When your main isn't a hot anime girl, you suffer, right? No skins, no buffs and no content at all. No one suffers more though than Zilean mains, so Riot, why do you hate this champion so much?
It's clear that there are some champions that Riot favors when it comes to cosmetics. Ahri, Lux and Ezreal come to mind, while Ivern, Ornn and Taric are left on the wayside. But one champion seems to be even more forgotten and more hated by Riot and that is none other than old man Zilean.
This champion has some of the longest breaks between skins than any other champion out there. Sure, when looking at the dates when champions received their last skins, Dr. Mundo and Udyr are on the number one and two spot, but Zilean is a close third.
When Was The Last Zilean Skin Released?
Zilean's last skin came all the way back in 2019. On December 17, 2019 Zilean received the Sugar Rush Zilean skin, and since then, he hasn't gotten a new one. To be honest, looking at Zilean skins, it's a bit sad to see just how few skins he's even got.
In total, Zilean has six skins, two of which are vaulted in the legacy vault, so even if you wanted to have the Saint Zilean skin, it could be tough to pick it up. Pretty sad if you're a fan of the champion... it's not like Zilean is irrelevant or anything, his kit is actually pretty useful and the revive option feels much better than Akshan's instant revive.
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Not the First Time Zilean Had to Wait 1,000 Days for New Skin
Yes, you read that right. Zilean is so unpopular when it comes to skins that this isn't even the first time Riot has done this to the old man. Zilean didn't receive new skins for over 1,000 days on two previous occasions – between 2011 (Time Machine Zilean) and 2015 (Blood Moon Zilean), as well as 2015 and 2019 (Sugar Rush Zilean). Yes, welcome to the clown show, Zilean is literally the most hated champion when it comes to cosmetics.
Ornn mains are going to have to wait a bit longer to reach the same heights of lack of skins and cosmetics as Zilean. Is this champion really that unpopular that he doesn't deserve any cosmetics? Well, according to League of Graphs, he has a popularity of 5% right now which is above a lot of other champs...
Annie, for example, only has a popularity of 1.7%, and yet she is receiving another new skin in League of Legends Patch 12.18. So it doesn't seem to matter whether a champion is played or not in solo queue. Zilean also sits at a 52% win rate, which just goes to show that he is a viable pick.
So now the question is... when will Zilean get a new skin? It better be an ultimate skin or something to make up for the lack of cosmetics from Riot. Period.