Every LoL Champion by Release Date

League of Legends has 173 champions, released between the game’s alpha on February 21, 2009 and Locke on June 24, 2026. Seventeen were in the game on day one of alpha, Riot shipped 90 in the first three years, and the pace has since slowed to a handful a year, with Locke the only 2026 release, exactly as Riot said he would be. The full list of LoL champion release dates is below, newest first, with the patch each one landed on and the positions Riot’s client lists for them. Under it we look at which release eras carry ranked right now, and at the old champions whose kits are much younger than their release date.

Release dates and patches come from the League of Legends Wiki’s champion list and its champion data, last checked October 2026 on patch 26.21. We checked the count of 173 row by row, and every release date in the table against the wiki list. No champion has been added since Locke.

Every LoL champion by release date

The table runs newest to oldest, since the recent champions are the ones people look up most. The number is each champion’s place in release order: Alistar is 1, Locke is 173. “Alpha” means the champion was in the first playable build in February 2009, and “Pre-launch beta” covers the dated patches between that and the V0.8 versioning. Positions are the ones Riot’s client recommends, which is not the same thing as where they are strongest this patch.

A few rows trip people up. Several champions share a day: 17 launched together on February 21, 2009, and Rakan and Xayah arrived as a pair on April 19, 2017. Ahri and Viktor both sit on patch V1.0.0.131 because that patch ran from mid to late December 2011. And Nunu is listed under his current name, Nunu & Willump, from his 2018 update.

How many champions Riot released each year

Half the roster came out before the end of 2011, and Riot has released fewer than ten champions a year since 2013. 2009 alone produced 42 champions, which is more than 2017 through 2026 combined (39). We counted the table straight off the wiki list. Those launch-era champions are also the backbone of the League Classic roster, which we break down in our LoL Classic champion list.

Part of the slowdown is Riot putting more of its champion work into updating old champions, which is one reason 2024 and 2025 had three releases each and 2026 has one. The newest champion, Locke, landed on patch 26.13 and has his own Locke guide with build and matchups. Don’t wait for a second 2026 champion: Riot’s head of League, Meddler, said on Reddit in March 2026 that there would be one new champion this year, around the middle of the year, because most of the champion team is working on League Next. Nothing has been announced for 2027 yet either, and our guide to the next LoL champion tracks what Riot has confirmed versus what is only leaked.

Which release eras dominate ranked right now

Champions from 2009-2011 still account for nearly half of ranked picks. We grouped every champion by release era and matched them against op.gg’s Emerald+ ranked stats for patch 26.19. The table shows each era’s share of the roster, its share of picks across op.gg’s Emerald+ champion tables, and its pick-weighted win rate, last checked September 2026. Riot does not publish official pick or win rates, so this is tracker data.

The eras perform almost identically. The whole spread is under half a point of win rate, which says more about Riot’s balance team than about kit design. The 2012-2014 class punches above its size: 19% of the roster, 22% of the picks, thanks to Jinx (52.57% win rate on a 16.77% ADC pick rate), Thresh (52.13% on 14.86% in support), Yasuo, Zed and Lulu. Post-2020 champions, meanwhile, get picked slightly less than their share of the roster, which is hard to square with their reputation as ranked monsters. The one real exception is Yunara, a 2025 ADC sitting on a 15.66% pick rate with a 50.57% win rate.

The newest kits are also where the worst win rates live right now. Mel (2025) averages 45.14% across her roles and K’Sante (2022) sits at 47.30%. At the other end, Ezreal (2010) at 45.83% on an 11.48% pick rate is proof that being old does not protect you either; he is popular enough that people keep queuing him anyway.

Ask our boosters what they lock in when an order needs to move fast and you mostly hear launch-era names, the Malphites and Nasuses and Warwicks of the world (Warwick is at 51.92% across roles right now). Simple kits with one clear job are easier to play well for 40 games straight than a 2024 champion with four dashes and a passive that needs its own wiki page. If you want to see which champions actually win at your own bracket rather than at Emerald+, our champion tier list by rank splits it out.

