There’s a true sense of awe when Jinx and Ekko’s bizarre, floating contraption descends from the skies and begins peppering Ambessa’s army with bullets to Stray Kids’ Come Play. Jinx sits in a handcrafted purple hood, adorned with little teeth reminiscent of her Fishbones rocket launcher, watching the chaos unfold before she begins to pump the Noxxians full of lead. That finale ‘form’ has become the posterchild of Arcane Season 2, but League of Legends‘ new $250 Fractured Jinx skin didn’t have it as one of its three changeable forms. In the wake of a wave of intense backlash, that’s changed.
The main criticism of League of Legends‘ first Exalted skin was that two of the forms were largely the same in the actual MOBA despite differences on the splash art. The two finale-inspired Jinxes looked and played incredibly similarly, with one simply being doused in neon where the other looked more akin to what we see in the show. That latter one, Hero of Zaun, did not include the hood that we’ve come to know and love – an odd decision, given it was the image that had been plastered all over promotional art.
As a result players were quick to criticize it, with even self-professed “whales” confirming that they weren’t interested in the skin due to the “sheer low quality of the product.” This post is just one of many across all of Riot’s social platforms, none of which are particularly impressed with the cosmetic – especially given the $250 price point.
That backlash has been heard, however, as League’s executive producer Paul ‘Pabro’ Bellezza confirms that Riot is now adding Jinx’s signature hood to the Hero of Zaun model, noting that “we should’ve had it from the start.”
“Quick update on Arcane Fractured Jinx and Viktor’s update: We’re adding Jinx’s iconic finale hood to her first form (Hero of Zaun) in patch 14.24,” he writes. “You won’t see it in PBE, but it’ll be live when the patch launches. We should’ve had it in from the start, but hope you enjoy the look when she goes live.”
Additionally, he notes that the team is “looking at making some adjustments to Viktor’s update based on your feedback. We’ll let you know when we have something solid to share, soonish.” Similar to Exalted Jinx, Viktor’s VGU hasn’t been well-received, with players saying that Riot has completely reworked the character’s core vision.
Viktor’s Death Sworn skin has already been updated to include a mask after it had previously been removed, and Creator has been bathed in a little bit more red. The model size has been widened slightly, too, as players critized Viktor’s new form for being, well, too “twink.”
For me, these are the right decisions. Arcane Fractured Jinx simply wasn’t representative of what we saw in the show, and Viktor’s new VGU perhaps leaned to far into Arcane’s aesthetic for my liking – he is, after all, a champion with 13 years of history.
If you’re planning on taking the new-look Viktor out for a spin on the Rift, check out our LoL tier list to see where he falls in the meta. Alternatively, if you’re looking for more skins that aren’t Exalted Jinx but are still a little flashy, here’s a rundown of the current League of Legends Mythic shop.
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