Who doesn’t love a good skin? Though they’re only a change of clothes for your champions, skins can make you feel more bada** as you climb. But really, sometimes we just want to look at pretty colors. And the colors don’t get prettier than this.
15. Aether Wing Kayle
Aether Wing Kayle is a skin that translates the champion’s character into a different visual language. Her armor, wings, and sword are more mechanical, with glowing blue details. Her abilities use a more sci-fi aesthetic instead of her usual angelic one.
As with any Kayle skin, it changes as she levels up in the game. All models are well made, and the final form feels incredibly satisfying to transform into. Still, it keeps enough ethereal details to differentiate it from the PROJECT skin line.
The skin is unique in the game, and it shows proudly in the gold and blue color palette. The sound effects are satisfying and believable for this more modern (or futuristic?) version of the angel. For many players, this is Kayle’s best skin, and it’s easy to see why.
Skin rating: 7/10
You can get Aether Wing Kayle for 1820 RP
See Aether Wing Kayle in action
14. Dark Cosmic Jhin
Jhin plays by his own rules, and where better than in the Cosmic universe? In that story, Jhin is one of the more malevolent gods who bend (or breaks, or shoots) mortals to his will. The universe is at his disposal, and that’s a huge step up from the killing sprees he wreaks across Runeterra.
Dark Cosmic Jhin is the sniper (and honestly, the skin team) showing off. He looks down his rifle’s sight on the swirling cosmos, with stars twinkling at his field of view. Enemies get the creeping feeling that they can try to hide, but Jhin can see throughout the universe.
His abilities have the pessimistic energy of a black hole that consumes all. Dark Cosmic Jhin always has you in his sights, wherever you might be among the stars.
Skin rating: 7/10
You can get Dark Cosmic Jhin for 1820 RP
See Dark Cosmic Jhin in action
13. DJ Sona
DJ Sona was the first skin to let us choose what kind of changes we want to see in-game. The Rift’s floating songstress also has 3 different songs for each form that play in the background while you play. This kind of agency and customization made massive waves in the community when it first came out.
The Ethereal form is characterized by smooth, floating animations with more minimal particle effects. Kinetic, the base form that you start within the fountain, is blue-green with more geometric elements. For anime fans, the famous Vocaloid Hatsune Miku comes to mind instantly. And lastly, Concussive uses spiky waveforms and warmer colors like red and orange to bring a more powerful feel. Their respective backing tracks are a perfect fit for each of their styles.
For her story, DJ Sona is a more modern interpretation of Sona’s lore. Sona could easily have been a mysterious, introverted musician who uses computers instead of strings. Everything about this skin is tailor-made for her, and we can’t imagine the DJ concept on anyone else.
Skin rating: 7/10
You can get DJ Sona for 3250 RP
12. High Noon Senna
Even Taranntino wouldn't be able to dream up her flaming horse-slash-cannon.
We are of the humble opinion that High Noon Senna is one of the best reiterations of Ghost Rider’s aesthetics. I mean, just look at that running animation. While she doesn’t ride in on a badass motorcycle doused in eternal flame, she might just have something better. Her steed is a hellish, burning, metal horse that doubles as her iconic cannon.
High Noon Senna’s abilities all burn like charcoal--more of a glow than an inferno. Her character model and ability effects have little trails of brown that remind us of the dust blowing in the air in old-fashioned duels. A little bit of gold adds even more to the flame effect of the entire thing.
The animations are clean and smooth, with just a little bit of floatiness to remind us that she’s not from this humble Earth. But that’s only if her flaming cape and menacing splash art didn’t already give you ample warning.
Skin rating: 7/10
You can get High Noon Senna for 1820 RP
11. Nightbringer/Dawnbringer Soraka
You can just choose one. But when they're this pretty, who would?
