PROJECT Skins

PROJECT is the cyberpunk skinline that Riot keeps coming back to and honestly I get why. Been playing League since season 4 and the first time I saw PROJECT: Yasuo load in, the whole lobby paused for a second. Neon-lit augmented warriors with holographic blades and digital particle trails. 32 skins deep now spanning a full decade from 2014 to 2024, and the line still holds up. Not sure if it's just me but PROJECT skins have this specific energy that makes even champions I dont play feel tempting to lock in.

What Sets PROJECT Apart from Every Other Skinline

The visual identity is tight. Every PROJECT skin shares this cyberpunk-augmented aesthetic: chrome armor plating, neon accent lighting (usually blue, orange, or purple depending on the champion), and holographic VFX on abilities. The splashes all share a consistent dystopian cityscape background that looks like Blade Runner meets the Rift. Riot clearly had a style bible for this one.

What really ties it together is the shared particle language. Abilities get this digital-glitch treatment where projectiles fragment into data streams on impact. Recall animations lean into the augmented soldier fantasy. Most PROJECT skins have the champion interfacing with some kind of holographic display or weapon system during recall. Clean stuff.

Could be wrong here but I think PROJECT does cyberpunk better than any competing skinline in the game. Pulsefire goes more time-travel sci-fi. Program feels budget by comparison. PsyOps went military-spec instead of street-level cyber. PROJECT sits in this sweet spot where the tech looks dangerous and stylish at the same time. The color palette alone carries it: electric blues against matte black armor, hot orange energy cores, purple digital overlays. Every skin reads instantly as PROJECT even in a messy teamfight.

(random aside: I used a PROJECT: Jhin splash as my desktop wallpaper for like two years straight and nobody at work ever questioned it because it just looks like cool sci-fi art)

The sound design deserves a mention too. PROJECT skins have this metallic, processed audio quality to their ability sounds. Autos sound like they're firing through a digital filter. It's subtle but after 50 games you notice when you switch back to base skin and everything sounds organic again. Real talk though, the audio work on the Legendary tier PROJECT skins is where they really went hard. New voice processing, new lines, the whole package.

Best PROJECT Skins to Actually Use in Ranked

PROJECT: Vayne. Full stop. This Legendary skin turned Vayne from a champion I respected into a champion I wanted to one-trick. The tumble animation is crisp, the Condemn bolt has this satisfying digital-stake look, and the ult transformation where her visor drops? Been spamming this in Diamond whenever I get filled ADC and the skin genuinely makes the champion feel smoother. Might be overthinking it but the auto attack animation feels slightly cleaner than base.

PROJECT: Ashe is the other Legendary that earns every RP of that 1820 price tag. The Enchanted Crystal Arrow becomes this massive digital missile that lights up the Rift when it crosses the map. Played maybe 200 games with this skin back in season 7 and 8 when Ashe was meta, and the W volleys look incredible in lane. The voice processing gives Ashe this cold, calculated augmented-soldier feel that fits the fantasy perfectly.

PROJECT: Jhin sits at Epic tier (1350 RP) but punches way above its weight. The fourth shot has this heavy digital impact that makes every execution feel earned. The curtain call ult with the holographic targeting reticle is honestly one of the best ult overlays in the entire game. Jhin mains know what I'm talking about. Locked in this skin for most of season 10 and never got tired of it.

PROJECT: Yi at Legendary tier is polarizing. Some people love the full cyborg fantasy, the new voice lines, the Alpha Strike digital-phase effect. Personally I think its cool but Yi's kit is so simple that even a Legendary skin cant add that much depth. Worth it if you're a Yi one-trick climbing through Gold, otherwise maybe not.

PROJECT: Mordekaiser deserves a shout too. Legendary tier, and Morde's ult pulling someone into a digital death realm instead of the shadow realm? Chef's kiss. The mace feels heavy, the passive aura looks like corrupted data spreading across the ground. Kinda feels like this was the skin Mordekaiser's rework was designed around. Took this into ranked for a solid month last season and the skin just commands respect in lane.

The Champion Roster and Who Actually Fits

32 skins across 27 champions. Thats a massive roster and not every pick makes sense thematically.

The original wave nailed it: Yasuo, Zed, Fiora, Leona, Lucian. Blade-wielding fighters and marksmen who can sell the augmented-warrior concept. Fiora with a holographic rapier? Natural fit. Zed phasing through digital shadows? Perfect. These champions were born for this skinline.

Then you get picks like Sejuani and honestly I'm not sure a boar-riding Freljord warrior translates to cyberpunk all that cleanly. They made it work visually but something feels off. Warwick was a better monster-type pick because the whole "augmented predator" thing leans into his hunt fantasy. Pyke fits the assassin angle. Naafiri was a more recent addition (2024) and the pack of digital hounds actually reads well on the Rift.

Irelia got two Prestige versions which tells you how well she fits the line. The blade dancer controlling holographic blades is peak PROJECT aesthetic. Ekko's time manipulation translating to digital rewinding makes thematic sense too. Vi punching things with augmented gauntlets, Sylas stealing digital augments, Akali with a neon kunai. These all work.

Who's missing? Feels like Camille should have a PROJECT skin by now. She's literally a cybernetically augmented champion in base lore. Same with Shen or Talon. Maybe just my experience but every time a new PROJECT wave drops I check for Camille and get disappointed.

Tier Breakdown and What You're Paying

Here's where PROJECT gets interesting. 21 Epics at 1350 RP, 6 Legendaries at 1820 RP, and 5 Mythic tier skins (the Prestige editions). No standard 975 RP entries in the whole line. Every PROJECT skin is at minimum Epic quality.

The Legendaries carry the line's reputation. Vayne, Ashe, Yi, Renekton, Mordekaiser, and the Legendary roster is stacked. New voice lines, new animations, the full treatment. But the Epics do heavy lifting too. Jhin, Jinx, Pyke, Ekko at 1350 RP all deliver strong value. Not gonna lie, some of the Epic PROJECT skins compete with Legendaries from weaker skinlines.

Price range is 1350 to 1820 RP for purchasable skins. The Prestige editions (Irelia twice, Zed, Sylas) are Mythic Essence or event-locked. If you're building a PROJECT collection, budget for roughly 30,000+ RP to grab everything available in the shop. Fair warning, thats a serious investment but the quality floor is high across the board.

The 2014-2024 spread means some earlier skins show their age in particle quality compared to later releases. PROJECT: Yasuo from 2015 still looks good but side-by-side with PROJECT: Mordekaiser from 2021 you can see how far Riot's VFX pipeline has come. The bones are solid on everything though.