Like many online games, Legends of Runeterra (LoR) has a variety of in-game currencies, which can be confusing for new players. In this post I’ll list the different currencies and explain what they’re used for and how to get them.
Gold Coins
Gold Coins are LoR’s premium player currency. You can only get them by spending real money in the online store. There’s no other method of earning Gold Coins or secret trick for getting more. It’s not particularly obvious how to buy Gold Coins: you need to go to the Store then click on the “+” at the top of the screen.
Since Gold Coins are premium currency, they can be used to buy almost anything in the game that can also be obtained using the other currencies.
In addition, most of the cosmetic items (skins, boards, guardians, card backs and emotes) can only be bought using Gold Coins. So if you find yourself matched against a player with an exotic guardian, you know they’ve spent real money on the game.
Shards
Green Shards are a currency used for crafting new cards. To do this, right click on a card in the card list or deck editor and expand the Ownership section at the top. (Remember to click on “Show Unowned” at the top if you don’t already have at least one copy.)
Different card rarities cost different amounts of Shards to craft, as shown below:
| Rarity | Shards |
|---|---|
| Common | 100 |
| Rare | 300 |
| Epic | 1200 |
| Champion | 3000 |
It’s probably not worth using Shards on Common or Rare cards, better to save them up for the Champion you really want.
You can also use 2000 Shards to start an Expedition (the draft mode in Legends of Runeterra).
Shards can be obtained from chests, capsules, bundles and Expedition rewards.
Wildcards
Wildcards are… well, wild cards. They’re used specifically for crafting new cards. Each Wildcard has a level and can be used to create a single card of that level. Unlike many games, in LoR you don’t buy cards or packs directly in the Store. Instead, you buy Wild Cards which you can then use to craft cards of your choice.
If you buy Wild Cards with Gold Coins, current prices are:
| Rarity | Shards |
|---|---|
| Common | 10 |
| Rare | 30 |
| Epic | 120 |
| Champion | 300 |
As well as buying them, you can get Wildcards from a variety of in-game reward mechanisms – often as a replacement for a card you already have four copies of.
Essence
Essence in Legends of Runeterra is a special resource represented by a flaming red gem. Essence is used in order to apply ‘prismatic’ effects to your cards. Prismatic in LoR is similar to ‘foil’ in other games: it adds a shiny overlay to the card. The Prismatic effect is purely visual. It’s probably best used on cards that are likely to stay around in play for a while, rather than transient spells.
The Prismatic upgrade is applied to cards in a similar way to crafting new cards, using the Prismatics section on the left of the card screen. Essence can be gained from Essence Pouches and Prismatic Chests.