League of Legends Is Ditching Mythic Items in 2024

League of Legends developer Riot Games has today announced that Mythic Items will soon be a thing of the past in the ever-popular MOBA. Back in 2021, Riot first introduced Mythics as part of a major overhaul to Items that was implemented with Season 11. Compared to the past, all Champion builds were meant to incorporate one Mythic tier item which would give passive buffs to other items that players may opt to buy. And while Riot has been trying to find the sweet spot with Mythics since they were first added, they’re now choosing to just get rid of them entirely. 

Why Are Mythic Items Leaving League of Legends? 

In a video released by Riot Games today, the studio broke down the big changes it has in store for League of Legends with the 2024 pre-season. Most notably, Riot made clear that Mythics will be abandoned entirely when the coming Ranked season begins. This is something that those within Riot teased previously they might look to do, but now, the alteration has become official. As for the reason behind this move, Riot essentially said that Mythics proved to complicate the balancing process in LoL far more than they would’ve liked. 

“Earlier this year we said that we weren’t really happy with how Mythic Items landed and that we were open to removing the system entirely if the changes implemented didn’t bring us closer to where we wanted it to be. And, well, they didn’t. So starting in January 2024, Mythic Items will be removed from League of Legends,” said Riot game director Pu Liu in the video. “Trying to serve the needs of a bunch of different Champions of a class with a few Mythic Items has proven to be really challenging. And while it works really well for about half the roster, the other half is left with items that don’t feel really right for them or have their creativity stifled. While the Mythic Item tier will be removed, we will be adjusting current Mythic Items that players really like to be exciting options rather than prescriptive centerpieces.”  

When Will Mythic Items Be Removed in LoL?

In addition to removing Mythics in League of Legends, the other big alteration this coming year is that these changes won’t take effect until early 2024. Previously, pre-season changes for LoL tended to go live in late November or early December and would give fans a taste of what big tweaks the game would have in store prior to the start of the Ranked season in January. However, Riot says that by the time the Ranked season began, most players were no longer as excited to experience these changes as they had been live in League of Legends for a period of multiple weeks. 

In 2024, Riot says that all of its big overhauls to LoL won’t hit the main game until January when it releases these changes on the same patch that the Ranked Season and esports play begins. These pre-season tweaks will , however, go live in the PBE client for LoL in November. Currently, an official start date for the 2024 season of League of Legends hasn’t been provided, but Riot says it will share more on this front very soon.