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Avarice Blade - The Most Outdated Item in League of Legends

SHlTBUG··3 votes·1,247 views

Riot has been removing hidden power in the form of gold gain for a while now, but item 3093 (Avarice Blade) seems like it's being ignored. It's a rather outdated item, as two of the four items it used to build into have been removed (Atma's Impaler and Executioner's Calling) and the last time it was changed was patch 3.2. Before that, it had been left for a long time, and even that patch didn't change much about it. item 3093 is also the only item that actually loses something when upgraded. Note that the only other gold gain items that exist right now are support and jungle items, and those exist because of the season 4 "endgame fantasy" for the two roles that were always behind in season 3. They make sense to me because those roles need the extra gold and only make sense on those two roles, disregarding the Cinderhulk laning meta, which Meddler said is being removed. Even the jungler and support gold gain items rely on activity, such as lasthitting on a support or poking actively. item 3093 doesn't change the way you play. An ADC is still going to last-hit even without buying this item, as is a top laner or a mid lane yasuo. But item 3093 isn't specific to any one role or champion, as anyone can build it, so it doesn't fit into the game in the same way other gold gain items do.

For context on what I mean when I say Riot is removing gold gain that gives hidden power, here are some examples.

Twisted Treeline updates coming at some point: The altars on Twisted Treeline serve the purpose of creating contested neutral objectives for teams to fight over. We've identified a few issues with the current implementation that we're taking a look at, though. One of the strongest aspects of altars at the moment is increased gold generation, which is a lot of hidden power and it really sucks to be denied that strength when you aren't in a position to protect at least one of the altars.(http://www.reddit.com/r/LoLTwistedTreeline/comments/34jr0o/ama_were_the_maps_team_lets_talk_tt/cqvexfw)

New Ashe update on PBE: Finally, we took out the old Hawkshot passive because it basically gave Ashe a bunch of invisible power. Instead, we gave her tangible power by significantly improving her E active! (http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/champions-skins/champion-update/champion-update-ashe-takes-aim-pbe)

TwistedFate Change from season 3: Loaded Dice was giving Twisted Fate and his team a** lot of hidden power** without feeling individually impactful. The change fits more thematically with his kit and allows his passive to feel more noticeable by giving TF more gold on average over the course of the match. (http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-310-notes)

tl;dr: item 3093 seems out of place in today's League of Legends because Riot has been removing hidden power, it isn't justified in the same way other gold gain items are, you lose something when you upgrade into another item, and it is an outdated item (half of the items it builds into have been removed). I'm wondering if it's for a specific reason, if Riot missed it, or if it is indeed on the slate for a remake/change.

8 Comments

SEKAI3 votes

Still cool on Yi during early game in this very day though, somewhat.

Krigjer1 votes

I buy it on adcs when I'm being bullied hard and can only farm under turret.

So uh, let's not bring it to their attention for possible removal, eh.

Critmaster Garen1 votes

really, because there are still the hybrid items like rageblade, and gunblade when riot obviously has given up on making or supporting hybrid champions.

there is still sword of the occult, which is an entirely redundant snowball item, that will never be any good. because if it would be any good, it would be automatically broken.

avarice blade on the other hand is an early investment, that can make the items its build from very cost effective. id rather put it into the same boat as items like rod of ages or the tear items. plus, since you can actually see the gold it has accumulated in the tooltip (or if you just press tab and pay attention on how long your opponent has been sitting on it), it cant really be considered hidden power.

its an item you can buy and sit on if youre either behind and try farming your way back into the game while avoiding fights, or if you want to take the risk of sacrificing some early duelling potential for a gold advantage mid to lategame.

since the item builds into ghostblade its not just for adc, but good for a lot of champions.

SHlTBUG1 votes

You made both good points and bad, and I'll address your comments in order.

really, because there are still the hybrid items like rageblade, and gunblade when riot obviously has given up on making or supporting hybrid champions.

Hextech is a core item on Akali and a very common buy on Katarina as well. I even see some Fizz players pick it up for some reason or another, and it works. Guinsoo's is built on a quarter of all Jaxs and a fifth of all Kayles, which may not seem like a lot but it is definitely not a troll item. Riot has not given up on supporting hybrid champions, and likening that to what they are doing with gold generation items is basically saying that Riot is actively removing hybrid champions. I don't recall seeing a hybrid champion or hybrid item being removed any time recently.

there is still sword of the occult, which is an entirely redundant snowball item, that will never be any good. because if it would be any good, it would be automatically broken.

