Gravelord Azir

First time I saw Gravelord Azir in a loading screen I thought someone modded Azir into Dark Souls. Not even joking. The whole undead emperor vibe hit different compared to base Azir, and I remember locking it in the same week it showed up in the shop. Been running this skin in Diamond for multiple seasons now and it still holds up surprisingly well for a 2015 release.

What Gravelord Azir actually changes

The soldiers. Thats the biggest thing. Your W summons these skeletal warriors instead of the gold Shuriman guards, and they look genuinely menacing standing in lane. The green necromantic glow on each soldier reads cleanly against the Rift, which matters more than people think when you’re managing 3 soldiers in a teamfight and need to track positioning fast.

Q sends the soldiers forward with this eerie green trail. Simple change – huge impact on how the ability feels. E dash has the same ghostly particles, and honestly the R wall of soldiers might be my favorite part. Emperor’s Divide with skeleton warriors pushing the enemy backline looks incredible. Played maybe 40 games in a row with this skin last December and the ult never got old.

New recall animation too. Azir raises the dead around him, very on-brand for the whole gravelord fantasy. Voice lines stay base, no new VO, which is fine because Travis Willingham’s original performance carries enough weight on its own. You know what surprised me? The auto attack particles. The sand disc projectiles have this subtle green tint that makes cs-ing feel weirdly satisfying.

(Random aside: I’ve used the splash as my Discord avatar for like two years and nobody has ever correctly guessed the champion.)

The Death Sworn line and where this skin fits

Gravelord Azir dropped December 1, 2015. Mid season 5. Sixmorevodka Studio handled the artwork, they cooked on this one. The splash captures the necromancer king fantasy perfectly, Azir floating above a sea of undead soldiers with that green energy radiating off him.

Now here’s where it gets a little confusing. The skin is categorized under the Death Sworn skinline, same thematic family as Death Sworn Viktor and Death Sworn Katarina. Could be wrong here but I think Gravelord Azir actually predates the other Death Sworn skins by a couple years. Riot grouped them together retroactively which makes sense given the shared undead aesthetic.

No chromas available for this one. Kinda feels like a missed opportunity because a red or purple variant of the necromantic VFX would go hard. But Riot hasnt touched this skin since release so dont hold your breath.

Epic tier at 1350 RP. Shop has it, permanent availability, grab it whenever. For a skin from 2015 the VFX quality holds up against newer Epics which says something about how clean the original execution was.

Should you pick up Gravelord Azir

Real verdict: if you main Azir this is either your first or second skin purchase. The competition is Elderwood and Warring Kingdoms, both solid, but Gravelord has a darker edge that the others dont touch. Been maining Azir with this skin through two full ranked seasons and I keep coming back to it over the newer options.

Not gonna lie, the skin does show its age in certain animations. The model isnt as detailed as something like Elderwood Azir which came later. Pre-6 laning phase the differences are subtle, mostly just soldier color and particle tint. But once you hit teamfights and you’re shuffling through the enemy comp with skeleton soldiers, the fantasy clicks hard.

1350 RP feels fair for what you get. New VFX across all abilities, new recall, clean soldier models. Skip this if you already own Elderwood and only play Azir casually. But for one-tricks and Azir mains who want something with an edge? Best dark-themed Azir skin full stop. Seen maybe 5 of these in my games all season which means you wont run into mirror skin matchups either. Last Tuesday in a ranked game my jungler pinged my skin three times in fountain, asked where I got it. That’s the kind of reaction this skin still pulls in season 14.