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WoW accountsLook, Riot made LoL season dates confusing when they killed the old “one number = one year” system. The 2026 ranked year kicked off January 8 and runs until early January 2027. Right now we’re in Season 1, themed “For Demacia,” sitting on Patch 26.5 with Act 2 live. Season 2 drops around late April.
But here’s the part that still trips people up every single time it gets asked on Reddit: there is no ranked reset between those three seasons. Your LP just carries over. The only hard reset hits in January. I’ll break down every date below, from Season 1 back in 2011 all the way to where we are now, plus the ranked changes, reward deadlines, and server cutoff times.
What LoL Season Is It Right Now?
We’re in Season 1 of the 2026 ranked year. Some people call it Season 16, Riot calls it “2026 Season One: For Demacia.” Both names work. If you’re googling LoL season dates right now, this is the one you’re in. Act 2 went live with Patch 26.5 around early March, so if you see the Demacia-themed Rift with those gold-and-blue petricite turrets, that’s the current season.
Late April is when Season 2 should land. No theme announcement yet. Last year Spirit Blossom came after Noxus, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they go Ionia or Shadow Isles next. Pure speculation on my part though.
2026 LoL Season Dates: Quick Reference
The broad structure got confirmed back in January. Season 2 and 3 exact transition dates? Those come through patch notes closer to each changeover, which is kind of annoying but that’s how they’ve done it since 2025.
| Period | Start Date | Expected End | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ranked Year 2026 | January 8, 2026 | ~January 7, 2027 | Demacia / TBD / TBD |
| Season 1 (Act 1) | January 8, 2026 | ~March 4, 2026 | For Demacia |
| Season 1 (Act 2) | ~March 5, 2026 | ~Late April 2026 | For Demacia |
| Season 2 | ~Late April 2026 | ~Late August 2026 | TBD |
| Season 3 | ~Late August 2026 | ~Early January 2027 | TBD |
Act 1’s battle pass went inactive around March 4. Same interval as last year, so the timing is pretty easy to predict if you’ve been paying attention. Patch 26.5 brought Act 2 right after that. Season 1 wraps around late April and Season 2 picks up with zero gap between them.
Patch Schedule by Season
Patches drop every two Wednesdays. Knowing which patch lands in which season matters for planning your grind and reward deadlines. I mapped the whole year out:
| Patch | Date | Season | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26.01 | Jan 8 | S1 Act 1 | Season 16 launch, ranked reset |
| 26.02 | Jan 22 | S1 Act 1 | |
| 26.03 | Feb 5 | S1 Act 1 | ARAM Mayhem update |
| 26.04 | Feb 19 | S1 Act 1 | |
| 26.05 | Mar 4 | S1 Act 2 | Act 2 start, Shyvana prep |
| 26.06 | Mar 18 | S1 Act 2 | |
| 26.07 | Apr 1 | S1 Act 2 | |
| 26.08 | Apr 15 | S1 Act 2 | Likely last S1 patch |
| 26.09 | ~Apr 29 | S2 Act 1 | Expected Season 2 start |
| 26.10-16 | May-Aug | Season 2 | MSI patch window |
| 26.17+ | ~Aug | Season 3 | Expected S3 start |
Patch dates can shift a day or two. Riot’s support page has the live schedule.
How the Season Structure Works in 2026
Season numbers officially died after 14. Now it’s “2025” and “2026” in all the dev blogs and patch notes. Did players switch? Nah. Everyone on Reddit, Discord, Twitter still says Season 15, Season 16. And that’s fine, both work.
Three thematic seasons per year, about four months each. Two acts inside every season, each one gets its own Battle Pass. One hard ranked reset in January. That’s the entire system. And the part that generates the most confusion on every League subreddit: your rank does not reset between those three seasons. It only resets once, in January, when the whole ranked year flips over.
- 3 thematic seasons per year (roughly 4 months each)
- 2 acts per season, each with a fresh Battle Pass
- 1 hard reset in January, that’s it
- LP carries over from Season 1 into Season 2 into Season 3
So when someone asks “when does LoL season end,” the answer depends on what they mean. The LoL season dates have three endpoints per year for reward purposes. But your rank only gets wiped once.
Seasons, Acts, and Splits: What’s the Difference?
I swear this gets posted on r/leagueoflegends every other day. So here it is, once and for all.
