aimed at reducing the mode’s most explosive moments.
The developer framed the patch as a mix of content and cleanup. Riot said it was adding “quite a few changes to augments and fixes to bugs” for ARAM Mayhem, while Summoner’s Rift gets buffs for underused or pro-troubled picks such as Corki and Rumble, nerfs for high-ban champions like Locke and Yasuo, and item changes that should pull marksmen away from Doran’s Bow.
TFT moves into its own client
The biggest systems change in 26.22 is TFT’s move to a standalone client starting on November 4, 2026. Riot says the separation is intended to make swapping between League and Teamfight Tactics as simple as clicking a button, though it also means this patch will be larger than usual.
Even with the split, existing Teamfight Tactics cosmetics will still work in League. Riot says the first batch of TFT-only Little Legends arrives on December 1, with full separation for TFT cosmetics — including emotes and icons — set for December 15. The studio also says a future patch will add an option to fully opt out of TFT downloads in League patches.
That shift follows a year in which Riot has been steadily reshaping the broader League ecosystem, including other client-side and mode changes covered in prior updates such as patch 26.20’s Worlds tuning and Classic additions.
Mel’s midscope lands with a power shift
Mel receives the most extensive champion update in the patch. Riot calls it a midscope adjustment and says the goal is to move some power away from her early game and toward scaling. Her W, Rebuttal, has been reworked into an area-of-effect missile destruction tool that retaliates rather than reflects, while her Q and R are adjusted so their cooldowns come down later in the game.
The stat changes are broad. Mel’s base health drops from 640 plus 99 per level to 590 plus 107 per level, while her mana shifts from 480 plus 28 per level to 455 plus 38 per level. Her armor growth rises slightly, her attack damage starts a little lower, and her attack speed scaling increases.
Her passive, Searing Brilliance, now deals less bonus damage per bolt at early ranks. Radiant Volley changes substantially as well, with lower first-hit damage, stronger multi-hit damage, lower mana cost, a slower missile speed, and a new refund when it hits an enemy champion at least once. Solar Snare gets variable root duration by distance, a lower slow early on, and a cheaper mana cost. Golden Eclipse’s cooldown drops at rank two and three. Riot’s earlier separate explanation of the champion’s changes is reflected here; we covered that midscope in our previous Mel update story.
Outside of Mel, the champion list focuses on specific lane and role problems. Aurelion Sol’s Singularity gains damage and AP ratios to make ranking it second more attractive. Corki’s Missile Barrage gets stronger across the board, with both normal and Big One damage increased. Kayle receives shorter cooldowns on Radiant Blast and Divine Judgment to help her early laning. Maokai’s Bramble Smash is buffed against targets based on their maximum health, which Riot says should help top and jungle more than support.
Riot also nudges several other champions in different directions:
- Locke is nerfed, with lower stack bonus damage on Ritual Nails and a shorter Soul Ignition duration.
- Naafiri gets more healing on Darkin Daggers and more bonus attack damage from The Call of the Pack.
- Rumble sees The Equalizer scale harder with ability power.
- Shen gets more monster damage on Twilight Assault to support jungle play.
- Smolder gets more damage on ACHOOO!, alongside the item changes this patch.
- Thresh loses base attack damage and some damage on The Box.
- Viktor gets more health growth and stronger Arcane Storm scaling after last patch’s nerf hit harder than Riot expected.
- Yasuo loses some total AD scaling on Steel Tempest.
- Zaahen gets shorter cooldowns on The Darkin Glaive.
Items: Doran’s Bow cooled off, Overlord’s Bloodmail gets a push
Item tuning is narrow but important. Riot is trimming Doran’s Bow, reducing its attack damage from 8 to 7. The studio says the item has settled into a spot that is “slightly but clearly too strong,” to the point that marksmen who might otherwise have leaned toward Doran’s Blade have been opting for Bow almost exclusively.
