Why did Riot remove Zephyr?

Aenaeus·Aug 18, 2017·58 votes·6,667 views

And please don't tell me it got removed because of Trick2G. I thought the item was one of the most unique, besides weird shit like . I wanna know the actual reasoning.

87 Comments

bànAug 18, 20178 votes

Because no fun allowed.

TimX24968BAug 19, 20174 votes

"fun? thats called trolling."

korg023Aug 19, 20172 votes

This! Not talking about specific item or champion but , whatever is fun Riot removes it , ah the funny funny competitive LCS and other bs. Balancing game around LCS has proven to be aids towards us casual players. Riot should really consider making separate gameplay for us and LCS. We just cant coexist. Look into Ryze, he was not broken and was considered weak in SoloQ and in competitive was very broken cause of coordinated play with his ult, look at him now, nerfed to the ground because of LCS abuse. Thank you Riot for ruining many champions for us SoloQ players just because your dear LCDOLLARS need balance.

Final Spark LuxAug 18, 20178 votes

Bring back season 1! Wheres my innervating locket? Where's my malady!? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SOUL SHROUD AND FORCE OF NATURE!??! Ok Im done :D

SkaiserusAug 18, 20174 votes

AND HEART OF GOLD! (I don't know what the fuck it does, I just know people love it)

Final Spark LuxAug 18, 20175 votes

It gave 200 health and 5 gold per 10. Was a pretty strong item for bruisers and stuff

BoilTheOilAug 19, 20171 votes

Did it do anything else? Also how much did it cost

SUPERX4PANDAAug 19, 20172 votes

nah it was just health, and cost 800 gold. There was a time where Kage's Lucky Pick (AP), Philosopher's Stone (regen), Avarice Blade (crit), and Heart of Gold (health) were all ~700-900 gold items that gave great early game stats that would generate gold over time. They were very good back when late-game mattered more. There was a time even before that where the gold generation wasn't a unique passive, so you could stack 5 hearts of gold and boots and just sit on those for 20 minutes and get a ton of gold.

YumaS2AstralAug 19, 20172 votes

On my opinion it was fun to play as a support back then.

Yes, you didn't had the same tools that you have nowadays. However, the ability to generate tons of gold with Kage's Lucky Pick and Philosopher's Stone allowed me to purchase lots of wards, then with Boots of Mobility, I would illuminate the entire map. The map really looked like a Chrstimas tree. Fun times, that are unfortunately gone.

Electro522Aug 18, 20171 votes

So, I wasn't around in season 1, but, looking at Leaguepedia....

Force of Nature was just......weird. I can see very few people building it, because it gave only health regen and MR.

Locket looks VERY strong on paper, I'm not sure how strong it was in practice. But an aura that gives mana regen? Oh boy......that sounds incredibly hard to balance.

Soul Shroud was fricken overpowered as hell. A CDR AND mana regen aura.....are you kidding me?!?!? That would be built on EVERYONE today that uses mana. No wonder they removed it. Holy hell.

And finally, Malady is basically Nashor's Tooth, just with MR shred (hello Kayle, Warwick, Corki).

BobaFlautistAug 18, 20171 votes

Malady was slot-inefficient and scaled weird.

I don't even remember soul shroud or locket

Force of Nature was actually a moderately popular item either as a counter to AP heavy teams or as a one-slot mr provider when you stacked armor and hp. At first, Riot's story was that it was weird and had funky stats and people didn't like building it (LIES!) But it later came out that they thought it was op how much it countered mages to have a big mr item available.

Which has kinda been their policy on a lot of utems, delete/"rework" (nerf) them and excuse it by saying they filled a weird niche or weren't dynamic enough or whatever the fuck, then later slip up and admit that they didn't want people to be able to itemize like that. See also Atmas (weird stats jk damage scaling with health is fundamentally wrong), old Aegis (auras feel too weak jk stat combo op), etc.

