Creating a League of Legends account is a short form and a download. The part worth slowing down for is the small number of decisions inside it that follow you around afterwards — region above all.

Short answer

Make a Riot account, pick the region closest to you, verify your email, and enable two-factor authentication before you play a single game. Your region determines your ping and who you can play with, and changing it later is a paid transfer.

The steps

  • Sign up for a Riot account with an email address you actually use. One Riot account covers League, TFT, Valorant and the rest — you are not making a League account so much as a Riot one.
  • Enter your date of birth honestly. Age gates affect chat and social features, and correcting it later means going through support.
  • Verify the email. Unverified accounts cannot recover passwords, which matters the first time something goes wrong.
  • Download the client and select your region at first launch.
  • Pick a Riot ID — a display name plus a tagline. Unlike the old summoner names, IDs are not globally unique on their own, so you are unlikely to be forced into a name full of numbers.

See also: League of Legends Client — another League answer people look up right after this one.

Region is the decision that sticks

Your region decides three things: your ping, the friends you can queue with, and the ranked ladder you appear on. Accounts are bound to a region, and moving between them is a paid transfer rather than a setting.

Pick by latency first. A closer server with a worse reputation beats a distant one with better players, because every mechanic in the game is timing-based and 120ms of delay changes what you are physically able to do. If friends are the point, match their region and accept the ping.

See also: League of Legends Film — the closest League answer to this one.

Secure it before you play

Two-factor authentication is in the account settings, it takes a minute, and it is the difference between a compromised account being an inconvenience and being permanent. League accounts are stolen constantly, largely through password reuse from unrelated sites.

The other habit worth forming early: never enter your credentials on a site that offers skins, RP, or "free" anything. Every one of those is a phishing page, without exception.

See also: Rocket League Guess the Rank — the same question, but for Rocket League.

What the first hours look like

New accounts start with a restricted champion pool and unlock the full roster through play and blue essence. That is deliberate — the game is genuinely overwhelming, and being handed 160 champions on day one helps nobody. Co-op versus AI is where to learn a champion's buttons without wasting anyone else's time.

Ranked requires level 30 and a minimum number of owned champions, which works out to a substantial amount of play. Treat that as a feature rather than a wall: the ladder is not enjoyable without the fundamentals, and the fundamentals take about that long.

Second accounts

Riot's position on additional accounts is that they are allowed, but boosting, account sharing and buying accounts are not. Purchased accounts are also the most common way people lose everything: the original owner can recover the account through support at any time, because their email created it.

League of Legends FAQ

Is League of Legends free?

Yes. The game, every champion and every game mode are free; purchases are cosmetic.

Can I change my region later?

Yes, through a paid transfer. It is not a settings toggle, which is why region is worth getting right at signup.

Can I change my Riot ID?

Yes, and more easily than the old summoner name system allowed.

What do I need to play ranked?

Account level 30 and a minimum number of owned champions, so a meaningful amount of normal play first.

Get the region right, turn on two-factor, and the rest of the account is genuinely just a name you can change later.