In 5 levels I've gained just under 1000 essence.
Nothing but shards in my capsules. No BE. I've had a 700 pull out of one capsule and the rest was because I was able to break down a shard of a champ I already owned.
FFS. If I wanted to own most of the champs in the game to make swaps in ranked if the need arises, I'll be ready by season 10. Maybe.