I know that when a new one is released, it's 7800 for the first week before dropping down to around 6k. The earliest released champion gets dropped down to 4800. Starter champions hover around 450, 1350, and a couple of 3k. Why though? Why is Poppy 450? Why is Katarina around 3k? Basically I'm looking for an explanation similar to the skin tiers.
Two reasons. The release price of champions used to be below 6300, and they have dropped the prices of champions below 6300. As a general but not all encompassing rule, the older a champion is, the lower its cost will be.
Usually has to do with age of the champion, older ones cost less.
Given that, the older ones tend to take less skill as well - you'll notice higher skill cap champs are in the 4800-6300 range (
for example)
There was a time when champions were released at seemingly random values, often based off of their intended difficulty to play. They then abandoned this principle and standardized champ prices at 6300. That went on for a while, then they implemented the current system where champs are released at 7800 then lowerted to 6300 and when that happens they reduce the price of another champ.
