One of the most important — and arguably one of the most exciting — patch releases in League of Legends introduced Hextech Chests to the game, which were awarded to summoners when they scored an S, S- or S+ grade in-game. Riot brought this feature to add an incentive to the gamers as these chests have the probability of containing champion skins, ward skins — something which you can previously only buy with real money — as well as orange essence, which is used to unlock the skins awarded through the chests.

However, to open any Hextech Chest in LOL, you need a Hextech Key. You can have as many chests as possible, but without a key, you won’t be able to actually reap the rewards of an excellent game.

In this article, we outline three methods that will help you get keys in LOL, followed by a guide to help you build a Hextech Key from key fragments at the end of the article.

Also read: How to change your summoner name in LOL?

Get keys from event tokens

LOL keeps on having one or the other events (Galaxies 2020 is underway at the time of writing), which give missions to players that are rewarded by event tokens. These tokens can be used to buy event-specific emotes, icons, skins, as well as usual loot items like champion shards or Hextech keys and key fragments. This is one of the easiest and quickest ways to get keys; all you need to do is keep competing and completing the missions assigned.

Follow the steps mentioned below to get keys from event token shops in LOL.

Step 1: Click on the Loot icon from the top of the toolbar, located to the left of the Store icon. Then click on the event token icon, which you’ll find under the Materials heading. Then scroll to near the bottom of the events shop (Galaxies 2020 Shop) to find a combination of 3 Hextech Keys or a single key, and if you scroll down further, you’ll also find key fragments, which sell for a single event token. Step 2: Click on the key or combination of keys you want to acquire, which will differ in token value and then click on the Forge button. Your Hextech key will be added to the loot and can be used to open Hextech Chests. Also read: How to watch League of Legends (LOL) replays?

Play with honour and honour players after the game

One of the major reasons for Riot to introduce keys and chests into the game was that it not only gave players a reason to give their best to acquire chests but also be respectable to others while playing the game, including your teammates and opponents.

When you keep honouring other players in the after-game window (primarily non-premade) and receive honours from non-premade teammates, you’ll receive a key fragment or even a couple of them sooner or later.

Riot takes honour among summoners pretty seriously, and they also award honour levels to summoners, which further gets you more goodies. Jumping a checkpoint towards reaching the next honour level will often get you Honour Orbs, which contain key fragments and champion shards. If you’ve received an Honour Orb, you’ll find it in your Loot, under Materials. So, to cut it short, when it comes to getting keys in LOL, being honourable pays.

Also read: How to get Blue Essence in League of Legends (LOL)?

Get Keys from LOL Store

Perhaps one of the least popular methods is to buy a Hextech Key from the in-game Store. However, since it’s one of the ways to get keys in LOL, here’s how it goes. A Hextech key from the store costs 125 RP (LOL’s in-game currency).

Step 1: Click on the Store icon from the toolbar at the top of the LOL client, located to the left of RP and Blue Essence icons. Then click on Loot inside the store and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Hextech Key icon. Step 2: On the pop-up, click on the 125 RP button to complete the purchase. Also read: How much time have you wasted in LOL?

How to make a key from fragments?

Three key fragments can forge a Hextech Key, which can then be used to open a Hextech Chest. If you already have acquired key fragments, here is how you can form a Hextech key.

• Click on the Loot icon from the top of the toolbar, located to the left of the Store icon. 
• Then find and click on the key fragments under the Materials heading.
• Then click on the Forge button and your keys Hextech keys will be made.

As you can see in the screenshot above, as we had 12 key fragments, that forged into 4 Hextech Keys.

Also read: How to deactivate or delete your LOL account?