Pool Party Malphite

First game I played with Pool Party Malphite was around 3 AM on a Tuesday and I remember thinking Riot finally gave the rock dude a skin that actually feels fun. Not serious, not cosmic, not dark. Just a giant boulder in swim trunks cannonballing into a teamfight. Been maining Malphite on and off since season 9 I think or 10 dont remember, and this one immediately went into the rotation. Banger energy.

What Pool Party Malphite actually brings to the Rift

So the whole model is reworked into this beach rock covered in sand with pool floaties, sunglasses, and what looks like a coconut drink embedded in his shoulder. Kinda feels like Riot took the “unstoppable force” fantasy and said what if he was an unstoppable beach ball instead. The Q toss is a water balloon now. Straight up. You chuck this bright blue water balloon at someone in lane and it splashes on impact. Simple change – huge impact on how satisfying the poke feels.

W activation gets this wet shimmer effect across his body. Reads clean in teamfights, you can actually tell when its active which is more than I can say for some of his older skins. The E ground slam sends out a ring of pool water and sand, and the particles dont clutter the screen during big fights which I appreciate after 200+ games on Mecha where the VFX get noisy fast.

The R though. The ult. Pool Party Malphite does a full cannonball dive for Unstoppable Force. Water splashes everywhere on impact. Played maybe 30 games with this skin the first week it dropped and I still grin every time I land a five-man ult in the bot lane specifically. The recall animation has him lounging on a pool chair, sipping something, then belly-flopping into a kiddie pool. No new VO unfortunately, voice lines stay base, but honestly the VFX carry this skin hard enough.

(Random aside: the splash is genuinely my desktop wallpaper now, the composition is that good.)

The Pool Party line and where Malphite fits

Pool Party dropped April 2, 2025. Late into the spring cycle. Fortune ‘Fortuneee’ K nailed the splash, the lighting on the water reflections is ridiculous for a 1350 RP tier skin. The Pool Party skinline is one of Riot’s longest running themes at this point. You got Pool Party Leona, Renekton, Lee Sin, the whole crew. Malphite fits naturally because his kit is literally about slamming into things and water physics just work with that.

8 chromas total. Obsidian is my go-to because the dark rock with neon swim shorts gives off this contrast thats hard to beat. Rose Quartz hits different though, the pinkish stone texture against the beach gear reads surprisingly well on the Rift. Meteorite has this earthy brown that looks more like actual sandcastle Malphite which I think was the intent. Not gonna lie, most of the chromas are solid picks here, Riot didn’t phone it in on the color work.

Shop has it. Permanent availability at 1350 RP, standard Epic pricing. Could be wrong here but I think this might be one of those skins that shows up in the Your Shop rotation pretty frequently given how popular Malphite is in low and mid elo.

Should you lock in Pool Party Malphite?

Real verdict: this is a top pick for Malphite mains and honestly even for people who just pull him out as a counter-pick into AD comps. The VFX refresh is clean, the theme is fun without being obnoxious, and the ult animation alone justifies the price. I’ve seen maybe 15 of these in my Diamond games since release and every single one gets the thumbs-up emote from me in loading screen.

If you already own Odyssey or Dark Star Malphite you might hesitate. Fair. Those are strong skins. But Pool Party fills a completely different vibe. Odyssey is sci-fi serious, Dark Star is cosmic horror, and Pool Party is just pure good times. 1350 RP feels fair for what you get. Not overpriced, not underpowered in the cosmetic department. Been daily driving this over Dark Star for the past few weeks and I keep coming back to it.

Skip it if you only play Malphite jungle and want something intimidating. This skin wasnt built for that energy. But for top lane Malphite players who want to tilt the enemy Darius by killing him with a water balloon Q at level 3? Lock it in. Three things stood out: ult VFX, recall animation, chroma variety. That ranked game where my Kayn inted and I still carried with a four-man ult off fog of war? Pool Party Malphite. Worth every RP.