League of Legends Skins and Tiers
League of Legends, as a free to play game, needs to make money somewhere. The obvious solutions were quality of life changes and cosmetics locked behind transactions— runes, rune pages, summoner icons, skins, and more. Out of all of them, skins would become the main "fuel" behind League of Legends as a game, cosmetic changes onto your champion's model, changes to their animations and visual effects, etc.
Champion skins started out as a small way to support the game. Minimal changes to the original look, without much congruency or tie-ins to other skins. Some skins were just retextures or recolours of the champion, some others would just add a funny hat or costume. However, as time went on, skins racked in more and more money, which could be reinvested into better skins and cosmetics. Skins would start to snowball until hitting tipping point that was the first Legendary skin, Pulsefire Ezreal, which changed all of his abilities, gave him new emotes and animations, and even evolved throughout the course of the game.
Due to the skin's overwhelmingly good reception, Riot Games saw it fit to organize and streamline not only the production but sales and marketing of new skins. With this, a new system of skin tiers were created.
Skin tiers have changed drastically over the years, so we'll only cover what they look like right now.
What's a Skin?
We'll take a relatively simple but generous definition for a skin— League of Legends skins are cosmetic additions to your champion, which can be purchased for RP or obtained through Hextech crafting. Under this definition, this includes chromas and mythic chromas as skins rather than as their own thing.
How Many Skins Are There?
We've come a long way since the days before skin tiers. Since then, we've had entire skin lines come out, new in-lore universes that reimagine or reintroduce champion concepts into new timelines or settings.
Skin Tiers LoL
| Tier Name | Price | New Features | Example |
| Chroma | 290 RP | New colour scheme | Winter Wonder Neeko (Emerald) |
| Deluxe | 390-750 RP | Model changes | Dryad Soraka |
| Standard | 975 RP | New model, VFX adjustments | Dino Gnar |
| Epic | 1,350 RP | New VFX + all Standard features | Battle Cat Jinx |
| Mythic / Mythic Chroma | 100-150 Mythic Essence | All Epic features, sometimes Legendary features | Prestige Ocean Song Seraphine |
| Legendary | 1,820 RP | New animations and emotes + all Epic features | Dawnbringer Soraka |
| Ultimate | 3,250 RP | New gameplay mechanics or toggeable skin variations + all Legendary features | Elementalist Lux |
| Exalted | 80 Ancient Sparks | Deeper gameplay mechanics + all Ultimate features | Arcane Fractured Jinx |
| Transcendent | 59,260 RP | New VFX for kills and destroying towers and new emote + all Exalted features | Immortalized Legend Ahri |
Chromas - 290 RP
Chromas are recoloured variants of a champion's classic look, or of a purchasable skin. There's a myriad of these. If you want to learn more about them, you can peek at our dedicated guide on chromas.
The most important things to know about Chromas is that they're always in the 290-195RP range, sometimes go on sale for Blue Essence, and that they don't change the VFX of the skin or champion, only model textures and colours.
That leaves some champions lending themselves better for chromas, and some worse. If we take Maokai for example, his Sapling Toss (E) and Nature's Grasp (R) create units within the Rift, which have models that are recoloured and affected by the chroma you're using. However, his Bramble Smash (Q) is just a hitbox with associated VFX, which cannot be changed by a chroma. Some other models affected by chromas include things like Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow (R) and Jinx's Super Mega Death Rocket! (R).
Deluxe Skins - 390-750RP
The classification of these skins varies, with some other sources referring to some of these as Timeworn or Classic skins. We will not draw a line, and simply call any skin below the standard rate as a Deluxe skin.
Deluxe skins are often very old skins that feature texture changes and a new splash art, with some minor model changes. They markedly rarely have a custom recall, which is now basically considered the minimum for a skin nowadays.
On the higher end for 750 RP, you have simple costume changes. Sweeping model changes and new splash arts, and very rarely, some new VFX. Examples include Samurai Yi, Leprechaun Veigar and Dryad Soraka.
In modern League of Legends, it's unlikely for any new Deluxe skins to be released. They are never updated unless the champion they're on gets a relaunch, VGU or rework. Even then, they've never increased in price to go along with the new model. The last one ever released was Unbound Thresh in 2021, which faced terrible reception.
This tier contains the 3 cheapest skins in the game, White Mage Veigar, Assassin Master Yi, and Golden Alistar. It also contains the only skins valued at 460 RP and 500 RP, being Phantom Karthus and Draven Draven respectively.
Other than those 5 skins, this tier also contains 156 skins valued at 520 RP, and 133 skins valued at 750 RP, bringing our total to 295 Deluxe skins in the game.
Standard Skins - 975 RP
This is the "standard" skin cost and standard of quality we have gotten used to in the last decade of League of Legends. A new model with new textures, and new art. Rarely, recoloured or changed VFX.
Despite this rate being the standard for League of Legends during the mid to late 2010s, it's likely we'll be seeing 975 RP skins appear less and less in the future. The last ones we've seen were the Arcane Vi, Jinx, Jayce and Caitlyn skins, which were free to begin with for players who were around at the time, so they barely count. Volibear's Thousand Pierced Bear skin is in a similar spot, where it came out for free for those who owned Volibear at the time of his relaunch.
