Quick Gameplay Thoughts: September 8

I agree with that wholeheartedly. Mage items are in need of diversifying as it is, but giving items trade-offs in that you lock yourself out of the other version is something I do think is good for the game.

LW items do this pretty well, placing the anti-shield on an LW item would continue this trend.

Morellos is too ubiquitous, the only real reason a mage wouldnt rush it is if they're manaless or are pigeonholed into a Catalyst item - or have to rush something defensive in a losing matchup. If I remember correctly, Last Whisper used to be bought on just about every AD Champion (around 3rd or 4th slot), until Riot split the item into two and gave differing bonuses for whichever you opted towards (as well as changing the ArPen from total % to bonus %). We need that to happen with Morellos.

Granted, the ideal solution for me is forgoing this mechanic and removing GW, and also fixing healing and shielding across the board (something I'd like to see a lot more of are Taric's %hp shields rather than the flat shields the likes of Janna can bestow), but that seems to be a forlorn hope at this point.

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Our design approach doesn't go '1. Think about how something might impact Morde, 2. Then consider how it might impact the game as a whole'. If anti shield items are right for the game we'll get them in and then, if individual champs like Morde or Tahm Kench get hit too hard by it we'll make adjustments to them.

What exactly made you think that anti shields were good for the game instead of just buffing or nerfing shields? Isn't true damage an anti-shield? I'm a little confused on the thinking.

Again, excuse my overraction but the main thing that really tipped me over the edge here is the "Double damage against Shields", which I read as 200% damage against Mordekaiser due to Iron Man having a 100% uptime. How would this interaction play out, is only the shield taking the double damage or is Morde himself going to suffer even if he only has a measly 40 shield?

I just don't think this approach is really going to do anything.

Shield uptime is pretty small, the issue is how many shields are stacking in the combination of healing and other resources.

For instance, stacked on is overkill, this doesn't scream skill expression when every single tool here answers any problem.

This is why players are feeling ADCs are way too strong because they have so many resources and survivability options that, half the time, they don't need. Back in the old days, marksmen relied on their own positioning, now its like riot acknowledged ADC is a tricky role and they need to be easier by making them less punishable with bad plays or positioning through items.

back to this new item:

All they need is that major shield team fight mid-late game, and an "anti shield" item would only be useful if built in advance since you'd probably go with a more generic core build first, and then they become a problem.

Additionally the "more damage" debuff would have to be consistently applyed. can easily apply to counter healing with ranged autos or and abilities. Is this debuff on a short duration issue going to easily kill shields, or it is only going to be useful for the alistar you shouldn't be focusing keeping you off their shield fiesta twitch your mage can't burst down, and by the time you get back there the shield duration wore off and half the team is dead? If you make it a mage item, how will all mages like DPS and burst use it and will it appeal in stats to make them build over powerspike items? If assassins get it, will it really matter since simply a bigger health pool from the shield it enough to deny the one shot? If tanks get it, will they be useful and tank enough peeling that guy off while killing the shield they're CC locked with?

You guys need to stop adding and start removing because the reason for the powerspike is how much shit can be stacked.

You should consider maybe making shields or heals have a reduced affect when stacked on each other, like "a champ can't heal if they have a shield" or "when a champ is healing it consumes their current shield if they're not full base health"

Right, Nerf hard her W so then she can be little buffed, otherwise she will be OP.

You mentioned a few threads back that the LB rework was being delayed because the idea for the rework had fallen apart.

Does this mean that you guys will have upgrade the scale of her rework, given the issues her current kit has and the how the original rework intent didn't make the cut? This does seem to imply that LB's kit and balance issues are more deep-rooted than what a Rek'Sai/Alistar mini-rework can alleviate.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Malphite needs a rework, at least for satisfaction purposes. To me he's just an ult-bot, and and even arguably do as good if not better job than Malphite when it comes to teamfight initiation and utility with their knock-ups on much shorter cooldowns and more useful basic abilities. He needs a Sejuani-like update where there is less power in ult so his basic abilities feel good to use.

Also, how come Malphite doesn't have any % current/max HP abilities? Most if not all tanks do % dmg or shred resistances. The only tank I can think of that doesn't have that is Nautilus and that's because he has a CC-heavy kit and a shield he can activate at will that scales up with level. Do you think adding % dmg to his abilities or a bonus HP ratio besides his passive would help him at all?

Don't forget about

Are you guys going to make malph W an AA reseter? As a common way to give some small skill expression?

Maxhp% aren't a problem, high base values are.

Hey Meddler, quick question: Considering your opinion that this new anti-shield mechanic should not be universally good, what is your opinion in Morello and grievous wounds right now, taking in mind that nearly every mid laner takes it as their first item, which hurts pretty bad champions like Mundo?