After fan backlash, Riot says it will fix blue essence in League

M Alzamora Published 15/01/2025

Alongside the Noxus season of League of Legends comes a nerf and then buff to blue essence.

Blue essence is one of the most valuable currencies in League of Legends, and many players got mad when Riot made it harder to get. Now, the developer is walking back some of those changes towards the supposed goal of making it easier to accrue the currency once again.

League’s Season 1 promises a lot, from new champions to a reworking of several major aspects of the game for the better. Yet alongside the more positive changes also come some negative. Players can say goodbye to Hextech Chests and their skin shards in 2025, for example. Even the essential blue essence currency hasn’t escaped these changes, becoming harder than ever to earn. Across social media, players have been expressing their frustration at the “free-to-play” game for making it near to impossible not to spend real-world money to accrue a reasonable set of champions for play in the game.

Based on the latest post, Riot and the development team have heard players’ outrage. Here are the upcoming changes to blue essence in the Noxus Act 1 battle pass.

Riot increasing blue essence earned in League Season 1

In following League of Legends Season 1 patch updates, players of all levels can expect to receive more blue essence possibly than ever before.

Riot is increasing the total amount of blue essence players can earn through the seasonal battle pass. For repeatable epilogue milestones, players will be able to earn 750 blue essence rather than the mere 50 it was previously set at starting in League Patch 25.S1.2. The development team is also raising the cap for main milestones from 4,750 to 9,000, nearly doubling the amount available. Because many have already completed several blue essence-rewarding missions, a new one-time mission will be added in Patch 25.S1.3 worth 4,250 blue essence so that players can make up for the lost currency value.

Blue Essence in the LoL battle pass

Importantly, Riot has clarified that it moved champion capsules to the battle pass rather than get rid of them completely. Players can earn up to 4,940 blue essence through the four available champion capsules. Moreover, the final capsule will be made Glorious and contain several champion shards, emotes, and more.

According to the tabulated numbers, League players participating in the Season 1 battle pass can earn up to 22% more blue essence than those playing prior to the new 2025 season. The dev team is also increasing earned account XP by 40%. This will hopefully the average number of games needed to hit level 30 back to the same level it was at prior to the update.

Riot pins the blame for the blue essence drop on not accounting for the loss of the first win of the day bonus and its associated blue essence gains. In LoL, the player’s first win each day provides a major XP boost that both directly and indirectly ties into rewards like blue essence and leveling up.

How to use blue essence in LoL

Blue essence has a number of uses in League of Legends, from unlocking new champions to spending on rare item acquisitions.

One of the main uses for blue essence, especially for newer players, is to unlock more League of Legends champions for play. Costs range from 450 blue essence for a starter champion such as Caitlyn or Warwick, to 6,300 for more recent champion releases including Hwei or Briar. Prior to the latest updates, YouTuber Remus estimated that it would take 882 hours to unlock every champion. Hopefully the new Season 1 patche changes will lower that number significantly.

Players can also spend their blue essence in the biannual Essence Emporium to unlock mystery items, chromas, and more. The Blue Essence Emporium is notable for featuring exclusive items such as the Urfwick skin and the Crystal Rain emote. Players can also receive discounts on experience boosts and rune pages.

With a unique champion count soon to hit 170, dedicated players have a lot of blue essence to save up in order to acquire them all. Time will tell if the updates to the League’s blue essence distribution system will actually help get rates back to where they once were.

M Alzamora

About M Alzamora

There are few things that writer M Alzamora loves more in life than Pokemon. And there are even fewer things that she loves more than her favorite Pokemon, Eevee. But M’s appreciation for gaming isn’t just limited to Nintendo’s famous pocket monsters. She’s interested in every type of game across every genre of gaming, and she has the credentials to prove it. M’s work has also been seen on Working Classicists and gaming sites.

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