TFT Patch 18.4 Notes: Veigar Nerfed, Solar Reroll Buffs, Faster Combat and Four New Wisps

TFT 18.4 shifts power from traits to units in Enchanted Wilds: Veigar and Juggernaut come down, Solar and Lunar lines go up, and combat gets two seconds faster.

Riot published the notes for Teamfight Tactics patch 18.4 on October 6, 2026, and the developers describe it bluntly as "a big one." We're a few patches into Set 18, Enchanted Wilds, and the meta has settled, so this update takes a wide swing: power moves out of traits and Emblems and into individual champions, cheap reroll carries get a lift, and the strongest lines are pulled back. A mid-patch update followed on October 7 with more buffs and a round of fixes. Here's everything that matters.

TL;DR

• Combat is faster: the arrival and departure phases are each one second shorter.
• Veigar, the best 1-cost reroll carry of 18.3, is nerfed. Juggernaut, Fae, Executioner and the Elderwood Emblem also come down.
• Solar reroll is back on the menu with buffs to Xayah, Rakan, Varus, Kayle and Shen, plus a new Solar bonus for Lux.
• Lunar, Blossom, Sprykin (7) and Elderwood (7) get stronger.
• Ashe and Draven now refund Mana when their abilities miss.
• Four new 0-cost Wisps show up when you're under 10 gold.
• Dark Ritual and Construct-A-Companion return; Chosen of the Sun drops to Silver.

The big picture: units over traits

Riot's stated goal is to bring Origins and Classes closer together. Some deep vertical Origins weren't worth their commitment, while a few Classes delivered too much combat power, which in turn made certain Emblems far too valuable. So the trait nerfs below are paired with direct buffs to the units those traits used to prop up. Fae is the clearest example: the trait's per-Pixie bonus shrinks, but Xayah, Rakan and Tristana all hit harder on their own.

The other quality-of-life headline is speed. Cutting a second from both Combat Arrival and Combat Departure saves two seconds every fight, which Riot estimates adds up to just under a minute per game.

Trait changes

Juggernaut (6) was simply too easy to slot into any board as a frontline, while Lunar wasn't being played at all. The Lunar buff is meant to make deeper Lunar boards, and Lunar Lux in particular, worth chasing.

Champion buffs and nerfs

Nerfs: Veigar's damage drops from 200/300/450/765 to 190/285/430/725, with his low-health bonus trimmed as well. Riot still expects him to succeed off strong starts, just less often. Other nerfs: Hecarim's starting Mana rises from 30 to 50, Rammus's 3-star shield falls from 725 to 700 AP, and Kennen's shield ratio drops from 250/350 to 230/300 AP.

Buffs worth knowing:

Some 4-costs get reshaped rather than buffed. Brambleback moves power from his unreliable leap (155/235 → 135/205 AD) into his regular cast (bonus AD 80% → 100%). Nidalee's AP spear gets stronger while her AD form is slightly weaker, aimed at opening another AP carry for fast level 8/9 boards.

5-cost consistency changes

Ashe and Draven can occasionally whiff, and Riot doesn't want its 5-costs to be that swingy. Ashe now refunds 70% Mana if her arrow hits nobody, and Draven refunds 50% if his axes miss. Because Ashe was already strong, she also starts with 0 Mana instead of 20 and her percent-health damage is cut to 1.5%. Draven, meanwhile, gets a better bleed ratio (140/210 → 150/225 AD).

Lux gets a new Solar bonus: 15% bonus damage, plus another 12% for each unique 3-star champion on your board. Ivern's hexes are rebalanced, with the mushroom-style Damage Amp and HP bonuses lowered and the rock hexes gaining resists.

Items, Augments and Wisps

Crownguard gives less AP when its shield expires (25 → 20), while Spirit Visage, the weakest tank item, gains Durability (8% → 10%). The Elderwood Emblem loses 10 resists.

On Augments, Dark Ritual returns with smaller AP cashouts, and Construct-A-Companion and Forge-A-Friend are re-enabled. Chosen of the Sun moves from Gold to Silver as a Leona-focused pick. Econ-style Augments get a lift: Level Up! now grants 10 XP instead of 6, Luxury Sub gives 5 gold instead of 3, and both Min-Max and Pandora's Items II now include 4 gold. Trait Ladder, which Riot says averages a weak 5.22 placement in Gold and below but 4.24 in Grandmaster and above, has its late cashouts cut.

The Wisp system gets four new 0-cost Wisps, all available from Stage 4-1 to 5-7 when you have under 10 gold:

• Drizzle: your team gains Mana after 8 seconds of combat.
• Grove Armor: your highest-health champion gains Armor and Magic Resist.
• Returning Friend: a temporary Training Dummy holding Giant's Belts.
• Room for a Shroom: two random mushrooms (three with the Blossom upgrade).

High-risk Wisps such as Golden Goose, Major Gambit, Barter and stat consumables no longer appear below 20 HP, so a desperate last-life roll won't leave you broke.

The October 7 mid-patch update

A day later, Riot shipped a B-patch. Alistar was buffed hard (spell damage 100/150/225 → 180/270/420 AP), alongside Warwick, Murkwolf, Gromp and Mama Beak (base AD 55 → 60). Varus gets cheaper Mana (30/120 → 20/110). Several Augments were adjusted, including Early Learnings (down) and Hold the Line (up). Heart of Steel is temporarily disabled because of a bug, and three arenas (Choncc's Splash Party, Night Versus Dawn and Bridge of Progress) are switched off for performance. The B-patch rolled out on PC first, with mobile to follow.

Bug fixes worth knowing

• Dead champions mid-dash could be treated as valid targets, causing extra player damage. Fixed.
• Xayah's 4-star damage was wrong. Fixed.
• Weight the Worth could spawn copies of the Golden Egg and bugged Adaptors. Fixed.
• Thief's Gloves units could end up with five items in rare cases. Fixed.
• A three-star Draven casting before a three-star Ivern could stop combat from resolving. Fixed.

On the cosmetics side, 41 items return to the store in 18.4, with 63 more planned for 18.5.

What it means for players

If you've been forcing Veigar or leaning on a Juggernaut frontline every game, expect a tougher time. The patch wants you to look at reroll lines that barely existed in 18.3, especially Solar, where Xayah, Rakan, Varus, Kayle, Shen and the new Lux bonus all point the same way. Deep Lunar and Sprykin (7) are also worth testing. Riot says 18.5 will be a smaller follow-up, so whatever rises to the top now is likely to stick around for a few weeks.

This article was written by AI (Claude) and checked against the sources above. Games are updated regularly, so details may change.