Back in 2021, Duolingo introduced legendary levels — the ultimate test of how well you know a skill.
They proved to be pretty popular (despite non-premium members having to part with their hard-earned gems to attempt them) with Duolingo trees across the world going from gold to purple.
However, as you may be aware, Duolingo is changing — and so too are the legendary levels.
Since many of you will still have the original tree, this article will cover the two different versions of legendary — what legendary used to be, and what legendary is becoming.
Rest assured, whichever version of Duolingo you’re currently rocking, by the end of this article you’ll be a total expert on all things legendary.
Let’s get into it!
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What are Legendary Levels on Duolingo?
Put simply, a Legendary Level is designed to be the toughest level in a skill. To reach it, you need to complete four challenges without any hints or tips. It’s the ultimate test of how well you know a particular skill.
It was announced at Duocon 2021 as one of two new Duolingo Plus (now Super Duolingo) features, although it appears that non-Plus/Super members will be able to tackle at least the first challenge for 100/200 gems.
Legendary levels are available on IOS, Android and desktop.
To fully understand Legendary Levels, we first need to know what a Crown Level is.
A Crown Level is how Duolingo ranks your proficiency in a particular skill. Each skill usually has about 5 levels to work through, and therefore 5 crowns to collect.
In theory, therefore, the more crowns you have in a skill, the more proficient you are in it.
Now, with the introduction of the Legendary Level, you get the opportunity to earn an extra piece of Duolingo regalia — the legendary ‘purple crown’.
(Be sure to check out this article on why your Duolingo crowns matter).
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How do you get Legendary Levels?
In order to unlock a skill’s Legendary Level, you first need to unlock all the crowns that come before it.
There are usually about 5 of these, but, depending on the course and skill, it can be less.
Once you’ve completed all of the necessary levels, you will be given the chance to go for the purple crown.
The process isn’t as straightforward as with the other crowns though. With the standard crowns, you simply need to complete a set of lessons. You can go at your own pace, make as many mistakes as you want (hearts permitting) and consult the hints as much as you please.
But in order to unlock the purple crown, rather than work through some lessons, you need to ace a series of 3 to 4 challenges.
Anyone who’s familiar with the timed challenges will be right at home as the challenges are pretty similar.
For one they are broken down into checkpoints. You reach the first one when you get 10 questions correct, and the second once you get 20 questions correct.
When they first came out, you also had to race against the clock, which made the levels even harder.
However, Duolingo eventually got rid of this in favour of the current format, which is:
- Up to 4 challenges
- 20 questions in each, with a checkpoint halfway
- No time limit
- Maxium of 3 mistakes
- No hints
How much XP can you earn from a Legendary Level?
Completing legendary levels is probably one of the best ways to earn XP.
If you manage to reach the first checkpoint in a challenge, you’ll earn at least 20 XP.
If you manage to complete the challenge, you’ll earn at least 40 XP.
Throw in a combo bonus, and you could earn as much as 45 XP for a completed challenge.
And if you whack on an XP boost, you could earn up to 90 XP for just one completed challenge!
How does the Legendary Level look?
A typical legendary level will look like this.
Once you’ve completed the first five levels of a skill, you’ll be able to go for legendary.
You’ll usually have to complete as many as 4 challenges, as you can see in the bar underneath Duo.
A typical challenge contains 20 questions and you’ll need to make fewer than 3 mistakes to advance to the next one.
The questions are basically the same as the ones you get in your usual lessons — except you don’t get any hints!
(Notice how the words aren’t underlined)
You can see your challenge progress in the bar at the top.
Once you get 10 questions correct you’ll guarantee yourself 20 XP.
But if you make three mistakes before hitting the 10, you won’t earn any XP for your efforts 🙁
However, if you manage to get 20 questions correct without making more than 2 mistakes, you’ll earn at least 40 XP and advance to the next challenge.
Once you’ve completed every challenge, your skill will turn purple!
How it used to look
When I first wrote this article, Duolingo were playing around with a bunch of different formats.
They eventually settled on the one we went over above.
But for old time’s sake, it’s worth going back over some of the stuff they experimented with.
The following example is a mash-up of two of the formats they tested — the no-mistakes format and the timed format.
You’ve probably worked this out already, but the main difference between the two was that, in the one format, you weren’t allowed to make mistakes; while in the other, you had to race against the clock.
Everything else — such as checkpoints, XP, number of challenges and no hints — were the same.
(Everything that follows is from the original article):
Whenever you boot up a Legendary Level, you’ll notice that you will have several challenges to complete. Most of the time you’ll have four but sometimes it can be three.
Each challenge is worth a maximum of 20 XP. If you get to the first checkpoint, which is reached when you get 10 questions correct, then you’re guaranteed to earn at least 10 XP. Fail to reach the first checkpoint, and you’ll be booted out of the challenge empty-handed.
