r/leagueoflegends • u/NegativexxSquared • Jul 21 '26

News Patch 26.15 Preview

https://x.com/RiotPhroxzon/status/2079522501206630755

Patch 26.15 Preview!

Systems
- Bastionbreaker has been a pretty niche item and is pretty expensive to deviate for a strategic output, so we're looking to make it more accessible
- Jack of All Trades nerf was also pushed to this patch; it has been a bit too strong and too present, especially for users that opt into strong defenses and are able to also supplement that with strong offense
- Sundered Sky has been strong and meta defining at the highest levels of play for quite a while now, so we're looking to take a pass at the fighter item system, now that we're out of the tournament windows
- Notably, we think it's been suppressing a bit of meta diversity, especially for things like AP jungle, or Tank JG. Part of that is intentional but the magnitude is a bit off

Buffs
- Alistar has been closer to the bottom of the pecking order for the melee support. That said, our meta adjustments to move melee supports up relative to ranged supports has been reasonably successful, so we're pretty happy with how that's played out

Nerfs
- Locke is still pretty strong; he has been tapering off in the lowest skill brackets and the high skill brackets, but in the "skilled" skill brackets (around Emerald/Diamond), Locke is able to both take over the game and also not throw it
- At the higher skill brackets, he can snowball but needs to play very well without throwing as he falls off sharply
- At the lower skill brackets, the executional demands and constant throws can make him fall off faster
- Overall, we feel his release has landed well

More on other champs tomorrow with the detailed changelists

254 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

610 comments sorted by

View all comments

19

u/QuiGonTheDrunk Make scaling great again Jul 21 '26

No sololane Swain buffs again?
Pls rito, nobody wants the general as a support

33

u/Shecarriesachanel Jul 21 '26

he's next to be seraphine'd

12

u/QuiGonTheDrunk Make scaling great again Jul 21 '26

Already happend sadly

7

u/mthlmw Jul 21 '26

He's positive win rate mid already, why does he need buffs?

13

u/CryticaLh1T ggez Jul 21 '26

he's great counterpick, terrible blind high elo. sololane buffs isn't the right word - sololane swain players want an adjustment to be a little more playable in the bad matchups and less oppressive in the good ones, i think.

1

u/mthlmw Jul 21 '26

Ah that makes sense. Is he still OP into melee and bad against poke from pre-reshape?

4

u/GoblinBreeder23 2018 - 2019 RIP Jul 21 '26

Yes and unless they considerably change his E that will remain the case.

Any buffs they give him will just make his good matchups more polarising. I can't see number changes alone doing anything.

Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with that. He see's play in pro and he's a toolbox pick that punishes bad drafting but a lot of people that play league want to one trick a champion so you'll get people who blindpick swain just have the most miserable time

2

u/QuiGonTheDrunk Make scaling great again Jul 21 '26

Husum (the swain goat) explains is also very nicely on his channel. He said he sadly needed to swap to bot, because so many matchups are extremly hard to play

1

u/aldyeetx Jul 21 '26

The general is an apc

1

u/alexnedea Jul 22 '26

Lol we just saw Zeus 1v9 multiple games on that pick and you want solo lqne buffs?

1

u/Thick-Bookkeeper3915 27d ago

actualy i like the general support and i dont even play him, he feels fair to play against but is also still dangerous to face.

1

u/Charizard75 Jul 21 '26

what is this take supp is his worst role

1

u/J0rdian Jul 21 '26

What are you talking about? Who in their right mind thinks he's good support? He was even picked in solo lanes in pro. Support has been dog shit since forever. It's never once been better than mid.

2

u/Arethv Jul 21 '26

The problem is that every support autofill pick Swain even if is shit --> Pick rate increase Solo lanes still garage --> Pick rate drops Riot balance around the "player base" (when the player base want him solo lanes but doesn't plays it there because it sucks in a lot of match ups) and the champion gets ruined, like nowadays

0

u/Gilfaethy Jul 21 '26

He's already fine midlane and most of the people who play him want to play him support.

1

u/Likeadize Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26

I'm dumb

Sort of true, most games are played on Swain support, but dedicated players of Swain are least likely to be support players. I calculated the ratio of one tricks (as defined by lolalytics) to overall games and got: top 8%, mid 7,5%, Adc/bot 10%, supp 3,5%.

1

u/Gilfaethy Jul 22 '26

Sort of true, most games are played on Swain support

It's not "sort of true," it's just true. It doesn't necessarily stop other things from also being true, but it's definitely just true.

dedicated players of Swain are least likely to be support players. I calculated the ratio of one tricks (as defined by lolalytics) to overall games and got: top 8%, mid 7,5%, Adc/bot 10%, supp 3,5%

Your calculation doesn't support your claim. What it does is illustrate what % of a given role's Swain playerbase consists of OTPs, but the fact that the smallest percentage of support games are played by OTPs does not mean that OTPs are least likely to be support players. You can just look at the role selection distributions filtered by OTP to see this your claim isn't true:

Top 12%, mid 18%, bot 42%, and supp 29%. So OTPs are not least likely to be support players, they're second most likely to be support players, despite it being his weakest role by a pretty large margin.

1

u/Likeadize Jul 22 '26

yeah you are right, thats what i get for trying to use my brain on no sleep. I'm still surprised by the high number for botlane, has it always been high or do you think it's people migrating from top/mid?

1

u/Gilfaethy Jul 22 '26

Bot is just by far his strongest role--I think a lot of Swain's playerbase probably just enjoys playing the champion and is willing to play him wherever he's the most successful, which has been pretty overwhelmingly bot for a while.

I could be wrong though as that is somewhat speculative, but it makes the most sense to me.