League of Legends How To Get Gemstones, What They Are & What They’re Good For

Read our quick guide to get an idea of what gemstones are in League of Legends how to get gemstones and what they’re used for across the game.

It’s no secret that among all of the popular MOBA games out and about in today’s day and age – League of Legends has one of the most obfuscated and downright confusing crafting systems possible.

So, if you’re a newbie and you can’t quite seem to wrap your head around gemstones in LoL – we don’t blame ya!

All in all, gemstones are just one small bit of the extensive Hextech Crafting system. And so, they’re actually one of the most valuable drops that you’d get from the loot chests you’ll come across in LoL from time to time.

In today’s article, we’re going to do a bit of a deep dive to explore what gemstones are in League of Legends how to get gemstones, and what sort of use you can put those shiny tidbits of currency towards across the game.

Let’s dive right in!

What Are Gemstones In LoL?

First and foremost, before we talk about how you can rack up a nice little stash of gemstones, let’s get a clear idea of what they are.

Gemstones are essentially one of the more rare crafting materials/currencies that you’d find in the Crafting ecosystem of League of Legends. 

These can be forged into Hextech Key & Chest Bundles at a 1:1 ratio, as well as a Hextech Ward at a 5:1 ratio, and one of several limited-edition skins at a 10:1 ratio.

League Of Legends How To Get Gemstones

As I mentioned earlier, gemstones are a part of the Hextech Crafting system. As such, it’s only natural that there’s a fairly limited number of ways to rack up this particular crafting material throughout the game.

Thankfully, if you’re wondering what gemstones are in League of Legends how to get gemstones and how to best use them once you’ve pocketed a whole bunch – we’ve got you covered!

Let’s take a quick look at some of the ways you can get gemstones in LoL:

1. You can loot them from Hextech Chests at a 3.6% drop rate – these can be looted for free if you get an S-rank grade at the end of the game, or they can be bought from the Riot Store using RP.
2. You can also get gemstones from Masterwork Chests at a slightly higher drop-rate while enjoying better rewards than you’d get from a Hextech Chest.
3. You’ll be awarded a gemstone for every 50 summoner levels you advance, starting at level 150.
4. You can get unique variants of gemstones from special events such as the Essence Emporium, where you can exchange your blue essence for 3 types of gemstones with prices ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 blue essence per gemstone.

So, What’s The Fastest Way To Get Gemstones?

Realistically speaking, the absolute fastest way to get gemstones in League of Legends is to bust out your wallet and part with some of your hard-earned cash by striking a nifty deal with the Riot store.

However, as most gamers are rolling on a pretty tight budget, it’s understandable that not everyone is going to be willing to partake in this sort of endeavor.

As such, the second-best way to get gemstones in LoL is by opening Hextech Chests!

There are two main things that you’ll want to focus on here:

1. Hitting S-rank or higher in every game possible in order to get more free Hextech Chests.
2. Racking up as much blue essence as possible in order to purchase gemstones from the yearly Essence Emporium event.

However, it’s not as simple as jumping into a bunch of games and pub stomping some noobs over and over again with some OP champions from our midlane tierlist.

Here’s the thing – you only get 4 free Hextech Chests per week. After that, you’ve got to wait a week from when you got your first free chest in order to claim more of them. This means that if you’re thinking there’s a quick and easy workaround answer to the original question – “League of Legends how to get gemstones?” – you’re a far shot away from the truth.

Now, let’s take a second to remind ourselves of one more important detail while we’re at it – Hextech Chests require Hextech Keys in order to be opened. 

This means that while you’re playing out your games, you’ll want to focus on being on your best behavior in order to get honored by your teammates at the end, which is what triggers free Hextech Key fragment drops. 

Once you’ve got 3 fragments, piece them together and boom – you’re ready to bank some gemstones!

What Do Hextech Chests Actually Drop?

While the whole focus of this article is centered around answering the question of “League of Legends how to get more gemstones?” – let’s not forget that Hextech Chests actually have a fair bit of awesome loot aside from the gemstones themselves.

Here are a few of the other cool drops you’ll see from opening chests in LoL:

1. 50% chance to drop a random skin shard – Ultimate & Mythic skins drop completed and are instant permanent unlocks.
2. 10% chance to drop another Hextech Chest with a key.
3. 25% chance to drop a champion shard.
4. 11.5% chance to drop a ward skin along with 150 orange essence.
5. 10% chance to drop a permanent emote.
6. 3.6% chance to drop a gemstone.
7. 3.5% chance to drop a summoner icon shard with 150 orange essence.

As you can see, you’ll need to open an average of 28 chests to get a single gemstone. However, across those 28 chests, you’ll be getting a bunch of extra loot to make it worthwhile. As such, playing the game a bunch, and regularly is the only real answer to the questions of “League of Legends how to get gemstones?”

What Can You Use Gemstones For In LoL?

Earlier in the article, I did drop a few hints on what you can exchange your gemstones for in LoL. However, let’s take a second to really explore the range of rewards you can enjoy by exchanging your gemstones via the Hextech Crafting system in League of Legends.

Hextech Skins & Event-Exclusive Skins

It’s no secret that some of the coolest skins in the game are pretty darn exclusive. Whether you’re eyeing that stunning Hextech J4 skin, or want to get an event-exclusive skin if you weren’t able to make it down in person – it’s all possible to do thanks to gemstones.

Among the Hextech champion skin lineup, there are 14 champion skins in total, as well as a ward skin that you can grab for your own collection. Now, in terms of the Event skins, the lineup has changed a little bit, but you should be able to actively use gemstones as substitutes for event tokens in ongoing events, as well as to redeem them for certain legacy skins.

Masterwork Chests & Keys

Hextech Chests are pretty darn awesome, aren’t they? Well, if you’re a fan of those – then the Masterwork Chests should definitely strike your fancy!

These chests are vastly upgraded versions of the good old Hextech Chests. They feature way better loot and improved drop rates to boot.

You can exchange gems for the chest and key combo at a 1:1 ratio. However, I’d honestly advise you to save your gemstones to pick up the Hextech/Legacy/Event skins you want first, before gambling them all away on Masterwork Chests.

Closing Thoughts

While racking up a bunch of gemstones for Hextech Crafting isn’t exactly quick – you’ll be spending an average of 7-8 weeks per gemstone if you choose to rely on the free Hextech Chest drops – it’s definitely worthwhile in the end thanks to the fantastic rewards you get via the crafting system.

In today’s quick guide, we covered what gemstones are in League of Legends how to get gemstones in the game, and what sort of rewards you can expect to redeem them for.

I hope that this guide helped you wrap your head around gemstones and the fraction of the extensive Hextech Crafting system they encompass.

Now it’s our turn to hear from you – what Hextech Skins have are you going to use your gemstones on in the upcoming season of League of Legends? Let us know in the comments below!