Skip to content

TFT: New Arena Skins

Riot··1 votes·56,289 views

In the quest to continue expanding the number of ways you can personalize your Teamfight Tactics experience, we created three new Freljord-themed arena skins. These skins distinctly represent the factions from the coldest region in Runeterra: Avarosa, Winter's Claw, Frostguard.

To get a sense of what they entail, we figured a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's three thousand words:

Avarosa



Winter's Claw



Frostguard

These skins come with some serious modifications to your arena that are visible to you and your opponents that come visit. Note that in addition to the new frozen geography and lighting. The gold indicators have also been reworked with new models, colors, animations, and SFX!

We started with the Freljord since it’s an area of Runeterra we know pretty well, and we wanted to test what it takes to actually build a skin like this. If the Freljord thematic doesn’t strike your fancy, never fear! We’ve got tons of additional arenas planned both inside and outside of Runeterra. To give you an idea of what we’re thinking, I want to share some very early concepts to show what future arena skins could look like. Note that final execution can and will look far different from the concepts.

Like champion skins on Summoner's Rift, the Freljord arenas will be available for purchase in the store. If you have a favorite, one arena will cost 1380 RP or, if Freljord is really your thing, you can purchase all three for 2900 RP.

Additionally we're going to sell a few arena chromas. Specifically, the Arrowhead, Verdant, and Runic Arena's will be available for 450 RP each.

The set is going to PBE today and should be available on patch 9.22.

80 Comments

Moonboy6523 votes

yo that looks really cool

Amokiir7 votes

I agree! Beautiful actually!

Cynart18 votes

yo put these people to work on the victorious skin, they seem promising

thievius15 votes

10 dollars for an arena skin ok riot lmao

BlackTecno14 votes

You pay 10 dollars for skins with special effects for champions with SFX from time to time, we all do. Not to mention that these look stunning. Looking forward to a Zaun/Piltover board.

Oleandervine6 votes

Except these 3 arenas are chromas of each other. They have the exact same model, therefore - this is original Chromas and Variant skins all over again.

Unless the VFX are extremely different and fucking awe inspring, there is no way in hell that we should be expected to pay full price for 3 different arenas that use the exact same model.

RiotRiot Vitzkrieg7 votes

You're mostly right! These arenas do share a lot of core assets before we add the extra layers of uniqueness on top. That's why if you want to own all 3 you can purchase the bundle at a discount instead of paying the same flat cost 3 times.

LegitosaurusRex2 votes

@Oleandervine That’s how discounts work, lol. Why would you get a discount for buying one skin?

momonga1 votes

I think it'd be really cool if we could have the ambient change with the skin as well like having the aram music paly with the Freljord skins and I would absolutely pay anything to hear the butcher bridge music for for that Bilgewater skin concept. Especially that mid game soundtrack, oh gawd I can't stop getting excited now!!!

Five Magics16 votes

Imagine complaining about optional cosmetic items in a free game.

Savvyal10 votes

I'll buy the star guardian map skin for sure

Flauto Amoroso8 votes

Honestly, it feels like far too much money for some side mode arena skins. I'd feel better about it if they were half the price.

MangoInfinity17 votes

tft is pretty much its own game now, just hasn't moved to it's own client yet due to conveinence

Ice Weasel X4 votes

TBF, TFT isn't really a side mode. It's a completely separate game which just happens to share assets and runs in the same client. Different mechanics, different gameplay, different competitive scene. It's thematically part of the LoL franchise, but that's it.

That said, the cost for arena skins seems ridiculous to me. The beta skins have been underwhelming and mostly unnoticeable with the exception of the dark ones that grab your attention when the screen suddenly darkens, and that may be by design to make the premium ones seem like a big deal. The marketing hype saying they "wanted to test what it takes to actually build a skin like this" makes it sound like some unnavigated territory in technological design. It's a skin. Sure, the new animations might have required some rejiggering, but the ground textures could have been far more noticeable for earlier skins. They just made them too subtle.

They're also inconsistent with how they handle full skins versus chromas between LoL and TFT. In LoL, you only get to use a chroma if you have the base skin. In TFT, they acknowledge that a chroma is just a palette swap of another skin, but you can have that chroma without the base (e.g., Rift and Storm Rift chroma).

HiemDall8 votes

I won't buy these, but they are pretty cool

Shieda Kayn7 votes

You can produce such an amount of arena skins for TFT but won't even bother with skins for the Rift?

TakeYourHeart 16 votes

Summoners rift is bigger and would take way more assets.....

ModAcademy Kayn8 votes

Not to mention that Rift's physical properties actually matter when it comes to being able to interact with the terrain. TFT Maps are purely cosmetic, and non-interactable.

Shieda Kayn1 votes

[{quoted}](name=TakeYourHeart ,realm=NA,application-id=Ag8jgd8Q,discussion-id=9i9dx3Y1,comment-id=00060001,timestamp=2019-10-25T17:41:31.625+0000)

Summoners rift is bigger and would take way more assets.....

No shit, but I wouldn't be surprised if all the resources they put on making TFT arenas so far would (and they most likely aren't stopping anytime soon) could be spent on making Rift skins.

