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The Champions in the 1000 day club who missed out...

Storn Saroe·1/23/2020, 1:51:24 PM·18 votes·18,167 views

Firstly, I appreciate that RIOT over the last few years have attempted to make skins for those who have missed out, even if the final results in some cases have been hit or miss. So recently they announced the next massive list of "unpopular" champions they are making skins for. As a quick reminder this was the list: Skarner, Xerath, Mordekaiser, Kindred, RekSai, Velkoz, Karthus, Sion, Twitch, Taric, Pantheon, Nautilus, Trundle, Bard, Ornn, and Taliyah. I am super happy for the champs on this list, I am personally a big Rek'Sai player so super hyped to see whatever skin she gets. My one hope is that they spend time thinking what skins would be good for the champion, instead of thinking "we need to make them skins where can we fit them?"

EDIT: I forgot Zyra was announced in champions receiving a prestige skin in the first half of the year, so yay for Zyra.

Moving on, there will always be champions who miss out so I was interested to look at those in the 1000 day club who missed out this time around and maybe discuss why that may be. Looking at champs not on the list getting skins who are in the 1000 day club we have: Shyvana, Kalista, Maokai, Azir, Quinn, Kennen, and an honourable mention to Zac who is at 932 with his last skin as SKT.

EDIT: removed Orianna as the spreadsheet had the date for darkstar not victorious, so my bad for not catching that one. Thanks Zyniya for spotting it.

Lets dig in. Shyvana(1337 days since) - I can understand why Shyvana missed out, she is definitely well overdue but we know she is high priority for a VGU which is the same reason champions like Mordekaiser, Urgot and Yorick went so long without skins so no real mystery here. Kalista(1253 days since) - Okay this is my pick for most unfortunate exclusion. This champion has only received legacy esports skins since her release 1890 days ago (yup go check, she has one skin in the shop), her most recent being an SKT skin and she has never received a 'high quality skin' (worth more than 975). People say RIOT forgets Taliyah, but Kalista has it way worse imo, and honestly I do not understand this one. PLEASE RIOT MAKE HER A SKIN. Maokai(1171 days since) - Another Shadow Isles champion who can't catch a break in the skins department. Maokai had a mini rework including a completely reworked ult which I can understand putting skins on the backburner, also comparing him to the champions on the list I can see why he might have missed out. Still, hopefully he gets a cool skin like coven/elderwood next year. Azir(1099 days since) - Azir is a super niche champ, and I can imagine skins taking a lot of work for him due to his sand soldiers. That and his time spent receiving mini reworks means there is no real surprise he was looked over this time. Still he is one of my most played and I can't wait for him to get his next skin as a lot of his current skins do not resonate with me. Quinn(1085 days since) - So this is an interesting one for me. She is a female human character with a ton of fan concepts to work with, RIOTs bread and butter, and similarly to Kalista she is the only other champion on this list who has never had a 'high quality skin'. Admittedly her unique playstyle made her a niche champ but her popularity has been increasing in recent years. There are a couple of reasons why the original duo could have been looked over though. Firstly she also spent some time with mini reworks, after her poorly received marksman update. Also her last skin release was a bit of a mess. Her heartseeker skin was met with a lot of backlash from the community, mostly due to some execution issues and a limited scope which failed to fulfil the thematic objective, causing a series of rushed changes on the PBE. Point is after an experience like that for the skins team, I can see why they would be shy on pulling the trigger. If that is the case though it is a shame, as although the Quinn main community is a small, passionate and sometimes daunting group, they are generally well intentioned. Kennen(1029 days since) - I am not too sure why he has fallen so far down the chain. Pikachu had a VFX update a little while ago but beyond that nothing really sticks out. Either way it is hard to say he is more deserving than most the champions who made the list but hopefully he will get something next year.

31 Comments

QMighty1/23/2020, 10:30:51 PM6 votes

Kalista is definitely the most egregious exclusion, especially if she really doesn't get a skin this year, which I have a sinking feeling she won't or they would have mentioned her.

Zac should technically be on the list too since team skins aren't supposed to count (just like Victorious Ori) and I'd argue Kha should be there too considering Ryze just got a Sandman skin even though he got Victorious at the end of last year. Kha has only had Championship since Dark Star in May 2017 (same time as Ori)

Also, I think it's possible that (at least) (Azir Quinn Kennen Orianna Khazix ), the bottom half of the list could still get skins. In the video they mentioned Trundle even though his skin was already on PBE, but not Olaf , who was also in the 1000 days club and was also already on PBE. That said, I don't see it happening for Kalista Shyvana Maokai . Kali 'cause they hate her, Shy 'cause rework and I don't think anyone cares about Maokai.

