A skin in League of Legends is purely cosmetic: it changes how a champion looks, not how they play. There are more ways to get one than buying it with RP: Hextech chests, the Sanctum, the Mythic Shop or the Essence Emporium, where you pay with Blue Essence. This guide explains how each route works, what drops from chests according to Riot, what shards and essences are and what things cost in RP. Prices and odds apply as of 20 October 2026.
Ways to get a skin
RP (Riot Points) is the game’s paid currency. For what RP costs in real money, see our RP prices guide; here we stick to prices in RP. An overview of the routes:
| Route | What you pay with | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Store | RP | The specific skin you choose. |
| Your Shop | RP | Up to 6 personal discounts based on your play history. |
| Hextech Chest | RP or free rewards | Random content, most often a skin shard. |
| Sanctum | Ancient Sparks (bought with RP) | Pulls for rare skins with a guaranteed win after a set number of pulls. |
| Mythic Shop | Mythic Essence | Prestige and mythic skins, chromas and other rare content. |
| Essence Emporium | Blue Essence | A limited-time cosmetics store. |
Your Shop
Your Shop offers up to six personal discounts that Riot picks based on what you’ve played over the last six months. It excludes Legendary, Ultimate, Limited and Loot Exclusive skins as well as content released in the last 90 days. If you don’t own the champion for a discounted skin, the champion is included in the price.
Legacy skins
Legacy skins aren’t normally in the store and only show up now and then in bundles and events. Most Legacy skins priced above 520 RP can be obtained through Mystery Gifting and Hextech, though.
Hextech chests: price and how to get them
A Hextech Chest is a box with random content that you open with a key. As of 20 October 2026, the store prices are:
- chest only: 125 RP,
- chest with key: 195 RP,
- bundle of 11 chests with keys: 1,950 RP.
You don’t have to buy them. Battle passes and Honor Objectives give chests too. Each Act has two Honor Objectives, and each one gives you 50 BXP, a Hextech Chest and a key for 1,200 points. You earn points for every minute of a PvP game, and the rate depends on your Honor level: 10 points per minute at Honor 5, two at Honor 4, one at Honor 3 and none at Honor 1 and 2. How to raise your Honor is covered in our guide to the LoL Honor system.
What drops from a Hextech chest
Riot publishes the odds on its support site. Each chest gives one main item:
| Content | Chance |
|---|---|
| Skin shard | 50% |
| Champion shard | 25% |
| Emote | 10% |
| Ward skin shard + 150 Orange Essence | 11.5% |
| Icon + 150 Orange Essence | 3.5% |
On top of that you can get a bonus: 10 Mythic Essence at 3.6% (no more than 50 chests in a row without Mythic Essence, roughly 4% overall) and a bonus chest with key at 10%. The third chest at the latest always gives a skin shard, so the effective skin shard chance is about 57%. Champion shards only drop for champions costing 2,400 BE or more. Ultimate and mythic skins drop directly as permanents.
Shards and essences explained
A shard is a temporary form of a skin or champion. The essences are the currencies tied to it: Blue Essence (BE) is the currency you also use to unlock champions, and Orange Essence (OE) is used to upgrade skin shards. With each shard you can do one of the following:
- Upgrade it with essence into permanent content. Champion shards cost Blue Essence, skin shards cost Orange Essence.
- Activate it: the shard is consumed and you rent the content for 7 days.
- Disenchant it into essence.
- Reroll three permanents or shards into a random permanent skin.
You can’t claim a skin for a champion you don’t own until you have the champion. Our LoL champions guide explains how to unlock them. Limited skins such as Victorious skins aren’t in chests; how to earn a Victorious skin is covered in our LoL ranks guide.
Mythic Essence and the Mythic Shop
Riot calls Mythic Essence (ME) an ultra-rare currency. Since 2025 you mainly get it as a reward from the Sanctum, with smaller amounts as bonuses from chests, orbs and the paid battle pass.
You spend it in the Mythic Shop under the Loot tab. It offers prestige and mythic skins (including unvaulted ones that have returned), mythic emotes, chromas, Nexus Finishers and titles. The Mythic Shop’s selection changes every patch.
The Sanctum and Ancient Sparks
The Sanctum is a store where you pull for rare skins and their variants. Pulls cost Ancient Sparks, which are 400 RP each as of 20 October 2026. The Sanctum has two banners, and each guarantees its top item within a set number of pulls:
| Tier | Exalted Skins | Mythic Variants |
|---|---|---|
| S tier | 0.5%, guaranteed by pull 80 | 0.5%, guaranteed by pull 40 |
| A tier | 10%, guaranteed by pull 10 | 10%, guaranteed by pull 10 |
| B tier (ME, icons, emotes) | 89.5% | 89.5% |
Progress toward the guarantee only carries over between banners of the same type. Duplicates are replaced by Mythic Essence. Unused Ancient Sparks can be refunded under certain conditions, which Riot explains on its Sanctum page and in its refund policy. Content pulled from the Sanctum can’t be refunded.
Summoner’s Orb
A Summoner’s Orb costs 250 RP and contains one random skin shard, with a 5.4% chance of 10 Mythic Essence and a 3.5% chance of a Chaos Grab Bag. It’s also sold in bundles for 2,500, 6,250 and 12,500 RP. Riot lists these figures for Season 3 Act I (July 2026).
Essence Emporium
The Essence Emporium is a limited-time store where you buy cosmetics with Blue Essence. In 2026 it ran from 13 May to 10 June, and the dates change every year. Example prices from 2026: Mystery Icon for 1,500 BE, a chroma for 2,000 BE and the URFWick skin for 150,000 BE.
What you can’t refund
Before you buy, keep in mind that Riot doesn’t refund chests, bundles or anything in your Hextech inventory (keys, chests, shards), and Sanctum content can’t be refunded either. A skin or champion bought the normal way can be refunded if you meet the conditions. Our LoL refunds guide has the details. Curious how much you’ve spent on the game so far? Our guide on tracking your spending shows you how.
Join our Discord to show off what you got from a chest or to ask other players: GamersTogether Discord.
FAQ
As of 20 October 2026, a chest costs 125 RP, a chest with key 195 RP and a bundle of 11 chests with keys 1,950 RP. You also get them for free from battle passes and Honor Objectives.
A skin shard drops 50% of the time. Because the third chest at the latest always gives a skin shard, the effective chance is about 57% according to Riot.
A rare currency for the Mythic Shop. Since 2025 it mainly comes from the Sanctum, with smaller amounts as bonuses from chests, orbs and the paid battle pass.
No. Chests, keys and shards are non-refundable, and so is Sanctum content. Only unused Ancient Sparks can be refunded, under the conditions Riot sets.
No. Skins are purely cosmetic; they change the champion’s look, while the abilities stay the same.
Information verified on 20 October 2026. Find more guides in our League of Legends section.