League Classic, the throwback mode that launched with patch 26.15 on July 29, 2026, is ending its current run. Built around the 2013 Season 3 era, it brought back the old Summoner's Rift, old items, runes and masteries, and 60 champions, many of them with their pre-rework kits.
Riot first showed it on stage at the MSI 2026 finals in Daejeon, South Korea, on July 12. On October 14, a dev update said Classic stays up through the rest of Season 3 of 2026 and then closes in January 2027.
Riot's Player Support article on the Classic Pass goes a step further and lists League Classic as available until January 6, 2027 (local time), while warning that dates and times may change and that the in-game schedule is the final word.
So if you heard that League Classic was removed, the short answer is not yet, but soon, and Riot says it wants to bring the mode back later in a different form.
This guide, current as of November 10, 2026, covers the timeline, which regions changed queue hours, the Classic Pass and refund deadlines, what is and is not known about a return, and how to save your last Classic matches before they are gone.
League Classic timeline from launch to shutdown (as of November 10, 2026)
| When | What happened | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| July 12, 2026 | Revealed on stage at the MSI 2026 finals in Daejeon, South Korea | Nothing yet; this is where the Season 3 era throwback was first shown |
| July 29, 2026 (patch 26.15) | Launch with 60 champions, old runes, masteries and items, one PvP draft queue, Co-op vs AI and custom games | Classic Levels unlocked runes and masteries as you played |
| October 14, 2026 | Dev update says the current run ends in January 2027 and points to a future event mode return | Decide which champions and comps you still want to play |
| Late October (patch 26.21) | Windowed queues in nine regions, custom games only in Japan and the Middle East, store limited to champions, runes and rune pages, free Act II Classic Pass | Check your server's queue hours before you invite friends |
| Early November (patch 26.22) | Volibear, Swain and Elise added, per game Classic Pass tokens up 50%, called the penultimate content patch | Recount how many games you need to finish the pass |
| November 30, 2026 | Deadline for RP refunds on Classic only content that will no longer be usable | Check your purchases: Act I pass portraits return 200 RP each and the Welcome Bundle Ezreal portrait 2,000 RP; for a cash refund, contact Player Support within the 30 day window Riot gives |
| January 4, 2027, 11:59 p.m. PT | Classic Pass progression ends; the pass deactivates January 5 at 11:59 p.m. PT | Claim every reward you want before this time |
| January 6, 2027 (local time) | Last day League Classic is available per Riot Player Support (subject to change) | Set aside the recordings you want to keep |
Why League Classic is ending, and will it come back?
Riot's explanation is short. Plenty of players jumped into Classic at launch, but over time most of them went back to other parts of League. In regions where few people still queue for it, that meant especially long queue times and large MMR gaps between players in the same match.
Starting with patch 26.21, Riot moved Korea, Latin America North and South, Taiwan, Vietnam, Turkey, Southeast Asia, Oceania and Russia to windowed queues that open from 4 p.m. to midnight server time on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.
on weekends. Japan and the Middle East went to custom games only. North America and the European servers were not on that list, and custom games remain available at all hours in every region.
On the future, Riot says the goal is to put Classic back in the box and bring it back later, likely as an event mode with adjustments and additions.
The team also plans a look back at what it got right, where it could have gone more classic, and where sticking too closely to the past held the mode back.
What has not been announced as of November 10, 2026: a return date, the exact event format, and whether progress such as Classic Levels would carry over. Until January, champions keep arriving.
Patch 26.20 added Irelia, Karma, Quinn, Aatrox and Caitlyn, patch 26.21 added Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hecarim and Lucian, and patch 26.22 added Volibear, Swain and Elise, with Riot calling 26.22 the penultimate content patch for Classic.
What to do before League Classic goes away
- 1Check your region's queue hoursIf you play on NA or EUW, your region was not on the windowed list. If you play in Oceania, Latin America, Turkey, Southeast Asia or another windowed region, Classic matchmaking only runs from 4 p.m. to midnight server time on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. on weekends. Custom games work at any hour, so a custom lobby with friends is the fallback when the queue is closed.
- 2Finish the free Classic PassThe Act II Classic Pass has one free track and no paid tier. Patch 26.22 fixed a configuration error that slowed token progress and raised per game token grants by 50% for the rest of Classic's run. Progress stops on January 4, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. PT, so count the games you still need now rather than in the last week of December. As of November 10, 2026 the pass has six tiers, and you spend at least 125 Classic Pass Coins per tier to move up. Tiers 1 and 5 include a random champion (1,000 Blue Essence if you already own every champion released through 26.20), and tier 6 holds a random skin worth 520 to 1,350 RP.
- 3Check whether you are owed a refundRiot is refunding Classic only content that will no longer be usable. Classic Portraits bought in the store, portraits from the paid Act I pass, the Classic Welcome Bundle and the portrait value of the Collector's Box come back as RP by November 30, 2026, and Classic chromas are refunded in RP too. If you paid cash for the Act I pass or the Collector's Box and want the money back on your original payment method, Riot asks you to contact Player Support within 30 days, so check the window on the support page and do not wait. The amounts: store bought portraits return the RP you spent, Act I pass portraits return 200 RP each, and the Resplendent Explorer Ezreal portrait from the Classic Welcome Bundle returns 2,000 RP. If you want to keep the physical Collector's Box items but refund the digital ones, Player Support can remove that digital content from your account and give you 12,212 RP.
- 4Record your last Classic gamesAfter January, this version of Classic cannot be played again. Old rune pages, pre-rework teamfights and the jokes in voice chat only survive if you record them. With DOR running, League is detected when your game starts and the whole Classic match is recorded from start to finish. Everything DOR does for League is on the League of Legends page.
- 5Trim and share the best momentsCut out the plays you want to show and send them to friends, or turn them into vertical clips. Sending a clip as a single link is covered in how to share League gameplay videos, and 9:16 editing is in how to make League Shorts.
Final checks before the shutdown
- Last day: January 6, 2027 (local time), per Riot Player Support. Dates can change, so check the in-game schedule as it gets close.
- Queue: windowed regions run Classic matchmaking from 4 p.m. to midnight on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. on weekends (server time); custom games are always open.
- Classic Pass: progression ends January 4 at 11:59 p.m. PT, and the pass deactivates January 5 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
- Refunds: RP for Classic only content arrives by November 30, 2026. Not sure what to spend it on? See how to buy champions in League. League and Classic itself are free to play, and since 26.21 the Classic store sells only champions (Blue Essence or RP), runes and rune pages.
- Return: Riot is aiming for a future event mode, with no date announced yet.
Keep your last League Classic games with DOR
DOR is a free Windows game recorder. When you launch League of Legends it detects the game and records the whole match, and every recording lands in My Clips in the app.
League Classic games on Summoner's Rift and custom games with friends are recorded with the default settings, so there is nothing to switch on.
In League, kills, multikills and objectives are also saved as automatic clips, so you do not have to scrub through a full recording to find the fight you remember.
Storage cleanup only starts when full match recordings go past their share of space (5 GB by default), it removes the oldest videos first, and videos you liked are kept, so like the Classic games you want to keep for good.
In the app you can trim any part to 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1, and in DOR Studio (dor.gg/studio) you can merge moments from several games, add text and BGM, then export an mp4 or share a dor.gg link. To review your own play from those recordings, see how to review League VODs, and the full feature list is on the League of Legends page.
