If you’ve ever scrolled through a friend’s LoL profile and stopped at their eye-catching custom banner, you’ve probably wondered how to get banner in league of legends without spending unnecessary RP or grinding irrelevant content. Banners are one of the most underrated ways to personalize your profile, show off your favorite champions, or flex rare achievements most players will never unlock. I’ve unlocked 27 different banners over 8 years of playing, including limited-edition esports and event exclusives, so I’m breaking down every legitimate way to earn them, no hacks or exploits required.
Earn Free Banners Through In-Game Achievement Unlocks
The majority of permanent, free banners come from Riot’s in-game challenge and achievement system, which tracks everything from your champion mastery to your ranked performance and game mode wins. You don’t have to opt in to these challenges, you’ll progress toward them automatically every time you play a match of LoL.
For example, if you main mid lane, earning mastery 7 on 10 mid champions will unlock the exclusive mid lane banner, which features a dynamic design of the mid lane turret and ability icons from popular mid champs. These banners are completely free, and you’ll progress toward them automatically as you play, so you don’t have to go out of your way to grind unless you’re trying to unlock a specific one fast. Champion mastery banners are the easiest first unlock for most new players, since you’re already earning mastery points every time you play your favorite champions.
Ranked season banners are another easy free unlock, if you hit Gold or higher in Solo/Duo, Flex, or even Arena ranked, you’ll get a split-specific banner with the ranked tier icon and season design. Even if you drop below Gold later in the split, you’ll still keep the banner, so don’t stress if you lose a few games after hitting your rank goal. If you’re working toward your first banner, mastery challenges are the fastest place to start, since you’re probably already earning champion mastery points every time you play.
Get Limited-Edition Banners From In-Game Events and Passes
Every few months, Riot runs themed events tied to new champion releases, TV shows like Arcane, or the annual Worlds esports tournament, and almost all of these events include at least one free banner on the free event pass track. You don’t have to spend money on the premium pass to get these banners, you just need to earn enough event tokens by playing games and completing daily event missions.
Worlds exclusive banners are some of the rarest and most sought-after, because you can only get them during the annual Worlds tournament, and most require you to watch a certain number of live matches on the official LoL esports site with your Riot account linked. No grind required, just tune in to a few matches while you’re eating dinner or doing homework, and you’ll get the banner added to your collection automatically.
If you only have a few hours a week to play, event free track banners are one of the easiest ways to expand your banner collection without extra grind. I missed the 2021 Arcane banner the first time around, and I’ve been waiting for a re-run ever since, so don’t sleep on event rewards while they’re active, even if you don’t think you care about the banner at the time, you might regret missing it later.
Purchase Banners Through the LoL Store and Loot Rewards
If you’re looking for a specific banner that isn’t available through achievements or events, you might find it in the rotating store selection. Most permanent banners in the store cost between 490 and 750 RP, and they’re often sold as part of bundles that include a matching icon and ward skin for a small discount.
You can also get banner shards from hextech chests, event orbs, and even free weekly loot drops for honor level 3 or higher players. You can either reroll three random banner shards to get a permanent banner you don’t own, or disenchant shards for blue essence to spend on champion unlocks or other cosmetics.
Don’t waste RP on generic banners unless you absolutely love the design, because most of the store’s permanent banner selection is available for free through achievements or events if you’re patient enough. Riot also occasionally gives away free store banners as compensation for server outages, major bug fixes, or as part of global celebration events, so make sure to check your in-game notifications and loot tab regularly so you don’t miss free rewards.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Learning How to Get Banner in League of Legends
A lot of players waste hours grinding or spend RP unnecessarily because they don’t know the small details that make unlocking banners faster. I’ve made almost all of these mistakes myself, from grinding ARAM for weeks trying to earn a support mastery banner to wasting 1000 RP on a banner that was added to the event free track a week later. So here are the top pitfalls to skip when you’re working on your collection:
- Grinding the wrong queue for achievement banners: If you’re working on a mastery banner for support champions, play normals or ranked support, not ARAM, where you can’t guarantee you’ll get your preferred role or champion. You’ll earn mastery points 2x faster in your main role, so you’ll unlock the banner in half the time.
- Letting event tokens expire: Event tokens disappear as soon as the event ends, even if you didn’t spend them, so redeem them for banner shards or exclusive banners before the event closes. I once lost 1200 event tokens because I forgot to spend them before the event ended, and I missed out on a limited Lunar New Year banner I’d been grinding for all month.
- Buying banner bundles on day one of an event: Most event banners are available for free on the pass track 1-2 weeks into the event, so wait to check the full reward list before spending RP. You might find the exact banner you want is only 200 event tokens away on the free track, no RP required.
- Ignoring account safety for "rare banner" scams: Third-party sites promising free exclusive banners, legacy skins, or free RP are almost always phishing scams that will steal your Riot account credentials. Riot never gives away exclusive content through third-party sites, so only unlock banners through official in-game channels.
If you avoid these mistakes, you can unlock 3-5 new banners a year without spending any real money, including rare limited-edition ones that will make your profile stand out from other players. I usually set a small goal of unlocking at least one new banner per ranked split, and it gives me a fun side objective to work on when I’m tired of grinding ranked LP or practicing new champions.
At the end of the day, learning how to get banner in league of legends is all about knowing what content matches the banner you want, and avoiding the common pitfalls that waste your time or money. Whether you want a simple banner showing off your main role, a limited Worlds edition to flex your esports fandom, or a rare 1000 wins banner to show how long you’ve been playing, there’s an option for every playstyle and budget. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on RP or grind 10 hours a day to build a cool banner collection, even casual players can unlock multiple free banners a year just by playing normally and keeping an eye on event rewards. Don’t forget to check your challenge progress tab every few weeks to see what banners you’re close to unlocking, you might be surprised how many you’re only a few wins away from earning.