If your season is stalling and you would rather hand the climb to someone who already knows which 2009 bruiser is quietly broken this patch, our League of Legends boost team handles division climbs, placements and duo queue, on your schedule.

Bans tell a different story

New releases get banned hard even when they are not winning. Locke has the highest ban rate in Emerald+ at 30.30%, on a 49.68% win rate in mid. Players ban what they do not know yet. The rest of the top of the ban list is old, though. Nasus (2009) is at 27.74%, Pyke (2018) at 25.39%, Zed (2012) at 24.57%, Yasuo (2013) at 22.27% and Caitlyn (2011) at 21.89%, all op.gg Emerald+, checked September 2026. Nasus being the second most banned champion in the game 17 years after release is either a balance note or a personal attack on every top laner who has ever been stacked on.

Old champions that are newer than their release date

A release date tells you when a champion’s name first appeared. It says nothing about how old the kit is. Riot’s full Visual and Gameplay Updates (VGUs) rebuild a champion’s model, animations and most of the kit. By the wiki’s champion update list, 36 of the 90 champions released in 2009-2011 have had a full VGU or relaunch, so a lot of “launch-era” picks are really 2017-2026 designs wearing an old date.

The launch-era champions that were never fully reworked are doing slightly better than the reworked ones. The 54 untouched 2009-2011 champions in op.gg’s tables take 30.0% of Emerald+ picks at a 50.25% pick-weighted win rate, while the 35 reworked ones take 17.9% at 49.92%. The community has noticed: an r/leagueoflegends thread on the “outdated” champions with binary kits argued that exactly these picks were being buffed into strength, and the numbers above back the complaint.

What this list does not tell you

Release order is good for settling arguments and not much else when you are drafting. The era table averages dozens of champions together, so a strong era can hide weak champions and the other way round. op.gg only lists the most-played champions per role, so low-pick champions (Ryze did not make any role table this patch) are missing from the pick shares. And every win rate here is one patch at one bracket; a single hotfix can move a champion two points. Treat the era data as a sanity check and pick champions on how they perform at your rank.

Frequently asked questions

How many champions are in League of Legends?

173, counting Locke, who released on June 24, 2026 on patch 26.13. That count comes from the League of Legends Wiki’s champion list, last checked October 2026 on patch 26.21.

What was the first League of Legends champion?

There is no single first. 17 champions were in the alpha build on February 21, 2009, including Alistar, Annie, Ashe, Jax, Ryze, Sivir, Teemo and Tristana. Alistar is first alphabetically, which is why most lists start with him.

What is the newest LoL champion?

Locke, the Ashen Exorcist, a mid lane assassin released on June 24, 2026 on patch 26.13. He is the only new champion of 2026. Riot said in March there would be just one this year, and no 2027 champion has been announced.

How many champions does Riot release per year?

Three to six a year since 2014, and three in each of 2024 and 2025. The early years were very different: 42 champions in 2009 and 24 in each of 2010 and 2011.

Are older LoL champions weaker than new ones?

No. By op.gg’s Emerald+ data on patch 26.19, champions released in 2009-2011 hold a 50.13% pick-weighted win rate against 50.12% for 2020-2026 releases, and they take almost half of all picks.

Which old champions have been fully reworked?

36 of the 90 champions from 2009-2011 have had a full Visual and Gameplay Update, including Udyr, Dr. Mundo, Fiddlesticks, Volibear, Mordekaiser and Kayle. The most recent is Shyvana, reworked in March 2026.

From Alistar to Locke that makes 173 champions, with the release pace falling from 42 a year to one or two and the old guard still taking nearly half of ranked picks. If you want to put that roster knowledge to work on your own account, our LoL division climb and placements service will get you where you are trying to go while you learn which of those 173 actually deserve your champion pool.