Boards›Gameplay

The Issue with the Crit Item changes - and ways to fix them!

Streep·6/20/2018, 4:37:38 PM·39 votes·15,216 views

Hello! As an ADC player, the game feels shit right now. I'm not complaining about ADC's being weak or the fact that other roles are seeing play bot lane, because personally I think that is cool. For me, what really feels so god damm dreadful is the fact that only 4 ADC's are REASONABLE playable right now (Lucian , MissFortune , Kaisa , Ezreal ). I'm not saying that you can't play the other ADC's right now, but if you do opt into playing them in a ranked game, you put yourself in a seriously disadvantaged spot. All 4 of these viable ADC's have one things in common that make them shine over the other ADC's. They don't have to solely rely on crit items for their builds.

  1. Lucian - item 3153 , item 3508 , item 3071

  2. MissFortune - item 3142 , item 3147 , item 3071

  3. Kaisa - item 3124 , item 3115 , item 3089

  4. Ezreal - item 3042 , item 3025 , item 3153 Now this isn't a bad thing. It's good that ADC's are finding different items to slot into their builds in order to change around the power spikes of the champion. And this doesn't mean that Crit Items lack damage right now, because they honestly don't. If a Jinx or Caitlyn gets their core Crit items, they are going to do a decent amount of dmg. But that where the problem lies. GETTING to those three core crit items. If you have played a Crit champion in the past 2 patches, you most likely have realized how horrible it feels buying your first 2 crit items. And the reason it feels so shit is not because of of much it cost, but because the build paths and stats on some of the items suck ass. Let me explain:

  5. Infinity Edge item 3031 Lets take a look at the old build path for Infinity Edge vs. the new build path. OLD: item 1038 + item 1037 + Cloak of Agility + 425 gold NEW: item 1038 + item 1038 + 1100 gold As you can see the build path for the new IE has way more costly components. and this sucks early on. Even though Crit ADC's don't want to build IE until their 2nd or 3rd item, they still want to buy some early AD to help buff up their abilities. For most Crit ADC's, their abilities are extremely important in regards of getting them through the early, mid game - and it is important that they get some early AD to buff up those abilities. Before the Crit item changes, it was reasonable to be able to afford a item 1037 after your first back. If you farm up correctly and play the first few lvls smart, it wasn't difficult to get 875 gold on your first back. Sure some games you could afford a item 1038 sword on your first back, but that was usally only if you get a first blood or stayed in lane for an extremely long time. But now that item 1037 has been taken out of the item build for IE, it feels extremely awful to get early AD in the game. Your either forced to sit on a ton of gold and go back to lane with no new items just to save up for item 1038 OR skip getting AD early on in the game and rushing into your zeal item. This right here, FEELS LIKE SHIT. Sure you can get a item 1037 and build it into a item 3095 , but that just ends up delaying your core crit build EVEN MORE. So how can we fix this? By changing the build path of IE. Instead of having the build path consist of two item 1038 , you can have it be something like this: item 1038 + item 1037 + item 1036 + 1075 gold This way, Crit Champs can buy some early AD that will also slot easily into their item builds. I'm not asking to lower the cost on IE, or increase the stats on IE, I'm just asking to change the components around so that it doesn't feel like shit building some early AD as a Crit ADC.

  6. Critical Strike Chance Interactions As we all know, the increased 50% crit dmg and 20% crit chance on IE has been replaced with 2x crit chance and some true dmg on your Crits. And this is cool, it's not a horrible trade off. But what I want to take a look at is the 2x crit chance passive on IE. This is awsome and all, but when you look at it's interaction with zeal items, you an see a major flaw that ends up making ADC's buy more stats then they can use. Lets say you buy a item 3094 and a item 3031. The combination of these two items gives you 60% crit chance, which is good. But lets say you build item 3085 , item 3094 AND item 3031 , you end up with a total of 120% crit chance. Now this is so ineffective for ADC's. Not only was Crit as a stat increased in price, but now ADC's have to spend gold to get an extra 20% crit chance they will never use? That just seems extremely dumb, just flat out dumb. Currently 1% crit chance is equal to 60 gold. So ADC's are currently wasting 1200 gold worth of stats, if they build triple crit items, which is core on most Crit ADC's. WOW. So how can we fix this? By removing some of the crit chance off of zeal items and decreasing the price of zeal items based on how much stats are being taken away. For example: item 3087, item 3094 , item 3085 and item 3046 All currently give 30% crit chance. So buying two of these would end up giving you a total of 60% crit chance. Combine that with the passive from IE and you now have 120% crit chance. If you just take away 5% crit chance from all of these items and reduce the cost of these items by 100 gold ( 1% crit chance = 20 gold), ADC's will end up with exactly 100% after buying two zeal items and an IE. Now I know some of you are going to complain about, "But isn't lowering the price of Crit items going to let crit ADC's scale up faster?", and my answer to that is Yes and NO. In fact, ADC's are going to have LESS stats before they complete their IE, making them weaker as they ramp up, but allowing them to rap up a tad bit faster, only 200g sooner.

