Skins are something that can seem expensive if you don’t approach it right. Inefficiency with purchases could cause you to spend $100’s unlocking to get that savory Dark Parade Adagio Tier III. However, there’s a way you can get what you want without emptying your wallet; you just need some patience, math, and grinding. Need some proof? For just $60, our own Keldegar managed to unlock two T2 skins and seven T1 skins. That’s less than $7 a skin, a better deal than buying just T1s for ICE, and that’s not even factoring in that he got some T2s out of that.

So what are the tricks?

Decide which skins you really want and wait until a box with only the cards you want comes around. I’m gunning for Ringo, Krul, and Adagio while still wanting the skins for Celeste and Koshka. Having a wide variety means that I’ll be more likely to get what I want since card boxes are best for buying several skins. Use your Glory first. Make sure that you’re actually close to completing a skin before you continue, otherwise you might spend more than you’d like. This weekend is going to be one of the best opportunities ever to grind glory, make as much use of it as you can. ICE is best used to finish off near complete skins when you have a high chance of getting the cards you need from the ICE box. Remember though, that with partially finished boxes you have a higher probability to get the cards that are still in the box, if you have 20 cards left in a glory box and the last couple cards you need are in there, you should be using that box because you have a guarantee to get those cards in a short number of boxes. Use ‘finisher’ boxes when they’re available. This past ICE box contained only 60 cards and had a higher probability of rewarding the advertised skins. Use these when you can. As you use this box, make sure to pay attention to what’s left and refer to point #6—Calculate the probability. Buy T1s with ICE. Since you can’t directly buy T2 and T3 skins, it’s best to save your cards for those. Though, if you’re not terribly interested in a skin, you might as well weave it of you’ve got the cards and avoid boxes that have too many of those cards in the future. Calculate the probability on the boxes. Look at what cards you need and check what the probability is of you getting them. With each purchase of cards, the probability will change, so keep recalculating the probability to make sure it’s in your best interest to continue buying more. Also, I keep a spreadsheet that tells me what percent-complete I am on earning any given skin to help me judge which boxes I should buy from. If I’m close to completing a skin, I’m more willing to buy a box that contains some of those cards, even if its not my favorite skin. Wait for the skins you want. As of right now, only a couple heroes have T3 skins available, so it’s unlikely that every skin you want is at that stage. Consider waiting until all of the cards for your skin are available before making card purchases. The more skin you want that are available, the higher the chance of you getting what you want. As I said above, I’m going for Krul and Celeste, one of which doesn’t have any cards yet, and the other only has his rares. So I’m waiting to seriously get into boxes until they’re available. Save up and spend in one place. It’s best to empty (or mostly empty) a box, so if you can save up the Glory or ICE to do that, you’ll be better off doing that than you would be by buying boxes whenever you can and getting random stuff.

With the tips here you should be able to get what you want for a less, you may not be able to outright buy that T3 just yet, but over time you should be able get it without paying $100s. Aside from these tips, keep in mind that this skin system isn’t finished yet; I would expect the card system to evolve over time and making it easier to get your favorite skin. We already know that we’ll be getting a way to recycle unwanted cards into cards that we do want. Also, keep in mind that being able to actually earn these skins without paying a dime is something really unique to Vainglory; I’m unaware of another MOBA that generous.