LoL Patch 26.13: The Ultimate Reference Guide (Locke, MSI Skins, Meta & Best Buys)

Patch 26.13 Overview - Why It Matters

Most patches are forgettable a week after they drop. This one isn't, and the reason is timing.

Because Patch 26.13 is the final update before MSI 2026, its balance changes don't just shape your solo queue games for two weeks - they define the competitive meta for an international tournament, which in turn shapes what the entire playerbase copies for the following month.

When a patch lands right before a major event, it punches far above its weight, and savvy players treat it as the most important window of the split to understand.

The patch does three big things at once:

• It introduces Locke, a new mid lane assassin, which is always a meta event in itself because a fresh kit takes weeks for the community to solve.
• It delivers a genuinely large cosmetics drop across two themes, which matters enormously if you spend on the game.
• It executes a deliberate bot lane reset that, combined with last patch's top and mid changes, pushes League back toward traditional carry driven play after a long stretch of utility heavy compositions.

Each of those alone would make a patch notable; together they make 26.13 one of the season's defining updates.

The Changes That Actually Affect You

Strip away the bug fixes and the pro only fine tuning and a handful of changes will actually touch your games.

The biggest gameplay changes are:

• The bot lane is the headline: three classic marksmen got stronger while the safe, season dominant picks got cut, so your bottom lane is about to feel more aggressive and more carry oriented than it has in months.
• The jungle quietly diversified, with a tank, a bruiser adjacent pick, and an assassin all gaining clear speed to break the fighter monopoly.
• A new champion entered the mid lane.
• Two bot lane items were rebalanced to reinforce the aggressive direction.
• Outside the Rift, Ranked 5s returned and ARAM and Arena both received meaningful tuning.

Everything that follows is organized around those realities, starting with the simplest question every player asks first: who won this patch, and who lost?

Biggest Winners and Biggest Losers

Before the lane by lane detail, here's the bird's eye view.

The biggest winners are the revived bot lane carries and the new jungle options.

The biggest losers are the safe meta staples Riot decided had overstayed their welcome.

The story this table tells is clear: if you main a buffed carry, this is your patch to spam; if you main Senna or tank Bard, the ground just shifted under you.

Best Champions to Climb:

The single most useful thing this guide can give a climber is a clean read on what to play. 

Below is the role by role list of the strongest picks coming out of 26.13, based on the buffs and on the way the meta is bending.

If you know a bot lane carry already, lean into it - this is the rare patch where the champions Riot buffed and the direction the meta is moving point at the same picks, which is the cleanest climbing signal you can get. 

We'll cover the why behind each in the analysis sections, but if you'd rather skip the experimentation and climb on the strongest picks immediately, our LoL elo boost runs these champions at the top of the ladder daily.

Champions That Lost Power and Why:

Understanding the nerfs is just as valuable as knowing the buffs, because it tells you what your opponents will stop picking and what you should bench yourself.

The biggest champion nerfs this patch are:

• Senna is the defining nerf of the patch. She'd reached a point where she farmed like a carry, scaled like a hypercarry, and brought utility no other bot laner could match, which made her close to a must pick in high elo. Riot attacked all three pillars at once: her soul generation on her own kills was halved, her crit damage scaling was reduced, and her Q's cooldown refund now triggers on attack instead of on hit, which subtly punishes sloppy mechanics. None of these alone would break her, but stacked together they pull her out of the "does everything" tier. This is the change that makes the entire bot lane feel different, because Senna's dominance was the gravity everything else orbited.
• Bard lost passive Meep damage specifically to kill the tank Bard build, where he was buying durability yet still hitting like a damage dealer. After this nerf, if you want Bard to deal damage you have to invest in AP and give up the tankiness, which is exactly the trade off Riot wanted to force.
• Brand, in an irony worth noting given he just received a Sinful Shores skin last patch, had his early passive detonation damage trimmed and his E mana cost raised, aimed squarely at the bot carry Brand build while leaving his support and mid versions mostly intact.
• K'Sante lost early E shield strength, which makes his trades riskier without removing his all in payoff - a direct consequence of the Doran's Helm nerf below, since the two propped each other up.
• Sion had his minimum Q damage and W resource access reduced, weakening his lane bullying while preserving the tank fantasy.
• Rumble lost early Q damage to make his blind pick laning less oppressive while keeping his scaling.
• Cassiopeia had her health per level cut so she's finally punishable once locked down, after climbing to the top of pro priority.
• Rek'Sai lost E damage and some true damage, trimming the burst windows that made her too strong at high ranks while keeping her map mobility.

