League of Legends players praise removal of “unskilled” defensive item for 2024 season

While not every change for the new season of League has been received well, there’s one item everyone is glad to see the back of: Stopwatch.

The new season of League has made a massive slate of changes to items, with mages feeling these changes the most. And with so many new items to play with, it’s only fair that they lose one of their most controversial.

Stopwatch was added to League as part of the 2017 preseason, giving players access to the incredibly powerful Zhonya’s Hourglass active for a fraction of the price. It was a one-off use and didn’t grant any other stats, but the cheap cost and efficient build path made it an instant staple.

To make matters worse, players could also get a free stopwatch via the Inspiration rune tree, which would contribute to the cost of the final item.

Stopwatch finally removed from League for good

The impact of Stopwatch was most keenly felt on the pro scene, where the item became a massive disincentive for engages. With such a powerful defensive tool available so early on, pro players became less likely to make aggressive plays like tower dives as the risk was too high.

But with Stopwatch’s removal, players are concluding that both the game and the pro scene is a lot healthier and more exciting to watch or play.

One player said: “I’m so glad stopwatch isn’t in the game anymore. Just watched the LEC games today and finally we don’t have wacky 1 button unskilled “outplays” anymore.

Several other commenters agreed, with one saying: “Nothing was more depressing than watching a team looking for a comeback play, butit’ss 0 stopwatches vs 5 on the enemy team””

An early version ofZhonya’ss is still available if players buy the newSeeker’ss Armguard, but the cost is significantly higher, and the build path is not as versatile; ADCcan’t’t sit on it to buy a Guardian Angel anymore.