Barbecue Leona

First time I saw Barbecue Leona in a loading screen I thought someone was trolling. A support main locking in Leona with a chef hat and a spatula shield. Took me a second to realize this was an actual skin and not some custom mod. Honestly not gonna lie, it grew on me faster than I expected.

What Barbecue Leona actually looks like in game

So the whole concept is Leona as a grill master. Her shield is a grill grate, her sword is a giant spatula, and she’s rocking an apron over what looks like casual summer clothes. The chef hat stays on through every teamfight, every engage, every flash E into five people. Commitment.

Being a Standard 750 RP skin, you’re not getting new VFX or animations here. Voice lines stay base. No fancy recall animation either. Its basically a model and texture swap, which is exactly what you’d expect at this price point. The Q still has the default stun particle, W still does the standard Leona sunlight ring, E pulls you in with the same old zenith blade effect. Nothing changes mechanically or visually on abilities.

But here’s what I think makes it work: the model itself is clean. The spatula reads well as a weapon in game, the grill shield has nice detail if you zoom in, and the color palette is this warm red and brown that stands out against the Rift without being obnoxious. Played maybe 30 games with this last season in Diamond and the hitbox clarity on E felt identical to base, which matters when you’re trying to peel for your ADC or engage on the backline.

Could be wrong here but I feel like the auto attack animations look slightly snappier with the spatula. Probably just placebo from the thinner weapon model. Either way it dont bother me.

The Culinary Masters line and release context

Barbecue Leona dropped September 7, 2016. Mid season 6. Jojo So handled the artwork, and the splash captures the vibe perfectly. Leona standing over a massive grill with burgers and corn, looking way too intense about cooking. Classic Riot humor.

She’s part of the Culinary Masters skinline, which is one of those fun thematic sets Riot does where they take serious champions and put them in ridiculous situations. (Random aside: the splash has been my Discord avatar for like two years and nobody has ever commented on it.) The line fits Leona surprisingly well because her whole kit is about bringing the heat. Solar flare? More like solar flare grilled steak.

No chromas available for this one. Shop has it at 750 RP permanently, so you can grab it whenever. Standard voice, no new lines, which is fine. At 750 you know what you’re getting.

Should you pick up Barbecue Leona?

Real verdict: this is a solid novelty skin for Leona mains who want something lighthearted. 750 RP feels fair for what you get. You’re not competing with PROJECT Leona or the Eclipse skins here. Those are in a completely different league with new VFX, animations, the whole package. Barbecue Leona is for those games where you just want to vibe in bot lane and flip burgers between ganking mid.

I ran this skin exclusively for about two weeks around last August. Had a support duo who kept saying “chef’s kiss” every time I landed a good ult in the dragon pit. Got old fast but the skin didn’t. Think it’s underrated honestly. Most Leona players skip straight to the 1350+ options but there’s something about the spatula bonking people in lane that just hits different.

Skip it if you need flashy particles. Lock it in if you appreciate Riot’s comedy skins and you play Leona in your ranked comp regularly. At 750 RP the investment is low and the entertainment value per game is surprisingly high. Not the best Leona skin full stop, but it earns its spot in the collection.