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Why I Think the Infinity Edge nerf needs to be re-evaluated.

Drayola·1/17/2015, 1:33:17 AM·4 votes·723 views

Hey so this post isn't so much as to complain and ask Riot to revert the nerf, but moreso a means of gathering opinions on the matter and expressing my own.

I've been playing this game since 2011 and for as long as I can remember, IE was a staple in almost every marksman's build. I remember groaning every time I had to play Ashe or Caitlyn because my build path would always be the same. No chance for deviation. Why? Because if you skipped out on an extra 50% of your total AD every time you crit, your damage is not at it's optimal level as an auto-attacker.

Having said that, Riot has done a great deal to raise diversity in the role. More items, more champions thriving off different items, etc. However, one thing hadn't changed. You almost always have to build an IE. This is a problem. I agree 100% that something needs to be changed about IE.

Removing 5% crit chance from a core item on almost every marksman isn't that something. That doesn't nerf only the item, it nerfs the whole role. What's worse is the increase of crit chamce on PD makes it so that you have to build both IE and PD if you want the same effect you previously receieved. Which means those that don't actually have PD in their core build took a direct hit.

TL; DR The IE nerf hit the role of ADC harder than it did the actual item. There needs to be a change to IE that relieves the necessity of buying IE rather than just a plain number reduction.

Questions? Comments? I'd like to hear others' thoughts on this.

9 Comments

Zahz1/17/2015, 2:45:34 AM5 votes

could be worse. Could be getting the DFG treatment

aperson11/17/2015, 7:53:36 AM1 votes

The problem is it's hard for a marksman to diversify when their role is so cut-and-dry - deal lots of single target damage. Riot tried to add items to improve this a few seasons ago - you could opt for traditional pure single target DPS or improve your AoE damage with stuff like Shiv and Runaan's.

The problem is that "specializing" doesn't really mean much to an ADC - the same build that is really good at destroying tanks is also really good at taking objectives is also really good at clearing waves...and so on.

Sure, if you built Runaan's instead of PD/SS you could take that tower down 2 seconds faster, but unless your kit REALLY synergizes with it you completely opt out of dealing damage in teamfights. Is it worth it? Most ADC's would say no.

It's a tough problem to solve and probably requires a big rethink about what the duties of an ADC are.

Miku Lv991/17/2015, 2:30:09 PM1 votes

I think the role could be diversified more though. I think their intent was to make it so you could more actually choose between bt, ie, and botrk as your first item with more ADCs. Since way too many ADCs just always started ie how it was before. And some non-ADC champions got an unnecessary buff back when they upped ie to 80 AD, so at least those champions are approximately back to how they should have been this whole time.

But really, this probably removes more diversity than it added. Since before, you could choose between pd and shiv. But now, if you do the math, pd is better on everyone or so close to it that shiv is almost completely useless. Depending on attack speed, you get about 20% more damage from pd, not counting the shiv's passive. But I don't think many champions get enough damage from shiv's passive to make up that big of a part of the damage they deal. Especially not many ADCs when they'd want it to be an even bigger percentage to switch since they'd rather do more damage focused on a single target.

Narasimha1/17/2015, 3:20:54 PM1 votes

I'm pretty sure that was EXACTLY the point.

FreezerFlare1/17/2015, 4:09:47 PM1 votes

{quoted}

Hey so this post isn't so much as to complain and ask Riot to revert the nerf, but moreso a means of gathering opinions on the matter and expressing my own.

I've been playing this game since 2011 and for as long as I can remember, IE was a staple in almost every marksman's build. I remember groaning every time I had to play Ashe or Caitlyn because my build path would always be the same. No chance for deviation. Why? Because if you skipped out on an extra 50% of your total AD every time you crit, your damage is not at it's optimal level as an auto-attacker.

Having said that, Riot has done a great deal to raise diversity in the role. More items, more champions thriving off different items, etc. However, one thing hadn't changed. You almost always have to build an IE. This is a problem. I agree 100% that something needs to be changed about IE.

Removing 5% crit chance from a core item on almost every marksman isn't that something. That doesn't nerf only the item,** it nerfs the whole role.** What's worse is the increase of crit chamce on PD makes it so that you have to build both IE and PD if you want the same effect you previously receieved. Which means those that don't actually have PD in their core build took a direct hit.

TL; DR The IE nerf hit the role of ADC harder than it did the actual item. There needs to be a change to IE that relieves the necessity of buying IE rather than just a plain number reduction.

Questions? Comments? I'd like to hear others' thoughts on this.

You see this was the entire point of the nerfs. ADC still needs to be toned down.

Rebonack1/17/2015, 4:16:46 PM1 votes
  1. Remove Crit from itemization.
  2. Replace all Brawler's Gloves in builds with Longswords. Replace all Cloaks of Agility with Pickaxes.
  3. Turn IE into an AD caster item (augments bonus attack damage).
  4. Balance kits that get thrown off because they were balanced around obscene Bonus AD ratios (hi there Zed).
  5. Balance kits that get thrown off because they were balanced around Crit Chance/Damage (Sup Try).

By removing Critical Chance from the game you can diversify AD itemization tremendously.

DoraTheBrown1/17/2015, 2:33:13 AM1 votes

5% crit is leik so much

SexyTaylorSwift1/17/2015, 4:20:42 PM1 votes

It just limited item diversity because no1 should build Shiv over PD now...