What helps Sand Wraith is that it was Pyke’s original concept. He was supposed to be a desert wraith from Shurima, but got changed to the watery revenant from Bilgewater we know today. The same happened with High Noon Jhin and Classic Jhin.
But not Blackfrost as in black ice shards all around, but a Draugr with dusty torn robes wielding a black ice shard as his weapon, attached to him with bandages and his theme being that he haunts the blizzards of Freljord.
@@loupe500 his high noon skin looks incredibly cool Wtfym. It’s an older skin, it doesn’t look as good as the new high noon skins, but his animations work perfectly on it, it’s a pretty neat design, albeit a bit unoriginal.
@@yunogasai3350 Oh yeah sure, Jhin now is great, and his concept is way more unique. I don't like high noon more, but it's a good skin, and a good rebrand of Jhin all things considered.
I think the reason the model is vibrantly coloured, is to make him easier to see on the screen. There is a reason Riot barely ever releases camo skins.
I love how this skin flips some of his voicelines too! For example in his base form he occasionally says _"welcome to the water"_ and in this one it becomes "welcome to the underdune" instead. Non-legendary skins having new VO to fit the theme are always cool and usually launch/relaunch ones.
I think this series is more about how the skin FITS a character over just purely how it looks. Ashen knight may be a 11/10 visually, but syken may not consider it that highly in terms of how it works with his character.
Thank you Skyen! Been asking/waiting for this one. A lot of people like Ashen knight but this is THE best skin for Pyke! Also his voice lines are even different and they all relate to sand and the desert instead of the sea. The recall has so much of a cocky swagger with him sitting on the throne of the one who presumably betrayed him (After he's killed them of course) The white chroma makes him look like an assassin's creed character and is the best IMO.
Man Pyke has really a ton of good skins. Like I'm sure that either Psyops or Sentinel will be the worst skin, but I'd say even they are better than the best skins for other champs.
Honestl Sentinal skins are so hit and miss, like Sentinal Graves, Sentinal Vayne and Sentinal Olaf are all amazing skins.. but then, sentinal pyke, Sentinal Irellia and sentinal Riven are jsut bottom of the barrel.
Honestly I’m happy Skyen still says the full “love when a skin recontextualizes” bit cuz it has become a mantra in my mind I think of at least once a day now.
Even they knew that, even if Pyke was in Bilgewater and somehow dealing with the Ruination without ever stepping on Shurima, his best friend would undoubtedly be Rek'sai, and no one could tell otherwise.
Hey! Remember when Skyen had a *MIXED FEELINGS* on this skin when he did a review of this on his Skin line tier birthday stream about a few years ago? Yeah.... *NOT ANYMORE*
@@mateilupascu5246 But it’s also an interesting inversion of the knight trope - Pyke is a knight willing to dirty himself with underhanded methods. Instead of facing his enemy head on in glorious combat like Pantheon, Pyke instead throws away his former knightly honour to get the job done.
Counterpoint: The Ocean, by the numbers, is a desert. The biomass density is very low. And normal Pyke swims through land too, we see it in his teaser. So is this REALLY his polar opposite?
I am sorry T B, but, i will have disagree with you this time. Ashen Knight is way better. The theme and particle effect are so much better then this one.
I think you're giving Sand Wraith too little credit for coming out 8 (woops, this should be 4) years ago, and being priced at about $10 instead of around $200. Pyke, to your credit, has the best (and, in my opinion, ONLY) Ashen Knight skin. Just so happens that Pyke's skins are all in their own right very, very good. Sand Wraith is Skyen's favorite not only because it does the Skyen special of recontextualizing a character with all the things that Riot has given the base, but also because it's the launch skin, which is overwhelmingly a miss on most characters. Ashen Knight is my favorite, too, but before it came out? Rocked Sand Wraith all the way.
