LoL Honor System Explained – How to increase your honor level
Struggling to increase your honor level in LoL? Here’s everything you need to know about League’s honor system in season 13.
The LoL Honor System – Introduction
The Honor system was introduced by Riot Games more than 10 years ago. Later reworked in season 7, Riot wanted to transform the system with the main goal of incentivizing positive behavior between players of the LoL community. Always considered one of the most toxic games in the world, the developers decided to implement the system and reward those who are able to consistently have a good impact and influence, both gameplay and communication-wise.
While the reasoning behind the system is clear, how does honor in LoL really work? What are the best ways to quickly increase your honor level? This is what we’re going to explain now, and hopefully make sure you can get that Honor Level 5 – the highest achievable in League.
How Does the Honor System in League work exactly?
In the reworked honor system, Riot added three types of honor that players can give to another teammate at the end of the game before entering the post-game lobby. In the lobby, you’ll be able to see whether a teammate gave you an honor. These are the three types of honor you can receive:
Honor | Meaning | Description |
Stayed Cool | Tilt-proof, chill. | This type of honor is given when teammates are providing a relaxed environment and good gameplay atmosphere. |
Great Shotcalling | Leadership, strategy. | Great Shotcalling is given to those who have great leadership and have made the right calls or decisions during the game. Supports and junglers who have strong decision-making get this honor the most. |
GG <3 | Team player, friendly. | It’s usually given to anyone that created a positive experience without falling into one of the other two categories. |
Given that you have four teammates, you can get up to four different honors at the end of the game. In any game, the system will let everyone know when you receive three or more honors, signaling that you were the most-honored player.
What’s more important, however, is that everyone will receive extra honor for their progress if all players from the team cast an honor vote.
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Honor Progression – what is it, where to find it
League has an honor system based on levels. Players have an Honor reset at the start of each season, starting every year from level 2.
We mentioned how level 5 is the highest achievable result with the current system, so players technically have to earn three levels to get the maximum rewards. Each level is divided into 3 checkpoints. At every new checkpoint, the players will receive some in-game rewards.
To see your current honor progress, you can check it on your profile page on the League client. You will be able to see the level, the honor icon, and which checkpoint you are at. While the honor levels of other players are shown during the loading screens, you can check someone else’s honor level by going to their profile.
You can earn Honor, but also lose it
Just like you can get honors and make progress, the LoL system can also penalize you for bad behavior. This happens when a penalty is inflicted on your account, demoting your level. Based on the severity, you can have different demotions:
- Bad behavior (without chat restriction) – slows your honor progress temporarily
- Chat restriction: Demotion to level 1, or 0 if already at 1
- 14-day ban: Demotion to level 0
With these penalties, it’s extremely important to avoid getting chat restricted or banned since you will get your honor progress disabled when that happens. This means that even if you get various honors later on, your progress might take a long time, before regaining levels. In addition, it also means that you will lose access to all the potential rewards.
How can I regain honor after a penalty?
The only way to rebuild the honor progress is to behave well and get consistent honors. There isn’t a specific period where the progress is halted, as Riot judges players’ behavior case by case. Getting honors consistently should theoretically speed up the time required to start gaining honor progress again.
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LoL Honor System Rewards Explained
Since the honor system was put into place to incentivize well-behaved players, there are also some rewards when reaching the different checkpoints and leveling up in the honor system.
Honor Level | Level Up | Checkpoint Rewards |
Level 0 | N/A | Three Checkpoints
|
Level 1 | One Key | Three Checkpoints
|
Level 2 | One Key | Three Checkpoints
|
Level 3 | Level 3 Capsule
|
Three Checkpoints – Level 3 Orb
|
Level 4 | Level 4 Capsule
|
Three Checkpoints – Level 4 Orb
|
Level 5 | Level 5 Capsule
|
No Checkpoints (you still consistently gain rewards) – Level 5 Orb
|
Once you reach the maximum honor, you will also get a unique recall animation. Riot is also working on more exclusive content, but there are no official confirmations as of yet.
What’s certain is that you get rewards at the end of the season based on the final honor level, with the corresponding ward skins.
LoL Honor 5 Token Shop
For those who get the final honor level, there is also an exclusive shop for them. By using the honor 5 tokes they received, players can purchase skins and the corresponding chromas. The two champions are:
- Medieval Twitch
- Grey Warwick
Riot to Add New Skin Line for Honor Level 5 Players
Starting in 2022, players won’t receive honor 5 tokes anymore to use in the shop. Instead, they will be able to get a champion with an exclusive skin, similar to the Victorious skins which are given upon reaching gold Elo or above. For this year, the champion will be Three Honors Malzahar.
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