Atakhan removed, Faelights added, and more

League of Legends patch 26.1 notes were out on January 8, 2026. It is the first update of the year and brings a plethora of changes to the overall system. With new mechanics, new items, and adjustments to several aspects, the meta for this new season is going to be pretty intriguing.

Here are all the changes coming with the League of Legends patch 26.1.

---

League of Legends patch 26.1 notes: Role Quests added (new mechanic)

This year, Riot is introducing a major new concept to Summoner’s Rift: Role Quests. Building off the item-based quests that junglers and support players have had for years, they’re adding new lane-phase-defining quests for the other three positions and updating the existing quests for support and jungle.

Check out: Role Quests in League of Legends Season 16

---

League of Legends patch 26.1 notes: Atakhan, Blood Roses, and Feats of Strength removed

While it lasted for one year, the developers have decided to remove Atakhan, Blood Roses, and Feats of Strength from the game in League of Legends patch 26.1. They asserted that,

“These three features combined to make Summoner’s Rift in 2025 unique, but Atakhan’s story has come to an end, and ultimately these features weren’t having a positive enough effect on the game for us to be confident to keep them in the game long term.”

Here are the changes in detail:

• Feats of Strength have been removed from the game.
• First Blood once again grants +100g to the killer.
• The first turret destroyed once again grants +300g.
• Atakhan has been removed from the game and will no longer spawn.
• Blood Roses have been removed from the game and will no longer spawn.
• Base kill gold devaluation per 1 gold given on death: 0.2 ⇒ 0.4. For example, dying and giving away 300g will reduce your base kill gold by 75g.
• Base kill gold revaluation per 1 gold earned: 0.1 ⇒ 0.2. This change does not affect the accrual of positive bounties.

---

Epic objective tuning in League of Legends patch 26.1 notes

1) Elemental Drakes

• Minimum level: 6 (unchanged)
• Health: 5,730-13,790 ⇒ 3,625 + 375 growth (5,106-10,000)
• Armor: 21 ⇒ 34 + 8 Growth (66-170)
• Magic Resistance: 30 ⇒ 32 + 4 Growth (48-100)
• Mountain drakes have +15% HP (4,200 + 430 growth) instead of +20 armor and magic resist
• Dragon Vengeance damage reduction: 7/14/21% ⇒ 15/30/45%
• Dragon Vengeance no longer increases damage to champions by 20/40/60%
• Dragon Vengeance tooltip now shows its numbers more accurately
• Kill gold: 25 ⇒ 75
• Local XP: 150-330 (6-15) ⇒ 160-400 (6-18)
• Comeback XP is now linear instead of quadratic but still scales up to 2x at a 4 level deficit.

2) Elder Dragon

• Minimum level: 10 ⇒ 13
• Armor: 120-189 ⇒ 34 + 8 Growth (122-170)
• Magic resist: 70-113 ⇒ 32 + 4 Growth (76-100)
• Health: 13,650-17,130 ⇒ 11,500 + 575 Growth (17,796-21,275)
• Gold: 100 Kill + 250 Global ⇒ 100 Kill + 150 Global
• Total gold: 1350 ⇒ 850
• Experience: 830 Local + 500 Global ⇒ 0 Local + 650 Global
• Total experience: 3,330 ⇒ 3,250
• Comeback XP is now linear instead of quadratic but still scales up to 2x at a 4 level deficit.

3) Void Grubs

• Minimum level: 4 ⇒ 7
• Armor: 0 ⇒ 34 + 8 Growth (73+)
• Magic Resistance: 0 ⇒ 32 + 4 Growth (51+)
• Health: 2,250-3,750 ⇒ 1300 + 200 Growth (2,269+)
• AD: 30-45 by game time ⇒ 12 + 2 Growth (22+)
• Grubs now deal 50% more damage to non-champions, matching Dragon and Baron
• Mite AD: 4.2-6.6 by game time ⇒ 1.8 + 0.3 Growth (3+)
• Mite HP: 470-710 by game time ⇒ 180 + 30 Growth (325+)
• Gold: 20 local + 50 global (210g) ⇒ 30 local (90g)
• Experience: 75 + 2% per level / 4 (79.5-84) ⇒ 65 (195 for 3)
• XP radius: 0 ⇒ 2000
• No longer heals its killer for 60 HP

