Riftbound 2027: Ladder Points and four Continentals
Riot published the full 2027 competitive plan today, and almost everything changes. A points-based Ranked Ladder arrives, Regional Championships become three-day Regionals open to everyone, and the invite-only top tier is replaced by four Continentals: Dallas, Melbourne, London and Toronto. If you play in Europe, the headline is the schedule: Madrid on February 5-7, Dusseldorf on May 21-23, Lyon on June 25-27, and the London Continental on August 13-15.
The problemWhy Riot is rebuilding the system
In 2026 the path was a plain staircase: win a Summoner Skirmish for a bye at a Regional Qualifier, finish Top 64 at that Regional Qualifier for a Regional Championship invite, make Top 8 there for a Worlds seat. Clean, but with a flaw Riot now admits in writing: only high finishes counted. Finish 25th ten times in a row and, as far as the system was concerned, you never played.
From 2027 every competitive event you enter pays out points based on where you finish. They are called Ladder Points (LP) and everything else is built on top of them.
| Ladder Points (LP) | Points awarded by finish at competitive events. They accumulate across the year. |
| Ranked Ladder | Where those points land: five ranks (plus a hidden sixth), each with its own benefits. |
| Token | Not a physical object: a digital invitation you have earned and can choose when to spend. |
| Continental | The new marquee event, three days, open to all: it replaces the invite-only Regional Championships. |
| Regional | What 2026 called a Regional Qualifier, now across three days and in bigger venues. |
| Challenge Series | Store tournaments at selected shops: the only local events that pay Ladder Points. |
The pointsWhat every finish is worth
The numbers are not final — Riot puts itself at "roughly 92.6%" and warns values may still move before January — but the shape is set. The bigger the event, the heavier the result, and a Showdown Series is tiered by the players actually in the room, not by badges sold.
| Placement | Challenge Series | Showdown T3 (129-255) | Showdown T2 (256-511) | Showdown T1 (512+) | Regional | Continental |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 20 | 50 | 80 | 150 | 300 | 450 |
| 2nd | 18 | 45 | 75 | 140 | 280 | 425 |
| Top 4 | 15 | 40 | 65 | 120 | 250 | 400 |
| Top 8 | 10 | 30 | 50 | 90 | 220 | 350 |
| Top 16 | 5 | 15 | 35 | 55 | 150 | 275 |
| Top 32 | 3 | 10 | 20 | 40 | 100 | 200 |
| Top 64 | — | 5 | 15 | 30 | 50 | 125 |
| Top 128 | — | 0 | 5 | 15 | 35 | 75 |
| Top 256 | — | — | 0 | 10 | 20 | 40 |
One rule matters a lot at Regionals and Continentals, the multi-day events: no Day 2, no points at all. Make Day 2 and you are guaranteed at least 10.
The ranksAspirant, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum
Accumulated points place you in one of five ranks on the Ranked Ladder (Riot teases a secret sixth, which we get to below). The LP thresholds are not public yet, but Riot shared the population it expects in each band: Aspirant around 11% of competitive players, Bronze 50%, Silver 33%, Gold 5%, Platinum 1%.
Rank is more than a badge of honour. The one benefit confirmed today is the practical one: Gold and Platinum players buy tickets before everyone else. Competitor badges at every Regional and Continental are split into two pools — one on open sale, one reserved for players who qualified or hold priority. Platinum buys 48 hours before the public window opens, Gold 24 hours before; whatever is left rolls into the general sale. After this year's badge scramble, that detail will matter in Europe.
Ranks carry forward: reach Gold in 2027 and you keep Gold benefits through 2028, but if you only reach Silver by the end of 2028, you head into 2029 with Silver benefits.
QualifyingTop Finish Races and tokens, plainly
Rank alone qualifies you for nothing: Riot says outright it does not want a system that rewards entering every possible event. Qualification runs instead through the Top Finish Races, leaderboards that count only your best results, a fixed number of them.
Seasonal Top Finish
Resets with every new set. It adds your best 3 Challenge Series or Showdown Series results plus your best single Regional or Continental result. The top 50 players without an invite already get a Continental Day 2 token.
Annual Top Finish
Runs the calendar year. It adds your best 12 Challenge Series or Showdown Series results plus your best 5 Regional or Continental results. It leads to Worlds invites and the Grandmaster title.
Tokens are the friendliest part of the new system. They are not objects: they are digital invitations you spend when it suits you. A Regional token is a free competitor badge at one of the next 6 Regionals after you earn it; a Continental Day 2 token drops you straight into Day 2 of one of the next 2 Continentals. You earn them by winning a Challenge Series (Regional token), or by finishing Top 16 at a Tier 1 Showdown, Top 8 at a Tier 2, Top 4 at a Tier 3, or Top 128 at a Regional or Continental. Continental Day 2 tokens sit one step higher: Top 8 at a T1 Showdown, Top 4 at a T2, Top 2 at a T3, Top 64 at a Regional or Continental.
