Image: Riot Games
Players are demanding that Riot Games restore the ability to earn free Hextech Chests.
League of Legends (LoL) players still aren’t happy with the changes implemented to the game in Season 2025, and although LoL developer Riot Games apologised and made changes to how Blue Essence (BE) was earned, it was definitely not enough for players to overlook another issue: the removal of free Hextech Chests.
What are Hextech Chests?
Hextech Chests are treasure chests that contain in-game items, mostly champion shards and skins. Before Season 2025, players can earn these by achieving an S grade or higher on a champion in a match. Players could earn up to four chests per week with a refill period of seven days.
However, once Season 2025 rolled in, the ways to earn free chests were completely removed and were placed in the store for purchase with real money.
The changes to Hextech Chests and keys were detailed on Riot’s official support page, where it’s explained that they can now be purchased with RP. Once bought, players can open the chests, use the skin shards to upgrade to permanent skins with orange essence, or reroll the shards for a chance at random high-tier skins — often encouraging them to try out new champions that match the skins.
Riot faces backlash over changes; some fans call for boycott
This sparked outrage among players, with many calling for a boycott of the game. Many took to social media to air their grievances, with some responding to Riot’s apology on the BE mistake, and many others going to Reddit or even Facebook to express their frustration.
One such post on the official LoL subreddit by Redditor /u/pepemujicamdq shared how they’ve saving up their Hextech Chests for the past year and have 77 chests left. The poster called Riot’s move the “worst decision they could have made in the entire history of League.”
For veteran players who’ve already spent a significant amount of RP to build their collection of skins, the changes aren’t as impactful. However, the game’s progression now feels less rewarding, as players are pushed towards earning cosmetics through seasonal battle passes. With Arcane's popularity, newer players may find it harder to grind for rewards and unlock champions without access to free cosmetics, making the experience less appealing.
Many, like Redditor Garen-of-Demacia believe that “now is the time to boycott,” saying that Riot only cares about money. “The only way they will listen is through money aka vote with your wallet.”
And while others agreed to the boycott, other players in the community disagreed. Redditor /u/JPLangley replied to the call for a boycott saying, it didn’t matter because “10 of us [don’t] even count for one whale” for gacha skins.
“Remember the $500 Ahri ban boycott? That only last[ed] like 3 days?” Redditor /u/FreyaYusami pointed out. To them, the boycott wouldn’t work “unless there are some pros/youtubers [who will] keep making content about this.”
Riot also just recently dropped four new LoL skins for the Chinese New Year, but the comment section on the Facebook post concerning the skins was filled with disgruntled players demanding to have their free Hextech Chests back.
“I hope I get lucky on my Hextech Chests. Oh wait…” one commented in one of League’s posts on skins related to the Year of the Snake. Others simply responded with “Bring back Hextech Chests!” or angry reacts in similar posts.
Given that LoL is a free-to-play title, Riot naturally needs to generate revenue to sustain the game. This includes initiatives like 
Sang-hyeok “Faker” Lee’s Hall of Fame cosmetic or gacha mechanics tied to premium skins such as Jinx’s Exalted skin. Riot has previously justified these decisions by saying they help cover the cost of supporting esports.
Riot has not yet responded to player backlash regarding the matter.
