Diablo 4, Blizzard’s latest addition to its storied action RPG franchise, has been receiving both praise and criticism since its launch. While the game offers engaging mechanics, deep lore, and an immersive world, one of the most significant sources of debate within the community has been the state of Mythic items. Specifically, Mythic weapons, like Shattered Vow, Spear of L’Hander, and Grandfather, have underperformed despite their rarity and unique attributes. In this article, we’ll explore why these Mythic items fall short of expectations, why they aren’t commonly used in top-tier builds, and propose suggestions for improvement to Diablo IV Items make them feel as special and powerful as they should be.

The Disappointment of Mythic Weapons
Mythic items in Diablo 4 are supposed to be the most powerful and rare gear you can acquire in the game. They are meant to stand out as game-changing equipment that players covet for their exceptional stats and unique abilities. However, many players find themselves underwhelmed when they finally acquire these pieces. The reality is that Legendary and even Rare items often outperform Mythic items in terms of usability and overall damage output.

One of the main issues is that many Mythic weapons are simply not designed with endgame viability in mind. Let’s take a look at a few problematic examples to better understand the reasons behind this.

1. Grandfather: A Two-Handed Weapon That Lacks Viability
The Grandfather is a two-handed weapon that has the potential to be an amazing item due to its high stat rolls, but it suffers from two significant drawbacks that prevent it from being a viable endgame choice. The first problem is the lack of Tempers — an addition to the game that allows skills to be activated twice, effectively doubling your damage. In any build that benefits from this mechanic, such as Earthquake or Bone Spear Barbarians, Grandfather simply falls short.

Losing out on the Tempers mechanic means losing out on potential double damage, a substantial loss for any build that relies on high damage output. In comparison, other weapons and aspects provide these critical multipliers, making Grandfather feel lackluster.

The second issue is the lack of synergy with skills. Other weapons offer powerful aspects that boost specific skills or provide critical multipliers to a given build. With Grandfather, however, you lose out on these multipliers, which significantly hampers its damage potential. While the stats may be higher than usual, Grandfather doesn’t support the player’s build in a meaningful way.

Possible Solutions for Grandfather
To make Grandfather more viable, Blizzard could consider allowing it to activate skills twice or deal double damage. Adding these effects would bring it more in line with current Mythic item standards and make it a worthy choice for players who want to use a two-handed weapon. Additionally, they could improve the already impressive all-stats roll to further cement its place as a solid, multi-purpose weapon.

2. Spear of L'Hander: The Shrine-Centered Weapon
The Spear of L’Hander is another Mythic weapon that fails to find its place in high-tier builds. Its special mechanic revolves around Shrines, an in-game mechanic that has not resonated well with the Diablo 4 community. While Shrines can offer useful buffs, they are neither consistent nor powerful enough to be a focal point for a Mythic weapon.

Shrines can only occur once every 30 seconds, making it unreliable for most players. The Spear of L'Hander also has a lucky hit chance to restore maximum resources, but this is far less useful than the guaranteed resources that players can get from other sources.

Moreover, the Shrine effect lacks synergy with the majority of Diablo 4’s meta builds. Players are looking for weapons that provide damage and versatility, not just survivability or niche buffs. The Spear of L'Hander’s reliance on Shrines, which themselves aren’t particularly impactful, makes it a weapon that few players want to equip, especially when it competes with stronger alternatives.

Possible Solutions for the Spear of L’Hander
To improve the Spear of L'Hander, Blizzard could consider removing the 30-second cooldown on Shrine activation. This would allow players to capitalize on the Shrine buffs more frequently. Additionally, the lucky hit chance could be reworked into something more useful, such as guaranteeing resource regeneration when hitting enemies. Alternatively, the Spear of L'Hander could provide double resource regeneration when near a Shrine, or perhaps spawn additional Shrines to make the item feel more rewarding.

3. Shattered Vow: Damage Over Time Without Enough Punch
The Shattered Vow is meant to be a powerful weapon for damage over time (DoT) builds, especially for Barbarian players. It provides an interesting mechanic where it executes enemies at low health, which should make it a must-have for any Barbarian DoT build. However, Shattered Vow falls short of expectations for several reasons.

First, the DoT effect isn’t as strong as it needs to be in Diablo 4’s current meta. When you compare it to other weapons and builds that focus on pure damage, Shattered Vow’s damage over time doesn’t feel like it scales well enough into the endgame, especially after the recent nerfs to Barbarian’s DoT potential.

Secondly, as with Grandfather, Shattered Vow lacks the ability to activate skills twice or provide other damage multipliers. Since damage over time builds already rely on slower, sustained damage, increasing the multiplier on the DoT effect or allowing skills to trigger twice would make Shattered Vow much more viable.

Possible Solutions for Shattered Vow
To address these issues, Shattered Vow could benefit from a substantial increase in its damage over time values. Additionally, adding a mechanic where damage over time effects trigger twice (similar to how Tempers work) would allow Shattered Vow to compete with the best of the best. This would ensure that players who want to use DoT builds can rely on this weapon, making it feel both special and powerful.

4. Nceum, The Herald: A New Glaive That Misses the Mark
Nceum, The Herald is a new Mythic item introduced with a new class, and while it brings something fresh to the table, it suffers from similar issues to other Mythic weapons. This glaive provides guaranteed crits and overpowers every 2 seconds, but the effect is limited to only 10 hits, which makes it feel short-lived and not as impactful as other weapons.

When compared to something like the Ric Keep weapon, which already gives a 50% chance for crits and overpowers, Nceum falls behind. The ability to combine Vigor for guaranteed overpower makes Ric Keep a better option for consistent damage output.

Possible Solutions for Nceum
To make Nceum, The Herald more appealing, Blizzard could adjust the guaranteed crit and overpower effect to either have a longer duration or no hit limit. This would allow it to compete with the more consistent, reliable weapons that don’t require such high levels of luck or skill activation.

Improving the Mythic Experience
One thing that could dramatically improve the state of Mythic items is the introduction of a limit to how many Mythic items a player can equip. Right now, players can obtain multiple Mythics, but they’re often competing with more viable options. A one Mythic item limit could encourage Blizzard to buff Mythic items and ensure that these items feel truly special. Rather than having multiple Mythics cluttering the loot pool, each player would have the opportunity to craft or hunt down the one Mythic that best suits their build.

Furthermore, balancing the Mythic items to ensure that each one serves a unique and useful purpose would give players the excitement of obtaining a rare item that actually fits their character's build. The goal should be to make Mythics feel exciting and not just rare for the sake of rarity.

Conclusion
The current state of Mythic items in Diablo 4 is certainly a point of contention among the community. While some Mythic items, like Starless Skies, hold up to their intended power, others, like Shattered Vow, Spear of L’Hander, and Grandfather, leave much to be desired. The absence of Tempers, limited skill synergies, and overall lack of damage potential in the game’s highest difficulty tiers mean that these items rarely see endgame play.

By introducing changes like double damage effects, skills activating twice, or buffing DoT mechanics, Blizzard can bring these Mythic items up to par with other powerful loot in Diablo 4. Moreover, a limit on Mythic item usage could force these items to become stronger, more interesting, and more desirable for players across all builds. With a little tweaking and more thoughtful design, Mythic weapons can finally live up to
buy Diablo 4 Items their potential and become a sought-after prize in Diablo 4’s ever-expanding world.