Valorant Champions Bundle Explained: Why It's So Pricey

The Champions bundle is Valorant's closest thing to a genuinely rare skin line: Riot releases a new one each year around the Valorant Champions world championship, sells it for a limited time, and hasn't brought an older edition back to the store. Each bundle pairs one rifle, alternating between the Vandal and the Phantom, with one melee, and half of the net proceeds are shared with the VCT partner teams. That mix of a hard time limit, esports weight and a skin you can't buy from Riot afterwards is why accounts that hold one ask so much more.

What makes the Champions bundle special

Most premium Valorant skins keep coming back through daily store offers and featured bundles. Champions bundles don't. Each one is sold in a window around that year's championship and then removed, and Riot hasn't re-released a past edition. Because Valorant skins are account-bound and can't be traded, once the window closes, the only way to own that year's Champions skins is to own an account that already has them.

The bundles also carry community weight. Riot shares half of the net proceeds from the Champions bundle with its VCT partner teams, and the teams that qualify for Champions receive an extra share.

Every Champions bundle, year by year

Each bundle has one rifle and one melee, plus accessories. The last column shows how many of our 1,053 active Valorant listings included each item on 25 September 2026, a rough guide to how scarce each edition is on the account market.

Edition	Rifle	Melee	Our listings with it (rifle / melee)
Champions 2021	Vandal	Karambit	2 / 7
Champions 2022	Phantom	Butterfly Knife	12 / 11
Champions 2023	Vandal	Kunai	14 / 6
Champions 2024	Phantom	Blade	19 / 10
Champions 2025	Vandal	Butterfly Knife	29 / 13

A 2026 edition followed around Champions 2026 in Shanghai, on the same limited-window model. Like other premium skins, Champions skins have upgrade levels and variants that you unlock with Radianite; see Radianite Points explained.

Why Champions accounts ask more

• Fixed supply. Once a window closes, no new copies can be bought from Riot.
• Account-bound scarcity. The skins can't be traded, so demand concentrates on the account market.
• Esports weight. The link to the world championship, and the revenue share with teams, gives the bundles meaning collectors value.
• Age. Early editions are the scarcest on the market: only 2 of our 1,053 listings included the Champions 2021 Vandal.

Our data shows the effect. On 25 September 2026, the 77 listings with at least one Champions skin had a median asking price of about $314, against about $160 for the 976 listings without one. Accounts with a Champions melee asked about $377 (43 listings). These are asking prices for whole accounts, not completed sales, and no outliers were removed.

How Champions skins affect account value

Because these are among the few items Valorant no longer sells at all, they carry more weight in an account's price than their store cost would suggest. Buyers look specifically for Champions inventory, and each additional year, particularly an early one, strengthens a listing. For how Champions items fit into a full valuation alongside knives, other skins and rank, read how much a Valorant account is worth, and for the wider picture of what's rare, our guide to the rarest Valorant skins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the Champions bundle so expensive on the account market?

Because it's sold only once, around each year's championship, and Riot hasn't re-released an older edition. On our marketplace, listings with a Champions skin had a median asking price of about $314, roughly twice the $160 median for listings without one.

Will the Champions bundle come back to the store?

Riot hasn't brought back any past Champions bundle; each year brings a new edition instead. If you missed a year, the practical way to own it is an account that already holds it.

What's in each Champions bundle?

One rifle and one melee, plus accessories. The rifle alternates: a Vandal in 2021, 2023 and 2025, and a Phantom in 2022 and 2024. The melees were a Karambit (2021), a Butterfly Knife (2022 and 2025), a Kunai (2023) and a Blade (2024).

Do Champions skins give a gameplay advantage?

No. Like all Valorant cosmetics, they change only how the weapon looks and sounds, never damage, recoil or hitboxes. Their value is prestige and scarcity.

Chasing a Champions skin you can no longer buy from Riot? Browse Valorant accounts on BuyAccount with every skin named on the listing, compare the best knife skins, or estimate any locker with our Valorant value calculator.