Riot Games Details Mel Changes Arriving in Patch 26.03

Riot Games has officially revealed a comprehensive set of adjustments for Mel coming in Patch 26.03, with a clear focus on improving counterplay, reducing frustration, and addressing clarity issues when facing the champion. The update introduces a new shield-based defensive mechanic, alongside visual and mechanical refinements to several of Mel’s abilities.

One of the most impactful changes is the removal of Mel’s damage reflection immunity, which is being replaced by a scaling shield. This change significantly alters how opponents can interact with her, allowing champions such as Fizz to successfully deal damage after landing key abilities like his ultimate—situations that were previously negated by Mel’s late-game W interaction.

In addition, Riot is making targeted improvements to the visual clarity of Mel’s Q and E, ensuring they are easier to read and dodge at long ranges, bringing them more in line with other spammable projectile abilities. These changes are designed to make Mel’s threat patterns more predictable, while also toning down extreme reflection damage cases that were disproportionately punishing.

Patch 26.03 – Detailed Change List

Base Stats

• Removed outlier stat that reduced attack speed value
• Attack Speed Ratio:0.4 → 0.625

P – Overwhelm

Goal: Reduce overly reliable damage output

• Projectile Damage:8–50 + 5% AP → 8–25 + 3% AP
• Total Damage per Cast:24–150 + 15% AP → 24–75 + 9% AP
• Reduced visual clutter by no longer displaying passive marks on non-champions for enemies
• Fixed an issue where certain champion-spawned units died to Overwhelm from unempowered basic attacks

Q – Radiant Volley

Goal: Increase dodge opportunities at long range and move away from Q-first maxing

• Stronger area telegraph visuals
• Cast Time:0.25s → 0.4s
• Projectile Speed:4500 → 3800
• Explosion Radius:230 → 200
• Area Spread:30 → 25
• Damage type converted to DoT AoE, reducing effectiveness at resetting Arcane Comet
• Channel Time:0.75s → 0.5s
• Mana Cost:70/80/90/100/110 → 70/75/80/85/90
• Minion Damage:75% → 100%
• First explosion now deals bonus damage, with reduced damage on subsequent hitsInitial Hit:55/80/105/130/155 + 50% AP
• Subsequent Hits:5/6/7/8/9 + 5% AP
• Total Damage:85/122/161/202/245 + 75–95% AP

W – Rebuttal

Goal: Add clearer counterplay and remove extreme interactions

• No longer grants damage immunity
• Now grants a shield:80/110/140/170/200 + 60% AP
• Reflected physical damage reduced by 30% before conversion to magic damage
• Now destroys projectiles targeting units in an area rather than reflecting them if they are not targeting MelAffected abilities include: Ryze E, Brand E, Katarina R, Samira R, Yunara Q
• Decaying Move Speed:30% → 40%
• Duration:0.75s → 1.5s

E – Solar Snare

Goal: Reduce low-clarity impact cases and discourage E-first maxing

• Root Missile Radius:80 → 70
• End-of-Travel Linger:0.5s → 0.25s
• DoT Radius:260 → 230
• Cast Range:1050 → 1000
• Projectile Speed:1000 → 1100
• Root Duration:1.1–1.5s → 1.5s (all ranks)
• Damage:60/100/140/180/220 → 60/105/150/195/240
• DoT DPS:16/26/36/46/56 → 16/28/40/52/64
• Fixed visual popping when the projectile descends terrain

Current Performance Context 📊

• Win Rate:47.5%
• Ban Rate:34%
• Pick Rate:4.68%

While Mel remains popular, her high ban rate reflects ongoing frustration with her mechanics. Riot’s Patch 26.03 changes aim to smooth out extreme interactions, improve readability and counterplay, and preserve Mel’s core identity without removing her strategic depth.