Ranking All Lucian Skins From Worst To Best
High Noon Lucian overrated? Heartseeker ranked 8th? Also, what the hell is “L tier?”
Lucian, the Purifier
Ahhh… Lucian. A man who has only angsty things to stay as he swings his giant guns back and forth, staring into the abyss of the undead with his piercing, emerald eyes, his perfect, polished skin shini- ugh, okay where was I going with this…
Even though I’ve stopped playing ADC for several years now (ADC in 2K22 KEKW), Lucian remains my most played champion of all time and I have the distinct pleasure of owning all the skins for him. So in this piece, I’ll break down whether or not each skin is worth buying; as an APM-scaling champion, Lucian’s skins can have quite a small boost to gameplay if certain animations are more fluid and smoother than others, and some skins definitely give a noticeably boost to the flow of his gameplay. Without further ado, let’s get right to it.
10. Striker Lucian: 750 RP (Legacy Skin [That’s a good thing, let it stay locked up in the Vault])
Release Date: June 18, 2014
Tier: L
Before the Lucian’s Visual and Skins Update, this used to be one of my least favorite skins in the entire game. After the update… it doesn’t really do much better. Nothing more than a reskin of the Classic, Striker Lucian doesn’t really bring anything to the table, except for equipping The Purifier in some sort of ridiculous soccer uniform (yes, its soccer, get over yourself, your sport is boring as hell) and having him shoot out of some sort of janky dual ray guns from what looks like the 70s.
Adding to the fact, is that the splash art is exceptionally poorly designed, given that it makes him look like a side character IN HIS OWN SPLASH. Given the release date, it isn’t too surprising, but it was still sad to see the skin not get any major revamp following the update; all I’m saying is, if Lucian was kicking some sort of soccer ball while he ran, it would’ve been a bit more compelling.
9. Hired Gun Lucian: 975 RP
Release Date: August 21, 2013
Tier: C
The original release skin for Lucian isn’t too shabby – honestly, every one of Lucian’s skins (except Striker) isn’t too shabby at all. The splash is quite fine and I remain convinced Hired Gun has one of the best recall animations in the entire game, given its age (although I might just be a sucker for throne recalls, I don’t know…) The dark hues of the clothing he wears can be a bit of an annoyance for enemies to see and click on, especially in the river, which is a nice boost.
The reason why Hired Gun finds itself ranked so low is because of his Q Ability’s width. Piercing Light, Lucian’s bread and butter skill, is something you tend to spam a lot and it is quite a bit unnerving to pay a skin that seems to reduce the width of your key ability. While the width reduction isn’t necessarily game changing, given the need to spam the ability, it isn’t worth paying money for this obsolete, downright pay-to-lose skin.
8. Heartseeker Lucian: 1350 RP (Legacy Skin)
Release Date: February 2, 2017
Tier: B
People may be surprised to find Heartseeker so low in the rankings; however, most of Lucian’s skins are generally good so I’ll be doing a lot of nitpicking to differentiate between them for the most part. Armed with a dashing red, velvet suit in the splash art and, again, an extremely competitive recall animation, Heartseeker Lucian is quite the unique skin that fulfills the Heartseeker fantasy. The W ability, Ardent Blaze, is quite a nice touch as it becomes a breaking heart at the end of its explosion, which gives a nice thematic touch to the skin. If this kind of aesthetic pleases you, I don’t see why you shouldn’t pick this skin up.
7. Pulsefire Lucian: 1350 RP
Release Date: May 14, 2020
Tier: B
A decently good skin, Pulsefire Lucian finds itself 7th on the rankings because of its unique fur jacket that is quite visible in-game, adding a nice cozy touch to the champion. Given its modernity, the VFX are passable to me, it isn’t necessarily ground-breaking but not too shabby either. This is one of the few skins that I would vouch to get the Prestige edition for, but if you’re reading this, then it’s probably too late for that. I wouldn’t get this skin for full price by the way, wait till a sale rolls around.
6. Classic Lucian
Release Date: August 21, 2013
Tier: A-
One of the best classic skins, even in the good old days, Classic Lucian only got better with the visual update. The splash art is one of the most badass imaginable, showing the Purifier in his natural element, blasting demons and zombies to the next life. Adorned with his famous, long coat-jacket, the famous blue, red, and yellow chromas are also a nice addition to the classic white of the skin and I would recommend picking them up if you fancy the classic look.