"The theme" brother it's a fucking choir, like fuck even Psyops or Sentinels' is way better. And again, this review is not just based of particle effects or other shit, it's about reinventing a character, it doesn't just stop to mere visuals
I would love your take on Cyberpop Zoe. It feels like the developers initially wanted to make a hacker character, then went the Aspect route. Especially considering the special voicelines.
In terms of design i feel like Sentinel is one of his best actually, it looks very damn cool, but yeah in terms of everything else I could see why it'd be considered as the worst.
Its true, pyke really enhances every theme his been put on so far, some skins better than others, but all of them really nice. He is a natural cool guy
You got it they did a great skin because this was his original concept and overall his abilities and features where designed alongside this desert thematic at first.
What I like the most about this skin is that in LoR, Pyke is pretty much only played with Rek'Sai, so seeing a desertic Pyke is very cool. I hope they add this skin to LoR and a Rek'Sai skin with a sea theme.
I was never too into the base Pyke design, it is cool but I'm not a huge fan of some aspects of it like the comically large bone collar or the mask that doesn't look nearly as good in-game as it does in official art. Sand Wraith Pyke, on the other hand, scratches the part of my brain that really likes cloaks and the part that likes Egyptian themed character design.
Yeah, I love 1 (one) sandy boi! It’s awesome how well the concept works for him. Also. PsyOps Pyke is one of the few PsyOps skins I really like, that mask is just so striking to me.
Even though Pyke has what I’d consider the best Project skin (partly due to its unique animations and voice lines) this is definitely an absolute 10/10!
@@oicmorez4129 Please note, I said “the best Project skin”. I was more mentioning it simply because our dear host really REALLY dislikes the whole range. Though, I’d definitely rate Psy Ops AND Sentinel below his Project skin.
@@jamesmowatt6736 I like Sentinel one (tho not as much as Ashen or Sand) because some of the chromas just look great. The theme is weak, but the outfit itself is cool
I genuinely think that there isn't a single "bad" pyke skin. His core concept & design is so STRONG that it's very difficult to really dilute or fuck it up in a major way!
YES ! Yes thank you ! Finally someone agree that this is the best skin of him, it's my main so to be asked literraly EVERY game why i play this skin now thanks to you i can show in less than 1 minutes why it is perfect. Also the Throne for the back after a Penta is just-
I gotta say, the rule of cool wins this for me. Ashen knight is such an awesome skin visually, and I don't really care that the thematics aren't too fleshed out.
wow this is suprising I was 100% sure it was ashen knight but tbf sand wraith pyke is a amazing take on pyke and it is my 2nd favourite skin behind ashen knight
Oooh boy it may be sentinel Pyke next-the skin line where so many champs were shoe horned in over champs that are actually connected to Viego and the shadow isle (RIP Ruination based Maokai skin)
I really like the concept and love the splash art, but the in-game skin... It just... Idk if it's due to the colours or what but even though the animations are really good, I simply find the base model better
Ok listen as a Pyke main, yes this is his best skin BEFORE Ashen Knight came out, but come on I feel like now it’s completely unanimous that Ashen Knight is his best skin.
I thought this was going to be one of those skins that keep the same idea but change the main element. For example, instead of water, he uses earth/sand, like Blackfrost, Infernal or Archlight
Wait a sec. you said Pool party best Taliyah skin cause earth surfer is surfing on water now... You also say sand wraith best Pyke skin cause guy who swims in water now swim in earth...
I think a lack of vibrant colors as criticism doesn't work in the context of a video game like League, where everything important should be as easily noticeable as possible behind all the skills, auras, attacks, etc. that a character would otherwise get overshadowed by.
Alright, well I don't have an easy prediction for the worst skin since there is no fire or ice ski- *Looks to Psy-Ops* hm... yeah I'll put $5 on that one.
What helps Sand Wraith is that it was Pyke’s original concept. He was supposed to be a desert wraith from Shurima, but got changed to the watery revenant from Bilgewater we know today.
The same happened with High Noon Jhin and Classic Jhin.
