AoV October 2026 Patch: Raz and Kriknak Buffed, Gildur and Flowborn Nerfed, Evita Arrives

Biggest winners

Raz is the hero I would pick up first after this patch. Rising Dragon Fist drops from a 10 second cooldown to 8 seconds, and the per-level reduction shrinks from 0.8 to 0.3, so the gain is biggest early, right when Raz wants to fight for mid priority. Volatile Fist loses some base damage (500 down to 450) but scales harder with 90 per level and 0.9MP, and its magic defense shred now starts at 100 instead of 50. Raz already sat in S on Zathong and A on FPTShop. More casts of his opener plus a bigger shred on his main combo tool push him further up.

Kriknak gets a straight damage bump on Terrifying Plague: 300 (+50/Lv) (+1.4 Bonus AD) becomes 325 (+65/Lv) (+1.5 Bonus AD). Every part of that number went up. Kriknak junglers who land the first skill on a squishy carry will finish the kill more often now, and Zathong already listed him in S before the buff.

Errol is the quiet one. His Blood Drinker stacks used to fall off all at once. Now they decay one by one, with each stack after the first lasting another second. Errol keeps his damage up longer between trades, which matters for a hero who lives on long brawls. He still sits at C or lower on most lists, so I see this as a step toward playable, not a reason to first pick him.

Biggest losers

Gildur takes the heaviest hit. Extravagant goes from 380 (+76/Lv) (+0.55MP) to 350 (+70/Lv) (+0.5MP) base damage, with a small bump to its damage over time (30 (+6/Lv) to 35 (+7/Lv)). Indulgence moves from a 42 (-7/Lv) to a 45 (-5/Lv) second cooldown, which is a much longer wait at max rank. FPTShop had Gildur in S for mid. Fewer ultimates per fight is what will hurt most in ranked, because his lockdown is the whole reason to pick him.

Flowborn in archer form loses some of the Arrowstorm poke that made it a lane bully. Base damage drops from 70 (+35/Lv) (+0.28AD) to 64 (+32/Lv) (+0.26AD), a small cut on every part of the formula. FPTShop rated Flowborn S as a marksman. I expect the archer to slide a notch, though the kit still works fine.

Adjustments worth watching

Dirak gets the most interesting change of the patch. Genesis Barrier and Genesis Blast are now separate buttons, so you no longer pick between saving yourself and dealing damage. Genesis Blast as its own skill hits for 500 + 250/Lv + 0.80MP on a 50 (-5/Lv) second cooldown and costs 90 (+5/Lv) mana. Fallen Star now drops instantly when it lands inside the inner circle of his first skill, which fixes the clumsy mark refresh in open areas. The price is Fallen Star's cooldown going from 11 (-0.6/Lv) to 12.5 (-0.5/Lv) seconds. Dirak was B or lower on most lists. An extra active skill is a big deal for him, and he is the hero I would test in normal games this week.

Wukong has his enhanced normal attack flattened. It used to scale from 340 to 508 (+1.0AD) over the game. Now it is a flat 450 (+1.0AD). That is stronger early and weaker late. For a jungler who wants to snowball before the first big fight that is fine, but late game Wukong loses a chunk of burst.

New hero: Evita

Evita is a mage who leans on shields and area damage. Her passive builds Abyssal Energy, and the next skill hit at full charge sends the Essence Devourer charging through enemies while she gets a shield. Hand of Mastery opens two fissures that slow, with a knock up in the middle. Essence Blitz shields her again and lets the beast chase enemies, cutting their magic defense on each hit. Garena suggests Arctic Orb and Holy of Holies, which tells you she is meant to stand inside fights instead of poking from range. Expect her to get banned a lot in her first week, like most new heroes.

System changes

No item or map changes this time. The bug fixes include Volkath dying during his death prevention window after Dolia refreshed his ultimate, and the Forest Wanderer slow wrongly hitting heroes with Iron Body. Both came up in real ranked games, so it is good to see them gone.

What this means for the meta

Mid lane gets the biggest shake up. Raz moves up, Gildur moves down, and Dirak plus Evita give mid players two new things to learn. In the jungle, Kriknak and early game Wukong both look better for fast tempo games. On dragon lane, the Flowborn archer still works but no longer out trades everything, so Hayate and Violet stay the safer picks. If you climb on mid, start practicing Raz now.