Hwei’s Winterblessed LoL skin hit with mass player complaints due to poor spell visibility

On Dec. 6, Riot Games introduced Hwei, one of the most complicated champions to join League of Legends. Players are still getting accustomed to facing off against an enemy with 10 different spells—which is already tough as is—but his Winterblessed skin is making things even more difficult.

The Visionary’s launch skin, Winterblessed Hwei, added a wintry flair to his artistic appeal, giving him a ton of snowy white visuals on his flashy ability set. The only issue, however, is that the skin has also given all of his spells the same color palette, making some abilities indistinguishable from another while on the Summoner’s Rift.

For example, Hwei’s Devastating Fire ability looks very similar to his Grim Visage ability, since they are both smaller projectile-based skillshots that travel in a straight line. It is far too confusing and difficult for players to discern the small differences between some of these abilities, especially when his base skin easily differentiates the three spellbooks with the colors red, blue, and purple.

This spell identification issue was also brought up during an AMA on the League subreddit, where the developers who made Hwei were answering various questions around the champion. Many different questions were fielded by the devs, but this one specific query was left unanswered—much to the chagrin of the players.

Although the developers haven’t addressed this problem yet, one change that could alleviate the issue would be to add a hue or glow to each different spellbook. The skin would still maintain all of its winter-based animations and details, but give players an easier way to identify which attack is heading their way next.

There have been multiple different champions with problematic skins throughout the history of League, like iBlitzcrank, DJ Sona, or Elementalist Lux, all of which make identifying abilities harder for the opposing team. They haven’t been changed or removed, but if Hwei is ever picked up on the competitive stage, we could see Winterblessed Hwei make it to the banned skins list for pros in 2024.