5. Victorious Lucian: Get Gold or Higher in Season 20
Release Date: November 11, 2020
Tier: A-
Fun Fact: The Visual and Skins Update for Lucian was borne out of this skin; in fact, the choppy VFX of the old classic skin was revamped to mirror the sleek VFX for this skin, and I for one couldn’t be more happier! Sporting shining, glittering autoattacks and spells, Victorious Lucian definitely lives up to his name, with the obvious distinction between this and the Classic being the chromas reflective of your ranked progress.
4. Arcana Lucian: 1350 RP
Release Date: May 13, 2021
Tier: A
The newest addition to Lucian’s cosmetic line, Arcana lives up to the prestige of its peers in a big way. The Arcana skin line, which debuted in 2021, remains one of the most unique and compelling skin lines in recent memory, and Lucian is no worse for the wear. Sporting richly colorful red hues, VFX, and in-game sprites, as well as a magnificent line of shiny chromas, Arcana Lucian is only marred by its somewhat questionable splash art – you can never tell where the hell Lucian is looking with this splash, and the weird tilt of his head has always been a head scratcher to me. However, all in all, this skin (and everything above this) I would easily recommend to buy, even without sales.
3. Demacia Vice Lucian: 1350 RP
Release Date: July 18, 2019
Tier: A
One of the most unique and inspiring skins to date, Demacia Vice features the champ in the style of the 80s police flicks of the same name. In addition to its stylish splash art is a unique theme song that plays during the first minute or so of loading into the game, which adds an extremely compelling flavor and immerses you in the experience properly. The VFX, and especially the sound effects, all feel in line with each other to bring you quite a different take on many other skins we see usually, and provide for a fun experience overall. Also, pro-tip, pick up the white chroma for this skin if you can – it’s beyond worth it.
2. High Noon Lucian: 1820 RP
Release Date: August 30, 2018
Tier: S-
This skin is overrated as hell… don’t get me wrong, it is an absolutely stunning skin, and Riot does it justice as the first ever Legendary skin for the Purifier. It’s take on the Django franchise by transforming Lucian into a half-devil fueled by his wife’s tragedy, combined with demonic voice lines and VFX, are extremely good and make for a very, very compelling purchase. But the amount of hype and people playing this make me somewhat annoyed, especially since #1 on the list isn’t nearly as talked about or played to this extent. It’s very similar to Zed; all the post-KDA players will jump on Galaxy Slayer Zed and swear by it, but all the shrewd, old-schoolers know Championship Zed is where it’s at.
So why 2nd? Well, it’s because #1 on the list is entirely unique in its animations and fluidity and I seriously do not think any Lucian skin, for any skin for that matter, comes even close. That being said, from an aesthetic point of view, High Noon is definitely edgier and wicked, and the concept of merging half-devil VFX with an agile gunslinger was done near perfectly by Riot. A small criticism that I personally have with this skin is that the autoattacks feel somewhat unsatisfying to land, especially in comparison to #1, like they are missing some sort of thump to them. But aside from that, the skin lives up to most of its hype.
Project Lucian: 1350 RP
Release Date: September 7, 2015
Tier: S+ [MUST BUY]
Let me be very clear on this – the whole reason I created this post was to bring attention to the absolute magnificence of this skin and to remind people that, while League of Legends was never and will never be a pay-to-win game, it does have skins that boosts your output. Project Lucian isn’t merely one of those – I would argue that it is the oldest, and still, the most pay-to-win skin in the entire game. Sporting a blazing splash art where the robotized Purifier is in the middle of shooting along with cyborg voice lines, Project Lucian was amongst the initial batch of Project skins released that caused the whole server to crash for a few hours upon their initial installment.
I have a strong belief that most, if not all Project skins, have some degree of pay-to-win factor to them; and this isn’t necessarily because it is a sneaky money-grab feature by Riot. It more has to do with the fact that the whole theme of Project skins, which make the champions into cyborgs and give them advanced, futuristic weaponry, gives way to some sleek VFX that can easily increase the fluidity of the champion. This fluidity is especially noticeable for high-APM champions like Lucian and Vayne, where fluidity and smoothness can make a shockingly noticeable difference in the player’s movements and attacks – especially when you compound it for a long period of time.
I would go so far as to say, that I was never addicted to League of Legends – I was addicted to spamming Project Lucian in the glory days of ADCs back in Season 6. If you’re thinking of picking up Lucian, this skin isn’t an option, it’s a requirement.