It is a new year for League of Legends, and players are brushing off the snow from the Winter map as they journey back to old school Demacia, the land of strict military order and anti-magic, where a new season brings fresh changes to the Summoner’s Rift.
If you’re looking to catch up on all the new changes coming to League’s Season 1 in 2026, we’ve got you covered.
All changes coming in League of Legends Season 1 2026, listed
Here is a detailed look at all the major changes coming to the game next year:
We’re heading to Demacia for 2026
After visiting the spirit lands in Ionia and fighting in the arena on Noxus, players are making their way to the lands of Demacia. Similar to last year’s Runeterra themes, the turrets and the Nexus on the map will adopt the iconic white gold and blue accents made purely from petricite.
Unlike the modern Demacia we know today from the lore, the developer is taking a look at the old Demacia, where magic is forbidden. The time is also known as the “golden age” for the Demacian Kingdom. The annual cinematic will release in January 2026, featuring the key Demacian champions, around which the storyline should revolve.
The Battle Pass skins for Act one will feature some non-Demacian champions as well, with Demacia-themed skins. It also includes a Prestige skin for Morgana.
Big vision, faster games and rebalanced objectives with no Atakhan
Atakhan completed his story arc after Ionia, and the developers are saying goodbye to the objective, making the game less reliant on neutral objectives. Along with Atakhan, the Feats of Strength system is also getting removed with the Blood Roses and Petals. This change also makes the Baron spawn at 20 minutes, like before.
First blood and first turret gold rewards are returning to 300 and 100 gold. Epic monsters are becoming about 15 percent more durable while doing less damage, which gives losing teams more chances to contest or trade elsewhere. Their power now leans more into the buffs they provide, with stronger comeback experience from Dragons and Baron to keep late-game swings exciting and competitive.
Games will start faster with minions and jungle camps spawning 35 seconds earlier. This shortens pre-game downtime and gets players into laning and fighting sooner. Invades are not off the table, and they’re still possible, but teams will have a shorter window. The goal is to reduce idle time and let matches hit their pace more quickly without removing the early strategy.
The season is also giving players more tools to control the map. Faelights have been added as special ward spots that grant extra vision if you place a ward there. Yellow trinkets recharge faster, so wards are available more often, and more Scryer’s Blooms appear on the map to help teams leave base safely or protect split pushes when behind. Together, these changes aim to make vision more accessible and more rewarding for everyone on the team.
Splitpushing and Seiging are coming back
Splitpushing and sieging are getting major upgrades in 2026 to make them more rewarding and easier to execute. According to the developer, the games are becoming focused too hard on securing neutral objectives, so they’re making Splitpushing and sieging viable again.
A new mechanic called Crystalline Overgrowth builds up on turrets over time and creates burst damage when hit, so any champion can help push if they find an opening. It works similarly to the Demolish, so the rune is being simplified so that hitting a tower three times in a row grants bonus damage, making individual pushes more impactful as well. Turret plates are also permanent now and extended to inner and inhibitor towers, which spread gold rewards throughout the game instead of only early lane phases.
Homeguards will help players get back on the map faster since the movement speed lasts until you reach your outer turret, then later to the farthest minion in lane. Instead of punishing ranged damage, all towers take increased damage from melee champions with health adjustments to match. Defensive scaling on turrets is reduced, with inner turrets no longer stacking resistances after 15 minutes and outer turrets scaling less attack damage if they are still alive later.
Minion waves are also being tuned to provide more frequent pushing opportunities without making the game too snowbally. Key changes include:
- Mid game: minions spawn every 25 seconds instead of 30, with one fewer melee minion spawning whenever a cannon spawns.
- Late game: minions spawn every 20 seconds instead of 30, with one less caster minion.
- Super minions spawn with every wave when an inhibitor falls.
- Nexus turrets respawn with 40 percent health instead of full.
These adjustments help both splitpush and siege strategies feel like viable win conditions again, making base pressure and wave control more central to closing out games.
Role Quests to give unique rewards per role
One of the other big changes starting in January is that each role will get its own quest tracks, determined by the role chosen in champion select. Progress is made by doing standard gameplay tasks like killing minions, champions, towers, or epic objectives, with extra speed for doing so in your assigned lane.
These quests are meant to give mid, top, and AD carry more meaningful ways to influence the game. Here are all the rewards that the roles get by completing the Role Quests:
Top lane
- Free longer cooldown Teleport, or an upgraded Teleport if they already took it.
- Bonus experience on completion and increased XP gain afterward.
- Higher max level cap for more late-game impact.
Jungle
- More gold and XP from large jungle monsters after quest completion.
- Bonus movement speed inside the jungle.
- Slightly slower early clear to reduce early map pressure.
- Increased Smite damage.
Mid lane
- Free tier 3 boot upgrade for better mobility.
- Empowered 4-second recall with a cooldown.
AD Carry
- Large gold payout on completion, plus increased gold from kills and assists.
- The seventh item slot is reserved for boots, allowing an extra legendary item for stronger scaling.
Support
- New control ward only slot and reduced control ward cost.
- Increased passive gold generation for more flexible item builds.
On top of these role-specific changes, the update lifts base critical-damage back to 200 percent for everyone, which affects all roles equally. The changes also remove the need for any lane-swap detection systems added previously, since quest progress is tied to assigned lanes, discouraging game-manipulating swaps. Overall, the goal is to make each role feel unique, impactful, and to balance power more evenly across the map.
All the changes are going live on League’s PBE server on Dec. 2, and they’ll come to the live servers soon in January when the new season starts.
