As a League of Legends player who’s been following seasonal launch cycles since Season 3, I know how frustrating it is to refresh Riot’s news page every November waiting for clear answers on when will the new season of League of Legends start. Most of us plan our gaming schedules around this date: we wrap up our end-of-season rank grind, take short breaks to avoid burnout, or spend weeks testing new builds in pre-season to get a head start on the climb. This guide breaks down everything you need to know about the typical season timeline, what changes to expect on launch day, how to prepare before the season drops, and common myths that can waste your time if you believe them.
When Will the New Season of League of Legends Start? Typical Timeline Breakdown
Riot follows a pretty consistent annual schedule for League of Legends season launches, and they’ve stuck to roughly the same window for over a decade. Almost every official ranked season launches on the first or second Wednesday of January, right after a 4 to 6 week pre-season period that starts in early November, right after the previous season ends. Pre-season exists to let players test big gameplay overhauls, new items, map changes, and champion reworks without risking their competitive rank.
In rare cases, Riot will push the season launch back 1 to 2 weeks if game-breaking bugs are found in pre-season, or if major balance changes are receiving overwhelming negative feedback from players. The last time this happened was Season 10, when a bug that let champions stack infinite ability power forced Riot to delay launch by 10 days to fix the issue.
Riot always posts an official launch date announcement 2 to 3 weeks before the season goes live, first in the client’s news tab, then on their official social media channels. For most regions, the season goes live at 8 AM PT for North America, 12 PM GMT for EUW, and 2 AM GMT+8 for SEA servers. Server maintenance sometimes runs an hour or two longer than planned, so don’t book a full day off work to grind unless you’re okay with waiting for servers to come back online.
Key Changes You’ll See When the New League of Legends Season Kicks Off
A lot of players confuse pre-season changes with official season changes, but there are clear differences between what’s available during the pre-season test period and what locks in when the season officially launches. All pre-season gameplay adjustments are locked in for the first half of the season, so you don’t have to worry about your main champion or go-to build getting nerfed out of viability a week after you start your rank grind.
On launch day, you can expect these core updates to go live across all servers:
- Your ranked rank is partially reset based on your previous season end rank and placement match performance, with your hidden MMR carrying over to the new season
- All ranked rewards from the prior season (victorious skins, rank borders, emotes, and chromas) are added to your account within 72 hours of launch
- The new season pass goes live, with free and premium tiers of rewards for playing matches across all game modes, including normals, ARAM, and ranked
- Any pre-season test balance changes that received widespread negative player feedback are adjusted for the official season launch
You can still play normals, ARAM, and rotating game modes during pre-season, but those don’t count towards your new season rank progression. It’s also important to note that placement matches don't count until the official season launches, so don’t waste your time grinding ranked in pre-season if you’re trying to get a head start on your new rank. I made this mistake back in Season 7, grinding 12 ranked pre-season games thinking they would count for my placement, only to find out none of them mattered once the season went live.
How to Prepare Before the New LoL Season Launches
Pre-season is the best time to get ready for the new season without the pressure of losing rank, so don’t waste those 4 weeks spamming ARAM for fun if you want to climb faster once the season starts. Mastering 2 to 3 meta champions before the season starts will cut your climb time in half, because you won’t have to waste the first few weeks of the season learning new kits while everyone else is already grinding rank. If you main a role that gets big item changes in pre-season, test those builds in normals or ARAM first to get a feel for how they work in real team fights.
If you’ve been thinking of adjusting your settings, switching your keybinds, changing your mouse DPI, or rearranging your HUD layout, do it in pre-season so you have time to adjust before you start playing competitive matches. Even small changes to your setup can throw off your game for a few days, so it’s better to work through that learning curve when there’s no rank on the line.
If you burned out grinding for end-of-season rewards, it’s totally okay to take 1 to 2 weeks off from the game entirely before the new season starts. Coming back refreshed and focused will help you play better than forcing yourself to grind every day when you’re already tired of the game. Don't buy any new champions or skins the day before the season launches, because Riot almost always drops a new champion alongside the season launch, and you might want to save your blue essence or RP for that new release instead. You should also resolve any account penalties like chat restrictions or ranked bans before the season starts, because those will prevent you from earning end-of-season rewards even if you hit your goal rank during the season.
Common Myths About the LoL New Season Launch, Debunked
Every year, the same wrong claims circulate on Reddit and Discord servers about the new season launch, and a lot of new players fall for them and waste time or money as a result. I’ve tracked these myths for 10+ seasons, so I can break down which ones are completely false.
The first myth is that your rank resets completely every season, so your past performance doesn’t matter. That’s not true: LoL uses a soft rank reset, so your hidden MMR carries over from the previous season. If you ended last season in Gold, you’ll be placed around Silver or high Bronze after your placement matches, not Iron, no matter how well you play in placements. The second myth is that you have to play your placement matches in the first week of the season to get a higher rank. That’s also false: MMR is consistent no matter when you play, and the first week of the season is full of smurfs, rusty players, and people testing new champions, so lobbies are way more unbalanced than usual. Waiting to play placements until the initial rush dies down is one of the most underrated rank climbing tips, I’ve done it for the last 3 seasons and consistently placed 1 division higher than when I played in the first week of the season.
Another common myth is that pre-season rank counts towards your new season rank. Pre-season rank only affects your MMR slightly, but your official season rank is entirely based on your placement matches and ranked games played after the official season launch. The last myth I see every year is that the first skin released with the new season is limited edition. Most launch skins are part of regular skin lines that come back to the store regularly, the only limited season skins are the victorious skins you earn for hitting Gold or higher at the end of the season.
At the end of the day, waiting for clarity on when will the new season of League of Legends start can feel endless, but you don’t have to sit around refreshing announcement pages for updates. Follow the typical January launch timeline, use pre-season to practice new builds and champions, and ignore the common myths that circulate every year, and you’ll be set up to have your best season yet. If you want the exact launch date as soon as it’s announced, check the client news tab once a week starting in mid-December, that’s where Riot posts their official update first before anywhere else. Don’t forget to have fun with the game even when the competitive grind gets stressful, that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.