LoL Patch 26.13: Locke Arrives, Every Change Broken Down

Patch 26.13: What Actually Changes

Patch 26.13 went live on June 23 and it is a dense one. A new champion, 17 champions rebalanced, a Doran's Helm nerf that will calm down half the top lane, an Imperial Mandate rework, the return of Ranked 5s and sweeping changes to both ARAM and Arena. Here is everything, with before/after values. Source: official Riot patch notes.

Locke, the Ashen Exorcist

Locke releases June 24. He is a duel-focused demon hunter with an execute, and Riot confirmed he will not be playable at MSI. His kit at a glance:

• Passive – Silver Stake: attacks deal bonus magic damage on-hit, increased based on the target's missing health
• Q – Ritual Nails: Locke readies soul nails to throw, damaging and marking enemies; he consumes marks to deal bonus damage with his attacks
• W – Soul Ignition: he ignites his soul, gaining attack speed and move speed while damaging himself, then heals back a portion of the damage taken during the effect
• E – Ashen Pursuit: teleports to a location before dashing to attack his next target, damaging enemies passed through
• R – Purgatory: throws a binding artifact that deals damage and can execute enemies hit; sealing away enemy champions grants him additional power

Champions: All 17 Changes With Values

The theme of the patch: bring diversity back to the jungle (Olaf, Poppy and Qiyana buffed) and trim the pro play staples like Cassiopeia, Sion and Rumble. In the bot lane, Aphelios, Draven and Kai'Sa go up while Senna and Brand get reined in.

Aphelios (buff)

• Calibrum mark damage: 15 (+10% bonus AD) ⇒ 15 (+15% bonus AD)
• Severum Q damage: 19/24.25/29.5/34.75/40% total AD per attack ⇒ 20/25.25/30.5/35.75/41%
• Infernum Q ratio: 10-16% bonus AD ⇒ 15-21%
• Crescendum Q sentry damage: 30-48% bonus AD ⇒ 34-52%

Bard (nerf)

• Damage per meep: 35 (+10 per 5 chimes) (+40% AP) ⇒ 30 (+6 per 5 chimes) (+40% AP). Tank Bard hits noticeably less hard without AP investment

Brand (adjustment)

• Base mana regeneration: 9 ⇒ 11
• Passive detonation damage: 8-12% (levels 1-17) ⇒ 6-12% (levels 1-18, scaling beyond)
• E mana cost: 70/75/80/85/90 ⇒ 90 flat

Cassiopeia (nerf)

• Health per level: 104 ⇒ 98. Too dominant in pro play; she keeps her speed but loses the giant health bar

Draven (buff)

• E cooldown: 18/17/16/15/14s ⇒ 16/15/14/13/12s
• R damage reduction per enemy hit: -8% multiplicative (floor 40% at 11 hits) ⇒ -5% (floor 50% at 14 hits)

Kai'Sa (buff)

• W cooldown: 22/20/18/16/14 ⇒ 20/18.5/17/15.5/14
• R shield: 70/90/110 (+90/135/180% AD) (+120% AP) ⇒ 100/150/200 (same ratios)

K'Sante (nerf)

• E shield: 80/120/160/200/240 (+15% bonus health) ⇒ 70/112.5/155/197.5/240 (+13.5% bonus health). He benefited a bit too much from Doran's Helm

LeBlanc (buff)

• R – RQ1/RE1 damage: 70/140/210 ⇒ 70/150/230
• R – mark/root damage: 140/280/420 ⇒ 140/300/460
• R – RW damage: 150/300/450 ⇒ 150/315/480

Olaf (jungle buff)

• Q bonus physical damage to monsters: 20/35/50/65/80 ⇒ 20/45/70/95/120

Poppy (jungle buff)

• Q monster damage cap: 50/80/110/140/170 ⇒ 75/105/135/165/195. Designed as a tanky counter to the fighter junglers on top of the meta

Qiyana (jungle buff)

• Q monster damage: 155% ⇒ 175%, without meaningfully juicing mid lane

Rek'Sai (nerf)

