The League of Legends Honor System is a behavior reward system with five levels (1–5). Honor 3 is the neutral baseline that every account starts at, and progress is driven by post-game votes plus consistent positive communication. Honor 5 unlocks targeted ally pings, the Honor Recall decal, and the Three Honors skin line.
Riot reset every existing player to Honor 3 in early 2025 and ended annual honor resets at the same time. New accounts also start at Honor 3.
Honor Levels at a Glance
Honor level controls what kinds of communication you have access to and what end-of-season rewards you qualify for. The chat, ping, and emote thresholds below come straight from Riot's official Honor guide.
| Level | All Chat | Champ Select Chat | Post-Game Chat | Pings / 5s | Emotes / 5s | Targeted Ally Pings | Honor 5 Recall | BXP Drops | Ranked Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honor 1 | No | No | No | 2 | 2 | No | No | No | No |
| Honor 2 | No | Yes | Yes | 4 | 2 | No | No | No | No |
| Honor 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6 | 3 | No | No | Occasional | Yes |
| Honor 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7 | 4 | No | No | More | Yes |
| Honor 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7 | 5 | Yes | Yes | Most | Yes |
Team chat and party chat are available at every level. Ping and emote columns are the rate limit before a temporary lockout kicks in inside a 5-second window, so Honor 1 accounts hit the wall fastest. Targeted ally pings and the Honor Recall decal are the only two genuinely Honor-5-locked perks.
How Honor Progress Works
Progress comes from post-game honor votes. You and the four other players on your team each get votes to hand out, and the votes you give and receive both contribute to climbing the system. Votes accumulate on a small bank, and you can only hold a maximum of four at any time.
| Action | Votes Earned |
|---|---|
| Play a full matchmade game (no remakes) | +1 |
| Received an honor vote from a non-premade teammate or opponent in the previous match | +1 |
| Currently at Honor 5 | +1 |
Two extra rules matter:
- Team all-vote bonus. If every player on your team hands out an honor vote at the end of a game, the whole team gets a small additional honor boost, even on a loss.
- Premade rule. Voting for someone in your own group still registers a pip on their vote counter, but it doesn't push the receiver's honor progress. So a five-stack mass-honoring each other does nothing for honor.
Active communication signals also matter: chat, pings, and emotes feed into progression, especially for keeping Honor 4 and Honor 5 stable. You can't reach the top tiers from votes alone if the rest of your behavior is silent.
Why Muting Everyone Stalls Your Honor
Riot states explicitly that if you reach a high honor level and then stop communicating with your team, you'll likely drift back down to Honor 3. Honor 4 and 5 require active positive comms, not just neutral non-toxicity.
That makes the popular "mute-all kills your honor" complaint mostly accurate, even though Riot doesn't call out muting by name. The system rewards visible positive interaction, so cutting yourself off from the team also cuts off the secondary signals it watches for.
The fix isn't to start typing essays. Use pings, hand out fist bumps and other emotes, and drop the occasional "gj" or "wp" in chat. That's enough to stay flagged as a communicating player without exposing yourself to whatever you were trying to mute in the first place.
Rewards by Honor Level
Honor Capsules and Honor Orbs were retired with the early-2025 honor overhaul and replaced with Battle Pass XP (BXP) drops. The drops still scale with honor level, but the contents are now BXP for the active battle pass instead of key fragments and ward skins.
The big functional reward is the ranked rewards gate: Honor 3 is the minimum needed to receive end-of-season ranked rewards. Honor 1 and Honor 2 accounts are locked out of the ranked skin, icon, and ward skin even if they hit the rank tier. The full ranked rewards system covers what those payouts actually are.
Riot doesn't publish exact BXP amounts or drop rates per level, only that drops appear at Honor 3, get more frequent at Honor 4, and are most frequent at Honor 5.
Honor 5 Exclusive Rewards
Honor 5 unlocks three things you can't get any other way:
- Targeted ally pings. The whole team can see ally-targeted pings you place, not just your premade. Useful for calling out who needs peel or who to focus.
