Riot announces buffs & nerfs to mythic items ahead of League season 11
Riot has announced changes to a selection of mythic items ahead of the launch of League of Legends Season 11 in January. Assassin items are seeing the biggest changes, with unique passives being nerfed in exchange for stronger base stats in a bid to cut down burst damage.
The introduction of mythic items ahead of the new League of Legends season has been the biggest change made to the rift. However, like with any major changes Riot makes, they’ve needed a fair bit of fine-tuning. While the dedicated AD carry items have been criticized for being too weak, at one point we were seeing Rammus and Amumu mains soloing baron at 20 minutes.
Likewise, League has become massively inclined towards burst damage. While this has made life fun for assassin players, complaints from AD carry mains have gained extra traction due to increased exposure to being burst down.
Riot will be releasing a hotfix patch to 10.25 in the near future, before Season 11 drops at the start of January. What other changes will be made remains to be seen, but it’s safe to presume these touted changes will be merely a flavor of what to expect.
Riot GamesMythic items changed for League Season 11
After a preseason of testing, Riot dev Mark Yetter announced these changes to mythic items.
“For 11.1, we’re doing a burst damage pass across a bunch of items,” the gameplay design director explained.
For 11.1 we're doing a burst damage pass across a bunch of items. Shifting pure upfront burst into stats (overall not nerfs or buffs, just adjustments)
We still have a small balance hotfix patch coming next week (10.25b) pic.twitter.com/Ff9jcrAbfn
— Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) December 11, 2020
The changes to Duskblade and Prowlers Claw will force skirmishes to be much more drawn out, as the reduction in burst damage will allow players to react more readily to assassin damage. But in drawn-out duels, with the buffs to these items’ base stats, assassins will still reign supreme.
The changes to Hextech Rocketbelt and Night Harvester will accomplish a similar feat. Champions like Ahri will be less capable of deleting enemies on cue, but it could provide a minor buff to damage-over-time focused mages. With the increased health and AP in the item’s base stats, rocketbelt will become even more suited to AP bruisers like Rumble.
The changes Tri-force and Stridebreaker stick to the theme in a slightly different. Unlike the previously mentioned items, these items have had raw damage reduced. Instead, the increased ability haste will allow you to cast spells more often. In drawn-out fights, your overall damage won’t change too much.
Riot GamesThe alterations to Goredrinker are slightly different. While reducing raw damage in exchange for a larger heal will cut out burst, the new diminishing returns effect when attacking multiple champions means the item will be more suited to duelists like Jax than teamfight presences like Renekton.
Overall, these item changes should lead to longer teamfights and more counter-play to getting one-shot as Riot attempts to balance the items introduced in patch 10.23.
It’s fair to assume there will be a raft of changes to League in the upcoming weeks; we can expect to see a few more changes to mythic items, among other things, before Season 11 launches.