Storn Saroe1/23/2020, 2:01:34 PM6 votes

Another interesting note is RIOTs inclusion of Twitch in the list of "unpopular champions" since he got a snowdown skin last Christmas, although honestly I was expecting him to get one this year anyway since it is the year of the rat.

4 Step Cadence1/23/2020, 2:05:35 PM5 votes

Zyra is getting a skin and its coming with a Prestige edition.

They intentionally didn't list all the champions that are getting skins this year because that defeats the purpose of them being a surprise. They even stated this after the skins video was released.

Stay informed, kids.

Yordle Gunner1/24/2020, 1:43:46 AM3 votes

Kennen needs a Voice and Model update so I'd like to see that done before he gets a new skin.

Kiwi Lemonade1/24/2020, 2:03:29 AM2 votes

They nerfed Kalista so hard even the skin team forgets about her, lol.

I don't feel any kind of way for her anyway so I guess I don't much care either. The only one that truly, TRULY surprises me here is Shyvana. Maokai has a lot of mini elements that makes it pretty time consuming, Azir is very niche playerbase, kennen is kind of linear design wise, how many ways can you make pikachu (1350rp worthy).

But Shyvana? She has a lot of opportunity for skins and skin lines, including many already pre-existing, like Jurassic would be good (I guess that's boneclaw? Meh.). But most importantly - this is the season they hyped up dragons SO much, and would've been PERFECT for a Shyvana ultimate skin to go with it, perhaps a skin that adjusts itself with dragon kills, or when the map changes she does too? So many missed opportunities. I can only imagine the reason is because her pick rate is low, which I understand I guess. But Udyr and Sona both got ulti skins and they are bottom of the barrel picking too. Poor dragon baby grill.

Tin Obliterates1/23/2020, 10:41:08 PM2 votes

In Zac's case he's been waiting longer than 932 days, they don't count team skins.

i4got2pull0ut1/23/2020, 11:15:40 PM2 votes

I know I probably sound like a broken record with how often I say it but... Kalistas only skin that is not seasonally worlds related is bloodmoon, her release skin

Nøctμrne1/23/2020, 7:37:53 PM2 votes

A lot of these champions have either transformations, size changes, and minions, too much work for them to make new skins for them since it takes extra work!

PhillipDaGreat1/26/2020, 2:09:09 AM1 votes

cries in Illaoi

Zyniya1/23/2020, 2:07:10 PM1 votes

Zyra is going to be getting a Prestige skin this year. Ori had that one last year if you made it to Gold so I wouldn't count here. Shy is pretty much next for reworks so I don't think shes a good choice either.

I would say Quinn and Azir. Leaning more to Azir Quinn is just a female human no really anything special to do with her but Azir can get something really cool.

GentlemanGhidora1/23/2020, 8:25:25 PM1 votes

I'm not particularly excited for Trundle's new skin. It doesn't feel like it fits him but I suppose my favourite champion getting ANY new skin is better than relying on the "joke-y" skins, barring Traditional which the W effect is REALLY hard to see the borderline edge of at a quick glance.

I say Zac, despite being the one lagging behind the pack for days without a skin, is probably the most LIKELY to have a skin out of the voting list, despite Riot's stance that supposedly he's a difficult one to design for. Magma, nanobots, confetti, rubble, etc. There's SO MUCH POTENTIAL.

14daysuspensionk1/23/2020, 11:04:53 PM1 votes

Why the Hell did they even mention the popualr champs for the list, also give us Star Guaridan Urgot please.

QMighty1/23/2020, 11:07:18 PM1 votes

P.S. Volibear should be in the "hasn't gotten a skin for a long time but is going to soon" list

Lemons221/24/2020, 8:30:55 AM1 votes

I think Kalista...if nothing else for the selfish reason that they will likely buff her just a bit when they release the skin. Sylas got a buff, then he got a new skin. Trundle got a buff, and will soon get a new skin. Coincidence? I think not. Same thing will likely happen if Kalista gets a skin. Plus I've always like her design so I think the skin would be cool as well.

Sukishoo1/26/2020, 12:41:36 AM1 votes

They are making 120+ skins this year. They said the list was only some of the champions they absolutely are going to be getting out in the year. There are many others not mentioned that can still appear (especially considering it is 120)