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League of Legends Season 2 Act II: Everything Coming to the Rift
League of Legends Season 2, 2026 is loading up Act II with a dense slate of updates, from competitive queue changes to ARAM overhauls and a packed cosmetic calendar. Here is what players can expect when the patch drops.
A New Champion Steps Into the Light
Leading the Act II charge is Locke, the newest addition to the League of Legends roster. He is a high-burst assassin built around setup and execution, arriving in Patch 26.13. Riot developers Pabro and Meddler detailed his kit in the May 26 Dev Update, noting that his ceiling is high for players who master the conditions required to trigger his damage window.
Five-Stack Glory Is Back
Ranked 5s are returning in Act II, bringing a dedicated Summoner's Rift queue for full premade groups of five with individual ranks. The mode was previously retired due to matchmaking inconsistencies that caused queue times to spiral. Riot believes improvements made to matchmaking infrastructure since then are now strong enough to support a second run.
Several things work differently this time around. You do not need a locked roster — any group of five friends can queue together each session. There are also no rank restrictions between teammates. Riot prioritized the social experience over tight skill bracketing and built balancing mechanisms into the system to compensate for large individual rank gaps within a team.
The queue runs on weekend evenings only, from June 26 to September 6, in a dedicated time window designed to concentrate the player pool and keep matchmaking healthy. The available hours per region are:
- North America: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM CDT
- EU West: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM CEST
- EUNE: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM CEST
- Latin America North: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM EDT
- Latin America South: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM CLT
- Brazil: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM BRT
- Oceania: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM AEST
- Southeast Asia: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM SGT
- Middle East: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM AST
- Russia: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM CEST
- Korea: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM KST
- Japan: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM JST
- Taiwan: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM CST
- Vietnam: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM ICT
- Turkey: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM TRT
Instead of standard ranked draft, the mode uses Tournament Draft (3 bans, 3 picks, 2 bans, 2 picks), pushing teams to coordinate their pick and ban strategy. Riot's smurfing and boosting detection systems, already applied to Flex queue schemes, will be active from day one. Every player who participates receives an exclusive icon, and anyone who reaches Gold or above earns a unique banner reflecting their peak rank.
Augmentmaxxing Your Way Through the Abyss
ARAM: Mayhem is receiving one of its most significant structural changes yet in Patch 26.12. Riot is removing the Trait system entirely, but popular Traits will be preserved as standalone Augments rather than discarded outright. The core selection loop stays intact:
- Four Augment Selection phases trigger at game start and at champion levels 7, 11, and 15
- Selections are only available while your champion is dead, tying strategic decisions to in-game performance
- All players in the lobby receive the same augment rarity tier at each phase simultaneously
Patch 26.12 also introduces a brand new augment category: Ability Augments. These modify a champion's kit directly rather than applying generic stat boosts:
- Blitzcrank can hook multiple targets simultaneously with the right Ability Augment
- Each Ability Augment is tailored to a specific champion, opening up interactions that do not exist in standard play
Riot confirmed it is already planning Mayhem updates for 2027, signaling the mode has a long-term roadmap rather than being treated as a seasonal side feature.
Dressing Up the Bridge
Riot is testing ARAM: Wardrobe in Brazil and Oceania. For 1,350 RP, players get access to most Epic tier and lower skins released before 2026, usable in both ARAM and ARAM: Mayhem. Time-limited skins in that category will also be available when they appear in the Shop, bringing a layer of cosmetic expression to a mode that has historically offered very little outside of champion skins.
Skins, MSI, and a Peek at Season 3
Act II brings a packed cosmetic schedule across multiple skin lines:
- Patch 26.12: Sinful Shores skins for Hwei and Brand, plus a Prestige skin for LeBlanc
- High Noon skins for Akshan and Locke
- MSI window: Broken Covenant returns with skins for Aurora, Shen, and Jhin, with Jhin as the MSI revenue share skin
- July: 2025 Worlds Winner skins arrive alongside the Season 2 Victorious skin, which goes to Rengar
On the esports side, MSI 2026 takes place at the Daejeon Convention Center II in Daejeon, South Korea, running from June 28 through July 12. The schedule breaks down as follows:
- Play-ins: June 28 – July 1
- Brackets: July 3–6 and July 8–12
- Finals: July 12
Riot confirmed that the MSI Finals will include a first look at content planned for Season 3, making the closing weekend worth watching beyond the competition itself.
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Featured Image Credit: Riot Games
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