Mel Build, Runes and Counters — Bot Lane and Mid · Patch 26.20

• P

  Searing Brilliance

  Whenever Mel uses an ability, she gains three bonus projectiles (up to nine maximum) on her next attack.When Mel deals damage through an ability or attack, she applies Overwhelm, which can stack infinitely. If the enemy is hit by Mel with enough Overwhelm damage, the stacks are consumed to execute the target.

  Passive — never cast

• Q

  Radiant Volley

  Mel fires a barrage of projectiles that explode around a target location, dealing damage repeatedly to enemies within the area.

  Cost 70/75/80/85/90 ManaCooldown 10/9/8/7/6sRange 950

• W

  Rebuttal

  Mel forms a barrier around herself that reflects enemy projectiles back at the attacker, prevents her from taking damage, and grants her movement speed.

  Cost 80/60/40/20/0 ManaCooldown 38/35/33/29/26sRange 250

• E

  Solar Snare

  Mel fires a radiant orb forward, rooting those at its center while the area around it slows enemies and deals damage over time.

  Cost 50/60/70/80/90 ManaCooldown 11/10.5/10/9.5/9sRange 1000

• R

  Golden Eclipse

  Mel strikes all enemies marked with Overwhelm regardless of their distance from her, dealing additional damage for each stack of Overwhelm.Ranks of Golden Eclipse increase Overwhelm's damage.

  Cost 100 ManaCooldown 120/100/80sRange 25000

Riot's notes from patch 25.S1.1 to 26.20 change Mel in 8 patches. The latest is patch 26.8, published 2026-04-14.

1. Patch 26.82026-04-14

   QRadiant Volley

   • Initial Explosion Damage60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 60% AP)→to60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+ 55% AP)

   WRebuttal

   • Cooldown35 / 32 / 29 / 26 / 23→to38 / 35 / 32 / 29 / 26 seconds
   • Bonus Movement Speed Duration1.5→to0.75 seconds
   Why, in Riot's words

   Since our recent adjustments to Mel, she’s been hitting too hard with her initial Q missile whether ahead or behind, even as opponents dodge the rest of the spell, so we’re looking to take her damage down a notch. We’re also aiming to reduce how frustrating her W can be by lowering the bonus mobility she gets and the spell’s uptime, with the movespeed now matching her shield and reflect duration.

2. Patch 26.52026-03-03

   PSearing Brilliance

   • Minion Damage Modifier0.6x→to0.5x

   QRadiant Volley

   • Base Damage per Bolt5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9→to5 / 7 / 9 / 11 / 13
   • Total Q Base Damage90 / 132 / 176 / 222 / 270→to90 / 145 / 200 / 255 / 310

   RGolden Eclipse

   • Initial Base Damage100 / 150 / 200→to125 / 200 / 275
   Why, in Riot's words

   Mel’s recent update and follow-up balance work has succeeded in creating more counterplay and thus reducing her frustration and ban rate with a similar win rate to the preceding patches. With the initial dust now settled, it’s time to bring her up to a more reasonable power level. We’re looking toward her proactive damage, especially with champion level, to skew these buffs strongly toward the mid lane. We’re also sliding in a small compensation to her passive’s minion mod in order to not push her Q-driven wave clear any higher than it already is.

3. Patch 26.32026-02-03

   Base Stats

   • Attack Speed Ratio0.4→to0.625

   PSearing Brilliance

   • Projectile Damage8-50 (based on level) (+ 5% AP)→to8-25 (based on level) (+ 3% AP)
   • Total Projectile Damage24-150 (based on level) (+ 15% AP)→to24-75 (based on level) (+ 9% AP)
   • Reduced the visual clutter by no longer displaying the passive mark on non-champions for enemies.
   • Fixed certain champion spawned units dying to Overwhelm from an unempowered basic attack.

   QRadiant Volley

   • Now deals additional damage the first time an explosion hits with reduced effectiveness from subsequent hits.
   • Initial Hit: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 60% AP)
   • Subsequent Hits: 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 (+ 5% AP)
   • Total Damage78 / 109 / 144 / 185 / 230 (+51-85% AP)→to85 / 126 / 169 / 214 / 261 (+ 85-105% AP)
   • Mana Cost70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110→to70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
   • Minion Damage75%→to100%
   • Cast Time0.25s→to0.35s
   • Projectile Speed4500→to3800
   • Explosion Radius230→to200
   • Area Spread30→to25
   • Channel Time0.75s→to0.5s
   • Damage type is now DoT AoE (reduced effectiveness in resetting Arcane Comet).
   • Stronger area telegraph visual.

