League players got a lot to chew on at 1:00 PM CT on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, when Riot posted the Patch 26.22 notes. The patch is the one with the biggest asterisk of the year: Teamfight Tactics is moving out of the League client into its own standalone client starting November 4, 2026, and Riot says that makes this a larger download than usual. On top of that you get the long-promised Mel midscope update, another round of Summoner's Rift tuning, a handful of ARAM Mayhem augment tweaks for the Journey to Stardom event, K/DA FIRESTARTER skins, and three more old champions in League Classic.
I read the full notes from Riot, the TFT patch 18.6 notes, the TFT dev post about the client from November 2, and Riot's Mel dev blog. For context I also checked the community wiki's V26.22 page, Dot Esports on the Mel rework, and two TFT community trackers, TFTSense and TFTFans. This is a patch and client explainer, not esports coverage. Where the sources disagree, or where Riot has not said something, I flag it instead of guessing.
What the TFT Standalone Client Means for You
Riot's own summary in the League notes is short. In its words, "TFT is all grown up," and the game officially moves to its own standalone client starting on November 4, 2026. To make room for that, Riot says to expect this patch to be larger than usual. The notes also promise that swapping between League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics will be as easy as clicking a button.
The TFT team says the same thing from its side. In the November 2 dev post, Riot says patch 18.6 includes the new client, PC players should expect a larger download than usual, and you will still be able to "swap between the Rift (or ARAM) and the Convergence with the click of a button, even with TFT in its own client." The reason given is that TFT needs room to build dedicated tools: more robust in-client events, improved lobby visuals, and in-client previews of Tacticians and Arenas before you add them to your loadout.
Timing and download size
The TFT notes describe the deploy as one that is "expected to take longer than normal across both PC & mobile," and Riot says it will follow up with a more specific release time as the patch goes live across regions. I did not find an exact deploy hour for the client, and I did not find a download size in gigabytes in any Riot post. If you see a number on social media, treat it as unconfirmed until it shows up in the launcher.
The TFT notes make the same point in a different spot: the large changes section says "Large, like this patch's download size," and adds that future patches will return to normal size. So the big download is a one-time hit, not the new normal.
What I would do before November 4
Riot has not published a pre-patch checklist, so this is my own practical advice, not an official step list. None of it is required.
- Check free disk space on the drive where Riot Games is installed and clear room, since both the League patch and the TFT client are bigger than a normal patch.
- Update the Riot client and launch League before you plan a long session, so the download does not eat the time you set aside to play.
- If you only play League and never touch TFT, pay attention to the opt-out option described below once it appears.
- If you play TFT on mobile, expect a longer deploy there as well, per Riot's TFT notes.
One regional warning
A Korean PC cafe outlet, I Love PC Bang, reported on November 3 that Riot Korea announced on its official PC bang site that the dedicated TFT PC client launch is postponed for further stability checks, with no new date. That report is specifically about the Korean PC bang rollout, and I could not confirm what it means for other regions. Riot's English-language posts as of this writing still say the client launches with patch 18.6, so I am treating November 4 as the plan for North America while noting the date has slipped before. Per TFTSense, Riot first targeted patch 18.4 and moved the launch to 18.6 on September 29, so the schedule has a history of moving.
Switching between League and TFT
Both Riot posts promise a single-click swap between the two games. The TFTFans guide also cites Riot's migration FAQ for the point that players keep using their existing Riot account. Riot has not described the exact button layout or whether both clients can run at the same time, so I would not assume either until you see it in the launcher.
Cosmetics, Little Legends and emotes
This is where the details matter if you collect TFT stuff. The League notes say all existing Teamfight Tactics cosmetics will remain usable in League. The timeline then reads:
- November 4, 2026: standalone client begins.
- December 1, 2026: the first batch of TFT-only Little Legends arrives.
- December 15, 2026: the date Riot gives for full separation of TFT cosmetics, including emotes and icons.
I lined up the dates this way: TFTSense reads Riot's TFT schedule as putting patch 19.1 on December 1, which matches the League notes' date for the first TFT-only Little Legends. Riot's notes do not state the date for 19.2 in the text I read, so I cannot tell you for certain that it is the same day as the December 15 separation date in the League notes. Check the TFT patch schedule if that matters to you.
Opting out of TFT downloads
The League notes say that after this patch you will be able to "fully opt out of TFT downloads in League patches." That is the line League-only players will care about most. The notes do not explain where the setting lives, and I could not find a Riot support article describing it.
What TFT Patch 18.6 Actually Changes
The client is the headline, but the TFT 18.6 notes also include a normal balance pass. Riot calls it the Tactician's Crown patch and says last week's 18.5 mid-patch nerfs to Kha'Zix and Brambleback widened the meta, so this round is small buffs to the Wilds 4-cost lines.