No, the last 975 RP skin to be actually released to the store was Conqueror Nautilus in 2019, 6 years ago. Going forward, barely any skins will have this price tag. It will often be reserved to skins that released for free, or could be acquired through play, in a past event, but haven't entered the Legacy vault. It's also where previously limited skins will often fall into, if they ever get taken out of the Legacy Vault.
In total, the game features 291 Standard skins. Examples include Dino Gnar, Heartseeker Ashe and Debonair Jayce.
Epic Skins - 1350 RP
This is what most players will be used to as the "default" price tag for your average skin after 2015. Epic skins bring sweeping changes to the model, particle effects and entirely new sound effects, bringing the concept of the skin to life. Sometimes, these may have a voice filter, new voice lines, or even new animations.
They usually do a better job in "immersing" players into a new look. They also tend to be newer, so there's a higher degree of congruency between the skin and the champion's original identity, compared to just having Corki be in a toboggan.
Epic Skins compose the biggest portion of skins in the game, with a current total of 848 Epic skins. Examples include Old God Warwick, Battle Cat Jinx and Soul Fighter Naafiri.
Legendary Skins - 1820 RP
Legendary skins go a step above an Epic skin. They're generally added within a larger skinline composed of Epic skins, and their standard of quality going forward is that of an entirely different reimagining of the champion, changing the animation set and silhouette, trying to give their gameplay a new, distinct feeling. Get them feeling more bouncy and fluid, or more heavy and robotic, depending on what the skin's trying to do. These often form a vital part of their respective skinline, such as main antagonists or protagonists within their own story.
With that said, there's quite a few older Legendary skins that no longer fit this quality standard. There's an active attempt from Riot to modernize them, but a few skins such as Annie in Wonderland, Blackfrost Anivia and Alien Invader Heimerdinger have essentially the profile of an Epic skin with the price tag of a Legendary skin.
The game currently has a total of 103 Legendary skins. Examples include Dawnbringer Soraka, Spirit Blossom Ahri and Dark Cosmic Jhin.
Ultimate Skins - 3250 RP
The quality standard of Ultimate skins is not only to push skins to completely reimagine and reconceptualize a champion, but also to add completely new mechanics to their gameplay. It's common for Ultimate skins to have "forms" that you can change either outside or within the match, or have them continuously evolve as your champion levels up.
The game contains a total of 7 Ultimate skins— examples include DJ Sona, Pulsefire Ezreal and Elementalist Lux.
Mythic Skins and Chromas - 100-150 ME (Mythic Essence)
Mythic skins includes any skin in the game that can (or could have been) purchased through Mythic Essence or its older counterpart, Prestige Points. They are always comparable to Epic or Legendary skins in quality, or better. Interestingly enough, you can always roll Mythic or Prestige skins in crafting or as a reroll, except for Neo PAX Sivir and Neo PAX Jax.
This tier also includes Mythic chromas, which are rare chromas for previous or new Legendary skins.
The game currently features 76 Prestige skins, 26 Mythic skins and 21 Mythic chromas, for a total of 123 skins classified under the Mythic Tier. Examples include Prestige Ocean Song Seraphine, Hextech Alistar and Dreadnova Darius.
Exalted Skins - 80 AE (Ancient Sparks)
Exalted skins are defined as those who require Ancient Sparks to get— they can be randomly rolled in the Sanctum, and are guaranteed upon 80 pulls. Given that an Ancient Spark costs 400 RP, an Exalted skin could be worth as much as 32,000 RP, or around $250 USD.
The drop rate for an Exalted is always 0.5% in the Sanctum. It's more likely for somebody to get the guaranteed pull, although there's still a hearty 33% chance of already having rolled the skin by the time you get to 80 pulls.
In paper, Exalted skins are relatively similar to Ultimate skins in standards of quality. However, Exalted skins only started to come out more as changes to the game were made, in order to improve how much memory designers can use for new skins. Exalted skins are supposed to push this limit to the maximum, cramming multiple forms and chromas that can be freely switched along with extra VFX and the new system mechanics that all Ultimate skins have.
As of the current patch, we only have a total of 3 Exalted skins, those being Arcane Fractured Jinx, Radiant Serpent Sett soon to be joined by Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser.
Transcendent Skins
The standard of quality for Transcendent skins is the highest of them all, and we only have one example of a skin that fits its advertised price tag— Immortalized Legend Ahri, at 59,260 RP, or roughly $430 USD. The skin features mid-match evolutions, evolving animations and model, a border, along with extra emotes and special VFX. For ore information on what is expected for future Transcendent skins, check out their dedicated article.
The Transcendent Tier is supposed to be saved for "special occasions" such as real life events, meant to be cornerstones of the League of Legends community. Ahri's skin to commemorate Faker's performance and championship victories currently remains as the sole inhabitant of this tier.
