Patch 26.1 opens the 2026 ranked season with systemic changes and a sweeping pass on champions that lean on critical strike. Almost every marksman, several fighters, and a handful of other picks are being retuned to fit a world where base crit damage is back at 200% and new items reshape late-game builds.
Why so many crit-focused champion changes in patch 26.1
Critical strike damage returning to a 200% baseline pushes a lot of power into simple auto attacks. Champions that reliably buy at least 25% crit chance now gain significant DPS without any direct buffs, so their spell damage and crit multipliers are being adjusted downward to keep overall power in line.
Riot’s pattern in this patch is consistent. Abilities now tend to scale with “bonus crit damage” rather than hard-coded multipliers. The more an ability behaves like a basic attack, the closer it stays to full crit value. The more it behaves like a spell, the smaller its crit contribution becomes. That lets auto attacks do the carrying while still rewarding crit-focused builds on ability-centric marksmen.
Cassiopeia: boots restriction removed
Cassiopeia’s passive no longer prevents her from buying boots. Instead of gaining flat movement speed and being locked out of boot items, she now increases the effectiveness of all movement speed buffs by 6% to 40% based on level. Her base movement speed is also slightly higher at 335. This lets her engage with Role Quest boots upgrades and other modern systems without being punished by her identity passive.
Samira: crit kept strong, AD ratios pulled back
Samira’s two auto-attack-like tools, Q – Flair and R – Inferno Trigger, are kept highly synergistic with crit but with different base math:
- Q’s non-crit damage is simplified to a flat 0/5/10/15/20 plus 110% total AD at all ranks, while its crit now scales as 50% of bonus crit damage (1.5x to 1.65x with Infinity Edge).
- R’s non-crit damage shifts toward a higher flat value (20/40/60 + 30% total AD), but the crit modifier is tied to 100% of bonus crit damage (2.0x to 2.3x with Infinity Edge), preserving its payoff when fully itemized.
The net effect: basic attacks and crit chance feel even more central, while raw AD stacking into Q and R is slightly less explosive.
Aphelios: ability ratios trimmed across the kit
Aphelios’ guns that already double-dip on crit are losing some of their bonus AD scaling.
- Calibrum marks still deal 15 bonus damage but now scale with 10% bonus AD instead of 20%.
- Severum Onslaught’s hits now scale with total AD instead of bonus AD, topping out at 40% total AD with full level investment, and continue to crit at full value.
- Infernum’s Duskwave gains higher base damage per rank but its AD ratio drops to a low, level-based bonus AD value, while the follow-up attacks still crit at full strength.
- Crescendum turrets keep the same base damage but lose some bonus AD scaling, again retaining full crit value.
- R – Moonlight Vigil follow-up attacks now scale with 30% of bonus crit damage instead of a hard 1.2/1.6x modifier.
The kit still rewards careful gun cycling and crit builds, but raw ability one-shots are toned down.
Caitlyn and Tristana: toning down oppressive bursts
Caitlyn’s late-game Headshots and ultimate had become outliers with high crit and range.
- Headshot now scales fully off bonus crit damage rather than a large internal total AD multiplier, pulling back its extreme top-end spikes while keeping it crit-dependent.
- R – Ace in the Hole gains a crit hook into Infinity Edge by scaling with 30% of bonus crit damage, but its maximum crit output is lower than before.
Tristana’s E – Explosive Charge is one of the sharpest-scaling damage buttons in bot lane. Its base damage per rank is higher, but its AD ratio is flattened to 80% bonus AD, and its crit scaling is reduced to 40% of crit damage (roughly 1.4x to 1.52x with Infinity Edge). Her late-game all-in remains deadly, but the E+auto combo doesn’t delete health bars as quickly in a 200% crit world.
Nilah, Jinx, Jhin, Sivir, Ashe and Twitch: crit carries reshaped
Several other marksmen with strong crit incentives are nudged toward healthier DPS profiles.
- Nilah loses a bit of attack speed growth and sees Q – Formless Blade remapped: the ability now has higher flat damage at all ranks with a clean 100% total AD ratio, crits scale at 80% of bonus crit damage, and armor penetration from crit is slightly down. Her ultimate, R – Apotheosis, costs 100 mana instead of 80, making spamming it slightly harder in long fights.
- Jinx’s attack speed growth falls from 1.4% to 1%, and R – Super Mega Death Rocket! loses some flat damage and AD ratio at all ranks. Her minigun DPS and crit autos become the focus.
- Jhin’s multiplicative crit damage modifier is trimmed so his guaranteed fourth shot crit doesn’t overshoot now that base crit damage is higher.
- Sivir’s Q – Boomerang Blade keeps the same base numbers but the bonus AD ratio drops from 85% to 70%, and crits only add 40% extra crit damage instead of 50%. Ricochet crits become more important than Q snipes.
