Doubling-down on League of Legends' worst PR disaster in years, developer Riot locks hotly anticipated cosmetic behind $240 gacha wall

League of Legends fans are in unfashionable tatters after developer Riot recently decided to trap an in-demand, story-rich cosmetic behind its hugely unpopular gacha system.

"Death is simply another conquest," Riot writes in a recent announcement of its upcoming Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser skin, which restores the unruly, lich tyrant to his ancient, human form. But I think what Riot really meant to say is "this skin can technically cost over $240."

Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser is coming to League on March 5 as an Exalted skin in its Sanctum. In mortal language, that means the cosmetic is arriving as one of League's recently introduced, S-tier gacha rolls, which fans calculate could cost over $240 to actually acquire.

So League players, understandably, are upset. To their credit, they've been upset since 2023, when Riot made it so that a recolored Jhin skin could cost $200 in gacha pulls. But this Sahn-Uzal cosmetic feels more pointed, personal – players have been begging for it for years, just for the sake of League's story. But, now that the skin is finally scheduled to be released, they've given up on owning it.

"One of my all-time most wanted skins ever was Sahn-Uzal/pre-resurrection Mordekaiser," League streamer NickyBoi says on Twitter, "but all that hype is obliterated knowing it's stuck in a $200, FOMO gacha store. I should feel happy [right now], but I am just sad."

"[Riot] really saw a skin people have been asking about for years," agrees a Reddit poster, "and said, 'Bet, we're gonna do it, but only for the ones who have oodles of cash to burn.'"

As League of Legends players blast 800-hour grinds, Riot says this "wasn't meant to get harder" and "we messed up" on the whole First Blood thing too.