New hypercar-inspired Prime 2.0 skins come to VALORANT tomorrow, include Phantom and Karambit melee

VALORANT’s Prime skins are some of the tactical shooter’s cleanest cosmetics. And tomorrow, we’re getting more.

Riot unveiled the Prime 2.0 skins today, bringing back the modern aesthetic for a slew of other weapons. The bundle, which will be available for in-store purchase tomorrow, includes the Phantom, Frenzy, Bucky, Odin, and a Karambit-style melee. And if the Prime 1.0 line was a luxury sportscar, the new series has evolved to a “hypercar,” according to senior weapons artist Chris Stone.

“We took inspiration from many hypercar designs that you’d see in the Geneva Motor Show,” Stone said. “Specifically, the exhaust ports and FX interaction on the side of the guns was inspired by car exhaust backfire on high-end cars.”

When designing Prime 2.0, the devs wanted it to feel “more aggressive” than its predecessor. So they added more “angular shapes” and “emissive elements” that go from the front to the back of the weapon, Stone said.

To differentiate Prime 2.0 from 1.0, Riot left out the trademark purple accents. Instead, the new cosmetics are draped in white, black, and gold hues. And the howling wolf finisher animation is replaced by a barreling bull that tosses its target in the air before it explodes.

Buying the entire bundle will run players 7,100 VP, throwing in a player card, a spray, and two gun buddies for free. For individual purchases, you’ll have to pay 1,775 VP per gun skin and 3,550 VP for the melee.

This isn’t the first time Riot has added onto an already existing VALORANT skin line. The Glitchpop 2.0 was released last month, bringing back the cyber-theme for a number of popular guns like the Operator, Vandal, and Phantom. The bundle also included an ax, differing from the typical knife melee.

While Riot isn’t against making skins for existing skin lines, there aren’t any planned right now.

“We’re still gathering player feedback before we decide to commit to making more skins for an existing skin line,” art lead Sean Marino said.

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