Overlord’s Bloodmail also changes, and Riot says the item should be a premier juggernaut capstone rather than something only Sett can fully justify. Attack damage rises from 30 to 40, while Retribution drops from scaling up to 12% of total AD based on missing health to 10%. Riot says the adjustment should be a net buff for most users without pushing Sett too far, given his Haymaker synergy.
ARAM Mayhem gets nerfs, buffs and bug fixes
Riot’s ARAM Mayhem section is the other major pillar of the patch. The studio says it has been monitoring combat in the update and wants to ease some of the most frustrating situations, especially where fighters are closing out games too quickly and poke dominates early while tanks struggle.
To address that, Riot is lowering the power of augments that have made tanks feel fragile, including Take ’Em Down Down Down and Weapon of Destiny, while raising survivability options such as Soul Eater and Stay Resolute. The patch also adds two new augments and brings Butcher’s Bridge and Koeshin’s Crossing back into the map rotation with Headliner performances.
The event track also advances. Riot says the last page of Journey to Stardom is now accessible with Worlds in full swing, and players can finish all the missions to earn the rewards. One of the new augments is tied to a classic Worlds Anthem, though Riot does not name it in the notes.
The ARAM Mayhem list includes targeted champion and augment tweaks rather than a full overhaul. Hecarim loses all Ability Haste, Brass Blast gets a shorter cooldown and loses minion damage, Crimson Cobalt’s mark VFX becomes visible only to the owner, Ravenous Bind gets stronger healing, and One Hit Wonder is added with a new ability-haste-based damage effect. Other changes include higher shield values on Squishy Slappy Grab, more health per stack on Soul Eater, and a new execute-reset effect for RISE!.
Riot closes the notes by thanking players for the feedback. With TFT’s split now scheduled and both Summoner’s Rift and ARAM Mayhem seeing another round of tuning, patch 26.22 arrives as one of the more varied updates of the season.
tft finally getting its own client is huge, but i wonder how much bigger this patch will feel on a slow connection. the notes say future opt out for tft downloads too, which sounds like the real win for people who only queue sr. did riot say if the swap is instant or just ‘click a button’ marketing?
feels like marketing to me, mate. if it’s still forcing a chunky patch before you can even play, the button does not mean much.
nah better than nothing 🙂
fair, i just want the download split to be clean. if they really let league skip TFT later, that is the part i care about most.
mel’s midscope looks like a full shift, not just numbers. do you think the W change actually fixes her or just makes early lane weaker and late game annoying?
probably weaker lane, better scaling
no, mel with weaker early lane still can be problem later. scaling champs always get annoying if you let them farm free
yeah that is what i meant
the Doran’s Bow nerf feels overdue, but 1 AD off is barely a slap on the wrist if it’s been warping starts that hard. if marksmen were skipping Blade for Bow almost every game, that item was doing too much work for the price. i actually think Overlord’s Bloodmail is the spicier change here, because buffing a juggernaut capstone without making Sett explode is the kind of tuning that usually goes sideways.
1 AD on a starter item matters more than it looks when every lane is decided by one trade pattern. and bloodmail going to 40 AD with the missing health cut down seems way safer than you’re making it sound, especially since Riot is clearly trying to stop it being a Sett-only slot.
maybe, but starter item nerfs rarely kill the pick if the passive interaction is still efficient. bloodmail can be safe and still make bruisers obnoxious if the math is right, that’s my worry.
Riot really said ‘The Box, but smaller’.
thresh mains in shambles lol
i’ve already had games where one fed poke champ in ARAM Mayhem just erased tanks before they could even stack anything. if they are actually trimming the stupid burst augments and giving more healing options, that sounds way more playable for normal people who don’t want every fight to end in 2 secs.
the burst part is real, but i still think some of the fun comes from the chaos. if Soul Eater and Stay Resolute are stronger now, at least tanks might survive long enough to press buttons instead of just donating gold.
same, my tank just melt before ult even