When is the New League of Legends Champion Releasing In League of Legends 2026?

League of Legends' latest champion to launch was Zaahen, who released last year on Patch 25.23 for 2025 Season 3 Act 2: Trials of Twilight. This update was released on the 19th of November 2025, giving players the chance to take control of the champion, though we haven't heard much more since then regarding new champions.

Of course, new champions are always a huge event in League of Legends, as they introduce new mechanics, characters, and content for players to enjoy. However, with 2026 Season 1: For Demacia, we didn't get a new champion released, but instead the highly anticipated launch for Shyvana's rework.

Still, players have been looking forward to a new champion to launch, and we've finally received information about when the latest one will release. With 2026 Season 2 Act 1: Pandemonium's information, we got to learn more about the seasonal framework, the champion's main role and lane, and their eventual release.

The new Season drop won't be bringing the new champion, as instead, Riot Games will be focusing on making a few major gameplay changes and adjustments to the mechanics introduced in Season 2. However, 2026 Season 2 Act 2: Pandemonium will bring the new champion, who will be a Mid lane AP assassin.

While it's disappointing that support players haven't received a champion since the launch of Milio on the 22nd of March 2023, it's still great to see that there will be a new champion for players to take advantage of. And while this will take place in the second Act of the Season, that doesn't mean it's as far away as we're used to.

Pandemonium is going to be a shorter season than usual, lasting only six patches (or 12 weeks total) instead of the usual eight patches. The first Act of Pandemonium will release on Patch 26.09, which lands on the 29th of April 2026, barring some last-minute changes.

With this, we can calculate an estimate of when the new champion will drop (though bear in mind that this is purely speculative, with Riot Games having the final say overall). For League of Legends 2026 Season 1 Act 2: Pandemonium, which is when the new champion launches, we can expect them to drop sometime Patch 26.15 on the 29th of July 2026, given that calculations are correct and last-minute delays don't occur.