Patch 7.1d

Released: 2026-04-28 Source: Riot patch notes

Note: Riot says "content will be released throughout the patch" — some changes (skins, easter eggs) ship on staggered dates after release.

Headline summary

• Buffs: Urgot, Tristana, Vladimir, Sivir, Zeri
• Nerfs: Vayne (significant), Mel, Riven
• Rune meta shifts: Lethal Tempo (ranged) nerfed; Empowerment, Absolute Focus, Ixtali Seedjar buffed
• No item changes this patch
• No map / objective changes (drakes, baron, towers, jungle untouched)
• Earlier-game death timers increased across all modes — early deaths punish more

Champion buffs

Urgot

• Base AD: 58 → 62
• Echoing Flames AD ratio: 50/65/80/95% → 60/75/90/105%

Tristana

• Explosive Charge explosion damage: 55/85/115/145 → 65/100/135/170

Vladimir

• Base armor: 34 → 37
• Crimson Pact AP→Health conversion: 120% → 140%

Sivir

• AD per level: 3.5 → 4
• Boomerang Blade AD ratio: 70/75/80/85% → 75/80/85/90%

Zeri

• AD per level: 3.5 → 4
• Living Battery AD ratio: +1% per rank
• Spark Surge cooldown: 24/21.5/19/16.5s → 22/19.5/17/14.5s

Champion nerfs

Vayne (significant)

• Tumble empowered AA duration: 7s → 4s (almost halved)
• Silver Bolts true damage: 3/6/9/12% → 2/5/8/11%
• Silver Bolts AS bonus: 15/20/25/30% → 10/15/20/25%

Mel

• Radiant Volley damage and AP ratio nerfed across all ranks
• Radiant Volley minion modifier: 75% → 90% (waveclear hurt)
• Rebuttal cooldown: 32/29/26/23s → 38/36/34/32s

Riven

• Runic Blade bonus damage ratio: 32%~60% → 22%~50%
• Runic Blade jungle monster damage: 50% → 65% (cleared faster, but champion damage cut)

Rune changes

Lethal Tempo (ranged) — NERFED

• AS per stack: 3%–12% → 3%–10%

Empowerment — BUFFED

• Damage: 8% → 9%
• Adaptive Damage: 40–180 → 60–200

Absolute Focus — BUFFED

• Activation threshold: 70% → 65% (procs more easily)
• Adaptive Force: 1–15 → 2–20

Ixtali Seedjar — BUFFED

• Plant cooldown: 45s → 30s

System changes

• Death timers increased early-game across all modes — death-clocks bigger penalty for mid/jungle deaths pre-15
• ARAM: all balance changes mirrored into ARAM variants
• AAA ARAM: knock-up duration at race start cut (0.5s → 0.2s); 8 new augments; pool re-balanced

Garen-specific

• Base game: no changes
• ARAM only: Damage Taken 95% → 100% (slight ARAM nerf, irrelevant to Ranked / Solo Queue)

Skins (release window 2026-04-30 onward)

• Neon Daredevil: Kai'Sa, Hecarim, Irelia, Aurora, Zed, Gragas
• Prestige Select: Neon Daredevil Kai'Sa
• "Porsche!" easter egg launching 2026-05-01 08:00

What this means for the wiki

• AD Bruiser Garen ([[Champions/Garen]]) — unchanged; build remains valid
• Vayne — any pre-7.1d Vayne content is now stale; flag claims about Tumble/Silver Bolts as needing re-verification
• Riven — same: pre-7.1d damage ratios are wrong now ([[Champions/Riven]] reflects this)
• Lethal Tempo ranged builds — slightly weaker; not a hard reroll, but worth flagging

Meta interpretation (community sources)

A trusted-creator tier list for 7.1d is captured at [[Sources/videos/2026-05-04-royal-tier-list-7.1d]]. Royal frames the patch impact as:

• No baron-lane god-tier — early-game-buffs make scaling harder; S-tier requires strong early 1v1
• Boot changes punish boot-rushing — "you can no longer just rush boots and be safe"
• Engage supports dominate — "the biggest meta shift since I last made a tier list"; enchanters got Ionian boots buffs but it wasn't enough
• Tank-heavy meta — anti-tank carries (Kog'Maw) and anti-engage supports (Braum, Zilean, Morgana) gain value

Champion files reflecting this meta read: [[Champions/Camille]], [[Champions/Fiora]], [[Champions/Zed]], [[Champions/Aatrox]], [[Champions/Viego]], [[Champions/Lillia]], [[Champions/Nunu]], [[Champions/Riven]], [[Champions/Ahri]], [[Champions/Ryze]], [[Champions/Mel]], [[Champions/Aurora]], [[Champions/Kassadin]], [[Champions/Vladimir]], [[Champions/Gragas]], [[Champions/Ezreal]], [[Champions/Smolder]], [[Champions/Zeri]], [[Champions/KogMaw]], [[Champions/Nautilus]], [[Champions/Ornn]], [[Champions/Braum]], [[Champions/Galio]], [[Champions/Zilean]], [[Champions/Nami]], [[Champions/Morgana]].

• [[Sources/videos/2026-05-04-royal-tier-list-7.1d|Royal 7.1d tier list]] (added 2026-05-08)

• [[Sources/videos/2026-05-12-royal-yasuo-still-broken|Royal — Yasuo gameplay (Conqueror crit, Essence Reaver → Death's Dance → Mortal Reminder)]] (added 2026-05-13)

• [[Sources/web-pages/2026-05-08-itzstu4rt-wildriftfire-7.1d|iTzSTU4RT 7.1d tier list]] (added 2026-05-08)