League Of Legends: 10 Ways To Get More Free Skins

One of the major reasons why League of Legends has achieved such dominant success over the years is that it always has been, and always will be, free to play. As with other free-to-play models, the world’s most popular MOBA generates income by players purchasing cosmetic items and other unlockables.

However, players looking to get their hands on the best League skins will be glad to know that, many years ago, Riot implemented a fantastic free loot system that allows players to unlock dozens of free skins each year. Predominantly, skins are acquired by opening Hextech Chests or Orbs, and then Skin Shards can be upgraded with Orange Essence into the real thing. To maximize gains, the following are some tips to not only get more free League skins but to get better ones too.

Updated November 21, 2024, by Joe Grantham: League of Legends is eternal and players will always be looking for new ways to get free skins in LoL. The game also happens to change a lot, and 2024 saw an update to the way in which Hextech chests are acquired, with these chests being the number one way of unlocking free skins in League. Rather than scoring S grades once per champion per split to unlock chests, players will now want to play champions multiple times and score several average grades.

10 Complete Champion Mastery Milestones

Play The Same Champions To Get Free Hextech Chests

Unlike the old system where players would unlock free Hextech Chests for getting S grades on individual champions, the new system is better for players who like playing the same champions over and over. Even players who truly one-trick a champion will still be able to get multiple free chests a split.

To get the first free chest for a champion each split, players will need to achieve 1 Grade B- or higher and 4 Grade C- or higher. There is another free chest for that champion at Milestone III, and in total, players will need a further 8 Grade C-, 1 Grade A-, and 1 Grade S-. Additionally, each split 10 champions will be chosen based on the individual’s recent history. By reaching 12 Milestones on these champions, players can earn another free chest, and hopefully unlock free skins. This can be seen under Collection and then the Champions tab.

9 Disenchant Everything For Orange Essence

Orange Essence Is Needed To Unlock Skins

To convert Skin Shards into permanent skins, players will need Orange Essence and lots of it. The primary way of obtaining OE is by disenchanting Skin Shards that players don’t want, but there are plenty of other collectibles that can be disenchanted too.

For example, players can disenchant Ward Skin Shards, Emotes, Summoner Icons, and Eternals, all of which can be nice, but arguably not as good as having more Orange Essence to unlock skins. These items are found in the Hextech Crafting tab and are typically obtained via chests. If players only care about getting as many free League skins as they can, they should disenchant everything they get their hands on.

8 Wait For Skins You Like To Come Out Before Opening Chests

This Increases Your Chances At Unlocking Future Skins

Getting free skins in League isn’t just about getting more skins, but hopefully, skins that players love. With this in mind, if players are waiting for a specific skin, it can be a good idea to not open any chests or orbs until it is released.

While the chances of getting a specific skin are incredibly low, having more chances at a highly anticipated skin can’t do any harm. By hoarding chests and orbs, players also set themselves up for a large and fun opening session. Inversely, if there is a skin already out that players want, it’s best to open sooner rather than later, as future skins are added to the pool of random loot, making every skin rarer.

7 RP For Art

Submit A Piece Of League Themed Art For A Small Amount Of RP

If players ever find themselves agonizingly short of RP to buy a skin, then Riot Games has a wholesome way to solve this problem. RP Art is a feature that allows players to submit funny League-themed art in exchange for a small amount of RP. Thankfully, the art does not have to be good at all.

To do this, players should submit a ticket to Riot support, and select the Submit Art to Gamer Gallery option. This is a one-off feature, but an extra 10 or 100 RP can go a long way when players really want a specific skin.

6 Be Honorable To Get A Free Skin & More Keys

Achieve Honor Level 5 Each Year To Get A Unique Skin

One of the easiest things that players can do in League, and any other game for that matter, is to be honorable and avoid any form of negative behavior. At the end of each game, every player is able to Honor one of their teammates, and players who are Honor Level Two or above will occasionally gain Key Fragments, three of which are required to make a Key to open Hextech Chests, where Skin Shards are found. Playing regularly can award players with up to 12 Key Fragments a month.