• E damage: 80/108/136/164/192 (+64% bonus AD) ⇒ 70/95/120/145/170 (+60% bonus AD)
• Bonus true damage: 125% ⇒ 120%. Too successful at high ranks

Rumble (nerf)

• Q damage: 60/85/110/135/160 (+100% AP) ⇒ 50/75/100/125/150 (+105% AP). Less free blind picking, scaling preserved

Senna (adjustment)

• Soul drop chance on Senna kill: 10% ⇒ 5%; on ally kill: 28% ⇒ 32%
• Crit damage penalty: -10% ⇒ -15% (170% with IE)
• Q cooldown refund: on hit ⇒ on attack

Sion (nerf)

• Q minimum damage: 40/60/80/100/120 ⇒ 30/45/60/75/90
• W mana cost: 65/70/75/80/85 ⇒ 75/80/85/90/95

Vex (buff)

• E cooldown: 13s ⇒ 12s
• R reset window: 6s ⇒ 8s. Much more room to chain resets

Zaahen (buff)

• W cooldown: 16/15/14/13/12 ⇒ 14/13.5/13/12.5/12, opening more early trade windows

Items

Doran's Helm (nerf)

• Armor and magic resistance: 10 ⇒ 8
• Health: 140 ⇒ 150. Riot admits the 26.11 buff overshot

Imperial Mandate (build path rework)

• Build path: Blasting Wand + Bandleglass Mirror + 650g ⇒ Amp Tome + Bandleglass Mirror + Amp Tome + 700g, far smoother for supports
• Ability power: 65 ⇒ 60
• Control: 15 ⇒ 20 ability haste for immobilizing abilities
• Command: 6% ⇒ 7% Vulnerable

Systems: Ranked 5s, Last Hitting and Reporting

Ranked 5s Return

Ranked 5s came back on June 26 for a limited run, with queues opening at 8 pm. Tournament Draft, no restrictions on who can queue together, and unique rewards. If you have a regular five-stack, this is the closest thing to a real competitive environment the client has offered in years.

Last Hit Indicators

Last hit indicators arrive in Normal Draft, on top of Swiftplay and Co-op vs AI, off by default. They are not enabled in Ranked: Riot wants data and feedback before making that call. Experienced players tend to turn them off, but if you are working on your 8 CS/min, they are a legitimate tool.

Direct Message Reporting

A big behavioral change: client DMs can now be reported, straight from the chat header or via right-click. Blocking a player cuts off messages, but the history stays visible for the session so blocking can no longer be used to dodge reports. Riot reviews both sides of the conversation before acting.

Discord Integration

Reminder from last patch: in supported regions you can link your Riot and Discord accounts to invite Discord friends into your party or share a lobby link.

ARAM: Mayhem Rebalanced

Riot keeps tuning Mayhem augments after several hotfixes that already fixed ability augment offerings and crit augment frequency. The 26.13 changes:

• Archmage: Gold ⇒ Prismatic; Quickstep: Prismatic ⇒ Gold
• Combusting Interest: gold from damage 1% ⇒ 0.75%
• From Down Town: largest area of effect size now restricted
• Glass Cannon: true damage 15% ⇒ 25% melee / 15% ranged
• Pin Cushion: damage per nail 20-30 ⇒ 20-60
• Pressure Cooker: total burn 2% ⇒ 1.5% max health
• Spirit Bomb: shield duration 4s ⇒ 2s
• Tooth Fairy: burst threshold 20% ⇒ 25%, lethality and magic pen 5 ⇒ 4
• Twinfire: critical chance 15% ⇒ 25%
• Void Immolation: new Desolate passive, magic damage around slain enemies
• Youch My Coins: coin drops 16 ⇒ 9
• Bugfixes: The Biggest Snowball Ever no longer deals double damage, missing health damage now calculated correctly, no more infinite shields with two Pat on the Back

