Riot Returns Hextech Chests to League of Legends After Community Backlash

Following massive community backlash, Riot Games reverted their decision to remove Hextech Chests from League of Legends. 

“We didn’t fully grasp how much this mattered to you, and that led us to make changes that missed the mark,” Riot representative Paul Bellezza said in their Dev Update. 

“As a result, chests are coming back starting in Act 2.”

Here are all the details regarding the reimplementation of Hextech Chests in League of Legends:

• 10 Hextech Chests and Keys—8 on the free Pass, 2 additional with Honor
• Hextech Chests will be replacing the free Battle Pass skin
• Consolidating all Key Fragments into Keys, rounding up leftover fragments
• The Blue Essence cost of all champions will be reduced by 50%
• Delaying Sahn Uzal Mordekaiser Exalted skin while we make improvements
• Increasing the quality of Battle Pass skins going forward
• Adding 25 Mythic Essence to the paid Battle Pass to replace one paid pass skin
• Clash is going back to a monthly cadence
• Your Shop is coming back in Patch 25.06
• The Blue Essence Emporium will return in Patch 25.07

Here are the Hextech Chests Drop Rates: 

• Skin Shard (50%)
• Champion Shard (25%)
• Emote Permanent (10%)
• Ward Skin Shard + 150 Bonus Orange Essence (11.5%)
• Summoner Icon Permanent + 150 Bonus Orange Essence (3.5%)

Bonus Drops

• 10 Mythic Essence (3.6%)
• Bonus Chest + Key (10%)

The community had voiced their discontent with the Hextech Chests’ removal more than a month ago, but Riot seemed committed to their removal – telling the community to essentially buy more skins using real money rather earning them for free. 

“As a free to play game, skins are the primary way League pays its bills. They’re what give us the ability to continue to develop the game,” Riot mentioned in their previous dev update.

Hextech chests are clear incentives for players to grind towards. Prior to their removal, chests were one of the few appealing factors for Free-to-Play League of Legends players. Taking away the rewarding game mechanic from the players broke the camels back, resulting in a wave of players quitting the game.

Riot claims they always takes a “players first” approach for its update philosophy. Though their initial removal of Hextech chests did not align with this sentiment, the companies decision to revert the change cements Riot’s core public beliefs.