2025 LPL season
The 2025 LPL season was the 13th season of China’s League of Legends Pro League. It introduced Riot Games’ new three-split calendar, with a season running Split 1 (Jan 12–Mar 1), Split 2 (Mar 22–Jun 14), Split 3 (Jul 19–Sep 21), followed by Regional Qualifiers (Sept 25–27). The league had 16 teams in Splits 1–2 and 14 teams in Split 3 after Rare Atom’s franchise slot was repurchased.
Format changes and rules
- Fearless Draft: Teams cannot pick a champion they’ve already used in a series (Split 1, kept for Split 2 and 3).
- Side selection: For game 1, a coin flip decides sides; the winner picks for game 1 and the loser picks for the rest. In game 5, the team that lost game 4 chooses.
- Split 1: Four groups of four teams, best-of-five matches, then an eight-team double-elimination playoff. The Split 1 winner goes to the 2025 First Stand Tournament.
- Split 2: Four groups, group stage, then Group Ascend and Knights Rivals play-ins, followed by playoffs. The top four Ascend teams reach the playoffs; the top two Nirvana teams join Split 3. The bottom Nirvana teams are eliminated.
- Split 3: Similar setup with a final eight-team double-elim playoff. The season champion earns a World Championship spot.
Season results and awards
- Split 1: Champions – Top Esports; Runners-up – Anyone’s Legend; MVP – Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang.
- Split 2: Champions – Anyone’s Legend; Runners-up – Bilibili Gaming; MVP – Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong.
- Split 3: Champions – Bilibili Gaming; Runners-up – Top Esports; MVP – Yu “JackeyLove” Wenbo.
Worlds and MSI qualifications
- MSI: The two finalists from Split 2 (Anyone’s Legend and Bilibili Gaming) earned spots at the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational.
- Worlds seeds: Split 3 champions Bilibili Gaming earned LPL’s first seed for Worlds; Anyone’s Legend earned a Worlds seed via Championship Points (second seed). Regional Qualifiers determined the remaining seeds: Top Esports and Invictus Gaming took third and fourth seeds.
- Regional Qualifiers (Sept 25–27, Shenzhen): The top two teams qualified for Worlds; the others competed for the remaining spots.
- The Split 3 champion also earned qualification for the 2025 World Championship as the season champion.
- Note: In November 2024, the LPL repurchased Rare Atom’s slot, reducing the league to 16 teams.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:44 (CET).