The practical rule: a nerf rarely makes a champion unplayable, so a dedicated one trick can keep winning. But if you're a flex player choosing what to climb on, every champion in this section is a worse bet this patch than it was last patch.

Locke, the Ashen Exorcist - Full Analysis

Locke is the marquee addition, a mid lane AP assassin designed to hunt wounded targets and delete the enemy backline. He went live on June 24 and is playable in every standard queue, but per Riot's standard policy he's locked out of MSI 2026 - which actually makes solo queue the best place to learn him, since the pros can't reveal his optimal patterns on the big stage yet.

His kit is built around a mark and consume loop that rewards precise, aggressive play.

Here's how each ability works:

• Passive – Silver Stake: Adds on hit magic damage that scales with the target's missing health, so he hits hardest on enemies you've already chipped down - a classic execute flavored assassin passive.
• Q – Ritual Nails: Throws soul nails that damage and mark, and the payoff is consuming those marks with his basic attacks for bonus burst, meaning the skill ceiling lives in weaving nails and autos together rather than spamming abilities.
• W – Soul Ignition: The high risk button. He gains attack speed and movement speed while taking self damage, then heals back a portion of the damage he took during the window, so committed players are rewarded and hesitant ones simply lose health for nothing.
• E – Ashen Pursuit: Teleports then dashes to a target, giving him the mobility to thread through a fight to the carry.
• Ultimate – Purgatory: Throws a binding artifact that damages and can outright execute, while granting him bonus power for sealing away champions - the signature assassin payoff.

Realistically, your first ten to fifteen games on Locke will be a struggle, which is true of every new champion.

The nail consume rhythm and the timing on Soul Ignition take real reps to internalize, and new releases are usually a coin flip until the community solves builds and matchups.

If you want to climb on him without absorbing that learning curve losing streak, LoL coaching shortcuts the painful part, and if you'd rather main him on a fresh start, our LoL accounts give you a clean board for the new act.

He also launched with a High Noon skin on day one, which we cover below.

New Skins in Patch 26.13 - Complete Breakdown

This is the section most of you came for, and it's the richest cosmetics patch in a while.

Five new skins arrived across two themes, every one ships with chromas, and a sought after Mythic skin returned for a limited window.

Here's the full slate before we analyze each line in depth.

Each of these is available in our LoL skin shop as it releases, with chromas listed alongside the base skins. Now let's break down what makes each line worth your attention.

Broken Covenant Skin Line, Analyzed

Broken Covenant is the heavier, darker of the two themes - a corrupted pact aesthetic with reworked ability particles and recall animations that fits the existing Broken Covenant skins already in the game.

For collectors who've been building that universe, getting three more pieces in a single patch is a notable event, and the trio of Jhin, Aurora, and Shen covers three very different playstyles, so it lands across a wide range of mains.

Here's how the three skins compare:

• Broken Covenant Jhin is the standout, and not purely for its visuals. It's the official MSI 2026 revenue share skin, meaning a portion of every purchase of the skin and its bundle goes toward the professional teams competing in Daejeon. That turns a cosmetic into something closer to a contribution, and for fans who follow the competitive scene it's a genuinely meaningful reason to choose it over a neutral skin. Jhin is also one of the buffed adjacent bot lane carries this season, so you'll get plenty of games on it.
• Broken Covenant Aurora benefits the most from the new release status: as a fresh skin on a relatively new champion, it's very unlikely to appear in any near term discount, so there's little reason to wait if you want it.
• Broken Covenant Shen completes the set and is the easy pick for Shen mains who want their support or top lane tank to match the theme.

High Noon Skin Line, Analyzed

High Noon is one of Riot's most enduring and best loved universes - a demon hunting western fantasy with a deep existing roster - so any addition to it carries built in appeal.

This patch adds two:

• High Noon Akshan
• High Noon Locke

Here's what makes each one stand out:

• High Noon Akshan is the safe crowd pleaser. Akshan already has a dedicated player base, the High Noon theme suits his roguish gunslinger identity perfectly, and a polished skin on a popular champion in a popular universe is about as reliable a purchase as cosmetics get.
• High Noon Locke is the more strategic release: giving a brand new champion a High Noon skin on day one is a deliberate move to capture spending from the players who pick Locke up immediately, and for anyone who falls in love with his kit, it's the obvious first skin to grab.

Both come with chromas for players who want to personalize the recolor.

Which Skin Is Worth Buying? (Value Ranking)

Value depends on what you actually play and why you buy skins, but here's an honest ranking that weighs visual quality, meta relevance, and how soon each might be discounted.

