With League Classic here, it’s time to look at how to actually get into the game. Thankfully, the process is fairly simple, though we can only help you get into the game; flashing over the Wraith camp wall is on you.
League Classic is keeping everything super simple. It’s all going down within the standard League of Legends client.
What is League Classic
If you can imagine it, think back to Season 3 of League of Legends; that’s what League Classic is. This is pre-reworks, runes and masteries, Influence Points, stacking HP potions, and even mana potions. The key difference is that the pace of the game is much slower. Riot Games has talked about Yasuo being “The Wall” for League of Legends, so we are pre-Yasuo.
League Classic released with 60 champions, with at least 4 champions expected “soon” according to Riot Meddler (Graves, Urgot, Jinx, Nami). Thus far, if a champion came out after 2013 (pre-Yasuo), they won’t be added to League Classic. League Classic sits alongside URF or Arena as a Featured Game Mode. If you want the deep dive on every returning rune, mastery and item, check out our everything we know about League Classic.
No Extra Download Required
Let’s be honest, we’re all sick of downloading more games, more different clients for games or 40GB patches that add one new map. Sure, League Classic is coming in a patch, but you won’t even notice it. Just grab the League Client, and away you go. Head to the Featured Game Mode and you are set.
Getting Into League Classic
- Download the League Client or patch up – Make sure your client is on the latest patch. If League is already installed, it will have grabbed the update by itself; just let it finish.
- Hit Play – Same button you always use.
- Pick League Classic in the game mode picker – That is the bit where you normally choose Ranked, ARAM, or TFT.
- Choose your queue, lock it in, and off you go – Pick how you want to queue, add your friends, and get gaming.
League Classic Game Modes
One really key bit of information: League Classic is a for-fun mode, not an entirely new game with ranked. Riot has kept things simple with just three versions of League Classic, but realistically there is just one actual competitive mode.
- PvP Draft is the main event. A single draft queue, bans and all.
- Co-op vs AI for warming up or learning the older kits without the pressure of real opponents.
- Custom games for full control, or for dragging your mates into a lobby.
Instead of LP, you get Summoner’s Journey, an achievement-style progression that runs from Salt all the way up to Legend and unlocks at Classic Level 10. Riot reckons only a single-digit percentage of players will ever hit Legend, so the top stays exclusive; but this isn’t an MMR grind. Curious who is actually strong before you queue? Our League Classic tier list is already tracking the early meta so you can dodge the coin flips.
Riding along on the same patch is ARAM: Mayhem Classic-ish, a retro-flavoured spin on Mayhem with its own separate queue. Heads up though, champions keep their modern kits there rather than their Classic ones, and it is a limited-time mode, so it will not be sat in the queue list forever.
And that is genuinely all there is to it. No hoops, no separate downloads, just pick it from the mode list and go. Round up the old squad, dig out that 1% crit rune, and find out whether your muscle memory held up better than your knees do.