With the new season starting in January, here’s everything you need to know about the new LPL format heading into 2025.
Image Credit: Riot Games
LPL in 2025 with a new format – A season with three stages
With Riot Games announcing three splits (or stages) planned for all major tier one competitions, the LPL has recently announced the new format that will be introduced in 2025.
The season will no longer be split between spring and summer. Instead, there will be three distinct stages under one single season.
The new format will see the winners of the first and second stages representing the Chinese League at the first two International events (First Stand and MSI). At the end of the regular season of the third stage, the LPL 2025 playoffs will determine the season champion and the teams taking part in Worlds 2025.
Each Stage broken down
Stage 1
The first stage will see the introduction of the Double Fearless Draft mode and the 1v1 for side selection. It will see the 16 teams being split into 4 groups according to their seeding from the past season, with a single round robin of Bo5 matches. The top two teams from each group will head to the double-elimination playoffs (first seeds in upper bracket, second seeds in the lower one). The winner goes to First Stand, the new international tournament.
Stage 2
The second stage will follow a similar format to the 2024 Summer Split, consisting of regular-season group stages, in-group matches, and Knights Rivals playoffs. The last two from the bottom group will end their season early.
The winner of this stage will be the first seed for MSI, while the runner-up will qualify as the second seed.
Stage 3
The third and last stage will see the 14 teams being split into two groups once again, with the top 8 directly entering Knights Rivals.
The two groups will have single round robin bo5 matches. The best 4 teams from the first group will head to playoffs, with the remaining four playing against the top 4 from the second group for a second chance to qualify.
The playoffs will be once again double-elimination, with the top four teams sequentially choosing their round 1 opponents. The winner will be the LPL 2025 champion, with the other top teams qualifying for the world championship.