Riot reveals Hextech Chest drop rates for Season 8

May the RNG gods take pity on you.
Image via Riot Games

The 2018 season introduced a whole new loot system to League of Legends, from receiving the new champion capsules upon leveling up to changes to the honor system. Now, we know exactly how that system works.

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It can be incredibly frustrating to win a hard-fought game with an S-grade on your favorite champion, only to pull a Tristana champion shard out of the Hextech Chest, while only the day before you were awarded three separate champion shards just for hitting summoner level 44. On the other side of the coin, some players have won the favor of the RNG gods long enough to pull an ultimate skin shard out of one of the same Hextech Chests.

Until recently, players have merely rolled with the punches, not fully understanding what their chances are to get the sweetest loot. A couple of months into season eight, however, Riot revealed the statistics behind the game’s loot, and now we know exactly what our odds are of finally getting some good skins out of those damn chests.

Hextech Chests

Masterwork Chests

Of course, it’s never quite that simple. There are a handful of little rules that are part of the Hextech loot system, such as the way that it prevents you from going without good loot for too long, or the conspiracy that there are higher chances to drop worse skins than quality ones. Riot addressed all of those to set the record straight, too.

Fun facts

  • All skins in the Hextech Chest system have the same odds to drop, including ultimate skins.
  • All ultimate and mythic skin shard drops will automatically redeem themselves as permanent skins, so you don’t have to unlock them with Orange Essence.
  • This system includes “bad luck protection,” meaning you can’t go three chests without picking up a skin shard.
  • Gemstones have bad luck protection, too, but it’s much worse than standard skin shards. You cannot go 50 chests without picking up a Gemstone.
  • It is possible to get another Hextech Chest/Key bonus combo from an opened Hextech Chest/Key bonus combo.
  • The chance to pick up a Hextech Exclusive Skin from a chest is about one in 2,500 chests.
  • Hextech Chests only drop champion shards for those worth more than 4,800 Blue Essence.

Riot releasing this data and statistics list is part of its effort to improve transparency when it comes to loot and microtransactions. Where loot is a relatively new experience in League, microtransactions have been a key part of the game for years. It’s nice to now know what exactly we’re getting into when we pick up a bundle of chests and keys from the shop.


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Author
Aaron Mickunas
Esports and gaming journalist for Dot Esports, featured at Lolesports.com, Polygon, IGN, and Ginx.tv.