George In The Meta
What is ARAM Mayhem Journey to Stardom?
By George In The Meta ·
Short answer: Journey to Stardom is the new ARAM Mayhem release in patch 26.21. Every game now gets a headliner, a band that adds its own twist to the rules, along with new augments and a mission system for rewards (patch 26.21 notes). The more chaos it adds, the better it gets, in my opinion, unless you're on the receiving end of getting stomped.
What are the Journey to Stardom headliners?
Each Mayhem game gets one headliner, and each band changes the rules in its own way. These are the ones in the patch notes:
| Headliner | What it does |
|---|---|
| K/DA | Collect 4 K/DA cards for an extra augment |
| HEARTSTEEL | Augments can come with unique modifiers that make them extra strong |
| True Damage | Takedowns and destroying towers can drop anvils for your team |
| Pentakill | Power up one of your abilities at the start of the game and again at level 18 |
| Disco | Dance under the disco ball to earn gold for everyone |
| Cafe Cuties | Health relics are especially powerful |
| Bees | Collect honey pots and avoid the bees flying across the map |
| Command Line | Reroll one of your augments to a higher tier in every selection |
Riot says more are coming. HEARTSTEEL and K/DA are the only ones I remember having so far, and I'm always playing.
Which headliners look the best?
A lot of them look like they'd be kind of strong. True Damage dropping anvils off takedowns and towers would be amazing, depending on how much of a cooldown there is on it.
Command Line, rerolling an augment to a higher tier, is always going to be good. Everyone's always going to gamba. Cafe Cuties and the stronger health relics? Meh. Bees, collecting honey pots and dodging the bees? Meh.
What's strong in Journey to Stardom?
I always think tanks are going to be the best. Assassins in ARAM can look really good at the start, but you're just going to get locked down, and you can't take out anyone who isn't a mage or a healer.
So I'd go bruisers into tanks. If you are on an assassin, your targets are mages and ADCs, and even then you've got to hope the other team has no lockdown. I've also written about why Mayhem beats normal ARAM.
Is Journey to Stardom better than normal Mayhem?
Yes. The more chaos it adds, the better it gets, unless you're the one getting stomped.
Riot also says two maps, Butcher's Bridge and Koeshin's Crossing, are out of the Mayhem queue for this patch while it sets up the concert stages, and should be back next patch. There are new augments too, and some old ones have been taken out.
Are the Superstar Ranks worth grinding?
Not for me. You climb Superstar Ranks by completing missions from bands like K/DA and Pentakill, which unlock augments, emotes, orange essence and new bands. They're progression levels, not competitive ranked.
It doesn't change how I play. It's the same as how I don't look at my League of Legends level or my blue essence. I'll just keep playing the same as I always have. Everything else I've written about League is on the League of Legends page.
