Riot Games is pulling the plug on League of Legends Classic for now. In a developer update posted on October 14, Rioters Meddler and Pabro confirmed that Classic will stay available through the rest of Season 3 before ending its current run in January 2027. Riot's support site puts the exact final day at January 6, 2027, which means the throwback mode will have lasted less than six months.
The reason is simple. Riot says that while plenty of players had fun revisiting the old days, "most have gone back to other parts of League." The official League of Legends account shared the update on X. Check it out below:
Classic Is Going Back In The Box
Riot is not treating this as a permanent goodbye. The developers wrote "We'll then put Classic back in the box for now, with the goal of bringing it back, likely as an event mode with adjustments and additions." They also plan to share more about what they learned from this first run, including where they think they got Classic right, where they could have gone more classic, and where sticking too closely to the past may have held the experience back.
Until January, the mode is changing in a few ways. Some regions with lower play rates are moving to windowed queues, since Riot has seen especially strong migration back to modern League there, which led to long queue times and large MMR gaps. Korea, Latin America North, Latin America South, Taiwan, Vietnam, Turkey, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Russia will only have Classic matchmaking from 4 p.m. to midnight server time on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. server time on weekends. Japan and MENA are moving to custom matches only starting with Patch 26.21, which is scheduled for October 21. Classic custom games will stay open at all times in every region.
The Act II Classic Battle Pass is also shipping in Patch 26.21 with one free track and no paid version. From that patch on, the Classic store will only sell champions, runes, and rune pages.
How The Classic Refunds Work
Since Classic-only cosmetics will have nowhere to go once the mode shuts down, Riot is refunding them, starting 30 days after the October 14 notice. Classic Portraits are being handled based on how players got them:
- Portraits bought directly from the store will be refunded for the RP spent by November 30, 2026.
- Portraits from the paid Act I Classic Pass will be refunded at 200 RP each by November 30. Players who bought the Act I pass with cash can contact Player Support within 30 days to get a refund to their original payment method instead.
- The Resplendent Explorer Ezreal Classic Portrait from the Classic Welcome Bundle will be refunded at 2,000 RP by November 30.
- Portraits from the League of Legends Classic Collector's Box will be refunded for the share of the price tied to them, in RP, by November 30. Buyers can also contact Player Support within 30 days for a refund to their original payment method, and anyone who still wants the physical box can ask to have the digital content removed for a 12,212 RP refund.
Classic Chromas are getting refunds too. Riot had already announced in Patch 26.18 that Classic Chromas would be merged with their base skins, but with Classic ending, anyone who bought only a Classic Chroma will be refunded in RP. The Founder's Goth Annie and Founder's Black Alistar Classic Chromas from the Legendary Welcome Bundle and Classic Welcome Bundle, including copies that came in the Collector's Box, will also be refunded in RP.
More Old Champions Are Still On The Way
Classic players still have plenty to look forward to before the end. Irelia, Karma, Quinn, Aatrox, and Caitlyn joined the mode in Patch 26.20, and Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hecarim, and Lucian are coming in 26.21. Riot will keep adding champions every patch through 26.23, including Volibear, Urgot, and Udyr, the top three picks in the latest Council poll.
The developers closed the update with a thank you to the community, writing "Every post on social media asking for Classic, every vote cast in the Council, and every minute spent leashing for your jungler again helped us bring this to life, so thank you very much."
A Short Run For A Long-Requested Mode
Riot first detailed League Classic in a dev blog on July 14, and it launched with Patch 26.15 at the end of that month. The mode used Season 3 as its anchor but pulled in favorites from several early seasons, including every Summoner Spell, almost every item from League's first few years, and a lot of pre-rework champion kits. It also brought back the early Summoner's Rift with wraiths and stronger buffs, plus old-school runes, masteries, and IP.
Classic launched with 60 champions, made up of the original 40 and another 20 picked from those released between 2009 and 2013. Riot also kept one firm rule: "No Yasuos allowed." The mode added Classic Skins that restored champions' original looks, a progression system called Summoner's Journey that ran from Salt all the way up to Legend, and The Council, a community voting system that let players help decide which champions came next.
Are you squeezing in as many Classic games as you can before January 6, or were you already back on modern Summoner's Rift?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.