As you can see, the exercises are pretty much exactly the same as the ones in the standard lessons. The most obvious difference being that the sentences aren’t underlined with the usual dots. This means that you can’t tap them for a translation, which really tests your knowledge of the skill.
Once you complete a challenge you’ll be able to move onto the next one. The good news is that once you’ve completed a challenge it serves as a sort of safety net, meaning you can’t fall any lower. So if you manage to complete the first challenge, but then you fail to complete the second challenge, you won’t be sent back to the beginning. Instead, you simply repeat the second challenge as many times as it takes until you complete it.
Once you have completed all of the required challenges, you will unlock the purple crown.
How many Legendary Levels are there?
This will depend entirely on your target language, as each course on Duolingo has a different number of skills.
If you’re working through the French tree, for instance, then you’ll have absolutely LOADS of purple crowns to collect. This is because French is one of the most popular languages on Duolingo, and therefore has a lot of skills in its tree.
If you’re working through the Polish tree, however, then you won’t have as many Legendary Levels to complete as there aren’t anywhere near as many skills. This is always changing though as Duolingo are regularly adding new skills and features to their courses.
RELATED: The Complete List Of EVERY Duolingo Language
When should you go for the Legendary Level?
There’s no right or wrong way of going about this. Once you turn a skill gold, you’re more than welcome to go for Legendary there and then.
Alternatively, you can continue to work through your tree and unlock as many new skills as possible.
The latter tends to reflect how I approach my Duolingo trees. It’s a lot like the Hover technique that the guys at Duolingo recommend: you take two steps forward, continuing to unlock new skills; and then one step back, occasionally refreshing the skills you previously unlocked.
So in my case, I generally push forward and unlock the first crowns in a skill, then come back to them later to unlock the second and third. What this means is that I’m very rarely in a position to attempt the Legendary Levels, at least when I’m in the first months of learning a new language.
Take French for instance. I only started properly learning French a few months ago, and given how big the tree is and how many skills there are, I’m finding that the majority of my skills are generally no higher than 2-3 crowns. I’m way more focused on ploughing through the tree and expanding my comfort zone.
However, it’s a different story for my Italian tree, which I completed a loooooong time ago. It’s nowhere near as big as the French tree either, so I’ve been able to go back over the years and turn pretty much every skill gold. This means I’m in a position to go for the majority of the Legendary Levels.
This is the approach that works best for me. But, again, if you would prefer to absolutely nail your skills before progressing further, then don’t hesitate to power on towards the Legendary Levels!
Legendary levels on the new learning path – 2022 update
Duolingo has radically overhauled legendary levels on the new learning path.
While legendary is still a thing, legendary levels are gone. Instead, we now have legendary trophies.
Originally, legendary was all about skills. But on the new learning path, legendary is now all about units.
Each unit now ends with a challenge of up to 8 levels. To progress from the unit, you only need to complete one. But if you want to turn it purple — and earn the legendary trophy — you’ll need to complete all 8 challenges.
For every challenge you complete, you’ll earn 40 XP. Challenge attempts are free for Super members and 100 gems for free members.
Beyond that, it’s pretty much the same as the legendary levels: a checkpoint at 20 XP, 3 lives and no hints.
Have your say
What do you think of the legendary levels?
Did you prefer the original format or are you digging the new legendary trophies?
As always, let me know in the comments!
Hi!
My description of Legendary is that they’ll never crack again and yet today I have two purple crowns that have cracked. Has anyone seen that yet?
Hey Jennifer! Yep, it’s happened to me too. Seems to be the latest in a long line of tweaks to the format. I expect they’ll change it again tomorrow!
Just noticed that myself. Not happy, since I spent gems to access the legendary crown lessons so I wouldn’t have to keep fixing cracked crowns.
Hello Matt,
I can’t find a button to upgrade to legendary in my 20 gold levels. Is this a bug?
Hey Alexandros! It could be that Legendary Levels haven’t been rolled out to your course or device just yet. If they are available then you should get the opportunity to turn them purple once you’ve completed the first 5 levels in a skill. I know Duolingo have been doing a lot of A/B testing with the LLs so I’d recommend waiting a little while and they’ll probably show up eventually 🙂
Thanks for answering me! They showed up some weeks ago!
“It will never crack again”. Until it does. My supposedly mastered purple crowns are cracking just like the gold ones do. So what’s the point of mastering them?!
Hi. I can’t get legendary crowns in my Japanese Course despite the latter being the 3rd most popular course. I use an Android phone. Does the legendary levels only support IOS?
