Riot’s roadmap for fixing League’s problematic client and what players should expect
The Current Client Situation
League of Legends’ client issues represent a decade-long accumulation of technical debt that Riot Games is now actively addressing. The development team recently revealed the staggering complexity behind the scenes – what players experience as slow loading times or occasional crashes stems from an intricate web of interdependent systems.
The client’s fundamental architecture requires running two separate applications simultaneously – one for gameplay and another for menus – creating numerous points of potential failure.
This dual-application approach, implemented during the 2016 client overhaul, was initially seen as an improvement but has since shown significant limitations. Players frequently encounter issues ranging from minor annoyances like delayed friend list updates to game-breaking problems where champion select fails to load properly.
Technical Hurdles Facing Riot
At the core of League’s client problems lies an astonishing 150+ plugin system that has grown increasingly unwieldy over the years. Senior engineer Gastón ‘Givanse’ Silva explained how this plugin architecture creates maintenance nightmares, with each component potentially affecting others in unpredictable ways.
The contrast with Riot’s newer titles is striking. Valorant’s client demonstrates how modern architecture can provide seamless transitions between menus and gameplay, while Wild Rift proves even mobile platforms can handle unified application structures. These successes highlight how far League’s client has fallen behind current technical standards.
“We’ve made progress reducing the plugin count from 150 to 48,” Silva noted, “but the ultimate goal is eliminating the plugin system entirely.” This ambitious target requires carefully untangling years of accumulated dependencies without disrupting the live game experience for millions of players.
Riot’s Improvement Roadmap
Riot’s League Client Team has adopted a dual-track approach to solving these issues. In the short term, they’re focusing on incremental improvements to the existing system, while keeping the door open for a complete rebuild if necessary.
Product tech lead Brian ‘Penrif’ Bossé emphasized their commitment to both strategies: “We’re improving the current client while preserving the option for more radical solutions.” This balanced approach acknowledges both the urgency of player concerns and the technical realities of large-scale software development.
The development team has prioritized fixing specific pain points first, including champion select reliability and friend list performance. These targeted fixes provide immediate relief while the larger architectural work continues behind the scenes.
What Players Can Do
While waiting for permanent solutions, players can take several steps to minimize client issues. First, ensuring your system meets the updated hardware requirements helps prevent performance-related problems. Second, regularly clearing the client cache through the settings menu can resolve many common glitches.
When encountering bugs, submitting detailed reports through the official bug reporting system gives Riot’s team the specific information they need. Include reproduction steps, screenshots when possible, and any error messages received. The more precise the report, the faster engineers can identify and address the underlying cause.
For persistent issues, temporarily disabling CPU-intensive background applications can sometimes improve client stability. Players should also consider adjusting in-game settings like disabling unnecessary animations during champion select.
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