Riot also lists 73 cosmetics re-added in the new client plus a couple of Arenas, and a long bug fix list that includes Choncc or Treat: Solo Leveling being disabled because of a trick. In the November 2 dev post, Riot promises that patch 18.7 will bring back Leaderboards and make it easier to add friends to lobbies. It also teases Set 19's Tour Collection room, which arrives with Patch 19.1, and appreciation missions that give 500 Treasure Tokens for playing one Set 19 game and a random Mythic Chibi for playing 20.
Summoner's Rift Buffs
Riot's intro says this patch gives another round of buffs to some pro-suppressed champions like Corki and Rumble, and nerfs to some of the most-banned champions like Locke and Yasuo. Here is every buff in the notes, with the old and new numbers exactly as Riot lists them.
A few of these deserve more context from Riot's own comments:
- Aurelion Sol: Riot says most players would rather max Singularity (E) second over Astral Flight (W), even though it is a weaker second max, so the E buff is meant to make the intuitive choice the right one.
- Corki: Riot says it was cautious about his power level going into Worlds, but now, like Azir and Orianna, he has more room to be better for everyone.
- Kayle: Her relevance has dropped steadily since earlier this year, after the top lane shake-up from role quests. Riot calls this a small bump to her early laning because top lane could use more scaling options.
- Maokai and Shen: Riot says both have been pushed too far out of the jungle meta. The Maokai buff is built to help top and jungle more than support, and Riot says it is confident it can simply buff Shen now after watching whether earlier jungle tank changes would bring him back.
- Rumble: Like Corki, he was tuned for pro play. Riot says the change should help average Rumbles more than pros when they catch up to the patch cycle.
- Smolder: Last time's buffs landed softer than expected, but Riot likes the balance between his Crit and Caster builds, so this is a more generic buff, and the Doran's Bow nerf is expected to help him a bit.
- Viktor: Last patch's nerf hit harder than expected. Riot likes the effect on early lane bullying and is buffing his scaling back.
- Zaahen: He lives up to his scaling fantasy but has not had enough to do in lane, so the lower cooldown is aimed at early scrapping.
Summoner's Rift Nerfs
Three champions take hits on Summoner's Rift. Riot says Locke and Yasuo are among the most-banned champions in the game.
- Locke: Riot says his overall performance is within reason, but he has proven deeper than expected, and players at the top of the skill curve still show him as clearly too strong, especially early. The two cuts hit his Q stack damage and how long Soul Ignition lasts.
- Yasuo: Riot says it was on the fence last patch about whether he needed a nerf like Yone, but his win rate kept growing as players moved into crit builds, and his ban rate reflects it. He gets the same treatment, a drop from 105% to 100% total AD on Steel Tempest.
- Thresh: Riot says he stayed at the top of the support pecking order for top tier players despite a prior nerf, so he gets another, to both his base attack damage and his ultimate.
Mel Midscope Update
The biggest single change in the patch is Mel. Riot's dev blog from October 20 explains the why. After the usual new champion ban rate spike, Mel settled around a 30 to 15% ban rate at a 48 to 49% win rate with a fairly high pick rate. By the middle of this year she sat at that same ban rate but with a 45 to 47% win rate and less than half the play rate. Riot says elite and pro players adapted her into their playstyles, and her kit became impossible to balance into a place that had enough power without frustration boiling over for opponents.
The answer is removing the reflect from her W. Riot tested a shorter range Mel, a version that stole a cast of the first missile to hit her, and a version that moved the reflect onto her Ultimate, and passed on all of them. The new Rebuttal still destroys enemy projectiles and retaliates against them, but it no longer lets her reflect a Seraphine Ultimate or nuke Jhin with his own Fourth Shot. Dot Esports summarized it the same way.
The goal is to move power from early game to scaling. Here are the exact numbers from the patch notes.
Two small notes. First, the community wiki's copy of a few Mel numbers (for example her base health, and her W mana cost and shield values) differs from Riot's patch notes at the time I checked, so I used Riot's notes throughout. Second, her Q now takes 0.047s longer to reach max range because the missile speed drops from 3800 to 3200.
Item Changes
Riot's intro says the patch makes Doran's Bow and Gluttonous Greaves "less of the build for ADCs," but the item section of the notes only lists two items.
I could not find a Gluttonous Greaves entry anywhere in the item list of the notes or on the wiki page, even though Riot names it in the intro. It may be a change that was cut or one that will show up in an update, so I am not claiming any Greaves numbers here.
