Riot to implement massive overhaul to League champions’ blue essence pricing soon

Following growing frustration within the League of Legends community regarding the prices of champions in the in-client shop, Riot has released details surrounding a complete overhaul of the way champions will be priced moving forward.

In the near future, almost every champion in the game will have their blue essence and RP prices reduced, with only five champions set to stay at the now-popular 6,300 BE price point. Currently, all champions are priced based on their relative release date. Moving forward, though, League champions will have their RP and BE prices set relative to their friendliness toward new players.

The full details of Riot’s champion price restructuring were posted on the official League website in China. The post, which was later translated and posted on to the League of Legends subreddit, breaks down each champion’s new price points.

For example, players should expect champions that cost 450 BE to be relatively simple and easy to learn. Champions at this price will include Annie, Teemo, Yuumi, Lux, and others. From there, players should expect champions’ difficulty levels to scale with their prices. Champs like Lucian and Rammus will cost only 1,350 BE, while more complex picks like Akshan and Camille will cost 4,800. Jhin will uniquely cost 4,444 BE in tribute to the character’s obsession with the number four.

According to a Reddit comment from League developer Tim Jiang, one of Riot’s biggest goals in this updated pricing scale was to “try to match difficulty [with] approachability when possible.” Though this means that some champions (such as Yasuo and Zed) will be bumped down to the 1,350 threshold, it means more in the long run since Riot also wanted to avoid increasing the price of champions altogether.

The League dev team also wants players to take more risks when it comes to expanding their champion pool. Players shouldn’t feel hesitant when buying a relatively expensive champion, and they shouldn’t feel like they made a mistake in purchasing that champion when they don’t end up liking their playstyle.

“We want you to find the best champion for you at a low price point without a BE penalty for ‘exploring,’” Jiang said.

Currently, 32 champions cost 6,300 BE in the League store, but that number is being reduced to only five champions in the near future. The only champs on the League roster who will cost 6,300 BE when the new changes go live will be Bel’Veth, K’Sante, Nilah, Renata Glasc, and Zeri—all of whom were released within the last two years.

These changes are scheduled to go live alongside League Patch 13.5, according to Riot. That patch will release on March 8.