League of Legends (LoL) Season 2026 Primer

Riot Games has kicked off Season 2026 for League of Legends. See gameplay and systems updates coming to LoL and format changes in LoL Esports.

Overview of Season 1: For Demacia

League of Legends has recently unveiled a new cinematic to inaugurate Season 1, accompanied by an original musical track titled Salvation (ft. Forts).

The first season of 2026 launched on January 8, unveiling the kingdom of Demacia to players through a comprehensive array of thematic updates encompassing gameplay, skins, and additional features.

Gameplay Updates

Patch 26.01, released on January 8, will update gameplay systems to make more strategies, such as sieging and splitting, viable. It will also balance role agency, reduce objective fatigue, get players into the action faster, and improve class satisfaction.

Role quests were updated in LoL. Different roles have different quests that can be progressed through certain conditions. Mid laners get free tier three boots and speedier recall, while bot laners get more gold and a seventh item slot.

Ranked, Norms, and Swiftplay will have faster Champ Select before the game starts and earlier initial minion wave and jungle monster spawn times.

Crystalline Overgrowth and Faelights will be introduced to the map.

The '2026 Season One Gameplay Preview' dev blog covers these mechanics and other gameplay updates.

The 'A Swifter Swiftplay' and 'Ranked 2026' dev blogs explain Swiftplay and Ranked updates.

Players' positive feedback led to the extension of the "ARAM: Mayhem" game mode, which will receive a major update in Patch 26.03 (February 4) later this season.

More Seasonal Content

Season 1 focuses on Demacia, a Runeterra military kingdom that values unity, justice, and righteousness.

Summoner's Rift now has gold-winged embellishments and petricite towers, influenced by Demacia.

The much-anticipated Shyvana update will arrive in Act 2 of this season. Shyvana's dragon and human forms get new visuals in the update. Her skills are unchanged, although her kit has some small alterations. At her Act 2 release, her complete kit will be unveiled. Stay tuned for details.

Demacia Rising, a new meta-game, will launch the season. Demacia Rising follows the kingdom's ascent from a modest village to a beautiful, sparkling nation. The meta-game will evolve during the season with regular adjustments.

Several motion comics will be produced during the season to expand on the season's storyline beyond the season opener.

Player Behavior

The League of Legends development team will add lobby hostage intervention and other upgrades later this season to improve game quality. Lobby hostage intervention terminates lobbies suspected of involving a bad actor who threatens to spoil the game for other players. This new feature will be steadily rolled out across regions to maintain accuracy.

Moreover, the ability to ban a teammate's hovered champion during Champ Select is being eliminated, and autofill status will persist during dodging.

New Skins

New Demacian and other skins will release this season. Samira and Briar get Battle Academia skins in Patch 26.02, while Ornn and Galio get mecha anime skins. The Firecracker skinline will return, and a new Wild Rift-created thematic, Petals of Spring, will debut for Lunar Revel. Theme-free April Fools' skins will debut later this season. New skins will show Demacia's darker side in Act 2. A new skin thematic will launch during First Stand.

Prestige Veiled Lady Morgana will debut at the start of the season, followed by Sona and Mordekaiser skins.

The Sanctum will offer new Exalted skin Revenant Reign Viego this season.

Players of any rank can acquire a Braum Victorious skin by playing Ranked in Season 1.

LoL Esports in 2026

LoL Esports will introduce format updates this year to commemorate the worldwide community and advance the sport. The first global tournament of the year, First Stand, will be held in São Paulo, Brazil, in the Riot Games Arena from March 16-22. Eight teams—2 from the LCK, 2 from the LPL, and 1 each from the LEC, LCS, CBLOL, and LCP—will compete for early-season domination and regional pride after the LCS and CBLOL returned as independent leagues. Every match will be a best-of-five, providing teams more chances to perform under pressure. Daejeon, South Korea, will host the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI). Venue information will be published soon. North America will host Worlds 2026 in Texas and New York. Information will be provided later.

The dev team is improving League of Legends' top-tier gameplay. After match analysis and feedback from pro LoL teams worldwide, First Selection will decouple side selection and draft order, allowing teams to select a side or pick their champions first or second.

Players can still expect Hall of Legends before Worlds 2026, though later than normal this year. In the coming months, the third inductee will be revealed.

Long-term Vision of League of Legends

The development team keeps enhancing League of Legends by adding new game modes and champions, balancing every other week, and sending players Dev Updates.

Apart from these regular updates, the team is working to provide a larger set of changes to LoL beyond 2026 to improve the global experience and advance the game. Here are the updates. The new game client is fully integrated with the game. Redesigned Summoner's Rift map with fresh visuals and gameplay. Changes to in-game runes and different pre-game choices. New player experience revamp.

This year, the LoL dev team will discuss these major MSI and Worlds changes.

To keep updated on LoL Season 2026, you can visit www.leagueoflegends.com and www.lolesports.com. – PinoyTechSaga