LoL Patch 26.17: Vayne and Nasus Nerfed, Yasuo and Yone Get Critical Strike Scaling

What's Changing in Patch 26.17

League of Legends Patch 26.17 shipped on August 25, 2026. The central focus is top-lane power reduction: Vayne and Nasus have both dominated the role beyond Riot's comfort zone, and both receive targeted nerfs. In the jungle, Graves and Nocturne are trimmed after accumulating indirect buffs over recent patches. Xerath mid receives a nerf directly tied to his elevated ban rate across multiple global regions.

On the other side, Yasuo and Yone get changes aimed at making critical strike builds the more natural itemization path rather than alternative items. Several other underperforming champions also get targeted improvements.

Full patch notes are published at the League of Legends official website.

Champion Buffs

Yasuo and Yone — Critical Strike Builds Encouraged

Both champions' core passive reduces the penalty they pay on critical strike damage:

Riot's reasoning: both champions have been forced into a snowball-or-lose pattern rather than having a reliable scaling endpoint. The reduced crit penalty specifically targets builds like Blade of the Ruined King and Kraken Slayer that have become dominant over standard Infinity Edge paths. The change should have minimal impact on early-game snowballing while strengthening their late-game carry output through critical strike itemization.

Irelia — More Carry Upside When Ahead

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"Irelia is one of League's highest stakes snowballing dependant skirmishers, but we feel like even when ahead she is failing to scale into a real carry threat." — Riot Games, Patch 26.17 Notes

Q Bladesurge AD ratio increases from 70% to 80% bonus AD. Riot also raised some AP ratios to support off-meta builds in ARAM and Arena — not expected to change her Summoner's Rift profile.

LeBlanc — Attack Speed Ratio Restored

LeBlanc's attack speed ratio was cut due to her interaction with an earlier Statikk Shiv version. With that Shiv removed from the game, the ratio returns: 0.4 → 0.625. W Distortion and RW Mimic: Distortion both gain an AP ratio increase from 80% to 90%, reinforcing AP assassination as her primary build direction.

Aurelion Sol — W Cooldown Reduced

After coming out the loser of last patch's mage adjustments, Aurelion Sol's W Astral Flight cooldown at max rank drops from 16s to 14s. Q Breath of Light mana cost per second also decreases modestly across all ranks.

Cho'Gath — Early E Damage Increased

Hail of Blades and Hextech Rocketbelt nerfs reduced his early-game threat. E Vorpal Spikes base damage (across three-attack sequences) increases from 20/40/60/80/100 to 30/50/70/90/110.

Qiyana — Mid Lane Damage Restored

Qiyana has shifted heavily toward jungle play; this change restores her mid lane viability. Q Elemental Wrath damage goes from 70/100/130/160/190 to 80/110/140/170/200, with the bonus AD ratio rising from 85% to 90%. To balance the jungle impact, the monster damage modifier drops from 175% to 160%.

Trundle — W Attack Speed Significantly Higher

Frozen Domain attack speed increases from 30/45/60/75/90% to 30/50/70/90/110% — a substantial jump at higher ranks that gives Trundle much stronger sustained attack speed mid-fight.

Champion Nerfs

Vayne — Top Lane Power Reduced

Vayne top has combined lane strength, scaling, and durability into a package that outperforms most top-lane options at higher skill levels. Riot is targeting top-lane impact while monitoring bot-lane fallout:

The HP restructure means she starts tankier but gains less per level, reducing her mid-game durability buffer. Riot acknowledged the nerfs may not fully address bot-lane Vayne and signaled that larger changes could follow.

Nasus — Top Lane Sustain Reduced

Prior patch changes to the stacking paradigm had a larger effect on top-lane Nasus than intended. Passive Soul Eater lifesteal drops from 12/18/24% to 10/15/20%. The adjustment specifically targets top-lane Q stacking rather than jungle Nasus playstyles.

Xerath — High Ban Rate Addressed

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"Xerath continues to overperform in the mid lane in particular… Given his extremely high ban rate in certain regions, he's due a light nerf." — Riot Games, Patch 26.17 Notes

Base HP: 596 → 575. Q Arcanopulse damage: 75/115/155/195/235 → 70/110/150/190/230. The ban rate language in official patch notes is notable — Riot rarely ties specific nerfs to ban metrics, signaling that Xerath's presence had become a queue-health issue rather than a pure power problem. An independent breakdown of all balance changes is covered at Dot Esports.

Graves — AD Snowball Trimmed

Graves accumulated multiple indirect buffs over recent patches. Q End of the Line initial hit bonus AD ratio drops from 65% to 55%. Return explosion bonus AD ratio also decreases across all skill ranks (from 55/70/85/100/115% to 45/60/75/90/105%).

Nocturne — More Personal Risk Before the Ult

Base Armor: 38 → 36. Base HP: 655 → 640. Riot wants Nocturne to carry more personal vulnerability in the early game before his ultimate creates access to high-impact moments.

Thresh — Winrate Adjusted

E Flay active damage: 75/120/165/210/255 → 65/110/155/200/245. AP ratio: 70% → 60%.

Item Changes

Sundered Sky takes its second consecutive nerf after Riot noted 26.16's adjustment landed under-target. Stormrazor's attack speed increase is intended to carve it a real place in more builds — it has been consistently second-tier despite several adjustments.

Heartsong Seraphine — Charity Legendary Skin

Patch 26.17 launches Heartsong Seraphine at 1,820 RP. From August 26 through September 23, 100% of Riot's proceeds from the skin go to the Riot Games Social Impact Fund, which provides grants to nonprofits in education, health, and community programs. Riot adds a 2x match on those proceeds — meaning if skin purchases total $100,000, Riot contributes $300,000 to the fund.

The skin's aesthetic is a concert fantasy: iridescent white and pearl with crystalline motifs and a stage-effects visual language throughout. Full details on the charity campaign are on esports.gg's Heartsong Seraphine coverage.

Two additional skins also ship with 26.17:

League Classic: Second Patch

Patch 26.17 also delivers major quality-of-life upgrades to the retro League Classic mode:

• ▶2 additional Rune Pages given to all players for free
• ▶Influence Points and Classic XP gains increased across the board
• ▶Approximately one-third of rune prices reduced
• ▶Champion and role swapping added to Champion Select
• ▶Summoner's Rift visual refresh: updated lighting, textures, and decals

Before vs. After: Meta Snapshot

Roaming Support Watch

Riot noted in patch notes that roaming supports are "settling down, with the developer seeing positive movement in pro play while keeping an eye on whether the strategy remains too strong in solo queue." No direct nerfs targeted roaming supports in 26.17, but the Thresh nerf reduces the effectiveness of a champion who has frequently benefited from roam-oriented play patterns.

Patch at a Glance