Empyrean Malzahar

After 70 games with Empyrean Malzahar, I'm convinced this skin fundamentally changes how the champion feels to play. The visual clarity on this one puts every other Malzahar skin to shame, and that's coming from someone who owns Battle Boss and Snow Day.

The E spread animation feels significantly smoother compared to base Malzahar. Where the default visions look muddy spreading between minions, Empyrean's golden particles track perfectly, making CS way easier under tower. Your Q silence has this distinct golden arc that's impossible to miss in teamfights, which actually helped me land more clutch silences on fed carries diving our backline. But the real game changer is the ult. Yesterday during a dragon fight, I ulted their jungler through three other champions and my team instantly focused him because the tether beam is insanely bright. On Battle Boss that same play probably gets lost in the visual noise.

The W voidlings look crisp with their geometric design, though I think Snow Day's poros are still more tilting for enemies. Recall animation takes forever but looks incredible with the whole ascending throne effect. This skin definitely has cleaner animations overall, especially noticeable when you're canceling autos for better spacing in lane. And the sound effects don't overlap as much when you're comboing abilities quickly.

Is Empyrean Malzahar worth it? For 1350 RP, absolutely. This isn't just cosmetic, the visual clarity genuinely helps in clutch moments. Compared to other Malzahar skins, only Hextech comes close for competitive play but Empyrean wins on pure readability. If you're serious about climbing with Malz, this skin will make a difference. Just don't expect your teammates to suddenly respect your ults more.