My problem with the current deathcap

Leaf of the lake·7/26/2015, 8:32:59 PM·1 votes·248 views

So, deathcap is supposed to be an item you get to multiply your already existing purchases; this is not a rush item for anyone. As a result, the optimal purchase timing, to make the best use of the multiplier, would typically be after two complete items, giving a very large powerspike. Third item deathcap sounds like it should be a very reasonable thing to do, no? However, as a third item, deathcap is extremely limiting due to its build path. Deathcap builds from NLR, blasting wand, and amp tome; building out of a high, mid, and low tier component item, this sounds more like the build path of a rush item than something you're supposed to get halfway through the game.

Let's suppose you have double dorans, boots, and two finished items. You now have one empty slot, which you will undoubtedly fill with a NLR, as it's the biggest component to a deathcap. However, unless you sell a dorans for a blasting wand (an extremely questionable decision, given how minor that powerspike is - at the cost of both bonus health and mana regen), you're going to be stuck waiting until you can scrap together 2250 gold. That is a lot of gold, and unless your team is snowballing to hell and back, this will almost always result in your build stalling out around this time, as you just sit around at the exact same level of power as everyone else grows around you.

Before the itemization changes, if you had a NLR in your inventory and no other room, you only needed 1700 gold to finish a deathcap. While still a lot, it was far more reasonable to back with. Now, I feel like if I ever go double dorans that I am functionally locked out of a third item deathcap, because of how stagnating it is. I'm forced to either get it second item, when I actually have room for a blasting wand, or to delay it until very late in the game.

As such, I propose changing deathcap to build out of two NLR. This gives the same amount of AP as having a NLR, blasting wand, and amp tome in your inventory (either way it adds up to 120), but selling a dorans for NLR is actually justifiable, unlike a blasting wand. This would keep a much more even power progression, giving you steps of power at 1250, 1100 (if you're selling a dorans for it), then 1000 gold, as opposed to the current 1250, then 2250 gold. While one of the intentions of the AP itemization changes was to make you feel better about buying a blasting wand or amp tome on your first back, this really doesn't apply to deathcap, which should never be gotten that early when building optimally.

2 Comments

Lord Dusteon7/26/2015, 9:23:15 PM1 votes

Personally, just sell the Doran's by the time you have 2 completed items you either bought enough mana regen/mana to last forever or have built in mana regen; the extra .6 mana a second, 4 mana on kill, and 60 health isn't going to be as valuable or useful as an extra 25 AP will at that point.