Riot Games has officially pulled planned buffs for Brand from the upcoming League of Legends patch 26.14. The decision, announced in a recent preview post by Lead Gameplay Designer Matt 'Phroxzon' Leung-Harrison, stems from internal concerns regarding the current prevalence of mages in the bottom lane.
Despite the cancellation, Riot remains committed to keeping mages as a viable alternative to traditional ADCs. Phroxzon acknowledged that while the strategy is contentious, the team views mage-bot compositions as a way to foster healthy diversity within the game. "We know this is a contentious topic," Phroxzon noted, pointing to the prominence of these picks during the ongoing MSI 2026 tournament as a catalyst for the recent community discourse.
Balancing Intensity and Meta Diversity
Phroxzon emphasized that League of Legends benefits from a mix of play experiences. He noted that the current environment offers a "roughly four-to-one ratio of traditional marksmen to mages," which allows for varied game states. According to Riot, this variety prevents the game from feeling too formulaic or stale, balancing high-intensity matchups against more comfortable, low-threat games.
Furthermore, the inclusion of mages in the bottom lane serves a tactical purpose in draft. Phroxzon explained that mages provide teams with an option to balance their damage output if they have already locked in an AD-heavy mid laner like Zed, Yone, or Yasuo.
Win Rates vs. Mastery Depth
Addressing the common player critique that mages are currently overpowered, Phroxzon suggested that win rates do not tell the full story. He argued that simpler mages possess "quite shallow mastery curves," making them more forgiving and tolerant of difficult matchups. In contrast, traditional marksmen are typically harder to execute but offer deeper rewards for players who master them.
Tempo remains a critical factor in this matchup. Mages typically hit their power spikes with only one or two items, whereas ADCs generally require three. This creates a specific win condition for mage-heavy teams: they must leverage their early power to close out games before their opponents can scale and catch up.
For players currently struggling against these picks, Phroxzon suggests drafting champions with dodge capabilities who can outscale mages once they reach their two-to-three item spikes. He specifically highlighted Ezreal, Sivir, and Zeri as effective counters. While the Brand buffs are off the table for now, Riot has promised a more detailed breakdown of their stance on mage-bot strategies in an upcoming video from the design team.