Esports Betting / Esports Betting News / League of Legends patch 25.18 introduces anti-boosting enforcement and major champion nerfs

League of Legends patch 25.18 introduces anti-boosting enforcement and major champion nerfs

Andrew Boggs

Sports Writer

Publish Date: 07/10/2025

Fact checked by: Mike McKean

Key Points

Riot’s anti-boosting crackdown is live. Boosting, hitchhiking, and account selling are now actively punished, with bans already rolling out.
Patch 25.18 dials back early-game dominance and jungle power across key picks.
Bami’s and Sunfire changes clear speed, making picks like Zac or Amumu more viable again.

LoL Patch 25.18 Update – Anti-Boosting, Champion Nerfs & Meta Shifts

Patch 25.18 just landed, and it’s not messing around. Riot’s ramping up LoL anti-boosting in a big way. Complete with staged bans, detection upgrades, and actual LP refunds when someone gets hit after you reported them.

If you’ve been wondering why some suspicious duos suddenly disappeared from your games… this is why. But it’s not just about enforcement. The patch also swings hard at high-priority picks like Yunara, Qiyana, and jungle Sylas, plus a few stat shuffles for tanks and mages. Jungle’s getting a curve change, mid lane picks are feeling the pressure, and bot lane bans might start looking different too.

League of Legends patch 25.18 introduces anti-boosting enforcement and major champion nerfs

LoL anti-boosting enforcement

Riot’s said for years that ranked integrity matters, but 25.18 is when they start showing it. Boosting, hitchhiking, and account buying/selling have always been against the rules on LoL betting sites. Now they’re actively cracking down, using new tools and phased rollouts to start banning accounts tied to rank manipulation.

1️⃣ What counts as “boosting” and “hitchhiking”

Boosting means playing ranked on someone else’s account to inflate their MMR. Hitchhiking is queueing with a higher-ranked player to do the same thing, usually as a duo. Riot’s also targeting accounts that were botted, bought, or sold. Basically, if you didn’t get the LP fairly, they’re coming for it.

2️⃣ How detection and penalties work

There’s a new detection system under the hood, tied to Vanguard and behavioral signals, and Riot’s been testing it since patch 25.13. If it flags you, expect staged punishments (so support can handle appeals), and yes, LP refunds go out when actions are taken on someone you reported.

You’re safe to play on your own alt as long as you’re not account-sharing or deranking to smurf.

3️⃣ If you’re falsely flagged

Use Player Support. Riot made it clear that edge cases can happen, but they’d rather investigate and reverse one false flag than let thousands of boosters go untouched.

Biggest champion nerfs in 25.18

Some of these have been brewing for a while. Yunara was dominating pro play, Qiyana’s early spike was still too oppressive, and jungle Sylas was clearing just a little too clean. LoL anti-boosting patch 25.18 finally pulls the trigger on some needed balance changes.

🏆 Champion	➡️ Change Type	💡 Key Nerfs / Adjustments
Yunara	Mobility, Base Stats	E MS & Duration reduced, HP 600 → 575, AD 56 → 53
Qiyana	Base Stats, Passive	AD 66 → 64, Armor Growth 4.7 → 4.5, Passive Royal Privilege 30% → 25% bonus AD
Sylas (Jungle)	Jungle Modifier	Passive Petricite Burst bonus monster damage 150% → 130%
Azir	Scaling	Attack Speed growth 5.5% → 5%, W AP ratio early ranks reduced
Annie	Base Damage, Shred	W base damage reduced, R magic pen at Rank 1 15/17.5/20 → 10/15/20%
Volibear	Scaling	Passive AP scaling 4% → 3% per 100 AP, cap reduced 20% → 17.5%

Yunara - Mobility trimmed, base stats down

This one hits across the board. Yunara loses some durability with her base HP dropping from 600 to 575, and her base AD drops too, from 56 to 53. That already affects trades, but the big change is to Kanmei’s Steps. The movement speed has been lowered at every rank (from 50–70% to 30–50%), and the buff now only lasts a flat 1.5 seconds, down from a scaling 1.5 to 2.5 seconds.

It means less kiting, weaker repositioning, and a much higher punish window if she burns E early. Her pro presence should start to dip after this.

Yunara lol

Qiyana - Base AD/armor growth and passive damage cut

Qiyana’s early spike has always been part of her identity, but this patch knocks some sharpness off the edges. Her base AD drops slightly from 66 to 64, and her armor growth is lowered from 4.7 to 4.5. The big one, though, is her passive, Royal Privilege, which now only does 25% of bonus AD as extra damage instead of 30%.

That doesn’t gut her, but it does take the sting out of early river trades and slows how fast she snowballs off skirmishes. It’s enough to shift her away from auto-pick status in high-elo and scrim comps.

League of Legends Qiyana

Sylas (Jungle) - Petricite Burst monster modifier reduced

Lane Sylas won’t feel this much, but jungle Sylas absolutely will. His passive, Petricite Burst, no longer does 150% bonus damage to monsters. It’s now 130%, which slows down his clear and makes his early jungle routes a little riskier. It’s not a massive gutting, but it makes a difference in tempo, especially if you were rushing Level 3 for fast pressure.

League of Legends Sylas

Azir, Annie, and Volibear - Trimmed, not gutted

These aren’t headline nerfs, but they do flatten some outliers that were quietly gaining traction.

Azir gets a small scale-back. His attack speed growth drops from 5.5% to 5.0%, and his Arise! AP ratio is slightly lowered in the early ranks, from 45/50/55/60/65% to 40/45/50/55/60%. He’ll still scale, just a little slower.

Annie gets another look as well. Her W-max build is toned down again, with Incinerate scaling lowered in the middle ranks, and Tibbers now shreds less magic resist at Rank 1 (dropping to 10/15/20% from 15/17.5/20%).

Volibear loses some scaling on his AP builds. His passive, Relentless Storm, now grants 3% attack speed per 100 AP instead of 4%, with the cap now at 17.5% instead of 20%. It’s a soft adjustment, but one that reins in some niche on-hit builds that were getting out of hand.

Azir lol

Items & systems that quietly move the meta

There’s always a few changes tucked in under the radar with every patch, and they usually shape solo queue way more than we expect. Let’s look at what else changed in 25.18:

1️⃣ Bami’s Cinder & Sunfire Cape

Tank jungle mains, rejoice. The jungle damage buffs make clears feel way better now, especially if you weren’t rushing Liandry’s.

Bami’s Cinder: Monster damage amp: 50% → 100%
Sunfire Cape: Minion/monster amp: 50% → 60%

2️⃣ Mercurial Scimitar

It’s still a niche pick, but if you were building it for Tenacity or MR, you’ll want to double-check post-patch.

AD: 40 → 50
MR: 40 → 35
Active MS duration: 1.5s → 2s

3️⃣ QoL: Death recap/jungle timers

Jungle timers now act how they used to pre-25.17, and the pie chart and death recap changes make post-death info a little more usable again.

This patch was a warning shot

Riot’s not done. This is just the first big push in the LoL anti-boosting rollout. They’ve already hinted at continued enforcement, more refinements to detection, and future tweaks tied to TrueSkill 2, which aims to place smurfs faster and more accurately.

Patch 25.19 is now here, and with Worlds prep heating up, expect Riot to keep the tuning tight.