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League of Legends: Taliyah Skins’ Review – StrategyZero
May 192016
 
Taliyah, the Stoneweaver
Taliyah, the Stoneweaver

Shurima has risen and so its children return to protect it. Taliyah has trained hard under expert tutelage but the time for each sparrow to fly eventually comes. Now that she’s left her nest she displays all her hard-hitting might and love for her land. She realises that she’s still learning though but she can still teach a lesson or two for those most impudent to stand against her. So, if you meet her in your travels, surely adapting to each new culture she encounters, don’t forget to give her a pebble. She can do a lot with it and maybe she’ll teach you to do something with it too. As for which cultures she likes to explore, that’s what the skin review is for.

Freljord Taliyah
Freljord Taliyah Splash Art Freljord Taliyah Model
Category: Regular
Price: 1350 RP
Concept: Taliyah as an iceweaver.
Model: New model for Taliyah and new caribou for her recall.
Particles: New particles for her abilities, auto-attack, laugh and recall.
Animations: New recall animation.
Sounds: New sounds for her abilities, auto-attack and recall. New quotes when moving, attacking and new interactions with Freljordian champions.
Splash Art: Snow and caribous, that’s all the context we have for Taliyah’s appearance. Granted, taking care of a herd of furry animals is enough to grab one’s attention. Regardless, the setting is simple and empty and there’s only an impending avalanche in the distance to give meaning to Taliyah’s actions. She may be protecting her animals but it’s a rather barebones presentation. With that said, the intense depth of field effect is ridiculous as the caribou’s are drowning in a mist. Ice and snow aren’t interesting and while Taliyah’s efforts in keeping the herd are visible around them they fail to stand out as the whole of the background is so homogeneous.
Taliyah herself makes a clear contrast with the rest of the piece due to her bright colours and more detailed depiction. Depth of field is still abused, as her right arm and hair reveal, but the rest of her is detailed enough; the snow over her clothes and the calf are good touches. Although there’s a certain opaque feel to her portrayal where colours are never as bright as they should; like the dim gem in her tiara or the golden earrings. Add to this the inexpressive face and careless, to say the least, way of sliding and stakes don’t seem to be particularly high; yet she doesn’t seem to be enjoying herself either.
Overall, this is a splash art that makes a sensible but lacking presentation of Taliyah and her herd of caribou. The idea isn’t bad but the depiction lacks vibrancy. The result is a piece that works but that isn’t as effective as an exciting presentation card as it might’ve intended.
Rating: Star clip art used in skin reviews at StrategyZeroStar clip art used in skin reviews at StrategyZeroStar clip art used in skin reviews at StrategyZero
Conclusion: While the transformation from stoneweaver to iceweaver is interesting it’s also natural and even predictable. The obvious similarities between rock and ice allow Taliyah to make an easy transition from one element to the other without too much work in the adaptation. Sadly, that does show in the skin; which for its price isn’t a good signal. The Freljordian clothes are nice and the washing of her physical characteristics isn’t surprising; even if she’s only supposed to be visiting the region. It’s not a real problem as moving from desert to tundra and adapting to a different culture is prone to show evident physical changes. Regardless, everything is rather conventional and timid. No relevant change is present only superficial adaptations. The same applies to the all-new particles and sounds. The ice is effectively presented but it feels just like blue rocks. The similarities are too obvious and so the new personality is weak and lacks any significant features to define it. Even the recall struggles despite the presence of a caribou; which isn’t used anywhere else so it can seem unrelated.
Actually, the real problem isn’t that the skin doesn’t accomplish its shy transformation from stone to ice. It’s that the result is too close to the original and also doesn’t define a personality by itself. In essence, it’s the same Taliyah but with a change of colour and sound. It’s too barebones and simple a transformation to feel unique as all its appeal is drawn from the classic persona. The new quotes do try to alleviate that but can only do so much on their own.
In conclusion, Freljord Taliyah doesn’t truly feel Freljordian. It’s instead a simple change to ice powers that feels identical to the classic ones. The ice never feels as such and the change of clothes is ineffective in displaying a different culture due to how generic they are. Overall, this is an expected simple release skin. It doesn’t go far from the classic base and seems to do an effort to keep everything as close to the classic self as possible. In that regard, it is a success. As a skin with a unique personality, it needs more work.