The secret rank is the sixth: Grandmaster. At the end of each year the top 50 of the Annual Top Finish Race hold it for the following year, and with it a free competitor badge at every Regional plus a free badge and Day 2 qualification at every Continental.
The calendarWhere 2027 is played
Three of the four Continentals and half the announced Regionals are within a short flight of most of Europe. This is today's published schedule; Riot says the remaining 2027 Regionals will be announced before the end of 2026.
| Set | Dates | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legacy | March 26-28, 2027 | Dallas, USA | Kay Bailey Convention Center |
| The Reckoning | June 11-13, 2027 | Melbourne, Australia | Melbourne Showgrounds |
| Set 8 | August 13-15, 2027 | London, England | ExCeL |
| Set 9 | December 10-12, 2027 | Toronto, Canada | EnerCare Center |
| Set | Dates | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legacy | February 5-7, 2027 | Madrid, Spain | IFEMA Madrid |
| Legacy | February 12-14, 2027 | Philadelphia, USA | Pennsylvania Convention Center |
| Legacy | March 5-7, 2027 | Auckland, New Zealand | Auckland Showgrounds |
| The Reckoning | May 14-16, 2027 | Louisville, USA | Kentucky Exposition Center |
| The Reckoning | May 21-23, 2027 | Dusseldorf, Germany | Dusseldorf Congress |
| The Reckoning | June 25-27, 2027 | Lyon, France | Eurexpo Lyon |
Continentals are three-day events open to everyone, where this year's Regional Championships required qualification. Players who compete on Friday and make the cut have their records reset on Saturday, when the Day 2 token holders join them.
Three daysRegionals change shape
Old Regional Qualifiers ran Saturday and Sunday, with brutally long days. From 2027 play starts on Friday: 7 rounds Friday, 7 rounds Saturday, top cut on Sunday. You need 5-2 or better at the end of Friday to come back. Thursday does not become a play day: it is for badge pick-up and merch.
The shift also touches side events — the open tournaments running alongside the main event. Riot promises they remain "a major part" of these weekends, but this year's Pre-Regional formula will need rethinking, with details closer to the first Legacy Regional.
On Best-Of prizing, the win-based rewards that caused an argument ten days ago, Riot half walks it back: the change to the 2026 Regional Championships "does not signify us moving away from Best-Of prizing altogether", and the timing of that announcement is called a frustration that is "completely justified". The implementation, though, may still change.
ShowdownFrom 30 to 40 events per season
The Showdown Series grows hard: Riot is aiming at 30-40 events per set season worldwide, each feeding roughly twice as many players into a Continental Day 2 as this year's Showdowns fed into Regional Championship invites. Tiers stay tied to turnout: Tier 1 from 512 players up, Tier 2 from 256 to 511, Tier 3 from 129 to 255. The schedule cannot be published in one block because deals are signed one at a time: the live source remains RiftboundOP.com.
Then there is Worlds. The 2026 World Championship Showcase runs January 23-24, 2027 in Shanghai with 24 players: the last act of the current season. The 2027 World Championship will be bigger, with invites for every Regional winner, every Continental Top 8, every China Major winner, top finishers at the China Regional Championship, the top 50 of the Annual Top Finish Race not already qualified, and the best of the Korea and Taiwan circuits.
Why it matters for us. In 2026 an Italian player had exactly one home date, the Bologna Regional Qualifier, and then had to chase badges abroad. 2027 brings three events a short flight away — Madrid, Dusseldorf, Lyon — plus a London Continental open to all, no qualification needed. More importantly, Ladder Points finally make mid-table finishes count, and tokens mean a good Regional result is no longer wasted if you cannot travel that specific weekend. Planning a season from Italy becomes possible. One gap remains: there is no Italian date in today's schedule, and Riot says the last 2027 Regionals land before December. That is when we will know whether Bologna, or another city, has a slot.
The short version
- From 2027 every competitive event pays Ladder Points; five ranks plus Grandmaster, and Gold and Platinum buy badges 24-48 hours before everyone else.
- Four Continentals open to all: Dallas (March 26-28), Melbourne (June 11-13), London (August 13-15), Toronto (December 10-12).
- European Regionals: Madrid February 5-7, Dusseldorf May 21-23, Lyon June 25-27. New three-day format, 5-2 on Friday to continue.
- Tokens replace fixed invites: a Regional token is a free badge at one of the next 6 Regionals, a Continental Day 2 token is Day 2 entry at one of the next 2 Continentals.
- Nothing carries over from 2026: the ladder starts at zero. Point values may still change before January.
Source: Riftbound 2027 Premier Play — Riot Games. Images: Riot Games.
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