Act = Battle Pass swap plus maybe some events. Rank? Untouched. Season (the sub-season within the year) = new map theme, fresh Victorious skin eligibility, sometimes gameplay additions. Rank? Still untouched. Ranked year = the whole January-to-January cycle. That’s when your LP gets wiped and you do placements again.
“Split” is a word people still throw around because that’s what these periods were called in 2024 when mid-year resets were a thing. Those resets got axed after massive pushback on Reddit and Twitter. The name just sort of… lingered.
Ranked Reset: When and How It Works
This already happened back in January. The 2025 year locked on January 7 at 23:59:59 local time (apex players got kicked 15 minutes early at 23:45). Then on January 8 around noon, the new year went live.
It’s a soft reset, not a full account wipe. You drop in visible rank but your hidden MMR barely moves. Five placement matches (they cut it from 10 a few seasons back), and Diamond III is the absolute ceiling no matter how good your MMR is. The thing is, if you were Grandmaster last year, you’ll get like +28 LP per win after placements. The system knows where you belong even if the displayed rank doesn’t show it yet.
And between Season 1, 2, and 3 within the same year? Zero changes. Plat at the end of Season 1 means Plat at the start of Season 2. They tried resetting between splits back in 2024. Community absolutely hated it. Three separate grinds in one year turned a lot of people off ranked entirely.
All LoL Season Dates from 2011 to 2026
Every date below got verified against the League of Legends Wiki plus Riot’s own support pages. I put the table together mostly for myself back when I was writing about ranked, but it turns out a lot of people want this kind of reference. The evolution is kind of interesting once you lay it all out.
| Season | Start Date | End Date | Victorious Skin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 13, 2011 | August 23, 2011 | Judgement Kayle |
| 2 | November 29, 2011 | November 12, 2012 | Victorious Janna |
| 3 | February 1, 2013 | November 11, 2013 | Victorious Elise |
| 4 | January 10, 2014 | November 11, 2014 | Victorious Morgana |
| 5 | January 21, 2015 | November 11, 2015 | Victorious Sivir |
| 6 | January 20, 2016 | November 8, 2016 | Victorious Maokai |
| 7 | December 8, 2016 | November 7, 2017 | Victorious Graves |
| 8 | January 16, 2018 | November 12, 2018 | Victorious Orianna |
| 9 | January 23, 2019 | November 19, 2019 | Victorious Aatrox |
| 10 | January 10, 2020 | November 10, 2020 | Victorious Lucian |
| 11 | January 8, 2021 | November 15, 2021 | Victorious Blitzcrank |
| 12 | January 7, 2022 | November 14, 2022 | Victorious Sejuani |
| 13 | January 11, 2023 | January 9, 2024 | Victorious Anivia |
| 14 | January 10, 2024 | January 6, 2025 | Victorious Skarner |
| 15 (2025) | January 9, 2025 | January 7, 2026 | 3 skins (per season) |
| 16 (2026) | January 8, 2026 | ~January 7, 2027 | Braum (Season 1) |
That table tells the whole story. Seasons 2 through 12 ran like clockwork: January start, November wrap. Nobody had to think about it. Then Season 13 went rogue and bled into January 2024, which confused a ton of people. Season 15 though? That’s when they blew the whole thing up. Three themed sub-seasons, three Victorious skins. My ranked-obsessed friends were thrilled about that part at least.
Season Rewards: How They Work Now
Back in the day you needed Gold rank minimum for a Victorious skin. That requirement got axed in 2025. Same simplified system carried into this year:
- 15 ranked wins during the thematic season (Solo/Duo or Flex, doesn’t matter which)
- Honor Level 2+
- Literally any rank. You can be Iron IV and still earn the skin
Chromas are where rank actually matters. Diamond chroma looks different from Gold’s, and Challenger gets the flashiest version. So if you care about showing off, you still have reasons to push past the minimum.
Victorious Braum is the Season 1 skin. Season 2 and 3 champions haven’t been announced. They typically reveal those a few weeks before each season starts, so keep an eye on the LoL season dates for announcements.
What Changed in Ranked for 2026
Ranked got a pretty big facelift with Patch 26.01. I’ve been grinding on these changes since January and some stuff feels genuinely different from last year. There’s a lot here so I’ll go through each one quick.