So that's all I currently have to say regarding the changes to the Crit items. Thank you for reading it and please leave comments and feedback on what you think about my proposal and what you think should be done!

49 Comments

Critmaster Garen6/20/2018, 5:24:38 PM14 votes

adc feel "weak" because they have been overpowered previously and are balanced now.

the game was bot lane loses, your team loses. now its not anymore.

the scaling issues of crit adc can be fixed by not making games only last 23 minutes on average.

Bronze GOAT6/20/2018, 4:59:00 PM14 votes

Great post, it's a shame that you had to tip-toe around and use your words so carefully though. Because obviously one slip-up and you'd find yourself flooded with downvotes from the boards. It's sad, but you're probably still gonna get downvotes even after doing such a thorough job explaining.

Kurt Hyzan6/20/2018, 9:09:19 PM3 votes

"ADC" item 3115 item 3124 item 3089 hue hue hue

kaironen6/20/2018, 6:40:10 PM3 votes

Lower crit of zeal items by 5% and lower cost by 100-200 (lower zeal itself by 100 gold too probably because it feels too weak). That way, adcs will be able to get 100% crit but not overcap it. Also, the IE item change suggestions are pretty good. I always thought 1 of the issues with crit adcs is how bad the components are. 2 BF swords is rare to be able to have in a game where you can't always b at the right time.

Wild Geese6/20/2018, 6:47:42 PM3 votes

I really hate the feel of the new item 3508 ... Like yeah, it's strong when you cast your ult, you get all those resets and tons of attackspeed.. But otherwise, outside of that? The Item sucks. The stats suck, the passive is terrible, 1% of missing mana feels like nothing.

And to top it off, it's only really good on one marksman, Lucian. That's great and all, but I thought these new items were partly about different playstyles for the class.

Z3Sleeper6/21/2018, 12:36:23 PM2 votes

Or item 1037 + item 1036 + 600g = New Mini-IE Component (1825g) 40 AD shared IE unique passive: Increase crit chance by x1.4

Then item 1038 + this item + 775g = item 3031 (3800g)

It really isn't much but it would help smooth out the huge gap between zeal item + IE by alot at several stages.

Early you could build pickaxe, then go for zeal or full zeal item -> this item for the minor crit chance increase (+6% for Zeal, +12% for Zeal upgrade) then ofc IE for the double crit.

Smoothens out the laning phase and the transition between mid game -> late game without overbuffing anything.

This item + a full zeal item would only raise it from 30% -> 42%, seems reasonable. Plus, there's just something about that number...

Jeedos6/21/2018, 3:40:21 AM2 votes

With IE's old passive removal they should let excess crit (up to a maximum of +50) from items apply on abilities/auto attacks that benefit from crit.

Wacky96/20/2018, 5:09:17 PM2 votes

Why can't they just put crit on a damage item? I really hate building zeal items on Jhin even though I need the crit.

Willow Uvgood6/20/2018, 4:54:08 PM2 votes

Theses are good ideas. I feel you. It's times like this where I miss the 20% crit on ie, essence reaver, and tri force.

The Space Cowboy6/20/2018, 11:02:00 PM2 votes

I support your post but would prefer longer games and the 5% reduction in zeal

Existential Bard6/20/2018, 4:52:46 PM1 votes

I’m sorry, but I didn’t read your post fully. Riot is addressing the issue with adcs being weak in the next couple of patches

Reformedfindlay6/21/2018, 10:36:27 PM1 votes

Good point, dont lower adc item cost, but making the build paths for some big items like IE a lot more forgivable would feel a ton better without breaking ADCs.

Havnig something to look forward to every back and being able to be more flexible with backs would be a neat buff to ADCs without actually making them insane.

Leonerdo6/20/2018, 9:50:30 PM1 votes

Re: Critical Chance interactions, the way I see it is a little different:

  1. Your first Zeal upgrade is kinda crap. It gives 30% crit.
  2. IE is incredibly good, but requires a Zeal upgrade. It gives you another 30% crit, in addition to all the AD and the true damage conversion.
  3. Your second Zeal upgrade now gives 40% crit (because you have IE). Unfortunately it's still kinda crap, since you already have a bunch of crit chance and AS. It's better to get another multiplier like LDR, or just go for defense. Unless you really want the RFC or Runaan's passive (assuming you didn't get that first).

