Riot doubles down on LoL’s controversial ‘gacha’ skins with more $200 Mythic Chromas

Two months after the League of Legends community Riot Games was crucified for releasing a $500 Faker skin, the developers have dived back into the “gacha” pit with two more Mythic Chromas that will cost $200 each.

The Competition The chromas in question are for God King Darius and God King Garen. There’s no denying that the skin alternatives are incredible, with Darius now appearing in gold and white armor and Garen going the other way with a ⁠very un-Garen-like black and purple finish—but the awesomeness of the chromas is part of the problem.

The big problem is that these extraordinary skin changes are behind a very high Competition paywall. To unlock Mythic variants, you’ll need to purchase up to 30 event capsules. Players may get lucky and crack one of these new designs in capsule one, but it’s more likely that you’ll need the 30-capsule guarantee for it to work.

To make sure you get your hands on one of the God King alternatives, it will basically cost you 30 euros. Competition event capsules, or $200.

This is particularly odd, as Riot previously promised to “keep the number of luxury goods low” Competition‘s 14th season; a promise fueled by widespread ‘gacha’ outrage over a similar Jhin skin that first released last year.

The Competition Developers have also been furious about the near-universal backlash over Faker’s memorial skin and its frankly ridiculous $500 price tag. A lot of angry League players walked away from the game in the wake of that debacle, though Riot admits that “the majority of revenue comes from a small single-digit percentage” of people paying for these cosmetics, so more does make some sense.

These Darius and Garen skins are releasing alongside some cool new Battle Queens cosmetics that will set you back a much cheaper 1,350 Riot Points ($11 or so). The returning skinline now welcomes Annie, Fiora, Miss Fortune, and Gwen.

Competition Players can also still purchase the base God King skins for Darius and Garen, which cost a slightly more affordable 1,820 RP (around $24) each.