CatDaddy7 votes

today on "old guy yells at cloud"

RavenHusky6 votes

Can we get a five-pointed star on the Valoran City Park skin instead of a four pointed star?

Mittzle3 votes

The Star Guardian star only has 4 points.

Poppystar4 votes

original star guardian group all have five pointed stars.

RavenHusky3 votes

The original set had five pointed stars.

warpenguin5555 votes

Wow. These look amazing. Will they be available in hextech crafting too?

Mistiya4 votes

First, I'll say I have no interest in purchasing arenas. Second I'll say I think several of these are 100% fine but the blood moon and star guardians concepts are not because the field of play is too distracting on the blood moon arena and the skin itself is too dark on the star guardian one.

Players who don't plan to purchase these skins will still have to play in games with players who do, so please, don't obscure the field of play or make the field too dark to see clearly. I'm all for cool arena skins but keep the flashy stuff OFF the field.

kda akali6 votes

The only thing I can see being affected by visual clutter is not knowing when to place an item on a champ when they're in combat on the board. Other than that I don't really see another reason why it's a problem, especially since you can still see health bars very clearly.

lookinggoodlarry4 votes

That Ionia and Blood Moon look slick!

Roselot4 votes

I'd love to see those Bilgewater and Ionia ones in action. They're absolutely gorgeous, especially the brighter Ionia one.

4sh Ketchup4 votes

People here complaining about Rift’s skin, but that would be too big of a change imo, some champion skins are called "pay2win" skin because their visuals are not loyal to their default skin which sometime gives a (very very very) slight advantage to the skin owner because the opponent is not used to the particular skin visual (looking at you darkstar karma, I can't tell the difference between her Q and her RQ 😅) I guess it would be okay if you can only use the map skin on normals. Like we already get some event themed maps and minions. Maybe Riot could try with ARAM first? Swapping between the Howling Abyss and the Butchers Bridge M A Y B E. Happy birthday btw <3

27snowball3 votes

Finally, some good arenas

Thighonia3 votes

these are awesome I know mobile shares inventory with PC but will these work on mobile from the get go when that launches?

Agent Corgi3 votes

So a single arena, each with a fully fleshed out theme (not a chroma), will cost just as much as a Epic-Tier skin & be purchasable in packs of 3?

That honestly sounds pretty good.

father of gaben3 votes

take my money

La Bello2 votes

2900 RP

I think the price kinda jumps the shark ngl. 800 EA would be more in a reasonable ball park imo.

50CaliberHecate2 votes

Don’t forget to try out a PROJECT themed map guys! And maybe a Battle Academy and Arcade themed one!

Chikapu2 votes

Can you make sure that none of the game boards have any gameplay advantages? It sounds silly, but if one map lets you run further away from the board to delay death, I'd feel bad about using a different board that I prefer visually.

imortalone1 votes

awww no Halloween theme :/

Tonyvision1 votes

THE VALORAN CITY ARENA [sg-syndra]

1kb1 votes

Can't wait to get them!

Lofticries1 votes

Beautiful skins. Definitely getting the Lissandra (Frostguard) one. Thanks Riot! [slayer-jinx-catface]

Nishta1 votes

did you guys consider merging the LoL character skins with TFT? so that the characters played on the board in TFT would have the skins that you have from LoL? you would re-use current assets and generate another revenue stream.

and it would further allow to personalize the playing experience. i would love my ultimate/legendary skins to be on the board :)

Kei1433 votes

They have currently set it so you can't use skins on purpose. It gives them a method to introduce different origins/classes for the same champion.

E.g. Cutpurse TF is currently set as a Pirate/Sorcerer using Pick a Card . If they used Musketeer TF instead, then you probably would get a Noble/Ranger using his E and will be manaless.      

In the coming set2, they've made use of the champion skins to create elemental themes. Wild fire zyra and shockbalde zeds (and many other champions) can be in their respective inferno and electric origins because of this.

Safe Coconut1 votes

Skins look great, though price point feels a little too high. At the same time, 975 would be a bit too much cheaper IMO Interested in future for TFT specific things not tied to Little Legends or arenas

WatchDogs Legion1 votes

Yeah Give RiotGames your MONEYYYYYYYY BOISSSSSSS

Helcaraxë1 votes

Maaaan I’m excited for arena skins. Imagine coordinating it to the champs you buy!

Stexe1 votes

Wait, are the old chromas coming back? I really only grinded for them because I thought they wouldn't be available in the future... =/

RIP Helicopter 1 votes

that bilgewater skin is a must please make it an unlockable arena and be locked behind a paywall

Ephensta1 votes

Honestly, is that a sharingan? I do like the two on the right though. The moonlit one that reminds me of the star guardians invasion mode and the (I'm guessing) Ionian one. Lovely, peaceful visuals. Akali Ashe

Mid Lane Annie1 votes

What about the old map you guys used for 1v1's. The Lava map from back in s4 would be dope as a board, or the destruction of ryzes home as a board with the red tendrils goin around :D.

More from Announcements