League of Legends has a massive gallery of skins. Ever since its release way back in 2009, the game already has over 1300 skins! In this article, we’ll go over some of the rarest skins that you can find in League of Legends.
If you’re a League of Legends player, then you already know that skins have different kinds of rarity. Since it’s a free-to-play game, these cosmetics are a huge part of Riot’s monetization. Each skin has different pricing and some are very expensive. But there are some skins that you just can’t buy no matter how many Riot Points you have. These are the hardest to obtain and rarest skins in League of Legends.
Rarest Skins: PAX Skins
A fitting start this list is the pinnacle of standards when it comes to skin rarity in League of Legends. Back in the days when LEague was not as famous as it is now, Riot used codes containing exclusive skins and champions to promote the game at huge gaming events. PAX Skins were one of the first and they were distributed at the Penny Arcade Expo.
You can only obtain them through the cards thus making them one of the rarest skins in the entire game. Unused PAX cards were initially a huge deal for collectors and traders. They even reached prices of $200 to $1000! But since 2014, the PAX skin codes were already expired so the only way to obtain them is by buying an account that already has PAX skins.
Rarest Skins: Digital Collector’s Edition skins
The Digital Collector’s Edition skins include Silver Kayle, Young Ryze, and Black Alistar. This rare trio of skins is only available to players who have pre-purchased the League of Legends Digital Collector Pack prior to its October 2009 release. In terms of visuals, these skins are just a simple change of color pallets but because they are currently unobtainable in the shop, these are considered to be super rare skins.
Originally, Goth Annie was part of the Digital Collector’s Edition skins. But because of popular demand, it was added back to the shop later. One factor is because Riot looks at skins that are more popular and have a higher demand for monetization.
Victorious Skins
Victorious Skins are rare in general because they are time-limited and only the players who reach Gold and above can obtain them. But the Victorious Skins from the first seasons, in particular, are one of the rarest. Season 1 and 2’s Victorious Skins, Victorious Jarvan IV, and VIctorious Janna are super rare. What makes them different from other Victorious Skins?
Well, way back in Season 1 and 2 the player base was way smaller compared to today. Only a handful of players reached Gold therefore only they have possession of these two skins. Even though they are simple color pallet changes with no additional visual and voice effects or interactions, since they are currently unobtainable and only a select few have them, these are super rare skins.
Winter Games Skin
To commemorate the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Riot has released an array of sports and nationally-themed skins. These Winter Games Skins were only available at the shop from February to March 2010 for 520 Riot Points. Winter Games skins include:
- The Mighty Jax
- Curling Veigar
- Vancouver Amumu
- Ice Toboggan Corki
- Whistler Village Twitch
- Team Spirit Anivia
- Festival Kassadin
- Union Jack Fiddlesticks
All of these are time-limited but the rarest one is Vancouver Amumu because only a few players purchased it while it was available in the shop. The Winter Games skins can still be obtained by Hextech crafting and loot drops but the chance is very minimal. Because of the crazy number of skins, you can randomly get, the probability is 1 in 1300.
Mythic Skins
Mythic Skins aren’t just rare, they are also very high quality. Unlike other skins which are simple changes of colors, Mythic skins are on par with Epic skins when it comes to quality. But unlike Epic skins which can be bought, Mythic skins are extra rare because you can only obtain them through Hextech crafting, loot drops, and loot re-rolls. Not to mention that the drop rate for Mythic skins is 1 in 2500 with no “claw machine” mechanics that increase your chances after a number of draws, so they are definitely rare.
The surefire way of getting Mythics Skins is Hextech Crafting which requires 10 Gemstones or a Mythic Skin token. If that isn’t hard enough to get, there are Mythic skins with Prestige variants that have a special portrait border, splash art, and VFX, and they can only be obtained with Prestige Tokens. Prestige Tokens are only available during limited-time events.
Neo Pax Sivir is perhaps the rarest Mythic skin. It’s an upgrade of the PAX Sivir and what makes it so special is the fact that it is no longer obtainable through crafting or loot. It is definitely one of the rarest skins but may come back because of heavy demand.
Refer-A-Friend Skins
Riot’s discontinued Refer-A-Friend Program was one of their strategies for increasing the player count. They awarded players with skins for inviting their friends into League. These skins were once considered rare because of their limited availability and the amount of effort you’d have to give to get them.
There were two skins that were initially only obtainable through this program, Grey Warwick and Medieval Twitch. To get Grey Warwick, you would have to invite at least fifty friends to play League. And simply making them sign up wouldn’t do. The friends you invited should reach at least Summoner Level 5 for you to claim your prize. Imagine getting fifty people to play League.
If you think that’s a challenge, Medieval Twitch would probably trigger you. It requires you to invite a whopping 350 people! All for one skin. That’s why they were pretty rare back in the day. BUT, today you can easily get it by reaching Honor Level 5.
This change brought upon a heated discussion between collectors feeling bad because they got their skin the hard way. I sneakily got mine pretty easily with my smurf account. This is another proof of how more popular skins find their way back to availability.
Legacy Championship Riven
Just like the Refer-A-Friends skin, the original or “legacy” Championship Riven skin faced controversies. It was initially one of the Championship Skins that were created to celebrate the League of Legends World Championships, or “Worlds Tournament”. Championship Riven codes were first given out in 2012 and made available to all players from Oct.14 to Oct. 22, 2012, in the in-game shop for 975 Riot Points.
Around 8,000 people who attended Worlds in-person received the skin. Some of them sold it for around $300 so it was pretty rare back then. The issue was raised in 2016 when a visual update for Championship Riven was released as part of a championship bundle.
To address this controversy, Riot decided not to tamper with the legacy Championship Riven skin to honor the players who got it by attending Worlds. They made sure that it was unique by keeping some visual distinctions and differences from the modern new version.
King Rammus
This Mario-inspired skin is a classic and it’s pretty hard to see, let alone acquire in today’s game. It was released way back in 2014 as a reward for players who joined the League of Legends beta and back then, it was also one of the rarest skins. The white-bordered, spiked green shell and yellow body obviously show the design of Boser, Mario’s greatest enemy. Besides the skin, what’s also rare is Nintendo not killing Riot for this obvious ripoff.
So the reason that Riot removed it from the shop is to avoid copyright issues from infringing another company’s signature character. Now that League is an enormous game, a tiny misstep like bringing King Rammus back can cause them a lot of trouble.
UFO Corki
Here’s one of the rarest skins that actually offers more than just a change of colors. Corki’s UFO skin wasn’t given a Legendary bill but it definitely is when it comes to quality. They completely remodeled Corki’s look by replacing his cranky “planecopter” with an alien spacecraft and adding more particle effects.
UFO Corki was Riot’s award to early players who made an account prior to Jan. 14, 2010. While many players have expressed their desire for the UFO Corki skin to be brought into the store, Riot doesn’t seem to have any plans for it. So if you ever see someone playing UFO Corki, you better get you’re game on because you’ve got a veteran on the rift.
Rusty Blitzcrank
This skin has a pretty ironic history. It started off as a lowly cosmetic that no one d wanted because of how bad it was. I mean, it’s like Riot simply took Blitzcrank, put him in a corner to rot, and viola, Rusty Blitzcrank. It’s literally a corroded Blitzcrank.
From an unwanted skin to one of League of Legends’ rarest skins. Because of the skin’s poor quality, Riot only made it available for a very short period of time before pulling it out of the shop. And because of that, very few players were able to acquire this skin, thus making it very rare.
Today, having the rusty Blitzcrank skin is a veteran’s flex. This only means that their account has already been around since the beginning of League of Legends.