Hi Brachy! Take a look at this Reddit post from earlier this month. Looks like Duolingo are starting to test the Legendary Levels on Android devices 🙂
Hi Matt! Your posts really help. I am taking Spanish. Why do I need to spend 100XP points to earn each purple crown? I don’t have a lot of XP. Is there another way? I don’t know if it is worth it.
Thank you!
Traci
Hi Traci!
Thanks for your kind words 🙂
I’ve just taken another look at the Legendary Levels and can see that Duolingo have updated them again. However, I can’t seem to find anything that says you need to spend XP in order to earn the purple crown. I’ve just unlocked one in the Italian tree and received 40XP (+5xp combo bonus) for completing each challenge — and I didn’t have to spend anything (XP, Gems etc) in order to attempt them. Perhaps Duolingo are doing some more A/B testing? In any case, feel free to drop me a screenshot at enquiries@duoplanet.com and I’ll be more thank happy to have a look for you 🙂
I think Traci means “100 gems”. I have the same issue, I had 3000-odd gems built up and now I’ve blown them all taking the Legend challenges.
There are some errors in this article. They are not timed and they do not prevent your crowns from cracking. You are allowed to make up to three mistakes in each segment of the challenge.
My Legendary levels crack repeatedly. Although it tells me that I will receive XP when I repair them, it seems that I am also CHARGED the Gems all over again. I have lost about 3000 Gems in the last month or so and couldn’t figure out why. Someone suggested that it’s because I’m maintaining my Legendary levels from a Basic (not Plus) account. In my book, it’s a rip off; I’m going to see how long it takes for them to deteriorate back to plain old level 5. I’m swearing off Legendary.
Hey Matt
I have just discovered your site and find your information on all things Duolingo very helpful. Thank you for your wisdom.
I’ve been doing DL French for some time and have recently tried the Legendary challenges. More than once I have completed all but one or two sessions thinking I would come back to finish the rest so have said “Not now” to “Do you want to continue”
I have returned later to find that I have lost all progress on that skill and have to start my quest for the purple crown all over, including repaying the points to take the sessions over again.
Are you aware of others who have experienced this? Thank you.
Hey Ru! Many thanks for the kind words!
I can’t say this is something I’ve ever come across. Usually after completing a challenge it takes me back to the main Legendary screen and the only option it gives me is to start the next challenge for 40 XP. It’s always saved my progress.
You say that you have to repay the points to take the sessions over again. I’m assuming then that you’re a free member? If so it might have something to do with this as the Legendary Levels are a Plus feature for the most part. Although as far as I’m aware a completed challenge should serve as a checkpoint — so if you complete the second challenge of a LL, that should always be your starting point until you complete the third challenge — whether you’re a Plus member or not. But I could be wrong.
Feel free to send me an email with some screenshots to enquiries@duoplanet.com and I’ll do a bit more digging!
I have cracked purple crowns to. Also, to achieve it, I can make up to three mistakes instead of having to ace the challenges. I am on the French course and I have a couple of purple crowns and I normally had the timed ones but now it was three mistakes.
My entire family has signed up to learn French on Duolingo. On my and my kids accounts, we are able to do legendary levels without paying gems, but on my husband’s account, he is required to pay 100 gems for each legendary level. What’s different about the accounts? As far as we can see all of our settings are the same so we don’t know why one of us has to pay and the rest don’t.
Our entire family signed up on Duolingo to learn french. I have two children who are under 18 and then my husband and myself. The kids and I are not required to use gems to purchase legendary levels or participate in the lightning challenges, but my husband is. Why would this be?
So frustrating when the legendary crowns crack, I use to think it was ok because it made you practice but it interferes with your progression. You need to be able to practice skills as you want to not when they crack. I don’t wanna lose purple crowns but I can’t keep going all the way back to the basics everyday. Sort it out Duo!
Since about June 13, 2022 the Legendary levels on Duolingo Web seem inoperable.:(
Hi Matt!
As of this week I only get 25XP instead of the usual 45XP for completing a hard practise on a legendary level. Do you happen to know why this is?
I’m really frustrated as it feels as if I’m being pushed towards the premium service in order to complete my course. I’ve completed all the levels in Welsh and only have the legendary checkpoints left to complete – but each one requires me to spend lots of gems. I simply don’t have enough gems so have been logging in hourly to earn gems by watching ads. Not much fun especially if each ad only gives you 5 or 6 gems!
Every other level in my progress is now locked, so I can’t go back in to practice and earn gems that way. If I use the practice to gain free hearts feature, that doesn’t earn me any gems.
So basically unless I’m prepared to start paying for Duolingo, I can’t complete my course 🙁
I will sure miss that animation with the purple floating Owl and the Shining Crown above it. Does anyone have a link to a gif of it?
They had just come out with the new graphics for super and all the new graphics looked great! I was surprised when they changed it over to the new format so quickly after that.