League of Legends Patch 26.23 Notes: Azir 550 Range Buff, Mel and K'Sante Boosts, Full Changes for November 18
The second-to-last balance update of the year is taking shape on Summoner's Rift. Scheduled to hit live servers on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, League of Legends Patch 26.23 (also tracked internally as Patch 16.23) has been detailed in full by Riot Games Lead Gameplay Designer Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison. With the dust finally settling on the World Championship, the balance team is pivoting its focus back to everyday Solo Queue: breathing life back into pro-jailed staples while tapping down the most frustrating outliers on the ladder.
Patch 26.23 Philosophy: Unshackling Pro-Play Staples for Solo Queue
Every autumn, a familiar pattern emerges right after fans celebrate the greatest League of Legends Worlds records in history: several iconic competitive picks end the year languishing at the bottom of regular Solo Queue win rate charts. Because kits like Azir, K'Sante, Galio, and Gnar thrive on voice-comms coordination, their numbers are often kept artificially low during tournament season.
As Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison outlined ahead of the final breakdown on the official League of Legends patch notes portal, Patch 26.23 redistributes power into lower-mastery levers so average players can get reliable value out of these champions. Notably, Akshan was originally slated for a buff in the initial preview but was pulled from the patch after his planned change could not be finalized in time.
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All 10 Champion Buffs: Azir Hits 550 Range and Mel Gets Post-Rework Follow-Up
The headline adjustment belongs to Azir. To help regular players trade more safely in lane and synergize more naturally with Nashor's Tooth builds, Riot Games is increasing his base auto-attack range from 525 to 550 while boosting his W (Arise!) on-hit ratio from 50% to 67%.
Meanwhile, Mel is receiving an immediate follow-up buff shortly after her mid-scope update. Riot is injecting extra scaling into her secondary Q bolts and late-game W ranks to settle her into a healthy power baseline across both mid and bot lane.
- Annie (Tibbers Buffs): R (Summon: Tibbers) base health increased from 1,150-3,500 (+50% AP) to 1,275-4,000 (+50% AP) (+150% of Annie's bonus HP). Flame aura DPS increased from 8-16 (+4% AP) to 10-20 (+4% AP), and Tibbers' base attack damage rises to 30/50/70 (+10% AP) from 30-60.
- Azir: Base auto-attack range increased from 525 to 550. W on-hit damage ratio increased from 50% to 67%.
- Bard: Q (Cosmic Binding) damage increased from 80-240 (+80% AP) to 80-260 (+100% AP).
- Ezreal: W (Essence Flux) damage increased from 80-300 (+100% bonus AD) (+90% AP) to 80-300 (+115% bonus AD) (+100% AP). R (Trueshot Barrage) champion damage boosted from 350-750 (+100% bonus AD) (+110% AP) to 350-850 (+110% bonus AD) (+120% AP).
- Galio: Passive magic shield on W (Shield of Durand) and allied shield on R (Hero's Entrance) increased from 7.5-13.5% to 8-20% max HP.
- Gnar: Mini-Gnar Q (Boomerang Throw) total AD ratio increased from 125% to 135%; Mega-Gnar Q (Boulder Toss) total AD ratio increased from 140% to 150%.
- K'Sante: W (Path Maker) mana cost flattened to 45 at all ranks (down from 45-65) and base damage raised from 45-165 to 45-205. Conversely, his R-W (All Out) charge-time damage modifier is trimmed slightly from 10-80% to 10-75%.
- Mel: Q subsequent bolt damage increased from 5-25 (+8% AP) to 6-26 (+9% AP), bringing max damage to 90-294 (+70-106% AP). W shield increased from 50-170 to 50-210 (+50% AP), and initial retaliation bolt damage increased from 35-55 to 35-75 (+10% AP).
- Vel'Koz: Rank 3 total damage on R (Life Form Disintegration Ray) bumped from 450/700/925 to 450/700/950.
- Vi: E (Relentless Force) base damage increased from 10-90 to 10-110 (+110% AD) (+100% AP).
Champion and Item Nerfs: Master Yi, Syndra, LeBlanc, and Voltaic Cyclosword
On the nerf side of the ledger, Riot Games is targeting three champions that top player frustration surveys while the broader esports ecosystem looks ahead to Seoul's $1 million bid to host the LoL Worlds 2027 Final. In regular play brackets, Master Yi loses a chunk of AD scaling on his primary engage tool, while Syndra and LeBlanc take targeted hits aimed at high-MMR mid lane dominance.
| Target (Champion / Item) | Ability / Passive | Previous (26.22) | New (Patch 26.23) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master Yi | Q (Alpha Strike) | 70% AD ratio (Single-target max: 122.5% AD) | 60% AD ratio (Single-target max: 105% AD) |
| Syndra | E (Scatter the Weak) | 50 Mana / Flat 15s cooldown | 60 Mana / 17s to 15s cooldown by rank |
| LeBlanc | Q (Sigil of Malice) | 40% AP ratio | 35% AP ratio |
| Voltaic Cyclosword | Firmament Passive | 9% to 17% of target's current HP | 8% to 16% of target's current HP |
In the item shop, Voltaic Cyclosword is getting tapped down. While Riot wants first-item rushes for AD assassins to feel impactful, Voltaic Cyclosword was slightly crowding out competing options like Hubris, Profane Hydra, Youmuu's Ghostblade, and Umbral Glaive.
The Strategist's Take
Looking over these numbers alongside Bastien "Orion", two changes immediately stand out for Solo Queue grinders. First, giving Azir 550 base attack range alongside a 67% on-hit ratio on his W is a massive laning phase cushion that lets you weave last hits and poke short-range mages without burning your mana pool early. Second, pushing Syndra's Scatter the Weak (E) cooldown from 15 seconds up to 17 seconds at rank 1 creates a genuine two-second punishment window for junglers throughout the first twenty minutes while she maxes Q and W first. Finally, don't sleep on Annie's new 150% bonus HP scaling on Tibbers: Rod of Ages and Liandry's Torment setups are about to turn her summoned bear into an absolute raid boss in mid-game dragon fights.
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Born and based in Montreal's Mile End district, Maëlle "Kaelen" became close friends with Chaya during their university software engineering years, bonding over late-night coding labs, campus LANs, and World of Warcraft raids alongside Grimtag and Heimdall. A game systems balancing consultant and lifelong theorycrafter, she cut her teeth in the early 2010s writing boss walkthroughs, frame-data breakdowns, and competitive meta guides for specialized French-language MMORPG and esports portals, including Mondes Persistants, as well as North American strategy collections. On Pro-Gamer, she leads in-depth walkthroughs, build optimization, and tactical esports coverage.