Both versions of this skin are of the same impressive quality. In these skins, Soraka is a divine representative of either order or chaos. Her walk is delicate, almost a tiptoe, and an ethereal light surrounds her. A sort of crown floats above her head, perfect for a deity who is far, far greater than our mortal plane.
Dawnbringer Soraka shines blue, purple, pink, and white. The details are accented in pastel, translucent tones reminiscent of the sky early in a crisp morning. Nightbringer, meanwhile, is a more hellish version. It burns with glowing yellow and red, clouded in dark smoke. The green from her healing and the white of her hair are the only neutral colors.
The particle effects are detailed, with slight differences in each. Nightbringer has some spikier details, while Dawnbringer has more circular shapes. Her voice lines are different in each one as well, mixed so that it sounds like an angel from above. Finally, for her ultimate, there is a quick apparition of Soraka, reminding allies across the map who gave them her blessing.
Skin rating: 8/10
You can get Nightbringer and Dawnbringer Soraka for 1820 RP (You can buy only one version at a time, and the other one will be discounted.)
See Nightbringer Soraka in action
See Dawnbringer Soraka in action
10. Battle Queen Katarina
All her daggers will kill you, just in different colors.
Battle Queen is a crown that sits very comfortably on Katarina’s pretty head. Who would doubt her as a monarch of violence and bloodshed? With a cheeky grin, Katarina blinks and spins around the battlefield with finesse only a royal could have.
The highlight of this skin is her daggers, which change form and colors at your discretion. Each of them is lovingly modeled, with a rose emblem on the hilt of each. Of course, this only fits a queen.
Her particle effect colors also change along with her daggers, which is a nice touch for variety within a single game. Katarina’s recall for this skin is charming and a perfect piece of character development. When presented with a beautiful stake, she stabs it in one go with a dagger. She may be royalty, but she’ll gladly kill you where you stand.
Skin rating: 7/10
You can get Battle Queen Katarina for 1820 RP
See Battle Queen Katarina in action
9. PROJECT: Vayne
I think she's auditioning for the strring role in the inevitable Tron remake.
PROJECT: Vayne was the first skin in the line to use the HUD overlay for her ultimate that other PROJECT skins have used since. The HUD shows you how many stacks of her W she has on her target, counting down to that final shot of true damage.
Like many other skins in the line, PROJECT: Vayne has slick animations and glowing neon effects. Her purple light reminds you of the haze of city signs shimmering through some summer rain. And she looks right at home in the setting; a futuristic city with a dark underbelly. Tumbling and disappearing in a trail of purple haze, Vayne is every bit the technology-augmented bounty hunter.
The skin has some other careful touches. Her running animation is replaced by her riding to battle on a slick motorcycle which turns out to be her crossbow as well. PROJECT: Vayne’s character model and weapon are incredibly detailed, mostly black and gray with some expert dashes of purple and light blue. A dark helmet covers her entire face to let everybody know that she’s all business. And the business is hunting down her enemies.
Skin rating: 8/10
You can get PROJECT: Vayne for 1820 RP
8. Final Boss Veigar
No cheat codes can help you now.
Final Boss Veigar is the first of his skin line, written as the big baddie in the video-game heroes vs. villains narrative of Arcade. And the tiny, power-hungry Yordle was a perfect choice. Who else could say "Would you kindly stop moving?!" with such panache?
Like any other skin in the universe, Battle Boss Veigar takes inspiration from 16-bit pixel graphics of games past. Reminiscent of the glitch aesthetics used in Wreck-It-Ralph to signify evil, his recall and his abilities all use black backgrounds and neon green accents. His voice lines are all put through a filter that makes him sound like a rogue AI. The animations are jumpy and with a slightly smaller frame rate to perfectly match the retro look.
Despite being one of the older legendaries, Final Boss Veigar has aged very well. The other bosses are even called Battle Bosses. Facing Veigar is the final hurdle the heroes must face, and with this skin, it’ll feel very satisfying to delete them off the map with just one R.
