League of Legends Brings Forward ARURF Date

The new 2026 Season 1 Act 1: For Demacia is officially in motion, as League of Legends prepare for a new annual cycle of content. As we know from the content provided each season (and Act), we're looking forward to the announcement of a new champion, more cinematics, and lore dumps, though for those who aren't interested in the meta stuff and care about gameplay, there's the seasonal game mode.

We've known for a while that the fan-favourite URF game mode would be making a return (in its less-meta-abusing variation, ARURF, offering random champions), and this was expected to launch on the third patch of the year, set to release on the 4th of February 2026. However, this has been moved by one entire patch, giving players the opportunity to jump into the action a bit earlier.

The "why" ARURF was moved from Patch 26.03 to Patch 26.02 wasn't really stated — Riot Ducké (modes QA lead for League of Legends) over on X mentioned the earlier patch without a clear explanation. That said, this will now mark the third additional game mode that's available, aside from the regular Summoner's Rift, simultaneously for a while (harkening back to the times the MOBA offered other evergreen game modes like Dominion and Twisted Treeline).

While some users were afraid that ARURF would be replacing ARAM: Mayhem, the developer confirmed that it would be in addition rather than in replacement of, meaning that by Patch 26.02, players will have the opportunity to choose from Arena, ARAM: Mayhem, and ARURF, all simultaneously. It's unheard of in modern League of Legends and shows a change in philosophy towards casual game modes, which were nonexistent for a few years.

ARURF drops in Patch 26.02, which — according to the Patch Schedule — should be launching on the 22nd of January (which is one of the few updates launching on a Thursday).