Classic Skins Now Default and Free in League of Legends Classic

Riot Games has listened to overwhelming feedback and pulled back on League of Legends Classic’s heavy monetization.

League Classic is a new (old) game, releasing July 29, which will allow players to play the MOBA with champion abilities and items from earlier seasons.

There was community outrage when Riot revealed that older models of champions, called Classic Skins, would cost 500 RP ($5) each.

Now, just two days since League Classic was released on the PBE, Riot has announced that Classic Skins will now be free for everyone.

Hey everyone. Thank you for your feedback on League Classic. We have a small update we wanted to share on:

👗Classic skins
💰Gameplay
🔧Champion kits pic.twitter.com/CkoW1EJHZj

— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) July 17, 2026

Classic Skins Made Default

League Classic game director Brian ‘FeralPony’ Feeney announced that Classic Skins will now be free and unlocked for everyone.

And not only that, Classic Skins will also soon be the default option for all champions that have them and will replace their modern base skins.

However, not all of the mode’s 60 champions will launch with Classic Skins and some modern skins will still be playable in the mode.

FeralPony also announced that Riot is working on re-adding as much of champions’ old voice-overs as they can.

VO updates will release at varying times, as explained by David ‘Phreak’ Turley on Reddit:

“Porting over VO is incredibly labor-intensive because not all regions had League at the same time, and our VO systems aren’t set up to have a different number of lines in one language and not another.

“Which means to enable old VO in locales that have it, you have to redo the entire VO suite for every localization to ensure there’s the same number of lines.”

All Classic default skins are now unlocked on the PBE, unsure what Riot will do with the Classic skin tokens. The chromas for them still cost 300 rp. pic.twitter.com/tuKNj7RvFk

— SkinSpotlights (@SkinSpotlights) July 16, 2026

League Classic Will Now Be Even Older

League Classic is launching with a cut-off of the start of Season 4 and the release of Yasuo as a cutting-off point.

This means there are a lot more champions released between 2009 and 2013 that could be added to League Classic.

However, the game launched on the PBE with some content from up to Season 5.

Originally, Riot wanted to take the best version of each champion from the first five seasons.

Now, based on feedback, Riot is making the mode even older and pulling their cut-off date for all content to Season 3.

Some other champion changes are coming too based on feedback.

For example, rather than the older version of Katarina Riot chose initially, players have asked for her 2012 kit instead, and Riot will grant that wish soon in an upcoming PBE update.

FeralPony says Riot may still dip further forward into the game’s past, but only if it will make a sizable improvement to Classic.

And he also explained why some modern elements remain, like the newer ping system, as the publisher doesn’t want to mess with players’ muscle memory – especially when switching between the two versions.

And he clarified that, despite what many fans thought after the MSI showmatch, League Classic uses the old bounty system, just with the modern UI.

Are you happy with the changes Riot have made? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.

And make sure you check out everything you need to know about League Classic. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.

Classic Skins Made Default

League Classic Will Now Be Even Older

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