/dev: State of Skins 2023

Hey everyone! I’m Stephanie “100 pc nuggets” Leung, the new product lead for the skins team. It’s been a while since we last checked in, and we’ve seen a lot of change on our team, so we wanted to let you know what we’re thinking about the state of skins and where we want to take them in the future.

Oh and we’ve got some updates on the Star Guardian Skins we’re bringing over from Wild Rift, and the Mythic Shop and the return of the Prestige Skin List. But first let’s talk about an upcoming Ultimate skin!

A Stylish New Ultimate

It’s been a while since we’ve given you an update on Ultimates... or even an Ultimate in general—not counting the Spirit Guard Udyr VGU. And we want to let you know that Samira will be receiving an Ultimate skin as part of this year’s summer event.

Like we’ve mentioned before, Ultimate skins are a tough space to land. Our definition of what it means to be an Ultimate skin has changed over the years, but “make players feel we’ve done something truly special” and “best-in-class for the champion” are still the two that we’re operating under.

Usually we start out knowing we’re making one. But that wasn’t the case with Samira.

A few years ago we talked about needing to increase the amount of time we invest in Legendary skins to make sure they give you an experience that lives up to the name. And, for the most part, we feel like we’ve hit that mark.

This decision has led to some cool tech like pentakill celebrations (Empyrean Pyke and Winterblessed Diana, for example) and improving our unique screen overlays (Battle Academia Caitlyn and Star Guardian Kai’Sa). And while we love how these additions have enhanced the champion’s fantasy within Legendary skins, we feel like this may have encroached a bit on Ultimate territory.

So when we got started on Samira we actually aimed to create a Legendary skin. But as we got working, we kept adding more and more... and more to her skin because we were excited by how perfectly Samira fit into the thematic and at the opportunity that we saw with her skin—similar to how we created Pulsefire Ezreal. We added things like pentakill celebrations (since, you know, Samira), unique art assets, modeling... It was around this time that we made the decision to make Samira an Ultimate skin.

We’re really excited with the results because it gives us a new (and more sustainable) approach to Ultimate skin development. And we think the result has led us to the ultimate (hehe) expression of Samira’s fantasy: A flashy ADC who’s always ready to style on her foes.

That’s all we’re ready to share about Samira for the moment, but keep an eye out for more info later.

Star Guardian Wild Rift Skins

A few dev updates ago we announced that we’d be bringing a few of the Star Guardians skins that were exclusive to WIld Rift over to the PC side of League. We’re really excited with how the Epic skins are coming along and you should actually see those relatively soon on the following patches:

• Star Guardian Seraphine and Orianna will be available in patch 13.13
• Star Guardian Senna will be available in patch 13.14

Since this is new territory for us, as we’ve never ported skins from WR into League, we’ve discovered that the Legendaries take a bit more time to fully bring over in comparison to the Epic skins, so Redeemed Xayah and Rakan will be releasing closer to the end of this year.

Upcoming Prestige Skins & Mythic Shop Changes

Back when we still had Prestige Points, we made an effort to share which champions would be getting one over the next few months so you didn’t feel like you may have spent your Prestige Points prematurely. We know that this is something you’ve all been sorely missing, so we’re bringing back the Upcoming Prestige Skin List!

We’ll be sharing an updated list every quarter to let you know which champions will be receiving a Prestige skin over the next few months... starting right now!

So coming up you can expect Prestige skins for:

• Pyke - Event Tokens
• Shaco - Event Tokens
• Sona - Mythic Essence
• Renata Glasc - Mythic Essence
• Akali - Event Tokens
• Yone - Event Tokens
• Camille - Event Tokens

And finally, we’re changing the Mythic Shop thematic. So long Ashen Knights, you served as well in death as you did in life. But we’re ready for something a bit more… crystally? Crystallized? Please welcome Crystalis Motus, a world where once-lost magic is slowly returning in a new form—you guessed it, crystals. But adventurers beware, attempting to harness these new crystals can lead to a dangerous outcome.

We also have some more changes to the Mythic Shop, namely we’ll be expanding the number of Prestige skins offered in the store at any time past the current two to four. This means we can rotate through the existing library of Prestige skins quicker so the one you’re looking for has a chance to show up sooner!

We also want to give you a heads up into what Prestige skins are going to be rotating through the shop so you can plan out how to use your Mythic Essence better.

13.12

• True Damage Qiyana - 150 ME
• Obsidian Dragon Sett - 125 ME
• Debonair Brand - 125 ME
• K/DA Akali - 200 ME

13.14

• Valiant Sword Riven - 150 ME
• Lunar Beast Fiora - 125 ME
• Star Guardian Soraka - 125 ME
• Nightbringer Lee Sin - 150 ME

13.16

• Anima Squad Jinx - 125 ME
• True Damage Yasuo - 125 ME
• Mecha Kingdoms Garen - 125 ME
• High Noon Talon - 125 ME

13.18

• Star Guardian Ekko - 125 ME
• Pulsefire Lucian - 150 ME
• Spirit Blossom Teemo - 150 ME
• Battle Queen Diana - 150 ME

13.20

• Star Guardian Syndra - 125 ME
• Ocean Song Seraphine - 125 ME
• Dark Star Malphite - 150 ME
• Porcelain Lux - 125 ME

That’s it for us for now! Let us know what you think and we’ll be back with another update on skins soon™.