League of Legends Patch 26.8 Preview – Viego Buffs Canceled?!

Here is everything you need to know about the upcoming update in League of Legends, Patch 26.8, the eighth update of the season.

League of Legends Patch 26.8 – Good balance across the game

Patch 26.7 was a relatively small patch, with only a total of 10 champion changes. Having said that, we’re already starting to see some shifts in the meta, especially in the support role. Karma and Nami are no longer dominating as in previous updates, with their win rates falling more in line with the rest (Nami at 51%, Karma slightly above 50%, according to stats from U.GG).

The biggest patch for the previous update, however, is the removal of the support farm penalty. Going forward, we’re expecting to see more aggressive support options, which will likely try to abuse this. Expect more AP-heavy champions like Lux, Veigar, and Zyra to become more popular.

Riot Games designer Matt “Riot Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison has unveiled the nine champions that will be part of this update. That being said, the buffs to Viego have been removed after many members of the community voiced their concerns about the champion already being popular and strong in the meta.

The dev team isn’t planning major changes as the new season 2 will be coming out on Patch 26.9, which will include a “few systems changes”. He also added that there are larger scope changes to a couple of champions that weren’t quite ready for this update, and they will be rolled out in the following update. Find out all the number changes in the section below.

For Patch 26.8, Riot Games also gave us a small peek at the new skins, which will be five in total. The coolest skin of all is the new PROJECT: Command Line Yi skin, although it will be available only in the Sanctum. Additionally, Riot confirmed Braum will be the chosen champion for the Victorious skin.

When is LoL Patch 26.8 released?

League of Legends Patch 26.8 will be reaching the live servers on April 15, 2026, according to the official patch schedule. After the release, players will have to wait two more weeks before a new update, with the next one releasing on April 29.

What are the most impactful changes of Patch 26.8?

Even though there aren’t many changes in this update, it is still expected to be a relevant patch in shaping up the meta. The jungle will see a stronger presence for Lillia, who received a major buff. On the other hand, Dr. Mundo is expected to drop in priority quite heavily, with heavy hits to his jungle clear speed. He’s not going to be weak, but you won’t see him outfarm most junglers.

The bot lane meta is also seeing some changes: Karma is getting nerfed once again and will likely return into a state where she can only be picked with specific bot lane combinations. Yuumi and Lucian are getting buffs, which should bump up their presence, although I still think it’s not enough to turn them into high-priority champions.

In the mid lane, the nerf to Mel was needed after several members of the community voiced their frustration towards the champion. Riot has said that they will “do more to work on Mel long term,” meaning there could be more stuff coming her way in the following months. Hwei’s buffs are nice, although I don’t think they will turn him into a top pick in the mid lane.

League of Legends Patch 26.8 – Change List

Champion Changes

Dr. Mundo

• Q monster cap: 300 – 600 ⇒ 250 – 550
• E monster cap: 200% ⇒ 140%

Hwei

• Passive damage: 35 – 230 ⇒ 40 – 285 (based on level)
• New passive: Hwei’s ability slows stack with each other for diminishing value
• Bugfix: QE and R slows no longer stack with other champion or item slows

Karma

• Base AD: 51 ⇒ 49
• AD growth: 3.3 ⇒ 3.0
• E mana cost: 50 – 70 ⇒ 60 – 80

Lillia

• Passive monster damage cap: 65 ⇒ 70 – 180

Lucian

• E cooldown: 18 – 14 seconds ⇒ 16 – 14 seconds
• E mana cost: 40 – 0 ⇒ 32 – 0

Mel

• Q initial hit: 60 – 180 (+60% AP) ⇒ 60 – 160 (+55% AP)
• W cooldown: 35 – 23 seconds ⇒ 38 – 26 seconds
• W MS duration: 1.5 seconds ⇒ 0.75 seconds

Tahm Kench

• Passive damage: 6 – 48 (levels 1 – 11)(+1.5% AP per 100 bonus HP)(+4.5% bonus HP) ⇒ 5 – 60 (levels 1 – 12)(+1.25% AP per 100 bonus HP)(+4% bonus HP)

Viego (removed)

• Q physical damage: 25 – 85 (+70% AD) ⇒ 30 – 90 (+70% AD)
• R missing HP damage: 12 – 20% (+5% per 100 bonus AD) ⇒ 15 – 25% (+5% per 100 bonus AD)

Yuumi

• Passive base heal:  20 – 110 ⇒ 20 – 160
• R base heal: 30 – 50 ⇒ 30 – 70
• R best friend bonus heal: 30% ⇒ 30/35/40% at  levels 6/7/13
• Bug fix to her R so that she no longer heals her best friend an additional time when she heals an ally

Patch 26.8 System Changes

No system changes planned for this update.

League of Legends Patch 26.8 – New Skins

• PROJECT: Command Line Yi – Sanctum
• Space Groove Zac – 1350RP
• PsyOps Vladimir – 1350 RP
• PROJECT: Sivir – 1350 RP
• Victorious Braum – Ranked Reward

Last Update, April 7: new context from Riot Phroxzon’s patch preview.