I think it's time for this game to embrace the idea of scaling>base values
Do you like a Rengar diving you with 3k hp, only cleaver and warrior enchantment for ad, yet blowing up all your hp while you feel like dealing nothing back? Do you enjoy Yasuo 100-0 you with only PD and Frozen Mal? Did you enjoy tank Ekko back then and tank Fizz being viable again? Well the answer to all these is probably no.
As you may have realized lately, there is a huge flaw design with the items we have available. Let's assume your role is a tank and let's say you play X champion. That champion with 3 items has 3k hp and probably some resistances. Does it work? Well it's job is hard considering a mage can poke that champion and deal ap damage (%hp is also available) and an adc can cut the hp with BotRK (hmm, also %health). Now the tank can cc and deal some damage back, while holding on for a few seconds before dying to the damage dealt back. What if I tell you you could pick champion Y instead, deal x2 or more damage than X, also provide cc but at the same time die just as fast as the tank X? That's the current state of the game in a nutshell.
What Riot fails to realize is that the items carry with them too much power that skyrockets the potential of some champions. When a bruiser can be just as tanky as a frontliner and deal more damage while also providing cc, is there a reason for you to pick the tank? "But tanks are reliable lategame right?". Well too bad, cause Riot made it so that games snowball harder now, meaning that the best champions currently are the ones that dominate midgame. Remember when juggernauts were meant to be the archetype of "tanky champions that trade mobility to provide damage"? What happened to that philosophy? Well also too bad cause nowadays any champion can abuse the items we have to achieve damage+health and not be penalized with the lack of mobility. Basically we threw out of the window an entire class but who remembers that right?
Why all this? Cause the current state of the game is unbalanced when it comes to scaling. When the abilities of certain champions have so high values that you can build 1-2 damage-oriented items and then full tanky items with 0 drawback something is wrong. We've seen this being abused by countless champions, again and again, yet instead of just fixing the scaling we nerf the items instead or maybe nerf the most loud example of an abuser. NO! It's about time Riot steps up and fixes every-single-ability and make it scaling-dependent. Do you want your champion to deal damage? Then maybe your abilities should have poor base stats but high scaling, meaning that you are rewarded for buying high damage items. Sure you can build tanky and play a different playstyle, but that means you won't be a damage dealer anymore. By fixing the scaling not only the game will be healthier but champions will be able to achieve different playstyles based on what they prioritize: attack-defense-utility.
You want an easier solution? Create items that will highly boost your ad/ap stats with some utility but -% of your hp & maybe armor/mr and similarly tank items that often high defensive values but -ap/ad percentages. Basically items that require you to sacrifice something to gain something in return. A champion that has 800 ad but 1200 hp is balanced? Yes I think it is, maybe we're ready for something new in the item lineup, maybe we can see risky choices instead of optimal build paths. Maybe.
(P.S. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, items, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual champions & item builds, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. There's no way these things exist, we live in a balanced era of rainbows.)
