Why Doesn’t Faker Use Skins?

Ever since his debut during the season 3 League of Legends World Championship, Faker has been known for a very specific thing – he doesn’t use skins! At the time, Faker was perhaps one of the few people to never use a skin on a champion. He was certainly the only player at the tournament to not equipt a skin in any single match, even the finale. And that has been the case ever since.

Throughout the years, fans and players have come up with thousands of different theories as to why Faker doesn’t use skins. And while some are more logical than others, the truth has never been crystal clear.

Faker himself has never given us a complete explanation why he never uses skins, even on his favorite champions. But he has hinted at those reasons in a couple of interviews so we can safely derive the answer for ourselves. Here we’ll combine those sources and explain to you why Faker doesn’t use skins in LoL!

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Why Doesn’t Faker Use Skins in League of Legends?

Here and there, Faker has talked a bit about his no-skin philosophy. And here’s what he has said.

Not using skins isn’t as much of a rule for him as it is a preference. Faker doesn’t necessarily dislike skins, but he has no use for them.

In other words, Faker doesn’t use skins because they don’t give him any advantages in League of Legends. When he first started playing League, he had no money to afford the skins that were then available. So he learned to play the champions using their basic appearances. He knows their moves, animations, and voices very well. And if he suddenly changes how they look, he feels like he would lose a bit of his skill.

To understand him better, just consider this example. Yasuo’s original appearance is a poor samurai with only one distinctive characteristic – his sword. But the PROJECT Yasuo skin is a complete rework. There are different spell animations, voices, and movements. And if you play ten games of Yasuo using the basic skin and suddenly play another with PROJECT Yasuo, chances are that you’d immediately play a bit worse. That’s because you would have to adjust to using the new skin.

And that’s exactly what Faker doesn’t like! He deeply cares about his personal performance and skill. So if there is anything that could potentially sabotage his efficiency, he would choose not to have it.

However, there were a few instances when Faker did use skins, even in professional matches. He used the SKT T1 Ryze and SKT T1 Syndra a couple of times, as well as SKT T1 Azir. Those are his personal skins that he owns by winning multiple World Championship titles.

And knowing Faker, he has first practiced the skins before locking them on an international stage!

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Does Faker Own Skins?

Yes. 

Faker is known to own the skins we mentioned above. These are SKT T1 Zed, SKT T1 Ryze, SKT T1 Syndra, and SKT T1 Azir.

He also has the Victories skins for each champion because of his high solo-queue rank. Riot Games automatically deliver these skins as rewards to players near the end of every season. And Faker owns them, but rarely uses them.

Once, Faker informed his Twitch audience during a live stream that he has only bought one skin in his lifetime – Frost Queen Janna. He said that he liked the skin very much, so he might use it sometime in the future. 

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Should You Use Skins?

Skins in League of Legends are a personal thing. They’re ways to customize our favorite champions and make them more personal. And if you like a certain skin and it puts you in the correct mood for winning, then you should definitely use it!

Some skins are clearly an upgrade from the basic appearance. Take the iBlitz skin, for example. Many people have noticed that the grab animation simply travels faster than that of the basic Blitzcrank skin. And for what it’s worth, iBlitz was a banned skin in professional matches. Pro players weren’t allowed to use it because it gave them in-game advantages. 

Our advice is this: use the skins that make you play better. We all have a skin or two that we perform slightly better with. There is clearly something about those skins that enables us to have enhanced performance, so it’s wise to use their effects. But if you’re playing only for fun, then use any skin you like!