Coral Reef Malphite

First time I saw Coral Reef Malphite load in was sometime around season 3, maybe season 4. Couldn’t even tell what I was looking at for a second. Big ocean rock walking at me in top lane. Honestly not gonna lie, the skin grew on me way more than I expected it to.

What Coral Reef Malphite actually looks like in game

So the whole model gets reworked into this underwater reef structure. Malphite’s body is covered in coral formations, barnacles, and what looks like sea anemone growths across his shoulders and arms. The color palette shifts from his standard grey-brown rock into blues, greens, and sandy coral tones. Clean rework for a 750 RP skin from 2010.

The VFX get a subtle touch. His Q – Seismic Shard throws what looks like a chunk of coral instead of standard rock. Not a massive overhaul but it reads differently in lane. His ult still has that satisfying Malphite R impact but the particles carry that ocean tone. Been running this in my Diamond games when I get autofilled top and honestly the abilities feel slightly different just because of the color shift on the effects.

Voice lines stay base. No new VO, which makes sense for a Standard tier skin at this price point. No new recall animation either, you just get the default channel. For what Coral Reef Malphite is trying to do – reskin the rock into an ocean creature – it does the job without overcomplicating things.

(random aside: my friend group calls this skin “Barnacle Man” and thats just what he is to us now)

The Forgotten Depths line and where this skin fits

Coral Reef Malphite dropped November 8, 2010. Early League era. Season 1 was barely wrapping up. The skin belongs to the Forgotten Depths skinline, which is one of those smaller Riot themes that didnt get the massive expansion treatment like Star Guardian or PROJECT.

Forgotten Depths has this deep-sea, ocean floor vibe that fits Malphite naturally. Kinda feels like Riot looked at a champion who is literally a rock and said “what if ocean rock.” Simple concept but it works. The skinline captures that eerie underwater aesthetic without going full horror.

No chromas available for Coral Reef Malphite. Zero. What you see is what you get. At 750 RP thats pretty standard for skins from this era. Riot wasnt doing the chroma thing yet back in 2010.

Legacy vault skin, so you cant just walk into the shop and grab it whenever. You either catch it during a Legacy sale rotation or roll it from Hextech crafting. Seen maybe two of these in my games all season, possibly three. Its rare enough that people notice it in the loading screen.

Should you chase Coral Reef Malphite?

Real verdict: this is a collector skin. Not because its expensive or flashy but because its old and sits in the vault. If you main Malphite and you’re climbing through ranked, there are objectively better options. Mecha Malphite exists. Dark Star Malphite exists. Those skins have full VFX overhauls, new recalls, the whole package.

But Coral Reef Malphite has something those dont. Character. Last Tuesday I locked in Malphite into a Darius lane and the enemy jungler pinged my skin in all chat. Nobody sees this skin anymore. That alone gives it value for one-tricks who want to stand out.

750 RP is standard, nothing special. Could be wrong here but I think this skin actually benefits from the Malphite visual update they did. The model reads cleaner on the modern Rift than it did back in the day. If you’re a Malphite main who wants every skin in the collection or you just like the ocean reef aesthetic, keep an eye on Legacy sales or pray to the Hextech gods. Skip it if you need big flashy teamfight VFX on your engage – this aint that skin. For everyone else spamming Malphite in solo queue, Dark Star or Odyssey probably serve you better for the RP.