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Mel at First Stand 2026? Winners and Losers of League of Legends Patch 26.05
First Stand 2026 is just days away, and the official patch for the tournament (LoL Patch 26.05) is already live. Before the best teams in the world head to Brazil to battle for the first international trophy of the year, let's take a quick look at the biggest winners and losers of First Stand's patch.
Biggest Winners of Patch 26.05
Nocturne
With Fearless Draft in full effect, Nocturne already found himself comfortably situated in the pro play meta before the new patch arrived. Though he often needs the right setup/team composition to truly shine, teams haven't shied away from picking Nocturne when Jungle options start running thin.
LoL Patch 26.05 buffed Nocturne considerably. As a result, the champion's win rate has spiked by over 1.5% in Solo Queue. Now, we might see Nocturne climb a few steps along the list of Jungle priority picks at First Stand 2026.
Mel
Back in Patch 26.03 (about a month ago), Mel received a large number of changes, and she hasn't been the same since. After carrying an abysmal win rate for weeks, Riot decided to let Mel pack a stronger punch in Patch 26.05.
As far as overall strength goes, Mel is currently roughly comparable to her state during the Worlds 2025 patch. Back then, Faker looked to Mel at times of need more than once on his way to pick up the biggest trophy in the game. Will anyone look to do the same now at First Stand?
Garen
After receiving several buffs, Garen is one of the brightest shining stars of LoL Patch 26.05. In fact, the champion has a whopping 52.5% win rate across all ranks right now in the Top Lane.
That said, Garen's kit is so ill-suited for pro play that it still remains rather far-fetched to think we might see him make an appearance at First Stand. Regardless, a man can dream...
Biggest Losers of Patch 26.05
Azir
Mr. Pro Play himself; no matter the state of the meta, Azir always seems to show up onstage. This time, though, Azir is about as weak as he's ever been.
Suffice it to say that Azir is currently the Mid Laner with the lowest win rate in the entire game in Patch 26.05 with a comically bad 42.79% win rate. Bad enough to see him pushed out of pro play, though? Only time will tell.
Kha'Zix
Like Garen, Kha'Zix isn't the easiest champion to pull off at the top level. Regardless, he did get to see some action recently thanks to the wonders of Fearless Draft.
Pro play champion or not, the truth is Kha'Zix has been ridiculously strong for several patches now. That is precisely why LoL Patch 26.05 hit this bug with nerf hammer hard.
Neeko
Over on the Support role, Neeko has been a menace in pro play. Not only does she have fantastic engage and a solid laning phase, but her [W] Shapesplitter gives players so much room to come up with creative plays.
Though Riot didn't touch any of Neeko's raw numbers on the new patch, they did change when her W goes on cooldown. When it comes to the highest level of play, Neeko's W has immense value not only because of the possibility to get creative with it, but also because it can be consistently used as a scouting tool, providing vision and information for her team which could prove invaluable.
After the most recent changes, Neeko's win rate in Emerald and above has already dropped by over 2%. That being the case, she should very much still a sought-after pick at First Stand.
Shaping the Pro Meta
League of Legends Patch 26.05 had one clear intention, shape the pro play meta ahead of First Stand 2026. Outside of our list of biggest winners and losers, we should also see additional champions like Ahri rise in priority due to other top picks (like Azir, Orianna, and Taliyah) taking several hits.
All in all, though, teams at First Stand will not have to relearn the meta from scratch or anything of the sort before the start of the tournament. For the most part, players will likley stick to the usual preferred picks, with a few surprise additions showing up here and there.
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Featured image credit: Image exclusive to Strafe Esports
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