LoL devs admit Arena’s random Prismatic items are meant to be unbalanced

The revamped League of Legends Arena is coming next month, and players are already afraid the newly added Prismatic items will end up serving the same fate as mythic items, favoring a few champions rather than everyone on the roster. But Riot Games doesn’t think that will be the case.

A player on Reddit voiced concerns about the upcoming prismatic items Arena and asked, “Won’t this lead to the same outcomes as Mythic Items on summoners rift? Players need to choose champions that synergise the best with at least one Prismatic Item for optimal play.”

They also said the lower amount of prismatic items could hinder the growth and limit the champion pool for many players.

Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, League’s lead gameplay designer, weighed in on the discussion and said, “The intention is you don’t have full control over your prismatic items,” making the RNG factor of the items prevalent. It’s a game design choice to make the items unbalanced, making the game rely on skills more than luck.

He also touched on the availability of good Prismatic items in Arena. “If you rolled a good one then you’re probably more likely to have a good average placement,” he said.

But Phroxzon added if you didn’t get the ideal prismatic item, that doesn’t mean you are “doomed.” Instead, a strong player will always be able to outrank other players with good RNG on their side with sheer skill and “suboptimal item offerings.”

Riot will be adding a whole range of Prismatic items to Arena. The dev is also considering adding Arena as a full-time mode.