How to get custom skins in LoL

Ever wanted to use your own unique custom skins in LoL? Let’s see if there is a way and how to get them into your games.

Image Credits | Riot Games/Esports.net

Installing custom skins in LoL – is it possible?

LoL has one of the widest varieties when it comes to champion skins and cosmetic options in the game. Thanks to more than 1500 skins over more than 160 champions, and even more to come, players are spoiled for choice.

That being said, there might be some who still haven’t found their own favorite skin and would love to see one of their own designs in the game. But is it possible and how can we actually create mods to get custom skins in LoL? It’s time to see the answer.

You can’t install custom skins… legally

The answer is quite simple: there is no way you can’t install custom or modified skins in the official LoL client legally. Since selling skins is one of Riot Games’ biggest sources of income from the game, the devs would never want to let players incorporate their own skins in the game file, especially since it could lead to a series of problems, especially copyright-related infringements.

The LoL client has been designed to detect potential third-party programs trying to run in the game, so even the least harmful mods would probably cause you to lose your account, be suspended, or even get IP banned. It’s just a risky thing to do that could potentially lead to losing the right to play LoL.

Image Credits | Riot Games

Back a few years ago, there used to be a few mods that allowed you to get access to all the skins in the game without paying, but you were the only one who could see them, as the other players would see the default skin or the skin that are actually available on your account. The mod was however banned for the same reason mentioned above and it used to bug out at times as well, making the gaming experience actually worse.

That being said, there is technically a way you could enjoy your own custom skins but you would never be able to play it on Riot Games’ servers. If you’re willing to make that trade-off, here’s how you can install the custom skins.

How to get unique skins

The only way you can use your own custom skins is by installing a cracked version of the LoL client, which is always going to be an unofficial version of it.

By tweaking the files, you can customize different skins that you want to see on specific champions and then jump into a bot game to see the mod implemented. Here’s what you can do to install custom skins:

Step-by-step guide on How to Install Custom Skins:

Go to the League of Legends folder
Search the assets folder, then click on the Characters folder
Click on the folder that contains the champion you want to modify.
Look for that champion’s skin file.
Overwrite it with the custom skin file of your choice and replace it with the same file name. You can also edit the existing skin through a photo editor tool.

You can customize skins in the game by replacing champion models in the files and creating your own set of designs for these units, based on your liking. Remember, however, that this will be the only way to see custom skins in the game, but you will still be the only one to satisfy your own work. You won’t get penalties since it’s a cracked version, but you won’t be able to see them “in action”.

LoL offers lots of skins… especially compared to the past

The devs have been pushing out several ways to get more skins compared to the past, and some of them are even free, without the need for external or illegal software that can put you and your account at risk. Thanks to the Hextech crafting and the possibility to unlock skins through skin shards or rerolls, you can even get the most expensive skins by playing a lot… and a bit of luck. On my account, I was able to get two Ultimate skins (Spirit Guard Udyr and DJ Sona) with a few super lucky rerolls.

One thing I would avoid at all times is downloading advertising apps that say you can have your own skins installed, as they might come with potential viruses, spyware, malware, or any other harmful stuff that can hurt your PC and your own privacy.

Create your own designs and push your own portfolio

If you’re aspiring to create custom skins and see them added to the game, you can create a portfolio of your own work and try to apply to some of Riot’s open positions on their career page.

A great way to gain traction is by publishing them on social media and seeing how the community would respond to your work: if you’re good enough, you might even get the potential to work with the company directly, which would be incredibly cool and satisfying. And most importantly, it would all be lawful. It’s a much harder goal, but it would probably be worth the challenge.