Many players rely on Orange Essence to get free skins in League, so it’s not a surprise to most that Riot Games might be making it useless in 2025 and beyond after its recent monetization changes.
Just because League of Legends doesn’t require fancy skins to play doesn’t mean that players don’t want to look cool while in combat. There are a number of ways to get the best skins in LoL, from spending RP in the shop to saving up Mythic Essence for rare looks. For many free-to-play users, Orange Essence has become an essential in-game currency to assist them in the grind for skin shards. Yet Riot’s recent decisions have potentially made the currency less than useful in 2025.
Here’s how to use Orange Essence in LoL, as players may want to use up any stashes they have as soon as possible.
Similarly to many other currencies in LoL, players can use Orange Essence to unlock skins permanently.
The main reason to collect Orange Essence in League is to either purchase skin shards or to upgrade skin shards into permanent skins. Skin shards can be found throughout the game, though they aren’t an especially common item. Main sources include Hextech and Mastery Chests, event orbs, and the shop. Shards give players a random cosmetic skin of varying value that they can either reroll or upgrade to get a new look for an already-owned champion. For many free-to-play players, they are a great way of collecting skins without having to pay real-world money in the process.
To get more Orange Essence, players have to disenchant any skin shards they don’t want. Notably, they get significantly less of the currency back than it would cost to upgrade a skin to permanent. The amount of Orange Essence obtained is directly proportional to the value of the skins. Players could occasionally also find the currency through event and battle pass milestones, similar to Blue Essence. However, recent changes to League’s free-to-play structure in 2025 may make Orange Essence unavailable to use without a credit card.
With the removal of free Hextech Chests, many League players may wind up with Orange Essence they can’t actually spend.
As of now, players can only find skin shards in the Hextech Chests from the League shop and orbs from the paid battle pass for Noxus Season 1. Masterwork Chests are still available, but Riot isn’t giving out any more of them after March 2025. This essentially means that those interested in using their Orange Essence will have to pay to do so in the very near future.
Many feel that Riot’s devaluation of Orange Essence is another slap in the face for free-to-play users. In the most recent dev update, the team at Riot explained that Hextech Chests weren’t sustainable because too many people were collecting skins from them for free. This combined with a perceived decrease in skin quality and the addition of expensive gatcha mechanics has some players threatening to quit the game, or in some cases actually uninstalling League of Legends entirely.
Anyone with Masterwork Chests should make sure to open them as soon as possible. After all, it may be their last chance to use their Orange Essence in League without paying real cash.
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