   WRebuttal

   • No longer provides Damage Immunity.
   • Shield: 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+ 60% AP)
   • Physical damage reflected is reduced by 30% before magic damage conversion.
   • Now destroys projectiles that target each unit in an area instead of reflecting them when those projectiles aren't targeting Mel. (ex. Ryze E, Brand E, Katarina R, Samira R, Yunara Q)
   • Decaying Move Speed30% over 0.75s→to40% over 1.5s

   ESolar Snare

   • Root Missile Radius80→to70
   • End of Travel Linger Duration0.5s→to0.25s
   • DoT Radius260→to230
   • Cast Range1050→to1000
   • Projectile Speed1000→to1100
   • Cooldown12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10→to11 / 10.5 / 10 / 9.5 / 9
   • Root Duration1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4 / 1.5→to1.5
   • Damage60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220→to60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240
   • Damage per Second16 / 26 / 36 / 46 / 56→to16 / 28 / 40 / 52 / 64
   • No longer visually pops at the end when descending terrain.

   RGolden Eclipse

   • Damage per Stack4 / 7 / 10 (+ 3.5% AP)→to4 / 7 / 10 (+ 4% AP)
   Why, in Riot's words

   This changelist is intended to help lower player frustration while playing against Mel through opening up additional counterplay opportunities for opponents beyond the ban button. One big change we have is changing her reflect damage immunity to a shield which will ensure when Fizz successfully lands his ultimate she no longer completely negates the damage with a late W. We also want to make sure when you're laning against her that you can see her Q coming and dodge out of the way at long ranges like many spammable projectile spells. Both her Q and E should now be more visually clear (thus easier to dodge) and we've reduced some of the power from her reflect in some situations where her reflections resulted in unexpectedly high damage. While we believe that champion agency can yield frustrating interactions, we also believe there should be avenues for counterplay to balance that out. Frankly, we underestimated how frustrating the play-against experience for Mel would be and are aiming to improve that with this change list. And for players looking to play Mel we want her to be playable more consistently after the ban phase while making sure her core gameplay that her players have come to love isn't lost. Our goals with these changes are that more players feel they can outplay Mel in ways that match their expectations, and that Mel players can feel more skillful and that their success is a result of that skill. We expect that there will continue to be players whose main champions are highly impacted by Mel's reflection that may continue to prioritize her as a ban, but we're targeting to get her out of must-ban territory for many players.

4. Patch 25.242025-12-02

   ESolar Snare

   • Orb Magic Damage60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240→to60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220
   • Magic Damage per Second16 / 32 / 48 / 64 / 80→to16 / 26 / 36 / 46 / 56
   • Lingering Debuff Duration0.75→to0.5 seconds
   • Mana Cost50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70→to50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 mana
   Why, in Riot's words

   While not mathematically overpowered, Mel has solidified herself as the most frustrating champion to face in League, which is a deeper problem than just numbers. In the short term we're delivering a direct nerf that will still allow dedicated mains to win an appropriate number of games, but will make her suboptimal for inexperienced players. As for our changes themselves, we're going after how inescapable her E can feel to play against. In the longer term, we have some larger work planned for early next year with more significant changes aimed at returning her to a more appropriate power level while also making her feel more fair to play against for her opponents.

5. Patch 25.232025-11-18

   PSearing Brilliance

   • Damage per spell24-99 (based on level) (+9% AP)→to24-150 (based on level) (+ 15% AP)

   ESolar Snare

   • Root Duration1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 / 2.25→to1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4 / 1.5 / 1.6
   Why, in Riot's words

   We're glad that Mel is a viable mid laner (shoutout League's GOAT for raising awareness!). However, she's also proven to be one of League's most frustrating champions, which we're looking to alleviate. Her passive buffs that required her to take on more risk were successful in our eyes, so we're headed back to that. To continue to expose her to more risk, we're weakening Solar Snare's lockdown and self-peel potential. We know she's still got such sharp interactions that she'll still sport one of League's highest ban rates, but we hope this adjustment will be roughly power-neutral and frustration-reducing.