AnidanAug 19, 20171 votes

Locket was the best friend of Udyr, Soraka and Sona because it gave good health and mana, with a helpful aura. It was good for supports especially thanks to the health and mana regen aura, especially since health and mana regen was almost 100% of what Soraka did back then and Sona was an aura queen even moreso than she is now.

But yeah, removal of items and unique item niches seems to be a modus operandi of Riot. They've even done similar to Champions, too. Any off-build that drastically changes how the character is played? Nuked from orbit. Not balanced so that they could coexist with their more meta form, but pretty much just removed from the game because it didn't fit their vision of how the champion should be played.

korg023Aug 19, 20171 votes

The times when league was fun :D

Elkington VIAug 20, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Final Spark Lux,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=2X4rE7El,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2017-08-18T13:05:38.963+0000)

Bring back season 1! Wheres my innervating locket? Where's my malady!? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SOUL SHROUD AND FORCE OF NATURE!??! Ok Im done :D

I miss passively winning my lane/jungle with Heart of Gold + Philo Stone

MLDzXnRRRAug 18, 20177 votes

It was not bought. It was a situational item for Trynd, Udyr, Jax, Irelia and 6slotted ADCs.

AenaeusAug 18, 201733 votes

Same thing can be said about item 3115 item 3030 item 3091 . Those are all items for VERY specific champions.

MLDzXnRRRAug 18, 20172 votes

{quoted}

Same thing can be said about . Those are all items for VERY specific champions.

Wit's end is also unpopular, but the other items are semi-core items on some champions.

Zane ZephyrAug 18, 201711 votes

wits end isn't the most unpopular, and nashors isn't bad for a few champs either and GLP is mostly interchangeable with the RoA right now depending on if you get behind or if you want the slow or you have time for it to scale

Zephyr was just almost never bought and it was an incredibly niche item before that, although I do wish they brought it back

FütanariAug 18, 20178 votes

[{quoted}](name=Zane Zephyr,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=2X4rE7El,comment-id=000000000001,timestamp=2017-08-18T12:20:55.796+0000)

wits end isn't the most unpopular, and nashors isn't bad for a few champs either and GLP is mostly interchangeable with the RoA right now depending on if you get behind or if you want the slow or you have time for it to scale

Zephyr was just almost never bought and it was an incredibly niche item before that, although I do wish they brought it back

item 3056

Bob the ToastrAug 19, 20173 votes

That one is still there because there was something about someone who got a ton of invites so the item was named after him or something. Still don't get why it's so horrible to have a couple extra items in the shop though.

TimX24968BAug 19, 20172 votes

whats that?

SnowplosionAug 19, 20177 votes

New Champ

AnidanAug 19, 20172 votes

Looks like it could have something to do with buildings, or a pylon...

League is getting Probius, too?

Pierce The VealAug 19, 20171 votes

{quoted}

Same thing can be said about . Those are all items for VERY specific champions.

Don't forget runaan's back them.

Even runaan's was purchased less than zephyr.

RainbowIceeAug 18, 20173 votes

how is this not considered bought ? Many builds had it as their late game item.

korg023Aug 19, 20171 votes

What is wrong with that? Why cant we have situational items ? We cant make all items tier 1 and viable every game.

SdarsAug 18, 20175 votes

I hate how riot just removes what isn't used when it's not harming the game. And you can't possibly say "noob trap" and "confuses new players" when there are recommended items for noobs, along with plenty of guides. Worst of all is how they removed dominion...

Maligaro SpikeAug 19, 20172 votes

also some of the recommended items are noob traps or inefficient

DuskDaUmbreonAug 19, 20171 votes

Inefficient, sure, but I don't think any of the items are true noob traps on the champions they're recommended for. Out of meta, perhaps, but not traps.

korg023Aug 19, 20172 votes

They say that to make your feel "better" we all know reason they removed dominion, it wasnt paying off to maintain the servers for it and was just waste of money for their standards. I kinda agree with dominion since no one played it and was filled with bots every game.

