League of Legends Extends ARAM: Mayhem for 2026

Riot Games has been having a bit of a different approach to its hit MOBA title League of Legends over the last few years. While the esports-heavy title still continues to focus on its competitive play and Ranked scene, there's been a gradual shift towards more casual audiences, as old-time players quit fromlack of time to play or a lack of motivation for continuing the ranked climb for yet another season.

To this end, the team has been working on creating new for-fun game modes that keep the community engaged without focusing solely on the competitive mode, like Summoner's Rift, or the extreme for-fun game mode, like ARAM. With Arena, URF, and Brawl taking the limelight, the new contender from Wild Rift has become quite the spectacle throughout its end-of-year run in 2025.

ARAM: Mayhem is the mixture of Arena's roguelike elements with ARAM's randomness, removing the meta abuse that has plagued League of Legends since the inception of fun game modes. The community has been known to abuse strong champions quite frequently (an issue that plagues many a competitive title), and the culture has seeped into casual game modes that have ruined the fun sphere for those surrounding them.

With this in mind, ARAM: Mayhem was the perfect solution to the problems both Arena and ARAM have had. While Arena has had a lot of meta-abuse issues with champions like Ryze, Aurelion Sol, and Bel'veth dominating the battlefields, ARAM has always been very anti-melee, with players either aggressively favouring long-range poke or extremely unstoppable tanks.

ARAM: Mayhem struck a chord with the community, creating an unprecedented reaction from Riot Games — the casual game mode has been extended before it was even brought down for the new season. Previously, Arena, Brawl, and URF have suffered prolonged periods of being down, seeing player counts dropping as players look forward to getting their favourite game modes back, and ARAM: Mayhem broke that streak.

As of now, the overwhelming support for the game mode has assured its extension past Patch 26.3, as the team announced a major update coming to it (likely with new augments, changes, and more). So players loving ARAM: Mayhem can rest assured knowing it'll be around until past the 4th of February, with no official exit date being provided by Riot Games at the time of writing.