Immediately after Invictus Gaming were crowned world champions in 2018, Riot Games designers kicked into high gear figuring out how to capture the team in a set of Worlds skins. Riot reached out to the players right after the final game, and the players were ready: They wanted their skins to follow the theme of fallen angels.
Over the past four months, Riot has been hard at work trying to make skins that go above and beyond what’s been done before. And we have to say: They’re stunning. The care that has gone into everything, from the splash art to the recalls to the other animations, is amazing.
And IG love them as well. But it wasn’t always that way. In a new video, Riot details the process it went through to produce each of these stunning skins.
When IG got their first look at the skins, the players looked confused. Riot tried to use IG’s black and white color scheme with a smokey look to create the fallen angels. But the IG players didn’t think the skins matched the dark fantasy vibe they were looking for. They called for a “darker, more edgy” look, with “bigger wings,” and more black.
“I thought they’d be cool,” jungler Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning said. “They are, but they’re not cool enough.” Support Wang “Baolan” Liu-yi was even more blunt. “I don’t like them,” Baolan said.
Riot quickly realized it needed to make the skins edgier and ditch the “high fashion” vibe it had before. The developer focused on the blacks and whites, utilizing shades of each to break up the monochromatic nature of the design and adding dashes of colors around the edges. Riot also added dark choir tones along with feathery finishes to the sounds of each champion’s abilities.
Riot designers tried to work wings into each skin, too. One of the most stunning animations is Camille’s E, where wings pop out as she dashes towards the wall and then flies toward her target. There are now wings on every character in some way.
Riot also addressed Rakan getting his own skin apart from Xayah. After talking with Baolan, Riot decided that was “the best choice.” Producer Sarah Reinstein joked that Xayah and Rakan are “on a break right now.”
When IG got the second draft of the skins, they were blown away. “So cool,” mid laner Song “Rookie” Eui-jin said, admiring the Irelia skin. “She’s the best one,” another teammate said.
The Riot team also worked in several Easter eggs into the final product. Top laner Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok’s Fiora recall has the champion try to pull Riven’s sword out of the ground—a shoutout to another one of his favorite champions.
“I never thought they’d be made to look so good,” Rookie said. “One of the actions I requested was so, so cool.” Ning agrees. Speaking of his Camille skin, he said to “go buy it fast. It’s so much cooler than the previous two [Camille skins].” Even Baolan was satisfied. He’s okay that Rakan is the lightest of all the IG skins. To him, this sets the skin apart and makes it stand out compared to the other IG skins.
In the end, we have to agree. These skins are absolutely stunning.
