Riot Games offering special League skins to help Social Impact Fund

Riot Games is moving forward on a new initiative in response to the global health crisis by making certain League of Legends skins contribute to their Social Impact Fund for a limited time.

Cosmetics that take on a medical theme for classic champions Shen, Akali, and Kennen are being repurposed in the new drive on the heels of the studio’s 48-hour Mid-Season Streamathon that raised $630,000.

Money raised from future purchases of Nurse Akali, Kennen M.D., Surgeon Shen, along with their respective chromas and border/icon sets, and the Megadonor bundle will go directly to the relief fund.

“This is a non-profit fund which allows us to distribute money directly to local nonprofits in your communities around the world,” Lead Producer at Riot Games Joe ‘New001’ Tung said.

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“Your donations will support pandemic relief, by supporting doctors, nurses, and other frontline workers with the resources they need… [and] will also provide critical financial aid to families and individuals who have been negatively impacted by the virus.”

The League community will have 28 days to make a purchase and contribute to the overall donations. The drive has an immediate start time of 1:00 PM PT / 4:00 PM EST / 9:00 AM BST on June 25, 2020, and will run until July 23.

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After that time, the skins will still be in the store for future purchases, although the chromas, emotes, and bundles will make their way out of the marketplace.

The Riot devs did indicate that the chromas for the three skins could be added into the Gemstone shop down the line, although this will be the only time to directly purchase them.

While the cosmetics have been out since 2011, Riot gave all three skins a VFX update in patch 10.13 “in support and celebration of all healthcare workers in the fight against [the pandemic],” Riot dev ‘Kingby’ said.

These retooled designs for the League of Legends characters will be a huge draw for their fans, and purchases made in the specified window of time will aid Riot’s relief initiative.