The item was fine before it was buffed and Zonya's was nerfed. Mages didn't buy it every game, and since when did they need it every game back then? Why do people think mages are helpless without it? They were played before it was a viable choice on most of them.
Revert Rylai's to being a low AP, high HP option with a slow. Rebuff Zonya's at least a little.
Problem solved, we are back to where we were before the Rylai's 'crisis'.
Teridax687 votes[{quoted}](name=Mira Arya Enthe,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=A7EwPzwR,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-10-25T04:11:28.224+0000)
Revert Rylai's to being a low AP, high HP option with a slow.
From the sound of it, this is going to be Riot's approach, or at least the main part of the item's upcoming changes. Meddler mentioned that Rylai's gives too many stats and is being overpicked as a result.
Personally, though, I do think there's more to this, at least in the long term, because even if Rylai's popularity descends back to pre-MYMU levels, it's still not going to be a super-healthy item on the champions who will use it. Weak yet persistent slows don't feel good at all for the people on whom they're being applied, and that kind of crowd control disproportionately affects low-mobility targets, especially juggernauts and most tanks. Making it and Frozen Mallet more niche picks helps the viability of low-mobility champions, but still means there will be cases where a single item significantly reduces counterplay.
Another issue to consider is that, unlike Mallet, Rylai's is a core item on a number of champions, such as Aurelion Sol, Mordekaiser, Rumble, Vladimir, etc. If the item gets nerfed into a situational option, those champions will suffer tremendously, because they'd still need to build the item in order to function properly. Morde especially is barely functional in teamfights until he gets sticking power with Rylai's, which isn't a good sign. If these champions were made functional without Rylai's, there would be very few on which it would be worth picking.
I think another issue is that the item's niche competes with Hextech GLP-800, which also provides AP, health and crowd control. GLP also has mana, which is why it's not a good fit on many Rylai's champions, but otherwise it's better-designed than Rylai's, as its power is parceled into a shorter, stronger instance of crowd control. I personally think the ideal solution to Rylai's would be to delete the item, and instead make GLP build from a Giant's Belt instead of a Catalyst of Aeons. Going with the idea of Hextech weapons being experimental, I think it might also be more interesting for GLP's active to be a single-target, skillshot root, rather than its current AoE decaying slow.
The Yetii Rider2 votesRiot said they planned to buff the slow effects of other items like Deadmans, Randuins and GLP-800 if the Rylai's changes hurt some champs too much.
I think a champ being dependent on a permaslow is unhealthy at all times, especially for the four champions you mention who don't even spend mana to apply the slow.
Making them more dependent on an item active like GLP is healthier for the game as a whole.
Saianna3 votesMeddler mentioned that Rylai's gives too many stats and is being overpicked as a result.
Sigh.. Who cares..
Teridax681 votesMaw of Malmortius is receiving pretty significant changes on the PBE, actually, and they're mostly nerfs. It gives less AD and no longer gives armor pen, though it also gives bonus AD during Lifegrip, CDR, and a bit more MR.
Saianna1 votesProblem starts when you summ up all of its perks and suddenly you have powercreeped weapon with hidden powers all over the place, which will be buy or lose for every AD... While Zhyona got nerfed for some shitty reasons.. meh
TyrekGoldenspear7 votesPersonally I just rush it because I main mages that happen to need the thing.
Anybody who thinks Brand doesn't need it hasn't tried to hit someone with all three skills when they are actively trying to dodge you.
I just want the second lazer proc.
DrCyanide1 votes
's longer ult delay (introduced with the Mage Rework) makes 
more valuable than it use to be as well.
INoble KnightI1 votes
and a few more need it as well
Ayame Isaki2 votes
The fact everything and its mother blocks her Q and the obnoxious vector cast change to her W makes the slow pretty critical to land a full combo... which still won't kill a target. The slow helps keep you in range so you can combo again.
NineTailedMystic3 votesIf Viktor 'needs' to hit E2, then he 'needs' to get the 40% reduction on E2 that's already hit a target back.
Mogarl1 votesAs a Viktor main I'm going to call BS on Rylai's being just for the second hit. Rylais is also so you can get in range to be a threat.
I'm and see a 
solo farming bot, but with my kit he can easily kite me and destroy me before I can ever catch him and if he doesn't feel confident in killing me his e and w practically guarantee his escape. There is no reasonable way for me to kill him without requiring a colossal fuck up on his part. Enter hitting with my E doesn't just get me the second prock; hitting the E also guarantees that I can get into q range even if he uses E and W. Without Rylais any expectation to be able to get a kill out of that is just an insult to the Draven player. Rylais changes that by allowing Viktor to reliably catch someone if they enter death-ray range.
