League of Legends Classic will go offline as a full-time mode in January 2027, and Riot Games says players will receive refunds for Classic content made obsolete by the closure. The current season is its last, though Riot is considering bringing the experience back as an event mode.
What the shutdown means for players
Classic recreated an older version of Summoner’s Rift and removed most champions and kits introduced after 2013. Riot says many players enjoyed returning to that earlier era, but most have since gone back to other parts of League.
A Riot spokesperson said most players have gone back to other parts of League. The standalone run is ending, but Riot says it hopes to revisit the mode with changes rather than rule out another appearance.
That distinction matters: Riot has not announced a return date or confirmed a regular rotating schedule. It says Classic may come back as an event mode with adjustments and additions, a model also seen when live-service games temporarily cycle content out and later bring it back, as Marvel Rivals’ limited-time Vault event illustrates.
Riot also plans refunds for Classic content that will no longer be usable after the closure. The announcement does not spell out the refund process or timing in the available details, so players should watch for Riot’s follow-up before assuming how individual purchases will be handled.
More champions are still on the way
Classic will continue receiving champion additions before it shuts down. Riot has named four champions for the forthcoming 26.21 update and three more for later updates; it says at least seven champions remain in the rollout.
| Update timing | Champions named by Riot |
|---|---|
| 26.21 | Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hecarim and Lucian |
| Later updates | Volibear, Urgot and Udyr |
The list is not necessarily the complete schedule: Riot says new champions will continue to roll out, and its announcement identifies at least seven still to come. That means Classic is not simply being switched off immediately; players can expect further additions before the current season ends.
Riot plans to review what worked
Former professional League player Alex “Xpecial” Chu offered a possible explanation for why nostalgia might not sustain the mode. He argued that players have different ideas of which era counts as classic, and that the initial appeal could fade for people whose formative League experience came later.
Chu said he expected the launch’s nostalgia-driven appeal to fade. He also speculated that Classic might have made room for experiments that would not fit the main game, but that was his analysis, not Riot’s confirmed explanation.
Riot says it will share more about lessons from the run, including where Classic succeeded, where it could have gone further in recreating the past and whether sticking too closely to that past limited the experience. The current season ends with the January 2027 shutdown; any event-mode return remains a possibility, not a scheduled relaunch.