SSG Taliyah
SSG Taliyah Splash Art SSG Taliyah Model
Category: Legacy
Price: 1350 RP
Concept: Taliyah as a classy stoneweaver.
Model: New model for Taliyah and new glow for her cloth strips.
Particles: New particles for her abilities, auto-attack, high speed run and recall.
Animations: New recall animation.
Sounds: New sounds for her abilities, auto-attack and recall.
Splash Art: The setup is pretty simple: a lake surrounded by carved rocks in the form of waves. There’s a statue of Mega Gnar which, despite how diffuse it is, looks photorealistic. Besides some rocks for the champions to stand on, except Taliyah whose feet aren’t visible, we can only comment on how clear and fresh the water looks. It’s a setting for the champions to be present but there’s no content or meaning in it.
The champions appear in a way that part of their personality is visible in their stance. Xayah and Rakan hold hands to represent their link, Gnar is mildly curiuos, Taliyah is confident, Jarvan IV serious and Ezreal cocky. Each portrayal is eloquent enough about the look of each champion. Taliyah, being at the forefront shows the sharpest colours with an appealing soft glow on her strips; Jarvan IV and Gnar’s transparencies are more solid. Ezreal manages to show a nice glow to represent his powerful magic but Xayah and Rakan look a bit dull with washed out colours.
All added together, this is a shared splash art that takes the shared part to heart. Each champion gets a good share of the space available but the composition is content with simply showing each one. The setting has little significance and each champion is only able to display a bit of personality in their stance. The result is a splash art that works at the basics but doesn’t aim at anything else.
Rating: Star clip art used in skin reviews at StrategyZeroStar clip art used in skin reviews at StrategyZero
Conclusion: In spite of the good first impression given by the model, SSG Taliyah is simply a more stylised interpretation of the Stoneweaver. Clothes are richer with nice wave patterns and glowing, translucent strips of cloth; which makes them quite eye-catching and attractive. It’s just a change of clothes but one that shows a classier, perhaps even aristocratic, Taliyah.
Particles show that the core hasn’t changed. Her rocks change to bluish tones and are ornamented with wave decorations like her clothes, still they are stones. The result is a more fantastic display of stone magic but one that, despite looking classier, is still the same as in Classic. The blue glows help with the style but it’s clear that we are moving across the same surface without delving any deeper.
Sounds are, expectedly, that of breaking rocks but soft and more brittle than the solid feel of Classic. This matches the visuals well for a classy take on stone magic. However, there’s nothing really new.
The recall is half display of stone magic and half reference to the associated SSG player. As such, one part is more fitting to the League fantasy than the other.
All added together, it doesn’t take much to say that SSG Taliyah is Blue Taliyah. The core is certainly unchanged: that of a stone sorceress. The approach is classier and more stylised but that’s only the surface. It’s fitting and attractive however, hardly as special as a legacy skin in this tier warrants.

Conclusion

For a release skin, Freljord Taliyah is no surprise. It’s another skin that forgoes a distinct personality in favour of keeping close to the original identity. The feel of the ice is identical to the rocks and the clothes fail at showing the Freljordian culture. The result is a skin that lacks flavour and whose actual appeal is the one given by the classic style. All in all, it’s a different aspect but also a superficial take on a Freljordian iceweaver.

SSG Taliyah is a classier and more stylised interpretation on the Stoneweaver. The core is untouched but the surface changes with an attractive but shallow new take. For such a special, legacy skin the approach seems rather timid despite the appeal that it evidently has.

  16 Responses to “League of Legends: Taliyah Skins’ Review”

  1. In the Particle and Sound sections, you say “his” instead of referring Taliyah to a her.

    • That’s what happens when someone checks something thoroughly: something always get by unnoticed. Thanks for the correction.

  2. Will you update Trundle and Tristana reviews plus other skins whose splash was changed?

    • We are updating them but there are over a hundred splash arts to update and review. We will eventually update everything. However, it will take a while as we want the reviews to be well done.

