Lion Dance Kog'Maw - Splash, Price & In-Game VFX

First time I saw Lion Dance Kog’Maw load into my game I thought someone was trolling with a custom skin. The whole model is this bright red and gold Chinese lion costume wrapped around Kog’Maw’s stubby little body, and honestly it works way better than it has any right to. Been running this one in Diamond since season 11 and the amount of people who comment on it in all chat is genuinely surprising for a skin from 2011.

VFX and what actually changed on Lion Dance Kog’Maw

So the big draw here is the VFX. For an Epic at 1350 RP, Riot gave Kog’Maw a full particle rework on this one. His W is the star of the show. Activate Bio-Arcane Barrage and instead of the usual green spit, you get these firework-style projectiles that pop on contact. Feels like celebrating Lunar New Year every time you poke in lane. Not gonna lie, the auto attack animation with W active is one of the cleanest in Kog’Maw’s entire skin catalog.

His R, Living Artillery, drops these explosive red bursts that look like firecrackers going off. In a teamfight where you’re spamming R from the backline, the screen lights up. Good visual clarity too, which matters when you’re trying to cs and poke at the same time in a hectic bot lane.

Q feels a bit more subtle. The Void Ooze on E leaves this golden trail thats actually easier to see than base, which is a gameplay plus if you’re trying to land the slow for your support to follow up. The passive death explosion, Icathian Surprise, gets the firework treatment too. Died to a gank last Tuesday around midnight and my explosion actually finished off the enemy Kayn. The kill feed looked hilarious.

Voice lines stay base. No new VO, which is expected for a skin this old. Patrick Seitz still does his thing with the base voice and it fits fine under the costume.

The Lunar Revel line and where this skin sits

Lion Dance Kog’Maw dropped February 1, 2011. Early season 1 territory. Part of the Lunar Revel: Firecracker skinline, which Riot has expanded massively over the years with Firecracker Jinx, Firecracker Vayne, and a bunch of others. Kog’Maw was one of the originals though. Kinda feels like this skin laid the groundwork for what became one of Riot’s most consistent annual events.

No splash artist credited in the data, which tracks for skins from that era. Riot wasnt exactly handing out artist credits back in 2011. The splash itself holds up okay. Not modern quality by any stretch but the composition is fun. (Random aside: the splash used to be my Discord avatar for like two years straight before I switched to the Pug’Maw one.)

Zero chromas on this one. Bit of a missed opportunity if you ask me. A jade green variant or a white-and-silver version would have been clean. But Riot seems to mostly add chromas to newer releases, so Lion Dance probably wont get that treatment.

Is Lion Dance Kog’Maw worth 1350 RP?

Real verdict: for Kog’Maw mains this is a top three skin easy. Maybe top two depending on how you feel about Battlecast. The VFX carry the entire package and the thematic is unique in his lineup. Nobody else in the Kog’Maw skin pool gives you that festive energy.

1350 RP feels fair for what you get. Could be wrong here but I think this skin has gotten slight VFX updates over the years since the original release, because some of the particles look cleaner than what I remember from season 3 or 4. The model is dated, sure. Kog’Maw’s base rig is ancient and you can tell. But the color palette and the firework effects compensate hard.

Shop has it permanently. No vault nonsense, no loot gambling. If you’re an ADC player who rotates Kog’Maw into your comp for late-game scaling situations, this is the skin to lock in. Played maybe 200 games with it across multiple seasons and the novelty still hasnt worn off. Skip it if you only play Kog’Maw once a month, but for one-tricks and dedicated mains? Worth every RP. Best Kog’Maw skin if you can only own one, fight me on that.