Snow Day Gnar

First time I saw Snow Day Gnar load in, season 6 I think, I actually thought it was a custom skin someone modded in. The little guy is wearing a winter coat and throwing snowballs. Snowballs. Not his usual boomerang. Thats the kind of commitment to a theme that makes a skin worth talking about.

What Snow Day Actually Changes

So Gnar’s Q in Mini form throws a snowball instead of the boomerang. Clean animation, good read in lane. The return arc feels identical to base which matters when you’re trying to cs and poke at the same time. Voice lines stay base, no changes there, but honestly Gnar’s base VO is already adorable so not a loss.

Mega Gnar is where it gets fun. The boulder on Q becomes this massive snowball that chunks across the lane. W slam has snow particle effects. Could be wrong here but I think the R knockback has a slight frost burst too, at least visually. Hard to tell in the middle of a teamfight when you’re trying to peel for your ADC and not die.

The recall animation is new. Mini Gnar builds a little snowman. Simple concept but the execution is clean. Been running this skin in my Diamond games for a couple months last winter and the recall alone got comments from my duo. The VFX overall lean into the winter holiday theme without going overboard. No obnoxious particle spam, no visual clutter that makes it hard to read abilities in a 5v5. Just snowflakes and ice where it counts.

The Snow Day Line and Release Details

Snow Day Gnar dropped December 10, 2015. Right in time for the holiday patch cycle. Kelly Aleshire nailed the splash, tiny Gnar in a puffy jacket standing in the snow with Mega Gnar looming behind him. Good composition.

The Snow Day skinline is one of Riot’s more consistent holiday themes. Not as flashy as Winterblessed, not as meme-heavy as the Santa skins. Gnar fits the line naturally because he already has that playful energy. (Random aside: this splash was my desktop wallpaper for like three months back in 2016.) Snow Day also includes Malzahar, Bard, Syndra, and Graves. Gnar holds up as one of the better entries in the set.

975 RP for a Standard tier skin with new VFX and a new recall. No chromas available for this one. Legacy vault skin so you cant just grab it whenever you want. Gotta wait for the holiday rotation or get lucky with Hextech crafting. Season 12 I think was the last time I saw it pop up in the shop around December.

Should You Pick Up Snow Day Gnar?

Real verdict: if you main Gnar and you like clean seasonal skins, this is a strong pickup at 975 RP. Not gonna lie, the snowball Q alone carries the skin for me. Played maybe 40 games with it last Tuesday night through the weekend and the visual clarity is better than some of Gnar’s pricier options.

The competition in Gnar’s skin pool is decent. Gentleman Gnar exists for the meme factor, Astronaut Gnar goes harder on VFX. But Snow Day hits a sweet spot between novelty and gameplay readability. Best executed of the Snow Day set in my opinion. Worth 975 RP if you main Gnar, especially since it sits in the Legacy pool and availability is limited. Lock it in next time the vault opens. Might be overthinking it but I genuinely think this is top three Gnar skins for ranked play specifically because nothing distracts you or your lane opponent with excessive particles.