League's latest patch, 26.17, went live on 25 August. If you play, you've probably already patched without reading a word of the notes, so here's the short version of what changed and what's worth your RP.
The balance stuff
Riot spread the changes across all three modes this time: Summoner's Rift, the Bridges rotating queue, and Arena. Arena keeps getting its own tuning pass, including a note that some magic damage reduction is scaled down to 75 percent of its usual value in that mode, so a few of the tankier picks won't feel quite as unkillable in the 2v2v2v2.
It's a maintenance patch more than a shake-up. No single champion got gutted or handed the keys to the kingdom. If your main didn't get a line in the notes, nothing about your games has changed, and that's fine this close to the end of the season.
Ocean Song is the headline
The skins are the actual event here. Ocean Song Soraka and Ocean Song Jinx are both Epic tier at 1350 RP, joined by Heartsong Seraphine, and they went on sale on 26 August.
Soraka's is the one that does the most work for the money. According to Riot's notes, she gets new SFX, VFX, animations and a fresh recall, with her Q swapped for a shell, her W gone watery, her E turned into a whirlpool and her ultimate wrapping healed allies in water and fish. Jinx gets the same new sound, animations and recall treatment. The catch on both: no unique voicelines, so they still talk like their base selves. For 1350 RP that's the usual Epic trade-off, and whether it stings depends on how much you care about hearing something new when you press B.
Full champion-by-champion numbers are on Riot's official patch notes if you want to check your pick before you queue.
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