Feb 112013
Lunar Revel 2012
To welcome the year of the water dragon, a few champions have decided to celebrate with guqin music, martial arts and dragon-styled equipment. This celebration may seem a little sober but what they are offering surely looks good. Relax to the pleasing sound of the guqin and join the festivities with the help of this skins’ review.
Guqin Sona
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| Category: | Regular |
| Price: | 975 RP |
| Concept: | Sona wears a Chinese dress to welcome the Lunar New Year while her Etwahl becomes a Guqin. |
| Model: | New model for Sona and her Etwahl. |
| Particles: | No new particles. |
| Animations: | No new animations. |
| Sounds: | New sound effects for Sona’s abilities and new background music for her auras. Check Ciderhelm’s skin video to listen to them. |
| Splash Art: | The splash art is well done, effectively merging Sona’s character with Chinese traditions. While the art has a few minor problems with perspectives and shows more details than Sona’s model has it’s not bad at all |
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| Conclusion: | Few skins provide much more than a new model that may or may not affect some abilities. While visually Guqin Sona is just a re-model, aurally it’s much more than that. The use of a Guqin changes the whole feel of Sona while keeping her character intact. Aside from legendary skins there are very few opportunities to get this much for this price. If you like Sona, you deserve to own Guqin Sona. |
Dragon Fist Lee Sin
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| Category: | Regular |
| Price: | 975 RP |
| Concept: | Lee Sin dressed as a classic martial artist from a Hong Kong film. |
| Model: | New model for Lee Sin. |
| Particles: | No new particles. |
| Animations: | New animations for standing idle, taunt and Resonating Strike. |
| Sounds: | No new sounds. |
| Splash Art: | Dragon Fist Lee Sin has a splash art that gives a spectacular first impression which hides its defects. The background makes for an interesting setting: a temple full of ninjas. Unfortunately, while it makes sense to show less detail on the assailants so as to focus on Lee Sin they look overly simple. Besides, while the right side of the background is light and detailed the left side is dark and plain. At least, Lee Sin is very well depicted with excellent use of shading for cloth folds. Yet, his hair, skin and glasses don’t match the quality of his clothes. All things considered, Dragon Fist Lee Sin has a very good splash art that approaches excellence but isn’t able to reach it. |
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| Conclusion: | Dragon Fist Lee Sin is a skin dedicated to Bruce Lee fans: it effectively delivers his look and fighting stance in a cohesive way. It is, to an extent, a natural evolution of the prodigious martial artist concept. This means that the skin bases itself on Classic Lee Sin and improves on it; though it also means that it doesn’t deviate much from the original concept either. Much of the success of this skin relies on the good animations that Classic Lee sin has. Therefore, Dragon Fist Lee Sin is quite a good skin and recommended for Wu Shu fans: it improves the classic concept but doesn’t bring anything actually novel. |
Jade Dragon Wukong
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| Category: | Regular |
| Price: | 975 RP |
| Concept: | Wukong in jade dragon-styled clothes. |
| Model: | New model for Wukong. |
| Particles: | New staff trail particles for Crushing Blow and Cyclone plus flames for his vambraces. |
| Animations: | No new animations. |
| Sounds: | No new sounds. |
| Splash Art: | Jade Dragon Wukong is a piece with a disappointing background but a good setting. The background is little more that fuzzy mountains and probably clouds but the piece integrates other elements to complement Wukong. The dragon on the left prevents the piece from looking empty. Besides, the tower top not only gives Wukong a place to stand but also helps to demonstrate his physical prowess. Wukong is very nicely drawn: the fur, metal, jade, all materials are well displayed. Moreover, the stance complements the communion with the dragon and both further the theme of Wukong’s power. All things considered, Jade Dragon Wukong’s manages to be more than the sum of its parts. It isn’t a perfect piece but it stands proud as a very good League of Legends splash art. |
