Riot Games has unveiled the full patch notes for League of Legends 26.17, a update focused on rebalancing the top lane and giving a much-needed boost to several melee AD carries. The patch, arriving on August 26, 2026, also includes a slew of champion adjustments, item tweaks, and the first major update for League Classic. Here's a breakdown of the most significant changes coming to the Rift.

Top Lane Relief: Nasus and Vayne Tuned Down

Top laners can breathe a sigh of relief as both Nasus and Vayne receive nerfs in this patch. Nasus, who has been feasting on the new stacking paradigm, sees his Soul Eater lifesteal reduced from 12/18/24% to 10/15/20%, making it harder for him to sustain through lane. Vayne, a notorious top lane bully, gets a significant nerf to her Silver Bolts true damage early on, with base damage down from 6/7/8/9/10% to 4/5.5/7/8.5/10% of target max HP. Her base stats are also adjusted, with lower health growth but higher base health, and her Tumble mana cost is now scaling with rank, making it less spammable early.

Melee AD Carries Get a Late-Game Boost

Champions like Irelia, Yasuo, and Yone have long been criticized for being too snowball-dependent, often falling off if they don't get ahead early. Patch 26.17 aims to change that by giving them more scaling power. Irelia's Bladesurge gets a 10% bonus AD ratio increase, and she also receives AP ratio buffs on Defiant Dance and Vanguard's Edge to support fun builds in ARAM and Arena. Yasuo and Yone both see their critical strike damage penalty reduced from -10% to -5%, encouraging them to build crit earlier and scale better into the late game without sacrificing their early snowball potential. Qiyana also gets a buff to her Elemental Wrath damage, though her monster damage modifier is slightly reduced to keep her jungle presence in check.

Meta Shakeups: Xerath, Nocturne, and Graves

Xerath has been overperforming in the mid lane, and his high ban rate in some regions has prompted a light nerf. His base health is reduced from 596 to 575, and Arcanopulse damage is lowered by 5 at all ranks. Nocturne also gets a small nerf to his base armor and health, making his early game slightly riskier. Graves, who has benefited from indirect buffs, sees his End of the Line damage scaling reduced, softening his snowball potential with high AD builds.

Item Adjustments: Stormrazor and Sundered Sky

Stormrazor receives a small buff with its attack speed increased from 20% to 25%, giving it a potential place in builds again. Sundered Sky, which was nerfed last patch but not enough, gets another round of nerfs with both its health and attack damage reduced by 50 and 5 respectively.

Other Champion Changes and League Classic Update

Several other champions see adjustments: Aurelion Sol gets a W cooldown buff, Cho'Gath gains early damage on Vorpal Spikes, LeBlanc's attack speed ratio is normalized and her AP ratios are buffed, Thresh's Flay damage is slightly reduced, Trundle gets more attack speed on Frozen Domain, and Xerath's nerf is joined by a small buff to his Q damage. Additionally, the patch includes the second update for League Classic, which introduces two additional rune pages, increased IP and XP gains, reduced rune costs, visual upgrades to Summoner's Rift, and the first Council vote.

  • Nasus and Vayne nerfed to tone down top lane dominance
  • Irelia, Yasuo, Yone, and Qiyana buffed for better scaling
  • Xerath, Nocturne, and Graves receive targeted nerfs
  • Stormrazor buffed, Sundered Sky nerfed again
  • League Classic gets rune pages, XP boosts, and visual updates
Source: Riot Games - League of Legends Patch 26.17 Notes (https://www.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/news/game-updates/league-of-legends-patch-26-17-notes)