Riot Pauses Brand Buffs, Keeps Mages Bot Viable

Riot Games has removed planned buffs to Brand from the upcoming patch 26.14 after internal concerns about the growing use of mage champions in the bottom lane. The change was disclosed in a preview post by Lead Gameplay Designer Matt ‘Phroxzon’ Leung-Harrison.

Phroxzon identified the rise of ‘mages bot’ as a prominent topic during MSI 2026 and said Riot wants to preserve a range of viable options for the bottom lane. He wrote, ‘We know this is a contentious topic,’ and described ‘mages bot as creating healthy diversity for the bot lane experience overall, even though for some traditional marksmen, they can be quite frustrating.’

The developer noted traditional marksmen still outnumber mages in the bot lane by about four to one, which leaves mages as an alternative rather than the default pick. He added that mages can let teams avoid being locked into certain AD-mid champion combinations, writing that ‘mages bot also need to be viable picks to allow teams to undoom themselves in champ select for an AD-mid pick like Zed/Yone/Yasuo.’

Riot acknowledged that mages in the bot lane often show high win rates, but argued win-rate numbers do not capture the full context. Phroxzon explained many simple mages have shallow mastery curves and are more forgiving in lane, while marksmen generally require higher mechanical skill and reward long-term mastery, which can suppress their raw win rates.

Tempo and item power curves also factor into the matchup. Mages frequently become effective with fewer items, whereas traditional ADCs typically rely on three-item spikes to outscale opponents. Phroxzon pointed out that this season’s bot quest has accelerated three-item spikes for marksmen relative to other roles.

He used examples to illustrate trade-offs: an Orianna paired with supports such as Yunara or Lulu aims to press advantages around two to three items, and AD-mid plus long-range poke compositions may require the bot lane to help close games quickly. For now, Riot recommends champions that can dodge skillshots and have strong two- to three-item spikes-examples listed include Ezreal, Sivir and Zeri.

Riot said it will continue to monitor the strategy and adjust champions selectively rather than remove the option outright. Phroxzon indicated he will address the topic in more detail in a future video.