League of Legends revives Ranked 5v5 mode for weekend play from June 26 to September 6

Riot

Riot Games is bringing back the Ranked 5v5 mode in League of Legends as a weekend-only feature from June 26 to September 6. The dedicated queue will run for four hours each weekend, allowing five-player pre-made teams to compete with Tournament Draft rules on North American and European servers.

League of Legends is reviving the Ranked 5v5 pre-made team mode as a weekend experimental queue running from June 26 to September 6. The mode will be available for four hours each weekend, allowing five-player pre-made teams to compete with Tournament Draft rules on North American and European servers.

The dedicated Ranked 5v5 queue was a longstanding feature in the game’s competitive ecosystem, enabling entire clubs to build a separate team rank apart from individual solo tiers. However, it was discontinued due to matchmaking problems caused by a thinning pool of active five-man rosters, which frequently resulted in uneven matches between casual Gold level teams and highly skilled opponents. With the old queue removed, full groups were forced into Flex Queue where rank restrictions often split friend groups.

To address these past issues, Riot Games has limited the return of Ranked 5s to specific weekend time windows. North American players can access the mode from 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM CDT, while European players have the same four-hour period under CEST on both EU West and EUNE servers. This scheduling concentrates the player base to ensure quicker matchmaking and fairer skill-based matches between full pre-made teams.

The Ranked 5s mode will exclusively use the Tournament Draft system, which is the same format as seen on the professional stage. The draft consists of three bans, three picks, followed by two more bans and two picks, introducing a high level of strategic depth for casual teams. Additionally, there are no individual rank restrictions, allowing players of varied ranks—including a Challenger and an Iron IV—to queue together as long as the five-man roster is complete.

Participants in the experimental queue will earn an exclusive in-game summoner icon. Teams that reach Gold rank or higher before the September 6 deadline will unlock a unique profile banner displaying their peak rank on their career tab.

This announcement comes alongside other updates, such as the upcoming June release of the new ability power assassin champion Locke and new Ability Augments for ARAM. Riot Games has stated that if the weekend pilot is successful, they will consider making the Ranked 5v5 infrastructure a permanent feature for the 2027 season.