Welcome to Demacia!
The 2026 of League Of Legends will take us to the land of unity and justice: Demacia!
After spending a year between Noxus and Ionia, the theme of the game will shift to Demacia with a rift full of Blue and Gold details!
The usual yearly cinematic will also contain Demacian champions, also the battle pass will contain a lot of themed skins for different champions.
Gameplay Changes
Minion waves
We can start by saying that the games on the Summoners Rift will start 35 seconds earlier then now, so the first Minion Wave will appear on the rift at the 30th second of the game.
- From the 14th minute the waves will spawn every 25 seconds.
- From the 30th minute instead they will appear every 20 seconds.
The faster the waves are, the fewer minions they will contain.
Map Changes
Fairlights will be added, they are special points which will give some bonus vision for a period of time.
As expected, Atakhan, the Bloody Petals and the Feats of Strenght will be removed from the game, to replace them Role quests will be added.
Baron will spawn at the 20th minute of the game.
Towers
A new mechanic will be added: “Crystal Growth”, essentially a universal Demolish, turning it into a three-hit passive.
Tier-1 tower plates will no longer disappear at the 14-minute mark.
Tier-2 and Tier-3 towers will also have three plates, and turret gold will therefore be split into three parts.
Nexus turrets will respawn with 40% health instead of 100%.
Role Quests
Here we are with the new Role Quests, which will work similarly to the ones already available for support and jungle.
Ecco la traduzione in inglese, fluida e naturale:
You’ll make progress by farming, fighting, destroying towers, and helping secure objectives, the rewards will be:
TOP
Empowered Teleport ( if already selected, otherwise he will obtain a third summer spell with a weaker teleport), XP Boost and Level Cap increased.
JUNGLE
Empowered Smite, more XP and Gold from Jungle Camps.
MIDLANE
Empowered recall, free upgrade to Tier 3 Shoes.
ADCARRY
Gold bonus, additional slot to buy 7 items.
SUPPORT
Support item and an inventory slot only for control wards.
Base Crit Damage will return to 200% for everyone.
Ranked Changes
Autofill
Some roles, like mid lane, are in much higher demand than others, and autofill is necessary to keep queue times short.
However, Riot knows how frustrating it can be to end up in a role you didn’t choose.
That’s why several improvements are coming in the 2026 Season:
- More balanced matchmaking: whenever possible, an autofilled player will be matched against another autofilled player in the same role (e.g., jungler vs. jungler).
- If that isn’t possible, the system will try to ensure both teams have the same number of autofilled players.
- In the worst-case scenario, the team with more autofills will have players with slightly higher MMR to compensate.
Aegis of Valor is also arriving, a new reward system that encourages players to do their best when they’re autofilled.
Aegis of Valor
It will grant you double LP or full LP loss protection in games where you are autofilled, as long as you earn at least a C mastery grade.
When you enter the lobby, you’ll see a notification confirming that Aegis is active and that you’ll receive the protection or reward if you meet the requirement during the match.
Playing Priority Roles
Players who queue for highly demanded roles like support or jungle help keep League’s queues healthy.
They will also be included in the Aegis system: they will automatically receive the same rewards as autofilled players, without a lobby notification.
Dodging
Dodging will no longer reset your autofill status.
If a player dodges, their autofill will carry over into the next match.
With the new incentives provided by Aegis of Valor, there’s even more reason to play those games instead of jumping from one broken lobby to another.
Additionally, starting from Master tier, a dodge will count as a full loss, on top of keeping the autofill status and applying the dodge penalty timer.
Less Time Before Entering a Match
The ability to ban champions hovered by teammates will be removed, reducing the potential for trolling during draft.
Several timers and animations in this phase will also be removed, shortening the time to get into a match by about 30 seconds.
Other changes
MMR indicator
Imagine being in a Diamond lobby and seeing a Gold player on your team, you might feel frustrated at first glance.
To reduce this frustration, a small indicator will be added to show that the player’s rank isn’t yet aligned with their MMR, explaining why they’re in the match.
Flex Queue Rank
Flex queue rank will be aligned with Solo/Duo rank, making games with friends more balanced for everyone.
DuoQ
DuoQ will be re-enabled for all ranks, from Iron all the way up to Challenger!
