LoL Patch 26.7: Support Farming Penalty Removed & Shyvana Rework

Riot Games is set to deliver a game-changing update with League of Legends Patch 26.7, landing on live servers this Wednesday, April 1st. While the patch features a host of crucial champion nerfs targeting top-tier picks like Nami and Singed, the most significant alteration comes in the form of a complete systemic shift. In a move that could redefine professional play and alter late-game macro strategies, Riot is entirely removing the support minion farming penalty. Gone are the days of the pre-five-minute cap and the rigid post-five-minute limits; supports can now clear waves without sacrificing gold income. This change is particularly impactful for mage supports, granting them a much-needed gold influx during late-game wave clear, and it opens the door for experimental bot lane duos in pro play where farm can be split strategically between the ADC and support.

Systemic Shift: The End of the Support Tax

As mentioned, the removal of the farming penalty is the headline act for Patch 26.7. Previously, supports were restricted to a strict last-hitting budget to prevent funneling strategies from dominating the meta. By eliminating this cap, Riot is effectively giving supports—particularly enchanters and mages—a faster path to their core item spikes. In Solo Queue, this means a champion like Lux or Brand can clear a sidelane wave in the mid-to-late game without accidentally griefing their gold income. For professional play, this opens the door to “lane swap” variations where the support might temporarily hold a lane to accelerate their own power spikes, adding a new layer of strategic complexity to macro play.

Shyvana: Scaling Through Ultimate Haste

Shyvana has been struggling to find her footing in the jungle The Beginning After the End Season 2 Trailer Reveals April 2026 Premiere and Elderwood Arc Adaptation”>after the hotfix nerfs in the previous patch. Riot is addressing this with a fundamental change to her Fury generation mechanics, moving away from a flat Fury-per-second model to one that rewards specific itemization. Instead of gaining a flat amount of Fury per second based on Ultimate Haste, Shyvana now gains 1% amplification to all Fury generation per 1 point of Ultimate Haste.

This change signals a clear design intent: Riot wants players to invest in Hexplate, the item designed to synergize with champions who rely heavily on their ultimate form. While the current “Kraken Slayer rush” build remains popular for its raw dueling power, this new scaling mechanic could make Hexplate the optimal choice. If this change successfully shifts her power curve, Shyvana players may find themselves transforming more frequently in the mid-game, increasing her map pressure and skirmishing potential.

Champion Buffs: Cassiopeia, Kalista, and Rell

A trio of champions are receiving significant buffs aimed at improving their early-game stability and overall viability.

Cassiopeia: The Serpent’s Embrace is getting a quality-of-life boost with base mana increased from 450 to 480, alleviating some of her notoriously difficult early laning phase. More importantly, her E (Twin Fang) base damage against poisoned targets has been increased, scaling from a maximum of 112 to 120. This should improve her last-hitting under turret and increase her all-in threat in the early levels.
Kalista: The Spear of Vengeance is receiving a notable boost to her late-game damage output. Her E (Rend) AD scaling on bonus damage per stack is increasing from 40% to 50% AD. This change rewards players who can stack multiple spears into a single target, potentially making her a stronger pick against tank-heavy compositions where extended trades are necessary.
Rell: The Iron Maiden’s changes are designed to improve her roaming and early skirmishing. Her E (Attract and Repel) movement speed is increasing at all ranks, from 10-25% to 15-30% (depending on whether she is facing an ally or enemy). Additionally, her damage is being adjusted: while the base damage now scales from 150 to 350 (a nerf at max rank), the early ranks (1 and 2) see a significant damage increase. Since supports rarely reach level 16 in most games, this is considered a net buff, allowing Rell to exert more pressure in the critical early-to-mid game phases.

Champion Nerfs: Taming the Top Tiers

Several champions that have dominated the meta throughout Season 16 are finally being brought into check.

Graves: The outlaw sees a minor but meaningful reduction to his base AD, lowered from 68 to 66. While seemingly small, this will impact his early clear speed and dueling power, potentially slowing his notorious early-game snowball potential.
Karma: The Enlightened One’s defensive capabilities are taking a hit. The shield strength on her Mantra-enhanced E (Inspire) is being reduced for both the primary and secondary targets, dropping from a maximum of 200 to 165. This will reduce her ability to negate burst damage during teamfights and skirmishes.
Nami: In a rare event, the Tidecaller is finally receiving a nerf after dominating the support role. The bounce effectiveness on her W (Ebb and Flow) is being reduced from -10% to -20%, meaning each subsequent bounce will heal or damage for significantly less. However, the AP ratio on the bounce has been slightly increased to compensate. The result is a clear reduction in her oppressive trading power in the bot lane without a significant investment into AP-heavy builds.
Ornn: The Fire Below the Mountain is losing some of his oppressive tank damage. The brittle damage on his passive is being reduced from a maximum of 18% to 16% of the target’s maximum health. This will slightly reduce his kill threat against other tanks and bruisers in the top lane.
Singed: The Mad Chemist’s late-game durability is being reduced. While his R (Insanity Potion) resistances remain the same at rank one, they are reduced by 5 at rank two and by 10 at max rank. This will force Singed players to be more selective about when they engage in the late game, as he will no longer be as deceptively tanky while running through enemy teams.
Veigar: The Tiny Master of Evil is seeing a significant cooldown increase on his ultimate. His R (Primordial Burst) cooldown is up by 20 seconds at rank one and 10 seconds at rank two, remaining the same at rank three. This nerf is aimed at reducing his ability to repeatedly one-shot targets in the mid-game, increasing the window of vulnerability between his high-impact ultimate casts.