Star Guardian Ekko

First game I played with Star Guardian Ekko was around 1 AM on a Tuesday, right after the skin dropped in July 2022. Locked it in for a Diamond ranked game and immediately noticed the vibe shift. Ekko already has one of the cleanest kits in the game for flashy plays, but wrapping him in the Star Guardian aesthetic? Felt like playing a completely different champion. Not in a bad way. The magical boy energy hits harder than you’d expect from a time-bending assassin.

How Star Guardian Changes Ekko’s Kit

This is an Epic tier skin so you’re getting new VFX and a new recall animation, but no new voice lines. Voice stays default. For 1350 RP though, the particle work carries hard.

The Q throw swaps out the usual blue-green tech disc for this sparkly star projectile that leaves a trail of light behind it. Looks clean in lane and reads well in teamfights, which is something I actually care about. Been in too many games where fancy VFX made it impossible to track my own abilities in a five-man engage. Not the case here. The W zone gets this translucent dome with star patterns floating inside, kinda feels like stepping into a planetarium. When it procs the stun, there’s a satisfying burst of golden light.

E dash leaves behind a short streak of stars. Simple change – huge impact on how fluid the combo feels visually. The R rewind is where Riot put in the most work though. The ghost trail and the snap-back effect both got the full Star Guardian treatment with constellation lines and sparkle particles. Spammed this in Diamond for maybe 23 games in a row one weekend and the ult VFX never got old. Thats saying something for a skin I expected to drop after a week.

The recall animation is probably the highlight for collectors. Ekko interacts with his Star Guardian familiar, and the whole sequence has this anime transformation feel to it. (Random aside: my friend who watches way too much Sailor Moon said this recall specifically made him start playing Ekko.) You know what surprised me? The passive proc particles. Three-hit passive pops with little star bursts instead of the tech sparks, and it reads so cleanly when you’re trading in lane pre-6.

The Star Guardian Season 4 Line and Release Context

Star Guardian Ekko released July 14, 2022. Part of the Star Guardian Season 4 wave, which was one of Riot’s bigger skin events that year. Francis Tneh and West Studio handled the artwork, and they cooked. The splash captures Ekko mid-leap with his bat crackling with star energy, familiar floating beside him. Strong composition.

The Star Guardian Season 4 lineup was stacked. Ekko shared the spotlight with Kai’Sa, Sona, Akali, and a bunch of others. Could be wrong here but I think this batch had one of the highest chroma counts across the board. Ekko specifically got 9 chromas total. Tanzanite is my pick for the best one, that deep purple reads like a dark magical boy variant and pairs well with the star particles. Obsidian goes full edgelord which honestly works better than it should on a Star Guardian skin. Brilliant is the flashy one with pink-to-blue gradient if you want maximum anime energy.

The Star Guardian line has always been one of Riot’s most popular skinlines and Ekko fits it naturally. Time manipulation already has that magical protagonist energy. Season 9 or 10 I think, dont remember exactly, but I started noticing way more Star Guardian skins in my games after this batch dropped. Shop has it permanently so no vault rotation stress.

Should You Pick Up Star Guardian Ekko?

Real verdict: 1350 RP feels fair for what you get. The VFX package is above average for an Epic skin. Not gonna lie, I expected this to be a throwaway cash grab when they announced Star Guardian Ekko because the thematic felt like a stretch. But Riot committed to the concept and it works.

If you main Ekko and you’re looking for something outside the usual tech-assassin aesthetic, this is your skin. The particles are clean enough for ranked without being distracting, the recall is fun, and the chromas give you options. Maybe just my experience but I’ve seen more Star Guardian Ekko in my games than Pulsefire or PROJECT combined this season. People gravitate toward it.

Where it falls short: base voice lines. Ekko’s default VO doesn’t really match the Star Guardian fantasy. He’s still talking about Zaun and time and the streets while dressed like an anime protagonist. For a Legendary that would be unacceptable, but at Epic pricing nobody expects new voice work. The skin competes directly with Pulsefire Ekko at the same price point, and honestly Star Guardian wins on charm alone. Pulsefire is technically cleaner but Star Guardian has personality. (Sidebar for Ekko one-tricks specifically: if you alternate between this and True Damage you basically never get bored.)

Took this into ranked for about two months straight after release and kept coming back to it even after trying other Ekko skins. Top pick for Ekko mains who want something different from the usual sci-fi look. Worth the RP if you play him even semi-regularly.