RAID: Shadow Legends - What is the Champion Pass?

If there’s any game that - whether you like it or not - is constantly on everyone’s lips, it’s the familiar name of RAID: Shadow Legends. Thanks to a marketing blitz for the ages, virtually everybody knows this game’s name, even if they don’t play it. But for those who do, and have been drawn into the wide cast of characters and action RPG content, it’s proven to be a big hit.

RAID: Shadow Legends, for those not in the know, is an action RPG with a massive roster of characters. You probably know it from the various sponsorships with YouTube creators and the numerous preroll ads, a marketing push that's made it wildly successful. With that success comes new features, crossovers and more - with the latest seeing Plarium bring cult-hit television character Xena (of Xena: Warrior Princess or Simpsons fame, depending on your age) to the game!

But she’s not the only new addition, as this latest update, which we reported on, also includes the debut of Champion Passes. So, what exactly are Champion Passes, and what do you get from them? Well, here’s the breakdown…

What’s a Champion Pass?

To put it bluntly, a Champion Pass is a battle pass, and if you’re unfamiliar with those…(what, you've been living under a rock?) A battle pass is simply a system of rewards for playing games or completing certain challenges. The Champion Pass functions in a similar way, and as we noted, the debut character is Xena herself.

The Champion Pass functions in two ways, a free and a paid ‘premium’ version. The former is available to any player and features usually slightly less impressive but still neat rewards, such as cosmetics - the Xena pass for example offers an exclusive avatar you can use.

The paid version is almost always where the juicy stuff is. In this case, the Xena pass features the titular character as the final reward, allowing you to unlock this latest Champion without relying on summoning them via shards (which is the only way to unlock them once the pass ends).

In other words, the Champion Pass functions as a roundabout way to unlock a particular champion or a specific reward for them. In the case of the Elite Champion Pass that means you pay your way, but with a guaranteed champion at the end - at least if the Xena pass is anything to go by.

So what else will it include?

At the moment - we don’t know. However, it stands to reason that with more crossover characters, we’ll see them debuting in the Champion Pass first, before becoming available solely via shard summoning later on. If they’re anything like Xena, and you really want to get your hands on the latest, shiniest new champions, then the Champion Pass may be for you.

If you want to know how you can build up your reserves of Sacred Shards for summoning, we've got a guide right here to help you along. And if you need a boost with free gifts, we've been collating codes for RAID: Shadow Legends too - check out if there are any active ones here.