If you’ve been scrolling through your League of Legends loot tab lately, you’ve probably seen Ancient Sparks pop up as a rare, shiny currency you can’t seem to earn fast enough. I spent nearly a month wasting time on low-value missions trying to farm enough for the latest Prestige skin, before I sat down and mapped out exactly which methods actually work. If you’re tired of grinding for hours with almost no sparks to show for it, this guide breaks down everything you need to know about how to get ancient sparks in League of Legends without spending extra RP or sacrificing all your free time.
Core Methods: How to Get Ancient Sparks in League of Legends Reliably
Ancient Sparks don’t drop from regular gameplay, so you can’t just spam 10 Summoner’s Rift games and expect a stack to show up in your inventory. All sparks are tied to specific in-game promotions and events, so you have to target the right activities if you want to earn them consistently. These are the only verified methods that guarantee or have a high chance of dropping sparks, based on Riot’s published drop rates and months of player testing:
- Complete event milestone missions: Every rotating LoL event (like the annual Star Guardian or Worlds events) has 3 to 5 milestone missions that explicitly list Ancient Sparks as a reward. Each of these missions gives 5 to 15 sparks, and you can usually complete them passively just by playing normally while the event is active, no extra grind required.
- Open premium event pass capsules: If you buy the $10 premium event pass, every level you earn after level 30 gives you a loot capsule that has a 12% chance to drop 15 Ancient Sparks, per official Riot drop data. Free pass holders only get 2 spark-containing capsules per event, so the premium pass gives you 8x more chances to earn sparks on average.
- Finish Clash tournament reward tracks: Even if you’re a casual player who never plays ranked, you can join Clash tournaments for just 975 blue essence per ticket. Finishing 2 or more matches per Clash cup unlocks a reward chest that can contain up to 20 Ancient Sparks, and teams that finish in the top 3 of their tier get a guaranteed 10 sparks minimum.
- Redeem Prime Gaming monthly drops: Riot partners with Prime Gaming every month to give out free LoL rewards, and 10 Ancient Sparks are included in the bundle roughly every other month. All you need is an active Prime subscription to claim them, no extra gameplay required.
You might see other players claim you can get sparks from normal chests or event orbs, but those drop rates are less than 1% per item. It’s not worth wasting your RP or blue essence on those items if sparks are your main goal.
Common Mistakes That Slow Down Your Ancient Sparks Grind
When I first started farming sparks, I made nearly every mistake in the book, and it took me twice as long to earn enough for my first Prestige skin. Avoid these missteps to cut your grind time in half, no extra skill required.
The biggest mistake I see is players wasting time on daily event missions that don’t offer sparks as a reward. Most events have 10+ daily missions, but only the 3 to 5 milestone missions give you sparks. Skip all daily missions that don’t list sparks as a reward unless you can complete them at the same time as your milestone missions, no exceptions.
Another common waste is spending RP on standard event orbs to try and farm sparks. I once blew 2,200 RP on 10 event orbs thinking I’d get a ton of sparks, and I only walked away with 5 total. Riot intentionally sets the drop rate for sparks in standard orbs extremely low, so you’re far better off putting that RP toward a premium event pass if you want to spend real money.
Don’t skip Clash just because you think you’re not good enough, either. Even if you lose both of your first two matches, you still get the participation chest that has a chance to drop sparks. The only requirement is signing up and showing up, so it’s worth adding to your schedule when Clash runs every other month.
How to Maximize Spark Gains With Minimal Playtime
You don’t have to play 10 hours a week to earn enough sparks for the limited-time skins you want. I only play 4 to 6 hours a week, and I still earn enough sparks every two events to get the Prestige skin I’m targeting. These small tweaks make all the difference.
First, stack overlapping mission requirements every time you queue up for a game. For example, if one milestone mission requires you to get 20 kills with mage champions, and another requires you to win 3 ARAM games, pick mage champions every time you play ARAM until you finish both. You’ll knock out two missions at once instead of grinding them separately.
Prioritize ARAM over Summoner’s Rift for mission grinding, too. ARAM games last 15 to 20 minutes on average, compared to 30 to 40 minutes for a standard Summoner’s Rift match. That means you can complete nearly twice as many mission requirements in the same amount of playtime. Only play Summoner’s Rift if your milestone missions explicitly require it to save time.
If you have a friend who owns the premium event pass, queue with them as much as possible. Premium pass holders get a 10% mission progress boost that applies to everyone in their party, so you’ll finish your milestone missions faster without any extra effort. It’s a small win that adds up over the course of a 4-week event.
Smart Ways to Use Your Ancient Sparks Once You Earn Them
It’s tempting to blow your first stack of sparks on the first shiny reward you see in the loot tab, but sparks are rare enough that you want to make sure you’re using them on something you’ll actually enjoy long-term. These are the best and worst uses for your hard-earned sparks.
The highest value use by far is saving up 100 sparks for limited-time Prestige skin drops that only run for the duration of an event. These skins never come back to the shop in the same form, so if you see a Prestige skin for your main champion, that’s the best possible use of your sparks.
If you don’t like any of the current Prestige skins, you can also spend 125 sparks on a mythic skin reroll, which gives you a random unowned mythic or Prestige skin. Riot’s data shows these rerolls have an 8% chance to drop a rare legacy Prestige skin, so it’s a good option if you have extra sparks and want to gamble a little.
Avoid wasting sparks on temporary rewards like profile icons, emotes, or chromas for skins you don’t even own. These rewards are usually available for free through other event missions, and spending your rare sparks on them is a waste of all the time you put into farming. Only spend sparks on permanent, limited-time rewards that you can’t get any other way.
At the end of the day, farming sparks doesn’t have to be a frustrating, time-consuming grind. The trick is to focus only on the high-value activities that actually drop sparks, skip the low-effort missions that give you nothing of value, and use your currency wisely once you earn it. If you follow these tips, you’ll have far more success with how to get ancient sparks in League of Legends, and you’ll be rocking your new Prestige skin before the event ends. I’ve used these exact methods to earn 4 Prestige skins in the last year without spending extra RP, and they work just as well for casual players as they do for regular grinders.