League Classic Is Going Away in January 2027, With Limited Queues Coming Sooner

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Riot Games says League Classic will end its current run in January 2027, after Season 3 of 2026 wraps up. The throwback League of Legends mode launched this summer, but Riot says many players have since moved back to modern League modes.

The mode isn’t being deleted forever, at least not based on Riot’s wording. The studio says it plans to “put Classic back in the box for now” and may bring it back later as an event mode with changes, additions, and lessons learned from this run.

  • Starting in Patch 26.21, several regions will move Classic to windowed matchmaking because of lower activity, longer queues, and wider MMR gaps.
  • Korea, Latin America North, Latin America South, Taiwan, Vietnam, Turkey, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Russia will have Classic queues open Monday to Friday from 4 PM to 12 AM server time, and Saturday to Sunday from 10 AM to 1 AM server time.
  • Japan and MENA will only support Classic custom matches.
  • Classic custom games will stay available at all times in every region.
  • Riot is issuing refunds for Classic-specific content that won’t be usable after the mode ends.
  • The Act II Classic Battle Pass will arrive in Patch 26.21 with only a single free track.

The Classic store is also being trimmed down. From Patch 26.21 onward, it will only sell champions, runes, and rune pages.

Riot will keep adding champions until Classic shuts down. Irelia, Karma, Quinn, Aatrox, and Caitlyn arrived in Patch 26.20, while Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hecarim, and Lucian are coming in Patch 26.21. More champions are planned every patch through 26.23, including Volibear, Urgot, and Udyr, who were the top three picks in the latest Classic Council poll.

Further reading: Official /dev: League Classic post