Dreadknight Garen

First time I saw Dreadknight Garen loading in was back in season 2, maybe season 3. Some top laner on the enemy team locked it in and I remember thinking the splash looked way more threatening than base Garen had any right to be. Dark armor, glowing eyes, the whole edgy package. Been a while since that game but the skin stuck with me, even if I wasnt sold on it immediately.

What Dreadknight Garen actually changes

Real talk though, this is a Standard tier skin at 975 RP, so temper expectations. You get a full model swap and Garen trades the blue Demacian plate for black and red armor with spikes. The sword gets a darker treatment too. Looks like something out of a death metal album cover, which I think is exactly the point.

No new VFX on Q, W, E, or R. Voice lines stay base. No recall animation either. What you see in the splash is basically the whole package: a reskin. Judgment spin looks the same, Demacian Justice ult drops the same way. Kinda feels like Riot could have at least tinted the E particles red or something, but this was 2011 so different standards.

The model itself holds up okay for its age. The spiked shoulder pads read well in teamfights and the color scheme makes Garen pop against the Rift in a way base doesn’t. Playing this in lane, your opponent can still clearly see every ability coming, nothing changes mechanically or visually on that front. But the silhouette is distinct enough that you feel different piloting it. Simple change – huge impact on the fantasy.

The Dreadknights line and some history

Dreadknight Garen dropped January 18, 2011. Early League days. The Dreadknights skinline is one of those smaller thematic sets Riot experimented with back then. Not sure if it’s just me but the whole “corrupted knight” angle hits harder on Garen than on most champions because his entire identity is Demacia and justice. Slapping dark armor on the poster boy of righteous spins feels like it means something.

No splash artist credited in the data, which tracks for skins from that era. Riot wasnt always consistent about crediting individual artists on older releases. The splash itself is solid for 2011 though. Garen mid-swing, dark energy swirling. It did its job.

Zero chromas on this one. Shop has it for 975 RP any time you want it. (Random aside: I used to run this skin exclusively when I was climbing through Gold back in like season 4, felt like the dark armor gave me main character energy in top lane.)

Should you pick up Dreadknight Garen?

Verdict time. 975 RP is a weird price point because it sits right between the budget skins and the 1350 Epic tier where you start getting actual VFX changes. For Garen specifically, you have God-King at Legendary, Mecha Kingdoms with prestige, and newer options like Mythmaker that all offer way more in terms of visual upgrades.

Not gonna lie, if you’re a Garen one-trick who plays 300 games a season on him, you probably already own this or skipped it for something flashier. For newer players or people building a Garen collection, 975 RP feels fair for what you get. The model swap is clean. It reads well in game. Had this in rotation for a couple months last season and the dark aesthetic grew on me, especially in bot lane skirmishes where the black armor contrasts against everything.

Could be wrong here but I think this skin ages better than some of the other early Garen options like Desert Trooper or Commando. The Dreadknights fantasy is just more visually interesting. Skip this if you already have Steel Legion or God-King Garen though, those outclass it in every department. But for a sub-1350 option? Solid pickup. Been seeing maybe two or three of these in my Diamond games all season, so you wont exactly blend in with the crowd either.