In this week’s /dev blog, Riot announced a slew of changes coming to League of Legends—including the return of free Hextech Chests.
In the first week of February, Riot had decided to talk a bit about their decision regarding the removal of Hextech Chests, and address the community feedback regarding Battle Pass skins. Acknowledging that the Battle Pass skins have missed the mark when it comes to quality, Riot has promised to make significant improvements in regards to the quality of Battle Pass skins starting from Act 1 or Season 2 of the first Season of the year.
However, and this is really the part that the community was really unhappy about, they did stand by their decision to remove Hextech Chests from the pool of rewards players could earn for free. They explained that giving away Hextech Chests—via the Battle Pass, through Champion Mastery, or any other reward track—was unsustainable for the game in the long run, because Riot makes all their money through cosmetics, and through skins more than through anything else.
Now, in the final week of February, it seems Riot has had a change of heart. Taking all of the community feedback in, Riot has made the decision to bring back free Hextech Chests, as well as make several other quality-of-life changes that should benefit the community, and especially new players. Let’s dig in!
Hextech Chests
The Hextech Chest change will be coming into effect already next week, at the beginning of Act 2 of the Noxian Season. Starting in Patch 25.05, you’ll be able to earn up to ten Chests and Keys per Act. Of these ten chests, eight will be completely free and earnable by completing the free Battle Pass each act.
Right now, you can earn two skins for free during each act—the free Seasonal skin (in this Act's case, that was the Masque of the Black Rose Elise skin) as well as a Mystery Epic or Lower skin shard. As of Act 2, you'll instead be able to earn eight Hextech Chests.
The other two of ten Hextech Chests you can earn will also be free, but will not be tied to the Battle Pass directly. Instead, they will be a reward for well-behaving players, earnable through a positive Honour standing.
Hextech Chest drop rates will not be changing in any way. The drop rates are as follows:
With all these changes in mind, players can now earn up to 60 free Hextech Chests per year.
Champion Pricing
Another problem the game has been experiencing for quite some time is that it is very, very difficult to earn enough Blue Essence to unlock every champion you might want, particularly if you’re a new player. This issue has been getting worse as more and more champions are added, and you would need to spend several years actively playing to get a full roster. To address this issue, starting on Patch 25.05 (next week’s patch), the cost of all champions will be lowered by 50%.
Champion Skins
Exalted Skins & Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser
There has been a lot of negative community feedback in the past few months in regards to skin quality as well. It all likely started when Riot had announced a new skin tier—the Exalted tier, alongside the Sanctum. The first Exalted skin was Arcane Fractured Jinx and while this skin was quite divisive, it was, at the very least, of the same quality as some of the Ultimate skins already in the game.
However, the skins that followed Arcane Fractured Jinx were of an even lower quality, with the same price tag of ~$200. The latest Exalted skin, Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser, received the greatest amount of backlash due to the perceived low quality.
Going forward, Riot has said that they will be taking the time to improve all future Exalted skins, and will lower the frequency of Exalted skin release. There will no longer be a new Exalted skin each Act as originally planned. Moreover, Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser will be getting delayed so that it can be tweaked to deserve the coveted Exalted tag.
Riot has also said that they will make the promotional placement of Exalted skin less intrusive within the client as well.
Battle Pass Skins
Riot has already acknowledged that the Battle Pass skins have been missing the mark as well. They initially intended to make improvements to the skins starting from Season 2. Additionally, they will be replacing one of the Seasonal skins with 25 Mythic Essence, so that players have a more consistent way to earn Mythic Essence outside of the Sanctum.
As mentioned, the free Seasonal skin will be replaced with Hextech Chests. With both these changes in mind, the overall number of Season skins will be lowered. However, this means more time and effort can be devoted to the skins that they will give away. Going forward, you can expect 3 thematic skins in each pass, one of which will be Prestige. For Act 2, our plan is that the skins on the paid battle pass will be Prestige Darius, Sion, and Talon.
Blue Essence Emporium & Your Shop
Riot also took the time to reaffirm that there are no plans to remove either the Blue Essence Emporium or the Your Shop. They will both be making their first appearance of the year soon™. In particular, they intend to bring back Your Shop in Patch 25.06 (in about three weeks) and the Emporium in Patch 25.07 (in about five weeks).
TL;DR Battle Pass Changes
- Players will now be able to earn 8 Hextech Chests and Keys through the free Pass.
- Free Reward Milestones have been increased from 20 to 24
- Paid Reward Milestones have been decreased from 30 to 26
- Grand Reckoning Alistar and Grand Reckoning Rell have been removed from the Pass—will be purchasable from the store.
- Removed Mystery Epic or Lower Skin Shard
- Added 25 Mythic Essence as a reward for the paid Pass.
