Astronaut Xerath

First game I played with Astronaut Xerath was around 3 AM on a Wednesday, solo queue Diamond lobby, and I remember thinking the Q channel looked like a satellite beam. Not even exaggerating. The whole skin turns Xerath from this angry arcane battery into something that feels like it belongs in a NASA control room if NASA had energy beings on payroll. Been running this since it dropped and honestly its one of those skins that just clicks immediately.

What Astronaut Xerath actually brings to the table

So the core fantasy here is Xerath wrapped in a space suit containment unit instead of his usual sarcophagus setup. The energy inside reads as this cold bluish-white instead of the standard arcane purple-blue. Clean shift. The helmet visor effect on the model is a nice touch, gives him this faceless astronaut vibe that works better than it should for a champion who’s basically living energy.

Q charges up with these orbital targeting lines. Feels precise. W drops down like a satellite strike with ring particles that expand outward, and the ground texture has this techy grid pattern. E is a comet trail projectile, leaves a faint star dust behind it. Not gonna lie, the E looks better in motion than in screenshots. R is where it gets fun though. Each ult shot fires down like a space laser with a small impact crater effect. In a teamfight when you’re dropping all three R shots on the backline, the VFX stack nicely without cluttering your screen.

New recall animation. Xerath does this floating astronaut pose, zero gravity style. Base voice lines, no changes. For an Epic tier skin at 1350 RP thats expected. The sound design leans into sci-fi beeps and hums on ability casts. Subtle but noticeable after a few games, especially the Q wind-up sound.

Kinda feels like Riot put extra effort into the particle work compared to some other Astronaut skins in the line. The color palette stays consistent across all abilities which sounds basic but you’d be surprised how many 1350 skins have one ability that looks out of place.

The Astronaut line and where Xerath fits

Released February 24, 2023. Late season 13 drop. Lejia Chan and Kudos Productions handled the artwork, and they captured the space exploration theme without making it too cartoonish. The Astronaut skinline has been growing steadily since Bard and Veigar kicked it off. Corki, Maokai, Poppy, Gnar, Fizz, Kennen – there’s a whole crew now. Xerath fits naturally because his energy form translates well into the containment suit concept.

8 chromas total. Obsidian is my pick, turns the energy dark and the suit goes near-black which gives off this deep space void look. Amethyst shifts the energy purple which ironically brings him closer to base Xerath colors but in a spacesuit. Rose Quartz is interesting if you want something softer, the pink energy reads surprisingly well against the Rift. (Random aside: I set the Obsidian chroma as my default and forgot what the base Astronaut colors even looked like for like two months.)

The Astronaut line sits in this sweet spot between serious and playful. Not as goofy as Space Groove, not as dark as Dark Star. Xerath’s version leans slightly more serious than say Astronaut Veigar which makes sense given the champion’s personality.

How does Astronaut Xerath stack up for 1350 RP?

Real verdict: this is a strong Epic skin. Maybe just my experience but I think it competes with Dark Star Xerath for the top spot in his catalog. Dark Star has the edge in pure visual drama, the black hole effects are hard to beat. But Astronaut feels cleaner in actual gameplay. The ability particles dont muddy up your screen during lane phase, and when you’re poking from max range the Q indicator is easy to track.

Scorched Earth and Guardian of the Sands both feel dated by comparison. Arcana Xerath is solid competition released just a year before, but Astronaut edges it out on recall animation and overall model quality I think. Could be wrong here but the Astronaut suit gives Xerath more visual identity than most of his other skins which are basically “Xerath but different color energy.”

Worth 1350 if you main Xerath. Even if you’re not a one-trick, if you play him in your mid lane rotation this is a safe buy. Shop has it, permanent availability. Played maybe 200 games with this across two seasons and the VFX haven’t gotten old. The chromas add longevity too. Spammed this in Diamond last split during a Xerath phase where I was grinding cs numbers and honestly the skin just felt right for those long poke lanes. S-tier Xerath cosmetic, no question.