Sunfire Cape: what it truly means to be grossly incandescent?
Hello guys!
I'd like to discuss with you the Sunfire Cape 
, in all its blazing glory.
Before we kick it off, let's say that I don't think that Sunfire Cape it's either a too weak/too strong item , but I still think it has some issues.
Issue 1: Damage curve
Sunfire Cape's aura damage per second is 25+(1xLevel), which means its damage potential goes from 26 at level 1 (Highly unlikely) to 43 damage per second at level 18.
This was changed from 40 flat at all levels to reduce snowballing from champions(especially toplaners) who rushed it as a first item .
However, considering that this item is quite pricey at 2650 gold, it's hard to see it before level 10, making the damage aura usually shift between 35 and 43 (level 10-18).
This meant that Sunfire Cape received a minor nerf early and a minor buff late, which still proved somewhat effective.
In my opinion, it was a good idea to make Sunfire Cape damage scaling instead of flat, but the 25+1xLvl formula is not quite on spot.
Issue 2: Damage Type, health and resistances
Sunfire Cape deals magic damage (with a level scaling). However,as other champions also level up, they gain more health and magic resist.
This means that, despite Sunfire cape scaling slightly more into lategame, is still a somewhat inefficent item lategame as the damage is usually cut in half by magic resist.
While this is not true on some magic damage champions who are also proficient with Abyssal Scepter and/or Haunting Guise, it's safe to say that Sunfire Cape gets significantly worse .
On top of that, in term of pure gold efficiency, Sunfire Cape is the least gold efficient item between the others major armor items, Frozen Heart, Thornmail, and Randuin Omen. For more info on gold efficiency, check the WIKI ;)
And, the others item do scale a little, as Randuin's Omen and Frozen heart also reduce the attacker's attack speed, and Thornmail applies magic damage before the armor mitigation (meaning that , if an attack crits for 750, she will receive 250 magic damage back even if the actual damage is 300 or so). Randuin's Omen slow duration also scales with how much armor and mr you have.
Proposed Changes
Sunfire Cape is a long honored item in the league, and in the past it made up for some funny compositions hilarious shenanigans .
I believe the item is already in a good spot.
However there are some changes I believe could help this item to not only consolidate it's own spot, but also reduce both the problem due to early snowballing and lategame mitigation from MR.
First idea: Small Flat damage+Bonus health scaling damage. This would make the item stronger on high health bruisers , but would also make it less effective when rushed first without other health items. The damage would go up, but not so fast to overwhelm the opposition. Rather, it would have a better curve for lategame.
Something like 20 damage at zero bonus health, 60 at 2000 bonus health, etc.
Second idea: Reduced -Level Scaling only-True Damage . This would still have the issues of not scaling into lategame, but, as it bypasses magic resist mitigation, the damage would be reliable regardless of which champ you pick, and of wether or not you can afford Magic Pen in your build.
Final Notes and TL;DR Sunfire Cape is a great item with a good win and pickrate. However, being popular doesn't always equal being fun. Sunfire Cape could have his damage formula changed to better fit into a lategame build considering its poor Gold Efficiency and having fierce competition in the Armor/health and armor items selection
