The landscape for acquiring free content in League of Legends is currently undergoing a significant shift, primarily due to the discontinuation of a major partnership program. Historically, Amazon Prime subscribers accessed a reliable stream of in-game currency and cosmetic items through Prime Gaming. According to a report from PCGamesN, these monthly freebies are ending. Prime Gaming has scaled back its gaming division, and Riot Games has confirmed that the regular drops for League of Legends, along with Valorant, will cease following the March 2024 release. While Riot executives have expressed openness to future partnerships, there are currently no immediate plans to replace this specific promotion.
Despite the loss of the Prime Gaming avenue, several other methods remain available for players to obtain skins, champions, and other loot without spending real money. These methods rely on active participation in the game, engagement with official events, and utilization of built-in account progression systems.
Hextech Crafting and Account Progression
The primary ongoing method for free cosmetic items is the Hextech Crafting system, integrated directly into the game client. This system rewards consistent play through two main avenues: Leveling Up and Mastery Milestones.
As players accumulate experience and level up their accounts, they receive Champion Capsules. According to information from Boostroyal, these capsules primarily contain Blue Essence and Champion Shards. While these items are primarily used to unlock new champions, they can also be disenchanted for currency or used in crafting recipes.
In addition to leveling, the Mastery system rewards players for proficiency with specific champions. While the source material does not detail the specific rewards for every Mastery milestone, the general principle is that playing well and earning high scores with champions contributes to unlocking loot containers. These containers often contain Key Fragments, which are necessary to open Hextech Chests obtained from S-rated team performances.
Hextech Crafting Mechanics
Once a player obtains a Hextech Chest (usually awarded to a teammate for an S- grade or higher performance) and a Key Fragment (earned through honorable gameplay), they can open the chest to reveal random loot. The contents of a chest typically include:
- Skin Shards: Temporary fragments of skins that can be activated for a limited time or permanently unlocked using Orange Essence.
- Permanent Skins: Occasionally, a chest will drop a permanent skin shard or a complete skin directly.
- Ward Skins: Cosmetic items for the in-game vision wards.
- Emotes: In-game chat bubbles and expressions.
If a player obtains a skin shard they do not wish to keep, they have two options:
- Disenchant: Breaking down the shard provides Orange Essence, which is the currency required to permanently unlock other skin shards.
- Reroll: Combining three skin shards of any type allows a player to reroll them into a random, unowned permanent skin. This is a gamble, but it guarantees a skin the player does not possess and has the potential to yield high-value or rare skins.
Honor Rewards System
Positive behavior in matches is incentivized through the Honor system. As noted by Boostroyal, being a good teammate pays dividends beyond winning games. Players progress through Honor levels by receiving honor from teammates and avoiding penalties.
Reaching specific Honor checkpoints grants Honor Orbs and Honor Capsules. These containers often contain Key Fragments, Blue Essence, and Champion Shards. Crucially for skin seekers, reaching higher Honor levels, specifically Honor Level 5, unlocks better rewards. In the past, these rewards have included:
- Random Skins: A chance to receive a permanent skin.
- Honor-Themed Skins: Unique cosmetic items tied to the Honor system, such as the Three Honors Malzahar skin mentioned in the source material.
- Tokens: Redeemable for specific chromas or previously released Honor skins.
Maintaining a high Honor level requires consistent sportsmanship and positive communication during matches.
Event Passes and Free Tracks
League of Legends frequently hosts in-game events tied to new skin lines, lore developments, or seasonal celebrations (e.g., Star Guardian, PROJECT, or Lunar New Year). While these events typically feature a paid "Event Pass" that offers a premium track of rewards, there is almost always a free track available to all players.
According to the source material, by completing event-specific missions—such as playing games, earning kills or assists, or winning matches—players earn event tokens or progress along the free reward track. The free track usually includes:
- Hextech Chests and Keys
- Blue Essence
- Icons and Emotes
- Orbs (which have a higher probability of containing skin shards than standard chests)
Participating in these events is a reliable way to accumulate loot without spending RP, provided the player is active during the event window.
Esports Viewing Drops
For fans who follow the professional League of Legends competitive scene, there is an opportunity to earn loot by watching official broadcasts. By linking a Riot account to the official LoL Esports viewing platform, players may become eligible for random "Drops" during live games or VODs.
As indicated in the Boostroyal article, these drops are not guaranteed for every viewer but are distributed randomly to eligible accounts during specific windows. Drops often contain:
- Exclusive Esports Emotes
- Icons
- Capsules that may hold Hextech components, such as skin shards.
The best chances for receiving drops occur during major international tournaments, such as the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and the World Championship (Worlds), as well as regional leagues like the LCS, LEC, LCK, and LPL.
Future of Direct Promotions
The termination of the Prime Gaming partnership leaves a gap in direct, monthly freebies that required no in-game effort other than account linking. The source material from PCGamesN quotes Riot Games' Head of League of Legends, Andrei van Roon, stating, "We're certainly open to other programs if the context makes sense, not sure what might or might not be out there at present though."
This suggests that while the specific Amazon Prime benefit is ending, Riot is not ruling out future collaborations. However, as of the provided documentation, there are no immediate plans to introduce a replacement program. Consequently, the burden of acquiring free skins has shifted almost entirely to active gameplay, event participation, and the Hextech Crafting system.
Summary of Current Methods
Based on the provided sources, the following methods are currently viable for obtaining free content:
- Hextech Crafting: Opening chests (obtained from S-ranks) with keys (obtained from Honor) to get skin shards, then using Orange Essence to unlock them or rerolling three shards for a random permanent skin.
- Honor Progression: Reaching high Honor levels to earn capsules that may contain skins or resources for crafting.
- Event Participation: Completing free missions during seasonal events to earn Orbs and chests.
- Esports Viewing: Watching official broadcasts to receive random Drops (requires account linking).
It is important to note that the Prime Gaming loot, which previously offered a monthly capsule containing RP, a permanent skin, and champion shards, is no longer available as of March 2024.