Skin Rating: 8/10
You can get Final Boss Veigar for 1820 RP
See Final Boss Veigar in action
7. High Noon Lucian
"It's high noon." - A certain other sharpshotter in a certain other game franchise.
Lucian is one of the most praised residents of the High Noon universe, and its rebooted Gothic aesthetic fits him like a glove. From sound effects to particles to animations, it is an excellent skin across the board.
The animations are what make this skin. The auto-attack animations, including the ones for his passive, are smooth as butter. Like the other High Noon skins, his model has been given detailed and lovingly animated additions like a cape and hat. The colors are the warm brown of a Western town, with other effects glowing with a burning orange. Make no mistake--High Noon Lucian is a cowboy, but the fiery effects hint at something more sinister.
For its price, the skin will make playing Lucian feel completely different. And besides, what could be cooler than being a demonic gunslinger bringing justice to rule-breakers on the Rift?
Skin rating: 9/10
You can get High Noon Lucian for 1820 RP
See High Noon Lucian in action
6. Battle Academia Caitlyn
She's beauty, she's grace, she'll snipe you in the face.
The entire Battle Academia universe is a love letter to anime aesthetics and character design. And Battle Academia Caitlyn is the best of the bunch. Playing on the trope of an incredibly powerful, intelligent, and cool leader figure within a school, the sheriff of Piltover perfectly fits the bill.
With an air of authority and a beautiful face, Caitlyn is the battle academy’s student council president. She wields her power with force and intelligence, much like other anime characters of her kind (Satsuki Kiruin of Kill la Kill and Kirari Momobami of Kakegurui, anyone?). Her voice lines are coolly scolding, and her animations are smooth and fluid with the perfect polish. She is composed, every bit of her character carefully calculated.
Battle Academia Caitlyn dons a sufficiently elaborate school uniform that would do any shonen anime proud. Her rifle is sleek but large enough to be imposing, but wielded with enough grace to assure us that Caitlyn could shoot down anybody she wants without putting a hair out of place. And of course, how could we forget that ult interface effect? It calls to mind manga panel inserts of close-ups on characters’ faces to show their exaggerated expressions. Battle Academia gets a reputation for being one of the more “weeb” skin lines in the game. Whether everybody likes what it does or not, anyone will admit that it does it very, very well.
Skin Rating: 9/10
You can get Battle Academia Caitlyn for 1820 RP
See Battle Academia Caitlyn in action
5. Spirit Blossom Thresh
Don't let the pastels and the flowers fool you. Once he has you in his grasp, he's never letting go.
Spirit Blossom is a skin line that has brought us many beautiful skins over the years. Drenched in flowers, pastel colors, and Asian-inspired visuals, plenty of champions have had the chance to get skin under its banner. And arguably, none of them come close to Thresh.
Lore wise, Thresh is a controlling, but ultimately benevolent warden of spirits after they have passed into death. This puts him at odds with Ahri, who cares for them with a freer hand. This narrative for him fits his canon lore as a terror to the souls he captures but in a more heroic light. This is more than enough reason for all the pastels and flower details that the skin gives him.
In-game, his voice lines give us his perspective with lines like "In death, we become family." As you collect more souls for his passive throughout the game, you can eventually press Ctrl + 5 to change his model. In the alternate, Thresh takes off his mask to finally show his face. Only Spirit Blossom and Unbound let us peek under that terrifying mask.
Skin rating: 9/10
You can get Spirit Blossom Thresh for 1820 RP
See Spirit Blossom Thresh in action
4. True Damage Ekko
He'll knock down his enemies and post it on his Instagram stories for his 1.2 million followers to see.
True Damage Ekko is the triumph of his set. Sleek and stylish with a sprinkle of street punk, it is perfect for the champion. Ekko’s character as a charming rogue who doesn’t listen to no rules is translated beautifully into the alternate universe of an eclectic music group that doesn’t confine itself to industry norms.
