Ironside Malphite

First time I saw Ironside Malphite load in, I thought someone modded a pirate ship into the Rift. Not gonna lie, the concept of turning a living mountain into a barnacle-crusted warship hull is one of Riot’s weirder ideas. It works though. Played maybe 30 games with this last season and the silhouette alone gets comments in lobby chat.

What the skin actually changes

So this is a Standard 975 RP skin, which means you’re not getting new particles or voice lines. Voice stays default. No fancy ability VFX overhaul. What you do get is a full model rework that turns Malphite into what looks like the bow of a Bilgewater galleon ripped off and given legs. Barnacles everywhere, wood planks, iron plating across his shoulders. Heavy nautical vibe.

The recall animation is the highlight here. Malphite pulls out a cannon and fires it. Simple change – huge impact on how the skin feels in game. Been running this in my Diamond games when I want something different from Mecha, and the recall alone justifies picking it. You know what surprised me? How clean the auto attack animations read with the bulkier model. His Q poke in lane feels weightier even though thats just placebo from the visual.

No new sound effects on abilities. Your W, E, R all sound identical to base Malphite. For 975 RP I think thats acceptable but if you’re coming from something like Mecha or Dark Star you’ll notice the downgrade immediately. The ult specifically, Unstoppable Force just doesnt have the same punch without custom VFX. Still looks decent because the model itself is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

The Bilgewater connection

Ironside Malphite dropped October 7, 2015 as part of the Bilgewater: Burning Tides skinline. That was the event where Riot went all in on the pirate fantasy. Gangplank literally died for a patch. Wild times. Sixmorevodka Studio handled the splash art and they captured the harbor atmosphere perfectly. Dark water, stormy skies, Malphite emerging from the ocean like some ancient vessel come to life.

(Random aside: this splash has been my desktop wallpaper for like two years and nobody at work has questioned why I have a rock ship on my monitor.)

The Bilgewater line gave us some bangers. Captain Gangplank, Cutthroat Graves. Ironside Malphite fits the theme naturally since he’s already made of stone, making him look like ship armor isnt a stretch. Could be wrong here but I think this is still the only Bilgewater skin Malphite has. Zero chromas available for this one, which is a shame because a ghostly green or deep crimson variant would go hard.

Should you lock in Ironside Malphite?

Real verdict: 975 RP feels fair for what you get. The model quality punches above its price point. Last Tuesday around 2 AM I was grinding ranked and picked this over Dark Star just because I wanted the cleaner silhouette in teamfights. The recall animation is genuinely fun. No new VFX hurts it compared to his 1350 options but for Malphite mains building a collection, this fills a niche none of his other skins touch.

Skip it if you only want one Malphite skin. Mecha or Dark Star give you more for your RP. But if you already own those and want variety, Ironside is a solid pickup. Kinda feels like an underrated gem in his lineup. Shop has it permanently so no rush. Been maybe three or four seasons since I seen anyone else running it in my games, which honestly makes it more appealing. Nobody expects the pirate ship to engage on their backline. Worth it for mains, skippable for everyone else.