FairyfleurAug 18, 20175 votes

Janna "What do you mean?"

333lomAug 18, 20174 votes

I really liked buying Zephyr.

the weeabooAug 18, 20174 votes

I want Zephyr

KovorixAug 18, 20173 votes

Zephyr was actual a core item on my Irelia build. RIP Zephyr :(

BeatinWarDrumzAug 18, 20173 votes

Almost nobody built it

WimbledofyAug 18, 20176 votes

most adc's actually switched boots out for it late game

korg023Aug 19, 20171 votes

Many people built it and this wasnt enough argument. There are items nowdays that no one builds and are still in game and considered fine.

LuaDotExeAug 19, 20172 votes

In response to talk about GLP, Ohmwrecker, and Banner: GLP still is used. Aurelion Sol, Swain, and a couple others build it. It's not uncommon at all, in my experience. Just slightly less bought, since its role isn't as generalized. They're never going to remove Ohmwrecker; even if it becomes obsolete (which it has), it still has historical value. Look on the Wikia; I'm too lazy to tell you. Banner is still built, albeit rarely. It's a split-push item for non-tanks. It'll get used, just not until the meta wants it to. Throw back to Banner Zz'Rot Heimerdinger.

The5lackerAug 19, 20172 votes

Zephyr was a boring ball-o-stats item whose stats were incredibly niche.

Not saying I don't think it shouldn't be in the game, just saying that comparing it to other underpicked items that are doing something actually interesting isn't exactly fair. Zephyr was useless and boring.

StompmeAug 18, 20171 votes

Zephyr? That shit hasn't been around for so long that 1) Idk what it is and 2) it doesn't even have an item emote here. XD

Sraeg2013Aug 18, 20176 votes

https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/1/11/Zephyr_item.png

+50% attack speed +25 attack damage +10% movement speed +10% cooldown reduction

Unique Passive - item 3111

DivewingAug 19, 20171 votes

funny thing is, even with the AD on it.

I'd probably have a build with it included for Azir

Sraeg2013Aug 19, 20171 votes

Well, item 3115 doesn't apply on soldiers anyway, so why not?

DivewingAug 19, 20171 votes

tenacity, movespeed, 50% attack speed, 10% cdr...

the "waste" of 25 ad would be so worth all that (I think it would be enough to get me to 2.00 atk speed)

Sraeg2013Aug 19, 20171 votes

Nah, it'd help with towers and last hitting without Soldiers.

DuskDaUmbreonAug 19, 20171 votes

It'd be useless for towers. It's either your total AD, or base AD+1/2AP. The 25 AD would be utterly useless for taking a turret now.

Hell, if I'm correct, Nashor's passive applies to turrets. That means it would actually be more efficient than Zephyr on him

deadlychuckAug 19, 20171 votes

I mean, item 3146 was boasted as a "mage item" so...

morris1Aug 19, 20171 votes

item 3146 is still a better DFG replacement than the supposed DFG replacement ( item 3285 ).

Sir FuzziAug 18, 20171 votes

Because ADCs replacing their boots with 25 AD, 40 AS, 10% MS and 25% Tenacity was a disturbing trend.

I think the reality of it is that they were embracing items that would be shared between bruisers and carries meant they had to shed items that were going to feed into those. Atma's and Zephyr both fell into that I think, although Atma's was just busted.

We might be able to see a modified version. It might be better, it might be worse. Titanic Hydra is basically a follow-up to Atma's, in that respect. Black Cleaver also got upgraded ages ago and that was a significant upgrade for it (went to being built almost every single game on at least one dude, basically).

Maligaro SpikeAug 19, 20172 votes

that happened only in ultra late game where probably the next fight would've been the last one, also right now if ADCs are in that spot they might still sell boots for zeal item or trinity force for extra combat stats while not wasting much ms