Riot Games says League Classic will remain available through the end of Season 3 in 2026 and then end its current run in January 2027. In its October 14 developer update, Riot said it wants to bring Classic back later, “likely as an event mode with adjustments and additions.”
The announcement also lays out changes for Season 3 Act II. Riot is moving some lower-population regions to a windowed queue, limiting Japan and MENA to custom matches only starting with 26.21, and simplifying the Act II Classic Battle Pass to a single free track. The Classic store will also be cut back to Champions, Runes and Rune Pages when 26.21 arrives.
The update follows Riot’s recent push to keep Classic moving with patch 26.20, which added Classic content alongside Worlds tuning and replay limits. Riot’s new post makes clear that the current version of the mode has a set end point, even though the company says it plans to revisit the format later.
Classic stays up through Season 3, then goes offline
Riot said Classic will stay live for the rest of Season 3 and end its current run in January 2027. The company said a lot of players enjoyed returning to the older version of League, but that most have already gone back to other parts of the game. After that, Riot said it will put Classic “back in the box for now” while it works toward a future return.
That future return is being framed as a different kind of release rather than a straight repeat of the current mode. Riot said the goal is to bring Classic back later, probably as an event mode, with adjustments and additions. It also said it will share more in the future about what it learned from the current run, including where Classic landed well, where it could have gone more classic, and where sticking too closely to the past may have held the experience back.
Riot also used the update to ask for more player feedback. The company said feedback is a vital part of how it makes its games and thanked players for continuing to share what they love and do not love about Classic. It pointed to posts on social media, Council votes and the return to old lane leashing as part of what helped make the mode’s run feel special for the team.
That includes a clear nod to the nostalgia Classic has been trying to capture. Riot described the mode as a labor of love and said seeing players dive back in to relive their glory days and reconnect with old friends made the run meaningful for the people who built it.
Windowed queues and regional access changes
Riot said it is changing matchmaking in some regions where players have migrated back to modern modes, which has led to long queue times and large MMR discrepancies. In those areas, Classic will move to a windowed queue. Riot did not list the exact regions in the announcement, but it did say the changes are meant to address those queue and matchmaking issues without removing Classic from those servers entirely.
Classic custom games will stay available at all times in all regions. Japan and MENA are the exceptions: Riot said those regions will have custom matches only from the start of 26.21. The company told players to keep an eye on patch notes for upcoming queue windows.
Those changes matter most for the places where Classic activity has thinned out enough to create longer waits and wider skill gaps. Riot is trying to keep the mode playable in those regions while shifting regular queue access into narrower time windows.
The overall shape is simple enough. Classic will still be there, but access will vary by region, and the most affected areas will rely on set queue windows or customs rather than an always-open normal queue.
Battle Pass, refunds and the trimmed Classic store
Riot said it is issuing refunds on Classic-specific content that will no longer be usable. It directed players to separate refund details for the full breakdown, but the main point is that the studio is clearing out items tied to a mode that is headed toward the end of its current run.
The Act II Classic Battle Pass will arrive in 26.21 with one unified, free track. Riot said the pass will no longer be split into different tracks for this act, keeping the structure simple as the mode moves into its closing stretch.
The Classic store is also being reduced. From 26.21 onward, it will only contain Champions, Runes and Rune Pages. Riot said that change goes live as part of the same patch that brings the Battle Pass update and the region-specific queue changes.
Taken together, those adjustments show Riot tightening Classic around the core pieces needed to play the mode. Content tied only to Classic is being refunded where necessary, the Battle Pass is being pared down, and the store is being limited to essentials.
More old champions are still coming
Even with the end date now set, Riot is still adding “new (old)” champions to Classic. Irelia, Karma, Quinn, Aatrox and Caitlyn came out in 26.20, and Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hecarim and Lucian are set for 26.21.
Champion releases will continue every patch through 26.23, according to Riot. The developer said Volibear, Urgot and Udyr are all coming and noted that the three of them placed in the top three in its most recent Council poll. That means the roster will keep expanding for several more updates even as the current run counts down toward January 2027.
Riot closed by saying it will keep exploring different ways to play League and continue reading feedback on Classic. The company also thanked players for social media posts asking for Classic, votes in the Council and “every minute spent leashing for your jungler again” that helped bring the mode to life.
- Classic stays available through the end of Season 3 in 2026.
- The current run ends in January 2027.
- Some lower-play-rate regions will move to windowed queues.
- Japan and MENA will have custom matches only from 26.21.
- The Act II Classic Battle Pass will have one free track in 26.21.
- The Classic store will only sell Champions, Runes and Rune Pages from 26.21 onward.
- New champions will continue through 26.23.
Riot says more patch-note details are coming for the queue windows and other Classic updates as the mode moves through its final stretch. The current run is ending, but the developer is already planning a different version for later.
classic’s getting sunsetted already? bad sign
not that bad if they keep customs alive. the windowed queues part makes it sound like the normal queue is the real problem, not the mode itself.
normal queue is dead, lol
The part that jumped out to me is Japan and MENA going custom-only from 26.21. That is a pretty hard cut, and it usually means the playerbase there really thinned out. Windowed queues are a decent compromise if the goal is to stop people from sitting in 20 minute lobbies with wild MMR gaps. Riot is basically admitting the hype wave faded faster than they wanted, even if the mode is still sticking around until January 2027.
Fair point. I do think the wording matters though, because Riot saying it will come back as an event mode sounds less like a true shutdown and more like a reset. That makes the end date feel a bit softer than it first reads. Still, Japan and MENA only getting customs is the clearest sign that some regions are already past the point where normal matchmaking makes sense.
back in the box lol
free track only means less grind, so i’m not even mad
less grind, yes. fewer reasons to keep opening the client for Classic stuff, too. i bet the refund note is doing more work than the battle pass here.
Riot discovered mercy
finally
Do you think the region queue windows will kill match quality, or help it? I mostly play support and long queues usually mean the games are a mess anyway.
window queue is better if population is low. at least you get games with same level more often
help it. low population with open queue just makes garbage matches and more waiting.