Wild Rift's 2026 Lunar Banquet Arrives With New Hero Kael and Firecracker Skins

As the Year of the Horse gallops into full swing, League of Legends: Wild Rift is rolling out the red carpet for its most dazzling celebration yet. The 2026 Lunar Banquet event is just hours away from going live, and it’s packing more heat than a freshly lit string of firecrackers. Players across the globe are about to dive into a limited-time extravaganza that brings a punchy new champion, a beloved brawler’s return to the spotlight, and a fireworks display of skins that blend tradition with pure ranked-mode swagger.

Riot hasn’t just tossed a couple of cosmetics into the shop and called it a day—this year, the Lunar Banquet feels like a proper in-game festival. There are themed missions, a revamped board-game-style reward track, and a cosmic-firecracker aesthetic that coats the Rift in crimson and gold. Let’s be real, if your loading screen doesn’t look like a New Year’s parade, are you even celebrating?

A Fresh Face and Some Familiar Fists

Headlining the update is Kael, the brand new champion bursting onto mobile screens. Kael is a nimble assassin who dances through teamfights with spectral twin blades, feeding off enemy missteps and chaining takedowns into a momentum-based ultimate that resets on kill. Early testing on the PBE had top laners crying into their keyboards, so expect some spicy launch-day highlight reels.

But the hype doesn’t stop there. Sett, the Ionian bruiser who’s been breaking faces since he first stomped into Wild Rift years ago, is front and center once again. The Lunar Banquet gives him a fiery makeover—his new Firecracker skin turns every Haymaker into a burst of golden sparks, and his Show Stopper ultimate looks like a human firework arcing toward the backline. It’s the kind of visual upgrade that makes you want to main him all over again.

Firecracker Skins: A Parade of Style

Alongside Sett, four other champions are suiting up for the festivities. The 2026 Firecracker series delivers completely redesigned outfits for Tristana, Xin Zhao, Teemo, and Diana, each one intricately tied to a different animal sign from the lunar zodiac. Tristana’s cannon becomes a living dragon puppet, Xin Zhao’s spear crackles with blue flame and lion motifs, Teemo’s mushrooms are reimagined as mini paper lanterns, and Diana’s crescent blade glows with the soft silver of a new moon over a fireworks-lit sky. The attention to detail is almost show-offy, and honestly, it works.

For anyone who keeps a collection of event-exclusive cosmetics, the clock is ticking. All Lunar Banquet skins—along with the event’s special recalls, emotes, and profile borders—will vanish from the store on March 1, 2026. That gives players a tight five-week window to grab whatever catches their eye. If you’ve been hoarding Wild Cores, now’s the time to let them fly.

Release Times and Regional Rollout

As always, the patch delivery follows the sun. Players in the Americas can start their Lunar Banquet adventures on January 25, 2026 at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET, while servers in Europe and the Middle East flip the switch slightly later, at January 26, 12 a.m. UTC / 1 a.m. CET. Over in Asia, the event will sync with local prime-time hours on the evening of January 26—so no one has to pull an all-nighter just to hear the fireworks go off.

Riot has advised everyone to update their game client through the App Store or Google Play ahead of time, because the patch itself is a hefty one. Patch 6.0 has already brought the Name That Champion mini-game and Guild vs Guild 2.0 to the live servers, but the Lunar Banquet serves as its grand finale—the last major content drop before the team shifts focus to the spring ranked season and a brand new dragon-themed map skin later in the year.

A Rift That Keeps on Shining

Wild Rift remains a titan in the mobile gaming space, with an active community that just refuses to slow down. It’s still chugging along on Android and iOS, free to download, and constantly inching closer to bridging the roster gap with its PC cousin. Though it may not have the full 160+ champions yet, each new hero drop—like Kael—feels like a well-wrapped gift from Riot to fans who’ve stuck around since the beta days.

The Lunar Banquet has quietly become one of the game’s most beloved yearly traditions, a moment where the devs seem to loosen their collar a bit and let the creative sparks fly. This time around, with a newcomer like Kael leaping into the fray and Sett getting a skin that practically begs for a highlight montage, there’s every reason to believe the Year of the Horse will be remembered as one of the flashiest chapters in Wild Rift history. Get your thumbs ready—the party starts right after midnight.