League of Legends Season Dates 2026: When Does the Season End?

2026 ranked season dates

All times are local server time, as Riot gives them in the patch notes.

One of Riot's own pages doesn't match this year. Its support page on ranked years says the first season starts in January, the second in April and the third in August. In 2026 the third season started on 29 July, according to the 26.14 and 26.15 patch notes. The patch notes are the more precise source, so this page follows them.

Riot used to call these parts of the year splits: in 2024 the year had three splits. Its pages now speak of seasons inside a ranked year, so “split 3” and “Season 3” mean the same thing.

When does Season 3 end?

As of 29 October 2026, Riot has not published an exact end date for Season 3. Three things it has published point the same way:

• On 14 October 2026, Riot wrote that League Classic stays available “through the end of Season 3 of 2026” and then ends its current run “in January 2027”.
• Last year's third season ended on 7 January 2026 at 23:59:59, and the 2026 ranked year started the next day.
• The last patch on Riot's 2026 patch schedule is 26.24, on 9 December 2026.

So expect an end in early January 2027, but treat any exact day you see elsewhere as a guess until Riot confirms it. This year Riot announced each season end in the notes of the season's last patch (26.8 for Season 1, 26.14 for Season 2), and its support page says reward information usually comes out about a month before a season ends. We will update this page when the date is out.

What season is League of Legends on?

Ranked Season 3 of 2026. Riot names ranked seasons by year and number (“Ranked Season 1, 2026” in the patch 26.1 notes). Some players say “Season 16”, after the game version: patch 26.21 is game version 16.21. Riot's patch names use the year, which is why the current patch is 26.21.

What happens when a season ends

• Your rank carries over. Within a ranked year your climb continues from one season to the next. It only resets when a new year begins.
• Rewards. Win 15 ranked games in Solo/Duo, Flex or both during a season to earn that season's Victorious skin. You need Honor level 3, and the rest of the rewards follow your final rank. Riot hands them out shortly after the next season starts, and the 15-win mission starts again from zero.
• Decay. In Diamond and above, keep at least one more banked day than there are days left in the season: decay runs one last time before the season closes.
• A short break. At the end of 2025 Riot turned the ranked queues off briefly as the season ended and on again when the new one started.

One exception in 2026: when Season 2 began on 29 April, Riot reset every Master, Grandmaster and Challenger player in North America, Europe West, Europe Nordic & East, Brazil, Latin America North and Turkey to Master with 0 LP. Riot calls a hard reset like that very rare.

When does the new season start?

The next season is the first of the 2027 ranked year. Riot says the first season of a year starts in January, and 2026's began on 8 January with patch 26.1. Riot has not announced the 2027 start date yet.

When the new year starts:

• Ranks reset, and you play five placement games in each ranked queue.
• You can't lose LP in placements, and Riot expects most players to start about one tier below their final rank.
• The newest placements page says you can't place above Diamond III; the older page on ranked years says Emerald I. More on this in League of Legends ranks explained.

Patches until the end of 2026

From Riot's patch schedule (release days in Pacific Time):

What changed for your champions in a patch is on our patch pages, and the strongest picks right now are in the tier list.