As announced in the latest Dev Update, the second Act will be centered around music, putting more weight behind recent leaks that have indicated a potential return of K/DA and HEARTSTEEL ahead of Worlds 2026 and Teamfight Tactics’ Set 19. The latter was teased last December as featuring the game’s “biggest musical event yet.”
The first musical reveal is also confirmed to arrive the day after the Dev Update, on September 10.
Team Voice is coming to North America and Oceania
After being teased earlier this year, Team Voice is officially making its way to live servers with the launch of Act 2 and Patch 26.20.
League’s in-game voice chat has been available since 2018, but only for premade parties, meaning players could only communicate with teammates they had queued with. Team Voice will expand the feature to include an entire team, with Riot hoping to improve communication and coordination during games.
However, one of the major reasons this expansion has taken so long is the potential for toxicity that comes with allowing players to communicate with strangers, something Riot acknowledged during the update.
As a result, access to Team Voice will be directly tied to Honor levels. Players must be at least Honor Level 3 to speak in Team Voice, while those below Level 3 will still be able to listen to their teammates. Riot says this is intended to limit disruptive behavior without completely preventing players from benefiting from team communication.
Riot will also introduce new voice moderation tools alongside the feature. These systems are intended to help enforce a healthier environment and monitor how players interact with Team Voice. The rollout will initially be limited to regions and languages where Riot believes it can properly support its moderation and enforcement systems.
Team Voice will launch in North America and Oceania with Patch 26.20. Riot is also considering future rollouts in Korea, LATAM, Brazil, and additional regions, depending on how the initial launch performs.
With the launch of Team Voice, Riot has also highlighted quality-of-life improvements to their voice systems, as the previous Party Voice tools were quite outdated. Among the improvements, Riot shared that the following changes would be made: better noise cancellation, faster connections, greater stability, and the addition of new voice modulation toolscalled Voice Skins, allowing users to make their voices sound different, potentially a tool to help combat toxicity against minorities and women in games. Some of these improvements will also apply to existing premade voice chat.
More champions are coming to League Classic
Riot also provided an update on League Classic, revealing several changes based on community feedback, and teasing that the first Council vote had concluded and that results would be published soon.
The developer has implemented bug fixes and matchmaking improvements, while also updating the game's lighting and map textures to better capture its classic visual style.
Rune progression has also been adjusted. Players will now earn IP and XP at a faster rate, receive two additional Rune Pages, get a second Win of the Day bonus, and benefit from reduced prices on many Runes.
More importantly, Riot confirmed that more champions are coming to League Classic.
Following the recent addition of Akali, Kennen, and Shen, the upcoming Demacia Re-Rising update will introduce classic versions of Poppy, Xin Zhao, Shyvana, Galio, and Fiora.
After that, Graves will join the game alongside three other Bilgewater champions. Riot has not yet revealed which three Bilgewater champions will accompany him, though users have speculated that Fizz and Nautilus could be part of those additions.
ARAM: Mayhem gets a musical twist
The next ARAM: Mayhem set will also embrace Act 2's music theme and is sceduled to arrive later in September.
Players will encounter musical acts when they spawn into games, adding another layer of variety to Mayhem. Riot teased several acts, including Arcade, Cafe Cuties, and the Bees, alongside other virtual bands.
The new set will also introduce in-game missions that encourage players to experiment with different builds and playstyles. These can include challenges such as consistently hitting enemies from long range or dealing large amounts of damage with an ultimate.
Completing these missions will provide rewards outside of the standard Mayhem progression track.
New Augments will also be added, including Beeees!!!, which allows players to throw beehives at enemies, and Get Jinxed, which lets players ride one of Jinx's rockets.
Ranked 5s is returning with a new draft system
Riot also confirmed the return of Ranked 5s, with the next run taking place from September through December. The mode will also receive several changes based on feedback from its initial run.
The biggest change is the addition of a strategic draft phase. During Champion Select, players will be able to see the names of their opponents and the champions they play most frequently in Ranked.
This will give teams additional information when deciding which champions to pick and ban, moving the mode closer to Clash's strategic approach to drafting.
Riot is also expanding the queue window. Ranked 5s will become available earlier on Fridays and remain open later on Sundays, potentially extending into early Monday morning depending on the player's region.
Players will once again be able to earn a Ranked 5s banner and icon based on their highest rank, while the new run will also introduce an exclusive emote.
Rewards from the initial Ranked 5s run, which began in June, will be distributed with Patch 26.18.
League Partner Program applications are open
Finally, Riot confirmed that applications for the League Partner Program are now open. Creators interested in joining the program will be able to apply directly on Riot’s official website.
The developer also confirmed that this will be its final Dev Update before Worlds 2026. The tournament will begin in Los Angeles on October 15, before the Finals take place in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14.
