League of Legends has gone through a lot of iteration over the past 17 years, and now in 2026 we’re getting League of Legends Classic, which aims to bring back the experience of “Old League of Legends.” Runes purchased with IP, the classic look and feel of Season 3 League of Legends, and a return to the old, pre-2015 Summoner’s Rift that still had Wraiths.
So what’s confirmed in LoL Classic? A new dev blog just posted, giving us insight into what to expect from Classic.
League of Legends Classic will launch on July 29th alongside patch 26.15.
Key Details
- Season 3 is all about celebrating League’s past and present.
- League Classic launches next patch and is Riot’s take on creating a “greatest hits” feel from across League’s early years.
- Classic will feature the original Summoner’s Rift, a starting roster of 60 champions, old-school items, runes, masteries, and mechanics.
- Additional champions over time, but Classic won’t include every champion released up to the present day.
- You’ll unlock Runes and Masteries by playing Classic, though progression will be much faster than it was in the past and everyone will have access to default pages from the start.
- Classic will also include modern improvements like matchmaking updates, server infrastructure, performance improvements, modern pings, spell buffering, and optional WASD controls.
- Regular balance updates, but Classic will have its own balance philosophy focused on preserving what makes it unique.
- Riot is also introducing The Council, a community voting system that will help guide the future of Classic.
Classic strives to bring back the old feeling of League of Legends: the combat pacing that changed so dramatically when champions like Lucian and Yasuo were introduced to the game, and that eventually spiraled into more movement-based and mechanics-based champions. There won’t be Kayn, Rek’Sai, Taliyah, Zeri, or any of the new, insanely fast, high-octane champions we have in modern League of Legends. This brings back many of the point-and-click abilities, where champions had longer cast times and higher mana costs, and where casting a spell really meant committing to a fight.
It also brings back runes and rune pages, all the old items, and the retro look and feel of old League of Legends, but with some improvements to lighting and shadows.
Official Blog Post
Since 2009, we’ve continuously done one thing: evolve the game. New and reworked champions, items, runes, modes, you name it. We’re always looking for ways to keep League fun and fresh.
But every now and then, when we talk about where we’re going, we hear many of you talk about where we’ve been.
“Remember experimenting with old Runes and Masteries to play things like Bankplank? Or terrorizing opponents with AP Master Yi or Sion mid? What about AD Alistar? Remember 95% ban rate Kassadin?“
A lot of you miss those days. And we do, too.
And that’s where League Classic comes in.
What, and when, is League Classic?
League Classic is a new gameplay experience that aims to recreate moments like those, and to create totally new ones that were never possible before.
The term Classic can mean a lot of different things to different people—even for us at Riot. For some folks the “Classic era” of League is beta, or Season 1, or Season 3, or even a particular patch (Devourer / Challenging Smite Warwick, anyone?). So when we were thinking about League Classic, we had to ask ourselves the important question: “When is League Classic?”
And, since we mentioned, we all have different perspectives on when, the answer to when was naturally, “Yes.”
We started with Season 3 as our anchor, but League Classic is more of a collection of greatest hits, rather than a singular moment in time. That means it’s got things from a variety of seasons, like every single Summoner (yes, even Fortify), almost every single item from the first few years of League, including Atma’s Impaler and Frozen Mallet, and a lotta pre-rework champ kits. But, there’s one core truth: No Yasuos allowed.
League is amazing—who doesn’t love skipping around as a shy little deer, lulling your enemies to sleep, and then boopin’ and boppin’ them in the head for half their health? Or growing into a super big scary dragon and Elder executing your enemies as they slowly burn to your magnificent power? All right, some of us.
That’s just not what we think is right for League Classic.
League has evolved into a substantially more complex game with tons of spaces for skill expression, diverse champion fantasies, aaand quite a bit of mobility. But one of the things you all mention when you talk about OG League, is how much you miss the combat pacing.
In Classic, champions have sharper strengths and weaknesses, missiles and dashes are slower, and there are more stuns (yippee). But that doesn’t mean the stakes are any lower. Each one of your spells costs more to cast and do substantially more damage than modern League. That means you need to be more strategic about when and how you engage with your opponents.
The Classic Map is built to recreate the early Summoner’s Rift map—it’s got wraiths, buffs have friends again, and they do a bit more damage than they do these days (buy some Health Potions unless you’re Warwick). They also respawn much, much faster.
That said, we made some targeted improvements to readability. Things like lighting, shadows, and textures have been improved to help gameplay clarity when you’re in the middle of a high octane fight.
Champions, Runes, Masteries, and More!
To start, we’re launching Classic with 60 champions: the OG 40 plus another 20 hand-selected champions released from 2009-2013.
Before you ask, “Where’s my main?” Don’t worry! We know 60 champions can’t represent the full breadth of early League, so more champions are coming, but will all pull from this time period.
We wanted Classic to have a more focused roster to make jumping back in a smoother experience. That means if you’ve been away for a bit, you don’t have to go and read 100+ champions’ abilities to get back up to speed.
If you already own a champion, you’ll have access to them in Classic right away. If not, you’ll be able to unlock Classic champions through your Classic Level, or by grabbing them from the Shop. And, as always, there’s the free champion rotation.
And of course, familiar favorite item builds are back too. Atmogs? You betcha. The full Metagolem setup? No doubt. Filling half your inventory with Gold per 10 items? We wouldn’t have it any other way. They’re a huge part of what defined the era. In fact, we’re including almost every item that existed across the first few years of League… And Zz’Rot Portal.
