League of Legends' Arena Mode Is Back — And This Time, It Might Stay

It's official: the angry Arena mob has won the League of Legends wars against Riot Games and their crusade battling rotating game modes. This multi-year war ranging from Twisted Treeline to Dominion has officially turned, for the first time in years, in the favour of the community.

Riot Games is bringing back the Arena game mode, and this time, it's here to stay. Though, there's a bit of a caveat to that last clause, as "staying" is a bit of a broad term that spans a bit more than a few months, but is not an assured permanence like many would like to know.

So, let's recap what happened — League of Legends' first new seasonal approach kicked off with Welcome to Noxus, the first Season (confusingly, 15th Season) with the limited-time game mode Arena arriving with all-new augments, maps, sponsors, and just an overall rehaul. This edition, judging by vox populi, seemed like the most famous version of Arena yet, as players adored the new agency given to them (removing featured guests) and encouraging duking it out with fellow players.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and Arena was removed from League of Legends for the second Season of the year: Spirit Blossom Beyond. Replaced instead by the newcomer-friendly Brawl, many were upset about the change of pace and for the first few days, players would join the queue, demanding that Arena be brought back, expressing distaste with the new game mode.

So, following the backlash, excitement, numerous tags to official accounts, and overall feedback, Arena in the Grand Reckoning is being brought back for an extended period, as the official announcement states.

We heard the conversations in the community across the globe, saw all the tags of our official accounts, and even one region flooded the PBE where Arena was still accessible for them.

So... this seems like the time to give that longer run a go.

The "longer run" that Riot Cadmus brings up on the announcement post will span the rest of the year. Starting with Patch 25.13 launching on the 25th of June 2025, the Grand Reckoning Arena will return until the end of the year (no official date has been given yet) to test out its viability as a long-term game mode.

To keep it sustainable, the return will feature balance updates every other patch, which is a similar approach to what ARAM gets currently, and the progress for some challenges — Arena God Challenge and Fame — will be kept for now, giving players a second chance to get the title. Later on, with the arrival of Season 3 (likely on the 27th of August), the game mode will see a progression reset and a slight overhaul, with new augments to keep it interesting.

As it stands, we don't know when Arena will end, but we do know that it's beginning on the 25th of June 2025, and we can expect it to last throughout the remainder of 2025.