League of Legends is getting two new skins: Arclight Yorick and Beekeeper Singed. Teased on the League Instagram account, these skins should be released in patch 7.19. Riot Games must have gone through all the fan requests that have been piling up in their offices since 2011 and are finally giving into the demands. These might be the most anticipated skins of 2017 and there’s been some pretty tough competition. Move over Battle Boss Malzahar, there’s magic that’s about to happen.
Riot Games, why do you have to keep killing your memes? First the sandbox mode, then a Galio rework and now a Yorick skin?! For the first time since the champion’s release -- six years, two months and 20 days, to be exact -- Yorick is getting some new duds. The sad grave digger is going through a philosophical transformation, from a gloomy sad sack into a defender of the light. Joining the ranks of Vayne and Vel’koz, Arclight Yorick adds a bright shine to all of his abilities. His ghouls all have shiny, golden helmets and his ultimate spectre is now an angel, complete with a cherubic smile.
I cannot believe I’m writing about a new Yorick skin. I remember joking with my friends back in college about how pathetic the champion was and how it felt like he was completely forgotten. When his long-awaited rework finally happened, I thought it was finally time for him to get some love, but alas poor Yorick was left with only a blue leotard and a Slash from Guns N’ Roses homage to wear.
Beekeeper Singed is another monster entirely. In 2012, Deviantart artist JetSetJaeToh posted a picture of what he thought would make a great Singed skin. Decked in a full beekeeper’s suit with a trail of angry bugs following him, JetSetJaeToh imagined the mad chemist would have given up his hextech crafting to become an apiarist. Fans loved the idea and have been spreading it around the internet since it’s original posting . For a while, it felt like Riot Games had completely forgotten about the idea, until today when the post went live. I love the direction they went with the skin, giving him a giant honeycomb shield and hive on his back.
That recall animation is going to give me nightmares, though. Inside Singed’s suit is actually a giant bee that loses its mind when it sniffs a flower. I’m not sure what weirdo in the design department came up with that idea, but they deserve a gold medal (or to be locked in a room with very little sunlight).
I don’t want to spend more money on RP, but I think I’m going to have to. I was convinced that Riot Games was just making skins for champions who are already popular, like Star Guardian Ahri, but this blows my hypothesis out of the water. I hope they keep creating cosmetics for League’s lesser known champions, Cho’Gath could really use some new duds.
How do you like these skins? Tell us in the chat of a 5v5 ranked match with a Nocturne flaming about his jungle getting camped.
