Although initially planned as a permanent game mode, Riot has announced that League Classic will be going away at the end of its current run. It's set to run through to the end of Season 3 of 2026, which means, essentially, until around the end of the year.

While it's still here, Riot plans to continue updating it and intends to continue adding new champions as planned. After that, Riot has stated that they plan for it to return, at some point, as an event mode with adjustments and additions. At present, Riot hasn't gone into detail about why they are sunsetting the game mode, but they did say that they would share what they've learned from its current run in the future. 

Upcoming Champions

Irelia, Karma, Quinn, Aatrox, and Caitlyn have just been released on Classic in Patch 26.20, and three more batches are set to come in before the mode is removed.

In 26.21, Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hercarim, and Lucian are joining the Rift. By Patch 26.23, the final patch in which champions will be added, Riot plans to add Volibear, Urgot, and Udyr.

Classic Queues

League Classic will remain as is on larger servers, which includes NA and both European servers, and will be limited on the smaller servers where player activity in Classic is too low. This is to avoid long queue times and poor matchmaking. In the following servers, League Classic will only be available at certain time windows, or only as custom games:

Cosmetics & Battle Pass

Since Classic was intended to be a permanent game mode, there is a lot of Classic-specific content that will no longer be usable after the game mode is gone. As such, Riot is issuing refunds on Classic-specific content. 

Additionally, from Patch 26.21 onwards, the Classic store will only contain Champions, Runes, and Rune Pages.

Finally, the Act 2 Classic Battle Pass in 25.21 will have a free track only.

Refunds

Classic Portraits will be refunded based on how they were acquired:

– Purchased Directly at the Store - Receive the RP you spent on it by November 30, 2026.

– Included in the Paid Classic Pass Act I - Receive 200 RP by November 30, 2026 for each Classic Portrait you acquired. If you purchased the Classic Pass Act I directly with cash and you'd prefer a refund to your original payment method instead, contact Player Support within 30 days. 

– Included in Classic Welcome Bundle - Receive 2000 RP for the Resplendent Explorer Ezreal Portrait Classic Portrait by November 30, 2026.

– Included in League of Legends Classic Collector’s Box - Receive the portion of the purchase price attributable to the Classic Portraits in RP by November 30, 2026.  

If you’d prefer a refund to your original payment method instead, contact Player Support within 30 days. If you would still like to receive the physical Collector’s Box, you can request to remove the digital content from your account and get a refund for 12212 RP. 

Classic Chromas:

– If you only bought a Classic chroma, Riot will refund you for that chroma in RP. They will also refund you in RP for the Classic Annie (Founder’s Goth) and Classic Alistar (Founder’s Black) Chromas in the Legendary Welcome Bundle and Classic Welcome Bundle (purchasable directly or included in the League Classic Collector’s Box).