/dev: Exalted Skins, the Mythic Shop, and Nexus Finishers

In today’s Arcane video, we revealed an Arcane-themed skin for Jinx at a brand new tier: Exalted. So we’re here to talk about what Exalted skins are, show a little more about Jinx, and explain how to get them.

Exalted Skins

Exalted is a new skin tier that fits into what we defined as a “luxury good” last December. Over this past year, we’ve continued to refine what luxury goods are and where they exist in our catalog. Exalted skins are for players who want hyper-exclusive skins. Exalted skins are what happen when we let our teams cook, pushing our design and tech capabilities to make the best possible skin for each champion’s unique fantasy within a specific theme. 

That said, we know that most players are looking for cool, accessible skins at a variety of price points, and we’re not slowing down on delivering those either. Transcendent, Exalted, and Mythic Variant skins will only make up ~10% of what we’re delivering moving forward, while the majority will be skins you can easily unlock at lower price points. We want to deliver optional, desirable cosmetics along the entire price curve, not just the high end.

Skins are the primary way we monetize League. The revenue from skins—especially those at higher price points—allows us to invest in areas like new modes, champions, and further explorations in narrative like the Spirit of Hearth Home minigame. We care about making a great game above all else, and your investment gives us the means to make these awesome experiences. 

We kick off Exalted skins with Arcane Fractured Jinx. As the work for Arcane began, we became inspired by not just the show, but by Jinx's story in Season Two in particular. Her chaotic energy is brought to the Rift through two distinct models across three different forms and VFX that highlight her story. Each form also has unique VO that reflects her at that moment in her journey. You can swap between these versions at any point in-game by using a slot-machine mechanic controlled by her Ctrl+5. If you hit big (which is always, because Jinx never loses), you change forms.

Early explorations of VFX

These forms will also be reflected across three HUD overlays for Jinx’s passive, which reflect some of her experiences from Season One and some from Season Two. We really wish we could show you more right now, but, again, spoilers. We’ll be sure to check back in closer to the skin’s launch with more details.

Acquiring Exalted Skins

When we were designing how you would acquire Exalted skins, we considered making them a set price. However, we decided to pursue another way that would allow players who may not want to commit to a larger price the chance to get them at a lower investment—so we built a new system called the Sanctum with that in mind. This sort of system is popular with many of our players across the globe, and our take on it includes several protections that make it more straightforward and rewarding for players.

Ancient Spark

In the Sanctum, you’ll use a new currency called Ancient Sparks to draw from a pool of rewards, which include the Jinx Exalted skin alongside other content. Ancient Sparks are available for 400 RP each, and don’t expire—so if you get what you want early, you can save your Sparks for future pulls on future content.

We've also included bad-luck protection to make sure you’re never too far from the item you want. For example, the base drop rate for an Exalted skin like Arcane Fractured Jinx is 0.5%, but you’re guaranteed to unlock it within 80 pulls (making your maximum investment ~32000 RP). That way, even if you're unlucky, you can still be confident that you’ll eventually get the Exalted skin you’re aiming for. Plus, your progress on that bad-luck protection carries over from one Exalted skin offering to the next. You can keep track of your progress towards the Exalted skin in the Sanctum.

Arcane Fractured Jinx Drop Table Example

Both S-Tier and A-Tier content have their own bad-luck protection, ensuring you receive an item from that tier within a maximum amount of attempts. And if it clashes for S-Tier and A-Tier, the system will prioritize an S-Tier reward. In addition, each drop will check whether or not you already own the item. So that means for things like skins, chromas, and other unique exclusives, you won’t get a duplicate.

If you’ve already received all S-Tier or A-Tier content and continue to pull rewards from that tier, a lump sum of Mythic Essence will be granted each time—more for S-Tier than for A-Tier.

We also want to be clear that Exalted skins, like Mythic Variants, will not be added to the reroll pool, with the exception of Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin (which we promised would return). The exclusivity of these skins is part of what makes them appealing to players who want them, and in order for that to remain true we have to keep them out of the reroll pool. When we first introduced Mythic Variants we were experimenting with how we could push existing skins and new features. However, as we refined Mythic Variants, we realized that in order to maintain their exclusivity, we had to limit them from rerolls.

Mythic Shop and Mythic Essence

With the launch of The Sanctum in patch 14.24, we are expanding the Mythic Shop to include additional offerings from past events.

A work-in-progress shot of the new Mythic Shop.

So, we’ll be re-introducing some cosmetics from previous events such as Legacy skins, event chromas, and emotes from Event Passes in the near future, but this time around they will be offered for Mythic Essence. Skins of the various Limited categories (General, Achievement Limited, Riot Limited, Promotional or Event Limited) and Collector’s Edition are not planned to return to the Mythic Shop. This way, cosmetics will be exclusive and distinctive if you grab them at release, but there will still be hope if something causes you to miss them (just offered at a higher cost). A future update will also deliver timers to make it clear when content will be rotating out of the shop to ensure you don’t miss your second chance.

We know that there’s been a lot of focus on luxury goods this year. And while we’re adding Exalted skins, we’re also exploring new technologies, features, and content types (even outside of skins) that are meant for a broader audience, which we’ll be able to share more on later this year.

Nexus Finishers

Before we go, we’d also like to share a new type of content coming to the Mythic Shop, Nexus Finishers. Nexus Finishers are a new way to style on your opponents (and your allies) with custom VFX, SFX animations and more. At the very end of the match, a randomly selected player from the winning team’s equipped Finisher will play, visible to everyone in the match. While this first one is themed after Jinx and Arcane, future ones will not always be directly related to a skin. You can equip Nexus Finishers for use with ANY champion or skin you have selected. The first Nexus Finisher will be available in the Mythic Shop at 250 ME for the duration of the event. 

We’ll be back later with more information on Arcane Fractured Jinx, Nexus Finishers, and our work on the Mythic Shop. We’ll also keep an eye on the cadence of content rotating in and out of the Mythic Shop based on your feedback, so expect some updates over the next few months as we work to get it right. Thanks so much, and we’ll check back in soon.