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  1. Games
  2. MOBA
  3. League of Legends

League of Legends fans' fury grows as Riot nerfs another way to get free skins, this time as a reward for good behavior

News
By Issy van der Velde published 20 February 2025

This isn't going down well

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League of Legends
(Image credit: Riot Games)
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After deciding to get rid of Hexchests, Riot is also reportedly removing Honor Orbs and Capsules from League of Legends and the decision has not gone down well.

Earlier this month, Riot devs explained their controversial decision to scrap Hextech chests that could reward you with free skins. The reasoning was simple: too many people were getting skins from these chests and not enough were buying them with cash instead, so Riot was worried about its long-term financials.

Removing Honor Orbs and Capsules is just another nail in the free skin coffin. These reward you with Champion Shards, Ward Skins, and Blue Essence, and the higher your Honor level is, the better the rewards.

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I always liked the idea of League's honor system. It's widely known as one of the most toxic games around, so anything that encourages better behavior is worthwhile, but now all it'll get you is some battle pass XP. And the warm fuzzy feeling you get from being a good person, I guess.

Honor changes pic.twitter.com/HMFYjmVqoxFebruary 19, 2025

Fans are, understandably, furious, and so are League content creators. In the replies to a picture of the supposed changes, some shared an image of the alleged United Healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione. Another player simply replied, "Shut it down brother."

One Twitter account posted a picture of Riot CEO Dylan Jadeja alongside a list of their achievements: "500+ employees laid off, Riot Forge killed, limited time only skins for FOMO, end of prime gaming capsules, end of level up capsules, decent mythic essence acquisition, hextech chests, introduction of predatory gacha, degradation of skin quality, nerfed battle pass, removal of honor orbs and capsules, degredation of clash events, removal of Your Shop. Makes you wonder why he has no social media, unlike the previous CEO’s before him."

YouTuber and streamer NickyBoi tweets, "I'm done making League of Legends videos, or anything content at all for a little while at least. I don't think it will be too long, hopefully no more than a few weeks or a month, but I need time away from all this."

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YouTuber SkinSpotlights also tweets a picture of their subscribers steadily dropping since the Hextech Chests and this more recent news, showing a lot of people are done with the grind for skins entirely.

You should check out our list of the best online games if you want to hop off the League train and try something else out.

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Issy van der Velde
Issy van der Velde
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Contributor

I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.

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