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[AD Support Item Line] Courtier's Crossbow

ShadowKnight1224·8/12/2014, 10:24:59 PM·38 votes·15,047 views

"The Shield to guard you from harm, the Spellblade to strike at your foes, the Talisman to guide you to safety, and the Crossbow to do your will in the shadows."

In an attempt to expand the current support meta, I bring you a proposal for a line of items for AD-based supports.

Colour Scheme: Red, in order to match the blue, yellow and green of the other support items. Theme: As the Relic Shield line is based off Mount Targon, the Ancient Coin line is based off the Shurima Desert and the Spellthief's Edge line is based off the Freljord, the Courtier's Crossbow is based off the city states themselves. This line follows the aesthetics of courtly intrigue and the danger that lurks in a city.

Tier 1: Courtier's Crossbow.

Cost: 365 gold.

Benefits: +5 Attack Damage. UNIQUE PASSIVE - OPPORTUNITY: Your next damaging ability or autoattack against a champion will grant 8 gold provided there is an allied champion within 1000 units of you. You generate one charge of Opportunity every 10 seconds, storing up to 5. Killing a minion disables this passive (and the charge generation) for 12 seconds. You may only be in possession of 1 Gold Income item.

Gold Efficiency: 49.315%

Tier 2: Arbalest.

Cost: 865 gold. Builds From: Courtier's Crossbow.

Benefits: +15 Attack Damage. +5% Cooldown Reduction. UNIQUE PASSIVE - OPPORTUNITY: Your next damaging ability or autoattack against a champion will grant 12 gold provided there is an allied champion within 1000 units of you. You generate one charge of Opportunity every 10 seconds, storing up to 5. Killing a minion disables this passive (and the charge generation) for 12 seconds. You may only be in possession of 1 Gold Income item.

Gold Efficiency: 80.73%

Tier 3: Spymaster's Tutelage.

Cost: 2200 gold. Builds From: Arbalest + Long Sword + Long Sword.

Benefits: +50 Attack Damage. +10% Cooldown Reduction. UNIQUE PASSIVE - OPPORTUNITY: Your next damaging ability or autoattack against a champion will grant 12 gold provided there is an allied champion within 1000 units of you. You generate one charge of Opportunity every 10 seconds, storing up to 5. You may only be in possession of 1 Gold Income item. UNIQUE ACTIVE - BOLT OF DARKNESS: Fire a bolt of shadows that detonates at target location. Enemies caught in the area are blinded for 1 second, and their armour is reduced by 20%. The armour reduction effect decays over 2 seconds. 60 seconds cooldown (850 range, 250 radius).

Gold Efficiency: 96.21%.

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Potential champions who may use this item: Ashe, Ezreal, Caitlyn, Jinx, Pantheon, Xin Zhao, Jarvan IV, Gnar, Lee Sin, Aatrox, AD Blitzcrank, Vi, Riven, Poppy, Jax.

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Rationale: This item is inspired by the Frost Queen's Claim line. The passive was lifted from Spellthief's Edge with a few modifications:

  • It does not grant passive gold, so the gold per proc needs to be higher. This means that AD supports need to be aggressive in order to earn gold, which allows opponents the opportunity to counterplay and turn a trade around.
  • It does not add increased damage per proc, given that AD champions often do well enough damage on their own.
  • It does not proc off structures, since AD champions have an easier time taking down towers than their AP equvalents, and therefore need no further encouragement to do so. This is also why I took the number of charges from 3 to 5.
  • It requires an allied champion within 1000 units in order to discourage mid-game split-pushing (which AD champions are rather good at).

The stats given are geared towards maximising the damage output of the AD support, and the active is particularly good on auto-attack heavy teams but works adequately to give ADCs a boost regardless of team composition.

Addition: It's been raised as a concern that the visuals on armour shred may be unclear. The way I envision the active on this item is a lance of thick shadow that explodes into a smokescreen-like burst of darkness. The smokescreen lasts for 1 second (the same duration as the blind). The armour shred could be represented as tendrils of shadow clinging to the champions affected. The full armour shred would be represented as a thick shroud that slowly fades away until it disappears entirely. Further discussion on the visual clarity of resistance shreds can be found here.

