World Champions: 2023 Skins

T1's Worlds 2023 set might be the most cohesive team skin drop Riot has put out in a while. Not gonna lie, when the teasers leaked I expected the usual "slap a team logo on base models and call it a day" approach that plagued some older championship sets. But this one landed different. The red and white T1 palette runs through every splash, every ability particle, every recall animation, and it actually feels like the org's identity bled into the Rift instead of just sitting on top of it. Six skins total for the roster that took home the Summoner's Cup in 2023, and I think at least four of them are worth locking in.

What Makes the World Champions 2023 Line Stand Out

Worlds skins have always been hit or miss. Some years you get bangers like the 2018 iG set or the Samsung White skins that still hold up today. Other years the skins feel like glorified chromas with a team logo slapped on the recall. The T1 2023 set leans heavily into the former category.

Could be wrong here but I think the biggest thing separating this from weaker Worlds drops is the VFX consistency. Every skin in the line shares this crystalline red particle system. Orianna's ball, Lee Sin's resonating strike, Jayce's cannon shots, Jinx's rockets, Bard's chimes. All of them pulse with the same T1 scarlet energy. Its not just a recolor either. The particles have this sharp, angular quality to them that reads as "competitive" in a way thats hard to describe. Like someone at Riot watched every T1 teamfight from Worlds and thought "how do we make abilities look like they're being piloted by the best player in the world."

The splash arts share a unified composition style too. Each champion posed with the Summoner's Cup integrated into the background, T1 jerseys reimagined as in-universe armor. The color grading across all six splashes keeps that white-and-red dominance without looking washed out. Seen a lot of team skins where the splash looks like a corporate photo op. These actually tell a story.

(Random aside: I keep the T1 Orianna splash as my desktop wallpaper at work and nobody has commented on it yet, which either means my coworkers dont play League or they're judging me silently.)

Compared to recent Worlds sets like the 2022 DRX skins or the 2021 EDG line, the T1 batch benefits from champion diversity. You've got a mage, a fighter, a marksman, a support, and a flex pick in Jayce. That spread means the VFX team had to adapt the T1 aesthetic across wildly different ability kits, and they pulled it off. The DRX set had a similar challenge but I felt like some of those skins blended together visually. Not the case here.

Best World Champions 2023 Skins

Real talk though, Prestige T1 Jayce is the crown jewel. Mythic tier, gold-infused version of the base T1 Jayce, and it goes hard. The golden particles on his cannon form Q feel premium in a way that most Prestige skins dont achieve. Played against one in ranked last week and even on the enemy team the skin commanded attention. The recall animation with the trophy is clean. If you're a Jayce main who grinds ranked, this is the flex pick for your collection.

T1 Orianna sits right behind it for me. Might be overthinking it but Orianna feels like the champion that benefits most from team skins because The Ball becomes a canvas for the org's identity. The T1 version turns her ball into this red crystalline orb that pulses during Command: Shockwave. In teamfights around dragon pit the ult VFX look incredible. Been spamming Orianna in Diamond since season 12 and this skin competes with Dark Star for my top slot. At 1350 RP its a steal for what the particles deliver.

T1 Lee Sin deserves a mention. Faker's signature champion getting the Worlds treatment was inevitable, and they didnt phone it in. The Q resonating strike trail has this red energy streak that makes it easier to track in chaotic fights. Some Lee Sin skins actually make the Q harder to read visually. Not this one. Storm Dragon Lee Sin still edges it out for flashy plays but the T1 version has a cleaner silhouette for competitive-minded players.

T1 Jinx is solid but not spectacular. Good. The rocket launcher gets the T1 treatment, Fishbones has red energy tracers, and the ult rocket looks properly menacing. But Jinx already has so many strong Epic skins that this one doesnt stand out as much in her catalog. If you're a Jinx one-trick who also watches pro play, sure. Otherwise her other options at the same price point might serve you better.

T1 Bard rounds out the set. Kinda feels like Bard always gets the short end on team skins because his kit is so visually distinct that any overlay looks slightly off. The chimes turning red is a nice touch though. Bard mains are a different breed anyway, they'll buy anything with a meep on it. Respect.

The Champion Roster and Thematic Fit

Five champions representing T1's Worlds 2023 winning roster. Orianna, Lee Sin, Jayce, Jinx, and Bard. The selection obviously reflects what the players actually picked during the tournament run, which is how Worlds skins work. You dont get to choose the coolest champions, you get what was locked in during the finals.

That said, this roster worked out well thematically. Orianna and Lee Sin are legacy T1 champions. Faker's Orianna is iconic, his Lee Sin clips live rent-free in highlight reels from season 3 onward. Giving those two the Worlds treatment carries weight that goes beyond just "they played these champs in the final." There's history there.

Jayce getting both a base Epic and the Prestige Mythic variant makes sense given Zeus's performance on the pick. Having two versions of the same champion skin in one line is something Riot started doing with Prestige editions and it works here. The base T1 Jayce at 1350 RP gives you the team fantasy, the Prestige version at Mythic tier elevates it for collectors.

Jinx and Bard fill out the bot lane duo. Not sure if it's just me but Bard feels slightly out of place visually. His round, whimsical design clashes a bit with the sharp competitive aesthetic of the rest of the line. Still a competent skin though. Maybe just my experience but in about 40 games where I've seen these skins in loading screen, the Bard one gets the fewest compliments in chat.

Who's missing? Nobody, technically. This is the full roster. But if T1 had played differently in the finals, I would have loved to see this treatment on Azir or Renekton. The T1 red on Azir soldiers would have been insane.

Tier and Price Breakdown

Five Epics at 1350 RP each and one Mythic Prestige. Straightforward pricing. No Legendaries in the set, which is standard for Worlds skins. Riot keeps team skins at the Epic tier to make them accessible, and honestly thats the right call. You want fans to actually buy these, not price them out at 1820 RP.

The 1350 RP price point means every skin gets new particles, new recall, new SFX. Voice lines stay base for all of them. No new VO, which again is normal for Worlds skins. The Prestige T1 Jayce doesnt add voice lines either but the upgraded VFX and model changes justify the Mythic grind.

Total cost if you wanted every skin in the set: 6750 RP for the five shop skins, plus whatever Mythic Essence or event pass grind you need for the Prestige. Not cheap but not unreasonable for a complete collection. I grabbed three of them during the initial launch window back in June 2024 and picked up Bard later when I was on a support kick that lasted maybe two weeks before I went back to mid lane.

Fair price for what you get across the board. 1350 RP is standard Epic pricing. Nothing feels overpriced. Nothing feels like a budget skin pretending to be Epic. Solid execution at every price tier in the line.