Jhin was also supposed to have kindreds passive to fit with his bounty hunter theme
Ooo, I didn't know that, so cool! Glad they went with the current theme though. Same for Jhin.
I was going to ask if this was the original theme since it fits so well!
Aurelion sol as well
Same happend to aurelion and storm dragon skin ao shin
Skyen: his own _polar_ opposite
Riot: yes yes, one Blackfrost Pyke coming right up, we know it's your favourite thematic!
But not Blackfrost as in black ice shards all around, but a Draugr with dusty torn robes wielding a black ice shard as his weapon, attached to him with bandages and his theme being that he haunts the blizzards of Freljord.
Next one might be infernal
@@NMG.11 SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY
Okay but blackfrost pyke would be kinda cool…
it also may be simply because when Pyke was in his concept stages, this was the initial idea - he at first supposedly was a shuriman sand wraith.
That doesn’t make a skin good by itself. Take Jhin for example. His high noon skin is very ugly and that’s his initial idea.
@@loupe500 Diss High Noon Jhin one more time and I'm putting a fork in your microwave
@@loupe500 his high noon skin looks incredibly cool Wtfym.
It’s an older skin, it doesn’t look as good as the new high noon skins, but his animations work perfectly on it, it’s a pretty neat design, albeit a bit unoriginal.
@@Mwright4444 still glad they went with the Jhin we got now
@@yunogasai3350 Oh yeah sure, Jhin now is great, and his concept is way more unique. I don't like high noon more, but it's a good skin, and a good rebrand of Jhin all things considered.
sandwraith pyke and pool party rek'sai being picked for their best skins is EXTREMELY fitting for the lurk duo
I think the reason the model is vibrantly coloured, is to make him easier to see on the screen. There is a reason Riot barely ever releases camo skins.
The camo works too well 💀
It's to the point that some wards look like champions, lol.
I love how this skin flips some of his voicelines too! For example in his base form he occasionally says _"welcome to the water"_ and in this one it becomes "welcome to the underdune" instead. Non-legendary skins having new VO to fit the theme are always cool and usually launch/relaunch ones.
Honestly shocked that it isn’t Ashen Knight Pyke, that skin is a 11/10..
i feel like ashen knight might just be skyens pick for the worst skin
@@theshuman100 most likely gonna be cyberops. he hates that skin line
Nah, worst is gonna be Sentinel
I think this series is more about how the skin FITS a character over just purely how it looks. Ashen knight may be a 11/10 visually, but syken may not consider it that highly in terms of how it works with his character.
@@Lucario7280 why does Pyke even have a skin for both? One could have done the job.
Upright Pyke can't hurt you, he doesn't exhist
*Upright Pyke*
Lmaoo
Thank you Skyen! Been asking/waiting for this one.
A lot of people like Ashen knight but this is THE best skin for Pyke! Also his voice lines are even different and they all relate to sand and the desert instead of the sea. The recall has so much of a cocky swagger with him sitting on the throne of the one who presumably betrayed him (After he's killed them of course)
The white chroma makes him look like an assassin's creed character and is the best IMO.
Man Pyke has really a ton of good skins. Like I'm sure that either Psyops or Sentinel will be the worst skin, but I'd say even they are better than the best skins for other champs.
it will probably sentinel due to "The useless mask" and "Ignoring the water themes"
I'd say that the blood moon one is pretty underwhelming compared to the rest of his skin catalogue.
Honestl Sentinal skins are so hit and miss, like Sentinal Graves, Sentinal Vayne and Sentinal Olaf are all amazing skins.. but then, sentinal pyke, Sentinal Irellia and sentinal Riven are jsut bottom of the barrel.
Honestly I’m happy Skyen still says the full “love when a skin recontextualizes” bit cuz it has become a mantra in my mind I think of at least once a day now.
I think the vibrant colors were necessary so that he didn't just look like a semi-basic desert-themed ghost enemy.
