League of Legends patch 26.08 is already in trouble, as Riot reviews controversial Viego buffs

While I’m not exactly a Jungle main, I do love Viego. Largely a result of Anthony Reynold’s 2022 novel Ruination, the Ruined King’s woeful tale of love, death, and madness gave the character so much soul; where other champions come and go, Viego has always held a special place in my heart. But, equally, I can admit that he’s an absolute menace. A mainstay Jungler across all of the MOBA’s tiers of play, his one-shot potential is terrifying, as is his ability to casually morph into other champions. He has, however, taken a tumble down the tier list as of late, bested by the likes of Nocturne and Briar. League of Legends patch 26.08 was looking to give him a helping hand, but now, Riot isn’t so sure he needs one.

Per League of Legends lead gameplay designer Matt ‘Phroxzon’ Leung-Harrison’s patch preview, Viego’s Q was supposed to receive a slight buff in the damage department (physical damage up from 25 to 30 and so on), as well as improved missing HP damage on his R (up to 15%, then 20% and 25%). These changes were quickly branded “insane” in the comments, especially the adjustments to his ultimate, which is already executing ADCs left, right, and center.

With the new buffs and the right build, Viego can effectively one-shot half-health characters. Tying that to the Q, which is already dishing out a decent chunk of physical damage by itself without the additional post-ability second strike and added crit, and Viego is quickly going to become an absolute monster.

In response to the feedback, Phroxzon dropped a second, longer post discussing the reasoning for the Viego changes, but also heralds a potential U-turn. “There’s some notable discrepancies for specifically Viego’s data in our internal data that led us to want to initially buff him,” he writes. “Looking at external data however seems to be notably different.

“Going to double check this data tomorrow and validate the data pipelines before determining whether or not to proceed with the buff.” This does, indeed, mean that we may not see the Viego changes actually make it onto the live patch. And, breathe.

Personally, while I find Viego strong already, I can see why he’s getting outpaced at the moment. I think one of these changes could be fine individually (as a squishy support main, his R effectively executes me anyway), but with both it does seem like he’ll shoot straight back up to the top of the tier list – for better, or worse. Perhaps, then, a BoRK to the knee is the best idea.

Elsewhere, the damage from Mel’s initial Q hit has been decreased so that she’s not nuking half of your health immediately, and her W’s cooldown has, thankfully, been increased (35s up to 38s). Her shield’s duration has also been halved, but Phroxzon admits that the team “needs to do more work to Mel long term.” Jungle Mundo has also been hit with the nerf hammer, lowering the damage cap for monsters on both his Q and E.

In terms of buffs, Hwei is getting pushed back into the midline to help fulfil the “combo mage” fantasy that Riot is hoping to achieve. Lilia’s power clearing gets a buff, the cooldown and mana cost of Lucien’s E have been reduced to help him in the early game, and Tahm Kench’s passive has been adjusted so that he isn’t as dominant early, but scales better overall.

League of Legends patch 26.08 is set to arrive on Wednesday, April 15. We’ll have to wait and see if the Viego buffs make it in, but the rest feel pretty set in stone.