League of Legends Classic Guide - S3 Map, 63 Champions & How to Play

League of Legends Classic is Riot's permanent Season 3 game mode, launched July 29, 2026 alongside patch 26.15. It brings back the original Summoner's Rift, the old rune and mastery systems, and a shop full of long-removed items: Deathfire Grasp, Heart of Gold, Philosopher's Stone and about 140 others. Sixty-three champions play their old, pre-rework kits after the August 12 patch. There is no separate download and no new client — Classic lives inside the regular League of Legends client every active player already has.

Version note: Current as of patch 26.16 (August 12, 2026), Classic's first content and balance patch. Roster, systems and numbers come from Riot's official 26.16 patch notes and the official League of Legends Wiki's League Classic page, linked inline.

Treat the mode as permanent, not an event. Riot patches Classic on its own cadence and has published a roadmap of content waves that add champions, so this hub and its four companion guides get updated as the roster grows.

What Patch 26.16 Changed (August 12)

Classic's first patch is bigger than a roster drop. Three things move how games actually play:

• Three champions joined: Akali, Kennen and Shen, all on old kits, taking the roster from 60 to 63.
• Systems got tuned toward comebacks. Early-game Homeguard is gone (activation moved from 0 minutes to 15), early death timers dropped by two seconds at every level from 1 to 8, and passive gold income was raised while minion gold fell by 1 each. Riot's own summary: every champion ends up with roughly 215 more gold from passive income, "with the average laner roughly treading water."
• Turrets and jungle camps got tougher. Turret health is up about 15% across the board, and champion damage to turrets now converts only 20% of Ability Power instead of 40%. Non-epic jungle camps scale to 5–25% more health in the mid and late game; your first clear is unchanged.

Nineteen champions were rebalanced on top of that — the full read is on the tier list, which also explains why this patch is the first real performance data anyone outside Riot has for the mode.

The League Classic key art — Zilean's clock is doing the heavy lifting, thematically. (Artwork: Riot Games / League of Legends, via the official League of Legends Wiki)

Quick Facts

What is League of Legends Classic?

Classic is a curated snapshot of old League, not a literal restoration of one exact patch. The base is Season 3 (2013). Per the official League of Legends Wiki it also pulls in "elements from both earlier and later versions," with late Season 2015 as the absolute cutoff for any feature. In practice the shop mixes Season 1–2 relics (Force of Nature, Innervating Locket, Ionic Spark) with Season 3 staples (Spirit Stone jungle items, Sightstone, the old Trinity Force) plus a few later additions like Bami's Cinder. Champions play their Season 3-era kits.

Riot's stated intent for ongoing updates: the mode "is expected to branch out from the modern version of the game, with patches expected at the same cadence," and all changes "are meant to preserve the original, slower-paced design philosophy of the game." Expect Classic to evolve and still feel like 2013 — slower combat, fewer dashes, more time to think between fights.

Do not go hunting for stats. Riot withholds all match data for Classic, including winrates, explicitly to "preserve gameplay exploration and prevent aggressive metagaming." No op.gg-style number exists to look up, which shapes how our tier list works.

How to Play: Queues & Access

Queue Classic straight from the League client's game mode selection. If you can play a normal game, you can play Classic. Your options are Normal Draft, Co-op vs. AI, and custom games. There is no blind pick and no ranked; Summoner's Journey covers the competitive itch instead.

All 16 old summoner spells are back: Barrier, Clairvoyance, Clarity, Cleanse, Exhaust, Flash, Fortify, Ghost, Heal, Ignite, Promote, Rally, Surge, Revive, Smite, and Teleport. If you never got to see a Fortify or a Revive-Teleport play live, this is your chance.

The Season 3 Map & Old Systems

The mode runs on the original Summoner's Rift: the pre-2014 map, purple side and all, with the old Baron, the old dragon, and jungle camps in their classic spots. Two mechanics to plan around. Jungle monsters scale with game time and update their level dynamically — patch 26.16 raised that maximum health scaling from 250% to 315%, so camps get noticeably tankier after the early game. And Homeguard, the fountain speed boost, now activates at 15 minutes; the launch build had it from minute zero, and Riot pulled the early-game version because it "feels too modern," trading it for shorter early death timers.

The out-of-game systems are the old ones as well:

• Runes — the pre-2018 system: 9 Marks, 9 Seals, 9 Glyphs and 3 Quintessences per page, bought with Influence Points. Covered in detail in our builds guide.
• Masteries — the old three-tree system (Offense / Defense / Utility) with 30 points, enabling the classic 21/9/0-style splits.
• Influence Points — IP is back as the earned currency for runes and unlocks.
• The old item system — over 140 items including gold-generation items and long-deleted actives; the full tour is in the items guide.

