Bees! Skins

Not gonna lie, the Bees skinline is probably the most fun Riot has had with a theme since they stopped making April Fools skins regularly. The whole concept is stupid in the best way possible. You take champions, slap bee costumes on them, give everything honey-colored VFX, and somehow it works every single time. Been seeing these pop up in my ranked games since 2017 and every time someone locks in Beemo or Beezcrank I know that player is vibing. The aesthetic is pure serotonin. Yellow, black, hexagonal particles, buzzing sound effects. Its the comfort food of League cosmetics.

What Makes the Bees Line Stand Out

Kinda feels like Riot designed this skinline specifically for players who dont take themselves too seriously. And I respect that. The visual signature across all 13 skins is remarkably consistent: honey-gold ability effects, hexagonal particle shapes, bee wing motifs on recalls, and that warm amber color palette that ties everything together. Every single skin in the line commits fully to the bit.

The splash arts share this almost storybook quality. Bright backgrounds, exaggerated expressions on the champions, lots of environmental detail with hives and flowers. Compare this to something like Dark Star where splashes go for cosmic horror, Bees goes for Saturday morning cartoon energy. Completely different vibe but equally well-executed in its own lane.

What ties the line together mechanically is the VFX work. Honey drips, pollen bursts, little bee companions flying around abilities. Orbeeanna's ball is literally a beehive. Heimerstinger's turrets are hive-shaped. The attention to thematic detail is wild for what started as basically a meme skin with Beemo back in 2017. Riot clearly saw the community response and said yeah we're running this back every year.

Could be wrong here but I think the reason these skins feel cohesive despite releasing across six years is that they all sit at 1350 RP Epic tier. No Legendaries pulling focus with unique voice lines. No budget skins dragging quality down. Every entry gets the same level of polish: new model, new VFX, new recall animation, custom sound effects. That uniformity is actually the line's biggest strength. You know exactly what you're getting.

(Random aside: the community wikis categorize some of these under "Bee" and some under "Beekeeper" but Riot officially groups them all as one skinline now. Took them until like 2022 to consolidate the naming.)

Best Bees Skins Worth Your RP

Beemo. Full stop. The original. Released 2018 and still the gold standard for the entire line. Teemo already has that annoying energy and putting him in a bee costume cranks it to eleven. The mushrooms becoming little honey pots, the dart becoming a stinger, the whole package just fits. Spammed this in Diamond during season 8 and the tilt factor alone won me games. People see Beemo and they play worse. Thats not a joke.

Second pick is Beezcrank. Blitzcrank's hook becoming a honey dipper that yanks people toward a giant hive is peak champion-theme synergy. The grab animation has this satisfying golden trail that makes landing hooks feel extra clean. Played maybe 40 games of support Beezcrank last season specifically because the skin made me want to queue the role.

Nunu & Beelump deserves the third spot. The snowball becoming a giant ball of honey rolling down lane is visually hilarious. Willump in a bee costume with those tiny wings. The recall where they share a honeycomb. Real talk though the best part is the W: rolling a massive honey ball at someone in a teamfight never gets old. The comedy value is S-tier.

King Beegar surprised me. Veigar's cage becoming a honeycomb prison, his ult being a giant bee that slams into people. The crown. The tiny cape. For a champion who's supposed to be this evil dark mage, the bee treatment works because Veigar already has that comedic villain energy. Might be overthinking it but I think thats why these skins succeed: they pick champions who already have personality that meshes with the absurdity.

Heimerstinger rounds out the top five. Turrets as beehives that shoot little stingers. The rockets becoming swarms. Heimer's already got that mad scientist vibe and making him a mad bee scientist is just correct. Been running this one in ARAM whenever I roll Heimer and the visual clarity on his turrets is actually better than some of his other skins weirdly enough.

The Champion Roster and Who Fits

13 champions currently have Bees skins. Not sure if it's just me but I notice Riot specifically picks champions with projectile-heavy kits or summoned units. Makes sense. More things to turn into bees or honey-themed particles. More visual payoff per skin.

Orianna as Orbeeanna is thematically perfect. She already has a ball companion, it becomes a beehive, done. The command: shockwave becoming a honey explosion in a teamfight is chef's kiss. Malzahar as Beezahar works because his voidlings become little bees swarming people. Kog'Maw as Bee'Maw spits honey instead of void juice. Ziggs as BZZZiggs throws honeycombs. Every pick makes sense mechanically.

The ones that feel slightly forced to me are Vel'Koz and maybe Neeko. Bee'Koz is fine but Vel'Koz's geometry laser beam kit doesn't translate as naturally into bee themes. The skin still looks good but the connection is thinner. Neeko as Beeko works better because her passive already involves disguises, so a bee disguise adds another layer. Fair warning though this is just personal opinion from playing against these skins hundreds of times in ranked.

Who should get a Bees skin next? Feels like Bard is the obvious choice. His meeps could be little bees, his healing shrine could be a flower, his ult could be a honeycomb stasis. Ivern would be perfect too: Daisy as a queen bee, his brush becoming flower patches. Maybe Lulu with Pix as a bee companion. Riot if you're reading this, season 14 Bees expansion please.

(Sidebar: I've seen people request Bee'Sin for Lee Sin and honestly the pun alone justifies the skin existing.)

Tier and Pricing Breakdown

Here's what makes Bees unique from a pricing perspective: every single skin is 1350 RP Epic tier. All 13 of them. No exceptions. No Legendary at 1820, no budget 975 entry, nothing above or below. This is actually pretty rare for a skinline this size. Most lines with 10+ entries have at least one Legendary or one cheaper filler skin.

The 1350 consistency means you know the quality floor. New model, new VFX, new SFX, new recall, base voice lines. Standard Epic package across the board. For 1350 each thats 17,550 RP if you wanted the complete collection. Real money thats roughly $120 depending on your region's RP pricing. Not cheap for a meme skinline but each individual purchase feels fair for what you get.

The Epics carry this line entirely. No Legendary does heavy lifting because there isnt one. Could be coping but I think Bees would actually lose something with a Legendary entry. The silly voice lines, the custom walk animations, the whole production would make it feel too polished. Too intentional. Part of the charm is that these are well-made 1350 skins that don't take themselves seriously. A 1820 Legendary Bees skin with 20 minutes of recorded dialogue would try too hard.

Worth noting: none of these are Legacy vault or Loot exclusive. All 13 sit in the permanent shop. You can grab any of them any time. No waiting for events or rolling Hextech chests. Permanent availability for a skinline this fun is appreciated honestly. Last Tuesday I impulse-bought Beezahar at 2 AM after a loss streak because I needed something funny to play. No regrets.

FAQ