It’s time to start grinding.
The recent release of PsyOps Prestige Ezreal on the League of Legends live server marks the 24th addition to the Prestige Edition skin line.
While the first idea of Prestige Point skins was to make them feel special, the initial price of around $100 made it a pay-to-get skin and the special aspect was nowhere to be seen. Following plenty of negative feedback from the community, Riot changed the model and started allowing players to obtain Prestige skins with event tokens as well to extend their reach.
Here’s what you need to know about all the Prestige skins in League.
List of Prestige skins and ways to acquire them
There are 24 Prestige skins available in League right now.
- Blood Moon Aatrox Prestige – 100 Prestige Points
- K/DA Ahri Prestige – 100 Prestige Points
- K/DA Akali Prestige – 1,800 tokens event exclusive
- Arcade Caitlyn Prestige – 2,000 tokens event exclusive
- K/DA Evelynn Prestige – 100 Prestige Points
- Fuzz Fizz Prestige – 100 Prestige Points
- Mecha Kingdoms Garen Prestige – 100 Prestige Points
- Project: Irelia Prestige – 2,000 tokens event exclusive
- K/DA Kai’sa Prestige – 2,500 tokens event exclusive
- Nightbringer Lee Sin Prestige – 2,000 tokens event exclusive
- Battle Academia Lux Prestige – 2,000 tokens event exclusive
- Bewitching Miss Fortune Prestige – 100 Prestige Points
- Star Guardian Neeko Prestige – 100 Prestige Points
- True Damage Qiyana Prestige – 2,000 tokens event exclusive
- Valiant Sword Riven Prestige – 2,000 tokens event exclusive
- True Damage Senna Prestige 100 Prestige Points
- Pulsefire Thresh Prestige – 100 Prestige Points
- Firecracker Vayne Prestige – 1,000 tokens event exclusive
- Dark Star Malphite Prestige – 2,000 tokens event exclusive
- Arcanist Zoe Prestige – 100 Prestige Points
- Coven Zyra Prestige – 100 Prestige Points
- Pulsefire Lucian Prestige- 2,000 tokens event exclusive
- Spirit Blossom Teemo – 2,000 tokens event exclusive
- PsyOps Ezreal Prestige – 2,000 tokens event exclusive
Current problems with the Prestige skin line
Out of 24 champions released with a Prestige skin, nine were obtainable with Prestige Points and 10 could be acquired with tokens from in-game events.
While the previous model of acquiring Prestige Points via real-life currency wasn’t deemed too successful, the current one allows for some leeway and gives the possibility for anyone who purchases the event battle pass to be able to farm up for the Prestige skin. While the possibility is there, playing a lot of games to obtain it doesn’t bring the “Prestige” feel to it.
After each year, the Prestige Points that a player earned in that year are reset. Riot said the intent behind this is to not allow players to stock up points for the next year’s skins and to avoid making them more common on release day. There will be special Prestige Point shops at the end of a year to allow players to spend their Prestige Points so that they don’t disappear in vain. This demotivates players who purchase battle passes toward the middle of the year, though. They won’t have enough Prestige Points for a skin and will have to wait for the shop at the end of the year to use their Points.
“Prestige skins are about taking an existing skin and adding rarity and desirability through more expensive-looking (and often sparkly!) materials in the model and VFX as well as the ways you can get the skin,” Riot’s lead producer of skins Carlos “IAMCARLOS” Giffoni said in an “Ask Riot” thread at the beginning of the year.
The latest community-given names of “Spaghetti Noodle” Thresh and “Mustard Hands” Malphite seem to show that while the rarity and expensive-looking materials might be there, the desirability is lacking. This is a recurring trend in the community that’s disappointed with the current results and wants to feel the investment in the currency required to purchase them.
Possible improvements
Prestige skins should show and appraise the efforts of players who invest time in a champion. The skin line should also focus on certain aesthetics and improve on that. The golden recolors feel quite cheap since they seem to be like a golden chroma more than a special skin.
The current system doesn’t reward effort that much. Instead, it rewards grinding as much as possible with no attention to mastering the champion. Perhaps a system of grinding combined with a focus on mastering the champion would make the skins feel more rewarding and desirable.