The League of Legends Patch 26.12 patch notes target the dominant champions of the pre-Mid-Season Invitational meta — landing nerfs on jungle and mid-lane staples while buffing a swath of under-performers. Enhanced Teleport's shield gets reshaped to push it back toward cross-map plays instead of short-range combat shields. Track the League of Legends season countdown to Pandemonium - Act III.
TL;DR — 6 nerfs, 8+ buffs, plus a Teleport summoner rework. Biggest nerf: Lee Sin (jungle). Biggest buff: Aatrox Q sweet-spot bonus damage 70 → 75. Meta impact: Riot is shaping the pro meta directly for MSI 2026 — jungle Lee Sin and Nocturne lose dominance, mid-lane returnees like Syndra and Tristana get a viability boost.
Champions
- Aatrox — Q (The Darkin Blade) sweet-spot bonus damage 70 → 75 buff
- Gwen — direct buff package buff
- Hwei — Q (Subject: Disaster) buffs across all three forms; E (Subject: Torment) cooldown reduced buff
- Jax — direct buff package buff
- Sylas — direct buff package buff
- Syndra — direct buff package after recent item changes hurt her buff
- Tristana — direct buff package after recent item changes hurt her buff
- Yuumi — direct buff package buff
- AP Xin Zhao — pro-meta nerf nerf
- Lee Sin — jungle nerf targeting solo-queue dominance nerf
- Nocturne — jungle nerf targeting solo-queue dominance nerf
- Orianna — mid-lane nerf nerf
- Ryze — mid-lane nerf nerf
- Varus — lethality-build nerf nerf
Mechanics
- Enhanced Teleport — shield duration reduced from 30 seconds to 10 seconds; shield strength increased from 30% max HP to 35% max HP. Riot is pushing Teleport toward long-range "joining fights" usage and away from short-range pre-fight shield setups nerf