I don't agree that not owning all (or many) champions hinders your gameplay or skill cap. People have reached the top 10 with a single champion. Runes on the o

I don't agree that not owning all (or many) champions hinders your gameplay or skill cap. People have reached the top 10 with a single champion. Runes on the other hand, do allow for slight advantages during a game. They're also free (as in, you can't even buy them with real money), but once you've gathered an amount of in game currency (Influence Points), you have to choose between using those IP to buy runes or champions. So while everything that's able to give you an advantage in the game is free, those investing real money will have a wider range of champions and/or runes sooner.