Are you saying that Avarice Blade is purposefully made bad because if it were good it would be OP, or that it is another example of a badly designed item? I'll assume the latter, because it makes you look better. My response: The only badly designed part in my opinion is the loss on upgrade, but many people defend that and I can see where they are coming from. I'm not saying that it's badly designed, but rather that it doesn't fit with the design goals Riot has been saying it values.

avarice blade on the other hand is an early investment, that can make the items its build from very cost effective. id rather put it into the same boat as items like rod of ages or the tear items.

With RoA or the tear items, you get lasting stats (Mana and/or Health and Ability Power). With Avarice Blade, you only get gold, which you use to spend on other items. This makes Avarice Blade a far more versatile pick in that when you pick it up, you can make what you get from it turn into anything you want. With a Tear or RoA, the enemy can see your stats go up as you play, but with an Avarice Blade, they don't see the advantage it gives you until you go back and buy, other than mousing over the item itself in the inventory.

plus, since you can actually see the gold it has accumulated in the tooltip (or if you just press tab and pay attention on how long your opponent has been sitting on it), it cant really be considered hidden power.

But it still gives gold generation and the effect of that isn't available to the enemy in the same way that hard stats like Mana, Health, and Ability Power are. There is a reason Riot isn't solving the problem of Hawkshot's passive gold by just giving the enemies a little passive showing the amount of gold Ashe has gained.

its an item you can buy and sit on if youre either behind and try farming your way back into the game while avoiding fights, or if you want to take the risk of sacrificing some early duelling potential for a gold advantage mid to lategame.

This is a fair point.

since the item builds into ghostblade its not just for adc, but good for a lot of champions.

That's what I'm saying. With the current gold generation items, the purpose is to give specific roles (support and jungle) extra gold. But the fact that anyone can build Avarice Blade and it doesn't count as one of the support's gold generation items makes it available to give gold to more champions without the excuse that junglers and supports had.

Z Statistic1 votes

You get it if you are building Shiv or Youmou's. It's pretty much flat out better than zeal at this point, especially if you are behind. The thing that people don't realize is that it's always cost efficient if you are completing the aforementioned. The trade-off is loss in early game, but if you are doing poorly then, there's nothing to lose. Additionally, if you are significantly ahead, sitting on avarice for several minutes is huge. If you want to complete IE and BT for the extra AD and burst instead of dps, that's more gold to get from avarice, and if you hold onto it long enough, you can get a huge amount of gold from it. Like two kills' worth.

And even if you finish it immediately after IE, it still makes shiv/GB cheaper by like 100-300 gold by the time you complete it, which can be enough of a catchup to push you back to even with the enemy or snowball even more.

SHlTBUG1 votes

Your reply just highlights my concerns. The hidden power you can get from the gold generation it gives you is huge, and Riot has been and still is getting rid of gold generation. It's similar to the situation on Twisted Treeline, where if you deny the enemy the extra gold, the effect can be huge and end up snowballing the game towards the side that has it.

Another thing:

The trade-off is loss in early game, but if you are doing poorly then, there's nothing to lose.

This is bad for gameplay. It encourages players who fall behind to buy an Avarice Blade and just wait for endgame rather than get extra damage and try to come back into the game by outplaying the enemy or making smart decisions.

Critmaster Garen1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Thief of Fizz,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=87t656ZG,comment-id=00030000,timestamp=2015-05-09T21:21:07.895+0000)

Your reply just highlights my concerns. The hidden power you can get from the gold generation it gives you is huge, and Riot has been and still is getting rid of gold generation. It's similar to the situation on Twisted Treeline, where if you deny the enemy the extra gold, the effect can be huge and end up snowballing the game towards the side that has it.

Another thing:

This is bad for gameplay. It encourages players who fall behind to buy an Avarice Blade and just wait for endgame rather than get extra damage and try to come back into the game by outplaying the enemy or making smart decisions.

but its not hidden power. its clear what it does. if you see 300 gold accumulated on the item in the inventory of your opponent, just assume its the same as a 15 to 20 cs lead, or a kill in gold.

SHlTBUG1 votes

What about when they upgrade the Avarice Blade into another item? What if you're the mid lane assassin or the top lane fighter or the jungler and you aren't paying attention to everything the ADC buys? When you see the Statikk Shiv or the Ghostblade, you don't know how much gold they got from their Avarice Blade.

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