If your favorite item does return, please use it responsibly.
Or don’t. We’ll find out together.
And, finally, let’s touch on Runes and Masteries.
Before you load into a game of Classic, you’ll need to pre-select Runes and Masteries based on who you want to play. These can drastically change the way you play your champion—from the items you build, to the damage you do.
But, we’ve made Runes and Masteries a lot simpler and faster to unlock.
In Classic you’ll unlock both of these just by playing, and there’s no need to upgrade them, they’re all the old Tier 3 as a baseline. And you can put them in Rune Pages. You’ll get three to start, an additional two from Classic Levels, and you can buy more for IP (those are back for Classic) which you get just by playing.
Nearly every single Rune you actually used is coming back, and the under-picked ones have been given a little love to be more attractive options as well. So if you want to play full Crit Gangplank, go crazy!?
As for Masteries, again, you won’t have to grind long to unlock those. You’ll have all Mastery pages and points fully unlocked after hitting Classic Level 4.
And if you forget to set your Runes and Masteries before a game, don’t worry. Everyone gets a default page, so you won’t be substantially less powerful than anyone, just a little sub-optimal.
Summoner’s Journey
At launch, League Classic will have a single PvP draft queue, Co-op vs AI, and customs for all the very important scientific work that starts with “wait, let me try something.”
Our main goal is for Classic to be a place for you to have fun with your friends, rather than a sweaty Ranked grindfest. But, we also know that having something to achieve adds a bit of fun. So, we’re adding a new progression system called Summoner’s Journey.
Once you hit level Classic Level 10, you’ll start your Summoner Journey at Salt, then progress to Wood, and so on, all the way up to Legend (since it’s the League of Legends… get it?). It’s a way for you to flex on your friends, achieve goals, but still have fun with anyone, regardless of how long it’s been since they last stole your penta.
For those who do want to go all-in on the journey, you can climb all the way to Legend if you’re skilled and dedicated enough. Only a single-digit percentage of players will make it into this exclusive club, so climbing that high won’t be for the faint of heart.
Related, we also want to touch on Champ Select. In the old days you had to have 300 wpm to call out which role you wanted. And sometimes someone would hit you with “mid or feed” no matter what, which is a pretty unenjoyable experience. So, we decided to implement a positional preference system that lets you choose the roles you want in order of preference.
We’ll try to give you your first choice, and avoid your last pick, but you may sometimes get your second or third preference in order to keep queue times healthy.
Passes, Skins, and Portraits
We’ve mentioned Classic Levels a few times now. In short, it’s a free progression track that everyone has access to. You gain levels just by simply playing games of Classic. On it you’ll unlock things like Masteries, Runes, the Summoner’s Journey, IP, BE, as well as a variety of cosmetics, including the Rustier Blitzcrank skin.
Classic Levels are a one-time progression system, much like account levels. Outside of them, we’ll have Seasonal Classic Passes, similar to Battle Passes. They’ll have a free and paid track that also grant IP, BE, Rune Pages, emotes, titles, and Classic Skins and Portraits.
Classic Skins are essentially skins that make Classic champs look the way they did in 2009-2013. So if you miss pre-rework Evelynn’s visuals, no worries, Classic Skins bring those back.
Classic Skins are unlockable through Classic Skin Tokens, which you get through the Seasonal Pass (on both the paid and free tracks) or in the Shop. You can use these to unlock any Classic skin, and if your main doesn’t have one yet, you can wait to unlock it at a later date.
As for other skins you’ve accumulated, many will be available to use in Classic at launch. We’ve tried to have as many skins ready for launch as possible, but for those that aren’t ready, we’ll be expanding this list over time. But you’ll be able to use every base model champ, which have also all received the old-school inking outlines. Some champions have also gotten VFX, animation, and sound updates to match their Classic kits, if they’ve received VGUs since this time period, like Sion, for example.
We’re also adding Classic Chromas which are chromas for Classic Skins, and inject even more 2009 flair. Do you remember the original Tundra Warwick? You’re about to.
And, finally, let’s talk Portraits. Portraits are alternate-styled loading screen splash, ranging from playful doodles made by one of our resident designers, to pretty reinterpretations of champions. Portraits will rotate in the loading screen, so you can collect them to show off your favorites as you wait for your team to load in on a potato.
Portraits, Classic Skins, and Classic Chromas are only usable in League Classic, but don’t worry, we’ve still got some Classic era-inspired skins for you to use anywhere in League.
The Council: Classic’s Future in Your Hands
We’re launching Classic with our interpretation of what made early League so special. But, as we all know, the real thing that made early League amazing was your feedback. So, we wanted to create a system that gives you all power in the direction Classic goes.
The Council is our version of community voting, which will help guide future choices like which champions are added next, what skins we make for Classic, and even gameplay changes.
You’ll unlock access to The Council through Classic Level, and you’ll get more voting power by playing the game more. That means if you spend more time in Classic, you’ll get more of a voice in The Council. We’ll still handle things like game health and balance, but we want to work with all of you to decide where Classic goes next.
Thank You
League Classic exists because many of you have talked for years about how amazing it would be to re-live the early days of League.
You kept the memories alive: the clips, the discussions, the “back in my day” posts, and the friend group stories.
So it’s time to call the squad, equip that 1% crit Rune, and lock in your main.
We’ll see you on the Classic Rift.
