We all remember Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin, the $200 black and red chroma that split the League of Legends community down the middle. Well, it turns out there’s going to be a second one, this time for True Damage Ekko. As with Jhin, you can only get it by buying yet another set of capsules, with a 1% draw chance until you reach 30.
I love flashy skins, I really do. I have sunk some real money into League of Legends: especially in the wake of the MOBA‘s new round of Coven skins. I won’t, however, be picking up Breakout True Damage Echo, a new Mythic Chroma with a similar pricetag to good ol’ Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin.
This time around, there’ll be other skins added into the mix, though. When you buy five, ten, 15, or 20 capsules, you’re guaranteed a ‘music skin,’ which Riot has confirmed means a Pentakill, K/DA, True Damage or, of course, HeartSteel skin.
You’ll also pick up a unique icon for buying one capsule, an exclusive emote for three, as well as some Mythic Essence and the ‘Music Grab Bags,’ which contain skin shards and Blue Essence.
The Chroma itself looks pretty cool. There’s the musical soundwave on his weapon, the recall stairs are now piano keys, and there are a few upgrades to the model here and there. But, at the end of the day, it is still just a chroma.
As you can see in the video title above, iconic League of Legends YouTuber ‘SkinSpotlights’ refers to the look as a “Mythic scam.” The description is even more scathing, reading: “1% chance if you’re lucky otherwise 30 capsules Total being around $200. ‘But you get $400 value out of them!!’ – $400 of skins you probably don’t want.”
That sentiment is echoed by the League of Legends subreddit, with comments reading “we lost. Those damn whales actually bought them,” and “fighting games had been doing this for years now without locking it behind an expensive paywall.”
In the chroma’s associated blog post, Riot writes that Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin “satisfied the specific needs of players who wanted a cool upgraded fantasy for Dark Cosmic Jhin. This won’t be all we have to say on the subject, but we’re tying the longer conversation to a broader monetization discussion we’re planning for December.”
It looks like this is something we may as well just get used to, although, I’ll be honest when I say I was pretty shocked to see a new Mythic chroma. Given the backlash to Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin, as well as the recently released Redeemed Star Guardian Xayah and Rakan ‘skins,’ I assumed the Jhin “exploration” would probably be a one-time deal – or even just once a year. Apparently not.
Am I disappointed? Sure, I’m hardly excited by the prospect of more microtransactions. However, I’m firmly of the opinion that, if you’re happy to splash the cash, you do you. I, however, don’t want to check how much I’ve spent on League of Legends. Instead, I’d take a look at League of Legends patch 13.21 – Coven Syndra is finally here, and I am very, very happy.