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Doran's shield is in need of a buff or change.

HEAljvLykd·5/20/2016, 3:14:19 AM·171 votes·5,903 views

Compared to the other Doran's item, Doran's shield seems to be a lackluster item for top laners. ADC's mostly always will buy D-blade, Mid laners mostly always buy D-Ring, but top laners have consistently been buying corruption potion over D-Shield. Did Riot purposely want corruption potion to be the new starting item for top laners or is it because d-shield does not match corruption potion's usefulness?

Buying D-shield versus corruption potion has many weaknesses. Top lane has many frequent short burst trades that require both champs to regenerate HP and resources before trading again. I believe corruption potion wins over D-shield in every aspect of trading. It allows the champ to do more DPS than D-shield and has greater sustain. After one full trade with D-shield, you have to use the one pot you are allowed to buy while corruption potion will still have 2 stacks available. After trading again, the D-shield user is left with no HP regeneration other than what the shield gives. Most of this time is spent with less than half HP sitting far away from creeps trying to regen life like Garen, while the corruption potion user is able to bully the lane.

Even D-blade and D-ring makes their way into top lane more than D-shield does. Doran's shield needs to be buffed or changed in order to make it a more attractive item for top laners.

Edit- Doran's shield can be made unique by adding a passive which - Blocks 8 damage and and the blocked damage is stored up to a cap of say ~20 blocked damage. When the champion is out of battle for ~5 seconds they will heal for the amount of damage blocked/stored. Or just heal for the amount of damage that is blocked. Add some slight unique characteristic to Doran's shield to make it useful again.

108 Comments

Dominick Destine5/20/2016, 3:25:07 AM29 votes

I tend to agree. Doran's Shield is weak.

MunchCrunchLunch5/20/2016, 4:06:46 AM22 votes

blocks 12 damage from melee basic attacks and spells. and blocks 16 from ranged champs. or idk increase the sustain or something.

TheOvermind5/20/2016, 1:18:19 PM17 votes

Yes I like the idea that it makes ranged autos even weaker. It would be the go to buy vs ranged as melee. But I Had an even simpler solution. Make its price 50 g cheaper Now you start dorans shield + 2 pots.

NotSpecialDude5/20/2016, 4:41:12 AM6 votes

The Doran shield leaves you with one potion as opposed the corrupting's three. So the best way to make doran relevant is some passive that compensates.

How bout this. Since the corrupting potion is more for trading make the doran shield more for those who want to avoid trading.

Unique passive "hold the line" -heal 10 hp for every ally minion and 2 hp for every enemy minion that dies Within x range of champ

YJRBqwXJcS5/20/2016, 3:34:35 PM3 votes

that item was broken when it was good

remember when tank supports would run it?

those were not fun times, fucking support mains ruined that item.

Fondling Gems5/20/2016, 4:13:57 PM3 votes

Healing blocked dmg = doubling blocked dmg

Gnart Even Close5/20/2016, 4:42:12 PM3 votes

Riot has said that there stance on the issue is that Doran's Shield is an unhealthy item that is oppressive when strong, and must be weak in order to remain sustainable. It should be reworked entirely rather than buffed, perhaps to be an anti-ranged starting item?

The Yetii Rider5/20/2016, 12:19:56 PM3 votes

Doran's doesn't need a buff. It accomplishes its goal of being a good item for new players to buy to help them survive last hitting, trading with bots and learning turret range.

Doran's Shield can't be good. It ruins bot lane when it's good.

MrWasjig5/20/2016, 9:30:06 AM3 votes

Even going Cloth 4 is superior to shield if you want a defensive start (I miss saying Cloth 5). Cuz extra armour and you still got dat sustain.

Shield though? It's purely lack luster, even for a starting item. Give it either a full change up, or just up the stats a little. Either way should make it feel less like you're just pissing away your starting gold.

LynXerf5/20/2016, 2:30:22 PM2 votes

Agreed, even in situations where Doran's shield SHOULD be the perfect item (I.e. Nasus against quinn...) but in reality it lacks behind all other options:

item 2033 | item 1029 item 2003 x4 | item 1055 | item 1036 item 2031 and even sometimes item 1083

The main problem is it offers the smallest amount of sustain out of all the options, unless you are literally completely out of harms way, in which case why would you buy it? I agree that Doran's Shield SHOULD be the least favourable choice of the 3 Doran's items but not to the point where it is null and void.

I'd suggest the following:

item 1054 Doran's Shield (Cost=450)

+80 health, +5 health regen per 5 seconds

UNIQUE Passive: Blocks 5 damage from basic attacks and single target abilities from champions. This effect also restores 5 HP.

So basically I think the best way to make Doran's Shield viable without being obnoxious like before, would be to only give regen stats while in combat. That way you cant just trade, then sit behind minions and heal a chunk load of health for free.

DJ S0NA5/20/2016, 11:56:38 AM2 votes

Just buff the unique passive (blocks 15 damage from basic attacks against ranged, 10 against melee).

And buff the passive (8 flat health regen per 5)

Kyrrion5/21/2016, 4:59:21 AM2 votes

Melee only, reduces ranged auto damage. Now it has its own place in the game. Done.

ValyrianBlade5/21/2016, 6:52:52 PM1 votes

I think the problem is that a cloth armor or ruby crystal start often offers similar defensive capability, allows more pots, and builds in to something so you aren't out the early investment.

Likewise, LS + refillable is a viable alternative to Doran's Blade, just not quite as competitive.

The dark seal is likewise a competitor to Doran's Ring.

Doran's shield just needs flat buffs. It needs to be BETTER than the alternatives. Not just equal to them.

BloodyTompon5/20/2016, 11:21:01 AM1 votes

It's somewhat desirable to have it the weakest amongst the three Doran's. It's the only one that doesn't encourage engagement of some kind. I think it more likely that corrupting potion be nerfed considering how ubiquitous the pots.