Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked

Get out the candy but leave the lights on, Overwatch's 2017 Halloween event is here! We rank the new legendary skins from worst to best in our list, so you know which ones are worth paying 3K coins for if the loot pumpkins are unkind to you.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked

Introduction

My favorite time of year is Halloween, not just for the scary movies and candy, but also for all the awesome events that go on during online video games! Halloween makes for the most enjoyable events, with the coolest rewards. Though usually Christmas events are more rewarding, with the developers often giving out more to meet with the holiday themes, Halloween events come with content that fits my preferred aesthetics perfectly.

2017 marks the second Halloween event in Overwatch's history, bringing back the unlockables and modes from last year as well as adding in new content, specifically eight new skins that we'll be ranking in this article! The criteria, as always, for judging event skins is how well the skins stack up to that specific hero's other skins (i.e. how likely you are to equip the new event skin over any of their others) and how good it looks overall. So let's get started and see who will walk away with the most candy this year!

#8. Reaper "Dracula"

Reaper starts off our list with his second Legendary skin from the Halloween event. If anyone was going to get multiple legendaries for a Halloween event, Reaper is the most likely candidate. Last year, Reaper had the headless horseman outfit, which gave him a really awesome set of threads and a big orange pumpkin for a head. While the skin overall was great, the pumpkin itself was a bright, contrasting, orange that made him an easier target for headshots. This year he ditches all headwear except for his white skull mask, which honestly doesn't look all that vampiric.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Dracula
Though the clothes are decent, they don't feel different enough from his usual attire to really stand out as something special. His guns, at least, are gorgeous to look at. The silver inlays, the red bat wings, and of course the matte black base. It's a striking looking gun, to say the least.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Dracula's Shotgun
Sadly this skin feels uninspired and doesn't have enough fun with the idea of having Reaper dress up as something for Halloween. This would be a great chance to have him go against his usual style and be something bright or humorous. The weapon is the standout of the skin, which is not how it usually plays out, so while your opponents might not have a great skin to look at, while you're playing as Reaper you get a nice gun to look at.

#7: Torbjorn "Viking"

Continuing a trend of "Well of course that's what he chose" started by Reaper's Dracula costume, Torbjorn pays homage to his roots by dressing up as one of the warriors of old: a Viking. The skin does suit Torb quite well, making him look like a character pulled straight from a game featuring Vikings. Turning his claw into a decorative bear head, bringing in some Viking artistry rather than battle attire, is the crown jewel of this skin.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Viking
Though his gun looks fine and all, it's his hammer that gets special mention. Fans of Thor will likely enjoy having their very own Mjolnir-like hammer to whack away at their turrets and wayward enemies who come looking for a fight.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Viking's Hammer
As stated earlier, this skin just doesn't feel all that inspired. While it's nice to see something from Torbjorn's roots, the fact that he's dressing up as a Viking comes as no surprise to anyone, and will most likely elicit reactions of, "Oh, right, well of course."

#6: Mei "Jiangshi"

Our second vampire this year is none other than the demonic Mei. What makes her outfit special is that, rather than conforming to a Western view of a vampire, Mei dawns the attire of a jiangshi, which amounts to something like a vampire from Asian legends. The color scheme is dark, with dark purples and a contrasting sky blue.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Jiangshi
Her gun is a delightful mix of old world and new, with the majority of the gun made of metal and plastic but the nozzle being encased in old, chipped wood. Green charms hang off the side, and spiritual warding seals are affixed to the gun, seeming to depict her little robot buddy. What the robot is supposed to represent, I'm afraid I don't know, but he remains cute.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Jiangshi's Ice Sprayer
Despite being an interesting take on the vampire attire, Mei's costume still falls a bit short of being something worth having. Her bright, smiling, face undercuts the overall outfit. Though she also has an emote that has her hopping, fitting with the jiangshi's means of travel (no, really, it hops after its prey), it still just doesn't really wow me.

#5: McCree "Van Helsing"

The king of cool rolls into action dressed to the nines as one of the most famous hunters, Van Helsing. McCree's coat is incredibly cool, with bandoliers slashing across his chest and hips, loaded with silver bullets just in case Blizzard ever adds a werewolf hero. His gauntlet quickly draws the eye, looking almost like it has molten metal flowing underneath the black and silver metal.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Van Helsing
His gun brings some old school, charm with a wood finish making up the majority of the gun's exterior. Decorative inlays adorn the piece, and the spur on the hilt means it'd hurt even more to get pistol whipped by this antique.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Van Helsing's Six-Shooter
The crossbow on his back makes me wish that his pistol had been swapped for it, but understandably the hitbox changes that would create are just more work than needs to be done for a skin. Still, the overall look is incredible and cool, and will no doubt be replacing the Scrooge skin I've been having him wear for nearly a year.