A Few Exceptions
- Gun Goddess Miss Fortune, despite being an Ultimate skin, is actually valued a little lower at 2775 RP. This was mostly due to community pushback after Riot pulled back a little on production value for Ultimate skins. Comparatively, Spirit Guard Udyr is a little bit in the same field, since Udyr having a unique effect and form for each of his abilities was the main selling point of the skin, which is now just his base design. It wouldn't be surprising to see Spirit Guard dropped to 2775 sometime in the future, as the standards for what an Ultimate skin should be gets higher and higher.
- Primetime Draven and Surprise Party Fiddlesticks are filed as Legendary skins, but are permanently on sale for 975 RP. Primetime Draven features only a unique voiceover but would otherwise be priced as a Standard skin.
- Surprise Party Fiddlesticks has unique ability icons, and a unique effect for when he fears targets. This is the only skin in the entire game to feature either of these features.
- Urfwick is the only skin that can only be purchased with Blue Essence (150,000 BE), and thus by definition, does not fit any of the Tiers as we have defined them here.
Skin Availability
Victorious, Three Honors and Battle Pass Skins
These skins, although they fit one of these Tiers when it comes to quality standards (Victorious being Epic Tier, and Three Honors and Battle Pass skins being Standard tier), these deserve a special mention due to their unique methods to acquire them.
Victorious skins can be acquired for free after enough ranked play. Examples include Victorious Tryndamere, Victorious Blitzcrank and Victorious Elise. These already have their own article on their requirements.
Three Honors skins can be acquired through finishing the season with Level 5 Honor. Once you finish one season with Level 5, you get all the Three Honors skins up to that point. Examples include Three Honors Akshan, Three Honors Malzahar and Three Honors Shen. Grey Warwick and Medieval Twitch are also granted for free when you get the rest of the Three Honors skins.
Finally, Battle Pass skins are given for free through play in the Battle Pass. Examples include the Masque of the Black Rose skins, the Grand Reckoning skins, and the Arcane Season 1 or 2 skins.
Legacy and Limited Skins
Skins in this section are locked in what's called the "Legacy Vault". What this means is that they cannot be regularly purchased, although they sometimes will become temporarily available during specific times of the year and specific holidays.
Examples of these include the Warring Kingdoms skins (which become available during Lunar New Year), the Heartseeker skins (which become available during Valentine's Day) or Worlds skins (which become available during the year's World Championship event). The number of these can be dizzying to keep up with, so much so that Legacy skins have their own dedicated guide to keep up on when you can purchase them.
Since the Legacy Vault first opened in October 2013, only Worlds 2012 Riven has been released in the store as Limited Edition.
Retired Legacy Skins
Retired skins are much like Legacy skins, they cannot be purchased in the store for RP. However, retired skins don't have a time of the year where they're available— they've been taken completely out of the store and are not shown in a champion's page. They can, however, still be crafted or rolled in a Hextech Chest.
Due to these unique circumstances, along with the fact that they don't really look all that good most of the time, it's not a surprise if you haven't even heard about most of these. These are largely skins Riot would rather forget about. Their splash arts are ancient, and any VGUs and reworks that include changes to these skins are probably applied to them as an obligation.
If Riot ever starts removing skins from the game entirely, expect them to start here. These skins live in a unique situation where they're incredibly rare, yet incredibly undesirable to most of the playerbase.
Examples of these include Deep One Kassadin, Blood Knight Hecarim, Imperial Xin Zhao and Riot Kayle.
Unavailable Skins
A few specific skins in the game cannot be acquired at all through conventional means. They include limited edition skins, collector's edition skins and skins given during special events like anniversaries. They cannot be purchased or crafted in any way. The only way to obtain them is to directly acquire or purchase an account that already owns the skin, and as such, compose by far the rarest skins in the game.
Examples include PAX Twisted Fate, King Rammus and Black Alistar.
Tier Changes and Monetization Controversy
Around 2023, Riot deleted and revised their policy on pricing skins and skin tiers. Their old tiers looked a bit like this:
In 2023, this page was deleted, and replaced by the following, very bare-bones, list of prices.
On top of the relative lack of effort, you may also notice the lack of stated expectations. There's no longer necessarily anything that makes an Ultimate skin ultimate, outside of its price.
This was part of a longer plan to upscale profits from skins and attempt to curb production costs, which still stretches into 2025. Moreover, the "default" skin price has changed from 975 RP to 1350, although this comes with a reasonable increase in quality.
What many say, however, does not constitute a reasonable increase in quality is the case of Exalted skins. Many players have commented that none of the current Exalted skins have enough content in them to make a $200 USD investment worth it. They also coincide with a relative drop in the quality of Ultimate skins compared to previous ones.
The last Ultimate skin to be released was Soul Fighter Samira, which features a new model with new textures, new emotes, new animations and new VFX/SFX. However, the only "unique" game mechanic it adds is a custom font for damage numbers. This fits pretty snugly within the confines of what we expect from a Legendary skin, not an Ultimate one.
It's hard not to ask, though. If DJ Sona was released in 2025, would she be released as an Exalted skin?
Conclusion
It's hard to say where we'll end up with the ongoing changes to skin prices and quality. However, the most important thing as a consumer is voting with your money. Use the power you have, and communicate your needs as best you can, if you find the situation to be below the standards you expect for the game.
