Empyrean Zac

First game I played with Empyrean Zac was around 1 AM on a Wednesday, season 12 was winding down. Locked it in for jungle and the loading screen splash alone sold me. Zac skins have always been a sore spot for the champion pool because there’s just not that many of them, and most feel like recolors with extra steps. This one felt different from the jump. The whole Empyrean aesthetic trades out the gooey green blob for something that looks like it crawled out of a cyberpunk dimension, and honestly on Zac it works way better than I expected.

What Empyrean actually changes on Zac

New VFX across the board. Thats the headline. His Q pulls have this electric neon trail that reads clean in teamfights, which matters because half the time playing Zac you’re launching into five people and need your team to actually follow up on what they can see. The E slingshot got the biggest visual upgrade in my opinion. The wind-up shows this rippling energy field and the landing impact has that signature Empyrean particle burst.

W pulsing damage has a subtle glow effect. Not flashy but noticeable enough that it doesn’t feel forgotten. R is where it gets fun. Bouncing around in a teamfight with those Empyrean particles flying everywhere looks chaotic in the best way. Been running this in Diamond for a couple seasons now and I still catch myself watching the ult VFX instead of tracking cooldowns. Bad habit.

New recall animation too. Zac does this whole digital reformation sequence. Clean stuff. Voice lines stay base, no new VO, but the visual package carries the skin hard enough that it doesnt bother me. Could be wrong here but I think the auto attack feel is slightly different too, something about the impact particles on each hit just reads better than base Zac.

The Empyrean line and where Zac fits

Released November 3, 2022. Late season 12, right when the Empyrean batch dropped alongside Jhin, Varus, and a few others. David Villegas and West Studio handled the artwork, and they cooked. The splash captures Zac mid-stretch with that dimensional rift energy pouring off him.

The Empyrean skinline is one of Riot’s more interesting thematic experiments. Digital dimension, neon aesthetics, kind of a blend between PROJECT and Pulsefire but with its own identity. Zac fits the Empyrean vibe naturally because his stretchy amorphous body gives the VFX team room to go wild with particle effects. Champions with rigid models dont get that luxury.

9 chromas total. Tanzanite is my go-to because the deep purple energy against the Rift contrast hits perfectly, especially at night maps during events. Neon Flare does something interesting with a red-green split that shouldn’t work but somehow does. Pearl goes full ghostly white which reads almost like a different skin entirely. (Random aside: the Pearl chroma on Zac specifically looks like if you took Pool Party Zac and drained all the fun out of it, in a cool way though.) Rest of the chromas are solid but those three stand out from the pack.

Is 1350 RP worth it for Empyrean Zac?

Real talk though. Zac has like six skins total. Not a lot of competition. Special Weapon is ancient, Pool Party is the fan favorite, SKT is limited, Battlecast exists. So Empyrean Zac walks into a pretty thin lineup and immediately sits near the top.

1350 RP feels fair for what you get. Full VFX overhaul, new recall, the model redesign is substantial. For an Epic tier skin on a champion who gets maybe one skin every three years, this is about as good as it gets. Might be overthinking it but I think the Empyrean particles actually make Zac’s engage pattern easier to read for your team in solo queue, which is a practical gameplay benefit on top of looking good.

Spammed this in Diamond through season 13 and into 14. Played maybe 40 games on it last month alone. If you main Zac or even just pull him out as a jungle flex pick, Empyrean is the skin. Shop has it, permanent availability, no vault nonsense. Skip it if you’re ride or die Pool Party, but for everyone else this is the Zac skin if you can only own one. The VFX package alone justifies the price, and on a champion who desperately needed a modern skin, Riot delivered here.