Throughout the season, players can also progress from Honor Level Two to Five, and at each checkpoint, they will get Honor Orbs containing more Key Fragments and other goodies. Best of all, however, players who end each season at Honor Level 5 will be rewarded with a unique skin for free. For the 2022 and 2023 seasons respectively, the skins were Three Honors Malzahar and Three Honors Akshan. Thus, not flaming or ragequitting is one of the ways to get more skins for free in League.

5 Complete The Free Battlepasses

By Simply Playing Games During Events, Players Will Get More Skins

As with most free-to-play games nowadays, League has a number of battlepasses throughout the year, which coincide with events. While players can purchase the battlepass to unlock even more rewards, those looking to get skins for free will be glad to know that each battlepass always has a free Orb and enough tokens to be able to purchase another Orb as well as a Key.

These Orbs will contain Skin Shards, which can be upgraded to real skins when players get lucky and find ones they like. The key to getting all these free battlepass rewards is simply playing enough and remembering to actually unlock them.

4 Play Ranked

Each Ranked Split Has Occasional Rewards & A Free Victorious Skin For Those Who Do Well

In years gone by, the yearly Victorious Skin was only available to those who reached Gold and above in ranked. However, with changes to the system, there are now three Splits in a year, and each split comes with its own Victorious Skin. Furthermore, players below Gold still have a chance of unlocking it, as long as they play enough ranked games, with wins awarding more Split Points than losses.

On top of this, throughout each Split, players will unlock occasional rewards such as Keys and Hextech Chests for earning more Split Points. It pretty much functions like a free battlepass unique to ranked. Thus, just by playing, there is more free loot and skins up for grabs.

3 Play Clash & Win 2 Or All 3 Games To Get Skin Shards

Clash Is A Periodic Tournament Played With Teams Of 5

Clash tournaments are spread out over the year, mostly taking place on Summoner’s Rift, but also with a few ARAM tournaments. To enter, players will need a full team of five, and everyone must lock in on the correct day at an allocated time. The tournament is an eight-team bracket, but even if teams lose the first game, they can still compete to earn a higher finish and ultimately better rewards.

Any team that goes zero to three or one to two will still get a few goodies, such as a Ward Skin, but to get free champion skins, players will want to do better. Among other rewards, teams who go two to one will get a 975 RP Skin Shard in their Clash Orb, while the bracket winners will also receive a 1350 RP Skin Shard. There are four Tiers in Clash, meaning everyone has a chance at winning as they will be competing against teams of roughly the same skill level.

2 Reroll Skin Shards Cheaper Than 1350 RP & Disenchant The Rest

This Will Ensure Players Have More Orange Essence In The Long Run

There are two things to do with Skin Shards that players don’t want to upgrade. They can either be disenchanted for Orange Essence, which can in turn be used to acquire skins permanently, or players can reroll 3 Skin Shards to unlock one permanent but random skin. However, as the amount of Orange Essence gained depends on the price of the skin, it is more efficient to only reroll cheap Skin Shards while disenchanting those that cost 1350 RP and above.

While rerolling may seem good in the short term if players constantly reroll expensive shards, they will end up with random skins they might not like, and when they get a Skin Shard they love, they will have no Orange Essence to unlock it.

1 Don’t Discard Skin Shards Of Old Champions Who Will Get Reworks

Ugly Skins Can Eventually Turn Into Masterpieces With Reworks

There are many old and outdated League champs in need of a rework, and eventually, all will be brought up to more modern standards, even if it is just in the visual department. When a champion does get reworked, it’s not just their base skin that receives comprehensive updates, but all of their skins too.

Therefore, it can often be a good idea to keep old and ugly Skin Shards for champions that haven’t received a rework, as eventually they could turn into something beautiful. A recent example of this was with all of Skarner’s skins. While this tip won’t help players get more free League skins, it can help them eventually snag a hidden gem.