LoLLeague of LegendsWinter Summoner’s Rift returns to League of Legends on November 18 with Patch 26.23. See the date, how long it lasts and what changes.
Winter Summoner’s Rift arrives in League of Legends with Patch 26.23. Image credit: Riot Games
As the holiday season approaches, League of Legends players tend to look for signs that the game is getting into the festive spirit. One of the most popular is a snowy makeover of the game’s main battlefield, and it is about to make another appearance. Here’s all you need to know about the 2026 League of Legends Winter Summoner’s Rift.
Winter Summoner’s Rift, also called Winter Rift or the Winter Map, is a limited-time reskin of League of Legends’ standard battlefield. It changes how the map looks and sounds for the holiday season, but nothing about how the game is played.
The idea dates back to the old Snowdown Showdown events. After roughly six to seven years away, an updated version returned in November 2025 with Patch 25.23, built to work with the current map. It has since become an annual holiday tradition.
Winter Summoner’s Rift reportedly arrives with Patch 26.23, scheduled to go live on Wednesday, November 18, 2026 (Pacific Time). The map has already appeared on the Public Beta Environment (PBE), the test server where Riot Games trials upcoming content before it goes live. Patch notes are usually published the day before, so expect them around November 17.
Dataminers and leakers have confirmed the map’s presence on the PBE, as well as the live-server timing. However, these are unofficial sources, so the date and the PBE status are not officially confirmed at this time.
The map is expected to appear in all relevant Summoner’s Rift queues, including normal and ranked games, as it did in previous seasonal rotations.
However, it’s worth noting that Riot Games does not include an in-game option or toggle setting to turn off the Winter Summoner’s Rift map skin. When the event is active, the snowy visual overhaul is forced across all standard and ranked matchmaking queues.
Riot keeps it mandatory to maintain a uniform environment for all players in a match and because the map is built from the ground up to support clear visibility for all champion abilities and elemental map transitions without hurting competitive integrity.
No. Winter Summoner’s Rift is purely cosmetic. The map layout, objective timers, pathing, vision, hitboxes, champion abilities, minion waves, jungle camps, Baron, dragons and turret damage all work exactly as they do on the regular map. Competitive integrity is unaffected.
Visuals, some audio and music change, and in some cases temporary seasonal item icons appear.
So far it seems like the 2025 version is returning. According to the leaks, here is what players will likely see in the 2026 version:
When the map returned in 2025, legacy Winter and Snowdown skins were re-enabled in the store for the duration. The same is typically expected this time, with new winter-themed skins often following in the next patch.
Riot has not announced an end date for 2026. Last year, the map arrived in mid to late November and stayed until early January 2026, running through the Patch 25.24 cycle and the start of the new season. A similar window, ending in early January 2027, is widely expected this year. Riot may confirm the exact date in the Patch 26.23 notes or a later announcement.
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