When a new champion is revealed, it usually takes about two weeks to hit the live server. In the meantime, YouTube and social media are already flooded with new-champ gameplay, yet you can't even touch it on the live server. The place those videos come from is the PBE test server. This article covers, in order, how to play on the League of Legends PBE server, from what PBE is to sign-up, download, access requirements, and cautions. We'll cover in one go why you need a US IP (VPN) during sign-up and what the Honor level 3 requirement is.
What is the PBE server?
PBE stands for Public Beta Environment, a test server run by Riot Games. It's where new champions, new skins, new items, and balance changes from the pre-release stage are applied early so players can play them firsthand and find bugs and balance issues. In other words, the content running on PBE is a preview of what's coming before it arrives on the live server.
The key point here is that PBE is a completely separate server from the live one. PBE accounts exist apart from live accounts, and most champions and skins are unlocked within PBE, so you can get your hands on new content right away. In exchange, since it's a server for testing purposes, it's less stable than the live server.
Step 1: Make a PBE account (US IP / VPN needed)
To play PBE, you need to be issued a dedicated PBE account separate from your live account. But because the PBE sign-up page runs on a North America (NA) basis, you need a US IP at the moment you sign up. Connecting on a Korean IP as-is can get you blocked during the sign-up process, so the common approach is to turn on a VPN that connects to a US server just while you sign up.
The important thing is that the VPN is only needed during the sign-up step. Once you've finished signing up and your PBE account is issued, you can log in and actually play just fine on a Korean IP. So you don't need to turn on a VPN every single time you play; just understand that a US IP is only called on at the initial account-creation step.
Step 2: Download the PBE client
Once your PBE account is ready, next is installing the dedicated PBE client. You can't access PBE with the live-server client you normally use; you have to install a separate League of Legends PBE client from the Riot Client.
When you launch the Riot Client, there's a menu for switching games, typically in the top-left area. Here, separately from regular League of Legends, select the PBE entry and proceed with the install. The PBE client installs and patches separately from the live server, so factor in that you'll need another full set of install space and updates. Once the install is done, log in with your issued PBE account to connect.
Step 3: Access eligibility (Honor level 3 or higher)
Having an account and client doesn't mean just anyone can get into PBE without limit. To run PBE in a healthy way, Riot puts access requirements in place. The key condition is Honor level 3 or higher on the live server. Honor level is a metric that goes up through recommendations from the players you've played with, and PBE access eligibility is only maintained for accounts that have played cleanly above a certain level.
Conversely, if you have a penalty history on the live server like an account ban or chat restriction, your Honor level drops, and as a result it can be hard to gain or keep PBE access eligibility. In other words, PBE is directly tied to your live-server manners, so your usual in-game conduct effectively becomes your ticket into the test server.
- Maintaining Honor level 3 or higher on the live server is the key condition for access eligibility
- A penalty history like bans or chat restrictions can make it hard to gain or keep eligibility
- PBE accounts are separate from live accounts, but eligibility is judged based on your live-server status
- Sign-up and eligibility policies change frequently, so checking the latest standard via the official FAQ is recommended
Step 4: Cautions (bugs, server instability, ping)
PBE is certainly appealing, but the downsides that come from its nature as a test server are clear. First, bugs are frequent. Since it's where unverified new content lands first, champion abilities working differently than intended or the client crashing are more common than on the live server. Second, the server is unstable. Right after a large patch, you may run into login queues or matchmaking delays.
Third, ping. Due to the nature of the PBE server's location, connecting from Korea can give you higher ping than the live server, making it hard to carry over precise combos or your laning sense exactly. So PBE is best approached not as a place to measure your skill but as a space to experience and examine new content first.
Your first PBE play: claim content early with DOR
The real value of PBE is getting your hands on new champions and skins before everyone else. But to turn that value into content, those first moments of play have to be saved as video. The scene of getting a new champ for the first time and pressing each ability, the moment of getting your first kill with a new ultimate, your reaction to seeing a new skin's effects for the first time, this is material no one has before the official release. If this video is ready at the moment of release, you can grab search and recommendation traffic first.
The catch is that it's hard to remember to hit record every time you launch PBE. Caught up playing because the new champ is exciting, the recording is often off at the exact moment of your first kill or a key combo. DOR is a free recording program that solves this problem with automation. Install it and it detects the moment you launch a game with the PBE client, records in the background, and cuts key moments like kills and pentakills into short clips on its own.
Thanks to that, the moment your first game getting your hands on a new champ on PBE ends, your highlights are already gathered as clips. There's no hotkey to memorize and no need to scrub through a long recording to find your best moments. The same approach applies straight to live-server Teamfight Tactics (TFT) or Valorant play, so you can build up your new-champ clips from PBE and your live-server content in one flow.
In summary
How to play on the PBE server boils down to four steps: make a PBE account with a US IP (VPN), install the dedicated PBE client separately from the Riot Client, qualify for access with Honor level 3 or higher on the live server, and play while factoring in test-server traits like bugs and ping. The sign-up procedure changes often, so checking the official FAQ before you start is a must. And don't just let your hard-earned first play on PBE slip by; auto-clip it with DOR and claim it as content before the official release.