The headline recommendation: if you want a Jhin skin, Broken Covenant Jhin is the best buy of the patch on every axis. If you main Mordekaiser, treat Sahn Uzal as time sensitive and act before Patch 26.17. Everything else comes down to whether you main the champion. Live prices for all of these are in our LoL skin shop.

Best RP Value This Patch

RP value is a different question from "which skin looks best," and it's where most players overspend without realizing it.

The best RP value this patch isn't a specific skin - it's how you buy whatever skin you want.

Buying RP and skins directly in the client always charges your region's full rate, and across a multi skin patch like this one, that adds up fast.

The genuine value play is to acquire the same skins through legitimate gifting at a lower price, which we explain in full below.

If you're choosing between cosmetics on pure value, the new releases that are least likely to be discounted soon give you the most certainty for your money:

• Broken Covenant Aurora
• The returning Sahn Uzal Mordekaiser

There's no discount worth waiting for on either of them.

The meta carry skins that a top MSI team might use are the only ones where holding for a possible discount makes sense, and we cover that calculation in the Mythic Shop and MSI section.

How to Get Skins Cheaper - Gifting Explained

Here's the part most players never stop to consider, and it can save real money this patch.

Riot built a gifting feature directly into the client that lets one account send a skin or RP to another as a gift. It's a normal, fully supported part of the game.

A legitimate gifting service uses that exact official channel to deliver the skin you want to your account at a price below the store, because regional pricing and bulk purchasing create a margin that gets passed on to you.

The skin simply arrives the way a friend's gift would.

The crucial distinction - and the thing that should put a nervous first time buyer at ease - is that proper gifting never involves your login.

A trustworthy gifting service should never require:

• Your password.
• Account access.
• Any action that compromises your account's security.

That's the entire difference between a trustworthy service and the sketchy "direct top up" sites you should avoid:

• If anyone asks for your credentials, walk away.
• If the skin comes through Riot's official gift system, you stay in complete control the whole time.

It's the method behind more than 50,000 completed orders and a 99% positive rating since 2018.

When you want to buy LoL skins without paying full price, this is how it's done safely, and our LoL gifting service handles the new Patch 26.13 releases the same way.

The savings scale with what you spend.

On one Epic skin the gap is small, but across a full Broken Covenant haul or a large RP top up for the next event, cheap LoL RP gifting is simply the lower cost route to identical cosmetics.

Buying from Riot vs Gifting - Full Comparison

To make the choice concrete, here's the side by side every buyer should see before spending on this patch.

The honest summary: if you must have a skin in the next sixty seconds, the client is instant. For everything you can plan even a little - which is most purchases - gifting gets you the same skin for less, safely.

The Mythic Shop & the MSI Discount

Two timing mechanics this patch directly affect when you should spend.

• First, the returning Sahn Uzal Mordekaiser sits in the Sanctum until Patch 26.17, and Prestige and Mythic Shop skins appear in the Featured section during the MSI window - so if you've been eyeing a Mythic tier skin, this is a natural moment to check what's rotating in.
• Second, and more important for budgeting, Riot is running a 33% discount on every direct purchase skin used by the winner of the MSI Finals, for one week after the series concludes.

That discount is genuinely worth planning around, but only for the right skin.

Nobody knows which skins qualify until the Finals are decided, so it's a bet on the bracket.

Here's the practical way to think about it:

• If you specifically want a meta carry skin that a title contending team might ride, waiting out the tournament can save you a third of the price.
• If you want a brand new release like Broken Covenant Aurora, a beloved universe skin like High Noon Akshan, or the time limited Mordekaiser, there's nothing to wait for and gifting already gives you the lower price today.

Best Purchases in Patch 26.13

Putting the analysis together, here are the smartest places to spend this patch in priority order.

• Broken Covenant Jhin combines the best visuals of the patch, heavy playtime on a relevant bot carry, and the MSI revenue share angle that makes the purchase feel worthwhile beyond your collection.
• Sahn Uzal Mordekaiser is the best choice for any Mordekaiser main, purely because the limited window creates real urgency that the permanently available skins don't.
• High Noon Akshan is the safe, high quality pick for an established player base.
• High Noon Locke is the right buy if you're committing to maining him.
• The remaining Broken Covenant pieces come down to which champion you play.

Whatever you land on, buying it through our LoL skin shop gets you the lower gifting price.

Should You Save Your RP?

This is the question that separates impulse buyers from value buyers.

The answer depends entirely on what you want.

