Blackthorn Morgana

First time I saw Blackthorn Morgana in a loading screen, season 3 or something, I thought it was a Legendary. Thats how good this skin looked even back then. The dark thorny aesthetic hit completely different from anything else Morgana had at the time, and honestly it still holds up in my Diamond games today. Not sure if it’s just me but there’s something about the way this skin reads on the Rift that makes Morgana feel more threatening than her base model ever could.

What Blackthorn Morgana actually brings to the table

For an Epic tier skin at 1350 RP, the VFX package here is solid. Q launches this twisted vine projectile that reads cleaner than base, which matters when you’re trying to land bindings through minion waves in lane. The particle trail has thorns woven through it. Small detail but you notice it after 50+ games.

W drops a bramble circle instead of the standard dark pool. Feels like the ground is rotting beneath your enemies. Been running this in ranked for a couple seasons now and the W zone reads really well against most terrain. You know what surprised me? The E shield. It wraps Morgana in these bark-like plates with flowering thorns. Probably my favorite ability change on the whole skin.

R is where it gets good. Soul Shackles sprout thorny vines instead of chains, and the tether visual is thick enough that enemies actually respect the range more. Could be wrong here but I swear people flash earlier when they see the Blackthorn R compared to base. The recall animation has Morgana surrounded by growing thorns and dark flowers. Nice touch.

Voice lines stay base, no new VO. Standard for an Epic from 2012. The model itself leans heavily into a corrupted forest spirit vibe. Dark bark armor, wings that look like dead branches with purple-black leaves. Her dress flows with thorn patterns. The whole silhouette changes enough that she feels like a different character walking down bot lane or roaming mid.

The Albion line and where Blackthorn fits

Blackthorn Morgana released May 23, 2012. Early season 2. Zeen Chin nailed the splash, the composition with Morgana emerging from twisted roots is genuinely one of Riot’s better pieces from that era. (Random aside: I had this splash as my desktop background for like six months back in college.)

The skin belongs to the Albion skinline. Albion pulls from dark fantasy and corrupted nature themes. Morgana fits naturally here, maybe more naturally than any other champion in the line. The fallen angel becoming a forest entity of thorns and decay just works on a thematic level.

5 chromas available for Blackthorn Morgana. Tanzanite shifts the palette to deep purple which honestly reads a bit too similar to base for my taste. Obsidian goes full dark mode and its probably the cleanest option if you want the edgy look pushed even further. Aquamarine flips the whole vibe to an icy blue-green that I keep coming back to, especially against red-side jungle. The other two, Citrine and Pearl, are fine but dont stand out as much in my experience.

Played maybe 200 games with this skin across seasons. Last Tuesday around 2 AM I was grinding ranked and landed a five-man ult in dragon pit with the Blackthorn VFX. The thorny chains spreading across five champions looked absolutely disgusting in the best way. My Kayn jungle pinged me three question marks because he thought I was trolling by walking in, then I got the full lockdown.

Should you buy Blackthorn Morgana?

Real verdict: this is the Morgana skin if you can only own one. 1350 RP feels fair for what you get, especially considering the VFX overhaul and the model quality. Still in the shop, permanent availability, no vault nonsense.

Coven Morgana gives it competition at the same price point and honestly Coven has better particles on some abilities. But Blackthorn has this rugged, organic feel that Coven’s polished witchy aesthetic cant match. Kinda feels like comparing a forest to a cathedral. Different moods entirely.

If you’re a Morgana main who plays support or mid, Blackthorn is the safe pick. The Q and R visuals read well for teammates in teamfights, the model is distinct enough to feel premium, and the chromas give you variety when you get bored. Grab the Obsidian or Aquamarine chroma and you’re set for climbing. Been maining Morgana with this skin off and on since season 4 and I still dont feel the need to switch most days. For 1350 RP, hard to argue against it.