League of Legends won't follow TFT to Unreal Engine, but it is changing its client

League of Legends will not be moving to Unreal Engine, despite its sister game Teamfight Tactics making the jump. Andrei 'Meddler' van Roon, the Head of League Studio, has clarified what the future holds for the Riot MOBA, which is currently setting the stage for a major overhaul in the form of the mysterious League Next. What isn't going to change, however, is the custom Hextech Engine used by LoL, which Meddler says will actually envelop even more of the experience moving forward.

With the announcement that TFT is moving to Unreal, which was posted slightly ahead of plan in the wake of an accidental leak via a Riot Games job description, Meddler took to X to answer speculation about whether League of Legends would follow suit. "With League we're investing further in the custom game engine League uses, since that's been tailored for MOBA gameplay specifically and fits League's needs really well," he writes.

The one thing that will be changing engines is the client. Currently, Meddler explains, the actual game is handled in Riot's Hextech Engine, while the "around game stuff" is separate. "With League Next we're moving everything into Hextech," he says, "which should both make for a more seamless experience and get away from a lot of the challenges the client has had over the years."

League Next promises to be a more standard shakeup than your usual seasonal update. Executive Producer Paul 'Pabro' Bellezza has previously talked about Riot's plans to revamp Summoner's Rift with "entirely new visuals and a bit of new gameplay." He also promises that a restructured new player experience should make for "the best time ever to get your friends into League."

Now, Meddler shares the currently planned timing for when we'll learn what that actually looks like. "At MSI we'll talk about some of the rest of 2026. Post MSI we'll talk more about League Next," he notes. "At the start of the year we weren't certain exactly which month that would be in; at this point we've decided Worlds is likely the best place to do so, given the increased visibility anything we share gets from being part of Worlds."

The MSI finals are set to happen on July 9-12, while LoL Worlds 2026 begins with play-ins on October 15-18, with the grand final set for Saturday November 14. Pencil those into your calendar if you're ready to find out what the future of League of Legends looks like.