The Doran's Bow nerf is small on paper. Dropping from 8 to 7 attack damage will not change a single trade by itself, but Riot's point is about how often the Bow gets picked: it says marksmen who might lean toward Doran's Blade have become almost purely Doran's Bow users. If you already open Blade for survivability, nothing changes for you. If you never leave the Bow, you lose one AD for it. Riot also says in its Smolder note that it expects him to benefit from this nerf.
ARAM Mayhem: Journey to Stardom Changes
The Mayhem section is written in Riot's usual playful voice, but the content is clear. Riot says it is lowering the power of some new augments, buffing some survivability augments, and fixing a bunch of bugs. It says that fighters have become exceptionally good at closing out games, poke dominates early, and tanks have been struggling, so the targets are augments that make tanks feel fragile like Take 'Em Down Down Down and Weapon of Destiny, and buffs go to survivability picks like Soul Eater and Stay Resolute. Riot is also watching overall burst and game pacing so games do not feel too snowbally.
Augment nerfs
Augment buffs
New effects and other tweaks
Maps and the last page of the event
Butcher's Bridge and Koeshin's Crossing move from unavailable to enabled, so both maps return to the rotation with Headliner performances. With Worlds in full swing, the last page of the Journey to Stardom is now accessible, and Riot says completing all missions and reaching the Worlds stage earns all the rewards. Riot also mentions two new augments, including one based on a classic Worlds anthem. The notes list One Hit Wonder and RISE! as the new effects, but do not label which two are the new ones, so I will not guess.
Mayhem bug fixes
- Using Get Jinxed when killed by the fountain turret no longer leaves the player unable to move.
- Jeweled Gauntlet now gives the correct Critical Strike chance with escAPADe and ADAPt.
- The Bee Band headliner tooltip now matches its in-game effect.
- Crimson Cobalt now consumes the mark on some champions' empowered basic attacks that were not consuming it before.
- The Pentakill headliner now offers an upgrade to Udyr's ultimate at level 18.
- Karma's Mantra empowered abilities now count toward damage for the Ultimate Damage K/DA band mission.
- Some Superstar mission descriptions now display properly.
- Mosh Monster's slowing effect no longer persists after death.
- Weapon of Destiny no longer swaps which item is empowered if the empowered item transforms.
League Classic: Volibear, Swain, Elise and a Bigger Balance Pass
Riot calls this the penultimate content patch for Classic, with three "new old" champions. The fix list is also long, so here is the short version.
New old champions
- Volibear (winner of Council Vote #2): the 2011 to 2018 version, before his E got the knock-back and anti-dash synergy. A tanky melee fighter who excels in sustained combat before dealing a significant burst of damage to low-health enemies. Passive heals him over time when low, Q is Rolling Thunder with a flip, W is Frenzy, E is a damage and slow roar that also fears minions and monsters, and R is Thunder Claws with chain lightning.
- Swain: the 2010 to 2016 version from before his minor rework, the "Laser Bird." Passive Carrion Renewal restores mana on kills, Q is Decrepify, W is Nevermove (a delayed root), E is Torment (which amplifies his damage, including true damage like Ignite), and R is Ravenous Flock.
- Elise: not hugely different, but this older version puts a lot more power into her Q spells. Riot calls her seriously bursty and an incredibly potent top laner with all her health based damage, and tells you to stack some magic pen.
Classic balance changes
Riot also fixed a pile of bugs in Classic. A few highlights: Aatrox's passive cooldown now scales with level and his R attacks play a critical strike animation, Anivia's resistances now change in Egg Form, Master Yi's Double Strike second strike no longer hits through Blind, Sivir's Spell Shield now blocks Ezreal's Mystic Shot, Nunu's Absolute Zero is no longer visible to enemies while he is hidden in brush, and Yorick's Spectral Ghoul no longer disappears before the end of its death animation. Health and Mana Potions now have buff text, Shushei's Mana Jug no longer triggers on a Clone takedown, Statikk Shiv procs again for Kayle after Righteous Fury, and Wit's End now maintains 4 stacks.
The notes also say the Classic Pass was misconfigured, which made progress toward Classic Pass tokens slower than intended. Riot corrected it and is additionally raising per-game token grants by 50% for the remainder of Classic's run.
Bug Fixes and Quality of Life
The general fix list in the notes is short but useful for people who play these champions:
- Aurora's R no longer gets blocked by Samira's W.
- Quinn's R no longer deals double damage when she gains it from recalling or respawning.
- Hail of Blades is now consistent on Ekko.
- Viego no longer misses a jungle treat if he transforms into an enemy champion when it is granted.
- Renekton no longer cancels abilities after comboing with R and right clicking at the same time.
- Sion's R, Briar's R and Kled's R sound effects are audible in Spectator Mode.
- Kog'Maw's W no longer damages structures if cast while an auto-attack is midair.
