So the mage item changes hit the PBE (LONG)

And I'd like to go over some of the stat changes that will affect us mages PROVIDED it hits live how they are now. I'm aware they're highly subject to change, but I'd just like to view the general direction they're going.

So Riot decided to play fix up the mix up with the items and just kind of rearrange the stats around. And they even included a new item, which has 's stats and build path, but a very different passive/active

Spellbound Orb 100 AP 10% Move Speed Spellsteal - Nearby ally and enemy spell casts charge a spell orb, cap of 200 Spellburst - Gain up to 50% decaying movespeed and up to 50 AP for 8 seconds, 60 second cooldown. Each charge gives 0.25% move speed / 0.25 AP respectively.

So this seems great for short ranged AP who want to GET IN THERE. I'm thinking and such. I don't think the active CONSUMES the charges, so it seems to almost work like passive mixed with . Pretty interesting design honestly.

Lost Chapter gains 10% CDR and costs 200 more gold. Literally nothing else has changed. I think this is pretty good tbh. Makes the purchase even more appealing. Oh and one other thing, it now builds into THREE items. Oh yes let's get into that.

now builds into and .

Archangel's Staff went from 80 AP, 250 Mana --> 50 AP, 650 Mana, 20% CDR. Otherwise the same.

Also for some odd reason, HALF the CDR is unique, the other half isn't. So if you buy 2 of them, you end up with 30% CDR. Weird. Well, with the loss of AP but gain of mana, you technically lose 18 AP compared to before, but I can live with that, I think. I'd say it's worth 20% CDR at least. I think the previous users will still use it the same. The mana passives stayed the exact same (Max of 750 bonus mana, 8 charges per mana expenditure and such) but now it builds from tear + amp tome + lost chapter. (I should also take note the passive 10% CDR from Lost chapter won't stack with the other 2 items. So it's less viable to build all 3.)

Luden's Echo is going from 100 AP, 10% move speed --> 80 AP, 500 mana, 20% CDR. Lost the move speed. Otherwise the same, but again, half the CDR is unique and the other half isn't.

So this is more geared toward artillery mages like . Also the build path got altered to Blasting Wand + Amp Tome + Lost Chapter.

GLP gained 20% CDR and lost 300 hp. No longer builds from catalyst, and no longer heals from spellcasts.

Everything else is exactly the same. I'm kinda worried about this one, I don't think 20% CDR was worth the 300 HP loss or the healing passive. Maybe I'll be wrong on this one, though. I hope I am. Builds from Revolver + Lost Chapter

Liandry's Torment is....hm. Weird, I'm not sure I fully understand it. It lost the 15 Magic Pen, but it gained an additional passive. "While damaging champions, increase the damage you deal by 10% (max 2% per second)" So is it 2% ramping up to 10% per second? It seems that way. It doesn't specify that, but it could just be a typing error. Everything else is the same besides this. I guess this is pretty good? If it works the way I think, maybe it's better for longer fights? I could see bulky AP mages liking this. I'd have to do the math to see if its worth giving up 15 Mpen though.

Speaking of Liandry's, Haunting Guise lost its 15 Mpen and its passive is now Liandry's ramping damage passive.

Not to worry! We did NOT lose our 15 Mpen! It got shifted into another new item, Orb of Shadow. It's LITERALLY identical to current Haunting Guise, just has a new icon and name.

Also another new item. Twin Shadows. Miss Frost Queen's Claim's active? Fear not spooky ghost seekers.

80 AP, 10% CDR, 7% move speed. Active, sends 2 spooky ghosty-goos to search for and slow nearby enemy champions. Worthy to note, this is not a support item. This is a mage focused item. Twisted Fate core item perhaps?

Small balance changes - Void Staff -10 AP. (70 AP) I dislike it, but I guess it doesn't make sense to build Void Staff 2nd or 3rd item no matter what. Rylai's +10 AP (85 AP) Yay. Maybe it'll be worth building on literally anyone again. Deathcap +5% AP Amp (+40% AP) Yay. Some DCap love.

And the moment you've been waiting for...Morellonomicon. Sadly, it has died. And its son, Morello's Cursed Tome, shall now take its place. Unfortunately it's NOTHING like how you'll remember. It's Liandry's (as of right now) except instead of a 3% current hp burn, it applies grevious wounds with ALL magic damage for 3 seconds. Hallelujah I can finally counter Vladimir without needing to actually get him below 35% hp. This is by far the best change in my opinion. I'm sure some sustainers would disagree, but this is such a breath of fresh air.

Overall, I welcome these changes. Some of it is questionable, however. We no longer can gain 20% mana on kills and assists. So other means of mana management may be required. Another thing that worries me is now we seem to be headed more toward "More CDR, less AP" With the Archangel's + Luden's Echo changes. Though, this wasn't nearly as bad as the MYMU imo. Besides, they weren't exactly prevalent in every single game anyway. We also flat out lost Morello's too, but I can see their reasoning for it. They just kind of spread it all out like we asked them to, rather than have a single item that every mage must first buy no matter what. Now, we have options.

For now, I just want to see where they take this. I think the ideas they have are interesting, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried. My biggest concern is there will only be and the new 100 AP item that give 100 AP out the gate. Most other items will hover between 70-80. But I guess we'll have CDR to back that up, so...eh? I'm not TOTALLY on board with this, but I do like the direction. What do you guys think? Good update? Bad update? Want to just see how it plays out?