Bad news for everyone who’s spent the last few months reliving their Season 1 glory days. League Classic has an end date, and it’s a lot sooner than many expected. Riot’s Meddler and Pabro dropped a fresh /dev post today confirming the mode will stick around until the end of Season 3. After that, it wraps up its current run in January 2027.
Riot wants to bring Classic back down the line, most likely as an event mode with some tweaks and new bits added on top. But it does feel like Riot has done Classic as a test of “Classic LoL was better”, and they’ve proven it isn’t. It’s basically their “You think you do, but you don’t”.
Why is League Classic ending?
Put simply, most people have wandered back to modern League and the modes associated with it. Classic had a massive honeymoon period when it launched in the summer, but Riot says the bulk of players have since drifted off to other modes. In some regions, that’s left Classic queues painfully long, and when you do get a game, the MMR gaps can be pretty brutal. Nobody wants to wait 10 minutes to get matched with someone three ranks above them.
Riot also teased a deeper breakdown later on, covering what they nailed, where they reckon they could have gone even more old school, and where sticking too closely to the past actually held the mode back. That last one should be a fun read.
Queue windows are coming to some regions
If you’re in a region where Classic’s population has dipped hard, you’re getting windowed queues. That means you can only queue up during set hours (server time):
| Regions | When you can queue |
|---|---|
| Korea, LAN, LAS, Taiwan, Vietnam, Turkey, SEA, Oceania, Russia | Mon to Fri: 4 pm to midnight. Sat to Sun: 10 am to 1 am |
| Japan (JP1), MENA (ME1) | Custom matches only from patch 26.21 |
Custom games stay open around the clock in every region, so if you’ve got nine mates willing to relive 2011 with you at 3 am, go for it. Riot says to keep an eye on the patch notes for any changes to the windows.
What’s happening with the Battle Pass and store?
The Act II Classic Battle Pass lands in patch 26.21, and it’s a single free track. No premium version this time around.
From 26.21 onwards, the Classic store gets trimmed down to just champions, runes and rune pages. Riot is also refunding any Classic-specific content you bought that won’t be usable anymore, with the details on Riot’s support site.
New (old) champions are still on the way
Riot isn’t just letting Classic quietly fade out; they’re still pumping champions into it right up until the end.
Patch 26.20 already brought in Irelia, Karma, Quinn, Aatrox and Caitlyn. Then 26.21 adds Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hecarim and Lucian. Riot will keep adding champs every patch through 26.23, and that includes Volibear, Urgot and Udyr, the top three picks from the most recent Council vote. So if you were one of the people spamming votes for OG Udyr, your time has come.
Riot also gave a shoutout to everyone who’s been playing, voting and leashing for their junglers like it’s 2011 again, which is a nice touch. Get your Classic games in while you can, because come January, it’s back to the present.