- The Honor Recall decal. A unique recall effect that activates the first time you reach Honor 5 on the account.
- The Three Honors skin line, plus all the older Honor-5 cosmetics, all permanently unlocked.
The full Three Honors lineup so far:
- 2023: Three Honors Malzahar
- 2024: Three Honors Akshan
- 2025: Three Honors Shen
The Honor Token shop has been retired. There are no more tokens to spend and no checklist to claim. The first time your account reaches Honor 5, every Three Honors skin, plus Grey Warwick, Medieval Twitch, and the legacy chromas, all unlock permanently and automatically. Any leftover Honor 5 Tokens from the previous system were converted to 1,050 Orange Essence each.
How to Reach Honor 5
There's no speed run. The community consensus on r/leagueoflegends is that Honor 5 takes weeks to months of consistent good behavior, even if every game you play is clean. The system intentionally moves slowly between honor checkpoints to make the level feel earned. With that ceiling in mind, the levers that actually matter:
- Vote and get voted. Hand out honor at the end of every game and you'll bank votes faster. Receiving votes is what the system most directly tracks.
- Don't full-mute. See the section above. Honor 4 and 5 require visible communication. Pings and emotes count.
- Use emotes liberally. Fist bump after a successful gank, mastery emote at end-of-game. They're free, fast, and read as friendly.
- Don't play exclusively in 5-stacks. Premade votes don't push honor. Mix in solo or duo queue so non-premade teammates can vote you up.
- Play multiple modes. Honor accumulates the same way in ARAM, Quickplay, and rotating game modes. ARAM is faster per-game, which means more vote opportunities per hour.
The biggest hidden trap is treating Honor 4 as a finish line. The system actively pushes you back toward Honor 3 if your communication signals drop, even if your in-game behavior is fine. Whatever habits got you to 4 are the same habits you need to keep doing to push to 5.
Honor Restriction and How to Get Back
Any behavior penalty (chat restriction, two-week suspension, etc.) drops your honor level to 1 and locks honor progression for a period after the penalty ends. While restricted, you can play normally; you just can't gain honor.
The restoration path shows up in the client: a small honor restriction panel tells you how many matches you need to play without further reports to lift the lock. Once you complete the requirements, your honor returns to at least Honor 3. It does not automatically restore you to Honor 4 or 5. Climbing back from there is the same as climbing the first time.
The penalty stack-up is the part that catches people. Picking up a second penalty while restrictions are still active wipes any progress you made and adds more required matches. The system is designed so repeat offenders cannot grind out of restrictions just by playing a lot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the Honor 5 skins permanent?
Yes. Once you reach Honor 5 for the first time on an account, every Honor-5 skin (Three Honors line, Grey Warwick, Medieval Twitch) unlocks permanently and account-wide. They don't go away if you drop to a lower honor level later.
Does honor reset every season?
No. Riot ended annual honor resets in early 2025. Your honor level now updates continuously based on recent behavior instead of zeroing out at the end of each season.
What honor level do I need for ranked rewards?
Honor 3. Accounts at Honor 1 or Honor 2 are locked out of end-of-season ranked rewards regardless of the rank they finished at.
Do Honor Capsules still exist?
No. Honor Capsules and Honor Orbs were removed when Riot overhauled the rewards system in early 2025 and replaced with Battle Pass XP drops. Past capsules and their key fragments, ward skins, and champion shards are not coming back as honor rewards.
What happened to Honor 5 Tokens?
The Honor Token shop has been retired. All remaining Honor 5 Tokens in player inventories were converted to 1,050 Orange Essence each. The skins they used to unlock are now granted automatically the first time you reach Honor 5.
How long does it take to get Honor 5?
Riot doesn't publish a specific number of games or matches. Community-reported timelines on r/leagueoflegends consistently land in the range of weeks to a few months of clean, communicative play, even from a fresh Honor 3 baseline. The checkpoints between Honor 4 and Honor 5 in particular are paced to take real time.