So I wouldn't really say that you lose 20% crit from your second Zeal upgrade. Rather, you get more stats from the second one, but the stats are worth less later in the game. Overall, I'd say the second Zeal upgrade is a very niche buy, but still okay. Your suggestion would make it worth 50% crit and make it cheaper, which tips the scale way too far.

rtbf484192826/21/2018, 12:38:16 AM1 votes

Just know that the crit item changes were barely even tested on PBE before getting released to the real game. It was a dreadfully rushed decision.

OtterlyLost6/21/2018, 1:11:29 AM1 votes

I agree with these changes and I honestly wish these were the changes they'd hotfixed in. :/

HàrrowR6/21/2018, 3:38:02 AM1 votes

Try going item 3095 item 3094 item 3031 as your core build and see how it feels,stormrazor gives you a nice 30% AS,and more importantly boat loads of damage.

Honestly getting 2x zeals is not worth now,not just because of that 20% wasted crit,but just cause of the disgusting price on it,also with support nerfs and pyke supports running around everywhere i rush GA as my 4th or 5th item anyway and i've noticed they do it in the LCS too,damn copycats lol

Anyway try something like this item 3047 item 3095 item 3094 item 3031 item 3026 + item 3072 / item 3036 / item 3156 depending on the situation. I mean you can switch tabi for zerkers and not build GA BT or Maw,but i highly recommend you try it,so many times ive won just cause they couldnt deal enough damage to kill me or cause they blow everything to get my GA and then just get chased down. Also the armor from tabi and ga alone give you about 30% more effective HP against AD enemies than if you didn't have it,at lvl 18 thats like having 700 more hp than your enemy who opts not to buy it,not including the GA even

Seer of Mind6/21/2018, 5:22:47 AM1 votes

Crit ADC's are out of meta due to the short game times, the average game doesn't last long enough for you to build a crit item or two then into infinity edge unless you get fed, and even then the enemy team might've surrendered by then. riot just needs to make the game progress slower (and raise xp for leveling up in the client)

Yuvn Ti6/21/2018, 6:58:38 AM1 votes

While I agree with this post, I want to add one more thing MAKE LONG SWORDS BUILD INTO BF SWORD PLEASE

(also the same thing for amplifying tomb into rabadons, since this issue is the same for deathcap)

sky blower6/21/2018, 2:44:16 PM1 votes

I would be more than happy if riot could stop buffing item 3095 in the name of buffing ADC. Very few ADC can use it, but A LOT OF assassins and bruisers can abuse it. Better name it anti-ADC item.

Fefnil6/21/2018, 3:06:38 PM1 votes

While the crit is definitely a factor, I don't think it's the only one. If that was the only reason, then Varus and KogMaw would be strong, too, since they can do the on-hit build as well. What differentiates these two from the others you mentioned is the fact that they are immobile and they can easily be dove by enemy bruisers, so, while changing crit items could help, I'm not sure it would be enough.

Teridax686/21/2018, 10:24:16 PM1 votes

I have a lot of issues with crit, and I do think part of the issue lies with crit marksmen simply being out of favor in an environment where the late game is super short, and doesn't let them shine as much. However, with that said, I think this is still an excellent analysis, and I agree with much of it and the proposals. Here are my thoughts on the two points:

  1. The intent here is good, though I feel it may not work out, as we've had the exact reverse situation already with Rabadon's Deathcap: previously, the item built off of item 1058 + item 1026 + item 1052 , and that build path sucked, because the item was being picked among the last in the player's inventory. Because players didn't have three slots to spare at that point, they basically ended up sitting on a NLR, maybe a Blasting Wand and a bunch of gold, and had to wait super long in order to build Deathcap. Because IE is now being built fairly late usually on crit marksmen, it might therefore run into the same problem with the suggested recipe. Some ideas I had in mind to answer this:
  • Having some intermediary item instead could perhaps ease the situation, by giving players more milestones before getting to the expensive item they want. IE has two unique passives, either or both of which could probably be turned into some smaller component item with a slightly weaker version of the effect.
  • A kookier idea could be to give items like Deathcap and IE a progression like Viktor's Hex Core, where you'd start off with a big stat item, i.e. NLR/BF Sword, then put some gold into it to make it a bigger AD/AP stick, and repeat a few times to finally end up with the final product, at the same total build cost. This could also allow the player to build towards their big amp item, without needing more than one slot to progress smoothly.
  1. I agree with this. 30% crit chance on Zeal items is super awkward when those items are meant to be paired with an item that doubles their crit chance, with a stat that caps at 100%. At the end of the day, a 5%/10% reduction in crit chance isn't super huge, especially if it comes with a reduction in cost, and doing so could enable some additional level of choice for crit users who want to fully commit to a 3-crit item build, and do so cleanly. I also feel one of the problems with crit marksmen is that they're a little too late-oriented, so letting them scale just a tiny bit faster in exchange for fewer total stats I think wouldn't hurt.