Champions Hoping for a Skin... Someday... Somehow

A couple months ago (after Kayle's new skin) I posted in Miscellaneous about the top ten champions that have waited the longest for a new skin. With Pool Party Taric knocking out the #2 spot he had held since Bloodstone in August 2011, I will graciously update my list and expand it to fifteen. Part of the reason is because I don't merely wish to copy/paste my old post, but I also want to point out that all fifteen are coming close to the two year mark (which has nothing on our #1 spot).

Now I don't want to drag out the discussion too much, so I'll start with the Fnatic Skins of September 2014. Of the five champions that were included in this release, only Gragas has been touched (Caskbearer in December 2015). Our other four champions (Corki, Javan IV, Karthus and Janna) are quickly approaching a two year anniversary. I admit it to be a little surprising that Corki (7 skins if you include UFO) hasn't seen anything after the Marksmen Update and that the relatively popular Janna (6 skins if you include Victorious) has received less recent attention than Sona and Nami. As for the other two, I'm starting to suspect Karthus (5 skins not including the Chroma) and Jarvan (6 skins if you include Victorious) might be in the Champion Update sights. It is worth noting that all four champions have decent champion pool sizes, so getting passed over for others with only 3 or 4 skins won't upset everyone.

While I couldn't exactly assign spots to a shared theme, our #11 spot is held firmly by Final Boss Veigar with a late release in August 2014. Now I'm aware that the tiny sorcerer already has 8 skins and there are many that wouldn't care if Veigar gets looked over for another whole year. Regardless of pool size, he does hold the spot and deserves to be mentioned.

Hazmat Heimerdinger from July 2014 has almost hit the two year mark and holds the #10 spot. With only 5 skins, I suspect the delay on Heimer is the scope of work involved. Perhaps we should be anticipating a 1350 Harrowing skin in the near future.

SKT Zyra from May 2014 is next at #9. Zyra has one of the smallest skin pools in the game (only 3) considering her four year tenure as a champion in League (released July 2012). Like Heimer, scope of work probably plays a huge part in Zyra's selection for skin ideas. But with a Harrowing skin already, I can't even speculate what could be in the works for our deadly flower.

Moving down the list to #8 is Super Galaxy Rumble from April 2014. Rumble is another champion with the lowly 3 skin pool, but he's actually been around a whole year longer than Zyra and two of his skins were given on his release (released April 2011). I'm coughing this up to the Kennen factor (a former top 10 whom nobody knew why he was there) and hope to see something from our mechanized menace soon.

I concede that the fears of a former Viktor main were justified. When I first started taking note of how many skins were released (around last Christmas) and how far along the skin team had come, I was reminded over how much Viktor had been neglected. I agreed that the champion was in the top twenty but would likely be in the sights of the skin team in the near future.

That was over six months ago. Placed at #7 with Creator Viktor from October 2013, the cybernetic mage has persevered in his quest to become the most unloved champion in League. He has some pretty stiff competition, with a December 2011 release and a 3 skin pool which features two from release. I can sense him cackling with certainty that Rumble will soon be eliminated from contention and that a spot in the top 5 is within reasonable reach.

Our #6 is our recently reworked Shen with TPA from May 2013. Shen boasts a skin pool of six, though some would argue that a couple are nothing more than a glorified chroma pack similar to Ashe, Kennen and Akali. I think the reason behind him remaining on this list is the surplus of simple skins. It will take a larger project like Harrowing or Snowdown for Shen to be pulled from the top ten.

Cassiopeia breaks into the top five with Jade Fang from February 2013. While she has four skins, she was a December 2010 release. Recently reworked, I hope she is high in consideration for any skin ideas coming across the table.

The man, the myth, the legend... Swain hobbles to #4 with Tyrant from May 2012. May 2012. That's more than four years ago. That's before Zyra was released. You can tell that he is the inspiration for Viktor. Swain also holds a precious 3 skin pool that includes two that were made on his release in October 2010. I believe there was talk that Swain would require more of an update than the Mage Roster team could provide, meaning it could be another year or more before the ruler of Noxus falls from this list. Keep dreaming Viktor.

Creeping in at #3 is Urgot with Battlecast from March 2012. Urgot has everything that Swain has, but two months ahead of schedule. With two of his three skins from his release in August 2010, Urgot is rumored to be the top pick for champions to rework in 2017, so his place in the top five is more secure than any of the others. The only question here I have is will the two month ahead schedule continue.

The skin team has made a point to target the reworks high in my former lists. Sion and Taric have both fallen. It may only be a short time for Poppy to possess the #2 spot with her Scarlet Hammer from February 2012. But unlike her predecessors, Poppy actually has a decent six skins in her pool. And unlike Shen, Poppy already has a Harrowing and Snowdown skin, so I don't see her eligible for any of the traditional projects this year. Actually, my real reason to say that she won't hold #2 for long stems from a hope that our #1 won't make it through the year.

And I'm sure everyone knows who stands alone at the top of this list. Yorick, released with two skins in June 2011, has never received an additional skin. He is the oldest champion with two skins (I think ZAC is the next oldest with a March 2013 release and he has a chroma while the next is Azir with a September 2014 release). There are high hopes that Yorick will come off the champion update with a new skin or will at least have a Harrowing skin released shortly afterwards for him if the two dates don't synergize. However, as Harrowing has been freed of the Halloween date for ESport reasons... it seems quite reasonable to assume the two dates will coincide. We might even see something similar to the Skarner love (Battlecast Nov 2014, GotS Apr 2015) which could jump the gravedigger into the ranks of champions with four skins.

On a side note, I decided against doing a top twenty. It may surprise some, but with the promise of Project and SKT skins looming, our #20 is from February 2015. February 2015. That feels too recent to seriously mention. As I said back in December... the skin team has been doing some serious work and certainly deserve the recognition. There's a lot of champions in League to keep up with.