Dive into the classic League of Legends experience with League Classic on July 29 when Patch 26.15 debuts!
League of Legends players have been abuzz at the news of the latest additional game mode coming next week on Wednesday: League Classic. The upcoming game mode will let older players re-experience the classic League of Legends experience, and allow newer players to see it for themselves. The game mode will revert League of Legends to a version of League from 2009-2013, with a few changes for clarity and expedience.
Champion Pool
Riot has intimated that this will be a sort of evolving game mode with more investment poured into it as time goes. To start with, League Classic will include a roster of 60 champions: the original 40 champions that were released when League of Legends first began, and another 20 "hand-selected" champions that were released in the 2009-2013 era.
However, more champions are planned to be released in the near future. Akali, Caitlyn, Fiora, Graves, Irelia, LeBlanc, Mordekaiser, and Urgot are all champions that are teased to be making their way slowly to League Classic.
In addition to having jankier models and aged character portraits, these champions will also have champion kits that reflect their gameplay during the classic League era. There was some difficulty in choosing what kit each champion would have, particularly with champions that have gone through more than a few mini reworks even during the short window between 2009 and 2013. Generally, Riot has said that they are aiming to portray the champions at their most iconic, in those edge cases.
Runes & Masteries
Love them or hate them, runes and masteries were an integral part of the classic League of Legends experience. You would unlock mastery points for free as you levelled up, while runes had to be purchased separately in the store with currency you earned by playing. Then you'd have to buy rune pages to fill up with your runes, and those would cost you as well. Sometimes, a single gold-per-second quint was all you could afford... It was very sad.
Well, runes and masteries are back but the classic thirty level toil and grind aren't coming back with them. League Classic will mercifully expedite the process of collecting runes. You’ll have all Mastery pages and points fully unlocked after hitting Classic Level 4. Runes are also all going to be of the highest tier, so you won't need to fill your pages with subpar runes until you have enough money to unlock the best ones.
You'll still need to unlock rune pages, but a few will be available to you for free from the beginning. You’ll have three rune pages to start, and earn an additional two from Classic Levels. You can also buy more using Influence Points, a currency you earn just by playing.
Champion Select
Champion Select has been made quicker in contemporary league, and Riot has made it easier for you to get your preferred role when you play League in 2026. In the old days, however, what you played largely depended on how quickly you could type "mid or feed" in the chat, and which position you were in draft.
To combat trolls and ensure you secure your main role as frequently as it is fair, Riot will implement a positional preference system that lets you choose the roles you want in order of preference, even though that isn't a 100% classic experience.
Passes, Skins, and Portraits
Initially, Riot intended for the champions to retain their contemporary models and effects, while giving players the opportunity to unlock and/or purchase the classic variants of several champions. This idea had garnered significant negative feedback, and Riot had made an update on the 17th of July, saying that they will instead opt to make Classic Skins the default version of each character when the game mode goes live on the 29th of July. Champions will now look as they did in the classic era of the game and also have their old, outdated voice lines as well.
Classic Evelynn
Some classic skins were going to be unlocked by progressing through a new pass. Playing Classic would advance you through this new progression track and earn you Classic Levels. This would be a free progression track that everyone has access to that will let you unlock Runes, Masteries, Influence Points, and Blue Essence, as well as, allegedly, cosmetics. Progressing will also give you access to "The Summoner's Journey".
Outside of Classic Levels, there will be a separate Seasonal Classic Pass which functions similarly to a Battle Pass. Like a Battle Pass, it'll have a free and paid progression track and it will also grant Influence Points, Blue Essence, Rune Pages, emotes, titles, and Portraits; a new kind of cosmetic which replaces your portrait in the loading screen. Portraits will rotate in the loading screen so you have a chance to show off your collection.
Summoner's Journey
At launch, League Classic will have a PvP draft mode, Co-Op vs AI, and customs. The goal of League Classic is for it to be a game mode to have fun with your friends, rather than an ultra-competitive grindfest. However, for those who are looking for a challenge, there will be a progression system called Summoner's Journey.
Once you hit Classic Level 10, you'll gain access to Summoner's Journey which will track your progress from Salt, to Wood, and all the way up to Legend. Climbing to Legend tier is meant to be a long and difficult road. Only a single-digit percentage of players will succeed in reaching Legend status.
