League of Legends: grading the new Halloween skins!

A new set of Halloween-themed skins hit the League of Legends PBE yesterday, but how good are they?

In the midst of all the Worlds hype, it’s easy to forget that we are right in the thick of October, with Halloween fast approaching. Luckily, Riot has not forgotten, as a new set of spooky skins hit the League of Legends PBE yesterday.

The skins, which are a part of the “Tales from the Rift” line, brings three new skins to League of Legends, plus one prestige skin. Do these new skins measure up, though?

Witch’s Brew Blitzcrank

First up is a brand new Blitzcrank skin, the first for the Great Steam Golem in almost two years. In this new variant, Blitzcrank’s body is replaced by a witch’s cauldron, the front of which is adorned with a Jack-o’-lantern smile.

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I’ll be honest, this is one of those skins that really feel like Riot reached (hehe) to fit the skin to the skin line theme. I mean they’ve transformed Blitz from a machine to a vaguely anthropomorphic cooking set and slapped some hallmarks of the holiday on him.

However, one thing that I do think is cool is the animation of his iconic hook from his Q – Rocket Grab, which is transformed into a creepy claw on a string, complete with a creaky shriek sound effect. It’s something vaguely out of A Nightmare Before Christmas and does feel like a unique addition to his skin collection. Also, the ult animation (his R – Static Field) where a burst of purple goo and little bats burst out from around him is pretty cool. Those two animations alone might make this skin worth buying if you’re a Blitz main.

Grade: B-

Count Kassadin

Aesthetically, Count Kassadin really doesn’t look that great, especially for his first skin in four years. In fact, he looks a lot like some of the low-quality skins for

Morgana

Vladimir

. But what makes up for the lack of flair in the skin itself are the animations.

In the recall animation, a coffin appears beside Kassadin and he lowers himself into it. Right there, I’m already sold.

His Q – Null Sphere animation, which throws a null sphere, now throws a green eye that looks really creepy and cool. Kassadin’s E – Force Pulse now throws out a flurry of bats, complete with the sound effect of flapping wings. But his ult (R – Riftwalk) is really where this skin shines.

Kassadin disappears and reappears in a flurry of bats and void power. This is the first skin that really makes Kassadin’s ult feel like he is coming through another dimension with sinister and evil intentions. For the animations alone, this is worth a buy.

Grade: A-

Bewitching Miss Fortune (Prestige)

The final skin of the set is Bewitching

Miss Fortune

and it is easily the best of the bunch. First, just looking at the skin on its own MF looks like a cute witch, like a teenage girl’s Halloween costume. That’s not a knock since it works aesthetically, and in fact, it’s good that one of the skins is cuter than the others.

The animations are also solid and really tie into the theme of her being a cute witch. First, the recall sees her summon a pumpkin that comes to life, she shoots it with one of her guns (or wands on this skin), and it explodes into a bigger pumpkin that she rides back to the base.

The auto-attack animation follows this pattern, as it seems MF is more throwing globules of magic than firing bullets, but there are still the indicators for her Passive – Love Tap and Q – Double Up. Also, when her W – Strut passive comes online, a werewolf’s howl can be heard as a trail of orange and black bats follows her.

Next. Patch 9.20 breakdown. dark

Now her E – Make it Rain‘s animation isn’t much to write home about. It’s the same basic setup just with a few pumpkins dotting the outside of the zone. But her ult (R – Bullet Time), even though it visually looks the same, is incredible with some creepy organ music playing through each volley.

This is 100% a skin worth buying if you play MF at all. The Prestige edition, though, that’s another story.

Grade: A

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