4) Rift Herald

• Minimum level: 6 ⇒ 9
• Armor: 60 ⇒ 34 + 8 Growth (88+)
• Magic Resistance: 50 ⇒ 32 + 4 Growth (59+)
• Health: 10,688-14,250 ⇒ 7,000 + 700 Growth (11,718+)
• Rift Herald eye cooldown: 8 ⇒ 6
• Eye cooldown is no longer reduced on-hit
• Rift Herald now deals 50% more damage to non-champions, matching Dragon and Baron.
• Experience value: 309-330 ⇒ 240
• XP radius: 600 ⇒ 2000
• Gold: 200-600 based on nearby champions: 100g to killer
• Mercenary charge damage: 2500-3000 ⇒ 3000
• Mercenary health: 4,770-6,360 ⇒ 2,500 + 270 Growth (4,059+)
• Mercenary armor: 60 ⇒ 34 + 8 Growth (88+)
• Mercenary Magic Resistance: 50 ⇒ 32 + 4 Growth (59+)

5) Baron Nashor

• Spawn timer: 25m ⇒ 20m
• Minimum level: 11
• Health: 15,600-19,020 by time ⇒ 16,300 + 170 Growth (17,792-19,190)
• Armor: 120 ⇒ 34 + 8 Growth (104-170)
• Magic Resistance: 70 ⇒ 32 + 4 Growth (67-100)
• Attack damage: 350-520 from 20-57 minutes ⇒ 175 + 20 Growth (351-515)
• Corrosion secondary attack damage: 70 + 20% total AD ⇒ 35% total AD
• Acid Pool damage: 200 + 10% total AD ⇒ 100% total AD
• Territorial Baron pull damage: 300 ⇒ 100% total AD
• All-Seeing Baron rift total damage: 1000 ⇒ 140% total AD
• Acid Shot damage: 200 + 50% total AD ⇒ 100% total AD
• Tentacle Knockup damage: 200 + 25% total AD ⇒ 100% total AD
• Re-added: Shreds 0.5 armor/MR per second to all nearby enemies
• Experience: 800 local + 600 global ⇒ 650 global
• Total experience: 3800 ⇒ 3250
• Gold: 25 kill + 300 global ⇒ 100 kill + 150 global
• Total gold: 1525 ⇒ 850
• Baron Nashor is now subject to comeback experience like with dragons. Players on the losing team gain 25% increased experience per level behind they are, capped at 2x.
• Fixed a broken icon in death recap from one of Baron’s abilities

6) Atakhan

---

Jungle adjustments in League of Legends patch 26.1 notes

1) Buff camps

• Baron’s spawn no longer corrupts Red and Blue buff, which made their buffs global and gave the monsters 30% more HP. A second version of the buff still drops after the Elemental Terrain transition.
• Red buff regen: 0.5/1/3% at level 1/4/6 ⇒ 0.5/1/1.5/3% at 1/4/6/11
• Red melee slow: 5/10/15/20% ⇒ 10/15/20%
• Red ranged slow: 5/7.5/10% (unchanged)
• Red buff burn: 10-75 ⇒ 15-54
• Burn now displays its cumulative damage on its target
• Red/Blue buff tooltips now show exactly how much power they provide.
• Bugfix: Red/blue buff no longer last 30 seconds longer if a jungler kills a champion for it

2) Jungle rules

• Monster damage amp: 25% ⇒ 10%
• Smite damage: 600/900/1200 ⇒ 600/1000/1400
• NEW: Junglers take 50% damage from non-epic monsters
• Maximum heal on kill: 81 + 13.5/lvl (1-10), max of 202.5 ⇒ 90+20/lvl (1-9), max of 250
• Minimum heal on kill: 36+6 (44% of max), max of 90 ⇒ 0 (0% of max)
• NEW: Now restores 15 energy on large monster kill
• Pet heal per second: 14-37 (1-10) ⇒ 6-36 (1-18)
• Pet base DPS: 20-90 ⇒ 20-150
• Base pet DPS against epic monsters 15.5 ⇒ 20-150
• Scuttle Crab no longer spawns at -1 level, thus increasing its gold/XP value
• Kills required for first evolution: 20 ⇒ 15
• Jungle role quest completion: 40 stacks ⇒ 35 stacks

---

Faelights and vision changes in League of Legends patch 26.1

Faelights

Faelights are a new map feature to improve the vision system. They appear as rings of glowing mushrooms on the ground. Some present at game start, and some upon the Elemental Rift transformation.

When you place a ward on the ring, it will temporarily reveal a nearby area of the map, which is not revealed to enemies unless they use a detector effect or ping the ward directly.