Champion Roster: All 63 Champions

The roster covers the game's earliest years: the original 40 champions plus early releases through Lulu (March 2012), with the three August 12 additions on their 2012–2013 kits. Every champion uses their older, Season 3-era kit, so the list includes old Sion, old Taric, old Warwick, old Fiddlesticks and other kits that no longer exist in modern League. Our champions guide breaks down what's different.

Ahri, Akali, Alistar, Amumu, Anivia, Annie, Ashe, Blitzcrank, Brand, Cho'Gath, Corki, Dr. Mundo, Evelynn, Ezreal, Fiddlesticks, Gangplank, Garen, Gragas, Heimerdinger, Janna, Jarvan IV, Jax, Karthus, Kassadin, Katarina, Kayle, Kennen, Kog'Maw, Lee Sin, Leona, Lulu, Lux, Malphite, Malzahar, Master Yi, Miss Fortune, Morgana, Nasus, Nidalee, Nunu, Olaf, Pantheon, Rammus, Ryze, Shen, Shaco, Sion, Singed, Sivir, Skarner, Sona, Soraka, Taric, Teemo, Tristana, Tryndamere, Twisted Fate, Twitch, Vayne, Veigar, Warwick, Wukong, Zilean.

More are coming. Riot framed the 26.16 additions as a themed wave — "Are you excited to be a flippin' Ninja?" — and all three newcomers are energy champions, which is also why the patch added energy Seals, Glyphs and Quintessences to the Classic rune store. Still confirmed for later waves without dates: Caitlyn, Fiora, Graves, Irelia, LeBlanc, Mordekaiser and Urgot. The roster will eventually stop "before the release of Yasuo" (late 2013), so don't wait for wind wall.

The original Summoner's Rift, down to the old Nexus. (Screenshot: Riot Games / League of Legends, via the official League of Legends Wiki)

Classic Levels & Summoner's Journey

Classic runs its own progression track, separate from your modern account level:

• Classic Levels run 1–30, "mirroring League of Legends' original leveling system," and unlock runes, masteries, Influence Points, Blue Essence, and cosmetics as you go. Rune tiers gate the early levels, just like 2013 — higher-tier runes unlock as you level, and tier 3 historically required level 20.
• Summoner's Journey unlocks at Classic level 10 and stands in for ranked. The tiers, ascending: Salt, Wood, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Legend. Riot starting the ladder at "Salt" tells you how seriously to take it.
• The Council is a community voting system: vote on which champions, skins and features get prioritized next. Votes from higher Classic levels carry more weight, so leveling buys you influence.

Where to Start

• Classic tier list — all 63 champions ranked after patch 26.16, with the methodology stated up front, because no winrate data exists for this mode by design.
• Builds guide — S3 item logic role by role: gold-generation items, flask starts, old runes and masteries.
• Champions guide — roles in the old meta, the best beginner picks, and what the pre-rework kits actually do.
• Items guide — the full reference for the S3 item system, including every removed item that's back.

FAQ

Is League of Legends Classic permanent or limited-time? Permanent. Riot launched it as a standing Featured Game Mode on July 29, 2026, with its own roadmap of content updates and its own patch cadence going forward — not an event with an end date.

Do I need a separate client or download to play Classic? No. Classic is built into the standard League of Legends client. Queue for it from the regular game mode selection, on the account you already have.

Does my modern account level or collection carry over? No. Classic runs its own progression: Classic Levels 1–30 with their own unlocks (runes, masteries, IP, cosmetics), plus the Summoner's Journey ladder from level 10. You start the climb fresh, which is much of the point.

Is there ranked in League Classic? No ranked queue. The available queues are Normal Draft, Co-op vs. AI, and customs. Summoner's Journey, the Salt-to-Legend tier track, is the mode's competitive progression instead.

Will Riot add more champions to Classic? Yes. The first content wave landed August 12, 2026 with Akali, Kennen and Shen, taking the roster from 60 to 63, and it carried Classic's first balance pass. Caitlyn, Fiora, Graves, Irelia, LeBlanc, Mordekaiser and Urgot are confirmed for later waves without dates. The roster will cap out before Yasuo's late-2013 release point.

Did the August 12 patch change how Classic plays, or just add champions? Both. Alongside the three ninjas, patch 26.16 rebalanced 19 champions and retuned the mode's systems: early Homeguard removed, early death timers cut, passive gold raised while minion gold fell, turret health up ~15% with the AP-to-turret conversion halved, and jungle camps scaling to more health after the first clear.

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One Hit Kill Guides' League Classic coverage was created under Riot Games' "Legal Jibber Jabber" policy using assets owned by Riot Games. Riot Games does not endorse or sponsor this project.