League of Legends rework: What we know so far

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 19/12/2025

League of Legends developers, Paul ‘Pabro’ Bellezza and Andrei ‘Meddler’ van Roon, have confirmed that Riot Games is working on a significant rework to League of Legends.

In a dev update released on social media, the pair confirmed that Riot are working on significant overhauls of the visuals, the client, and graphically modernising Summoner’s Rift.

The news follows a report from Bloomberg, which outlined Riot’s plans for what they allegedly called ‘League Next,’ an ambitious rework of the 2009 game.

What Riot revealed about League of Legends rework

The Riot developers explained that the League of Legends rework is planned for 2027, though an exact date is yet to be confirmed.

Head of League Studio, Andrei ‘Meddler’ van Roon, described the main aspects of the rework as follows:

• A brand new around-game client that’s fully integrated with the in-game experience.
• A full visual overhaul of Summoner’s Rift.
• Gameplay changes which are tied to the visual update.
• Some changes to Runes and pre-game systems.
• An improved new player experience.

The planned 2027 update marks the most significant overall of the visuals of the game since the 2014 Summoner’s Rift Update, thirteen years prior to the expected 2027 release.

van Roon late confirmed on X that the new client would be “one piece of software that’s more integrated/cohesive, rather than separate client and in-game experiences.”

Attracting new players to the game seems to be a large priority in Riot’s development path, emphasised by the recent addition of WASD to the MoBA.

Cecilia D’Anastasio’s report for Bloomberg emphasised the developer’s desire to recapture momentum for League of Legends, requiring a healthy stream of new players.

The developers emphasised that the update did not represent ‘League of Legends 2,’ but a continuation of League of Legends, which would still benefit from its regular updates as usual.

Rushed announcement means more League Next detail will follow

Despite the developers’ update, it’s clear from the video’s content that League’s development team felt somewhat forced to address the speculation surrounding a rework, remake, or ‘League of Legends 2’ rumours.

It was later confirmed by Riot dev, Andrei ‘Meddler’ van Roon, that the video was merely a section of a larger video planned for January. As such, the dev update is much shorter and less detailed than League’s typical large development updates.

“We were planning to share this video with you in early January as part of the bigger Season Start moment, but since some early speculation is making the rounds, we felt we should share it earlier.” – Andrei ‘Meddler’ van Roon – Head of League Studio, Riot Games

The pair ended the snippet of the posted video by stating that more updates on the subject would follow in the time between MSI and Worlds 2026.

van Roon added that this update would include, “approximately when in 2027 we’re aiming to have these updates land.”

Despite that, it’s not clear exactly when League fans will see the rework in action, with the changes “not ready for a first look, yet,” according to Bellezza.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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