      • Dont worry, it must be a real hassle to work on this page , take your time 😀

        • The real problem is that League of Legends is saturated with content. It has too large a cast of champions and an unmanageable amount of skins. We are talking of hundreds and thousands respectively; with more being constantly released. In consequence, to keep everything up to date there’s no other option but to do so progressively. We will update everything nonetheless, so that reviews can be as useful as possible.

  3. Hey Zero I just started using this site and have found it really useful since Hextech Crafting has been released and I needed to know what the skins were worth before upgrading them into permanents. I was wondering if you’ll be doing a review on the soon to be released Super Galaxy skins for Shyvanna, Fizz and Kindred.

  4. They should have a Pool Party Taliyah, I know they have a lot Pool Party champs already, but just imagine, The passive being riding a surf board through the jungle, Your E would make a land mine field out of sand castles, or sea shells, what ever digs your fancy, Her W could be a life guard chair striking up out of the ground, or maybe a spout of water, I would prefer the life guard chair, but whatever works. Her Q could be maybe Her having buckets, that when launched, throw sand at them, this might be weird though, and I was grasping at straws when I actually started hoping they made this skin, Her R would be obvious, riding a GOD DAYUMN TIDAL WAVE YO, But her original ult, makes a wall, so maybe here she would leave a trail of water (That is un-crossable, duh) while riding the wave to the end of it’s range on a surf board, and if she weren’t to be riding it, the wave would just go on without her I guess… I don’t know about the skin itself, or the splash art, and I know a lot of hard time and work goes into making skins, and this is kind of a half assed idea, so my bad, I’m not a professional artist so I can’t really show you what I’m thinking of, just kind of explain it in a large ass paragraph, also, pardon my french, can we swear on the Discussion? I’ll have this saved somewhere if I need to edit it for that reason, sorry, And I know Pool Party Leona already has a surfboard. I’m just impatient and want more Taliyah skins, because you know, GEOLOGY ROCKS! Get it? Because she like, throws ro- okay I’ll stop here…

    • Actually, that’s a great idea that can go on two different directions: one based on water and another based on sand. For Pool Party, specifically, it might be better to go with water to fit the theme already established for the other champions. The ideas you expose for her abilities are quite good so there’s a good base to start designing the skin from there.

      With regards to sand it would probably have to be something entirely different. However, that leaves it free to tie directly into her lore. After all, she’s a native from the Shuriman desert. That means that going with sand magic suits not only mechanically, as sand is small rocks and minerals, but also conceptually into her core identity.

      These look like good ideas to hopefully make some great future skins for Taliyah. We agree that the Stoneweaver has ample potential for manipulating many kinds of elements and this two are good examples. Hopefully, Riot is listening.

  5. Hey Zero,

    I really love your skin reviews. Is there a chance you could review chroma packs some day?

    • It’s something on our to-do list due to popular request. We’ll try to have at least the base skins chroma packs reviewed. The chromas for skin we aren’t very sure how to tackle them. Considering that they ask for ownership of a specific skin we are looking at them very critically.

  6. Hi Zero, I personally not really fond of any of Taliyah’s skins I feel the concept is great and has potential but the execution is lacking and wasted imo.

    That being said, I’m starting to get bored and used to her Classic skin that I need a second opinion on getting a skin for her.

    My main issue with Freljord Taliyah is that it looks uninspiring and basically just a remodel and recolor of particles etc brown > blue/white. The sounds are even more dissapointing they lack the ‘shattering’ Ice sounds that Ice were suppose to make when it comes in contact.

    SSG Taliyah has the better look of the two but suffers from timid execution like the skin is brimming with potential same goes to Freljord Tali. That said Freljord Tali does have its perks like the unique voice line and the possibility of 50% sales. And I personally will not spend 1350Rp that easily lol.

    What do you think Zero? which of this skin do you recommend or should I just wait for another Tali’s skin that hopefully does better than the current ones.

    • Truth be told, neither of Taliyah’s skins are great. With that in mind, if you really want one, then Freljord on sale is the best option. Perhaps a new skin would actually be a great option; perhaps not. Freljord could be much better but it’s just alright.

      In any case, we recommend to get a skin if you really like it and not just because it’s the only option available. In the end, the skin will only be able to deliver what it can and it may not satisfy as expected. We understand the appeal of variety but check whether Freljord Taliyah has something you like. If there is, then a sale is the best time to get it.

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