There’s nothing more frustrating than pulling off a 1v5 pentakill on your favorite mid lane champion, finishing the match with a 22/3/7 KDA, and realizing you didn’t earn a chest for your performance. Most new LoL players assume high kills and a win are all you need to unlock this free loot, but there are hidden rules most people don’t pick up on their first few months playing. We put together this guide to break down how to get chest league of legends, with actionable tips to farm them consistently without wasting hours on matches that won’t count.
Core Rules for How to Get a Chest in League of Legends
Before you jump into grinding matches, you need to know the non-negotiable rules Riot has set for chest eligibility. If you’re missing even one of these requirements, you won’t get a chest no matter how well you play. You can only earn one chest per unique champion per ranked season, so even if you get 10 S ranks on Garen this year, you’ll only get one chest for him. Your team needs to get at least one S- or higher rank on any champion in the match to qualify for a chest, and that player has to own the champion they’re playing.
You also have a weekly cap of 4 chests you can earn, with one new chest slot opening up every Monday. You can hold up to 4 unclaimed chest slots at a time, so if you don’t play for a month, you won’t have 16 slots waiting for you. You also have to own the champion you’re playing to get a chest for that match, even if a teammate gets an S rank for you. These rules are easy to miss if you only ever play casual blind pick, so double check them before you queue up to avoid disappointment.
Best Champion Roles and Playstyles to Farm Chests Fast
You don’t have to be a pro player or main a high-skill carry to earn S ranks consistently. Some roles have much lower thresholds for S rank eligibility, because Riot scores your performance against the average player of that champion and role. For example, a support with 0 kills, 15 assists, 70 vision score and 2 deaths is way more likely to get an S rank than an ADC with 12 kills, 5 assists and 10 deaths. Vision score is one of the most underrated metrics for earning S ranks on support champions, so placing wards and clearing enemy vision will get you much further than chasing kills.
If you’re just starting to grind chests, stick to roles that give you the highest chance of hitting S ranks with minimal effort:
- Support: High vision score, low death counts, and high utility contributions count far more than kill counts for S rank eligibility, so you don’t have to outplay everyone in lane to get a good grade
- Jungle: High clear speed, objective control, and gank success rate make it easy to hit S thresholds even with average kill numbers, as long as you’re securing dragons and heralds for your team
- Mid Lane: High damage output and wave clear give you plenty of opportunities to outperform the average player on your champion, especially if you main a meta pick with high win rates
You can also check your champion collection to filter for champions you haven’t earned a chest for yet, so you don’t waste time playing champions you already got a reward for earlier in the season. This one small trick cuts your grind time in half, because you’re only playing matches that count towards a new chest.
Common Mistakes That Stop You From Earning Chests
Even if you know the core rules, it’s easy to make small mistakes that cost you a chest you otherwise would have earned. The first mistake most players make when trying to figure out how to get a chest in League of Legends is playing free rotation champions they don’t own. Even if you get an S+ rank on a free rotation champion, you won’t get a chest unless you purchase them first with blue essence or RP. Dying more than 6 times in a match almost always disqualifies you from earning an S rank, even if you have 20+ kills, because Riot penalizes high death counts heavily in their grading system.
Another common mistake is forgetting your weekly chest cap. If you already earned 4 chests that week, you won’t get any more until the next Monday, even if you get multiple S ranks. Custom and tutorial matches do not count towards chest eligibility, no matter how well you play, so stick to blind pick, draft pick, ranked, ARAM or rotating game modes if you’re grinding for loot. ARAM matches do count, but S ranks are harder to earn there because you get a random champion, so it’s not the most efficient mode for consistent farming.
Advanced Tricks to Maximize Your Chest Drop Rate
Once you’ve got the basics down, there are a few little-known tricks to earn chests way faster than playing solo queue alone. The biggest one is queuing with 1 or 2 premade friends who play different champions than you. If any player in your premade group gets an S rank, everyone in the group gets a chest, as long as they own the champion they’re playing. Queuing with 1-2 premade friends who play champions you already earned chests for doubles or triples your chance of getting an S rank in the match, because you don’t have to be the one carrying to get the reward.
You can also prioritize playing low-popularity champions if you’re comfortable on them. Riot grades your performance against the average player of that champion, so if you play a less popular champion that most people don’t know how to play, it’s much easier to outperform the average and get an S rank. For example, if you main Skarner, you don’t have to have a perfect game to get an S, because most Skarner players have very low average stats.
If you only have 30 minutes to play, ARAM is a great option if you roll a champion you haven’t earned a chest for yet. Matches only last 15-20 minutes on average, so you can get through twice as many matches as you would in draft pick, and you still have a chance to earn a chest if you or a teammate gets an S rank. Just make sure you own the champion you’re playing before you get too invested in the match.
Earning chests doesn’t have to be a frustrating grind, as long as you follow the core rules and avoid the common mistakes most new players make. You don’t have to be a Challenger player to earn consistent S ranks, either, especially if you stick to easier roles and play champions you’re comfortable on. Now that you know how to get chest league of legends, you can start planning your grind to unlock free skins, emotes, champion shards and other loot without spending any extra money on RP.