League of Legends Devs Address APC Meta With ADC Buffs, Support Roam Penalties
Riot is choosing targeted buffs and structural changes over direct mage nerfs to address the APC meta, aiming to preserve class identity while reasserting marksmen as the bot lane standard.
Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.
Riot Games lead designer Matthew Leung-Harrison responded to the rising mage bot (APC) meta in League of Legends, stating the current situation has gone too far. Instead of nerfing mages, the next patch 26.16 will increase support roam penalties, strengthen ADC items and runes, raise ADC base magic resistance, and buff Heal. The goal is to keep marksmen as the main bot lane class while preserving mage options.
Lead game designer Matthew Leung-Harrison posted on X on July 30 that the mage bot situation in League of Legends has gone too far, citing rising pick rates in pro play and solo queue. Rather than nerfing mages directly, the planned patch 26.16 adjustments focus on strengthening the marksman side and increasing the cost of support roaming.
The proposed changes include raising the support quest penalty when away from lane from 25 percent up to level 3 to 33 percent up to level 5, buffing ADC-oriented items and runes such as Fleet Footwork and Berserker's Greaves, increasing base magic resistance for ADC champions while reducing its growth, and strengthening the summoner spell Heal. Leung-Harrison noted that experimental attempts are being tested and more details will follow once the policy is finalized.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.