The best part is that his white chroma is basically Bayek from Assassins Creed Origins.
or moon knight
@@CarlKachu preferably moon knight
@@idontknowwhattodo3224 bayek > moon knight any day of the week
That's awesome, Bayek is a fucking great character.
Considering Pyke shares the same archetype as Rek'Sai the literal land shark in LoR, I'm not surprised this fits well.
Even they knew that, even if Pyke was in Bilgewater and somehow dealing with the Ruination without ever stepping on Shurima, his best friend would undoubtedly be Rek'sai, and no one could tell otherwise.
Hey! Remember when Skyen had a *MIXED FEELINGS* on this skin when he did a review of this on his Skin line tier birthday stream about a few years ago?
Yeah.... *NOT ANYMORE*
Yeah I could've sworm I've heard someone talk shit about Sand Wraith. Or maybe it was a text-based post?
The sand SFX on that skin is soooooo good
He's like part of the team of Shockblade Zed.
*sad ashen knight noises *
*launch skin*
This is a thematic review first and skin quality review second. Ashen Knight is great visually but being a knight has nothing to do with Pyke
@@mateilupascu5246 But it’s also an interesting inversion of the knight trope - Pyke is a knight willing to dirty himself with underhanded methods. Instead of facing his enemy head on in glorious combat like Pantheon, Pyke instead throws away his former knightly honour to get the job done.
@@BK--xj9ud this isn’t about launch skins, it’s about the champs best and worst skins. This one just happens to be a launch and was put in the title.
@@mateilupascu5246 what a bad take
a sand wraith also has nothing to do with pyke
The best part is in LOR he is a Lurker and who else is a Lurker? REK’SAI! It matched beautifully with her in that game
Jesus: *Walks on water*
Sand Wrait Pyke: *Swims on land*
ITS MY FAVORITE SKIN, i love that they took one of his concepts and turned it into a skin
Bruh, all Pyke skins are amazing
TBSkyen: "i've said before..."
Yes, yes you have
I keep saying this: Oceans are just deserts, deserts are just oceans. Same thing, opposite reason for being inhospitable
Desert Pyke is kinda the inverse of Pool Party Taliah. From ocean to sand and from sand to ocean respectively.
and it has unique voice lines!
When did they stop adding voice lines to epic skins?
@@elfabii9817 awhile ago
Couldn't agree more. This skin is by far my favorite on the game. I would love they changed the Ult Sound though:(
The knife sneaking through his knee is funny
Papa Whyguy would be happy to hear that his former skin in the white chroma is his best skin
This skin with the purple chrome is pure perfection
Counterpoint: The Ocean, by the numbers, is a desert. The biomass density is very low. And normal Pyke swims through land too, we see it in his teaser. So is this REALLY his polar opposite?
I am sorry T B, but, i will have disagree with you this time. Ashen Knight is way better. The theme and particle effect are so much better then this one.
I think you're giving Sand Wraith too little credit for coming out 8 (woops, this should be 4) years ago, and being priced at about $10 instead of around $200.
Pyke, to your credit, has the best (and, in my opinion, ONLY) Ashen Knight skin. Just so happens that Pyke's skins are all in their own right very, very good. Sand Wraith is Skyen's favorite not only because it does the Skyen special of recontextualizing a character with all the things that Riot has given the base, but also because it's the launch skin, which is overwhelmingly a miss on most characters.
Ashen Knight is my favorite, too, but before it came out? Rocked Sand Wraith all the way.
"The theme" brother it's a fucking choir, like fuck even Psyops or Sentinels' is way better.
And again, this review is not just based of particle effects or other shit, it's about reinventing a character, it doesn't just stop to mere visuals
@@notthalis9545 Pyke came out in 2018 what are you talking about?
@@Visnulv Got my 8 and my 4 mixed up, my mistake! My point still stands, though.
Wh- Why was THIS skin not on Ruined King?! Damn, this looks awesome!
I would love your take on Cyberpop Zoe. It feels like the developers initially wanted to make a hacker character, then went the Aspect route. Especially considering the special voicelines.
