If you’ve been grinding ranked matches nonstop to hit that Gold rank or finally reach Challenger, you’ve probably asked yourself at least once when does the League of Legends season end. Missing the cutoff can mean losing out on limited skins, chromas, and profile rewards that you can’t get once the reset hits, so getting the timeline right matters more than you might think. I’ve played through 11 straight LoL seasons, and I’ve made the mistake of waiting until the last 24 hours to climb once too often—so I’m breaking down everything you need to know to plan your grind, claim all your rewards, and prepare for what comes next after the season wraps up.
When Does the League of Legends Season End Typically, and How Is It Announced?
Riot Games follows a fairly consistent annual schedule for ranked seasons, with most seasons wrapping up in mid-November for all global regions. Exact dates shift slightly from year to year, but Riot always announces the official end date 4 to 6 weeks in advance via the in-client news tab, official social media channels, and developer blogs. If you're still pushing for a higher rank, confirming when does the League of Legends season end for your server should be the first thing you do when you log in each day.
Cutoff times vary by region to match local midnight hours, so don’t rely on a friend’s timeline from a different server. For example, NA servers end at 11:59 PM PT, EUW servers end at 11:59 PM CET, and SEA servers end at 11:59 PM GMT+8. Your rank is locked the second the season ends for your specific region, so any matches in progress when the cutoff hits won't count toward your final rank. Riot will sometimes push the end date back by a week if there are critical bug issues or balance disruptions ruining ranked play, so it’s smart to check for updates weekly starting in late October.
What Rewards Do You Get for Your Final Ranked Placement?
Reward tiers are tied directly to your highest rank achieved in any ranked queue (Solo/Duo, Flex, or Twisted Treeline, where applicable) during the season. Knowing exactly when does the League of Legends season end will help you plan how much time you have to hit that Gold threshold for the most coveted reward. You only need to reach Gold in one ranked queue to unlock the annual Victorious skin, which is never re-released after the season ends.
Full reward tiers break down as follows:
Note that accounts with active penalties (chat restrictions, AFK bans, or rank restrictions) will not be eligible for seasonal rewards even if they hit the required rank. Riot reviews account standing two weeks before the season ends, so make sure you’re playing cleanly and avoiding reports in the final month of the grind. I learned this the hard way one season when a 3-day chat ban made me ineligible for the Victorious Lucian skin, and I still regret tilting at my team in that random ARAM.
Pre-Season vs. Post-Season: What Happens Right After the Season Ends?
Right after the official season end date hits, ranked queues are disabled for 48 hours for what Riot calls post-season. During this window, Riot calculates final ranks for all players, processes reward drops, and rolls out initial patches for the upcoming season. You can still play normal, ARAM, and rotating game modes during this time, but ranked play is completely unavailable.
Once post-season wraps up, pre-season begins, and ranked queues re-open. A lot of new players assume pre-season matches don’t matter, but that’s one of the biggest myths in the LoL community. Pre-season ranked matches do affect your MMR, which will be used to calculate your placement matches for the next season. Trolling or throwing pre-season games can drop your MMR so much that you’ll place 2 to 3 full tiers lower next season even if you win 7 out of 10 placement matches.
Pre-season is also when Riot rolls out all major gameplay changes: new items, champion reworks, map updates, and ranked rule changes for the upcoming year. It’s the perfect time to test out new builds, learn meta champions, and adjust to the new gameplay loop without risking your rank for the next official season. Rewards usually hit your in-game inventory within 72 hours of post-season ending, so don’t panic if you don’t see your Victorious skin right away.
Pro Tips to Climb Rank Fast Before the Season Ends
I’ve climbed from Silver 4 to Gold 2 in the last 10 days of a season before, so these tips are all tested and proven to work if you’re short on time to hit your rank goal. First, stick to 1 or 2 champions that you already have at least 50 games played on. You don't want to learn a new champion in the final weeks of the season, even if they're meta. One-tricking a champion you know inside out will give you a far higher win rate than bouncing between 5 different flavor-of-the-month picks you barely understand.
If you can, queue with a reliable duo partner that you communicate well with. Playing with someone you know cuts down on tilting, bad team comps, and random AFK players that throw free wins. Take a 30-minute break after every 2 losses, no exceptions. Tilting is the number one reason players lose rank right before the season ends—if you’re frustrated enough to type angry messages in chat, you’re too frustrated to play well.
Focus on winning your lane first before you start roaming to help other lanes. Winning your lane gives your team a 60% higher chance of winning the entire match, according to Riot's own ranked data. Finally, don’t be afraid to dodge lobbies with obvious trolls, off-meta grief picks, or teammates who say they’re going to intentionally lose. The 3 LP loss from dodging is way better than the 15 to 20 LP loss you’ll get from a guaranteed lost match, and dodging doesn’t hurt your MMR as long as you don’t do it more than once a day.
At the end of the day, knowing when does the League of Legends season end is the first step to making sure you get all the rewards you worked hard for all year. Don’t rely on secondhand info from friends or random social media posts—always check the official Riot client news tab for the exact end date for your region, and give yourself at least a week buffer to climb if you’re close to your rank goal. Even if you don’t hit the rank you wanted this season, pre-season is the perfect time to practice, improve your skills, and get a head start on next year’s grind. Whether you’re playing for the Victorious skin or just trying to hit your first Platinum rank, planning ahead will make the entire process way less stressful.