League of LegendsHow to Get the Most Free Blue Essence in League of Legends
Riot Points are bought, full stop. What a free account genuinely accumulates is Blue Essence, and with it you unlock champions, open up Sanctum events and cover a good part of your progress.
What is the fastest and most efficient way to get Blue Essence in League of Legends?
League of Legends keeps two separate economies with no bridge between them. Riot Points are acquired with real money and buy skins, chests and passes. Blue Essence (BE) is generated by playing: it arrives from levelling up your account, from disenchanting champion shards and through the act passes. There is no conversion from RP to BE or the other way round, so a non-paying player's planning revolves entirely around Blue Essence.
Every day
- Champion capsules with disenchantable shards; the steadiest source of Blue Essence
Levelling up your account
Every game adds account experience and every level hands out a capsule with champion shards. Those shards can be used to unlock the champion at a discount or disenchanted to turn them into Blue Essence. It is the system's background engine: it does not depend on events or seasons, only on playing. The experience bonus for your first win of the day pushes this rhythm along, so one win a day pays off considerably more than several games crammed into a single weekly session.
Every week
- Blue Essence directly, depending on what has piled up in your collection
Disenchanting shards and clearing out your inventory
Your collection accumulates champion shards that expire if ignored for too long. Reviewing it every so often and deciding what to unlock and what to convert into Blue Essence stops you losing value. The practical rule is simple: use the shard to unlock if you are going to play that champion, and disenchant it if you already own it or it does not fit your pool. Duplicate shards offer no advantage sitting there, and converting them is what funds the unlocks that matter.
- The bulk of pass experience and, depending on the event, specific rewards
Weekly missions and themed events
Weekly missions are the fast route through the pass, since they grant large blocks of experience compared with the trickle from simply playing. Themed events that Riot builds around launches and celebrations add their own missions with self-contained rewards. It is worth checking the missions tab before you start playing: many ask for specific modes or a number of games, and organising your session around that avoids repeated work. With all of them cleared, the act's free track practically completes itself.
One time only
- A strong initial boost of Blue Essence and champions across the early levels
New account missions
New accounts receive a batch of missions and bonuses concentrated in the first thirty levels, designed to build an initial champion pool without spending money. It is content claimed only once, and it pays out far more per game than any later source. If you are starting out, it is worth not blowing that Blue Essence straight away: expensive champions and the old rune pages no longer compete for the same balance, but impulsive unlocks still sting later on.
Events only
- Around half the pass's rewards, including Blue Essence and capsules
The free act pass track
The season is split into acts and each one launches its own pass. The free track covers roughly half the rewards and includes champion shards, Blue Essence, capsules, icons and emotes. You advance with pass experience: a fixed amount for playing each day plus the blocks handed out by weekly missions. You do not need to buy anything to work through it all, though you do need to spread your play across the act: cramming it into the final week leaves stretches unclaimed.
- Cosmetics and extras paid for with BE alone, available in limited windows
The Blue Essence Emporium
The Emporium opens during specific windows in the year and is the only time Blue Essence buys things that would normally require RP: chromas, emotes, icons and other extras. It hands out no BE, but it shapes how you should save it. A player who only unlocks champions can ignore it; anyone after cosmetics without paying should reach that window with a balance in hand. Riot announces the dates in advance on its official channels and on the game's support site.
- One-off capsules and cosmetics; never Riot Points for playing
Official promotions and Prime Gaming
Riot hands out rewards through deals like Prime Gaming and through campaigns tied to esports broadcasts, which require linking your account before claiming them. The usual contents are capsules, shards and specific cosmetics. None of these routes hands out Riot Points: RP only enters an account through direct purchase or gift cards bought by someone. It is a distinction worth keeping in mind before making plans around skins that only exist in the paid store.
What does not work
No generator can add Blue Essence to your League of Legends account: the balance is handled on the game’s servers and there is no way to touch it from outside. If you arrived looking for one, we explain in detail how they work on the inside and why they always end the same way.
See why Blue Essence generators are a scam →Frequently asked questions
How do you get Riot Points by playing?
You do not. Riot deliberately separated the two economies: RP comes in through direct purchase or a gift card, and there is no mission, level or event that hands it out for playing. Nor is there any conversion from Blue Essence. The pages offering free RP in exchange for credentials or surveys have no relationship with Riot and usually end in compromised or suspended accounts.
How much Blue Essence does it take to unlock a champion?
It depends on the champion's age: the ones from the original launch are the cheapest and the newest releases the most expensive, with a sliding scale in between. Champion shards change the maths entirely, because they let you unlock at a significant discount off the store price. That is why it pays to check your collection before spending: you may already have a shard for the champion you were about to buy at full price.
What should you do with duplicate champion shards?
Disenchant them. A duplicate shard for a champion you already own does nothing sitting in your collection and expires after a while. Disenchanting turns it into Blue Essence you can put towards an unlock you actually want. The only reason to keep a shard is a genuine intention to play that champion, since using it to unlock is cheaper than buying with loose Blue Essence.
Why does the act pass pay off more if you spread your play out?
Because pass experience combines a fixed amount for playing each day with large blocks handed out by weekly missions. Both sources are limited by the calendar: missions expire when the week rolls over and the daily bonus does not stack. Cramming all your play into the act's final days writes off whole weeks of progress, whereas a few games spread out complete the free track effortlessly.
