Laser Bird Is Back: Swain, Volibear and Elise Join League Classic

If you played League before 2016, you remember Laser Bird. Swain would turn into a giant raven and park himself in the middle of a fight. Then he drained everyone around him until they gave up. Now that version is back.

Swain, Volibear and Elise arrived in League Classic with patch 26.22. Riot then pushed them again with a new trailer on November 9. It’s the second-to-last content drop the mode will get. Here’s what each one plays like, and how long you have to try them.

League Classic Swain: the Laser Bird kit

League Classic Swain is the version players had from 2010 until his 2016 rework. In the patch 26.22 notes, Riot even tells anyone who never tried Laser Bird that now is their chance.

• Passive, Carrion Renewal: Swain restores some mana every time he kills an enemy.
• Q, Decrepify: His raven slows a target and deals damage over time while they stay in range.
• W, Nevermove: A delayed root that hits every enemy in a small area.
• E, Torment: Damage over time that also makes the target take more damage from Swain. Unlike most damage amps, it boosts true damage too, including Ignite.
• R, Ravenous Flock: Swain becomes a giant raven and drains mana the longer he stays in that form. Lesser ravens damage nearby enemies and fly back to heal him.

The trick has always been mana. Old Swain wants to stay in bird form for as long as possible. That’s why players stack items like Rod of Ages and walk straight into the enemy team.

Volibear, the 2011 version

Volibear won the second Council Vote, so Classic players picked this one themselves. It’s the version from 2011 to 2018, before Riot gave his E a knock-back.

He’s a tanky melee fighter built for long fights. Rolling Thunder makes him faster when he runs at champions and flips his target over his head. Frenzy stacks attack speed and then lands a big bite on low-health enemies. Majestic Roar slows champions and fears minions and monsters. Thunder Claws turns every basic attack into chain lightning for a few seconds.

Elise, the one that barely changed

Riot admits Elise hasn’t changed much over the years. The difference is in her Q. This older version puts far more damage into Neurotoxin and Venomous Bite, which both scale with the target’s health.

According to Riot, that makes her very bursty and a strong top laner. The developers also tell players to stack magic penetration.

Balance changes come with them

Patch 26.22 also brought a bigger Classic balance pass than usual. Riot went after Janna, Amumu and Rammus, who had all become clear outliers.

Janna’s global movement speed passive drops from 3% to 2%. Amumu loses damage on Bandage Toss and gets a longer cooldown on his ultimate. Rammus takes an armor nerf that also lowers his damage.

On the other side, Gangplank, Olaf, Evelynn, Nami and AP Ezreal all got buffs. Riot even suggests trying Nami in the mid lane.

Riot also fixed a mistake with the Classic Pass, which had been giving out tokens slower than intended. On top of the fix, per-game token rewards are now 50% higher until the mode ends.

How long League Classic has left

Enjoy it while it lasts. League Classic launched on July 29 with patch 26.15. Riot has confirmed it will end its current run on January 6, 2027.

Riot says most players who came back for the nostalgia have since moved on to other parts of League. Some regions now use windowed queues that only open at set times. The Classic Pass also became free in patch 26.21. Custom games stay open in every region.

There’s one more content patch to come. Urgot and Udyr placed in the top three of the latest Council vote alongside Volibear. Riot has said new champions will keep arriving through patch 26.23.

Riot also hopes to bring Classic back later, probably as a limited event mode. Until then, Laser Bird has about two months left.