League of Legends

League of Legends is a team-based online strategy game from Riot Games. Two teams of five players control champions with different abilities and try to reach the enemy base and destroy its Nexus.

Unlike in a role-playing game, each match starts with fresh levels and fresh gear. On the map, how the roles work together, gold, experience and shared objectives decide the win.

Riot Games first released League of Legends in 2009 in North America and Europe. Other regions followed later. Since then, Riot has developed the game as an ongoing online service, rather than regularly releasing a new main game with its own year number.

Champions, systems and game modes change over time. These ongoing updates are not the same as separate native product releases. The special 2026 retrospective League Classic therefore has a different status from the original release of the main game.

League of Legends is offered for Windows and macOS. Both desktop versions count as PC. Riot lists Windows 10 or 11 with suitable DirectX 11 hardware, plus recent Macs with Metal support, in its system requirements.

Linux, SteamOS and consoles are not officially supported native platforms for the desktop game. The standalone League of Legends: Wild Rift was, according to Riot, purpose-built for other devices and is not an identical mobile port of the PC client.

In classic Summoner's Rift, two teams fight across three lanes and a jungle in between. Minions automatically march toward the enemy towers. To win, a team must break through the defences of towers and inhibitors and finally destroy the enemy Nexus.

Champions earn experience for levelling up and gold for items. Neutral objectives such as dragons and Baron Nashor can give the whole team an advantage. Because all players share the same map, vision control, routes through the jungle and prepared team fights are at the strategic core.

Each champion brings its own abilities, range and role. Riot distinguishes between tanks, fighters, mages, marksmen, assassins and supports, among others. The champion you pick affects how you can pressure enemies, protect allies or control areas.

The usual team setup is top lane, jungle, mid lane, and the duo of marksman and support in the bot lane. No single role can handle every task on the map. A strong team coordinates fights, defence and key neutral objectives.

Summoner's Rift is the classic 5-vs-5 game with three lanes and a jungle. Other modes change these rules. In ARAM, two teams fight on a single lane with randomly assigned champions. Riot adds further modes over time.

League Classic is not a separate console or PC release, but a special mode within the existing League client. Its historical champions, items and runes differ from the modern version of the game.

The three lanes of the Summoner's Rift are connected by the jungle. On the lanes, towers protect the defensive lines, while inhibitors near the enemy base block progress. The Nexus is the real objective of every match.

Off the lanes, the jungle adds extra decisions. Dragons grant team bonuses, and Baron Nashor can boost an attack. Timely guarding of lanes and controlling the map are therefore just as important as direct fights between champions.

Champions start a match without the items acquired in the previous match. In each round they collect gold and experience. They use gold to buy items that change their stats and playstyle. Experience raises the champion level and unlocks further abilities or upgrades.

A champion's ability set usually consists of one passive, three basic abilities and one ultimate. Additional summoner spells complement the personal toolkit. The interplay of position, champion and items is essential for planning a team strategy.

League Classic launched in 2026 as a retrospective of the early years, playable within League of Legends. Rather than exactly reproducing a single historical patch, Riot mainly combined elements from around Season 3 with older champions, runes, masteries, items and a recreated Summoner's Rift. At launch, 60 champions were planned.

On Oct 14, 2026, Riot announced that the current run would end after Season 3 ends on Jan 6, 2027. A later return as an event mode is a goal for the studio, but not yet a confirmed date. Queues are already being restricted in some regions beforehand. The main version of League of Legends remains unaffected.

League Classic is based on the early rune and mastery systems. Players combine stats via rune pages and distribute points to additional upgrades, instead of using the modern rune system of the main game. Riot has simplified acquiring the historical options so new players don't have to do the same unlock grind as many years ago.

Combat pace is also different: Riot's Classic concept relies on slower movement options, stronger individual abilities and comparatively clear strengths and weaknesses for champions. These are deliberate rule differences of a specific mode, not a retroactive change to all modern League matches.

Riot's current minimum specs list a Core i3-530 or AMD A6-3650 for Windows, 2 GB RAM, DirectX 11 graphics hardware with 1 GB VRAM and 16 GB of free storage. Windows 10 must be at least build 19041; alternatively, Windows 11 is supported. For better performance, Riot recommends 4 GB RAM and a stronger graphics card.

On Mac, Riot lists macOS 12, Metal support, 8 GB of shared memory and 40 GB of free storage. The support page notes that minimum requirements may change with future updates. These details apply to the desktop client, not to Wild Rift on mobile devices.

Although the characters and the world of Runeterra appear in several Riot games, not all titles are the same software. Wild Rift is a MOBA designed independently for other platforms, while Legends of Runeterra uses the world as a card game. These games have different controls, systems and platform versions.

For a correct platform comparison, the desktop League is therefore kept separate from the mobile spin-offs. What they share is characters and game world, not an identical client or interchangeable store versions.