- Ashe’s attack speed and AD growth are slightly lower. W – Volley keeps its base damage but loses 10% bonus AD scaling. Her passive, Frost Shot, now uses the new 200% crit damage baseline correctly, maintaining her perma-slow identity.
- Twitch’s attack speed and AD growth are cut slightly, and Q – Ambush grants less bonus attack speed at all ranks. His 6-item sprays are still terrifying but no longer as overwhelming with full crit.
Zeri and Lucian: cleaning up spell–crit interactions
Zeri and Lucian have spell kits that blur the line between attacks and abilities; patch 26.1 rebalances them with clearer crit hooks.
For Zeri:
- W – Ultrashock Laser loses 10% total AD ratio, but its wall-shot version now scales with 75% of bonus crit damage. The game visually marks these as crit-like hits when fired through terrain.
- E – Spark Surge deals slightly less base and bonus AD damage but now fully benefits from bonus crit damage when it crits, effectively behaving like an enhanced auto attack on-hit.
- R – Lightning Crash has lower flat damage at each rank while keeping a 100% bonus AD ratio, leaning more on sustained DPS than raw burst.
Lucian sees his base scaling normalized and his spell ratios adjusted:
- Attack damage and attack speed growth are both slightly reduced.
- Q – Piercing Light is simplified: base damage per rank is increased and the ability now has a flat 100% bonus AD ratio across all ranks instead of ramping up to 120%.
- R – The Culling now converts crit investment into more bullets through a scaling tied to bonus crit damage rather than a separate bullet count formula. Total bolts hover in a narrower band that still rewards crit but with less runaway scaling.
Xayah, Miss Fortune, Vayne-adjacent items and other on-hit shooters
Xayah’s E – Bladecaller has higher base damage per rank but a lower bonus AD ratio, and its crit scaling now uses up to 50% of bonus crit damage instead of the old flat 75% increase. Her feather pulls stay dangerous, but less so when chained with maximum crit and lethality.
Miss Fortune keeps her crit identity but sees both primary damage tools reshaped:
- Q – Double Up now uses 50% of bonus crit damage on the ricochet, so big Double Up crits still feel rewarding but less game-ending.
- R – Bullet Time gains a proper base damage line (20/30/40% total AD plus 25% AP) but uses a lower AD ratio overall, and its crit scaling is tied to 30% of bonus crit damage. A heavily crit-focused build adds more to the ultimate than before, but the spell alone won’t decide fights as often.
Several marksmen also interact strongly with new crit items. Fiendhunter Bolts (a Zeal line upgrade) grants 30 ultimate haste and a short post-ultimate window where three basic attacks gain 50% attack speed and either guaranteed mini-crits or added true damage if they were already crits. Champions like Twitch, Zeri, and Yunara that want to frontload damage directly after an ultimate see immediate synergies here.
Draven, Yunara, Yasuo, Yone and friends: trading spell power for crit autos
Heavy auto-reliant champions that already swim in crit are largely nerfed through AD growth or individual steroids, under the assumption that 200% crit damage and updated items raise their floor.
- Draven loses some attack damage growth and sees W – Blood Rush’s attack speed bonus reduced at all ranks. His spinning axes benefit from the new crit baseline, so his spell steroid doesn’t need to be as large.
- Yunara’s Q – Cultivation of Spirit attack speed buffs are trimmed by 5% at each rank, and the R+W combo, Arc of Ruin, now carries a lower bonus AD ratio (120% instead of 150%). Her crit and on-hit builds remain viable but rely more on items than base numbers.
- Yasuo and Yone, who double-dip on crit chance from items, get their base crit damage reduced to 90% of the standard value (about 1.8x to 2.07x instead of 2x with Infinity Edge). They still build crit, but their fourth-item spikes don’t overshoot other ADCs.
- Senna shares a similar adjustment: her kit’s guaranteed crits now use 90% of total crit damage, keeping her from overperforming with a few items and many souls.
- Garen’s E – Judgement now scales off 30% of bonus crit damage instead of most of the total, leaving space for non-crit bruiser builds while still letting crit-focused versions feel the impact.
Gangplank is hit from a different angle. His passive Trial by Fire no longer scales damage with crit chance at all, and E – Powder Keg loses its extra 5% damage on crit and some flat bonus damage at higher ranks. With Sheen-based Essence Reaver returning, and base crit damage climbing, his baseline barrels become more than strong enough without extra internal multipliers.
Akshan, Kindred, Viego and Shaco: standardizing weird crit math
Several partially-assassin champions had bespoke crit rules that didn’t age well. Patch 26.1 pulls them into the same bonus crit damage framework used elsewhere.
For Akshan:
- His passive’s second shot now benefits from 100% of bonus crit damage, making it act like a true extra attack when it crits.
- Q – Avengerang shifts to higher base damage and lower AD ratio, now scaling with bonus AD only.
- E – Heroic Swing deals less base damage but has a higher total AD ratio and a crit modifier using 50% of bonus crit damage.
