What we know about League of Legends’ Mythic and Legendary items

League of Legends developers have provided an update to eager players wanting to know what’s new about the new League of Legends Item Balance Framework, which includes the new Mythic and Legendary items. The adjusted item system will help make purchasing in-game items easier and faster while allowing players of all levels to make strategic, well-informed decisions. The development team is not only overhauling the system but also the appearance of items for the beginning of the 2021 Preseason.

Unfortunately, many champions do extremely well with only one (or a few) items. Example of this are as Yuumi with Athene’s Holy Grail, or Sona with Ardent Censor. This can prevent players from reaching out and trying new builds with different items. Riot wants to step back and understand why certain items are too powerful for specific champions, and how can they balance it.

Most of these changes are based on high Elo tiers, such as high Platinum, Diamond, and Elite.

The introduction of League of Legends Mythic and Legendary items

Players will see a change in items soon, and it will likely affect how powerful their favorite champion can get. Items will be nerfed, new ones will be introduced, and it will be a whole pot of changes.

Mythic Items is a new powerful class of items that are going to be available in preseason. Players can only wield one mythic item at a time, and it will usually be the first purchase. They will also grant unique bonus stats to Legendary items (Lich Bane, Guardian Angel, Ryalai’s Crystal Scepter.) Since players will only have one Mythic Item, the type of item should vary each game depending on circumstance and match-up.

Mythic Rules

The below table is a guideline to ensure Mythic items are balanced. If an item is too powerful or underpowered, it’ll have to be adjusted based on the shown numbers. Balance is based on popularity, power, and poaching. Popularity is based on the purchase rate of an item.

Power is roughly based on an item’s winrate.

Poaching is whether an item is used multiple times on several champions from different classes.

Mythic items are considered weak and underpowered if they lack any of the characteristics above.

Mythic Hard Binding

Some items in the game are hard bound to certain champions, such as Sona with Ardent Censor. This item allows Sona to heal and shield herself and others at a better rate than other items. It also provides bonus magic damage and synergizes well with other healing items. Who wouldn’t want this in their build?

Riot will be following certain steps to prevent champions from constantly hardbinding items. The team is looking to expand creativity and fantasy, not limit it to an item regardless of in-game circumstances.

Legendary Items

Legendary items are a tier under Mythic items, meaning they’re usually powerful go-tos for most players. This includes items such as Rabadon’s Deathcap, Sterak’s Gage, and more. Riot will be looking at these items’ purchase rates to figure out which item is too dominating and which one is too weak.

Champion Specific Rules

In order to better serve players, they’ll also follow guidelines when it comes to champions and the items their players choose for them:

• No champion should buy the same Mythic > 75% of the time
• No champion should have a single Mythic with a > 6% win rate higher than all their other options
• Each champion should have 10+ Legendaries with > 3% purchase rate

So far, this is just the beginning of the Item overhaul. Riot provided players with a table of what they’ve done so far regarding the new system. Players can also expect to hear more about the adjustments once preseason gets closer.