Patch 26.15 keeps the balance work small on paper but heavy in impact. Ten champions are being adjusted, three items and systems are changing, and the update lands on the same day League Classic goes live. Riot gameplay lead Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison laid out the preview ahead of the release.
Quick answer: Patch 26.15 buffs Alistar, Kai’Sa, Maokai, Volibear, and Zac; nerfs Locke, Mordekaiser, Naafiri, Riven, and Sylas; buffs Bastionbreaker; nerfs Jack of All Trades; and reworks Sundered Sky. It goes live on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
Champion buffs and nerfs in Patch 26.15
Five champions move up and five move down. The list is short, but Riot noted that these numbers matter more once the system changes are factored in alongside them.
| Buffs | Nerfs |
|---|---|
| Alistar | Locke |
| Kai’Sa | Mordekaiser |
| Maokai | Naafiri |
| Volibear | Riven |
| Zac | Sylas |
Exact numerical values for each change will appear in the full patch note document before the update launches.
Why Locke is getting nerfed again
Locke has already taken nerfs since his release in Patch 26.13, and he is losing more power here. His win rate has been tapering off in the lowest and highest skill brackets, but he is still dominant in the Emerald and Diamond range, where players can take over a game without throwing it.
Locke is still pretty strong; he has been tapering off in the lowest skill brackets and the high skill brackets, but in the “skilled” skill brackets (around Emerald/Diamond), Locke is able to both take over the game and also not throw it.
At the top level, Locke can snowball but falls off sharply if he plays poorly. At the bottom, the executional demands and frequent mistakes cause him to drop faster. Riot considers his overall release to have landed well, even with this additional trim.
Why Alistar is getting buffed
Alistar has sat near the bottom of the melee support pool. The broader push to lift melee supports relative to ranged ones has worked, and this buff brings him back in line so he is a viable pick alongside the others in that group.
Item and system changes
Three systems are being touched, each for a different reason. Bastionbreaker becomes more accessible, Jack of All Trades comes down, and Sundered Sky opens up the fighter item space.
| Change | Reason |
|---|---|
| Bastionbreaker buff | It has been niche and too expensive for its strategic payoff, so it is being made cheaper and easier to build. |
| Jack of All Trades nerf | Too strong and too common, especially for players stacking strong defenses while still supplementing heavy offense. |
| Sundered Sky rework | Meta-defining at the highest levels for a long time; Riot is passing over the fighter item system now that the tournament windows are closed. |
Riot believes Sundered Sky has been suppressing meta diversity for builds like AP jungle and tank jungle. Some of that suppression is intentional, but the magnitude has been off, which is why the fighter item system is getting reworked with more choices without heavily reshaping the role.
Release date and League Classic
Patch 26.15 reaches live servers on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. That is also the launch day for League Classic, the game mode built on an older version of the MOBA, which makes 26.15 one of the larger drops of the season despite the modest champion list. The following update is scheduled for August 12.
How to test the changes now
The Patch 26.15 changes are already on the Public Beta Environment, so you can try the tuning before it hits live. If a champion or item behaves as described above when you queue on the PBE, you are looking at the correct preview build. Final values may still shift before July 29, so treat anything you test as provisional until the full notes publish.
Once the patch is live, the surest confirmation is the in-client patch notes and the updated item tooltips for Bastionbreaker and Jack of All Trades, which will reflect the new numbers directly.
