Lunar Beast Viego

First time I saw Lunar Beast Viego load in, I thought Riot had dropped a prestige skin by accident. The gold and crimson color scheme hits hard for an Epic tier. Been maining Viego on and off since his release and this was the skin I locked in for months. Not gonna lie, something about the Lunar New Year aesthetic on a brooding king just works in a way I wasnt expecting.

What Lunar Beast Viego actually changes

New VFX across the board. His Q stab gets this golden energy trail that reads clean in teamfights, way better than base for tracking your passive resets. The W charge-up has a warm amber glow with beast motifs swirling around him. Looks good. E mist turns into this deep red fog with golden particles scattered through it, and honestly the contrast against the Rift terrain makes it easier to see your zone boundaries than default Viego.

R is where the skin earns its 1350 RP. The Heartbreaker leap gets wreathed in crimson and gold energy, beast silhouettes flash on impact. Played maybe 40 games with this skin last season and every ult felt satisfying to land. The recall animation is solid too, Viego channels this Lunar Beast energy and strikes a pose with his blade. Short and clean, no filler.

Voice lines stay base. Same VO, no filter. Kinda feels like a missed opportunity given the thematic shift, but for an Epic that’s standard. The model itself swaps his ruined king aesthetic for ceremonial armor with beast motifs. Red and gold dominate, which fits the Lunar New Year celebration vibe perfectly. His blade gets a redesign too, more ornamental with curved edges.

The Lunar Beast line and release context

Lunar Beast dropped January 21, 2021. This was actually Viego’s launch skin, released alongside his champion debut. Wild move from Riot, giving a brand new champ a full skinline treatment day one. Bo ‘chenbowow’ Chen nailed the splash, the composition with Viego in that commanding pose surrounded by beast energy is one of the better Lunar event pieces.

The Lunar Beast line that year included Fiora, Darius, Jarvan IV, Aphelios, and a few others. Viego stood out because his base design already has that dramatic king energy. Dropping him into a celebration-themed skinline created this interesting contrast between his tragic lore and the festive visuals. Season 11 launch patch if I remember right, back when everyone was figuring out the new items and Viego was permabanned in every Diamond lobby I played.

7 chromas available for this one. Obsidian goes full dark mode and I think it’s the cleanest option for ranked, the muted colors dont distract. Tanzanite shifts everything purple and honestly reads like a completely different skin. Vitality is the weird one with neon green and red that I’ve seen maybe twice in my games all season. (Random aside: the Catseye chroma golden-yellow look is basically what I imagined Viego would look like if he joined the Warring Kingdoms line instead.)

Should you pick up Lunar Beast Viego?

Legacy vault skin, so you cant just grab it whenever. That’s the catch. When it rotates back during Lunar New Year events or shows up in Your Shop, 1350 RP feels fair for what you get. The VFX package is above average for Epic tier. Could be wrong here but I think the ult animation alone justifies the price over base Viego.

Competition is real though. Dissonance of Pentakill and Soul Fighter both exist now, and King Viego is a Legendary with new VO. If you can only own one Viego skin, this probably isnt it. But for Viego mains building a collection, Lunar Beast fills a unique niche. No other Viego skin does the red and gold ceremonial look.

Been running this in solo queue whenever Lunar events roll around, feels thematic. The skin aged well visually, nothing about it looks dated compared to his newer releases. For Viego one-tricks who want variety in their rotation, Lunar Beast earns its spot. Just gotta wait for the vault to open or get lucky with Hextech crafting. Worth 1350 RP if you main Viego, especially that Obsidian chroma. Top pick for anyone who likes the Lunar aesthetic on jungle carries.