- R – Comeuppance’s crit scaling is reduced to 30% of bonus crit damage.
Kindred’s E – Mounting Dread is simplified: both the missing-health hit and the pounce damage now always scale with 50% of bonus crit chance and crit damage, capping at roughly 1.5x to 1.65x, rather than conditional multipliers based on target health. The monster damage cap is redefined so only the percent-health portion is limited, making high-AD and high-rank E more rewarding in the jungle.
Viego sees similar treatment on Q – Blade of the Ruined King and R – Heartbreaker. The percent current-health damage and Q active crit mods are reduced to 50% of bonus crit damage, while the passive second strike fully benefits from bonus crit damage. Heartbreaker’s crit cap is now 70% of bonus crit damage. He still gets paid for crit, but sustain, and passive DPS matter more than isolated big crit casts.
Shaco’s backstab mechanics now take full advantage of 200% crit, but his base numbers and bonus AD scaling are lower. Backstab carries a smaller bonus AD ratio but keeps a 2.0x–2.3x crit modifier, and Q – Deceive’s backstab multiplier now uses 60% of bonus crit damage, with full crit damage if the attack itself crits. Box setups and clever positioning stay key, but single-shot cheese is less extreme.
Rengar, Graves, Quinn, Elise and Jax: precision tweaks and bug cleaning
Rengar receives a heavy scripting cleanup and a change to Q – Savagery. Q no longer always counts as a crit; instead, if the underlying attack crits, Q adds 100% or 130% total AD bonus damage. The ability is also now consumed on plants, aligning with standard interactions. Behind the scenes, a long list of bugs around leap behavior, ferocity, and ultimate interactions has been fixed, which should make him feel more consistent to play and play against.
Graves’ crit math is nudged so his total damage on crit is almost unchanged—about 1% higher at most—but is expressed as a smaller share of bonus crit damage. His shotguns still reward crit builds without bursting too far ahead in the new system.
Quinn’s passive Harrier now has a consistent formula: higher base damage per level and a 40% bonus AD ratio instead of a scaling total AD component. This aligns it with the rest of crit and AD standardization.
Two non-crit-focused champions gain targeted power tied to the new level caps and jungle pacing:
- Elise’s Q – Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite now has monster damage caps that scale with ability power, ensuring that her early clear doesn’t overshoot but her late-game AP investments continue to matter against epic monsters.
- Jax’s passive Relentless Assault gains an extra 1.5% attack speed per stack at level 19, recognizing the new top lane level 20 cap from Role Quests and ensuring he keeps scaling with experience.
Tryndamere, Garen, Gangplank and Smolder: handling crit-heavy fighters
Tryndamere is one of the heaviest crit stackers in the game, so his early snowball is being tempered while his scaling and feel are refined.
- Q – Bloodlust no longer grants flat AD at all ranks. Instead, it provides missing-health-based bonus AD that reaches its maximum at 10% remaining health rather than at exactly 0. This makes full-commit ults more rewarding and removes awkward incentives to hover at literally 1 HP.
- W – Mocking Shout no longer checks enemy facing on cast. It now applies its slow whenever enemies are facing away during the debuff window, making it more reliable in chasing scenarios. The slow percentage is slightly lower to compensate.
- E – Spinning Slash has a bit less early damage via lower base numbers and a lower AD ratio, constraining early all-in potential with 200% crit damage and early crit buys.
Garen, Gangplank, and Smolder all had uniquely strong synergies with crit multipliers:
- Garen’s E – Judgement now scales with only 30% of bonus crit damage, giving space for non-crit bruiser and tank builds to compete while still letting crit builds feel distinct.
- Gangplank’s passive and barrels lose their special crit scaling as noted earlier, with the expectation that new Essence Reaver and 200% crit damage bring enough power by themselves.
- Smolder’s Q – Super Scorcher Breath crit scaling drops to 50% of bonus crit damage, and this also affects the scaling on his passive Q stacks. He still stacks range and damage into the late game, but crit isn’t allowed to double-dip as hard.
What these changes mean when you queue up
Across the board, marksmen and crit-leaning fighters now see more of their power move into right-click DPS while ability damage and unusual crit multipliers fall back into a consistent framework. If you play crit-heavy champions, expect:
- Higher sustained damage in extended fights once you have a couple of items.
- Less instantaneous burst from single spells, especially those that used to have “secret” crit scaling.
- Item choices like Infinity Edge, Essence Reaver, Fiendhunter Bolts, Hexoptics C44, Stormrazor, and updated Last Whisper items to matter more than ever for your profile.
Non-crit champions touched in this patch either gain scaling hooks that interact with new systems (Cassiopeia, Elise, Jax) or lose quirky edge-case math that no longer fits with modern League. Combined with Role Quests, new turret mechanics, and the return of 200% crit, patch 26.1 significantly reshapes how damage is dealt across a typical game, with a clear bias toward making auto-attack carries feel like true carries again.
