High Noon Gothic (or High Noon) is a series of alternate future/universe skins in League of Legends. Set in a desert setting, each champion is a "western" hero, villain, or creature.
Lore
“ | "Last time I went to your universe, I almost got eaten by a cowboy demon... Good times." |
— | |
![]() |
- At the height of the industrial revolution, travelers begin pouring into the untamed west, searching for fortune and prosperity among the unknown horrors of cruel and ancient world. It is a time of brave gunslingers and rotten scoundrels, inscrutable gods, and savage demons.
- Sheriffs
The Old West lies far outside the government's jurisdiction, leaving local peacekeepers to enforce whatever passes for justice on the high frontier. As lone sheriff of the town of Progress, Caitlyn has found that the arm of the law is roughly as long as the range of her rifle.
- Cowboys
A handful of the Old West's more pragmatic individuals have integrated into human society—the hulking minotaur Alistar among them. Working as muscle for hire, he can be found breaking up saloon fights as often as knocking down bank vault doors. If it pays, the longhorn's on board.
Enterprising creatures of the Old West often fall in with more successful bandit clans, serving as nightmarish enforcers, unafraid of a little casual violence. Cassiopeia became infamous as one such outlaw, but following a bloody coup now leads an enclave of her own.
The once-human Darius was a terrifying manhunter, feared throughout the West for his cunning and brutality. Famously defeated by his brother in a widely publicized duel, his wounded pride eventually twisted into obsession, leading him to strike a deal with the devil Hecarim...
Need a man dead? Hire any sun-baked lunatic looking to make a name for themselves in the Old West. Need to set an example? Then you should seek out the mechanical assassin known as Jhin—and no one will ever forget what happens at the crossroads of murder and art.
A former federal marshal and gunslinger for hire, Lucian's soul was corrupted when he made a deal with the devil in order to spare the life of his one true love. Double-crossed, and cursed with the powers of hell, he now hunts this devil across the high frontier, seeking revenge.
No bounty hunter on the prairie is as skilled as Sarah Fortune, but she doesn't work for anything less than top dollar. Cause enough trouble on the high frontier and, sure enough, she'll come calling—with two gleaming pistols, and a bullet with your name on it.
The poster was straightforward enough: “WANTED: Tahm Kench - Devil, DEAD OR ALIVE”, followed by a generous sum. Only the Mechanical Devil's got that kinda cash to pay. Samira ain't sure why the other bounty hunters seemed so spooked by a little ol' devil hunt. Well, let 'em shy away. This gunpowder witch don't scare easy.
Resident cardsharp of every dice parlour and gambling den on the high frontier, Tobias 'Twisted Fate' Felix likes to split his time between Buzzard Gulch, and the more civilized border towns. He specializes in breaking the hearts and bank accounts—in either order—of amiably naive debutantes.
The mysterious and reluctant sheriff of a two-street town, Yasuo is in self-imposed exile after being accused of murder in the eastern territories. Even so, he has driven off entire bandit gangs as well as many of the desert's deadliest threats, saving hundreds of lives along the way.
- The Harbingers of the End Times
- First Harbinger -
The Lady of House Solari lifts her chin against the scorching wind. Ahead lies her family's salvation: the Sulfur Rail, carrying the stolen family fortune, churning across the desert. The only thing that stands in her way is the Mechanical Devil himself. Her sword hums like cicadas in the gloaming. The butterflies gather. Time for the Harbingers to ride. - Second Harbinger -
Ain't nothin' for a dead angel to do but resign himself to grief. Varus was content to allow Mordekaiser to take him past the infernal gates themselves… Until a ragtag gang of thieves interrupted his mourning. Varus now picks up his bow once more, riding as a Harbinger. It's high time he got revenge for the massacre of Heaven. - Third Harbinger -
“My people got swindled. I aim to collect what we're owed,” the Outsider says, pinning her dagger in a wanted poster of the Mechanical Devil. Her eyes burn like stoked coal as she fixes each dusty traveler in her gaze, “And I hear y'all plan on jumpin' the Sulfur Rail, Harbingers. If you're gonna take this devil down, I want in.” - Fourth Harbinger -
Tahm Kench is a magnanimous devil: happy to lend a magical sword to a lady in need, or to assist her in robbing the Sulfur Rail, or even to deliver her to a calamitous destiny as a fellow Harbinger of the End Times. He don't need no compensation. She'll just owe him a favor… because in the End, it pays to have friends. - Fifth Harbinger -
It starts like this: An ill wind blows across the desert, dessicated rats turn up in the streets, rotting under the hot sun. Then the traveling undertaker arrives. No one knows who (or what) he is, nor where he hails from… But it seems even Death has a bone to pick with the King of the Sulfur Rail. Another Harbinger arrives.
- Angels
A mechanical angel built at the dawn of the pioneer age, Ashe is fueled by the blood of deities gunned down in the infamous land rush that destroyed Heaven. She has adopted a devil-may-care attitude as she seeks adventure, choosing to forgive and protect the same mankind that forever robbed itself of eternal paradise.
A fallen angel who escaped the destruction of Heaven, now tainted by ineffable darkness. Irelia has spent years in hiding, thus her return alongside a newly resurrected Senna attests to the presence of powers who would see the heavenly kingdom restored… perhaps for the continued benefit of man, or perhaps for their final damnation.
Once the greatest gunslinger on the continent, Senna's life would have ended when her heart was torn out by the devil—save for the intervention of a higher authority. Mysteriously resurrected with the heart of an angel and a demonic steed, she has returned to the west to restore the balance of Heaven and Hell... however she sees fit.
