Boards›Gameplay

Critical Strikes Items are in need of a rework. (Complete with Reworks Inside)

Tribbles Foxfolk·3/26/2018, 9:54:07 AM·10 votes·1,911 views

As the title suggests, I feel that the current Critical Strikes system is out of control and needs to be reigned in. It's been so bad that "Burst Per Second" is a new term attempting to be legitimized, simply to describe how much burst damage a Critical-based ADC is pumping out. It's...unhealthy, to say the least.

Below is an exhaustive rework list of every Critical Strike item in the game, plus Fleet Footwork. Numbers are not final, as usual, but are pretty damn close to what I believe would make them balanced. Keep in mind that this does not contain any updates to CHAMPIONS themselves, even if they have numbers that scale with Critical Strike. I've been writing this since 4 AM and it's almost 6 AM at time of posting; I simply don't have the energy to do an extensive mass rework on that scale, only for items.

Feel free to leave suggestions and criticisms, I'm curious to hear what people think.

Critical Strikes

Critical Strikes base power = 200% damage (100% bonus damage) > 150% damage (50% bonus damage).

This is an important change so as to not make Critical Strikes extremely overbearing. As it stands, one lucky Crit doubles your damage output on that AA, which could decide the entire fight. Reigning it back to 1.5x damage will perhaps allow for some additional means of growth through items and runes. (Thank you to Glory97 on EUW and Solicitude on EUNE for the suggestion!)

Essence Reaver

Cost: 3400g > 3500g

Build Path:

B.F. Sword + Caulfield's Warhammer + Longsword + 300g

+80 AD +10% CDR +20% Critical Strike Chance (Removed. Build Path does not contain Critical Strike.) UNIQUE Passive - Mana Reaver (Damaging a unit with basic attacks restores 1% of your maximum mana. Mana gain is halved against lane minions (except for Cannon Minions) and small jungle monsters (Small Wolves, Baby Raptors, Small/Mini Krugs. Champion takedowns restore 5% of your maximum mana.) (New)

Essence Reaver has had a strange history, hasn't it? It started off a nice niche item, then got buffed and nerfed into Limbo, and finally ended up where it is now; a too-good-for-its-own-good Critical Strike item. Anyone that CAN make use of Essence Reaver is abusing it. Changing it to be something like its very old self would give AD Casters access to a strong mana-restoration item, though at a high cost. 3500g is almost in line with Bloodthirster, a 3700g item that's been overpriced for ages. (But that's a fight for another day to solve Lifesteal creep.)

Infinity Edge

Cost: 3400g > 3500g (+100g)

Build Path:

B.F. Sword + Pickaxe + Cloak of Agility + 525g

+60 AD +25% Critical Strike Chance UNIQUE Passive - (Critical Strike bonus damage is increased by 50%.) (Removed) UNIQUE Passive - Precision Strikes (Whenever you land a Critical Strike on a champion, you afflict them with a stack of Infinity's Power, up to 5 stacks. Infinity's Power increases your Critical Strikes bonus damage against the target by +20% per stack, to a maximum of +150% bonus damage at 5 stacks. (+50% Crit base + 20%/Infinity's Power stacks, up to +150% total) Infinity's Power stacks last 10 seconds and fall off one at a time at a rate of one every two seconds.) (New) (Thank you to Glory97 on EUW for the suggestion!)

Reducing the base increase of IE's bonus Crit damage will reduce the usefulness of Shiv-Crit Burst/Second builds, forcing IE users to stay in the fight longer to deal the damage they want to. IE still gives access to higher burst damage to Crit users due to its ramp-up passive, but only if they try to keep up the pressure.

It's worth noting that all of these Passive changes to Infinity Edge apply to Molten Edge as well, and Molten Edge loses 10 AD, bringing it to +90 AD from +100 AD.

Zeal

Cost: 1200g > 1300g

Build Path:

Brawler's Gloves + Brawler's Gloves + Dagger + 200g

+15% Attack Speed +20% Critical Strike Chance UNIQUE Passive: +5% Movement Speed (Removed)

This is a straight nerf to Zeal, removing its %MS bonus and increasing the cost by 100g. Appropriate Zeal items will have their prices adjusted for such.

Statikk Shiv

Cost: 2600g > 2700g

Build Path:

Zeal (Nerfed Version) + Kircheis Shard + 600g

+30% Attack Speed +25% Critical Strike Chance UNIQUE Passive - Energized (Moving and attacking generates Energized stacks, up to 100. When fully Energized, your next basic attack triggers Shiv Lightning.) (New: Passive now UNIQUE) UNIQUE Passive - Shiv Lightning (Your next basic attack (on-hit) sparks lightning to up to 5 nearby units, dealing 40 - 100 (based on level) bonus magic damage. This can be a Critical Strike, and is increased by Critical Strike damage modifiers.) (New: Damage reduced (60 - 140 > 40 - 110).)

Shiv has been a sore point for a while, dealing far too much damage and ending up being a better single-target item than its singles-only counterpart, Rapid Firecannon, ever hoped to be. Reducing its AS, Crit Chance, Energized damage, and making Energized UNIQUE all aim to solve this sore point.