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Comments and criticism welcome!

EDIT: POST OF THE DAY??? THANK YOU RIOT!

154 Comments

RiotRiot Baconhawk8/14/2014, 9:48:28 PM20 votes

I love the idea--AD supports are intriguing. In my experience, Zeke's and FQC are main items (esp on Ashe support!), but I feel the stats on FQC is wasted on a lot of AD supports (Darius, Blitz, Thresh, Pantheon, J4, etc).

That said, the attack speed active is a little lackluster for me. Given FQC has one of my favorite actives in the game, I'd love to see a new thing created for AD supps--maybe upon activation, Courtier's increases attack speed and stuns the first target attacked (for a short duration, like .5 sec) by each ally within range of Courtier's active. Something nifty like that to help you use that darn attack speed!

Though I am hesitant to use something like atkspd on an active like that since typically support item actives are useful for teamfighting and laning, not taking towers/objectives, which atkspd would be super useful for. Perhaps the stun and maybe a burning shield or maybe movespeed stealing?

Hyrum Graff8/12/2014, 11:48:07 PM2 votes

My suggestions:

  • Going from Arbalest to Tutelage, no change in gold generation.
    • Keep the item in line with other support items
  • Remove the lifesteal
    • A support isn't going to deal enough damage to get much from lifesteal, anyway.
    • If you want to add on sustain, give it life on-hit (old doran's passive)
    • If you want to give it more poke, just increase the AD (and build out of a Pickaxe)
  • Remove the lifesteal from the active
    • It's largely invisible power; it won't feel as good to use, and your allies won't notice how much it's helping them
    • Instead, just increase the AS boost, or give all nearby allies some on-hit damage (like a sona Q aura).
Sharjo8/20/2014, 10:03:52 PM2 votes

I really dig this item line and the idea behind it. A cool niche that could definitely be filled.

I do have some complaints, but these aren't related to balance but more to naming the item and its effects. This is gonna sound really nit-picky, but the passive effect from the items, alliance, doesn't seem to fit with the theme of the items, from a thematic and lore perspective. The items all sound like they could be linked to Noxus as a premier weapon for their soldiers, but a place like Noxus, which has a lot of stabbing people in the back as everyone wants power doesn't really promote the idea of an alliance, especially when the item becomes the Spymaster's Tutelage.

Everything else is sound, but I'd say that the passive "Alliance" should be re-named to something more fitting, perhaps something like "Shot from the Dark", to imply your support is kinda sneaking about, getting ready to strike, and to also to make the "Bolt of Darkness" tie in a bit better.

That's just my opinion, and people may just thinking I'm talking out of my arse, but regardless the idea behind the items is solid and I think the Courtier's bow line definetly could have a place in League!

runesage8611/20/2014, 6:09:30 PM2 votes

I like this, even if I don't play Ad supports. One thing to ask. Could Brutalizer fit in somehow? It would make sense, more CDR, and the Pen from the bolt of shadows. I get that that would make the cost really high. However, you're getting 8 gold an auto. Tis alot. You'd get a ton of gold early, which would help. However, this item has absolutely NO regen at all. None. If you're an AD support, and you buy this item, you're going to be poking a ton. Most AD supports are melee, so you'll be taking a lot of harass while trying to get close enough to hit. Maybe add a little lifesteal 2nd level instead of CDR? Some AD supports, Ashe, Ezreal, etc., don't need it. Food for thought. This item would make support Wukong amazing.

Jingerbeardman8/15/2014, 5:19:56 AM1 votes

as much as I want an ad support item to happen, it really cant :( what is to stop an adc from getting this item. it is the same dilemma relic shield had when it first went live. Both laners would get the gold generating item and snowball ahead.

What I want to see right now is the frost queens claim item lines passive to proc off of gangplanks passives magic damage. I dont get why it doesnt when brands passive which is also a dot triggers it.