LEC rulebook 3.1 rewrites pause rules and medical clearance for players

A player in the LEC who disconnects from a game is now treated as having done it on purpose, whatever the reason. That is one of the changes in version 3.1 of the league's official rulebook, which Riot Games dated June 22, 2026 and published with a changelog that lists every rewritten rule next to its old wording.

The update concentrates on what happens when a game of League of Legends stops. It moves the section on pauses to a new place in the rulebook, gives concrete examples of a valid reason to pause, limits what a player's health may justify during a match, opens up what teammates may discuss during a long stoppage, and reworks the tools officials use when a bug or a crash damages a game. For the players of the LEC, the League of Legends EMEA Championship, it changes the conduct expected at the desk from the first second of a game.

LEC 2026 Season Official Rulebook v3.1 and its changelog, both dated June 22, 2026 by Riot Games.

When a player may stop a game

Rule 8.1.2, which replaces the former rule 7.10.3, keeps the three reasons that allow a player to pause a match, and adds an example to each one. The first is an unintentional disconnection, which the rule describes as a player losing connection to the game because of a problem with the game client, the platform, the network or the computer. The second is a hardware or software malfunction, such as a monitor losing power, a peripheral that stops working or a game glitch. The third is physical interference with a player, and the rulebook's two examples are a fan gank and a broken chair.

The pause has to be explained at once. The player signals a league official immediately after pausing and identifies the reason. Officials keep their own power under rule 8.1.1 to order or execute a pause at their sole discretion.

Rule 8.1.3 covers everything outside that list. A player who pauses or resumes a game without a valid reason or permission commits unfair play, and penalties apply at the discretion of league officials. The old text left that discretion to the league; the new one names the officials.

Every disconnect counts as intentional

The sharpest change of wording is in rule 8.1.4, formerly 7.10.1. The new rule starts from a flat ban on intentional disconnections and then widens the definition: any action that causes a disconnection is deemed intentional, regardless of what the player actually meant to do.

In practice, a player can no longer argue that a lost connection was an accident if their own action caused it. The only disconnection that justifies a pause is the one rule 8.1.2 describes, a loss of connection caused by the client, the platform, the network or the machine.

The same rule covers the match area. During a pause, players may not leave it unless a league official or a referee authorizes it, and they must then be accompanied by an official or a referee.

Illness, injury and the shorter evaluation pause

Rule 8.1.5, which replaces 7.10.5, is the one that concerns a player's health. It opens with one sentence: "Minor Player illness, injury, or disability is not an acceptable reason for a Player pause."

A player with an underlying or pre-declared medical condition may inform a league official before the match. The official may then grant a pause during the match to evaluate whether the player is ready, willing and able to keep playing within a reasonable time. Under the old rule, that evaluation could last up to ten minutes. The new rule says it lasts as long as the official determines, but not more than a few minutes.

A player who shows signs of a contagious illness is handled under the league's health and safety protocols. And the consequence of a player who cannot go on is spelled out. If a player cannot play or continue because they lack medical clearance, or if the team cannot field a roster that complies with the rules, the team forfeits the game, unless a league official decides that the game qualifies for an awarded game victory, the procedure that hands a game to the team far enough ahead.

The rule sits beside Riot's wider policies for every league it runs. The League of Legends Esports Global Policies, 2026 edition, list illness among the examples of a Roster Emergency, the situation in which a team cannot compete with the roster it submitted before the roster lock, and which allows an emergency substitute. Article 85 says Riot will only intervene if a player's personal health situation poses a serious and uncontrollable risk to others or to the event. Article 104 requires teams to provide at least the health care and benefits that applicable law requires. Inside the LEC rulebook itself, rule 3.1.12 lets the league waive roster requirements temporarily in extenuating circumstances, a medical emergency among them, and the league alone decides whether to grant that waiver.

Talking during a long stoppage

Rule 8.1.6 keeps the principle that teammates may not communicate with each other during a pause. It also keeps the exception: if a pause lasts long enough, referees may let the players talk.

What is new is the scope of that conversation. Once a referee has given permission, the rule now says, there is no restriction on the subjects players discuss, including but not limited to game conditions and strategy. A long technical stoppage can therefore become a moment in which a team talks openly about how it plays the rest of the game.

Bugs, rewinds and the game of record

The same update rewrites the rules on bugs. The game of record is the point from which a game counts as the official one, and rule 8.2.12 lists the conditions that establish it. One of them is the game timer, and it moves from two minutes, 00:02:00, to one minute and twenty-five seconds, 00:01:25.

Chronobreak is the rulebook's name for the tool that rewinds a game in progress to an earlier moment. Under new rule 8.2.4, officials may offer it even for a bug they would otherwise let the game play through, when they judge that the bug has a high impact on the competitive integrity of the game. The tool is not offered to a player or team that triggered the bug on purpose, and if the rewind fails, or a player makes the bug happen again, the game is played through with no remake.

Rule 8.2.10 changes what officials weigh when they rewind. The cost of a rewind used to be a defined list, which counted among other things any ability with a cooldown of 110 seconds or longer. It is now any notable change in the state of the game, with player deaths, objectives taken and major cooldowns as indicators that officials may, but need not, take into account, inherently short-cooldown ultimates excluded. Vision and minions do not count as a cost in either version, and play outside normal patterns meant to trigger a cost does not count either. Rule 8.3.1 adds that if Chronobreak is unavailable for any reason, any situation that would have led to a rewind becomes a terminal situation instead, the category that leads to a remake.

Remakes and awarded games

For a critical bug, rule 8.5.3 now lets officials offer a remake to a disadvantaged team when rewinding would cost more than replaying the game. Rule 8.9.2 makes a significant disadvantage the condition for offering a remake, and the June entry adds one exception: where the server has crashed and the game cannot be recovered, officials may direct a remake without offering it.

When a game cannot go on, officials may also award it rather than replay it. Rule 8.9.1, as version 3.1 reads, measures the gap between the two teams on five counts.

1. Gold: one team has earned 57.5% or more of all the gold earned in the game.
2. Turrets: the difference in remaining turrets is eight or more.
3. Inhibitors: the difference in standing inhibitors is three.
4. Nexus turrets: the difference in remaining nexus turrets is two.
5. Players: the difference in live player characters is at least four, with death timers of 40 seconds or more.

Where the update sits

Version 3.1 is the second changelog entry since the Spring split began in March. The changelog's previous entry, dated May 18, tied each starter to one declared in-game role and made clear that the team roster from which an emergency substitute is drawn includes every team member registered across the LEC and ERL rosters, the ERLs being Riot's EMEA regional leagues. The June 22 entry also renames three playoff rounds of the split format, two of which now carry the word semifinal in their titles.

The rest of the player framework is unchanged by this entry. Rule 1.1.1 still sets the minimum age to play an LEC match at 18 full years. The changelog gives no reason for any of the June changes, and it lists no penalty scale for the new disconnect rule beyond the discretion of league officials.

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