Rapid Firecannon

Cost: 2600g > 2700g

Build Path:

Zeal (Nerfed Version) + Kircheis Shard + 600g

+30% Attack Speed +25% Critical Strike Chance UNIQUE Passive - Energized (Moving and attacking generates Energized stacks, up to 100. When fully Energized, your next basic attack triggers Firecannon.) (New: Passive now UNIQUE) UNIQUE Passive - Firecannon (Your next basic attack gains 25% increased range (up to a maximum of +150 range) and deals 60 - 150 (based on level) bonus on-hit magic damage. This can be a Critical Strike, and is increased by Critical Strike damage modifiers.) (New: Damage increased (60 - 140 > 60 - 150), bonus range reduced (35% > 25%), and RFC can now Critically Strike.) UNIQUE Passive - Firecannon (Energized recharges 25% faster, and can now be discharged on structures.) (Removed)

RFC is currently only used because of the second part of its passive, i.e. the quicker Energize and discharge on turrets. Even on its own, it's still far too efficient currently. These changes would reduce its base stats, remove the toxic parts of its Firecannon passive, and give it a more defined niche as the single-target burst Zeal item, whereas Statikk Shiv is the AoE waveclear item.

Phantom Dancer

Cost: 2600g > 2700g

Build Path:

Zeal (Nerfed Version) + Recurve Bow + 400g

+40% Attack Speed +25% Critical Strike Chance UNIQUE Passive - (Your basic attacks deal +20 Physical Damage as an on-hit effect.) (New) UNIQUE Passive - Spectral Waltz (Grants Ghosting and +5% movement speed while within 700 units of a visible enemy champion.) (New: Increased activation range (550 > 700), and reduced bonus movement speed (+7% > +5%).) UNIQUE Passive - Lament (Grants 10% damage reduction against the last enemy damaged by your basic attack. This ends after being out of combat for 10s.) (New: Reduced damage reduction (12% > 10%).)

Phantom Dancer is usually the red-headed stepchild of the Critical Strike items; it suffers from either being the perfect dueling item that must be bought without question or it gets outclassed immediately by its Energized counterparts. Adding a small amount of bonus damage to make up for the slightly-reduced stats and making some minor adjustments to the passives means this item should be a favorable buy for Crit-focused builds.

Runaan's Hurricane

Cost: 2600g > 2700g

Build Path:

Zeal (Nerfed Version) + Recurve Bow + 400g

+40% Attack Speed +25% Critical Strike Chance UNIQUE Passive - (Your basic attacks deal +20 Physical Damage as an on-hit effect. ) (New) UNIQUE Passive - Wind's Fury (When basic attacking, bolts are fired at up to 2 enemies near the target, each dealing 33% AD physical damage. Bolts can Critically Strike and apply on-hit effects.) (New: Bolt damage reduced (40% > 33%).)

Runaan's Hurricane has always had a strange niche; lower up-front power compared to Statikk Shiv, but being able to spread special effects like Red Buff, Blade of the Ruined King, and Frost Arrows very quickly. This makes it devastating in teamfights and effective at clearing waves in a pinch. This slight revamping of its stats will make it a popular choice among Marksman that want a sustained spread of effects, such as Ashe.

Fleet Footwork (Keystone, Precision) Removed. No longer exists as a Keystone or Rune.

Let's not fool ourselves, Fleet Footwork doesn't need to exist. Despite repeated nerfs and constant butcherings, Marksman champions and Gnar keep taking Fleet Footwork due to the extreme safety and synergy with Energized items. Removing it, while possibly extreme, would prevent many issues with Energized becoming a UNIQUE Passive. Allowing it to exist with UNIQUE Energized would mean you have to decide before the game if you want Fleet Footwork, Statikk Shiv, or RFC, with very little room for flexibility. This is Warlord's Bloodlust all over again and it's rather painful to see. Bottom line is, it has to go and free up the slot.

25 Comments

Solicitude3/26/2018, 11:13:35 AM4 votes

I think that the only thing that needs to be changes is the crit damage. Reduce it to 150% from 200% and you will get rid of the "sustained burst damage" for the most part. ADC's will still be able to deal a big amount of sustained damage but not with that 1000+ damage with one aa to the tank.

Glory973/26/2018, 11:00:54 AM4 votes

I can see that you tried to fix the burst per second issue in your passive changes of ie, but from my perspective "making 3 auto-attacks", is not enough to fix probelems. 3 auto attacks is a matter of 1.5 second in a teamfight, and the difference between 200% 220%, 240% and 250% crit damage is not too impactful. Since assassins are unlikely to initiate a teamfight, when they try to assassinate the adc, the adc will probably have his ie stacked already, making him burst squishies just as fast as before.

I would love to see the your effect of ie applied as a debuff towards the enemy. Kind of how black cleaver works. With every auto-attack the target gets more vulnerable against crits. Crits will do 150% dmg to targets without debuff, 180% dmg to targets with 1 stack, 210% against 2 stack debuff, up to 300% at 5 stack debuff. If the target is not attacked for 8 seconds the debuff will disappear.

