Every LoL Season Start and End Date: Full Timeline Through 2026

LoL season dates in 2026: Season 1 started on January 8 (patch 26.1), Season 2 on April 29 (patch 26.9) and Season 3 on July 29 (patch 26.15), each at noon local server time. Season 3 is the current one. Riot has not announced its end date yet; the 2025 ranked year ended on January 7, 2026 at 23:59:59.

What LoL season is it right now?

Season 3 of 2026. It began on July 29, 2026 with patch 26.15, at 12:00 local time on each server, and it runs until the ranked year ends. Players still call the year “Season 16” out of habit, since Riot dropped season numbers after Season 14 (2024) and now names seasons by year: 2025, then 2026.

So when someone says “Season 16 Split 3”, they mean the same thing as “2026 Season 3”. Both are fine, and you’ll see both in patch notes discussions, tier lists and forums. Riot’s own pages use the year format, so that is the one to search for when you want official dates.

LoL season dates for 2026

All three start dates come from Riot’s patch notes. Every season opened at noon local server time, which means EUW, NA and OCE started at different moments in absolute terms.

Season 1 came with a big gameplay update (Demacia was the theme, plus role quests and a reworked map), Season 2 brought the Pandemonium theme, and Season 3 opened with a batch of ranked changes: Aegis of Valor now doubles LP on autofilled wins only, and Master players can duo again with players close to them in rank. Our guide to League ranks covers those rules in detail.

LoL season end date: when does Season 3 finish?

Riot hasn’t published the end date for 2026 Season 3 yet. It usually confirms the exact cutoff in the patch notes of the last patch of the year, so the honest answer for now is “early January 2027, most likely”.

Why early January? Because that’s how the last transition worked. The 2025 ranked year ended on January 7, 2026 at 23:59:59 local server time, ranked queues stayed off overnight, and 2026 Season 1 opened at noon on January 8. If Riot follows the same pattern, the final patch of 2026 (26.24 on December 9) runs until early January, and the new year starts with the first patch of 2027. That’s a reasonable expectation, not a confirmed date; we’ll update this page when Riot announces it.

Planning to push rank before the end? Remember that the yearly reset is the one that wipes your rank, and placements afterwards cap at Diamond III, so whatever you reach by the cutoff is what your end-of-year rewards are based on.

What resets at each LoL season change?

Less than most people think. There are three different kinds of change, and they’re easy to mix up.

• The yearly reset, in January, is the big one. Ranks reset, everyone plays 5 provisional games, and you get a starting rank for the year.
• A new season inside the year mostly refreshes rewards: the Victorious mission (15 ranked wins) starts again, and the previous season’s rewards are handed out.
• Sometimes Riot adds a targeted reset, like the Season 2 change that moved Master, Grandmaster and Challenger players back to Master 0 LP in six regions.

In practice, a Gold player who finished Season 2 in Gold started Season 3 in Gold too. Only the January reset sends everyone back through placements. The thing is, a lot of older articles still describe 2024, when mid-year splits did more, and that’s where the confusion comes from.

About those provisional games: you can’t lose LP in them (a loss gives 0 LP), the highest starting rank is Diamond III, and Riot weighs your previous year’s rank along with how strong your opponents were. So a strong player who finished high last year climbs back quickly, while a fresh account starts lower and has more to prove.

Which LoL season dates matter for rewards?

Four moments in the year are worth a reminder in your calendar, and only one of them is the big reset. Look, most missed rewards come from people who knew the season was ending but not when.

Honestly, the cutoff is the one to watch. Games that finish after 23:59:59 local server time count for the new year, not the old one, so a win in the last minutes can still be too late. Real talk: if you need one more promotion for a reward tier, play it the day before.

Do TFT and Valorant use the same season dates?

No. Teamfight Tactics runs on sets, each with its own ranked season, and a new set usually lines up with a League patch but not with the League ranked season. Valorant has its own episodes and acts, on its own calendar, with separate ranks and rewards. The only thing they share with League is the Riot account, so a season change in one game never touches your rank in another.

How do end-of-season rewards work?

Rewards come shortly after each season ends and depend on your rank and your Honor. For the end of 2025, Riot gave players at Honor Level 3 or above Victorious Draven with chromas, a 2025 ranked emote and a 2025 ranked icon. A Victorious skin border went to players who earned all three Victorious skins of 2025.

The Victorious skin itself comes from the season’s ranked mission: win 15 ranked games in Solo/Duo and Flex combined during that season. Miss it and the skin for that season is gone for good (yes, people message support about this every year, and no, it can’t be granted later).

Two practical notes. Shard transfers are switched off for a while around each season change, until rewards are fully granted. And low Honor blocks rewards, so a season of tilted games can cost you a skin even with the wins done.

LoL season dates for the rest of 2026: patch schedule

Season 3 runs across these remaining patches, per Riot’s official patch schedule:

Riot warns that dates can change, and posts an alert on that page if a patch slips within 48 hours of its date. Each patch day also brings a few hours of downtime; see how long League maintenance lasts if you’re timing a late session.

Every LoL season by year

Before 2025, seasons were numbered. Each number lines up with the year of its World Championship, which is the easiest way to keep them straight:

Season 1 actually began in mid-2010, so it overlaps two calendar years, and from Season 2 onward the ranked year roughly followed the calendar. Funny enough, the patch numbers followed the same logic: patch 14.x was 2024, then Riot switched to year-based numbers, so 25.x is 2025 and 26.x is 2026.

One more source of confusion is Worlds itself. The World Championship is played in the autumn, usually October and November, so the pro “season” is over weeks before the ranked year ends. When a pro team lifts the trophy, ranked players still have a month or two of Season 3 left to climb.

How do you make the most of the current season?

Get the 15 wins early. The Victorious mission is the one reward that disappears for good, and late-season queues fill with players doing the same thing, so knocking it out in the first weeks is easier.

Keep your Honor clean, play enough to avoid decay if you’re Diamond or higher, and check the final patch notes of the year for the exact cutoff. And if you’re starting fresh, a new account needs level 30 and 20 champions before ranked opens, so leave time for that before the season you care about; our LoL climb calculator can help you plan how many games a push will take. Bookmark this page too: when Riot confirms the end of 2026 Season 3, the LoL season dates above are where it will show up first.

FAQ

What is the LoL season start date for Season 3 2026?

On July 29, 2026, at 12:00 local server time, with patch 26.15.

When does the LoL ranked season end in 2026?

Riot has not announced it yet. The previous ranked year ended on January 7, 2026 at 23:59:59 local server time, so early January 2027 is the likely window.

Does rank reset between seasons in 2026?

The full reset happens once a year, in January, with 5 provisional games. At the Season 2 start, only Master and above in NA, EUW, EUNE, LAN, BR and TR were reset to Master 0 LP.

What season is League of Legends in now?

2026 Season 3, which players also call Season 16. It started on July 29, 2026.

How many wins do you need for the Victorious skin?

15 ranked wins during the season, in Solo/Duo and Flex combined. Low Honor can block the reward.

When did 2026 Season 2 start?

On April 29, 2026, at 12:00 local server time, with patch 26.9 and the Pandemonium theme.