Claiming Viktor only wants it for the second proc on his lazer is an understatement. Viktor wants it because it's the only thing that allows his kit to function without help from allies.
WoonStruck5 votesChange Seeker's Armguard to a flat AP+Armor so its not a decent rush item. There's a reason Riot made Zhonya's weaker. Simply buffing its AP is likely to make it a must-rush again.
At the same time, nerf Hexdrinker in a similar fashion. We don't want Hexdrinker to go back to when it was never upgraded until you had to again. This supports that and healthier mage-assassin dynamics.
DemoGuide7 votesI just dislike it having 70 ap. Feels so wrong dude.
Vistha Kai3 votesYeah, even the Void Staff, which always was the staple item of MR penetration has more AP than that.
Squidward Dab3 votesEither make hexdrinker lifeline 120 seconds or lower stasis back to 90 seconds so it's actually worth buying
Vistha Kai2 votesYeah.
You can't fail at using Hexdrinker, unless there's like that AD only tank with Sunfire Cape.
On the other hand Zhonya not only requires active input, but also is much less forgiving.
You fight Zed? Rush Zhonya. Great now he can't 100-0, instead he will poke you low enough, that Zhonya'ing his ult won't matter and will either finish you with basic abilities a few basic attacks or you will return to the base of your own accord.
You fight a mage? Rush Hexdrinker and watch how they can't burst you down, because you have effectively 50% HP more than your health bar claims.
Squidward Dab1 votesCuz during the MYMD Riot thought it would be a fantastic idea to tackle every item with CDR but lowering ap for all the mages. But the thing is as a mage player I would much rather have huge amounts of ap with the cost of having more wait time in between spells than to throw out pathetic damaged spells every 3 seconds
Vistha Kai1 votesOr rather I'd trade 12 flat MR/28 scaling MR for 20% CDR in late game, instead of getting MR to not waste CDR, only for that one AP threat on the enemy team sucking that getting Abyssal Scepter would be a waste, but I'm 10% CDR short, if I don't get it anyway.
It just sucks, because when like half the items you buy have 10% CDR and your core has another 20%, then there's a risk your champion will get balanced around having max CDR and later punishing you for not getting stat-wise shitty items like Zhonya's Hourglass.
Getting CDR should be a choice, not a bonus.
Hell, even the once-thought never-ending argument of "Athene vs Morello" was much healthier.
One was a heavy AP option with decent, but not exceptional mana regen and lower cost. The other was a decent, but not exceptional AP option, with heavy focus on mana regen, additional defense, but with a higher cost.
You never wanted both of them, because ultimately they filled the same slot niche and you'd sacrifice quite a lot of AP doing so regardless.
There is no such choice with Zhonya's Hourglass, which you get for the active or Abyssal Scepter, which you get for the MR and debuff, or even Lich Bane, which you get to compliment your basic attack weaving gameplay pattern, while possibly padding your mana pool a bit.
In my opinion CDR items should fill a similar item slot niche like Morello and Athene's did with different focus and additional effects, instead of having it distributed randomly across multiple completely different items.
Mirkhail2 votesI don't think the item was fine before the zhonya nerf, i think it was underrated and even if we revert to the old state a lot of champions would still build rylais. Buffing zhonya to is previous state is a bad idea, it should be a situational item but with too much ap it will became again core for most ap mage. A better idea would be to buff luden's echo, it's one of the few mage item with ms(rylais is often so important because most other classes have very high ms, from item or naturally), it should be one of the best buy for burst mages but right now it lack the ap/damage to be worth a lot of the time.
it be lìke that1 voteskeep in mind everything is pretty damn fast paced now, most champions have some sort of dash/ms steroid it was even worse before boot nerfs.
if ms meta stays as fast as it is right now, it could have 50 ap and i guarantee most people would still buy it.
id settle for needing to land an extra spell or two for insane kite potential.
Primaquarius1 votesI liked Zhonyas before they taked on CDR and removed 30 AP...I considered Zhonyas one of the 3 epic AP items, and now its a mid-tier item with a massive Active effect
Squidward Dab1 votesAll I want is zhonyas ap buffed remove the CD-R and buff ludens ap as well, then I'll be fine with u giving rylais like 60 ap
AirKingNeo1 votesPlease buff Zhonya's stats so I can build it on Kayle like I will Maw next season for 10% CDR.
Building protobelt on Kayle still feels werid but it gives HP and CDR and AP.
