Riot Explains How League of Legends Champions Get Picked for Prestige Skins

League of Legends’ Prestige Edition skins come out fairly consistently to give certain champions [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

League of Legends' Prestige Edition skins come out fairly consistently to give certain champions premium cosmetics only obtainable through certain means, but we're still far from a point where every champion has a Prestige skin. To decide which champions should get these Prestige skins, Riot Games looks at multiple factors. Riot explained the criteria for picking Prestige skin champions in a recent Ask Riot post to give an idea of how the process works and what players can expect for the future of Prestige skins.

Prestige skins are always premium versions of either existing or new lines of skins like Blood Moon, Pulsefire, or the new Mecha Kingdom, so Riot said it must first consider whether a Prestige skin would even work for a champion's skin. Arclight skins like Brand's were cited as an example of something that wouldn't work as well since those skins are already brightly colored with golds and whites which mirror the color schemes of Prestige skins. We've seen some deviations from this such as Nightbringer Lee Sin's Prestige skin, but for the most part, the colors remain the same.

There's also the inevitable question that must be considered: How popular is the champion? If you look at the list of champs that have been awarded Prestige Edition skins in the past, you're not going to find any cosmetics for Amumu or Quinn or anyone like that. Instead, we've gotten Prestige skins for champions like Ahri, Akali, Qiyana, Lee Sin, Thresh, and Aatrox. That doesn't mean the champions who aren't as popular won't get Prestige skins, Riot said, but don't expect them to jump line in front of Yasuo or other frequently picked champions.

"How popular is the champion, and when was the last time they got a skin?" Riot pondered in its Ask Riot post. "So far we have released Prestige skins mostly for champions with higher playrates, but we are experimenting with lower ones in the future to see how much players like them."

Riot recently named six League of Legends champions who will get skins in the first half of 2020, and we some of the philosophy above in effect in that list. Champions like Zoe and Lucian will get Prestige skins in 2020, but we'll also see them released for Malphite and Zyra. Senna's also getting a Prestige skin that we got to see earlier in the week.

The Ask Riot post about Prestige skins closed by laying out a few things Riot probably won't do. Champions likely won't get another Prestige skin if they already have one, but Riot said it's not ruling out the idea if it seems like the best possible option. Champions also probably won't get Legendary and Prestige skins in the same year, and a Legendary Prestige skin isn't currently something Riot has its mind on.

Senna and other champs will get Prestige Edition skins in the first half of 2020, but look for Riot to announce more Prestige skins after that for different characters.

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