Arena: Locke as Guest of Honor, Round 15 Reworked

Augments

• Calculated Risk and Chain Lightning: disabled
• Dust To Diamonds (Silver): now grants 2 Prismatic Stat Anvils when removed
• Final Form: max health shield 30/45% ⇒ 30/60%, omnivamp 15/20% ⇒ 15/25%, duration 5s ⇒ 7.5s
• Hivemind: base damage 40-100 ⇒ 60-120
• Hone Shardblade: only appears if you have Shardblade, instantly grants a Stat Anvil then one per round
• Juiced and Overflow: max level mana threshold 400 ⇒ 300
• Chroma Flux: autocast 15s ⇒ 10s; Despoil: move speed ratio 10% ⇒ 20%; Nesting Doll: Gold ⇒ Prismatic
• Quest: Rite Of The Forge God: stat amp 35% ⇒ 40%
• Quest: Void Immolation: true ⇒ magic damage, 1.5% total health ⇒ 3.5% bonus health, on-kill burst added
• Spellcraft: base damage 50 ⇒ 100, slow per blue sticker 40% ⇒ 45%
• Upgrade Collector: level 2 gold 500 ⇒ 300, max execute 27.5% ⇒ 23.75%
• Buff Buddies now counts as a burn source via Red Buff

Champions in Arena

• Elise: passive 12-42 ⇒ 15-45, health on hit 6-12 ⇒ 10-25, human E stun 1.6-2.4s ⇒ 1.9-2.5s, spider E amp 40-100% ⇒ 60-120%
• Gnar: W base damage 0-40 ⇒ 20-60, E cooldown 18-8 ⇒ 12-8
• Kayn (Shadow Assassin): duration 3s ⇒ 4s, bonus magic damage 20-40% ⇒ 35-55%, out of combat requirement 8s ⇒ 4s
• Renata Glasc: W cooldown 22-18 ⇒ 28-24 (nerf)
• Samira: R base damage 5/10/15 ⇒ 10/15/20
• Swain: R healing 15/30/45 ⇒ 10/15/20 (nerf)
• Zeri: broad buff, W AP ratio 50% ⇒ 100%, R base move speed 15% ⇒ 20% and 1.5% ⇒ 2% per stack
• Zilean: Q damage 100-360 ⇒ 75-300, AP ratio 100% ⇒ 90% (nerf)

Items and Guests of Honor

• Eclipse: 50 ⇒ 60 AD, haste 10 ⇒ 15, max health damage 8/5.3% ⇒ 10/6.6%
• Hellfire Hatchet: 35 ⇒ 40 AD, per-target cooldown 10s ⇒ 8s
• Opportunity: out-of-combat lethality 15 ⇒ 20; Perplexity: damage amp threshold 2500 ⇒ 3000
• Wordless Promise: now counts as a burn, cooldown 60s ⇒ 15s; Dragon Heart: shared AP/haste 15% ⇒ 10%, cooldown 60s ⇒ 15s
• New items: 2 Random Stat Shards (Gold and Silver versions)
• Locke, new Guest of Honor: each offering includes one higher-tier but Fractured augment; 2 losses break it into a Stat Anvil, 3 round wins remove the keyword
• Kindred: Lamb revives 2 ⇒ 1; Lux: shield per level 20 ⇒ 25, per round loss 75 ⇒ 100; Nocturne: 3 guaranteed darkness zones with wall walking
• Round 15: gold round ⇒ augment round

Bugfixes & QoL

• Baron Nashor no longer stacks Void Corruption beyond the intended cap
• Serpent's Fang's Shield Reaver damage no longer applies omnivamp
• Diana's R VFX now plays properly everywhere on the map

Skins and Shop

• New skins on June 24: Broken Covenant Jhin, Broken Covenant Aurora, Broken Covenant Shen, High Noon Akshan and High Noon Locke, plus chromas
• Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser returns to The Sanctum until patch 26.17
• Broken Covenant Jhin is the MSI revenue share skin: a share of proceeds goes to esports teams
• After MSI Finals, 33% off for one week on all direct purchase skins used by the winning team

How to Play This Patch in Ranked

26.13 is a classic mid-season patch: no revolution, but enough movement to shake habits. The buffed junglers are clearly the best entry point, and the Doran's Helm nerf makes top lane matchups less passive. If you are stuck regardless, the ElevateBoost team offers LoL coaching and boosting to get you over the hump without burning your evenings.

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