Praetorian Skins

Praetorian is one of those skinlines that flew under the radar for most players and honestly I think thats a shame. Two skins, both from 2018, both Epic tier at 1350 RP each. Fiddlesticks and Graves got the robotic dystopian treatment and the result is this cold mechanical aesthetic that feels like Riot watched Terminator and said "yeah lets do that but on the Rift." Not gonna lie, I remember seeing Praetorian Fiddlesticks for the first time in a ranked game around October 2018 and genuinely not recognizing the champion for a solid two seconds. That's the mark of a skin doing something right.

What Sets Praetorian Apart from Other Skinlines

The Praetorian line pulls from a very specific sci-fi angle. Not the sleek chrome future of PROJECT or the neon chaos of Pulsefire. This is grimier. Think hostile machine intelligence, exterminators sent from some parallel timeline where machines won. The color palette leans heavy into dark gunmetal grays, cold blues, and these piercing red-orange energy accents that read like threat indicators.

Both skins share a visual DNA that ties them together tight. Segmented armor plating, exposed mechanical joints, faces that aren't quite faces. More like sensor arrays shaped vaguely humanoid. The splash arts have this industrial wasteland backdrop, ruined cityscapes with that post-apocalyptic vibe Riot doesn't tap into often enough. Could be wrong here but I think the Praetorian splashes are some of the more underrated pieces in the entire skin catalog.

What really sells it is the sound design. The ability SFX across both skins have this metallic grinding quality, servos whirring, energy weapons charging. Feels distinctly different from Program or Mecha lines which go for cleaner tech sounds. Praetorian sounds hostile. Aggressive. Like the machines aren't here to coexist.

(Random aside: the Praetorian aesthetic reminds me of those Hunter-Killer drones from the Terminator franchise and I will die on that hill.)

Compared to something like Battlecast which also does the "evil robots" thing, Praetorian commits harder to the alien machine angle. Battlecast feels like Viktor's workshop projects. Praetorian feels like something that came through a dimensional rift to hunt you down. Smaller line, sure. But the identity is razor sharp. Two skins and zero filler.

Best Praetorian Skins

With only two skins in the entire line this section writes itself but hear me out because these two are not equal and I have strong feelings about the ranking.

Praetorian Fiddlesticks is the star. Full stop. Been spamming Fiddlesticks in Diamond on and off since season 9 I think or 10 dont remember exactly, and Praetorian remains in my rotation constantly. The way they translated Fiddle's scarecrow silhouette into this skeletal machine frame is genuinely unsettling. The R animation when you channel Crowstorm and this swarm of mechanical birds erupts outward? Nightmare fuel in the best way. The fear proc on Q has this distorted electronic screech that makes enemy laners flinch in their chairs. I've seen it happen on stream.

Real talk though, the skin hit different after the Fiddlesticks VGU in 2020. Pre-rework Praetorian Fiddle was already solid but the updated model with the new animations elevated it. The way reworked Fiddle moves, that jerky puppet-like motion, meshes perfectly with the robotic Praetorian frame. Felt like the VGU was designed with this skin in mind even though it obviously wasn't.

Played maybe 200 games with Praetorian Fiddle across multiple seasons. The jungle clear feels visually satisfying, the W drain has these energy tendrils that look mechanical rather than magical, and the passive effigies as robot decoys standing in bushes near dragon pit? Chef's kiss. Last Tuesday I had an enemy Kayn walk straight into one and flash away. Worth every game.

Praetorian Graves is the second skin and look it's fine. Good even. The shotgun redesign as this bulky energy cannon works thematically and the auto-attack particles have weight to them. Smoke Screen on W becomes this metallic gas cloud with debris particles which is a nice touch. But Graves has so many competing skins at this price point. Battle Professor, Snow Day, Sentinel. Kinda feels like Praetorian Graves gets lost in the shuffle where Praetorian Fiddlesticks stands alone as one of Fiddle's best options.

The E dash on Graves in this skin has a mechanical thruster animation. Small detail. Makes a difference though when you're quickstepping through a teamfight and the visual feedback matches the fantasy of piloting a combat mech. Not sure if it's just me but the auto-attack sound on Praetorian Graves is one of the most satisfying shotgun sounds in the game. Chunky. Industrial.

Champion Roster and Thematic Fit

Two champions. Fiddlesticks and Graves. That's the whole roster.

Might be overthinking it but I genuinely believe these were perfect first picks for the theme. Fiddlesticks as a champion already has that uncanny valley horror element baked into the base kit. Translating that into a machine intelligence that mimics humanoid form to hunt prey? Natural fit. The scarecrow becomes a lure, the fear becomes a targeted electronic disruption. Every ability maps cleanly onto the Praetorian fantasy.

Graves works for different reasons. He's the brute force military archetype already. Cigar-chomping gunslinger becomes heavy weapons platform. Less elegant than the Fiddle translation but still coherent. The grizzled soldier becomes the walking tank. Makes sense.

Now who should join this line if Riot ever revisits it? Been thinking about this since 2018 honestly. Urgot is the obvious pick. Already half machine, already has that industrial grinding aesthetic in his base kit. Praetorian Urgot would practically design itself. Warwick is another one, the predator hunting protocol fits the Praetorian machine-hunter vibe perfectly. And maybe Orianna flipped, where instead of a robot trying to be human she's a human consciousness trapped in a Praetorian shell. That last one might be too much lore for a skin line with two entries but I can dream.

(Sidebar: the fact that Riot hasn't touched this line in over seven years tells me it's probably dead but stranger things have happened. Arclight got revived as Risen Legends basically.)

Tier Breakdown and Value

Simple math here. Two skins. Both Epic. Both 1350 RP. No Legendary carrying the line, no budget 975 filler dragging it down. Pure Epic consistency.

At 1350 each you're getting new models, new textures, new VFX, new SFX, and new recall animations. Standard Epic package but both Praetorian skins execute above the 2018 Epic average in my opinion. The recall animations specifically stand out. Fiddlesticks assembles from scattered parts, mechanical limbs snapping into place. Graves deploys from some kind of drop pod sequence. Both feel like they had extra attention paid.

For Fiddlesticks mains specifically this is a strong value proposition. 1350 RP for what I'd argue is a top-three Fiddle skin competing with Surprise Party and Dark Candy. For Graves mains the value conversation is trickier because the champion has deeper skin options at similar or lower price points. Not a bad skin by any measure. Just more competition in that lane.

No chromas exist for either Praetorian skin which is honestly a missed opportunity. A red-and-black variant for Praetorian Fiddlesticks or a desert camo Praetorian Graves would sell. Riot left money on the table there. Fair warning, if you're someone who needs chroma variety to justify a purchase, this line won't satisfy that itch. What you see is what you get. Two clean Epics, no extras.

Both skins sit in the permanent shop. No vault rotation, no loot-only nonsense. You can grab either one whenever you want. That accessibility matters for a line this small because discovery is already low. If these were Legacy vault skins nobody would remember they exist.

Price to quality ratio though? Solid. I've spent 1350 RP on far worse Epics. Season 8 had some questionable releases and Praetorian wasnt one of them. Both skins deliver on the fantasy, both have cohesive audio-visual packages, and both feel distinct from anything else in their respective champion's skin wardrobes. That's all you can really ask from an Epic tier release.

The line being exclusively Epic actually works in its favor in a weird way. No expectations of new voice lines or unique interactions that come with Legendary pricing. You get a clean thematic reskin with quality VFX work and you move on. Sometimes thats exactly what a skin needs to be.