Wild Rift Patch 7.2 Notes: Yunara, Item Overhaul and Ranked Energy

Riot called 7.2 one of its biggest gameplay updates, and it earned the label: very few parts of a match were left untouched. This recap summarises the headline changes in our own words, explains what they meant for each role and for ranked, and shows what happened to them in the balance patches that followed. Every fact links to Riot's own pages so you can check the detail yourself.

What patch 7.2 was

Patch 7.2 went live in early July 2026 with a shorter cycle than usual. Before launch, Riot explained that 7.2 would last around two months instead of the usual three, and that it would therefore release two champions rather than more. The first was Yunara on day one; the second, Cho'Gath, arrived partway through the cycle, and Riot's 7.2c notes were already buffing him because he had been underperforming since release.

The official 7.2 notes also brought the Movie Director Ryze Wild Pass, Battlefest Season S6, a summer Ionia map and a real-time Vision Score on the scoreboard.

Yunara, Ahri and the champion changes

Yunara, the Unbroken Faith is an Ionian marksman who, in Riot's lore, spent centuries in the spirit realm training with a Kinkou relic called the Aion Er'na. She was released on 9 July 2026 at 00:01 UTC. Because she arrived in the same patch as a large item rework, anyone judging her in her first weeks was also judging marksman builds that were still settling after the Enchantment changes. She stayed on the list of champions Riot kept tuning: patch 7.3 adjusted her crit-related damage and bonus Attack Speed as part of its wider marksman update.

Ahri received a full Art and Sustainability Update: a rebuilt model and rig, smoother animations and effects, and refreshed skins. Separately, her charm became one of ten effects moved to the new Knockdown crowd-control type, which interrupts dashes.

Who got weaker and who got stronger

Most balance changes followed from the system rework. With Stasis no longer available to everyone, Zed's ultimate became riskier to use. Lee Sin was pushed from one-shot assassin builds toward a fighter style. Yasuo and K'Sante's ultimate Armor Penetration now applies only to bonus Armor, so they still threaten tanks but hurt squishy carries less, and Norra's banish was shortened. Darius got a smoother lane, Kai'Sa more freedom with her ultimate, and Kayn, Syndra, Orianna, Fiddlesticks and Varus consistency fixes. Zyra's plants and Annie's Tibbers began inheriting their owner's Magic Penetration.

The item overhaul: Enchantments, boots and mage items

Active Enchantments became class items

This was the single biggest change. Riot said that Enchantments had become cheap, universal tools that blurred the strengths and weaknesses of each role, with Stasis in particular being the default answer to almost everything. In 7.2, Enchantments stopped being boot upgrades and became standalone items tied to classes. Stasis moved to Seeker's Armguard and Zhonya's Hourglass for mages; crowd-control cleanse moved to Quicksilver Sash and Mercurial Scimitar for marksmen and some fighters; tanks got a burst shield on Gargoyle Stoneplate; supports got team actives such as Redemption, Locket of the Iron Solari, Shurelya's Battlesong and Mikael's Blessing. Glorious Enchant and Veil Enchant were removed.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 boots

Tier 2 boots became more specialised and, for most pairs, more expensive: the official notes list most of them rising from 900 to 1,200 gold with a component in the recipe. Mercury's Treads got Tenacity back and Plated Steelcaps gained a passive that reduces damage from champion basic attacks. New Tier 3 boots unlocked only after the 10-minute mark, giving every class a late-game upgrade; one of them, Armorcrusher Boots, was strong enough that 7.2a cut it back a week later.

Mage items and Magic Penetration

Every Tier 3 mage item lost its built-in 7% Magic Penetration. Penetration was concentrated in a few items instead: Void Amethyst, Spellslinger's Shoes, Void Staff, Cryptbloom and Bloodletter's Curse. Riot's aim was to stop mages scaling like marksmen and to strengthen first items such as Luden's Echo and Malignance. Five items left the shop, including Awakened Soulstealer and Crown of the Shattered Queen, whose spell shield moved into Banshee's Veil.

Tear, support items and runes

Tear of the Goddess dropped from 900 to 500 gold and became a basic item, enchanter items lost some Ability Haste, and runes took broad cuts across every tree so that they complement a build rather than define it.

Ranked Energy, bounties and the map

Ranked Energy. Season S22 started on 10 July 2026 and swapped Ranked Fortitude for a new Ranked Energy system. In Riot's Patch 7.2 Ranked article, the goal was to link progression more clearly to individual performance: strong games and MVP earn extra Energy, a very good game in a loss can reduce what you lose, and bad experiences such as autofill are compensated. Riot said older protections like Rising Star were consolidated into it, and ranked violations now cost Energy.

Bounties. Bounties stopped depending on kill and death streaks and started tracking all major gold income, including farm and assists. Payouts scale with the team gold difference, so a champion on a team that is even or behind gives no bonus bounty, while a champion on a team with a decisive lead is worth the full amount, up to 700 bonus gold for a single takedown. Gold from champion abilities, First Strike and similar sources does not count.

Map tempo. Several minion, turret and base timers moved about a minute earlier to line up with objectives, and the Soulflowers under towers were removed.

What 7.2 meant for each role

For ranked, the practical lesson of 7.2 was that one default build stopped existing. Before the patch, many champions bought the same defensive Enchantment almost every game; afterwards, each class had its own answers and its own gaps, so reading the enemy draft and choosing items around it mattered more. Ranked Energy pushed in the same direction by rewarding individual performance, not only the result. Our Wild Rift item guide and champion pages reflect the current patch, not 7.2, which is the point: use them to see where things stand now.

What changed after 7.2

A week after launch, patch 7.2a trimmed Nidalee, Warwick and Senna, buffed Skarner and Yuumi, and slowed the stacking of Tear-line items that the cheaper Tear had made too efficient. Patch 7.2b reported that the new bounty system had cut one-sided stomps while only slightly raising comebacks, and made bounties accumulate more slowly so leading teams were not over-punished. Patch 7.2c strengthened Dragons, buffed Cho'Gath and addressed frozen Baron Lane waves.

Then patch 7.3 replaced 7.2 as the live patch. At a high level, it added the painter mage Hwei as the newest champion, overhauled the marksman class (including higher base critical strike damage and a higher Attack Speed cap), reworked the jungle economy and Smite, and began Ranked Season S23 on 23 September 2026 with five bans per team from Platinum to Diamond. If you are returning after a break, read the 7.3 notes first; many 7.2 numbers above are no longer current.

How we keep this page accurate

This recap is based on Riot's official Wild Rift patch notes and the developer articles Riot published around patch 7.2, all linked in the text. We summarise rather than copy and quote only a few key values, so open the linked notes when a number matters. We do not report win rates, because Riot did not publish them for this patch. If you spot a mistake, use the correction link on this article.