#4: Ana "Corsair"

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit I never considered Ana dressing up as a pirate, despite her eye patch being one of her key character features. Now she joins the ranks of Torb as one-eyed pirates with her Corsair costume. The outfit is flowing and cool, and even comes with her own verdant companion on her shoulder. Takes me back to my days in TF2, playing as the Demoman with my parrot, Professor Peracles, wobbling on my shoulder, recording my kills.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Corsair
Ana's weapon combines a blunderbuss with a cutlass, the blade affixed to the rifle like a bayonet. The glow from the ammo loaded in is somewhat distracting, overly bright against the wood and dull steel of the rifle. Still, the gun overall is incredibly cool looking.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Corsair's Rifle
The highlight of the outfit is her hair, surprisingly. My favorite skin for Ana has always been the Merciful skin, an epic skin that she released with. The skin took away her hood and let her ivory locks hang down freely. This costume does the same, obscuring her hair only with the flair-adorned blue bandana. Pirates are almost always cool, but a pirate sniper is simply badass.

#3: Zenyatta "Cultist"

What is it with this guy and amazing skins? Lovecraft fans rejoice as Zenyatta gets a skin delved from the depths of Nyarlathotop. It looks like Zenyatta has forsaken his peaceful ways of meditating and has taken up a life of chanting Eldritch script before a blood-stained altar to the old gods. The purple "skin" eludes to disease, with a green undertone promising pestilence. Spiked cuffs rattle around his wrists, suggesting this Zenyatta has recently escaped from an all-too weak prison.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Cultist
The orbs rotating around his tentacled head feature watchful, squid-like, eyes. Our saving grace is that those peepers don't make a sickening squish when they are pelted against Zenyatta's targets.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Cultist's Eye
Zenyatta just can't have a bad skin, it seems, much like Tracer. Last year the floating monk came with the Skullyatta skin, which while neat, was still just an Epic recoloring of his base design. This year he's upped the ante with an unsettling and amazing design. And for those unfamiliar with the likes of Cthulu, this also makes for a great Zoidberg skin.

#2: Symmetra "Dragon"

Born in fire and fury, Symmetra weaves flame like dancing ribbons. Elegant, beautiful, deadly, and terrifying, this version of Symmetra promises destruction and wrath with her draconic skin. Though I originally thought this was some kind of succubus skin, the name (and dragon-like tail protruding from behind her head) certainly confirms otherwise. The wings clasped around her hips, the gold string of her underwear rising up higher on her hip, adds an extra layer of sexiness to the funny-feeling-inducing skin.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Dragon
Her gun is even more terrifying than her skin itself. The weapon looks positively alive, with a large orange eye and various sized fangs pushing out of thick, lizardy, skin. Sadly the orbs she puts down do not feature any changes to their design, unlike the vampire skin she got last year. Still, when this Symmetra saunters out from her portal, people will be transfixed by her, not her turrets.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Dragon's Claw
When this skin was leaked, I was convinced it would be the top skin of this year, as it was simply too awesome to fall anywhere else than first place. However, because Symmetra also has the amazing skin from the Anniversary event to fall back on, and because of how important the #1 skin is to its hero, Dragon-Symmetra fell slightly below the gold this year.

#1: Zarya "Totally 80's"

Though many had lost hope, the moment finally came: Zarya got an awesome skin! Miracles do happen! With pink, black, purple, and a little turquoise, this totally 80's skin has given Zarya mains a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Though it's sad she lost her awesome hair, her long, blonde, locks, complete with multicolored highlights, look even better than the original. Though the leopard print is certainly tacky, it fits with the whole innocently 80s aesthetic.

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Totally 80's
Though nothing as majestic as her skin, her gun still manages to look decent enough to accompany this new Zarya look. The pink and green claw marks are nice, but the thumping music meter on the side, along with speakers, let's everyone know this buff blonde is here to party!

Overwatch Halloween 2017 Skins Ranked - Totally 80's Gravity Canon
The body-building beauty has been getting the shaft on skins for far too long. Though her original legendary skins were fine, they had too many issues, each, to be worth holding onto. The Summer games made her one of the first heroes to get additional skins, and while they weren't bad, they were again simply fine. The robot skin she somehow made her look like a toothpaste mascot. Now, however, we have the best Zarya skin, hands down.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the skins of the Halloween event ranked from worst to best. The only skin I would honestly call "bad" would be Reaper's, just because of how uninspired it is and how much better his other skins are. Still, pulling that skin from a pumpkin is worth getting excited over if it's the only legendary Reaper skin you have, I suppose. Everyone will be talking about how cool Zenyatta looks, how sexy/scary Symmetra is, and how happy they are that Zarya can finally leave her house with her head held high. Burn the rest of your closet, Zarya, because you finally got something worth wearing.

Really, the biggest disappointment this year is both Doomfist and Orisa not only didn't get any legendary skins, but also missed out on any Epic skins. At most, Orisa has a victory pose. Yawn.

The views expressed in this article are those of its author and are not necessarily shared by the rest of the staff at KeenGamer.

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