Magic Resist Itemization

So this conversation keeps popping up between me and my friends, and I don't know how to lead into this, so I'm going to just start with stating the fact that I'm a support main, and this doesn't effect me personally too much, but it still bugs me from a design perspective and I need answers.

Why is magic resist so weak right now?

Like, I'm sure there are countless threads on this site discussing the Ability Power items, how Rabadon's gives you 40% extra AP, how Void Staff cuts MR almost in half. how Seraph's gives you every stat you want. And maybe, if only in passing, I should bring up how Adaptive Force is one for one with AP but only .6 for AD, but maybe there's a reason for that.

Like, let's start with Spirits Visage. I know for a fact that back in Season 6 it gave you a whole 70 MR, but as time goes on and AP Items just got stronger, they never reverted it back from the 55 they reduced it to, or at the very least it never stuck. And if memory serves, 70 used to be standard for MR items, a lot like Armor. And maybe back in the day there was a REASON to tune them back but I can't for the life of me recall what it was, and I don't think that it's an issue anymore. The standard for Tanky MR items is 55, which, again, if you get a Void Staff, is bumped down to 33.

Per Item.

Not to mention MR items are a bit more situational than Armor items.

• Spirits Visage is made to increase self healing
• Adaptive Helm reduces the damage you take repeatedly
• Zz'rot, while being the best item in the game, is more so for helping create pressure
• And Abyssal Mask is to help increase your own magic damage. Mask USED to be used to help your mages, making it a fairly decent item in most scenarios, but they nerfed the range to DISCOURAGE that. Seriously, the range was 700, they dropped it to 325, and ALSO decreased the damage increase!

The closest thing we had to a general Magic Resist item was nerfed out of being a general magic resist item. It still CAN work like people were using it, but it's way harder now. You can still build just about any single one of these, it's not like the effects are gate ways....but let me get to that real quick.

Now look at the Armor Items, sure they nerfed most of the values of Armor to 60, where they TOO used to be at 70 if memory serves, but with Armor Pen being swapped out for Lethality, you could argue that it goes a lot farther, not to mention fewer people BUILD Lethality. And before anyone says it, yes, I know Black Cleaver still has Armor Shred, but you have to work for it, you don't just GET IT for building an item, it's also a max of 24% instead of 40%

(And side tangent, they removed Last Whisper, reworked it into an item that went into Mortal Reminder and Lord Dominik's, then removed the extra damage against people with more help form Lord Dominik's thus making it a worse version of Last Whisper. I think the thing that tilts me the MOST about that is now I just have weaker Last Whisper that's not called that and I keep confusing all my friends when I talk about this)

And the Armor items are just WAY more flexible with builds

• Sunfire, deal more damage to things nearby
• Dead Man's get more move speed and a slow on your auto
• Thornmail, hurt things that hurt you
• Randuin's, AoE slow on an item
• Frozen Heart, just reduce attack speed for things for being nearby.

I won't argue that as a whole every single MR Item is WORSE then the Armor Items, but I think that it's fairly obvious that it's easier to work Armor into builds then it is MR. You over all get MORE of it, and it's harder to get rid off.

And to add insult to injury, there are only two items in the game that exceed that 55 Magic Resist rule

• Locket of the Iron Solari, primarily a support item(thank you for that), but COULD be built on just about anybody...you might get flamed but you COULD
• Banshee's Veil...... One of the two items that give you MORE MR then the tank items is a Mage item. It's not even that much, it's only five more.....but COME ON Also like, Stone Plate, but you need 3 people around you and it's active cuts damage by 60%, not a whole lot of people WANT that.

Anyway, yea, that's my thoughts, I hope I spark some form of conversation instead of just letting this post at the bottom of the void