We are beyond the days where Legendary (and Ultimate) skins were just highly prized skins. They promise a rebuilt champion experience. For this ranking, we've weighted three factors: (1) mechanical polish (new VO, animations, form-changes) (2) visual clarity — can teammates and opponents read the skin without straining; and (3) thematic fit — does the fantasy extend the champion’s core identity rather than overwrite it.
5. Dawnbringer / Nightbringer Soraka
Soraka wears ornate, asymmetrical armor, gold-and-cerulean in Dawnbringer Soraka, crimson-and-obsidian in Nightbringer, paired with a sweeping crescent staff and luminescent hair. Particles invert between pastel light and molten ember, but her silhouette overall doesn’t change, preserving clarity.
The binary (Dawnbringer/Nightbringer) theme is new, but Soraka’s kit offers limited animation variety, so the skin can’t push as far as the entries that follow. Still, it set an early benchmark for color-theory storytelling and remains the support role’s gold standard. For Soraka players, there's very little room for competition.
4. High Noon Yone
Yone dons a dust-worn duster, brimmed hat, and twin steel revolver-hilted katanas in tarnished gun-metal and copper. Ember-orange muzzle flashes erupt with each swing, and his spirit form trails drifting ash.
Yone isn't the first swordsman to be represented as a gunslinger. That price would go to Yasuo, but High Noon Yone gives it a full send. It recreates Yone as an angelic boogeyman and bounty hunter, which goes great with his lore.
The skin breathes new life his ultimate, giving it a loud western guitar riff. It lands at four because the Mythic Variant dilutes some of the skin’s uniqueness, and the VO filter is occasionally hard to hear. Sound mixing on his SFX can be a little loud, as well.
3. Winterblessed Diana
Diana wears silver-white plate layered with translucent ice shards; her crescent blade glows glacial cyan, and snow flurries wreath every auto attack. She changes forms by hitting 3 or more people with her ultimate, and the ultimate itself changes depending on how many people it hits.
This is Diana's first Legendary skin, and it really hits all of the good notes for her. Her pentakill animation overlays a winter night sky on the Rift, which is extremely nice-looking and unique.
Elegance and mechanical readability put Winterblessed high, but it does very little to play with her base design. It doesn't feel extremely Diana — you could probably give Samira or Ashe the same skin to a similar effect.
2. DJ Sona
Sona dons a modular visor and holographic console that shift shape across three modes: Concussive’s sharp angles, Ethereal’s flowing curves, and Kinetic’s layered panels. Each mode swaps both soundtrack and particle color in real time, and the skin contains an entire THREE hours of sound effects and music, which adjust progressively with what you're doing in-game.
A decade later, DJ Sona still rocks almost every other Legendary out of the park. If it was released in 2025, it'd probably be released as an Exalted for $150+ USD. It also just fits Sona perfectly, while still being playful with the design. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's a great product for its price.
1. Elementalist Lux
Lux wears an iridescent white mantle adorned with prismatic crystal motifs; her base Light form blossoms into ten elemental palettes — Water, Fire, Air, Nature, Ice, Storm, Magma, Mystic, Dark — each with custom models and ability effects.
There's simply no contest. Elementalist Lux is the most complete Legendary skin to date, containing several sets of new VFX and SFX, along with new models for Lux, all in one skin.
All of the different elements do a great job of playing with her magical effects, and could easily stand as a 1350 RP (or even 1850 RP) skin on their own.
At a time where it feels like skin quality's taking a nosedive, with palette change skins such as Grand Reckoning Alistar and Spirit Blossom Ivern attempting to pass as 1350 RP skins, it's important to remember the level of quality Riot Games is capable of. There's been some absolutely jaw-dropping skins over the years, that repurpose a champion's base identity entirely while still being a great spectacle.
These are all skins which are indubitably worth their selling price.
