League of Legends Classic is Riot Games' featured game mode that recreates older versions of LoL, bringing back pre-rework champion kits, the original rune and mastery system, the old user interface, legacy items like Heart of Gold and Deathfire Grasp, and the old Summoner's Rift map visuals. Riot teased the mode on June 26, 2026, revealed it at the MSI 2026 Finals on July 11, and detailed its systems in a July 14 dev blog. League Classic launches on July 29, 2026.
What Is League of Legends Classic?
League Classic is a Featured Game Mode inside the live League of Legends client, not a separate server or standalone download. It sits in the same rotating category as Arena and URF and will appear in the in-client mode picker when it goes live.
Riot announced the mode through a comedic video titled "200 Years of Experience | Dev Update," starring Executive Producer Paul "Pabro" Bellezza and League Studio head Andrei "Meddler" van Roon. The two run through references to Season 1 gameplay, Season 2 jungle pathing, Heart of Gold, the 40-champion beta roster, and old visual styles for champions like Lux and Graves. The video ends with Riot landing on the name "League Classic" after rejecting alternatives including "Clash of Fates" and "Your Favorite League." The mode's internal development codename was Jade.
What Returns: Champions, Items, and Systems
The July 11 reveal confirmed the core of the mode, and Riot's July 14 dev blog spelled out the systems that had previously only been datamined. Meddler confirmed the single most important detail on Reddit: "yes, we're doing old gameplay kits." The dev blog confirmed the older gameplay kits, the older user interface (Champion Select plus the rune and mastery pages), the Season 3-based era, and the launch roster.
The systems Riot has now confirmed for the mode:
- Old champion kits — pre-rework versions of every champion in the mode's roster
- Old user interface — the legacy Champion Select and rune and mastery pages
- Original Rune system and masteries — the pre-2017 rune pages and mastery talent trees, not current Runes Reforged; you set them up before you queue, and mastery pages fully unlock at Classic Level 4
- Influence Points (IP) — the old currency returns alongside Blue Essence, earned through play and the Classic Pass
- Classic Level progression — a separate leveling track inside the mode, independent of your live account, that unlocks runes, masteries, and currency as you play
- Separate shop — with classic items, including Heart of Gold, Deathfire Grasp, Frozen Mallet, and Atma's Impaler
- Original Summoner's Rift map visuals — the old map look, separate from any live-game visual updates
- Classic Pass — a seasonal battle pass with free and paid tracks, rewarding IP, Blue Essence, rune pages, and cosmetics including Classic Skin Tokens and a new Portraits type
- The Council — a community voting system that lets players vote on future champions, skins, and changes for the mode, with voting power growing at Classic Levels 5, 15, and 25; Riot keeps final say over balance and pre-filters what is eligible to vote on
- Its own queues — a single PvP draft queue, Co-Op vs. AI, and custom games at launch, with no Ranked queue initially (a Summoner's Journey ladder fills that role)
- Modern quality-of-life — matchmaking and performance improvements, modern pings, spell buffering, and optional WASD movement layered over the old feel
The Classic Champion Roster
League Classic launches with a starting roster of 60 champions, including all of the original 40 launch champions, each playing with its pre-rework kit. Eight more champions have been reported for future waves through leaks and dev comments rather than an official list: Akali, Caitlyn, Fiora, Graves, Irelia, LeBlanc, Mordekaiser, and Urgot. Notable names missing from the launch roster include Galio and Udyr. For the complete list grouped by class, plus the future waves and exclusions, see our full League Classic champion list.
Meddler singled out one champion he is personally most excited to revisit: "Old Urgot's actually the kit I'm most excited to play personally, I like new Urgot as well, but old Urgot mid against people who usually had no clue what he did was a lot of fun." Urgot is not in the launch 60, though; he arrives in a later wave.
What Era Will League Classic Be?
League Classic is not frozen to a single patch. Riot built it on a Season 3 foundation and pulled in elements from across the first four seasons of the game. As Riot's FeralPony put it, "we've included elements from the first 4 seasons... we tried our best to get the best combination of nostalgia, uniqueness, and gameplay." New champion releases are cut off around 2013, which is why the roster reads like an early-to-mid LoL lineup rather than any one historical patch.
The mode began internally as a "Thunderdome" project aimed at recreating Season 3 gameplay, and one of its developers, Norak, previously built Chronoshift, a fan project that recreated older League before he was hired at Riot.
League Classic Release Date
League Classic launches on July 29, 2026 with Patch 26.15, revealed at the MSI 2026 Finals on July 11 and detailed in a July 14 dev blog.
Because League Classic is a Featured Game Mode, it does not require a separate client download, and it does not touch your main account or rank. It appears in the in-client mode picker, the same place Arena and URF show up. How you queue in and progress once you are there is covered next.
How to Play League Classic
League Classic runs inside the live League of Legends client, so there is nothing extra to download or install. If you already have League, getting into a game is a short checklist:
- Select League Classic from the in-client mode picker once it is live, the same place Arena and URF appear.
- Build a rune page and mastery page on the pre-game screen. Classic uses the old pre-2017 system described above, so you set these up before you queue rather than in champion select.
- Queue for a single PvP draft game, Co-Op vs. AI, or a custom. There is no Ranked queue at launch; the Summoner's Journey ladder, running from Salt up through to Legend, handles competitive progression instead.
Your Classic Level climbs as you play, separate from your live account, unlocking runes, masteries, and currency (Influence Points and Blue Essence) along the way. The mode is expected to be testable on the Public Beta Environment (PBE) ahead of the July 29 launch, where players get early hands-on time with patches before they hit live servers.
League Classic vs WoW Classic: What's Different
The WoW Classic comparison has appeared in nearly every article covering this announcement. It is a useful shorthand for "an officially sanctioned recreation of an older version of the game," but three practical differences matter for understanding what League Classic actually is:
| WoW Classic | League Classic | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Permanent separate server | Featured game mode inside the live client |
| Era | Launched as Patch 1.12; expanded to TBC, Wrath, Cata Classic | Season 3 foundation, curated across the first four seasons |
| Access | Separate client, separate account | Same client; separate in-mode leveling track |
| Permanence | Ongoing (expanded to TBC Classic, Wrath Classic) | Featured mode Riot says it will update over time, with champion waves after launch |
League Classic is best understood as a featured mode with its own self-contained progression that Riot plans to keep updating, not a permanent parallel game on a separate server. For how it fits alongside every other current queue, see all League of Legends game modes compared.
League Classic FAQ
Is League Classic a separate game or a game mode?
It is a Featured Game Mode inside the standard League of Legends client, not a separate game or standalone server. No separate download is required.
Is there a separate League Classic server?
No. League Classic runs on the same servers as every other queue. You pick it from the in-client mode picker alongside Arena and URF, not through a separate login or download.
Will League Classic be free?
League of Legends is free to play and League Classic is accessible through the same client at no extra cost. Riot has confirmed a seasonal Classic Pass with free and paid tracks, rewarding currency, rune pages, and cosmetics like Classic Skin Tokens and Portraits, but you do not have to pay anything to play the mode itself.
What champions will be in League Classic?
League Classic launches with 60 champions, including all of the original 40, each using its pre-rework kit. Eight more (Akali, Caitlyn, Fiora, Graves, Irelia, LeBlanc, Mordekaiser, and Urgot) have been reported for future waves through leaks and dev comments. See the full League Classic champion list for every name grouped by class.
When does League Classic launch?
League Classic launches on July 29, 2026. Riot revealed the full details at the MSI 2026 Finals on July 11, 2026.
