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League of Legends Patch 26.19 Preview: Top Role Quest, Lucian Adjustments, and More
16 Sep, 2026, 10:20
|Last updated: 16 Sep, 2026, 10:21
Patch 26.19 arrives in League of Legends on Wednesday, September 23, bringing another set of interesting changes as the meta continues to evolve. Let's take a closer look at what Riot Games has in store for the upcoming patch.
Top Role Quest Teleport
Since the release of role quests, Riot Games has been monitoring player interest and pick rates across different regions and skill levels. However, the top lane has struggled to maintain player interest in higher skill brackets.
While the role has remained relatively stable in Eastern regions, even among high-skilled players, the same cannot be said for Western regions. On top of that, top lane is extremely popular and powerful in lower skill brackets, but declines in the former as we travel up the ranks.
The goal with the upcoming buff to the top role quest teleport is to make it more useful for higher-skill top laners and reinforce the side-lane raid boss split-push identity that many players have. The buff will see the spell's cooldown reduced, opening up the avenue for more frequent side-lane pressure.
Lucian's Supports
When we think of Lucian in the bot lane, Senna, Nami, and Milio are some of the first supports that come to mind. This is because Lucian is a unique champion who doesn't synergize equally well with every support, instead thriving alongside a select few.
In Patch 26.19, the goal is to make Lucian less reliant on specific supports while trying to keep the list power neutral overall for Bot Lucian. We could see Lucian pairing with more engage champions in the near future.
Aphelios Buffs
It is no coincidence that Aphelios is receiving major buffs just as Heartsteel is set to make a comeback with a new song on September 18.
As a highly mechanical champion, Aphelios has never been particularly popular in the lower skill bracket. Not only that, but the current meta didn't leave much space for him to shine.
This buff is mainly aimed at making Aphelios' weaker weapons more impactful in the game, while also improving some of his ability damage and utility.
Overall, Aphelios will be more consistent across his weapon rotations, with stronger poke, sustain, longer-lasting slows, more frequent AoE abilities, and slightly higher DPS when using Chakrams.
So, rather than massively changing how Aphelios is played, these buffs raise the floor of several parts of his kit that were underperforming and make his different weapon combinations more rewarding.
The Nasus Ballad
For the second consecutive patch, Nasus is receiving nerfs after being adjusted just three patches ago. It seems Riot Games is still trying to find the right balance for him.
The main issue with Nasus is that he becomes disproportionately strong in lower and mid skill brackets. Once he has accumulated enough stacks, a mechanic that has been adjusted in previous patches, he can become extremely annoying to deal with in the side lanes and team fights.
On top of that, his [Q] Siphoning Strike allows him to take towers very quickly, often needing just two or three attacks.
Now, Riot is reducing his Q's bonus damage in an attempt to give opponents more room to deal with Nasus' damage, sustain, and tower-destroying potential.
A Patch for Top Laners
This patch introduces a wide range of balance changes, including buffs for ten champions, with most of them being junglers and top laners, alongside Aphelios.
Riot Games is clearly looking to diversify the champion pool, but the most impactful change is the buff to the top lane role quest. This change should give top laners greater map presence, allowing them to influence other areas of the map and play a bigger role in team fights and other key moments.
Lucian's adjustments are another particularly interesting part of this patch, introducing a change that Riot has rarely targeted before. With these adjustments, Lucian could become more viable alongside a wider range of supports, rather than being heavily reliant on the champions he currently synergizes best with, without sacrificing his impact or strength in the bot lane.
All information about LoL Patch 26.19 was taken from an X (Twitter) post made by Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison, Lead Gameplay Designer for League of Legends. If you'd like to have a look at the complete list of changes, make sure to check out the post!
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Featured Image Credits: Riot Games // League of Legends
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