You should save your RP if:

• The skin you're after is a meta carry cosmetic that a top team might use at MSI, because the post Finals 33% discount could land on it within a couple of weeks.

You should not save your RP if:

• You want a brand new release.
• You want a limited time returning skin like Mordekaiser.
• You want anything tied to a champion no title contender is likely to play.

Those won't be discounted in the relevant window, and gifting already beats the store price, so waiting only delays a purchase you'll make anyway at a price that won't drop.

In short: save RP only when a specific, plausible discount is on the table; otherwise, buy through gifting now and pay less today.

Is This Patch Worth Spending Money On?

For a cosmetics focused player, 26.13 is one of the better value patches of the season.

The skin quality across both lines is high, the Broken Covenant trio and High Noon additions cover a broad range of mains, the returning Mordekaiser is a genuine limited time opportunity, and the MSI revenue share skin adds a layer of meaning you don't usually get from a purchase.

The only reason to hold back is the specific discount timing calculation above.

If you were ever going to spend on skins this season, this is a strong patch to do it - and doing it through gifting means you spend less for the same result.

How 26.13 Compares to 26.12

It's worth reading the last two patches as a single connected story, because that's how the balance team designed them.

Patch 26.12 opened up the top and mid lanes by:

• Buffing fringe picks like Gwen, Jax, Aatrox, Tristana, Sylas, Syndra, and Hwei.
• Nerfing the season long mid bullies Orianna, Ryze, and AP Xin Zhao.
• Nerfing the strong junglers Lee Sin and Nocturne.

Patch 26.13 continued the exact same philosophy but shifted the focus to the bottom side of the map by:

• Reviving Aphelios, Draven, and Kai'Sa.
• Cutting Senna, Bard, and the safe laning Doran's Helm crutch.

Read together, the two patches are a coordinated push toward draft diversity and traditional carry compositions across every lane, which is why the MSI meta may look more like classic League than it has in months. The takeaway for you: the champions buffed across both patches are the real climb list, and the picks nerfed across both are the ones the ladder is collectively dropping.

Item Changes - Doran's Helm & Imperial Mandate

Two item changes punch above their weight because both feed the bot lane reset.

Doran's Helm

Doran's Helm had its armor and magic resistance trimmed while its health was raised.

Riot admitted the previous buff overshot, and the real significance is that Doran's Helm had become a too safe opening item on marksmen, dulling the early aggression the lane is supposed to have.

Tapping it down is the same project as the Senna nerf:

• It makes bot lane more interactive.
• It rewards the aggressive carries Riot is reviving.
• It's also why K'Sante took a hit, since he leaned on the item.

Imperial Mandate

Imperial Mandate got a smoother build path and a power shift, with slightly lower ability power but stronger control and command effects.

The awkward components had held it back for the supports most likely to want it, so this is a usability fix that should see it built more often by the enchanters and mages it was made for.

Ranked, ARAM and Arena Impact

For ranked players, the practical effect of this patch is a freshly unsettled ladder where the strong picks aren't yet fully understood - which is an opportunity if you know them first.

The biggest ranked changes are:

• The bot lane is where games will be decided most this patch, so duo queuing as a bot pairing on the buffed carries is especially strong right now.
• Ranked 5s returned for a limited run starting June 26 at 8 PM local time under Tournament Draft rules with unique rewards, making it the most rewarding queue if you can field a five stack.
• Last Hit Indicators were enabled in Normal Draft and Ranked Summoner's Rift but are off by default and aimed at newer players, so most experienced players won't notice them.

Other game mode updates include:

• ARAM Mayhem received broad augment tuning as Riot continues balancing its Ability and Quest augments, moving overperformers like Archmage up to Prismatic and buffing weaker options like Glass Cannon.
• Arena got the most attention of the alternate modes: Locke joined as a Guest of Honor with a unique Fractured augment mechanic, Round 15 became an augment round, and weekend Arena shifts to Bravery and Crowd Favorite only for the next two patches.

Both modes are in a healthy, experiment friendly state right now if you want a break from the ladder grind.

Expert Recommendations

If you take nothing else from this guide, take these.

• Pick a buffed bot carry - Aphelios, Draven, or Kai'Sa - and commit to it for the patch; the buffs and the meta direction point at the same place, which is the cleanest climbing signal you'll get all season.
• Climb early while win rates are unsettled, because the edge of knowing the strong picks before the ladder catches up shrinks every day.
• On skins, buy Broken Covenant Jhin if you play Jhin, grab Sahn Uzal Mordekaiser before 26.17 if you main Mordekaiser, and buy everything through gifting rather than the client to pay less for the same cosmetics.
• Only save RP if you're specifically targeting a skin a top MSI team might use - otherwise spending now through gifting is the better move.
• If you've got a strong main but you're stuck at a rank wall, recognize that the bottleneck is usually consistency rather than champion choice, and that's exactly when LoL duo boost makes sense.

