League Classic is coming July 29: Season 3, 60 champions, old runes and all

Riot pulled the curtain back on League Classic at the MSI 2026 Finals, and after weeks of datamining and guesswork we finally have real details instead of leaks. The short version: it's built on Season 3, it launches July 29, and it's bringing back almost everything people have been asking for since 2013.

Here's what's actually confirmed, what's still datamined, and what it means if you're planning to play.

The essentials

League Classic launches on July 29, 2026, at 8:00 AM PT, alongside Patch 26.15. It's a Featured Game Mode, the same category as Arena and URF, which means it runs inside the normal Riot Client with no separate download and no second account. You'll pick it from the same mode selector you already use.

Two things worth knowing up front. It's permanent, not a limited rotation, so this isn't a two-week nostalgia event you'll miss if you're busy. And it has its own Ranked queue, completely separate from your live-game rank. Whatever you climb to in Classic has nothing to do with your modern account, which means there's a fresh ladder for everyone on day one.

It's Season 3, but not only Season 3

The way Riot describes it, League Classic isn't a snapshot of one historical patch. It's built on a Season 3 foundation but pulls pieces from across the early seasons, with new champion releases cut off around 2013. Executive Producer Paul "Pabro" Bellezza framed it as a curated "greatest hits" of old League rather than a museum recreation.

That distinction matters. Some quality-of-life improvements from modern League are staying in, so it should feel smoother than actually loading a 2013 client would. But the core, the kits and the systems, is old League. Studio head Meddler put the important part plainly on Reddit: "yes, we're doing old gameplay kits."

The champions

League Classic launches with 60 champions, including all 40 of the original 2009 roster, each playing with its pre-rework kit. That's the headline for a lot of returning players: Graves gets his cigar back, Sion returns to his old stunlock form, and the champions who've been reworked into something unrecognisable show up the way you remember them.

Eight more are confirmed for future waves after launch: Akali, Caitlyn, Fiora, Graves, Irelia, LeBlanc, Mordekaiser, and Urgot. Worth noting that Urgot isn't in the launch 60 despite Meddler naming old Urgot mid as the kit he's personally most excited to play, so if that's your pick, you're waiting a little.

The roster isn't frozen either. Riot has said future additions will be shaped partly by community voting, closer to how Old School RuneScape lets players decide what comes next. Galio and Udyr are two notable early-era names missing from the launch list and not yet confirmed either way.

The systems coming back

This is the part that makes it feel like old League rather than modern League with old kits bolted on. Confirmed and returning:

Champion select brings back individual rune pages and the 30-point mastery trees across the original Offense, Defense, and Utility structure. If you played back then, pre-game prep mattering again is a big part of what made it feel different, and that whole layer is back.

The rest, largely from datamining and expected rather than fully spec'd yet: the original Summoner's Rift with the old jungle layout, no alcoves and no elemental terrain. Summoner leveling from 1 to 30. Influence Points returning as the mode's currency. Long-removed summoner spells like Clairvoyance, Fortify, Revive, and Rally. And the legacy item shop, which means Heart of Gold, Deathfire Grasp, and the old gold-efficient builds people still talk about.

There's also a datamined battle pass and token system, so expect some optional cosmetics, though Riot hasn't detailed the monetization yet.

What's still up in the air

A fuller dev blog is still coming, so treat the datamined systems above as "very likely" rather than "carved in stone." The exact monetization, the full future champion voting mechanics, and the final launch roster details are the main things we're still waiting on official word for.

We'll be covering all of it here as it firms up, and building out the champion, item, rune, and mastery pages for the mode as launch approaches. The plan is simple: the classic data done properly and checked, not scraped and dumped. July 29 is the date to circle.