Elderwood Azir

First game I played with Elderwood Azir was a late-night ranked session, maybe 1 AM on a Wednesday. Locked it in blind and the loading screen splash alone sold me. Azir already has this ancient emperor fantasy going, but wrapping him in the Elderwood aesthetic turns the whole kit into something that feels pulled from a dark fairy tale. Not gonna lie, I wasnt expecting much from a 1350 RP Azir skin but this one delivers where it counts.

How the Elderwood theme changes Azir’s kit

The soldiers are the star here. Full stop. Instead of Shuriman sand warriors, you get these ghostly forest spirits with antler-like crowns and glowing amber cores. When you W to summon them, there’s a bloom of green energy that reads clean against basically any Rift terrain. The Q command sends them sliding forward with trailing leaf particles, and in a teamfight where you’re repositioning soldiers constantly, the visual clarity actually holds up better than some of his other skins.

E dash gets this rush of bark and vine energy around Azir. Subtle change but it feels weightier than base. The R wall is where Elderwood really flexes though. Instead of sand soldiers marching forward, you get these towering tree-spirit guardians pushing the backline away. Been playing this in Diamond for a few seasons now and I still get a kick out of watching a Katarina get swept back into her own team by a wall of enchanted wood.

Recall animation is solid. Azir sits on a throne of twisted roots while butterflies circle him. Kinda feels like Riot put more effort into this recall than some Legendary recalls I’ve seen. Voice lines stay base, no new VO, but the voice filter would’ve been overkill on an Epic tier skin anyway.

Elderwood skinline and the release window

Elderwood Azir dropped December 10, 2020. Late season 10. The Elderwood line was on a roll that year, pumping out skins left and right. Azir fits the theme naturally because his whole identity revolves around commanding others, and the ancient forest god angle works for that.

Zuoan Dong and Kudos Productions handled the splash art. They captured this moody twilight forest scene where Azir towers over the canopy with golden light breaking through the branches. Credit where it’s due, the composition pulls your eye exactly where it should go.

8 chromas total. Emberwood is my personal pick, the dark base with magenta accents gives the skin an almost corrupted feel that hits different from the default green-gold palette. Sapphire turns the whole thing into an ice-forest vibe, surprisingly clean. Most of the others are fine but nothing I’d go out of my way to grab. (Random aside: I set the Emberwood chroma splash as my Discord avatar for like three months and nobody even recognized it as Azir.)

Is Elderwood Azir worth 1350 RP?

Real verdict: if you main Azir, this is top two for him easily. Maybe just my experience but the soldier VFX feel more readable than Warring Kingdoms or Galactic, and the color palette doesnt blend into the map the way some skins do. Been running this as my go-to Azir skin since season 11 and I keep coming back to it over newer options.

1350 RP feels fair for what you get. New VFX on every ability, solid recall, clean chromas if you want variety. Shop has it, no vault nonsense. Could be wrong here but I think this is one of the more underrated Epic skins in the game. Azir’s pick rate keeps it under the radar, so you rarely see it in your games. Played maybe 40 ranked games with this skin last month alone and got asked about it twice in post-game chat. For Azir one-tricks or anyone who wants a skin that actually improves gameplay readability in lane and in late-game teamfights, hard to argue against picking this up. Skip it only if you’re holding out for a Legendary Azir skin that might never come.