Karthus Lightsbane Lol Skin

One glance at this skins splash art, and it’s clear to any World of Warcraft fan whom this skin drew its inspiration from. Let’s look at his splash art first and see if you can guess it.

A pale-faced man is seen wielding the in-game item, Rod of Ages – and he’s undoubtedly a man.  In Karthus’ other skins, it was hard to determine precisely what he was, other than a horrifying spectre, shrouded only in darkness.

That’s all changed with the Lightsbane Karthus skin though; he now has gaunt features, shoulder-length white hair, and a menacing smirk on his face as he reaches for what appears to be the Morellonomicon.

Jayce the Bright Hammer attempts to drag Karthus Lightsbane away from the book, but his hand is grasped tight on it as arcane sigils swirl.

Sejuani Dawnchaser and Bard Bard are only able to look on in horror as their friend undergoes a gruesome metamorphosis. This is likely the first and only look we will get at Karthus before he was turned into the undead Lich that he is today.

Speaking of Lich’s, you might have guessed who Karthus Lightsbane is a reference to by now – even their names sound similar!

There was a certain King in World of Warcraft, one who also fought for the light before becoming corrupted by a powerful magical artifact. A would-be King who went by the name of Arthas.

Arthas, like Karthus Lightsbane, had ashen hair and sickly pallor. The LoL wiki argues that Karthus Lightsbane is, in fact, a reference to Tabletop Role Playing Games, but he seems far more like Arthas to us.

Then again, you could argue that World of Warcraft draws heavily from tabletop roleplaying games.

In-game, Karthus has a new recall animation in which his Rod of Ages crackles with power before slamming his hand into the ground and disappearing.

His Lay Waste ability now etches a runic inscription around the radius of the spell, and this seems to carry over to his Wall of Pain

In addition to the bizarre runes,  pink and gold monoliths rise out of the ground with an appropriate grating noise. Overall, every one of his spells has become a little more purple. His outfit on the other hand, not so much.

His robe is almost entirely black, with 2 purple discs to either side of his chest, and he wears thick golden shoulder plates, offering him some slight degree of armor – as we know, it couldn’t protect him from becoming an abominable Lich.