Worlds 2022 Azir

First time I saw this skin pop up in the shop was right around Worlds 2022 and I remember thinking Riot finally gave Azir something that felt like it belonged on a big stage. Not gonna lie, after years of running Elderwood and getting bored of it, Worlds 2022 Azir hit different. The splash alone sold me before I even loaded into a game.

What Worlds 2022 Azir actually brings to the table

So the skin runs the World Championship aesthetic pretty hard. Gold and deep blue dominate everything, and the soldiers especially look clean when you W them into lane. The sand soldiers get this crystalline championship trophy vibe that reads well against the Rift background, which matters more than people think. Been playing Azir since season 9 I think or 10 dont remember, and visibility on soldiers is half the battle in teamfights.

Q sends the soldiers forward with new trail particles. Bright gold streaks. Simple change – huge impact on how commanding the poke feels. W summons feel crisper too, theres this burst of light on spawn that the base skin just doesn’t have. E dash gets a similar gold treatment, and your R wall comes out with the Worlds emblem woven into the shield effect. For an Epic tier skin at 1350 RP, the VFX package is solid across all four abilities.

The recall animation is the real highlight though. Azir conjures a miniature Summoner’s Cup and the whole thing has that ceremonial energy. Played maybe 30 games the first week it dropped and I kept letting the recall finish even when I should have been walking back to lane just to watch it. Kinda feels like Riot put extra love into the recall because they knew Azir mains would notice.

Voice lines stay base, no new VO. Standard for the price point. Travis Willingham’s original performance still carries weight so its not a dealbreaker.

The Worlds line and where this fits

Released September 22, 2022. Right in the thick of the competitive season. Augusto Quirino and West Studio handled the artwork, and they captured this regal tournament energy that fits Azir’s emperor fantasy perfectly. The World Championship skinline has been going since the early days and some entries are forgettable. This one isn’t.

Could be wrong here but I think Worlds 2022 Azir is one of the stronger entries in the entire championship catalog. The color palette doesn’t clash with his kit the way some esports skins do on other champions. Azir already has that royal commanding presence and layering the Worlds gold on top just amplifies it.

4 chromas available. Obsidian is my pick, turns the whole skin into this dark emperor look that reads intimidating in lane. Tanzanite pushes into purple territory which honestly looks cleaner than I expected. The One & Only chroma keeps the gold but shifts the secondary tones around. Legacy vault skin, so you’ll need to catch it during a vault opening or get lucky with Hextech crafting.

Playing Worlds 2022 Azir in ranked

Spammed this in Diamond for a solid two months after release. The soldier visibility genuinely helps in chaotic teamfights around dragon pit. Last season I had a game where I ulted three people into our backline and my ADC said they could actually track which soldiers were mine because of the gold glow. Small thing. Matters though.

(Random aside: the loading screen art on this skin goes unreasonably hard for a 1350 RP skin. Had it as my desktop background for like three months.)

Pre-6 laning feels the same as any Azir skin obviously, but the Q poke animations being slightly more visible might actually be a tiny competitive disadvantage if you’re paranoid about telegraphing. Real talk though, in Diamond and below nobody is dodging based on particle color. You know what surprised me? The W soldier auto attacks. They have this satisfying weight to them that the base skin lacks.

Should you pick up Worlds 2022 Azir?

Verdict time. For Azir mains this is a strong addition to the rotation. 1350 RP feels fair for what you get. New VFX on every ability, a great recall, clean chromas. It sits comfortably as a top three Azir skin alongside Elderwood and Warring Kingdoms depending on your taste.

The catch is availability. Sits in the vault, so you can’t just buy it whenever. If it shows up in Your Shop or during a Legacy sale, grab it. Maybe just my experience but I’ve seen maybe 5 other people running this skin in my games all season, so there’s that exclusivity factor too. Not the flashiest Azir skin ever made, but the one that feels most like winning. If you’re climbing with the emperor this season and want something that looks tournament-ready without being over the top, Worlds 2022 Azir earns the slot.