Zero Shingetsu3/26/2018, 1:05:17 PM3 votes

Kind of wish they'd throw out critical entirely. It's insane how much damage crit does, and you're talking about exponential increases to DPS without actually building up your damage. The whole system is needlessly convoluted, the game would run just fine with established damage rates and a better variety of flat damage items.

BlackEtherian3/26/2018, 1:56:47 PM2 votes

I personally enjoy being crit for 1400 damage, it makes my day... [galio-happy]

AirKingNeo3/26/2018, 3:18:27 PM2 votes

You literally removed all movement from ADC items, removing all kiting and chase, then also made it so only attack speed marksmen can use IE, and you made Essence Reaver a Jayce only item.

You nerf critical damage across the board and then nerf Crit chance. Why increase the cost of IE if you reduced its damage????? Hurricane literally nerfed for no reason???

You're basically removing almost everything from these items and not expecting this to be a complete gutting of the class.

FurriesAreHot3/26/2018, 3:23:07 PM2 votes

I am very sorry i dont have the time to properly read this, since the effort would deserve it. After skimming, what I can say is this:

Lowering critical strike damage to 150 and changing the IE interaction still has the issue of IE being mandatory, and even more so here.

Essence Reaver would likely be bought even less, if at all, if you removed the crit it gave without adding other stats.

Acheron163/26/2018, 6:29:08 PM1 votes

This isnt a rework, you're just straight up making crit useless.

Rework mean fundamentally changing how something works so that is is easier to balance. What you're doing her is nerfing base crit damage, nerfing crit chance, removing movement speeds, just straight up making these items worthless.

And all of this without fixing the biggest problem of crit: being random. Crit is strong now because its unreliability makes it too swingy, any rework to crit has to start by removing the RNG portion.

I'm sorry but this isn't a rework in any way, shape or form, just massive nerfs to crit in general.

ZephyrDrake3/27/2018, 12:56:41 AM1 votes

so your "reworks" are just "nerf the shit out of every single item to the point that nobody in their right mind would buy them"... sorry but this is a horrible way of balancing the items

Poske3/26/2018, 1:25:56 PM1 votes

No I got cancer just reading this

NO

I had way better suggestions which were based upon this

Crit damage reduced to 150% Every 4th auto starting with first/second/third/forth crits. 5 sec combat cooldown (same as mobi)

RFC - would start with first (Cait under radar) PD - would start with forth IE - starts with second Hurricane - starts with third Shiv - I would actually rework shiv ER - starts with third (Gain CDR for every crit formula)

Most crit items would build from a component (crit cannot just appear out of nowhere thats wierd). A component would be like every 30 seconds your next auto does bonus 50-125 physical damage comparable with item 3145 (new zeal passive basicly).

crit item combinations would round up to worse. Example 2 crit items Fastest + slowest would end up with A,C,A,C,A over C,A,C,A.

Yasuo would get A,A,A,C formula for every crit item he has forces him on A,C,A,C,A formula with any crit item and C,C,C,C,C with 2 crit items.

What you are suggesting is essentially still Rng but with extra cancer NO, less power doesnt justify extra cancer, you even made cancer scale with luck based cancer WHAT AN ACTUAL FK.

CRITICAL CHANCE, THE WORD CHANCE CANNNOT STAY THIS IS FKING COMPETTETIVE ESPORT MOBA.

Tribbles Foxfolk3/26/2018, 12:31:31 PM1 votes

In response to Glory97's concerns, I spent a bit of time playing around with the idea of making an alternate version of Essence Reaver where it gains Critical Strikes. Keep in mind nothing is final, I'm just trying to find a compromise since my proposed rework would leave a lot gaps for AD.

Possible new items:

Mana Sickle

Cost: 900g

Build Path:

Brawler's Gloves + Longsword + 150g

+10 AD +10% Critical Strike Chance UNIQUE Passive - Mana Reaver (Killing a unit with a basic attack restores 1% of your maximum mana. The mana restore is automatically triggered on Critical Strikes, and doubled if the killing blow was a Critical Strike.)

Aether Scythe

Cost: 1900g

Build Path:

Mana Sickle + Brawler's Gloves + 600g

+20 AD +20% Critical Strike Chance UNIQUE Passive - Mana Reaver (Damaging a large or epic jungle monster or an enemy champion with basic attacks restores 0.5% of your maximum mana. Killing a unit with a basic attack doubles mana restored. Mana restored is doubled upon a Critical Strike.)

Affected Item:

Essence Reaver

Cost: 3500g

Build Path:

Aether Scythe + Caulfield's Warhammer + Longsword + 150g

+60 AD +25% Critical Strike Chance +10% CDR UNIQUE Passive - Mana Reaver (Damaging a unit with basic attacks restores 1% of your maximum mana. Mana restored is halved against lane minions (except for Cannon Minions) and small jungle monsters (Small Wolves, Baby Raptors, Small/Mini Krugs). Mana restored is doubled upon a Critical Strike. Champion takedowns restore 5% of your maximum mana.)