It does make sense. We have enough narrative around deserts becoming sand seas, with sand sharks and earthworms, being stranded and all.
Now I'm curious wich one's gonna be the worst because imo all Pyke skins are bangers
well...
Maybe Sentinel
In terms of design i feel like Sentinel is one of his best actually, it looks very damn cool, but yeah in terms of everything else I could see why it'd be considered as the worst.
Its true, pyke really enhances every theme his been put on so far, some skins better than others, but all of them really nice. He is a natural cool guy
even though i got All of his skins, this one is still my absolute favorite. And his dagger ist just fantastic!
It's kinda funny how you can play with this skin and still be able to hear all his quotes about the sea and drowning in water and deep-sea monsters XD
The clothes actually match, because he's supposed to be a forgotten soldier. So becoming a ghost of the sands.
Is my favorite skin of pyke. I'm otp, and not even ashen is better for me. Ofc sometimes I change skins, but it's incredible
With the white chroma, this skin is perfection
You got it they did a great skin because this was his original concept and overall his abilities and features where designed alongside this desert thematic at first.
I think the Vibrant colors do a good job of visually associating him with Shurima, which makes sense as a desert wraith.
What I like the most about this skin is that in LoR, Pyke is pretty much only played with Rek'Sai, so seeing a desertic Pyke is very cool. I hope they add this skin to LoR and a Rek'Sai skin with a sea theme.
This skin is already in LoR afaik
He went from regular shark to land shark.
Da king is back baby he neva miss
I was never too into the base Pyke design, it is cool but I'm not a huge fan of some aspects of it like the comically large bone collar or the mask that doesn't look nearly as good in-game as it does in official art. Sand Wraith Pyke, on the other hand, scratches the part of my brain that really likes cloaks and the part that likes Egyptian themed character design.
Yeah, I love 1 (one) sandy boi! It’s awesome how well the concept works for him.
Also. PsyOps Pyke is one of the few PsyOps skins I really like, that mask is just so striking to me.
Even though Pyke has what I’d consider the best Project skin (partly due to its unique animations and voice lines) this is definitely an absolute 10/10!
I don't understand this. Pyke has some great skins, but his project one is in my opinion his second worst (behind Psy Ops)
@@oicmorez4129 Still hated the fact that project Pyke doesn't a unique homeguard animation.
@@oicmorez4129 Please note, I said “the best Project skin”. I was more mentioning it simply because our dear host really REALLY dislikes the whole range. Though, I’d definitely rate Psy Ops AND Sentinel below his Project skin.
@@jamesmowatt6736 I like Sentinel one (tho not as much as Ashen or Sand) because some of the chromas just look great. The theme is weak, but the outfit itself is cool
I got the skin because it reminded me of Immortal Redneck and I was playing alot of Pyke. Plus the sand effects are awesome.
I genuinely think that there isn't a single "bad" pyke skin. His core concept & design is so STRONG that it's very difficult to really dilute or fuck it up in a major way!
YES ! Yes thank you !
Finally someone agree that this is the best skin of him, it's my main so to be asked literraly EVERY game why i play this skin now thanks to you i can show in less than 1 minutes why it is perfect.
Also the Throne for the back after a Penta is just-
The perfect launch skin is kda Seraphine, it totally feels like the character was made for that skin
Bruh he already have that video and Ironically that skin the WORST skin she have (the worst is the 2nd form of her being a mixed from her 1st and 2nd)
MORE. PYKE. CONTENT. PLEASE.
I gotta say, the rule of cool wins this for me. Ashen knight is such an awesome skin visually, and I don't really care that the thematics aren't too fleshed out.
