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LoL Classic is not a nostalgia trip. It's a competitive mode where only a single-digit percentage of players will ever reach the top rank, and Riot built it that way on purpose. If you're the type who logs into League to win, not to reminisce, this is exactly what you've been waiting for.
LoL Classic is a dedicated game mode that recreates the League of Legends experience of Seasons 1 through 3, roughly 2009 to 2013. The original Summoner's Rift, the old item shop, rune pages, masteries: all of it is back. The mode launched on a separate client with its own progression system, its own ranked climb, and its own champion pool.
Think of it less as a museum piece and more as a different game with different rules. It shares DNA with modern League, but the pacing, the damage, and the decision-making all feel distinctly different. Whether you played back then or not, the skill ceiling is real.
To understand the full scope of Riot's announcement, check out our overview of LoL Classic for the big-picture breakdown.
The first thing you'll notice in LoL Classic is that abilities hit harder. A lot harder. Champions have sharper strengths and weaknesses, missiles and dashes are slower, and stuns are more frequent. Every fight has more weight. A mistimed engage or a missed skillshot has immediate consequences 📉.
Resource costs are higher, so you can't spam abilities like in modern League. You need to manage your mana, pick your fights, and commit intentionally. Trading in lane is a proper decision, not a reflex.
This slower gameplay actually rewards mechanical discipline and game-sense more than raw reflexes. The meta tracker at /meta/lol covers live League builds, but LoL Classic will develop its own dominant setups fast once the mode goes live.
© Riot Games
Nearly every item from League's first few years is available in LoL Classic. That includes the combinations that defined early competitive play: Atmog's (Atma's Impaler + Warmog's Armor), Metagolem (Spirit of the Ancient Golem builds), and more. Gold-per-10 items are viable. Zz'Rot Portal is back.
The itemization philosophy is completely different. Modern League is built around damage scaling and ability power thresholds. Classic League is built around gold efficiency, item synergies, and stacking raw stats. If you're coming from live servers, expect to relearn your build paths almost from scratch. That's not a drawback, it's a skill test.
Runes and Masteries return in their Season 1-3 form, but Riot made the unlocking process significantly more forgiving. All runes are available at tier 3 from the start: no grinding required. Masteries unlock fully at Classic Level 4. You still need to set them up before the game begins, and default pages are available if you forget.
You get 3 rune pages initially, with 2 more from progression and additional pages purchasable with IP. The pre-game setup phase is a meaningful part of LoL Classic: knowing which rune page to run for which matchup is legitimate competitive knowledge.
© Riot Games
This is the most important system in LoL Classic from a competitive standpoint. Summoner's Journey is a non-ranked progression track that runs from Salt all the way up to Legend, with multiple tiers in between. It unlocks at Classic Level 10.
The key detail: Riot explicitly stated that only a single-digit percentage of players will reach Legend. 🎯 That's not a marketing line: it reflects how the system is calibrated. It's designed to be a meaningful achievement for the players who dedicate time to mastering the mode, not a participation trophy.
For the Amber community competing on LoL ladders, Summoner's Journey represents a parallel grind that directly reflects skill and investment in LoL Classic specifically.
LoL Classic launches with 60 champions: the original 40 from the earliest years plus 20 hand-selected from the 2009-2013 era. Pre-rework versions of champions like Sion and Evelynn are included. Additional champions from the same era will be added over time.
One notable exception: Yasuo is not in LoL Classic, which is a very deliberate call. Champions have their old kits, which creates a fundamentally different tier list compared to live servers. Champions that were strong in Season 2-3: control mages, tanky bruisers, stuns-heavy supports, naturally rise to the top.
With the LCS Classic showmatch confirmed, TSM vs. CLG is already showing what classic competitive LoL looks like in 2026.
Riot Games
If you want to hit the ground running in LoL Classic, start with the fundamentals: learn the items, understand the rune setups, and pick champions that fit the old meta. Champions with clear strengths and straightforward kits scale better in this environment than modern hyper-mobile carries.
Study how early competitive LoL was played. Patch 26.13 changed the live meta significantly, but in Classic, those changes don't apply. You're working from a different rulebook.
For Amber players, this is a real opportunity. LoL Classic will develop a competitive community fast, and the Summoner's Journey grind starts from day one. If you're ready to compete for prize pools in a format nobody has mastered yet, join the LoL ladders on Amber and get your reps in before the ranked playerbase fully forms.
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