When you first start League of Legends, the first thing you get stuck on is "how do I buy this champion?" You see two kinds of currency on screen, and for the same champion, one price is written in blue numbers and another in a different unit, which is easy to find confusing. This article covers, in order, how to get into the shop, the difference between the two currencies, the price structure by tier, a realistic way to stack champions free-to-play, and when it's worth buying a newly released champion.
The flow of getting into the shop and buying a champion
To buy a champion, hit "Store" at the top of the client and go into the "Champions" tab. Pick the champion you want from the list, and it shows whether you can buy it with the currency you have and the price. If you have enough currency, the buy button lights up, and once you buy a champion it's permanently bound to your account, so you never have to buy it again. You get to choose which currency to use, but first you need to clearly tell those two currencies apart.
Blue Essence (BE) and RP: the difference between the two currencies
There are broadly two currencies you can use to buy champions in LoL. One is Blue Essence (BE), and the other is RP. Both can be used to buy champions, but the way you get them is completely different.
- Blue Essence (BE): a currency you gather for free as you play. It builds up from the capsules you get on level-up, loot (drops), and so on. It costs no cash.
- RP: a paid currency you top up with cash. You can buy champions with it too, but it's more often spent on skins and cosmetic items.
To sum up, if you want to grow your champion pool free-to-play, BE is the standard. Think of RP as the cash currency you use when you urgently need a specific champion right now or want to buy a skin. You can gather every champion with BE alone, so there's no need to spend money just to buy champions when you're starting out.
Champion prices are split by tier
Not every champion is the same price. Each champion has a tier, and the BE required differs by that tier. It's usually split into steps from the cheapest entry-level champions up to the most expensive tier, so early on you can quickly broaden your champion pool with cheap champions.
- Cheapest entry-level champ tier: buyable with little BE, great for picking up one per lane early on.
- Mid tier: solid champions you need to save up some BE for; a lot of them sit here.
- Most expensive tier (for example, the 6300 BE range): relatively recent or popular champions often land in this bracket.
Tiers are commonly described as split into steps like 450, 1350, 3150, 4800, 6300 BE, but the specific numbers and which champion is in which tier change with the patch and the times. So the right move is to always confirm exact prices against the values shown in the in-game shop. Treat the numbers in this article only as examples for getting a feel for "how the tiers are split."
A realistic way to stack BE free-to-play
The key to growing your champion pool without spending money comes down to steadily stacking BE. BE comes in naturally as you play, so with just a few things in mind, the pace at which it gathers picks up noticeably.
- Catch your level-ups: every game stacks experience, and you get a capsule when you level up. BE comes out of these capsules, so steadily playing is itself the path to stacking BE.
- Check your loot (drops): you can convert duplicate shards and loot you own into BE. Tidying up your loot screen periodically turns up dormant BE.
- Missions and events: seasonal missions and events sometimes give extra capsules and currency, so catching them speeds up your gathering.
- Save up if you're not in a hurry: rather than spending all your BE on a champion you don't need right now, it's more efficient to save and wait for a champion you want to come up in a discount.
When is it worth buying a new champion?
Everyone wants to try a newly released champion fast, but right after release is often the most expensive point in BE terms. New champions are priced higher or released mostly through RP for a set period after launch, and over time their BE price drops to a regular tier.
- Want to try it right now: buying with RP right after release lets you play immediately, but it costs cash.
- Want to save with BE: wait until a set period after release passes and the BE price drops, and you can buy it with free currency.
- Use discount rotations: champions come up in discount rotations from time to time, so buying a champion you want when it goes on discount saves BE.
In other words, unless it's a case of "I absolutely have to play the new champ right now," it's most worthwhile for the free-to-play player to wait a bit and buy when the BE price drops or it goes on discount. Conversely, if you're in a situation where you need to keep up with the meta fast, securing it with RP first is a reasonable choice too.
In summary: the buying strategy that fits your situation
If you're free-to-play, the standard is to steadily stack BE, broaden your champion pool starting from the cheap tiers, and buy new champs when their price drops or they go on discount. If you're willing to spend cash and need a specific champion right now, buying it directly with RP is an option too. Either way, exact prices and currency policies change each patch, so always confirm the in-game shop values at the end. Rolling through a variety of champions to find the ones that fit you is one of LoL's big joys, just like in Teamfight Tactics (TFT) or Valorant.
If a clutch teamfight or a pentakill goes off with your newly bought champion, you don't have to fuss over recording the moment yourself. Install DOR and it automatically detects the moment you launch a game and records, and when a great play happens it saves just that section as a clip on its own. If you want to gather your new-champ learning curve and best moments without lifting a finger, check the automatic clip examples on the League of Legends page.
