This underappreciated LoL champion is still in desperate need of a new skin

Due to League of Legends’ massive roster of champions, some are inevitably left in the dust when it comes to getting cosmetics—and Hwei is one of the biggest victims. Since his debut in 2023, the artistic mage has been stuck with just one skin, leaving fans desperate for a new look.

League players have been voicing their concerns on Reddit, and they’re wondering if it takes long for the developer to “work on just six extra abilities,” as the champion’s kit is way more complicated to design as it has way more ability animations than usual champions with a few abilities. 

“It’s just not worth making many Hwei skins. He has 3x as many abilities to make that all need distinctive visual clarity and isn’t popular enough that it would be a top seller,” a player explained, stating that the developer is required to spend a large amount of time to make distinct animations for the champion’s skin, which might be the reason why Hwei has only one.

Hwei currently has a 49.82 percent win rate in the mid-lane in the current patch, according to Lolalytics, which makes a decent pick in the meta. However, the real story lies in his miserable pick rate of just three percent across all ranks, which makes him very unpopular compared to other champions. Players were quick to bring up the examples of Kayn and Aphelios, who have him receiving regular skins to counter the statement as Riot does put in the effort for champions who’ve been popular among the fans. 

Hwei has only one Winterblessed skin currently, and it’s not even a very popular one, as many players prefer using his base skin. One player theorized that all of the animations Hwei required were “difficult to implement in the ice theme” due to the wide variety of effects Hwei has with his diverse abilities. 

Riot has been under fire for their subpar gacha skins, but ultimately Hwei’s lack of popularity is probably the biggest issue here. Champions such as Lux, Ezreal, Miss Fortune, and Ahri have the most cosmetics due to their popularity in the League and high play rate in the game. 

If the champion’s popularity or play rate doesn’t go up, it might be tough for the mage to get another skin to his name. Until then, players will have to leave the champion with other ones like Vex, who haven’t received a skin from the developer in quite some time. 

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