SSW Talon

Played Talon through most of season 5 and remember when this one dropped. SSW Talon hit the shop May 13, 2015, right after MSI hype was building, and I thought the white jacket looked clean enough to lock in for ranked. Been a while since then. Still have it in my collection gathering dust next to skins I actually use.

What SSW Talon actually looks like in game

This is a Standard tier skin at 750 RP so expectations need to stay grounded. No new VFX on any abilities. No new recall animation. Voice lines stay base. What you get is a model swap and thats about it. Talon trades his usual purple assassin gear for a white and blue Samsung White team jacket. The blade arm gets a slight redesign to match the esports theme, and there’s a Samsung logo worked into the outfit.

Honestly not gonna lie, in an actual teamfight you barely notice the difference. The white reads slightly brighter against the Rift which I think actually makes his E parkour over walls more visible to enemies. Not ideal for an assassin whose whole job is flanking the backline. Could be wrong here but I swear I get spotted more often wearing this compared to base Talon.

The Rake (W) and Shadow Assault (R) particles are identical to default. No color shift, no extra flair. For a skin released in 2015 this was standard practice for 750 RP Worlds skins. They all got the same treatment: model change, maybe a weapon tweak, done. Compare that to what DRX got in 2023 and the gap is massive.

The Samsung White legacy and release context

World Champions 2014 is the skinline here, celebrating Samsung White’s dominant Worlds run. Alvin Lee and Pan Chengwei handled the splash art. Clean work. The splash captures the esports vibe well, Talon posed with the SSW jacket looking ready for stage. (Random aside: the SSW splash set as a whole is probably the best group composition Riot did for Worlds skins before they started giving each champ individual treatment.)

PawN played Talon during that tournament run and the pick was nasty. Season 4 Talon with silence on his E was a different beast entirely. If you were around for that meta you know why this skin exists. SSW Talon is a Legacy vault skin so you cant just grab it whenever. Hextech only these days or wait for a Legacy shop event.

750 RP price tag. For a skin you can barely get anymore the value proposition is weird. Its cool as a collector piece for Talon mains or people who remember that Worlds specifically. Not something I’d recommend chasing through rerolls though.

Should you care about SSW Talon?

Real verdict: this is a nostalgia skin. Pure and simple. If you watched Samsung White dismantle everyone at Worlds 2014 and you play Talon, it has sentimental value. Last Tuesday I saw one in my Diamond game for the first time in maybe two seasons. The Talon player was splitpushing bot lane the entire game and honestly the white jacket popping out of fog of war had a certain energy to it.

But if you’re looking for the best Talon skin to use while climbing? Skip this. Enduring Sword or Blood Moon give you way more for your RP. High Noon Talon exists now too. SSW Talon is overpriced for what you get if you’re paying aftermarket, and underwhelming compared to anything post-2018. Worth owning if you main Talon and want the full collection. Not worth hunting down otherwise.