How much money could you theoretically spend in League of Legends?

Gaming has become increasingly popular, especially in Singapore where the average gamer plays more than 7 hours daily. Many play League of Legends, one of the most popular and successful games in recent times. Though the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game is free-to-play, some players end up spending money to buy "skins" — premium character visualizations — and other in-game purchases. We calculated to see how much money is needed to require own all champion skins.

How do in-game purchases work and what is the currency worth?

League of Legends’ in-game purchases require an in-game currency known as RP or Riot Points and we discovered that 1 Riot Point is worth about S$0.005. According to our research, Southeast Asia server players need to buy Garena Shells and convert them to RP. 1 SGD is worth 33.3 shells and 1 shell is worth 5.4 RP, making 1RP worth about S$0.005. It is also worth mentioning that gamers do not achieve any savings by purchasing large quantities of Garena Shells or RP at once.

Game Currency Exchange Rate

To buy all champions: S$611

As of May 7th, 2019, League of Legends has released 143 champions (playable characters). In order to buy all 143 champs, you would need 111,945RP, which is S$611. However, LoL provides “champion shards” and “blue essence” upon levelling up, which are rewards that can be converted into playable champions. As a result, with enough time and patience, one would not have to spend money to obtain all champions.

To buy all Champion Skins: S$3,556

There are 607 skins (premium champion visualisation) that you could buy from the game's shop and it would cost 651,195RP or approximately S$3,556 to purchase them all.

However, players could also obtain skins through “champion skin shards” or “orange essence”, which are rewards that can be obtained during gameplay. These are given out sporadically and randomly, making it very difficult for players to obtain free in-game content. As a result, players choose to buy skins of champions that they primarily play with.

Distribution of Champion Skins based on RP

Champions with the most selections: Miss Fortune and Ahri

Those who primarily play Miss Fortune, Ahri, Master Yi, and Fizz have a wider array of skins to choose from. For example, Miss Fortune and Ahri have 9 skins while Master Yi and Fizz have 8 skins, making them the champions with the most number of skins.

On the other hand, Neeko, Sylas, Orn, Xayah, Kalista, and Tahliya have only 1 skin, which limits players’ choices. It may be that Neeko, Sylas, and Orn have a low number of skins due to their recent introduction to the game.

Number of skins for Champions

Some skins could cost up to S$19

Out of the 607 skins, there are 4 ultimate skins that cost S$18 (or 3,250RP): Elementalist Lux, DJ Sona, Spirit Guard Udyr, and Pulsefire Ezreal. These ultimate skins are even more premium than conventional skins as they have unique visuals based on movements, animations, skills, levels, and some even have “upgraded” voiceovers.

Even though ultimate skins, like all skins, do not impact gameplay, they cost more due to their high quality.

The most expensive skins

Parting thoughts

League of Legends is a free-to-play game, but as you can see, one could easily spend a lot of money playing it. Even though there is no official data on average player expenditure, one can assume that many players have spent some amount of money in order to enhance their game experiences.

Like them, if you or your child are planning to visually upgrade a favourite champion, you may want to consider using a credit card to purchase your next skin as some cards offer a very generous return on your online purchase spending.

However, do keep in mind that games can be considered unproductive and one could argue that money spent on games could be better spent elsewhere so we suggest that you enjoy LoL within a reasonable amount of time and money.

 

This article was first published in ValueChampion