Riot Games Announces League of Legends Classic, Releasing Earlier Than Expected
In the newest news regarding the beloved MOBA, Riot Games announces League of Legends Classic, a new version of its successful title that taps into nostalgia.
After teasing it a couple of weeks ago, it’s been announced that it should get here sooner than expected, as it’s being added to the game for free on July 29th.
here's @RiotPabro explaining how League Classic came to be! pic.twitter.com/dXilDqyX8C
— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) July 12, 2026
The release will deliver a massive throwback to the olden days of League of Legends, but it won’t be like transporting back in time, but more like reliving a collection of its first few seasons.
Apparently, Riot promises the old-school maps, gameplay design, and “original champions, items, and metas from the early days of the title.
Riot hosted a showmatch on its main stage ahead of the MSI Grand Final, which can be found below.
The game should launch with not just the original 40 champions but also 20 additional “classic” ones. The new version will also bring back the original way of selecting champions and runes as well as the offense, defense, and utility skills trees for the mastery system.
“We’ve been wanting to do this for a long time – the community’s been asking for it,” Pabro said when talking about the Classic version. “We’ve taken some of the more fun character designs… and some of the less egregious ones,” saying that Riot put “ones we knew were not that great” back into storage.
“For the most part, it should feel like the way it did then,” Pabro mentions that the community will be able to vote on the shape of Classic’s future experience.
Make sure to log in on July 29th to experience the new League of Legends Classic version.