Honestly it being so colorful is helpful for not blending in to certain environments
Sand wraith Pyke Still stands as one of the best pyke skins.
wow this is suprising I was 100% sure it was ashen knight but tbf sand wraith pyke is a amazing take on pyke and it is my 2nd favourite skin behind ashen knight
I really like the sand skins, ekkos sand skin is also really good and underrated
Oooh boy it may be sentinel Pyke next-the skin line where so many champs were shoe horned in over champs that are actually connected to Viego and the shadow isle (RIP Ruination based Maokai skin)
Skyen: makes shorts mostly about League and Souls Games
also Skyen: doesn't put Ashen Knight as best skin
It is the perfer Lor's launch skin for Pyke too, 'cause he it only playable with Rek'Sai, a "SAND shark"
Fun Fact: Pyke was originally supposed to be Shuriman before being moved to Bilgewater and we can Assume this is what he would have looked like
I'm curious about this walking animation, never saw that
Surprised it’s not Ashen Knight
If Sentinel Pyke isn't the worst one I will eat a sponge, dm me if that is the case and I will record myself eating a sponge.
common pyke W and extremely common tb Skyen W, sand wraith is my favorite skin
dont forget the snake sound when he uses E
Hold up....Pyke has a walking animation? Where he just casually jaunts down the street?
WTF?
Actually works better than default Pyke, because in gameplay he is walking across the ground and water-themed abilities don't match his surroundings.
This skin is good but I’d place PsyOps and definitely Ashen Knight above this, that skin is just perfect.
I love pyke so mutch its no t healthy
This is an elemental skin well done
Especially in his white chroma^^
I really like the concept and love the splash art, but the in-game skin... It just... Idk if it's due to the colours or what but even though the animations are really good, I simply find the base model better
I do wish his in game good model was more tattered because it looks too similar to Malzahar's hood
Ashen Knight is the best for me. Feels like an Elden Ring/Dark Souls Boss
Don't forget he also got Special voice lines for that skin
Can't wait to dump on psy ops pyke next time lol
My man, make some about Illaoi skins as well!
Ashen knight is the best skin when it comes to vfx and sfx sand wraith is the best when it comes to recontectualizing pyke
Very surprised it isnt Project Pyke, since he actually is a better execution of the lore than original pyke
FUNNY REVIEW MAN SAID THE THING, LETS FUCKING GO GAMERS
I like blood Moon pyke best, but this skin also Is sick
Ok listen as a Pyke main, yes this is his best skin BEFORE Ashen Knight came out, but come on I feel like now it’s completely unanimous that Ashen Knight is his best skin.
Ah, when Riot put good thematic work into the launch skin then just force feed a new champ to the upcoming big name skin line
I just know Skyen’s gonna rip apart either Psy-ops or Project.
Or Sentinel. Let's be real he looks like he is wearing an underwear on his face there
i think the bright colors work mostly cuz in desert regions in India people wear vibrant clothing like red and yellow
I feel a Psyops video incoming
I hope they add this skin to LoR so he can fit thematically to Rek'Sai.
I thought this was going to be one of those skins that keep the same idea but change the main element. For example, instead of water, he uses earth/sand, like Blackfrost, Infernal or Archlight
Wait a sec.
you said Pool party best Taliyah skin cause earth surfer is surfing on water now...
You also say sand wraith best Pyke skin cause guy who swims in water now swim in earth...
for me blood moon looks a bit better in game but i love the general aesthetic of sand wraith Pyke
I don't think I ever saw this skin in game...
I think a lack of vibrant colors as criticism doesn't work in the context of a video game like League, where everything important should be as easily noticeable as possible behind all the skills, auras, attacks, etc. that a character would otherwise get overshadowed by.
Alright, well I don't have an easy prediction for the worst skin since there is no fire or ice ski- *Looks to Psy-Ops* hm... yeah I'll put $5 on that one.
Pyke has no bad skins from my point of view, but I'd choose Ashen Knight with this one being second. Both are brilliant.
Sand storm Ekko is also S tier skin and perfect launch skin in my opinion, especially for 975rp
As a Pyke main, I feel like my opinions are now validated. I'll take Sand Wraith over Ashen anytime