Placing a ward (of any type) on a faelight makes the ward a faelight superward, applying the following effects:

• Grants +25% vision radius to the ward
• Reveals a bonus vision region for 45 seconds
• The bonus vision region shape is specific to that faelight location
• The bonus region particles are only visible to your team
• The bonus vision region is not affected by the type of ward being used (e.g. Control Wards don’t enhance it.)
• This duration is represented by a countdown circle visual on the ward
• The bonus vision region can see into brush if the brush is in the region shape
• Enemies will know they’re in the bonus region while their team has a detector/sweeper effect within the region
• Enemies will know they’re in the bonus region if their team has ping-tracked the ward directly (including via Sixth Sense)
• All faelight superward buffs are suppressed while the ward has nearsight, and removed when the ward dies
• If your team already has a ward on the faelight, that ward will be destroyed to make room for the new superward
• For the sake of Vision Score, the ward has a +25% score mod
• For the sake of Vision Score, the bonus vision region is treated as an extra ward obeying the Position modifier rule, but no other modifier rules (e.g. staleness)

Faelight Locations

• One near each base gate (4 total), providing vision into the nearby jungle
• One in each island brush near top and bot (2 total), providing vision into river
• One in each river wall brush near mid AKA banana brush (2 total), providing vision of nearby river (hugging the mid lane brush but not overlapping it)
• [After Elemental Rift Transformation] One near side lanes in each quadrant (4 total), providing vision in the jungle path along the lane

Other Vision Changes

• Stealth Ward Trinket Cooldown: 210-120s (by level) ⇒ 170-90s (by level)
• Oracle Lens Trinket Duration: 6s ⇒ 8s
• Scryer’s Bloom Default Respawn Time: 260-350s (random) ⇒ 200-260s (random)

At 15:00 (or elemental rift transformation), new Scryer’s Bloom locations become available.

• One at each river coast near side lanes (2 total)
• One behind each side lane inner turret (4 total)
• One near the rocks in base where Hexgates spawn (4 total)
• Elemental rift Scryer’s Bloom locations near these points have been deprecated, and any other plants too close by have been repositioned
• These new Scryer’s Bloom locations have much shorter default respawn times: 90-120s (random)

---

Homeguard changes in League of Legends patch 26.1

• Homeguard no longer has a duration.
• Homeguard is now removed after reaching the endpoint, entering combat, or entering the jungle.
• Homeguard will always take you at least to just before your outermost living turret in a lane.
• Homeguard will always take you at least to your Inhibitor in your base.
• After 14:00 or after at least one turret on either team has been destroyed in a given lane, Homeguard will track the furthest minion in the lane, ending approximately 2000 units before reaching the minion wave.
• Before 14:00, Homeguard grants 80% movement speed ramping down to 40% over 4 seconds.
• After 14:00, Homeguard grants 150% movement speed ramping down to 65% over 4 seconds.
• In Swiftplay, Homeguard always grants 200% movement speed, ramping down to 100% over 4 seconds.

---

Crystalline Overgrowth in League of Legends patch 26.1

• Targetable lane turrets are now subject to Crystalline Overgrowth.
• Crystalline overgrowth will appear after a 90s startup/cooldown (30s in Swiftplay); at that point, the turret will take true damage the next time an enemy champion attacks it.
• The overgrowth will stay at its minimum damage state for 60s (30s in Swiftplay), then scale the damage up linearly for 240s (180s in Swiftplay), then hold at max damage indefinitely.
• The damage calculation is based on the average level of the attacking team:
• At level 1, the damage range is 2% – 3.3% of the turret’s max Health (2.15% – 3.76% in Swiftplay).
• At level 18, the damage range is 8.8% – 18.9% of the turret’s max Health (13.2% – 39.6% in Swiftplay).
• The attack hitbox of the turret is increased for melee champions based on the size of the overgrowth.
• Crystalline overgrowth will not proc from attacks while the turret has backdoor protection.
• If an enemy unit is near the turret at that 90 second mark when it would become active, Crystalline Overgrowth will be suppressed and not appear. Once enemies are gone, the Overgrowth will then be applied and it will “fast forward” its state to make up for where it should be. This is to avoid sudden mid-push activations.

Demolish

• Demolish trigger: Charge up a powerful attack against a tower while near it. ⇒ Your third attack against towers deals bonus physical damage.
• Cooldown: 45s ⇒ 30s
• Melee Damage: 100 + [35% of maximum health] ⇒ 85 + [28% of maximum health]
• Ranged Damage: 100 + [35% of maximum health] ⇒ 50 + [20% of maximum health]

---

Game start time changes in League of Legends patch 26.1

• Minion spawn time: 1:05 ⇒ 30 seconds
• Murk Wolf, Blue Sentinel, Red Brambleback, Raptor Camps: Spawn at 55 seconds
• Krug, Gromp Camps: Spawn at 1:07
• River Scuttler Camps: Spawn at 2:55
• Baron Nashor: 25:00 ⇒ 20:00
• Epic Monster spawn times are unchanged unless noted above.
• Ambient Gold Start Time: 65 seconds
• Most miscellaneous start of game systems (for example, World Atlas’s first charge) start 35 seconds faster.
• Remake Eligibility: 1:30 through 3:00 ⇒ 0:55 through 2:25
• Early Surrender (with AFK) eligibility: 3:30 ⇒ 2:55

---

Turret changes in League of Legends patch 26.1

• Bulwark resist duration: 20s, refreshing on each plate takedown: 20s, overlapping durations
• Bulwark resist visualization updated and new effects have been added. VFX no longer disappear when champions walk out of range.
• Turret plates take 17% less damage from minions and ranged champions ⇒ Turrets take 20% more damage from melee champions
• Updated all turret item tooltips to more clearly explain turret mechanics.
• Turret true sight range: 1095 ⇒ 1100. Tooltip updated to reflect the accurate range.

