I’ve been playing League of Legends on and off for almost 8 years, and I used to drop $20 or more every time a new skin line dropped that I liked. It wasn’t until last year that I realized I was wasting hundreds of dollars a year on cosmetics I could have gotten for free, if I’d just known where to look. If you’re looking for how to get a free skin in league of legends, you don’t have to resort to sketchy third-party sites or hacks that will get your account permanently banned. Every method in this guide is officially approved by Riot Games, so you won’t risk losing all your champions, ranks, or existing skins to use them.
How to Get a Free Skin in League of Legends Through Riot’s Official Reward Programs
Riot has built several free reward systems directly into the client, so you can earn skins just by playing the game normally, no extra steps required. The most consistent option is Hextech Crafting, which lets you earn chests and keys just by playing matches. You get a chest whenever you or a teammate gets an S- rank or higher in a match, and key fragments drop randomly after wins, which you can combine into full keys to open chests. Chests can drop skin shards, which you can either disenchant for orange essence or upgrade to a permanent skin using orange essence you get from disenchanting extra shards. I’ve gotten 12 permanent skins this way over the past two years, including a legendary Pulsefire Ezreal skin I didn’t have to pay a cent for.
Another easy official option is Honor level end-of-season rewards. If you keep your behavior clean all season—no AFKs, no abuse in chat, no intentional feeding—you’ll level up your honor rank over time. Players who hit Honor level 5 at the end of the season get a free exclusive Honor skin, plus a random champion skin as a bonus. The catch is that if you get a chat restriction or penalty, your honor level drops, and it can take months to build it back up. But if you’re already a positive player, you’ll get these skins automatically without even trying.
Most event passes also have a free track with skin shards or full skins as rewards, even if you don’t buy the premium pass. For example, the recent Arcane event gave all players a free Arcane Jinx skin just for completing 3 simple match missions. You don’t have to grind for hours to get these rewards either—most event free track skins only require 3 to 5 matches to unlock.
Participate in Official Riot and Community Events
Riot runs free skin giveaways all the time for milestones, holidays, and game anniversaries, and most players don’t even know they exist. The easiest to claim are anniversary login rewards. Every year for LoL’s anniversary, Riot gives all players who log in during the event window a free random permanent skin, plus other rewards like champion shards and orange essence. I got a Star Guardian Ahri skin from the 10th anniversary event just by logging in for 2 days in a row, no matches required.
If you’re creative, you can also earn free skins through fan content creation contests that Riot runs every few months. They regularly host contests for fan art, custom skin concepts, short videos, and even cosplay, and the prizes almost always include free RP, exclusive skins, and sometimes even a custom skin made just for you. You don’t have to be a professional artist to win either—last year Riot gave away 100 free skins to players who submitted silly meme videos of their favorite champion fails.
Riot also has a bug bounty program for players who find and report serious glitches or security issues in the game. If you report a bug that Riot hasn’t documented yet, especially one that affects game balance or account security, you can get free rare skins, thousands of RP, or even a special “Bug Smasher” summoner icon that very few players have. The only downside is that most serious bugs are hard for casual players to find, so this method works best if you already know a bit about game coding or spend a lot of time testing off-meta builds and interactions.
Legitimate Third-Party Reward Options (No Account Risk)
There are a handful of third-party programs that are officially partnered with Riot, so you can use them to get free skins without worrying about getting banned. These are the only third-party options we ever recommend, because any other site that promises free skins is almost certainly a scam.
- Prime Gaming monthly skin drops: If you have an Amazon Prime account, you can link it to your Riot account and claim a free LoL skin every single month, no extra cost. The skins are usually epic or higher rarity, and sometimes include exclusive Prime Gaming skins you can’t get anywhere else. I’ve gotten 7 free skins this way over the past year, and it only takes 30 seconds to claim each one.
- Official brand partnership promotions: Riot regularly partners with food, drink, and tech brands to run giveaway promotions. For example, in recent years they’ve partnered with soda brands, fast food chains, and gaming peripheral brands to give away free skin codes with purchase. You can usually find these promotions advertised on Riot’s official social media pages, so you don’t have to go searching for random codes online.
- College esports program rewards: If you’re a student, many college esports leagues partner with Riot to give free skins to players who participate in campus LoL tournaments, or even just attend official viewing parties for international esports events. Most of these programs are open to players of all skill levels, so you don’t have to be a pro player to join.
The only rule you need to follow with these third-party options is to never enter your Riot account password on any site that isn’t the official Riot login page. All legitimate partnerships will redirect you to Riot’s official site to link your account, so if a site asks you to enter your password directly, leave immediately. It’s also important to never buy skin codes from random sellers online, because most of them are stolen or fake, and using them can get your account banned.
Common Free Skin Scams to Avoid At All Costs
For every legitimate way to get a free skin, there are 10 scams designed to steal your account or your money, so it’s important to know what to look out for. The most common scam is third-party sites that promise hundreds of free skins if you enter your account details. These sites look almost identical to the official Riot login page, but when you enter your username and password, the scammers steal your account, change your email and password, and sell all your existing skins and RP before you can get it back. Riot will never ask you to enter your account details on any site other than their official domain, so if you’re not sure, check the URL before you type anything.
Another common scam is random in-game private messages from low-level accounts that say you’ve won a free skin, and include a link to claim it. These links almost always lead to malware or phishing sites that steal your account information, so never click links from random players in chat. Riot will never send you a private message in game to tell you you’ve won a reward—all official rewards are sent directly to your in-game loot tab, or announced on their official social media pages.
You should also avoid any service that offers to “hack” free skins onto your account for a small fee. These services almost always either take your money and give you nothing, or use hacks to add skins that Riot will detect within a few weeks, leading to a permanent account ban. It’s never worth risking an account you’ve spent months or years building just for a free skin.
At the end of the day, collecting LoL skins doesn’t have to empty your wallet. If you’re patient and stick to official, safe methods, learning how to get a free skin in league of legends is far easier than most players think. I now have over 40 skins in my collection that I didn’t pay a cent for, and I haven’t bought RP in over 18 months. Just remember: if an offer for a free skin sounds too good to be true, it almost always is. Stick to the methods we’ve covered here, and you’ll be able to build a skin collection you love without risking your account or your money.