5 skins in LoL that are considered “Pay2Win” in the community
In League of Legends you can easily buy champions with in-game currency and are not at a disadvantage compared to players who spend real money. However, the game also offers skins that change the look of the champions. Some adjustments give you a small advantage, so players also refer to these skins as “Pay2Win”.
What are these customizations through skins? The benefits mostly come from changing the champion’s visual effects. These ensure, for example, that some skills are more difficult to recognize because they change color or their animation.
However, such large adjustments are usually only made on epic or even rarer skins.
We present 5 skins that some players consider problematic.
Cosmic Lux and Cosmic Destroyer Lux
With the Cosmic skins, there was an adjustment to all of Lux’s ability animations, leading to an interesting trick with Light Bind (“Q”) and Prismatic Barrier (“W”).
In fact, the Prismatic Barrier is just a shield on allies and harmless to enemies. If they are hit by the ability, nothing happens. However, the animation can be used to hide the light shackle inside. The Light Shackle, in turn, locks hit enemies in place.
So the skin makes it possible to hold enemies by surprise, even though they actually only expected a harmless shield. Simultaneous use does not take much practice either, as the streamer “Daenerysz” on YouTube shows:
How much does the skin cost? The two skins cost 1,820 RP each.
Sinister privateer Vladimir
This skin offers two changes. For one, the abilities are getting a bit darker overall, making the animations harder to see. On the other hand, the sound effects are significantly quieter.
Both play an important role in the ultimate blood plague (“R”). You can hardly see this in the area of the river in a larger team fight because it is so dark. Additionally, when the ability deals damage a second time, you don’t hear the sound. Both can cost you the team fight and thus the game.
You can see what such an effect looks like in the flow at about second 49 and minute 1:44 in the video by YouTuber Generic Vladimir Main:
How much does the skin cost? The skin costs 1,350 RP.
Incidentally, the “Arctic Ops” skin by Gragas also has a similar problem. The barrels become light blue objects there, which are harder to see in bushes or the river. The Ultimate is also difficult to spot in the river.
Arc varus
With the Arclight skin, Varus’ abilities get a bright, almost yellow effect. It’s hard to see against the green background in the lane.
This causes the Chain of Corruption (“R”) ability to become a bright yellow dash that is also incorrectly sized in the hitbox. This makes the ability incredibly difficult to dodge. However, once struck, it locks enemies in place.
You can check out the skin in this video by SkinSpotlights:
How much does the skin cost? The skin currently costs 975 RP.
Zyra’s Justicar skin has a similar problem. However, the effects have already been improved a bit here, so that they now stand out more strongly from the background.
Infernal Shen
With the Infernal skin, Shen’s abilities get a bright, flaming effect. Especially in larger team fights, it is difficult to recognize these abilities.
This becomes particularly difficult with the Ultimate Geeinter Halt (“R”). Because here Shen teleports to an ally and then suddenly stands next to him. While the shield is still clearly visible, the animation from the teleport itself is almost non-existent. However, if the Shen Teleport’s shield is destroyed, the animation will also disappear.
So if the shield disappears quickly or you’re not paying close attention, you’ll suddenly be dealing with another enemy.
You can take a closer look at the skin in this spotlight, although the negative effect in team fights does not apply here:
How much does the skin cost? You can get the Infernal Shen for 1,350 RP.
PROJECT: Ashe
Ashe and her Ultimate Enchanted Crystal Arrow (“R”) is an adventure in itself. The arrow has a significantly larger hitbox than the animation actually depicts.
With the Project skin, however, there is the special effect that the arrow rotates. This makes it look even thinner than Ashe’s normal skin in some situations, making it even harder to dodge.
You can check out the skin in this Spotlight video:
How much does the skin cost? The PROJECT skin costs 1820 RP.
Honorable Mention: Steel Legion Lux
Lux’s Steel Legion skin was so problematic early on that it was long banned from pro tournaments and may still be, as banned skins are not openly communicated.
With patch 9.24 in November 2019, some animations were revised, but players are still not happy with this skin. Her Shiny Singularity (“E”) ability is slightly lighter and bluer than the normal skin. This makes the ability to see difficult, especially in the river. The other abilities are also a bit harder to spot.
Which skins do you consider Pay2Win? And are there skins that annoy you beyond these benefits, such as sound effects or customized animations? Feel free to write it in the comments.
Currently, Riot is planning a number of balance adjustments that players have been asking for:
LoL looks to address its biggest issue that players have been grumbling about for years – Riot announces major balance change
Reference-mein-mmo.de
