Some significant changes on this patch.
Patch 26.13 went live on June 24 and carries unusual weight, since it's the version that will decide MSI 2026 in Daejeon, South Korea, as well as the League event at the Esports World Cup. That competitive significance is why most of the balance work targets the pro meta. The headline additions are a brand-new champion, a wave of buffs and nerfs aimed squarely at high-level play, and a quality-of-life change that's proven surprisingly divisive.
New Champion: Locke, the Ashen Exorcist
Locke joins as the year's marquee new champion, themed as a demon-hunting exorcist ("Absolutely no demons allowed," per his tagline).
His passive adds bonus magic damage on-hit, scaling up based on the target's missing health.
His kit revolves around Soul Nails, thrown projectiles that mark enemies, which Locke can then consume for bonus attack damage, plus a teleport-and-dash engage tool.
He arrives with a High Noon skin launching alongside a matching Akshan skin.
The Controversial Last-Hit Indicator
Riot is enabling Last Hit Indicators in Normal Draft and, more contentiously, Ranked Summoner's Rift, displaying a white marker on a minion's health bar when it can be killed with an auto-attack.
The feature already existed in Swiftplay and Co-op vs AI, where Riot says it helped newer players farm more effectively, and those players are now "graduating" into Ranked wanting to keep it.
Riot argues it won't degrade lane skill expression, pointing to positioning, harass, jungle tracking, and power spikes as where mastery actually lives, and notes the toggle can be turned off (with many experienced players opting out as they find it distracting).
Key Champion Nerfs
Bard: Meep damage cut to rein in roaming tank Bard builds that deal more than intended.
Brand: Reduced early passive detonation damage, with mana-regen and E-cost tuning to soften the hit for skilled mid/support players while targeting his bot-carry dominance.
Cassiopeia: Health per level lowered from 104 to 98; she'd climbed to the top of pro presence, so Riot wants her more punishable once locked down.
K'Sante: Slightly weaker E shield, dialling back his Doran's Helm-fuelled early reliability.
Rek'Sai: Reduced E damage and true-damage ratio to shrink her early-to-mid burst at high ranks.
Rumble, Senna, Sion: All trimmed, with Senna specifically targeted for her strong synergy with Doran's Helm and Statikk Shiv (Riot chose not to support the Shiv interaction).
Key Champion Buffs
Aphelios: Damage increases across multiple guns (Calibrum, Severum, Infernum, Crescendum), partly reversing earlier nerfs to revive his pick rate.
Draven: Lower Stand Aside cooldown and gentler ultimate damage falloff, nudging players toward a heavy-AD build, a buff explicitly framed with MSI Draven specialists in mind.
Kai'Sa: Better early W cooldown and a much stronger R shield (up to 200 base) to improve her lane survivability and late-game dive threat.
LeBlanc: Higher Mimic damage to reward landing her riskier skillshots rather than her safe utility.
Jungle diversity push: Olaf, Poppy, and Qiyana all get monster-damage buffs to draw them back into the jungle, with Qiyana specifically meant to make assassin junglers viable. Vex and Zaahen round out the buffs with smoothing tweaks.
System Changes and Extras
Doran's Helm: Armor/MR dropped from 10 to 8 (health bumped 140 to 150), as Riot walks back a 26.11 overbuff that was overperforming on champions like Senna.
Imperial Mandate: Reworked, cheaper build path and adjusted stats to fix an awkward itemisation route, especially for supports.
Cosmetics: A Broken Covenant skin line arrives for Aurora, Shen, and Jhin, with Broken Covenant Jhin serving as the official MSI 2026 revenue-share skin, while Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser returns to the shop.
Events and fixes: The patch ships with the Arena Event: Bravery and the "What We Face" motion comic, plus bug fixes for Baron's Void Corruption stacking, Serpent's Fang applying omnivamp, and Diana's R visual effects.
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