Outer turrets

• Nearby players are now rewarded a share of 300g for destroying the first turret of the game.
• Plates are now permanent instead of falling off at 14 minutes.
• Resistances: Set armor/MR to 40 at 14 minutes ⇒ Lose 15 armor/mr per minute starting at minute 11, capped at -60
• Plate gold: Turret plates drop at 14 minutes, awarding no further gold ⇒ Plate value reduces by 10g per minute at minute 11, capped at -40
• Plate thresholds: 20/40/60/80/100% ⇒ 10/25/45/70/100% missing HP
• No longer gains 50 permanent resists per dead plate.
• In-world turret plate models have been removed. They now only show as health bar segments.
• Base resists: 15 ⇒ 60
• Base HP: 5,000 ⇒ 9,000
• Maximum bonus AD: 192 at 16 minutes ⇒ 168 at 14 minutes
• Local gold: 250 ⇒ 0
• Turret plate gold: 125 ⇒ 120
• Maximum local gold: 875 ⇒ 600
• Minimum local gold: 250 ⇒ 400

Inner and inhibitor turrets

• NEW: Turret Plates claimed at 10/25/45/70/100% missing HP
• Inner turret local gold: 425/675 ⇒ 600 spread across 5 plates
• Inner turret health: 4000 ⇒ 5000
• Inner turret resistances: 55 ⇒ 60
• Inner turrets no longer gain up to 15 armor/MR at minutes 16-30
• Inhibitor turret local gold: 375 ⇒ 600 spread across 5 plates
• Inhibitor turret regen thresholds: 33/66% HP ⇒ 30/75% HP
• Inhibitor turret health: 3500 ⇒ 4750
• Inhibitor turret resistances: 70 ⇒ 60

Nexus turrets

• NEW: Turret Plates claimed at 10/25/45/70/100% missing HP
• Nexus turret health: 3000 ⇒ 3500
• Nexus turret resists: 70 ⇒ 60
• Nexus turret HP on respawn: 100% ⇒ 40%
• 6 HP/sec Nexus turret regen: 33/66% ⇒ 40/70% HP
• Added a separate tower item for Nexus Turrets to show that they respawn.

---

Minion changes in League of Legends patch 26.1

• At 14 minutes, minion waves now spawn every 25 seconds. When a cannon minion spawns on these waves, one fewer melee minion spawns.
• At 30 minutes, minion waves now spawn every 20 seconds. One fewer caster minion spawns on these waves.
• Minion to turret damage: 55% ⇒ 60%
• Base Movement Speed: 325 ⇒ 350
• First cannon minion wave: wave 4 ⇒ wave 3
• Cannon AD: 39, +1.5 every 90 seconds ⇒ 39, +1.5 every 90 seconds, then +4 every 90 seconds at wave 15
• Super minion base AD: 210 ⇒ 180
• Experience share: 95/62/41.3/31/24.8/20.7% ⇒ 100/65/43.3/32.5/26/21.7%
• Melee minion XP: 65 (61.75 / 40.3) ⇒ 62 (62 / 40.3)
• Melee minion gold: 21 ⇒ 20
• Ranged minion XP: 32 (30.4 / 19.84) ⇒ 31 (31 / 20.15)
• Cannon/Super minion XP: 100 (95 / 62) ⇒ 75 (75 / 48.75
• Cannon/Super minion gold: 60 + 3 every 90 seconds⇒ 50 + 1 every 90 seconds
• Cannon minion damage to turrets: 82.5% ⇒ 84%
• Cannon minion item updated to show its special rules for attacking turrets.

---

Champion, item, and Omnivamp changes in League of Legends patch 26.1

There are plenty of champion adjustments included in this update, mostly for the ADCs. With numerous other changes in other areas, the developers had to balance accordingly.

Check out: All champion changes in League of Legends patch 26.1 notes

Meanwhile, new items have been added to the game, which should bring massive changes to the upcoming meta in the new season. On top of that, some items from the past are added, and many are modified.

Check out: New, returning, and updated items in League of Legends Season 16.

Regarding Omnivamp, here are the changes:

• It now applies at 100% value, reduced to 33% value from pets, damage over time damage, and area effect spells against Minions.

---

Check out more League of Legends news and updates: