How Many Champions Are in League of Legends? (2026 Updated)
League of Legends has 170+ champions in 2026, and the roster keeps growing every year. See how the champion count evolved since 2009, how new releases work, and how to explore the full roster with a random champion wheel.
How Many Champions Are in League of Legends?
As of 2026, League of Legends has more than 170 champions — and the number keeps climbing, because Riot Games adds new champions and reworks existing ones throughout the year. The exact count changes every few patches, which is why the most reliable way to see the current roster is a tool that pulls champion data live from Riot's official API.
LoL Wheel does exactly that: it loads the full, current champion list from Riot's Data Dragon API every time you open it, so the wheel always shows the real roster — including champions released just hours ago. Spin it once and you'll see every champion in the game laid out on a single wheel.
How the Champion Count Grew Over the Years
League of Legends launched in October 2009 with 40 champions. From there, the roster grew at a pace that has slowed over time but never stopped:
- 2009: The game launches with 40 champions
- 2012: The roster passes the 100-champion mark
- 2020: The roster passes 150 champions
- 2026: More than 170 champions and counting
In the early years, Riot released a new champion almost every month. Today the pace is slower — usually a handful of brand-new champions per year, plus visual and gameplay updates (VGUs) that rework older champions from the ground up.
Why Does the Exact Number Keep Changing?
Three reasons:
- New releases: Riot ships new champions across the year, usually announced in their seasonal roadmaps.
- Reworks: Reworked champions don't change the count, but they effectively re-introduce a champion with new mechanics — which matters if you're doing an "every champion" challenge.
- Patch timing: A champion can be officially revealed but not yet playable, so counts differ between "announced" and "live."
Because of this, any article that gives you a hard number goes stale within months. A live tool doesn't. When you open the champion wheel, the roster you see *is* the current roster — pulled from the same data source Riot uses for the game client.
Can You Play Every Champion in League of Legends?
Yes — and it's one of the most popular long-term challenges in the game. With 170+ champions, playing one game on each champion takes months for most players, which is exactly what makes it satisfying. Streamers often run it as a marathon series.
The hard part isn't playing the games — it's tracking which champions you've already done and picking the next one fairly. That's what the wheel's usage tracking is for: mark each champion as "used" after the game, and the wheel only spins among the ones you haven't played yet. Read the full guide in our Play Every Champion Challenge post.
How Many Champions Are There Per Role?
Every champion has at least one primary role, and the rough split of the 170+ roster looks like this:
- Mid lane has the widest pool — assassins, burst mages, and control mages all live here
- Top lane is dominated by fighters and tanks
- Jungle draws from every champion class, making it the most varied role
- ADC is the narrowest pool, mostly marksmen
- Support spans enchanters, engage tanks, and poke mages
On LoL Wheel you can filter the wheel by any of the five roles, so the spin only includes champions actually played in your position.
FAQ
How many champions does League of Legends have in 2026?
More than 170. The exact number changes as Riot releases new champions during the year. For the live count, open lolwheel.com — the wheel loads the current roster directly from Riot's Data Dragon API.
How often does Riot release new champions?
In recent years, Riot has released a handful of new champions per year, alongside reworks of older champions. New champions appear on LoL Wheel automatically within hours of hitting the live servers.
What was the first League of Legends champion?
League launched with 40 champions simultaneously in October 2009, so there's no single "first" champion in live play — the original 40 include icons like Ashe, Annie, Alistar, Master Yi, and Ryze.
What's the fastest way to try every champion?
Use a random champion picker with usage tracking. Spin the wheel, play the champion it lands on, mark it as used, and repeat — the wheel automatically excludes champions you've completed.