If you’ve been grinding ranked right up until the end of the latest split, spamming promos to hit that next tier for the end-of-season skin, you’ve definitely asked at least once when does new season of League of Legends start. Riot’s annual schedule is fairly consistent, but small shifts happen every year, and missing the launch window can mean missing out on early pass rewards, getting stuck in the chaos of first-week smurf lobbies, or misplanning your grind around work or school commitments. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve stayed up late refreshing Riot’s patch page in December, waiting for the exact launch time to drop so I can plan my holiday grind around it. This guide breaks down all the standard timing, what to expect at launch, and how to prep to climb faster than ever this year.
When Does New Season of League of Legends Start? Standard Timing Breakdown
Riot runs one full main League of Legends season per year, with a fairly rigid timeline that has only shifted a handful of times in the last decade. The previous ranked season always wraps up in mid-November, with end-of-season rewards (ranked skins, borders, emotes, and ward skins) dropping within 7 days of the final ranked game day. After that, an 8-week pre-season period kicks off, where Riot tests major meta changes, new items, rune reworks, and system updates before they lock in for the full season.
That 8-week pre-season window means the full new season almost always launches in the first or second week of January. You can expect the new season to go live at 6 AM CT for North American servers, 5 AM GMT for EU West, and 3 AM KST for KR servers on launch day. The only times this timeline has shifted more than a week was when Riot added the Emerald ranked tier a few years back, and when they rolled out the new jungle pet system, both of which required extra bug testing before full launch. Riot always announces the exact launch date 3 to 4 weeks in advance during their official pre-season live stream, so you’ll have plenty of notice to plan ahead.
What Changes Happen Right When the New Season Launches?
The biggest change on launch day is the soft ranked reset. Your MMR doesn’t get wiped entirely, so your past performance still matters, but your visible rank gets pushed down a few tiers to make space for the new year’s grind. For example, if you ended the previous season at Platinum 3, you’ll typically place between Gold 2 and Gold 4 after your 10 placement matches, depending on how many of those you win. Placement matches only count for your initial rank, they don’t have any special impact on your MMR, so you don’t have to stress if you lose a few right off the bat.
All pre-season changes that were tested over the 8-week window are also locked in on launch day, with no major balance shifts planned for the first 4 weeks unless a champion or item is so broken it breaks entire lobbies. Pre-season items and rune changes are finalized at launch, so you don’t have to worry about your main build getting nerfed out of nowhere for the first month of climbing. The new annual season pass also drops right on launch day, so you can start earning points for exclusive skins, chromas, emotes, and mythic essence as soon as servers go live. The first ranked split runs for roughly 6 months, followed by a short mid-season break, then a second 4-month split before the full season wraps up again in November.
How to Prep for the New Season Launch to Climb Faster
A lot of players jump straight into ranked on day 1, but that’s one of the worst times to grind if you care about your win rate. Half the player base is still learning new meta changes, and lobbies are flooded with smurfs, streamers, and top-ranked players grinding to hit Challenger as fast as possible. Prepping even a week or two before launch will save you hundreds of LP and a lot of tilt in the first month of the season.
- Spend the last 2 weeks of pre-season testing 2 to 3 main champions you want to one-trick for the first split, so you don’t waste placement matches learning new kits or matchups
- Write down any small rune or item adjustments for your mains that went live in the final pre-season patch, so you don’t load into your first game with an outdated setup
- Wait 3 to 5 days after launch to play your placement matches if you’re not a top 1% player, to avoid the smurf and casual player chaos of the first week
- Take a 1 to 2 week break from ranked if you’re burnt out from the previous season grind, there’s no penalty for waiting to climb later in the split
I tested this prep routine last season, and it made a massive difference in my climb. One trick I swear by is playing 10 to 15 normal draft games right after launch to get used to the new meta before touching ranked at all. The year before I started doing this, I jumped straight into ranked on day 1 and dropped two full divisions in my first 20 games. Last year, I waited 4 days, played 12 normal games to test my main’s new build, and climbed from Gold 2 to Platinum 3 in my first 25 ranked matches.
Common Mistakes to Avoid During the First Month of the New Season
The biggest mistake I see players make every year is chasing the flavor of the meta every single day. The first few weeks of the season have a lot of hot takes and viral clips of “broken” champions, but most of the time these picks are only strong because no one knows how to counter them yet. You’ll win far more games sticking to a champion you already know well than swapping to a FOTM pick you’ve never played before, even if that pick is technically stronger on paper.
Another common mistake is ignoring small system changes that don’t seem important at first glance. A few seasons ago, Riot rolled out an updated ping system with new objective and danger pings, and half the player base didn’t bother learning how to use them. Players who took 5 minutes to learn the new pings won way more games just from being able to communicate better with their random teammates. Always read the full patch notes for the launch patch, even if you don’t care about balance changes, because small quality of life updates can make a huge difference to your win rate.
Finally, don’t fall for the pressure of hitting your goal rank in the first split. There are two splits every year, you get separate rewards for both, and your highest rank across both splits counts for your end-of-season rewards. If you don’t climb as fast as you want in split 1, you have 4 full months in split 2 to make up for it. You don’t lose any end of season rewards for taking time to adjust to the new season, so don’t force ranked games when you’re tilted or burnt out.
At the end of the day, the exact date when does new season of League of Legends start shifts by a week or two every year, but the standard early January timeline holds for almost every cycle. Don’t stress too much about being the first person to hit your goal rank, take time to learn the new changes, and you’ll have a way more fun and successful ranked grind that year. Riot always shares the exact launch date weeks in advance on their official social channels, so you’ll have plenty of time to plan your grind whenever the next season rolls around.