Riot thinks ADCs should be building crit, so some items should be melee

The Ecdysiast·Jun 29, 2017·3 votes·401 views

We can see this from the more recent changes to champion kits to favor critical hit builds-- MF, Jhin, etc. And the decrease in crit item costs, as well as the change to Bloodlust.

Now, items like Black Cleaver and Youmuu's, which are intended for fighters and assassins respectively, should righfully be made melee-only. ADCs who want more cooldown reduction should be buying Essence Reaver to coincide with the rest of the build.

And any ADC who would lose lane strength due to this would be adjusted accordingly-- especially since the two that would have a lot of crit interaction in their kits besides the AA damage and so should rightfully be building it anyway.

11 Comments

RalanrJun 29, 20172 votes

Except Riot has admitted that they do enjoy armor pen builds on ADCs existing. They just have trouble making both builds viable options.

HyperiönJun 29, 20171 votes

ADC's have access to LDR.

That is more than enough. I have been a fan of melee only items for awhile now. and the fact that most of the assassin items got nerfed because of ADCs is a prime example.

The EcdysiastJun 29, 20172 votes

What they say and what they do don't always add up. This is one such case. Other cases include when they claimed they wanted Heim to be less oppressive to melee opponents but then made it easier to burst them down, or when they said they wanted to help Fiddlestick's ability to jungle and didn't increase his single-target damage.

ZephyrDrakeJun 29, 20172 votes

i guess we should make every single HP and resist item be tanks only and nobody else should be able to buy them. Mana regen should be a support stat only, AP should be a mage stat only. Oh what's that? build diversity? who needs that? let's make everyone have the exact same build in every single situation with no disregard about actually adapting to enemy teamcomps or anything

The EcdysiastJun 29, 20171 votes

What you're saying is exactly current problem though. Some champs buy Bork first every single game regardless of enemy. MF and Jhin buy Youmuu's first every single game regardless of enemy.

Diversity in build paths doesn't matter if it's not effective to differ. You don't see MF's building full crit because it's just weaker for her on all accounts.

And what's the point you're trying to make? ADC's can't choose between lots of lifesteal or more crit, didn't just get GA specifically catered to them, and can't buy Frozen Mallet? 'Cause those all sound true to me.

There is diversity in your options as ADC out of the items actually intended for ADCs. The problem arises when champions who aren't intended to build certain items build them.

Ezreal wasn't meant to have Runeglaive. Kayle and Kindred lost any chance of buying Sated Devourer. Ranged champions lost Ravenous Hydra the very next patch after it was introduced.

ZephyrDrakeJun 29, 20172 votes

{quoted}

What you're saying is exactly current problem though. Some champs buy Bork first every single game regardless of enemy. MF and Jhin buy Youmuu's first every single game regardless of enemy.

Diversity in build paths doesn't matter if it's not effective to differ. You don't see MF's building full crit because it's just weaker for her on all accounts.

And what's the point you're trying to make? ADC's can't choose between lots of lifesteal or more crit, didn't just get GA specifically catered to them, and can't buy Frozen Mallet? 'Cause those all sound true to me.

There is diversity in your options as ADC out of the items actually intended for ADCs. The problem arises when champions who aren't intended to build certain items build them.

Ezreal wasn't meant to have Runeglaive. Kayle and Kindred lost any chance of buying Sated Devourer. Ranged champions lost Ravenous Hydra the very next patch after it was introduced.

let's make everything melee and fuck every single ranged champion in the game! what's that? you are buying a takn item because you want to survive? ABUSE CASE! you are not meant to buy the item! you want to be able to deal with something but your "intended items" have nothing that can help you? ABUSE CASE! since you are buying things you are not "intended" for! ABUSE CASE! everything is an abuse case if it beats you

Rockm SockmJun 29, 20171 votes

Black cleaver, DD, and numerous other items should of been melee only a long time ago.

Blade of the ruined king is a contender too, but I hesitate due to Ez and Kog.

The EcdysiastJun 29, 20171 votes

DD is weird. It's basically just a more effective version of BT, since BT requires you be at full health to start to get any kind of defense while DD grants that bleed so you have time to heal up instead of taking all the damage.

I was actually going to mention DD, but I feel the differences between DD and BT need to be a different discussion.

CragmoreJun 29, 20171 votes

If you compare the champions/masteries/items of today with what the were the first 2 years of the game you can see the issue. The root issue is the direction of the game development. Do we keep the game modular with the widest variety of valid playable builds per champ or do we start to narrow the scope of builds for each role/champ? The biggest factor in deciding I think is the number of champs out. Earlier in the game's development more playable builds were favorable because we had fewer champs. Now there are over 136 champs. So it makes sense that they don't need to have as many viable build options. I say they've done a pretty good job of balancing this issue.