Common Mistakes Players Will Make After This Patch

A patch like this creates predictable errors, and avoiding them is free elo and saved money.

The most common mistakes are:

• Continuing to first pick Senna or tank Bard out of habit - both took real hits and the ladder will punish the players slow to adapt.
• Forcing the new champion in ranked immediately. Locke is fun and strong, but throwing ranked games while you learn his combos costs you LP you didn't need to lose, so practice him in normals first.
• Overspending on skins by buying everything at full price in the client when gifting delivers the same cosmetics for less.
• Misreading the MSI discount and either waiting on a skin that will never be discounted, or buying a meta carry skin at full price days before it drops 33%.
• Ignoring the bot lane shift entirely and continuing to pick passive, utility first bottom lanes into a meta that now rewards aggression - the lane is built for carries again, and playing it like it's still last season is a recipe for falling behind.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What changed in Patch 26.13?

Patch 26.13 added the champion Locke, reset the bot lane by buffing Aphelios, Draven, and Kai'Sa while nerfing Senna and Bard, diversified the jungle, rebalanced Doran's Helm and Imperial Mandate, and released the Broken Covenant and High Noon skin lines. It's the final patch before MSI 2026.

What are the best champions to climb in Patch 26.13?

The buffed bot lane carries include:

• Aphelios
• Draven
• Kai'Sa

Other strong climb picks are:

• Olaf
• Poppy
• Qiyana
• LeBlanc
• Vex

They're strong and the meta is bending toward them.

Which champions got nerfed in Patch 26.13?

The biggest nerfs went to:

• Senna
• Bard
• Brand
• Cassiopeia
• K'Sante
• Rek'Sai
• Rumble
• Sion

These are the picks the ladder is most likely to abandon this patch.

What are the best skins in Patch 26.13?

The patch released:

• Broken Covenant Jhin
• Broken Covenant Aurora
• Broken Covenant Shen
• High Noon Akshan
• High Noon Locke

Broken Covenant Jhin is the standout because it's the MSI revenue share skin.

Sahn Uzal Mordekaiser also returned for a limited time.

Is Broken Covenant worth buying?

Yes, especially Broken Covenant Jhin, which is the official MSI revenue share skin, so part of the proceeds support pro teams.

It has strong visuals and you'll play it often on a relevant bot carry.

Aurora and Shen are worth it if you main those champions.

Is High Noon worth buying?

• High Noon Akshan is a reliable buy thanks to a popular champion and a beloved theme.
• High Noon Locke is worth it if you plan to main the new champion, since it's his day one skin.

What's the best RP value in Patch 26.13?

The best RP value comes from how you buy, not which skin.

Acquiring the new skins through legitimate gifting costs less than the in client store for identical cosmetics, which matters most across a multi skin patch like this one.

How can I get LoL skins cheaper?

You have two options:

• Buy them at full RP in the client.
• Get them for less through legitimate gifting, which uses Riot's official gift feature to deliver the skin to your account below store price without ever asking for your login.

Should I buy the new skins now or wait for a discount?

Buy now if:

• You want a new release.
• You want the limited time Mordekaiser skin.
• You want a skin no top team is likely to use.

Wait if:

• You specifically want a meta carry skin the MSI Finals winner might use, which gets 33% off for one week after the series.

Is gifting safe?

Yes, when the service uses Riot's official gifting method and never asks for your password.

Look for a long, verifiable track record - mrshacostore has completed 50,000+ orders with a 99% positive rating since 2018.

How do I buy RP cheaper?

The cheapest route is through a legitimate gifting service that uses Riot's official gift system, which delivers RP and skins to your account below the regional store price without requiring your login.

Who is Locke in League of Legends?

Locke, the Ashen Exorcist, is a mid lane AP assassin released in Patch 26.13.

His kit focuses on:

• Marking enemies with Soul Nails to amplify his attacks.
• Hunting low health targets.
• Executing opponents with his ultimate, Purgatory.

He isn't eligible to play at MSI 2026.

When does MSI 2026 start?

MSI 2026 begins June 28, 2026 in Daejeon, South Korea.

Patch 26.13 is the final balance patch before it, so the patch's changes define the tournament meta.

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