Riot Games unveiled its framework for balancing the newest items heading to League of Legends for the 2021 preseason in its most recent developer blog.
Last week, Riot introduced League players to Mythic items, which will be the cornerstone of the game’s item system overhaul for next season. These special items will have the unique ability to add bonus statistics to other key items in your build.
There are three criteria that Riot will be looking at while balancing League‘s items: popularity, power, and poaching. Popularity pertains to whether the items are purchased too consistently across its class. Most mage champions, for example, are forced to buy items like Luden’s Echo since it’s become a necessary piece to their power.
Riot will be looking at how often an item is purchased while also having a noticeably higher win rate than other items. Since the developers want to encourage more diversity with builds, this criteria is important since it can influence players to continuously build the item due to its power.
Lastly, poaching has to do with champions often buying an item that isn’t really meant for their class. If an item is being used by multiple different classes, no matter what role, then it might be too strong and need to be tweaked.
Mythic items, on the other hand, will be considered for buffs if they aren’t bought enough compared to their competitors—or if they have a noticeable difference in win rate compared to other items.
Ultimately, no champion should buy the same Mythic more than 75 percent of the time and no champion should have a single Mythic with a six percent win rate higher than all their other item options, according to Riot.
Mythic items are “the cornerstone of your builds, with big effects that define your playstyle from game to game,” according to a video created by Riot detailing the item changes for 2021. They have the unique effect of adding bonus statistics to your other items, a mechanic previously only seen in Ornn’s Living Forge and Masterwork items. Only one Mythic item is able to be bought at a time and the items are designed with specific roles in mind.
The general theme of these items seems to be combating the typical weaknesses of marksmen characters, such as their lack of defensive statistics, mobility issues, and difficulty in killing tanks with the current state of critical strike items. The powerful effects of these Mythic items are reflected in their price point, which will make them some of the most expensive items in the game.