With the amount of content available for purchase in League of Legends constantly increasing, Riot Games is revamping how the rarest cosmetics are available to players.
In the season 2022 opening day livestream today, Riot Bellissimoh, game director for League, revealed that Riot is reevaluating the accessibility of Mythic skins, the game’s rarest tier of skins. Many of these Mythic skins are only available through Gemstones or Prestige Points, both of which are planned to be removed in favor of a new currency: Mythic Essence.
Bellissimoh said players will be able to obtain Mythic Essence in the same way that they could normally earn Gemstones and Prestige Points, such as through Hextech chests, direct purchase, and event passes. They’ll also be available through new Masterwork and Showcase milestones, offering rewards based on how many Masterwork chests and event capsules a player has opened.
When Mythic Essence releases, the old premium currencies will cease to exist, with only Gemstones remaining in players’ inventories being converted into the new currency. The current Prestige Point shop will remain open until Mythic Essence is released, but any points left unspent will disappear. After the Mythic Essence shop goes live, Mythic skins will be removed from all loot pools, such as rerolls, meaning the only way to obtain them will be through direct purchase from the shop.
A new Mythic Essence shop will be available for players in place of the current Gemstone and Prestige Points shop. Players will be able to spend their Mythic Essence on a variety of rare items and cosmetics, including previously released Prestige skins. The contents of the shop will rotate on a regular basis, giving players access to new items each month. Unlike Prestige Points, Mythic Essence will never expire, enabling players to access the Mythic Essence shop with their accrued Mythic Essence regardless of when they earned it.
Prestige skins from 2018 and 2019 will also be rotating in the shop, marking the first time they have been available since then. New iterations of these skins, showcasing them in even more shining glory, will be given to players who already have the original versions of these skins, not available for others through any other means. Future Prestige skins will also be receiving more attention from Riot, including new sound effects, animations, and more.
Seasonal Mythic skins will also be released throughout the year, bringing other skin lines than just Prestige, Hextech, and limited-time skins into the Mythic tier. Riot revealed the Ashen Knights skin line as one of the thematics joining the Seasonal Mythic endeavor, teasing a new skin for Pyke. These act as an alternative to other available Mythic skins due to players feeling that the Hextech thematic often misses the mark.
No release dates for Mythic Essence and the new Mythic Essence shop have been revealed. Players can look forward to more information throughout the 2022 season.
Update Jan. 7 11:09am CT: This article was updated following a new developer blog that was posted after Riot’s initial livestream.
