Nimbus Cloak would've been a nice rune if every battlemage wasn't forced to take Manaflow Band now

Otherworldz·6/4/2018, 4:11:15 PM·47 votes·16,415 views

After 8.9 no battlemage can avoid taking Manaflow Band without feeling crippled due to mana gating and nerfs to first back mana items. What was the point of specifically making a replacement rune for battlemages when none of them can go without Manaflow Band anymore? Ultimate Hat seemed like a far better option for most mages, and the only group of mages that can utilize Nimbus Cloak well can't even take it besides Aurelion Sol who received no mana changes.

100 Comments

Salson6/4/2018, 4:33:58 PM22 votes

The only mage I actually play with Nimbus is Vlad. Because, you guessed it, he doesn't use mana.

Might try it with Kennen as well.

Cryotron6/4/2018, 5:10:57 PM12 votes

Nimbus is garbage. Just my two cents though.

I don't know how it's doing in terms of a rune. But it's sort of stupid transferring Ultimate Hat from Sorcery Tree to Domination tree.

I do that with Karthus and it feels terribly off.

Pierce The Veal6/4/2018, 5:54:35 PM11 votes

Usually anybody who takes sorcery secondary or primary will be going for:

Manaflow band, transcendence/celerity, or gathering the storm/water walking.

Any mana champion who has mana issues will go for the manaflow band. If they don’t have mana issues there’s a good chance they’re not going sorcery primary, so they are weighing taking the latter four with nimbus cloak.

Furthermore, nimbus cloak isn’t even available until you get 6, and then for most champs, it’s only available once every 100 seconds early on.

Hence why nimbus cloak is garbage.

Oleandervine6/4/2018, 4:15:46 PM9 votes

Why does Aurelion want to take Nimbus Cloak over Manaflow Band? He gets far more mileage out of regenerating mana than he does when ejecting someone from his no-no zone and moving a little faster when he does it.

ModKnightsKemplar6/4/2018, 6:34:51 PM4 votes

I was super excited for phase rush/nimbus/celerity Swain. But yeah, just don't have enough mana to lane if I actually do that. I'm honestly not sure what the solution is, but the upshot is that I just can't responsibly use that rune.

Solidair36/5/2018, 12:16:13 AM3 votes

Vladimir

DontTouchMyBall6/4/2018, 6:00:44 PM3 votes

UltHat was a very appealing & interesting AND... we lost it not to another row, but another rune tree.

I didnt take UltHat because it is competing with manaflow band WHICH is the only mana rune we can run in the sorcery tree. ^I'll take manaflow it over anything else on my mages anyday.

Nimbus cloak was unasked for, it sucks and is it now also competing WITH manaflow band which is still the only mana rune we can run on the sorcery tree.

Way to pidgeon hole us even further! Keep nerfing the rune because every mage and their grandma is taking it!

[zombie-brand-facepalm]

Kaìju6/4/2018, 8:37:11 PM3 votes

To be fair mages having infinite mana was like ADCs having infinite sustain. Both were not a good idea.

k wìx6/5/2018, 1:10:16 AM3 votes

I agree with your central point, but I think Nimbus Cloak is intended for non-mage players who want to splash into Sorcery and have a better rune to take.

Non-mage champs who can work with Nimbus Cloak: Ashe Blitzcrank DrMundo Darius Fiddlesticks Fizz Hecarim Ivern Leona Lucian MasterYi Morgana Nautilus Riven Taric Vayne Udyr Twitch MonkeyKing Tryndamere Rakan Trundle

Yraco6/5/2018, 8:34:18 AM3 votes

{quoted}

After 8.9 no battlemage can avoid taking Manaflow Band without feeling crippled.

God I really hate when I'm forced to take Manaflow Band on Vladimir but those mana costs are just too high for me to keep up.

SweedishGunner6/5/2018, 12:50:50 AM2 votes

It's excellent on Morgana mid, that's not really a common pick though.

MadViking6/5/2018, 12:37:41 PM2 votes

Nimbus Cloak kind of sucks, but I think it's fun to use on Nasus. That extra movement speed allows you to run people down and it Def catches people off guard, but getting hit by any CC makes it useless. So with all the CC in the game now it really makes Nimbus a lack luster rune.

The new runes are garbo and many champions still don't have runes that work well with their kits and play styles. Taking Ultimate Hat away and replacing it was a stupid idea.

There is no ryhme or reason to Riots balance and game play changes.

ChaddyFantome6/5/2018, 12:54:00 PM2 votes

The Point of NC was the following:

Make the tree less overall good since it was basically the bets tree in the game.
Make it less Mage Centric thus opening it up to other classes.
Make Domination more competitive with it for Mages.

D2Vincent6/4/2018, 9:14:25 PM2 votes

I love how Riot specified Nimbus cloud to be for Battle Mages...

and yet the only mage I play, Karthus can't use it at ALL.

It's a good thing I generally play Domination+Precision on him so I don't care much about this rune lol

lykkelas6/5/2018, 6:16:40 AM2 votes

item 3070

My Waifu Vanilla6/5/2018, 11:33:45 PM1 votes

You don't need manaflow band on Swain. After RoA (or even catalyst for that matter) you rarely run out of mana especially if you are farming since generally speaking your Q refunds its mana cost on its own especially after level 7 when you can have somewhat efficient waveclear.. In teamfights you have the lowest mana costs out of most champions since your ult doesn't cost any mana and the rest of your abilities are in the same ballpark as most other mages.

IdveYsUfSK6/4/2018, 8:00:22 PM1 votes

op doesnt understand what battlemages are and mixed up mages with real battlemages. Battlemages are melee champs with magic spells and usually dont run on mana/dependent on mana. They are portrayed as sword and staff(melee weapon) users with magic powers in other games. Rumble Mordekaiser Diana Ekko . The only battlemage heavily gated with mana is Kassadin .

DW Diana7/1/2018, 8:37:00 AM1 votes

If sorcery had a decent keystone for Malzahar and he did damage like last season then the I'd take it on him. The Q after his ult combo was always imperative to him getting a kill and nimbus cloak would really help with that. But what if's won't change the current reality