Is the League of Legends Free?
Monetization in League of Legends. LoL Free Champion Rotation, Blue Essence, Riot Points, and more explained.
In short – yes. League of Legends is entirely free to download and play. However, there are definitely ways and reasons to spend money on the game. Those willing to pay will find quite a few perks to doing so. Still, the core of the matter is that League of Legends is not a paid nor a so-called “pay-to-win” game. There’s a bit more to discuss on the matter, though.
Do you have to pay to play League of Legends? Definitely not. Would you want to, though, and what are the benefits of paying? That’s what we’ll discuss below.
The League of Legends Free-to-Play Model
The fact that LoL is free-to-play is one of the factors that propelled it to be such a huge success. The game has been completely free to just pick up and play since its launch in 2009. At this point, this “price point” is integral to what makes League of Legends so popular. It’s highly unlikely that anything will change in the future.
Despite all of this, the game still continues to be massively profitable. So how does League of Legends make money, you may ask? While the core of League is free, you don’t get access to everything all the time. For starters, you won’t have access to all the champions in LoL as soon as you start paying. To unlock additional Champions, you’ll have to either pay real money for League of Legends or unlock them by playing. Fair warning, though: grinding out enough points to unlock Champions requires a lot of time and effort. More on that later.
Besides Champions, Skins are another feature you’ll have to pay for. To the uninitiated – skins are cosmetic features that alter the appearance of your Champions. If you obtain and use a skin, both you and other players will see your Champions differently than usual. However, League of Legends is not pay-to-win. These skins do not grant any sort of advantage in the actual game. They’re mostly there for looks and bragging rights. Some skins can be especially rare or difficult to obtain, and having them is a matter of prestige. Most paid content is obtained through a currency called Riot Points
What are Riot Points?
RP, or Riot Points, are used in League of Legends to purchase any game feature that requires real money. You can’t just whip out your debit card and buy a Champion skin, for example. You have to purchase RP first. RP is the primary way to pay for League of Legends. Every purchase supports the game’s creators and allows you to get in-game goodies, too. You can buy RP with debit/credit cards or PayPal.
If you’re wondering how much RP costs in League of Legends – there’s no simple answer. RP is purchased in bundles. Generally speaking, the bigger the bundle – the more value for money you get. However, the size, price, and availability of these bundles depend on where you live.
For example, the smallest RP bundle in the United States is 650 RP for $5. However, players from western Europe can buy as little as 310 RP for €2.50.
RP is used for buying features like:
- • Unlocking Champions
- • Champion skins
- • Chromas (recolored skins)
- • Hextech Crafting materials
- • Experience boosts
- • Custom icons, wards, map skins, and more
There’s a lot more to use RP on, of course. Features were added over time since the game launched, and the future will bring even more.
How To Unlock League of Legends Champions for Free So, you want to play League of Legends for free and never spend a dime. Fair enough – millions of players are enjoying LoL exactly like that. Skins and cosmetic items are completely optional, of course, and won’t affect your experience of the game too much. Unless you really like to show off, that is.
However, a limited selection of Champions does affect gameplay. Selecting Champions at the start of a match is seen by some as a sort of game within a game. Picking your team composition means you’ll play at an advantage or a disadvantage. Why? Every Champ has its weaknesses and strengths. Every League Champion is thus innately strong against some other Champs, but also weak against others.
Having access to a bigger pool of Champions means that you have more “tools” to counter the enemy team. You can pick heroes that work well with your team or are strong against your opponents.
Thankfully, there are ways to play League of Legends Champions without paying real money for them
LoL Free Champion Rotation
The first free LoL Champions feature is the Free Rotation. 16 Champions are always available to play for free at any given time. This is roughly 10% of the total roster, giving you a nice starting pool to work with.
Which League of Legends Champions are free? 16 new heroes are selected for the rotation every week. The rotation changes every 7 days, bringing in a new set of free League Champions. These are available to all players. When you start, they’ll be all you can pick. Later on, the free champion rotation will always offer a “backup” set of possible picks.
Note: before Summoner level 12, you won’t have access to the standard LoL Free Champion Rotation. Instead, the rotation will feature 10 beginner-friendly Champs.
Blue Essence
Blue Essence is one of the virtual currencies in League of Legends. It is the primary method of unlocking League of Legends champions for free. It has many other uses as well, most of which are cosmetic.
The advantage of BE over RP is that you can earn it simply by playing the game. If you gather enough essence, you can permanently unlock new League of Legends Champions without paying real money.
There are four main ways to earn Blue Essence:
- • Leveling Up. Increasing your Summoner level awards a certain amount of Blue Essence every time, depending on the level.
- • First Win of the Day. The first time you win a match in a day awards 50 Blue Essence. This encourages players to log in and play every day.
- • Missions and Events. Riot Games sometimes launch limited-time missions and events. Completing these usually awards free Blue Essence. Keep an eye on the game client to see if there are any missions available.
- • Disenchanting Champion Shards. One way to use Champion Shards is to turn them into Blue Essence.
Conclusion
If you ever wondered how to play League of Legends for free, now you know. Given enough time and work to earn BE, you can access all the content you want without spending a cent.