The biggest “chase” cosmetics in League of Legends are Prestige Edition skins, normally characterized by rich gold colors and visual effects that easily stand out, that all boast unique methods of collecting them.
Introduced to the game back during Worlds 2018, Prestige K/DA Kai’Sa was the first skin of its kind that sparked the rise of Prestige Edition skins. Seeing this trend catch on among the wider League audience, Riot decided to regularly design and ship out Prestige Edition skins for selected champions.
Today, there are dozens of Prestige Edition skins in League, with each being more stunning and unique than the last. Since Riot reworked the Prestige Edition shop on several occasions already, we’ll explain how the shop functions today. On top of that, we’ll tackle exactly how you can get your hands on those special Prestige Edition skins for your main champions.
What are Prestige Edition skins in League?
Prestige Edition skins are rare League skins that, unlike Epic, Legendary, and Ultimate skins, can’t be bought for Riot Points. Other than their rarity, they are normally characterized by gold borders during the loading screen, gold colors on splash art, and visual effects.
After years of feedback from the League community that Prestige skins are simply glorified expensive chromas for the given skin and that they don’t live up to the exclusivity fantasy, Riot expanded the color palette and quality. The latest and most notable examples of these Prestige Edition 2.0 skins are Star Guardian Syndra and Cyber Halo Janna, which further the Prestige fantasy and give a fresh outlook on the skin lines.
All Prestige Edition skins in League
Here’s all the Prestige Edition skins currently in League, ranging from the original two in 2018 all the way to the latest 13 to drop across the 2023 season.
How to get Prestige skins
Even after Riot reworked the Prestige Edition skin system, the devs wanted to keep the core value of Prestige skins—rarity. Prestige skins are not obtainable via purchasing RP to this day, however, RP can help you get your hands on the skin. Depending on whether the skin is featured in the Mythic Essence shop or a specific event shop, there are three separate ways of collecting your favorite Prestige skin—events, Hextech and Masterwork Chests, and Mythic Essence.
Events
Seasonal events in League have become so regular that it’s impossible to imagine a skin release without an accompanying event and a fresh Prestige skin. With a limited-time event usually comes an event shop that offers loads of goodies like chromas, skin borders, and icons. The event shop also features a new Prestige skin tied to an event and 125 Mythic Essence at the cost of roughly 2,200 event tokens. Once you grind enough tokens, you can choose Prestige skin, Mythic Essence, or simply use them to buy event orbs.
Hextech Chest and Masterwork Chests
Hextech Chests, Masterwork Chests, and various orbs tied to specific events have always had a chance to drop a Mythic skin. Although it has always been an option, it’s worth noting the drop chance is extremely small (almost non-existent). So, your safest bet is collecting Mythic Essence and waiting for your the desired Prestige skin to rotate back to the shop.
Mythic Essence
Mythic Essence is a currency in League introduced with Prestige shop rework that replaced Gemstones and Prestige Points. You can earn Mythic Essence from event mission rewards, various event orbs and capsules, Masterwork Chests, leveling rewards, and as loot milestone rewards. Once you’ve gathered enough Mythic Essence for your next Prestige skin, you can visit the Mythic Essence shop and buy the skin there.
Schedule for Mythic Shop
| Annual Mythic Content | New theme and a ward skin will be released each year. |
| Six-Patch Mythic Content | Released every six Patches: March, June, September, and December. |
| Monthly Prestige Unvault | Two Prestige skins are unvaulted every two patches, replacing the previously unvaulted Prestige selections. |
| Mythic Shop Prestige Release | A new Prestige skin debuts for the first time in the Mythic Shop and is available for two patches before rotating out. There is no strict schedule for these releases, but they can happen at any time during the year. |
What are Commemorative Prestige Edition skins?
The biggest selling point of Prestige Edition skins is, without a doubt, their rarity and exclusivity. The original Prestige shop heavily supported this idea by having seasonal Prestige skins available to purchase only for a limited amount of time and by having yet another Prestige shop that allowed the community to buy Prestige edition skins for Prestige Points. Although it was essentially a well-thought-out system that emphasized the exclusivity of these skins, it was still flawed. For example, once the event comes to an end, you can no longer obtain a rare skin featured during the event. On top of that, each year has had Prestige Points that would expire by the end of the year, meaning you could spend time and money grinding them and get nothing in return.
Once Riot revamped the entire Prestige system earlier this year and once again put the Prestige skins we haven’t seen for years in circulation, the devs thought of a way to reward the most dedicated players who farmed event tokens and Prestige Points in the first place. So, Riot invented Commemorative Prestige Edition skins that the proud owners of the early Prestige skins like Prestige K/DA Kai’Sa and Akali would get for free. All up there are
These Commemorative Prestige Edition skins are simply slightly recolored versions of the original League Prestige skins. Since these skins were given out to only the original owners of Prestige skins they are no longer obtainable.
How Riot chooses which champion is getting a Prestige skin
According to Ask Riot piece, Riot’s selection process for Prestige skins is complex and long to ensure the right champion is getting a Prestige skin for a specific event. First, the devs select the skin theme and champions that suit the theme best. After that, they focus on selecting a champion from the skin pool that would best fit the Prestige skin.
They then see if a champion ticks four important boxes:
- How popular the champion is
- When was the last time they received a skin?
- Does the champion already have a Prestige skin?
- Did they get a Legendary skin this year?
If all of these are ticked, the champ gets the skin.
Prestige FAQs
- Can I craft anything else with Mythic Essence except Prestige skins? Yes. You can craft Mythic skins that were available in the past for Gemstones, Blue Essence, Orange Essence, random skin shards, Mythic ward skins, Mythic emotes, and chromas.
- When will a specific Prestige skin come to the Mythic Essence shop? Riot doesn’t reveal the exact schedule for unvaulted Prestige skins, so there’s no telling before they reveal it on PBE.
- Where did all my Gems and Prestige Points go? Riot converted Gemstones into Mythic Essence with the value of one Gemstone being equal to 10 Mythic Essence. Prestige Points, on the other hand, expired.
- I missed a Prestige skin that came back to the Mythic Essence shop. What should I do? The Prestige skins rotate to the shop, so your favorite skin will definitely come back.
