List of Skins That Are Banned in Professional LoL Play
In League of Legends, there are so many different champions and skins. Each champion has at least one skin, with many champions unfortunately not receiving a skin for over 1000 days. However, there are some champions in League that have a billion skins- I’m looking at you, Ezreal and Lux.
With over 1500 skins in the game, you’ve probably seen the majority of them over your time playing League of Legends. But did you know some skins can not be used in professional League of Legends? There is a large list of skins that cannot be used in pro play, and here are some of them. If you want to learn how to play any of the champions on the list, head over to the Mobalytics site.
Unfortunately, Riot has turned away from providing a detailed list of every skin that is banned in pro play, but the community has come to the conclusion that certain skins must be banned, and Riot themselves have stated certain skins are not allowed in pro play. However, no full list exists for us. Regardless of this, we are going to list several different skins that are banned in professional League of Legends.
Before we begin, we must ask the question, why are some skins banned in pro play? There are a few reasons why, but they all fall into one of these categories:
- Limited availability to buy the skin.
- Provides an unfair advantage to players.
- Has hard to see particles or animations.
1. Elementalist Lux
Elementalist Lux is not available in pro play. This skin is an ultimate skin and was released in 2016. Since its release, it has never been seen in pro play. Out of all the champions on our list, I think this one is very clear as to why it is banned. Firstly, there are so many different particles to this skin. Her animations are very different and can be quite difficult to see. The second major reason could be because of the user is able to change the colours of her skin.
I personally like this skin, and while she has a lot of other skins, this feels like one of the most popular skins we see on Summoners Rift, outside of pro play.
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2. iBlitzcrank
The next skin on out list is iBlitzcrank. In my opinion, Blitzcrank should be banned permanently from pro and solo queue! This skin was released in 2013. I think that this skin is banned in pro play because of how different his Q animation is on this skin. This skin is different to his others, which makes it harder to play against. It is known that the animation doesn’t match the hitbox: this skin is quite pay-to-win, in my opinion.
This skin is quite nice to play, but I am happy that it is banned in pro play. As a Support main, I dread playing against him and this skin as a whole.
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3. Pax Sivir
Pax Sivir is a skin that has been released several times over the year. The skin was originally gifted to players who attended one of the OG Pax events many many years ago. Because it was only released at an in-person event, there are no legal ways you can obtain the original skin. The exclusivity of the skin makes it unable to be used in professional play. One thing that Riot does is promotes skins for users to buy. When a skin cannot be brought, they don’t really want to advertise it.
It is a shame to see these sorts of skins banned from professional play, but I understand the logic behind it. They want to promote skins that users can buy, and there will be no promotion when you cannot physically buy the skin.
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4. Dragon Trainer Heimerdinger
It’s not like we see Heimerdinger in pro play anyway, but did you know that his Dragon Trainer Heimerdinger skin is banned? No? Well, now you do! Pro players cannot pick this skin, although did they ever wanna pick Heimderdinger in the first place! Dragon Trainer Heimerdinger was released in 2018. There are a few different reasons to why this skin is probably banned in pro play. But I think the major reasons are due to his Q. His Q turrets are very unique. The animations are different too. All of Heimerdinger’s animations are a lot different to his other skins. This could be another factor to why he isn’t allowed to use this skin here.
I don’t really miss this skin at all, and neither do I have a strong opinion on it being allowed or disallowed in professional League of Legends.
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5. Draven Draven
This is the first skin on our list that is part of an April Fools event. This skin was released in 2016 and, in my opinion, is his worse skin to date. Draven Draven is a rare skin and is not seen much at all. The animations for Draven Draven are very similar to his base skin. The only major difference this skin has is that he has a huge head. His Axes are the same, and everything is basically the same. Could this be the reason why this skin isn’t allowed? The head size difference? We might never know. All though, its probably down to the fact that you can’t buy this skin anymore.
Whilst I love Draven, I really couldn’t care that this skin isn’t allowed. There are much better skins for Draven, including the Soul Reaver and Gladiator.
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6. Riot Singed
Riot Singed is a skin that is hardly used by anyone. It is an incredibly exclusive skin that basically nobody owns. It was given to players who went to Gamescom back in 2010. So it is a very old skin. I think it’s safe to say that this skin isn’t allowed to be used by players because of how no new players can obtain. Even players who have been playing the game for 10 years don’t even have this skin.
Like some of the other skins on our list, it doesn’t bother me that we don’t see this skin in pro play at all.
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In Conclusion
That about sums up our article on some skins that are banned in pro play. What do you think of our list? Should we do another with more skins that are not allowed to be played? Let us know! As always, you can find tips, counters and much more information on all of these champions with their Mobalytics champion page.