The particles are clean and modern, while just futuristic enough for the sci-fi hints of True Damage. His model and weapon are inspired by streetwear aesthetics, which are believable enough for a musical black sheep who bends time to his will. The new voiceover, excellently performed by Thutmose, a rapper and musician in his own right, features lines like "Can't touch me!" (said during his ultimate) that someone like True Damage Ekko really would say.
The League community has showered the skin with the glowing praise it deserves. Playing with it just feels so fun, with Ekko spitting short bars as you jump, dash, and time skip around your enemies.
Skin Rating: 9/10
You can get True Damage Ekko for 1820 RP
See True Damage Ekko in action
3. PROJECT: Mordekaiser
What? I'm tired of PROJECT skins? No sir, where did you ever hear that? *breaks out in sweat*
When the PBE preview for this skin went up, Reddit went wild. Many had been experiencing PROJECT fatigue--how many more champions need a neon cyberpunk Tron-esque skin? But PROJECT: Mordekaiser changed everything everyone thought possible with the skin line.
Let’s get it out of the way. The star of the show is his ultimate, which is already an impressive visual at a base level. When Mordekaiser locks you into the shadow realm with him, the PROJECT universe comes to life around you. And it is every cyberpunk fan’s dream. A stunning, glowing cityscape, with just enough grit and rain to give it some edge.
Every other part of the skin holds up just as well. His model is incredibly detailed and imposing, nothing like a cartoonishly bulky metal villain. The sound effects are distinct and satisfying, and his abilities are both visually impressive and clear to play against. There are no BS hitboxes that are bigger than the effects. PROJECT: Mordekaiser proves every naysayer wrong; the PROJECT skin line is one of the most popular, and for very good reason.
Skin Rating: 9/10
You can get PROJECT: Mordekaiser for 1820 RP
See PROJECT: Mordekaiser in action
2. Elementalist Lux
With the power of fire, water, air, earth....
You and I both know this skin was going to be very high up on this list. There was no skin like it before, there has been no skin like it since, and there will never be a skin like it again. Elementalist Lux is 10 skins for the price of one, each with new animations and particle effects for each element.
This skin’s versatility and pure value are unmatched, even by the ultimate skins that came after it. I’m sorry, but the three K/DA Seraphine skins don’t even come close. You change elemental forms as you hit more and more abilities throughout the game, and which elements you transform into are up to you. The skin completely lives up to the fantasy of Lux becoming the complete master of her powers and the elements.
Unfortunately, though, Riot has gone on record saying that they will not be following up on Elementalist Lux with other ultimate skins of its caliber. Doing so will simply put too much load onto the game. But that’s alright--Elementalist created the mechanic of skins changing in-game, something we see in legendaries nowadays. And besides, Lux has a million other serviceable, more affordable skins to choose from. You can go wild.
Skin Rating: 10/10
You can get Elementalist Lux for 3250 RP
See Elementalist Lux in action
1. High Noon Ashe
If someone told me years ago that they would make a mechanical angel enforcer Ashe skin with a horse, I would laugh them off. Joke's on me.
We’ll admit that there are flashier, more expensive skins than High Noon Ashe. She doesn’t have anything in the skin that changes throughout the game, unlike ultimates and other recent legendaries. But High Noon Ashe is our number 1 because Ashe is a completely different champion with it.
You can ask any ADC main--this is the absolute best Ashe skin. The updated animations are incredibly smooth and make kiting feel like a breeze (there’s a pun in there somewhere, but I’m not going to make it). Other Ashe skins make use of her clunkier base animations, even if they have more detailed VFX.
Lore wise, Ashe is a mechanical angel in the dark, alternate Western universe of High Noon. Her cape, hat, and horse (found in her running animation) complete the cowgirl fantasy, while the glowing gold and white of her clothes and abilities remind us that she’s an ethereal being that we can’t fully understand.
Skin Rating: 10/10
You can get High Noon Ashe for 1820 RP