Aegis of Valor
The big one. You get autofilled into a role you didn’t pick? The Aegis activates. Score a C or higher mastery grade and you get either double LP on a win or zero LP loss on a loss. It doesn’t remove autofill (queue times would tank without it), but it stops punishing you for getting stuck on jungle when you’re a mid one-trick.
If you main support or jungle, you get Aegis benefits automatically at about the same rate. Which makes sense, those two roles are the reason queues pop at all.
Dodge Penalties Got Harsh
Dodging no longer resets your autofill. If you dodge, next game you’re still autofilled. Master+ players get hit harder: a dodge counts as a full loss now. This was targeted at high elo where lobbies collapsed three or four times before a game actually started. I was in Diamond promos when this change dropped and yeah, way fewer dodges in my lobbies after.
Can’t Ban Your Teammate’s Hover
They tested it on NA and OCE, results looked good, so they shipped it globally. Your ally hovers Yasuo, you can’t ban Yasuo. Some people hated this announcement but in practice? Champ select tilt dropped noticeably. Fewer hostage situations.
Climb Indicator on Loading Screen
There’s now an indicator on the loading screen that shows when someone’s MMR is above their displayed rank. Won’t show the exact number, just signals “this player is climbing fast, they belong here.” Should’ve existed since Season 3 honestly.
Duo Queue at All Ranks Again
Duo is back in Challenger. Riot pulled it from apex tiers a while back because of boosting, but they’re confident their detection systems work now. If you have a solid duo partner, this season is the time.
2026 LoL Esports Dates
Pro play runs on its own calendar but overlaps with ranked enough to matter. Here’s when each region started:
| League | Start Date | Region |
|---|---|---|
| LPL | January 14, 2026 | China |
| LCK | April 1, 2026 | Korea |
| LEC | January 2026 | Europe |
| LCS | January 24, 2026 | North America |
First Stand was in Sao Paulo from March 16-22. Wild tournament to watch honestly, eight teams going at it in bo5s with Fearless Draft where you can’t pick the same champ twice. MSI 2026 goes to Daejeon in Korea. And Worlds? It’s back in the US, grand finals happening in New York.
Key Gameplay Changes This Season
Role Quests are the headliner. Top, mid, and bot all get lane-specific progression quests now, similar to what jungle and support already had. You finish yours by doing what you’d normally do: farming, taking plates, getting kills in lane. Top laners get bonus XP and a free Teleport. Mid gets Tier 3 boots and Empowered Recalls. ADCs unlock bonus gold and a seventh item slot just for boots. That last one is kind of insane. Full-build ADCs with boots on top hit way harder than before.
Atakhan is gone. Blood Roses gone. Triumph of Power gone. Baron spawns at 20 minutes again. Minions and camps spawn 35 seconds earlier so you get to lane faster. Oh, and Faelights are a thing now: spots on the map that buff any ward you place on them. Changed the vision game pretty hard.
Want to start the 2026 climb on a fresh LoL account with clean MMR? If your main account has tanked MMR from bad streaks, a new one lets placements reflect where you actually play right now. Takes hundreds of games to fix ruined MMR on an old account.
Video: Season 2026 Dev Update
If you want the full picture on LoL season dates and changes for 2026 straight from the source, this dev update has it. Pabro and Meddler walk through the Demacia theme, ranked overhauls, Role Quests, and Shyvana rework plans.
How to Handle Season Transitions
Three reward windows per year means you can’t sleep on any of them. Keeping track of LoL season dates is half the battle. I learned a few things grinding through 2025’s version of this system.
Those 15 ranked wins? Bank them in weeks one and two. Seriously. The final week of any season is garbage tier. Everyone who waited is now panic-grinding and the average lobby quality tanks. Tilted duo queues everywhere, people first-timing champions in ranked because they “need wins fast.” You don’t want to be in that pool.
Patch notes matter more than people think. Two-week patch cycles mean your favorite champ can go from S-tier to C-tier overnight. I was stomping games on Viego after 26.01 and then Patch 26.03 hit and he felt awful. Keeping an eye on the champion release timeline helps too because new champs always distort the meta for a patch or two.
One thing I started doing this year: checking MMR after any streak of 4+ wins or losses. If LP gains are at +14 or lower, something’s wrong under the hood. Way easier to course-correct at +18 than to dig out of a +12 hole where every loss costs you twice what a win earns.