6. Patch 25.192025-09-23

   PSearing Brilliance

   • Bonus Damage on attack per spell24-75 (based on level) (+3% AP)→to24-99 (based on level) (+9% AP)
   • Maximum Bonus Damage on attack75-225 (based on level) (+ 9% AP)→to72-297 (+ 27% AP)
   Why, in Riot's words

   Mel is statistically very weak and even though she sports a rather high ban rate, that doesn’t mean she has to be quite so underpowered for her player base. We’re playing up high-skill applications of her offensive output in order to bring her up in higher MMRs, where she performs much worse.

7. Patch 25.082025-04-15

   Base Stats

   • Health600→to630

   PSearing Brillance

   • Damage per Stack5-20 (based on level) (+1% AP)→to8-25 (based on level) (+ 1% AP)
   Why, in Riot's words

   Mel was previously nerfed due to the banrate she was seeing, but she's weak and we are looking to cautiously bring some power back in areas that players hopefully don't find frustrating.

8. Patch 25.042025-02-19

   QRadiant Volley

   • Cast Range1000→to950
   • Projectile Speed5000→to4500

   WRebuttal

   • Duration1→to0.75 seconds
   • Mana Cost60/45/30/15/0→to80/60/40/20/0
   • Reflected Damage40/47.5/55/62.5/70%→to40/45/50/55/60%

   ESolar Snare

   • Root Duration1.75/1.88/2/2.13/2.25→to1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25 seconds
   • Direct Hit Damage60/100/140/180/220 (+50% AP)→to60/105/150/195/240 (+60% AP)

   RGolden Eclipse

   • Damage per Overwhelm Stack4/7/10 (+2.5% AP)→to4/7/10 (+3.5% AP)
   Why, in Riot's words

   Mel has been very popular both to pick and to ban. We believe Mel experiences just a little too much safety for opponents to effectively punish her due to her range and ability durations. So to correct that we're lowering her Q range and speed, W duration, and early E root duration to make her a more assailable target. At the same time, we're returning some of her ability to scale into the mid and late game with some added damage to both E and R while lowering the damage value of W from rank up which results in some painful end game experiences.

Riot's data lists 4 looks for Mel with their own art, the base skin included and 17 chroma variants.

1 / 4

• Mel
• Arcane Councilor Mel
• Prestige Winterblessed Mel
• Coven Mel

How does Mel do against Ashe?

Mel won 38.5% of 39 counted Master+ games against Ashe. Ashe is one of the opponents that beat Mel. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.

How does Mel do against Ezreal?

Mel won 55.3% of 47 counted Master+ games against Ezreal. It is a matchup Mel wins more often than not. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.

How does Mel do against Jhin?

Mel won 51.8% of 56 counted Master+ games against Jhin. It is close to even. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.

How does Mel do against Caitlyn?

Mel won 53.1% of 49 counted Master+ games against Caitlyn. It is a matchup Mel wins more often than not. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.

How does Mel do against Tristana?

Mel won 50.0% of 34 counted Master+ games against Tristana. It is close to even. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.

What class is Mel?

Riot classes Mel as Mage and Support. This site files the champion under Bot.

How hard is Mel to play?

Riot rates Mel's difficulty 5 out of 10.

What resource does Mel use?

Mel's abilities spend Mana.

What is Mel's attack range?

550 units — the 9th-highest of 173 champions on patch 26.20 (shared with 36 others).

What are Mel's abilities?

Passive — Searing Brilliance, Q — Radiant Volley, W — Rebuttal, E — Solar Snare and R — Golden Eclipse.

How many skins does Mel have?

Riot's data lists 4 skins with their own art, the base look included, plus 17 chroma variants.

How much health does Mel have at level 18?

2313 — 630 at level 1 plus 17 × 99 per level, Riot's own values, before items and runes.

What is Mel's ultimate cooldown?

Golden Eclipse (R): 120/100/80 seconds by rank, before ability haste, in Riot's Data Dragon 16.20.1.

When did Riot last change Mel?

Patch 26.8, published 14 April 2026 — the latest of 8 patches that change Mel in Riot's notes from 25.S1.1 to 26.20.

• Mel Champion Spotlight | Gameplay - League of Legends — League of LegendsLeague of Legends on YouTube · plays here
• Mel, the Soul’s Reflection | Official Champion Theme - League of Legends — League of LegendsLeague of Legends on YouTube · plays here