As soon as Sion knew life, he knew rage: rage that ripped the restraints from the operating table; rage that crushed the bones of those men who tried to play at the miracle of Creation; rage that he ain't, nor ever would be, the second clockwork angel they had hoped to construct. Sion knows rage, and so will the world.
- Devils and Demons
If the day ever comes, riding those dusty trails, when a thin man in a wide hat appears far in the distance… run. Ride hard and fast and never look back, lest the horror known as Fiddlesticks drag you to from your saddle, and into darkness.
When Heaven was destroyed by mortal men, it was only a matter of time until Hell overflowed onto the prairie, bringing with it all the devils who had waited so patiently to escape their confinement. Hecarim and his black riders revel in this newfound freedom, razing everything before them to ash as they stampede across the frontier.
Few meet the Mechanical Devil and live to tell the tale. They describe a behemoth: all steel and gears, fueled by hellfire and fierce enough to scare a man's soul from his skin. He is the King of the Sulfur Rail, reigning over the train to Hell from a throne of stolen gold and infernal iron. Eternal, and unassailable.
“Fate is catchin' up to you, old friend,” Talon says, leaning back in his chair, predator's eyes gleaming under the shadows of his hat. He still moves like a demon, even warped and corrupted by angel blood as he is. His smile, rueful and knowing, has too many teeth: “The end is comin' for us all.”
Devilishly handsome and wearing the latest in Western chic, Talon is equally ready to rock the runway or ride the open road. Those boots are made for walking, and he'll walk all over anyone standing in his way.
An ancient devil who stalks the great expanses of the Old West, Thresh's cruel visage is burned into the minds of all living things who fear the day he will come to claim their souls. His arrival spells doom for any settlement, its residents flayed and left to rot in the sun.
Jeremiah James was once a famed railroad baron and millionaire industrialist, who bet his own heart on a game of chance… and lost. Left alone in the desert to die, he bargained with a passing devil, trading his immortal soul for a twisted, monstrous body of gears and iron.
Many a road to Hell was paved with good intent. Dr. Viktor may be the Mechanical Devil's kept engineer now, but his work began as charity: trying to “rehome” the souls of the dead in clockwork bodies, in order to circumvent mortality itself. Shame that Mordekaiser saw the good doctor's kindness and struck him a deal he could not deny.
- Creatures
Long considered a pest by frontier settlers, Kog'Maw critters have been growing in number as more dangerous beasts are pushed to the brink of extinction. And they are very, very hungry.
Travelers seeking their fortune on the open prairie must take special care at night, when massive, carnivorous scorpions are lured by the flickering light of campfires. More than one caravan has been lost to the creatures, the bones of their passengers picked clean.
History
One Simple Rule
Devils live among us
Sometimes, within us.
When you're damned either way…
give 'em hell."
Some hook you into a fool's game,
where taking one soul would've been a kinder consequence."
Some are steel monstrosities,
relishing mass casualty in the name of industry."
The Man with the Grinning Shadow

Short Story
The Man with the Grinning Shadow
By Jared Rosen
“You the marshal?”
Starring: Alistar,
Karthus,
Lucian,
Senna,
Thresh,
Urgot
Mentioned: Cassiopeia
A New Devil's In Town
With Hell Before Them
The Stranger on the Road

Short Story
By Brooke Jaffe
The road from Tenacity to Progress was a flat, barren thing, unspooling across miles and miles of cactus country from one edge of the sky to the other.
Starring: Talon
Mentioned: Ashe,
Katarina,
Leona,
Mordekaiser,
Senna,
Tahm Kench,
Twitch,
Varus
Trivia
- This theme was inspired by American westerns.
- The High Noon skinline was rebooted in 2018 to be based on Western Gothics.[1][2]
- One of the possible directions Riot could have taken with , was having him ascend and become an angel rather than a demon.[3]
- The New World became infested by devils and demons because as heaven was destroyed by the early settlers, human souls can only go to hell and later overcrowd it, allowing the devils to come to the land of the living to join the already existing demons.
- Most of the gods and angels were killed. , who is fueled by the blood of the slain angels, is the only artificial angel ever built, the secrets of how to create her are lost.
- teamed with to kill ; however, upon finding him, revealed that he was working for the whole time and betrayed her.
- In her splash art and in game, Ashe rides a black horse. However, in the image for With Hell Before Them, was riding a white horse while was riding a black horse. It is possible her horse in-game originally belonged to Darius.
- She is looking for and his allies to fight back the monsters who want to burn and destroy the whole continent.
- teamed with to kill ; however, upon finding him, revealed that he was working for the whole time and betrayed her.
- Most of the gods and angels were killed. , who is fueled by the blood of the slain angels, is the only artificial angel ever built, the secrets of how to create her are lost.
- Before becoming part of the skin line, was already mentioned in the color story The Man with the Grinning Shadow as a sheriff and the love of before her soul was claimed by .
- An alternate version of is the holy reverend of New Eden, which is full of monsters disguising as normal people.
- . and are implied to be angels in this universe as noted by
- in a well-known duel. defeated
- and are New World creatures blending in with the human society and are currently residing in Angel's Perch.
- is an old friend of .
- works as a saloon girl, covering her eyes with veil to avoid turning her customers to stone.
- mentions a higher authority that angels and demons must answer to. This is likely the same force that resurrected .
- While not part of the skinline, does have visual similarities to the theme of High Noon.
Media
- Related Music
- Related Videos
- Main article: Emotes
- Main article: Little Legend (Teamfight Tactics)