Also just… take breaks between games. My own tracked stats show my win rate falling off a cliff after five games in one session. Three focused games with a walk in between beats an eight-game marathon where I’m tilted by game six and autopiloting by game seven.
LoL Season Dates: When Each Season Ends in 2026
You won’t find all three dates posted anywhere official at the start of the year. The devs confirm each cutoff through patch notes maybe two or three weeks before it happens. Annoying, but predictable if you follow the January/April/August pattern from last year:
| Season | Estimated End | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | Late April 2026 | Victorious Braum rewards lock |
| Season 2 | Late August 2026 | Season 2 rewards lock |
| Season 3 | ~January 7, 2027 | Full ranked year ends, hard reset |
LoL Season Dates: End Times by Server
This trips up more people than you’d expect. The cutoff is 23:59:59 on your server’s local clock. Not UTC. Not some single worldwide deadline. If you play on OCE, your season is done hours before someone on NA even starts their last-minute grind. A buddy of mine transferred from EUW to NA mid-year and almost missed rewards because he was still calculating the deadline in CET.
| Server | Time Zone | Season End | Apex Lockout |
|---|---|---|---|
| NA | PT (UTC-8) | 23:59:59 PT | 23:45 PT |
| EUW | CET (UTC+1) | 23:59:59 CET | 23:45 CET |
| EUNE | CET (UTC+1) | 23:59:59 CET | 23:45 CET |
| KR | KST (UTC+9) | 23:59:59 KST | 23:45 KST |
| BR | BRT (UTC-3) | 23:59:59 BRT | 23:45 BRT |
| OCE | AEDT (UTC+11) | 23:59:59 AEDT | 23:45 AEDT |
| JP | JST (UTC+9) | 23:59:59 JST | 23:45 JST |
| TR | TRT (UTC+3) | 23:59:59 TRT | 23:45 TRT |
| RU | MSK (UTC+3) | 23:59:59 MSK | 23:45 MSK |
| LAN/LAS | Various | 23:59:59 local | 23:45 local |
Already in a loading screen at 23:59 when the clock rolls? That game counts, don’t worry. What screws you is starting a fresh queue in the final 30 minutes. There was a post on Reddit a while back from someone who won at 23:58, saw the +19 LP pop on screen, then poof. Gone. The ranked backend closed before the match result could actually write to the database. That’s the kind of thing that makes you close the client and go outside.
If you’re not sure which server your account is on: Riot Client, Settings, look for “Current Patchline” under the League of Legends section. Takes two seconds.
MMR in the gutter with a season deadline coming? A new account or a ranked-ready smurf with clean MMR puts your placements back in your hands. Way faster than spending 200 games trying to crawl out of a +13/-21 LP hole on your main.
FAQ
When does the LoL season start and end in 2026?
Started January 8. Should wrap up around January 7, 2027. In between there are three themed sub-seasons: the first goes through late April, second one covers late April to late August, and the last one finishes the year out in early January 2027.
Is there a ranked reset between the three LoL seasons?
Nope. January is the only reset, period. Your LP and rank stay exactly where they are when Season 1 ends and Season 2 begins. Think of the transitions as content updates (new Battle Pass, new map theme), not competitive resets.
What are the LoL season rewards for 2026?
A Victorious skin for each of the three seasons. Season 1 gives you Braum. All you need is 15 ranked wins and Honor 2 or higher during that season. Doesn’t matter if you’re Iron or Diamond for the base skin. Chromas are the rank-locked part.
How many placement matches in LoL 2026?
Five. Down from 10 in the old days. You can’t place higher than Diamond III regardless of MMR. Where you actually land depends on hidden MMR from last year plus how the five games go.
Seasons vs. acts vs. splits?
Act changes = new Battle Pass, rank untouched. Season changes = new theme and Victorious skin window, rank still untouched. Ranked year change (January) = actual hard reset. “Split” was the 2024 term that’s technically dead but people keep using it anyway.
Every LoL season start and end date?
Scroll up for the full table. Quick version: Season 1 was a six-week test run in summer 2011. Then things settled into a January start, November end pattern that lasted from Season 2 through 12. Season 13 pushed the end into January. And 2025 blew it all up with three seasons per year.
What LoL season is it right now?
Season 16 (officially “2026 Season 1”), Act 2. Theme is “For Demacia.” Season 2 comes around late April. The ranked year goes on until early January 2027.
Last updated: April 2026