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| Conclusion: | Jade Dragon Wukong seems like a fusion between the Volcanic and General skins. It has some fire effects like Volcanic and it has a little of the enlightened theme of General. This combination works better that could be expected: the flames are smaller but add a nice extra visual layer. Furthermore, the clothes with their jade decoration show Wukong as a more elegant and even spiritual being. Strangely, the staff’s design appears as if it challenged this theme. The tips have an extremely blunt and brutal shape that the dragon heads barely mask; still it looks adequate. Additionally, Crushing Blow and Cyclone receive new trail particles for the staff that make the aesthetic more consistent. Again, this stands in opposition of Decoy whose staff trail particles retain the classic style. In conclusion, Jade Dragon Wukong is very good skin that no Wukong fan should skip, but it isn’t as cohesive and impressive as it could or should be. |
Dragonblade Talon
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| Category: | Regular |
| Price: | 975 RP |
| Concept: | Talon in light armour with a dragon-inspired blade. |
| Model: | New model for Talon. |
| Particles: | New daggers for Rake and Shadow Assault. |
| Animations: | No new animations. |
| Sounds: | No new sounds. |
| Splash Art: | Dragonblade Talon has a dynamic splash art that meshes two different techniques with surprising effectiveness. The background is uniform and cartoon-like. Still, it shows quite a bit of scenery: a good part of a city is shown in fitting eastern style. Additionally, the foggy and dark night alleviates the contrast with the impressive depiction of Talon. Talon’s impeccable portrayal is highlighted by ample attention to metallic surfaces and lighting. Besides, the running stance and flying daggers, or shurikens, help the piece arrest the eye. However, the composition may give too much weight to its right side; the left side seems a bit empty. In spite of its few shortcomings, this is an excellent splash art and one of League of Legends’ best. |
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| Conclusion: | Dragonblade Talon is an interesting skin with an unfortunate compulsion to follow Classic Talon’s style. In particular, the cape which is, arguably, the most forced aspect of this skin. Dragonblade Talon is a clear homage to Strider Hiryu; in his Marvel vs. Capcom incarnation. The futuristic ninja facet is nicely adapted into a more suitable fantasy take. However, the body armour looks plain and the plates cumbersome. The scarf, gauntlets, trousers and boots are alright: they’re reasonable but not especially attractive; at least the blade has a distinct style, though it seems difficult to wield. Sadly, the cape is simply unfitting: it forcibly carries Classic Talon’s style and prevents the skin from having its own flavour. Perhaps a set of scarves flowing behind Talon would’ve been better. The new particles for his abilities alleviate a bit of the model’s shortcomings; yet only the daggers are actually different. Overall, it’s a nice skin, especially for Strider fans, it has its flaws but it’s still a good purchase. |
Conclusion
Lunar Revel skins have quite good quality and each of them offers something unique. Guqin Sona rises above the rest due to its greatly satisfying design and audio. It’s not a perfect skin as her emotes revert to her Etwahl sounds but overall remains extremely nice. The new audio may seem subtle at first but it ends adding a lot of charm to Sona.
That’s not to say that Dragon Fist Lee Sin, Jade Dragon Wukong and Dragonblade Talon aren’t good skins. They offer very nice concepts and deliver interesting features but they could’ve been more refined, polished or simply provide more. All in all, it’s a great group of skins and if you like the respective champions or Lunar Revel then any of these skins will be a good choice.
6 Responses to “League of Legends: Lunar Revel 2012 Skins’ Review”
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I’m pretty sure that Dragonfist Lee Sin has new sounds on his autoattacks.
We didn’t notice but we’ll give it another look; thanks.
I agree on your opinion of the cape on every Talon skin. It seems forced and just doesn’t fit the concept. Especially on Dragonblade and Crimson Elite. It looks like a bunch of bandages to me. And rubbery too. The two would be INCREDIBLE skins if the cape was different. But I suppose that’s Talon’s style haha a unique style of cape. One of the main things that separates him from his obvious reference.
While it’s true that it is his style there are many skins that completely modify the look of a champion so they could’ve changed the cape. Indeed, Crimson Elite Talon would look better with a traditional dark cape. Whereas Dragonblade Talon should’ve definitely incorporated more of Strider’s style.
For me, these skins look a little stereotypical to the Chinese culture. Just because it’s Chinese themed does not mean that it must have the word “dragon” in it.
We agree that they aren’t always what you would call original considering the cultural variety of China. In some cases the concepts are true classics, like Bruce Lee, or interesting and different like Guqin. Nonetheless, in other cases they seem somewhat arbitrary and narrow; like Jade Dragon or Dragonblade.