LoL Season 3 End Date 2026: When Ranked Closes, Rewards and the 2027 Reset

League's year has had three seasons since 2025, and each one changes the Victorious skin, the ranked mission and the map theme — but only the first one resets your rank. Season 3 2026, "Classic", started on 29 July 2026 with patch 26.15. Riot has not announced the day it ends; here is what is confirmed, what the last two years say about the likely end date, and the checklist for the final weeks so you lock in the rewards you have earned.

The 2026 calendar so far

Season 1 ("For Demacia") ran 110 days, Season 2 ("Pandemonium") 90. Season 3 began the day after Season 2 closed. The pattern — a late-April and a late-July switch, a January reset — matches the 2025 cycle (9 January, 30 April, 27 August) closely enough to plan around, but Riot has moved these dates before: the 2025 third split began on a Wednesday in August, not July.

When Season 3 is likely to end

Riot's 25 November 2024 ranked update set the structure: three seasons a year, one annual rank reset at the start of the first. So Season 3 ends on the day Season 1 2027 begins, and the two data points we have for that are 8 January 2026 (2026) and 9 January 2025 (2025) — both the Wednesday of the first full patch week of the year. If 2027 follows the pattern, the switch lands in the week of 6–13 January 2027. Treat that as a projection: the only confirmed statement is Riot's, and until a patch schedule is published the safe assumption is that the last 2026 patch (26.24, if the two-week cadence holds) is the final chance to finish the mission.

Our season calendar tracks the confirmed dates and marks every projected one as an estimate.

What a season switch changes — and what it does not

What the January reset does

At the 2027 reset your visible rank drops by at least 4 divisions and starts no higher than Emerald I; hidden MMR is only partially reset. You then play 5 placement games per queue with no LP loss and a large first-win bonus, and the climb back is fast because the matchmaker still rates you where you ended. The placements guide has every rule; the thing to know now is that your end-of-season rank is what the rewards and the reset are measured from.

End-of-season checklist

1. 1 · Count your ranked wins.

   15 wins across Solo/Duo and Flex since 29 July 2026 unlock the Season 3 Victorious skin. Check the mission in the client; if you are short, a net-wins order finishes it in a day or two.

2. 2 · Decide on the chroma.

   The Victorious chroma follows your peak tier in the season — Gold, Platinum, Emerald, Diamond each unlock a different one. If you are one division short of a tier, that division is the cheapest reward in the game.

3. 3 · Check the border.

   Earn the Victorious skin in all three 2026 seasons and the ranked border for your highest finishing tier is added — the one reward that depends on the whole year.

4. 4 · Clear any Honor problem.

   Rewards require a clean Honor standing (no active penalties) when the season closes. A chat restriction in December can cost you a skin you earned in August.

5. 5 · Mind the decay bank.

   Diamond+ accounts keep decaying through the holidays; the decay calculator tells you how many games cover the break.