League of Legends is a team MOBA from Riot Games where two teams of five fight to destroy the enemy Nexus. It came out in 2009 and is free to play on PC and Mac. In this review we tell you what LoL offers in 2026, how it has changed and who it’s for.
Review
League of Legends
Strategic depth, 173 champions and regular changes that keep the game moving after all these years. Points off for a steep start for newcomers, the kernel-level Vanguard anti-cheat and pricey skins.
- Genre
- 5v5 MOBA
- Developer
- Riot Games
- Release
- 2009
- Platforms
- PC (Windows), Mac (Apple Silicon)
- Price
- Free to play; champions for Blue Essence or RP, skins for RP
- Champions
- 173 (October 2026)
What works
- Huge strategic depth: roles, items, objectives and vision
- 173 champions, and you can unlock them by playing for Blue Essence
- Riot changes the game a lot every season; in 2026, for example, role quests and an earlier Baron
- Free to play with years of content
What doesn’t
- The start is long; ranked unlocks only at level 30 with 20 champions
- The Vanguard anti-cheat runs in the Windows kernel
- The Sanctum gacha has a 0.5% chance at the top reward
- No Linux or console version
Rated on critic reception as of October 21, 2026 · Metacritic 78 (PC, 37 reviews, the only platform) · League of Legends isn’t on Steam, so there are no Steam player ratings
What League of Legends is about
The core is the Summoner’s Rift map. Two teams of five, three lanes and the jungle between them; the goal is to tear down the enemy Nexus. Each player picks one champion with five abilities (a passive, three basic abilities and an ultimate) and two summoner spells. You earn gold and experience by killing minions and champions and destroying towers, and you spend the gold on items. The team has five roles: top, jungle, mid, ADC and support. What each one does is in our LoL roles article.
As of October 2026 there are 173 champions, and Riot sorts them into six classes: Assassin, Marksman, Fighter, Mage, Support and Tank. Each champion’s page lists a difficulty of Low, Medium or High. New players get a special rotation of simpler champions up to account level 11. Who to pick for your first games is in our best champions for beginners guide.
Objectives, vision and items
Matches aren’t won by fights alone. Dragons, Void Grubs, the Rift Herald and Baron Nashor give your team buffs and gold, wards reveal the map, and items decide how your champion plays. The 2026 season brought role quests for every position, Baron now spawns at 20 minutes and Atakhan is gone. More in our articles on objectives and items.
Modes and ranked
Besides classic Summoner’s Rift there’s single-lane ARAM, the faster Swiftplay and rotating modes. Ranked Solo/Duo and Flex unlock at account level 30, once you own 20 champions and have played ten games of Swiftplay or Draft. All the modes are in our LoL game modes article, and ranks are covered in our ranks guide.
What critics praise and what bothers players
On Metacritic, League of Legends has 78 from 37 reviews. PC Gamer gave it 86 and called it the most accessible, rewarding and endearing of DotA’s offspring yet. Eurogamer Spain scored it 80 as an addictive experience with a great multiplayer mode. Those reviews date from 2009 and 2010, though, and after more than fifteen years of changes today’s LoL shares mostly its foundations with that game.
Players on Metacritic are much more critical, with a user score of 4.7 out of 10 from nearly 6,000 ratings. We don’t count that in the score, since LoL isn’t on Steam and we rely on critic scores. The complaints that still hold are about the long, tough start, about player behavior, which Riot tackles with the Honor system, and about monetization.
Vanguard, Honor and behavior
Since 2024, LoL requires the Riot Vanguard anti-cheat, which runs at the Windows kernel level. Without it you can’t get into the game. Against toxicity Riot has Honor, with levels 1 to 5: players with low Honor lose All Chat and get fewer pings. More in our articles on Vanguard and the Honor system.
Price, champions and skins
The game is free. You buy champions with Blue Essence, which you earn by playing, or with Riot Points. The cheapest champions cost 225 BE or 260 RP, most cost 2,400 BE or 880 RP, and new ones 3,150 BE or 975 RP. Skins are purely cosmetic and are bought with RP. The rarest skins, however, are in the Sanctum, a gacha system where one pull costs 400 RP and the chance at the top reward is 0.5%. RP prices are in our RP prices article, and skins and chests in our skins and Hextech guide.
Requirements and platforms
LoL runs on Windows 10 and 11 and on Macs with Apple Silicon. Riot doesn’t officially support Linux or SteamOS, and there’s no console version. On Windows, Riot lists an Intel Core i3-530, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of space as the minimum; on Mac at least an M1 chip and 8 GB of memory. Servers and language settings are covered in our LoL language and servers article.
Who League of Legends is for (and who it isn’t)
It suits you if you enjoy team games where strategy, champion knowledge and communication decide the outcome, and you don’t mind a long learning curve. For a free game you get years of content.
Skip it if you want short matches with no learning curve or a game you can win on your own. A match on Summoner’s Rift lasts dozens of minutes and one player rarely turns it around. And if you don’t want a kernel-level anti-cheat, you won’t be able to run LoL.
Verdict: Is League of Legends worth it?
Yes, if you want a free team strategy game that will last you for years. We give it 8/10.
League of Legends is built on the depth of its roles, objectives and items, on 173 champions and on Riot reshaping the game every season. Critics rated it well at launch, and the game still has a huge community and esports scene. Points off for the tough start, the kernel-level anti-cheat, the behavior of some players and gacha skins.
Playing League of Legends? All our guides are on the League of Legends hub. Start with our picks of champions for beginners and the overview of roles in LoL. Find teammates on the GamersTogether Discord.
FAQ
We give it 8 out of 10. LoL isn’t on Steam, so the score is based on critic reviews: the PC version has 78 from 37 reviews on Metacritic. Critics praise the strategic depth and accessibility; the criticism is about the tough start and monetization.
Yes. You unlock champions by playing for Blue Essence, and Riot Points mostly buy skins. The cheapest champions cost 225 BE, most cost 2,400 BE.
PC with Windows 10 and 11 and Macs with Apple Silicon. Riot doesn’t support Linux, SteamOS or consoles. On mobile there’s the separate game Wild Rift.
Ranked Solo/Duo and Flex unlock at account level 30, once you own at least 20 champions and have played 10 games of Swiftplay or Draft.
Vanguard is Riot’s anti-cheat, required in LoL since 2024. It runs at the Windows kernel level and the game won’t start without it.
As of October 2026 there are 173 champions in six classes: Assassin, Marksman, Fighter, Mage, Support and Tank.
This review is based on critic scores on Metacritic and on official information from Riot Games. League of Legends isn’t on Steam, so Steam player ratings don’t factor into the score. Information verified on October 21, 2026. All our guides to the game are on the League of Legends hub.