K/DA FIRESTARTER Skins and Chromas
The patch name in Riot's blurb is "at the top of the charts," and the skin list backs it up. These are the cosmetics the notes say release in this patch.
The notes themselves list only the skins and chromas. The extras row comes from the community wiki, and the wiki lists price points of 1350 for Ahri and Kai'Sa and 1820 for Evelynn, though the currency symbol did not carry over in my copy. Check the in-game store for actual prices.
Who Wins and Loses in Solo Queue
This section is my read, not Riot's. Riot gives the intent, and I am translating that into what I expect to see in ranked.
- Likely winners: Aurelion Sol players who max E second, Corki, Rumble, Smolder, Viktor and Zaahen are straightforward numbers buffs. Kayle gets a smoother early game, and Maokai and Shen become easier to justify in the jungle. Naafiri gets a better path back into mid.
- Likely losers: Locke, Yasuo and Thresh. Riot's wording is clear that Locke players at the top end were still too strong in the early game, so expect his laning to look much more normal. Yasuo crit builds lose 5% AD on Q, a nerf Riot compares to what Yone got.
- ADCs: the Doran's Bow nerf is minor, but the intro says Riot wants it and Gluttonous Greaves to be less of the build for ADCs. Since I could not verify any Greaves change, the Bow is the only confirmed ADC item change. Overlord's Bloodmail goes up for juggernauts, so top lane bruisers get a fresh item to test.
- Mel: this is the real unknown. She loses early durability and reflect, and gains scaling and a cooldown loop that lets her stack Searing Brilliance more often. Expect early patch win rates to be noisy while players learn how to use the nova.
- Mayhem: tanks should feel better against Take 'Em Down Down Down and Weapon of Destiny builds, while Soul Eater, Stay Resolute and Ravenous Bind look stronger.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does League of Legends Patch 26.22 go live?
Riot posted the Patch 26.22 notes on Tuesday, November 3, 2026 at 1:00 PM CT. The community wiki lists the US release date as Wednesday, November 4, and Riot's own notes describe the TFT client as starting November 4. The notes do not give a deploy hour, so check your launcher for the patch rather than relying on a specific time.
When does the TFT standalone client launch?
Riot says the standalone client launches with TFT patch 18.6 starting on November 4, 2026. Riot's TFT notes say the deploy is expected to take longer than normal on both PC and mobile and that a more specific release time will follow as the patch goes live across regions. A Korean outlet reported on November 3 that Riot Korea postponed the PC client in Korea with no new date, so the timing can differ by region.
How big is the Patch 26.22 download?
Riot only says it is larger than usual and that future patches will return to normal size. No Riot post I read gives a gigabyte figure, so any number you see elsewhere is unconfirmed until your launcher shows it.
Can I still play League of Legends and TFT on the same account?
Yes, both Riot posts say you will still be able to switch between League of Legends (or ARAM) and Teamfight Tactics with the click of a button even though TFT has its own client. Riot's migration FAQ, as cited by TFTFans, says players keep using their Riot account. Riot has not said whether both clients can stay open at once.
Will my TFT Little Legends and emotes still work in League?
Everything you already own stays usable in League. The first TFT-only Little Legends arrive December 1 and full separation of TFT cosmetics including emotes and icons is dated December 15 in the League notes. Per the TFT notes, Little Legends released before Patch 19.1 and emotes released before Patch 19.2 stay usable in both games.
Can I opt out of downloading TFT with League?
The League notes say that after this patch you will be able to fully opt out of TFT downloads in League patches. Riot has not explained where that option lives, so I would look in the launcher settings once the patch is installed.
What happened to Mel in Patch 26.22?
Mel got a midscope rework that removes the projectile reflect from her W. The new Rebuttal is a nova that destroys enemy projectiles, shields and speeds up nearby allies, and retaliates for small damage. Her early health and passive damage drop, her Q gains a cooldown refund on champion hits, her E root scales with distance, and her ultimate cooldown falls to 120 / 90 / 60 seconds.
Which champions are nerfed and buffed in Patch 26.22?
On Summoner's Rift, Locke, Yasuo and Thresh are nerfed, and Aurelion Sol, Corki, Kayle, Maokai, Naafiri, Rumble, Shen, Smolder, Viktor and Zaahen are buffed, alongside the Mel changes. In Classic, Amumu, Fiddlesticks, Janna, Mordekaiser and Rammus are reduced or fixed while Evelynn, Ezreal, Gangplank, Nami and Olaf are boosted.
Did Gluttonous Greaves change in Patch 26.22?
Riot's intro says it adjusted Doran's Bow and Gluttonous Greaves to make them less of the build for ADCs. The item section of the notes only lists Doran's Bow, which loses 1 attack damage, and Overlord's Bloodmail. I could not find a Gluttonous Greaves change, so it is unconfirmed.
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