If you’ve ever queued up for a Summoner’s Rift match and envied the vibrant, custom look of a teammate’s legendary champion skin, you’re not alone. Skins are one of the most popular ways to customize your LoL experience, showing off your favorite champions or celebrating big wins in style. Many new and returning players ask how to get skins in League of Legends without wasting money or putting their hard-earned accounts at risk, and there are far more options than you might expect. Some methods cost nothing but a little time playing events, while others offer steep discounts on premium skins you’ve had your eye on for months.
How to Get Skins in League of Legends for Free (No Credit Card Required)
You don’t have to spend a dime to build a solid collection of LoL skins, as long as you know where to look. Riot Games regularly rolls out free rewards for active players, and many of these include permanent skins for champions you play regularly. The most reliable free options are:
- Event mission rewards: Almost every in-game event (from Arcane crossovers to seasonal World Championship celebrations) comes with a mission track that lets you earn skin shards, permanent skins, or orange essence to unlock skins for free just by playing normal matches.
- Hextech chest and key drops: You earn one free chest every month if you hit an S- rank or higher on any champion, plus keys from winning matches with friends. Open these to get skin shards, permanent skins, and rare gemstones for exclusive Hextech skins.
- Prime Gaming drops: If you have an active Amazon Prime subscription, you can claim free LoL skins and other rewards every month, no extra cost required. These drops often include epic or higher rarity skins for popular champions.
- Riot giveaways and community events: Follow official Riot social media accounts or join official LoL community servers for occasional giveaways of rare skins, especially during big game anniversaries or esports tournament finals.
One thing to note here: all of these free methods are 100% allowed by Riot’s terms of service, so you won’t risk getting your account banned for using them. It might take a few weeks to earn the exact skin you want, but building your collection for free feels extra rewarding when you finally unlock that skin for your main champion.
Discounted and Premium Skin Options Worth Your Money
If there’s a specific skin you’ve been dying to get that doesn’t pop up in free reward tracks, you don’t have to pay full price if you wait for the right sale. Riot runs regular discounts on skins in the in-game shop, with up to 50% off older epic and legendary skins every week. Your personal shop, which rolls out every few months, offers custom discounts on skins for champions you play regularly, often with 60% off or more for eligible users. That’s one of the best ways to get premium skins for a fraction of their normal cost, as the discounts are tailored to your playstyle. If you’re looking for how to get skins in League of Legends that are limited edition, waiting for their annual rerun in the shop is the only legitimate way.
You can also purchase skin shards from the event shop during big events, which lets you unlock rare skins for less RP than buying them directly from the main shop. Another option is the Battle Pass, which costs a small amount of RP but gives you dozens of rewards including multiple skins, emotes, and orange essence as you level up the pass track. If you play regularly, the Battle Pass almost always gives you more value than buying individual skins separately. Just make sure you have enough time to play through the pass before it expires, otherwise you’ll waste your money on rewards you can’t claim.
Common Skin Scams to Avoid at All Costs
For every legitimate way to get LoL skins, there are half a dozen scams designed to steal your account information or your money, and many of these look surprisingly legitimate at first glance. Any third-party site that claims to give you free RP or rare skins in exchange for your account login information is a scam, no matter how realistic it looks. Riot will never ask you to share your account password outside of the official login page, so you should never enter your details on any other site. For example, I once saw a fake Arcane skin giveaway site that looked exactly like the official Riot site, but the URL had a small typo that most players would miss. If you don’t double check the domain before entering your login details, you could lose your account in seconds.
Another common scam is people selling “rare skin accounts” on third-party marketplaces. Even if the account actually has the skin you want, buying or selling accounts violates Riot’s terms of service, and the original owner can reclaim the account at any time, leaving you out of pocket with no skin and no account. You also might see people offering to “gift” you skins for half price outside of the official gifting system. These are almost always scams, where the person will take your money and never send the skin, or charge back the payment later, leading to your account getting banned. It’s always better to stick to official Riot channels for any skin purchases or rewards, even if the other offer looks like a better deal. The risk of losing your entire account is never worth a discount on a single skin.
Smart Tips to Build Your Skin Collection Faster
Once you know the legitimate ways to get skins, you can use small tricks to build your collection much faster without spending extra time or money. Prioritize unlocking skins for champions you play regularly first, instead of wasting orange essence on random skins for champions you never touch. That way, you get more use out of every skin you unlock, instead of letting them sit unused in your collection. If you get skin shards for champions you don’t play, you can disenchant them into orange essence to put toward skins you actually want, instead of holding onto them just in case you play that champion someday.
You can also team up with friends to earn keys faster for Hextech chests, as you get extra key fragments when you play with people on your friends list. If you’re planning to buy RP, wait for bonus RP events that run a few times a year, where you get extra RP for every purchase over a certain amount. That lets you get more skins for the same amount of money, with no extra effort required. I’ve personally used this trick to get 20% extra RP during holiday sales, letting me pick up two skins for the price of one during my personal shop discount.
At the end of the day, building a League of Legends skin collection should be a fun bonus to playing the game, not something that stresses you out or makes you risk your account. Whether you prefer earning skins for free through events or splurging on a premium legendary skin for your main, there are safe, legitimate options for every budget and playstyle. Next time you’re wondering how to get skins in League of Legends, stick to the official methods we covered, avoid too-good-to-be-true scams, and you’ll build a collection you love in no time.