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The Unpopular Standpoint of the AP Item changes

Pengod·4/8/2016, 5:31:52 AM·4 votes·537 views

So I wanted to give my views on some of the AP Item changes that will be coming to us. If anyone is unaware of what these changes are, feel free to read from our good friend Xypherous here: http://boards.pbe.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/champions-gameplay-feedback/79cto3EB-planned-69-mana-x-mp5-x-ap-x-mr-item-pass?comment=0014000000010000

Please, educate yourself and read all of the information. Don't just look at the flat stats and the changes without reading the reasoning. Also, realize WHY they are making these changes to the items. It is not a regular patch that has regular nerfs/buffs to things, these changes (along with the mage updates), are meant to diversify the mage role into different parts. I've seen too many posts just posted with people being complete jerks and giving poor feedback that, in the end, won't help fix anything. So please, read up and chill the hell out.

item 3157 - What they've done to Zhonyas is bring it away from the heavy AP item it used to be. Zhonyas used to be WAY too efficient. When I first started the game, it gave 120AP. Its gold value was insane with that stasis feature. Over the years it has seen a 30AP nerf. Now it's another 20AP. But Xypherous even stated that they wanted it to be a utility item "we're shifting Zhonya's to a more utility centric item which is more in line with the spirit of the item." I think that this change is actually, really cool. Does it suck to have the stasis CD increased? Yes. BUT, at least you still have Zhonyas. Think about that, ADCs don't get something like that. AD assassins don't. Yes, ADs do have QSS/Scimitar. But that's an item that can only be used to have the effect last on the instant, instead of 2 seconds of not taking, well, anything. The new Zhonyas promotes smart play around its cooldown.

item 3174 - The new Athenes is certain to raise a few eyebrows. But the way it will now work will be to help advance Support or Control Mages. Giving them another way to further uphold that role in the team. It's to promote DIVERSITY. The same term they wanted to uphold come the marksmen update. This creates a diversity from the AP Burst mages and the AP Support/Control mages. Which tbh was pretty needed. The new Athenes really boosts up your team play. It also is now a really strong passive line item.

item 3165 - Morello is now a super aggressive buy. The point of regen v flat mana is a pretty interesting topic. It can now synchronize with more Burst oriented mages and those with higher mana costs. Where if it had regen there are limits to downtime due to the mana regen. The flat mana is better for more upfront and aggressive play because you have more of the resource needed right then and there. These changes will also help the comboing of items such as going Tear into Morello, or if you can't stack a tear but need larger amounts of mana you can go Morello and say, ROA.

item 3027 - Yes, the mana and AP were nerfed. But now costs less. This will still be a more defensive buy and now also is better to try and move towards the early game. You get less offensive stats but can still utilize its decent defensive stats. This, like the Zhonyas, just had a lot to offer in terms of covering too much terrain. It held very good base stats, scalings into the game, defense, and offense. It is now a scaling defensive buy, with the offensive just being a slight perk as oppose to it just being the next warmogs item.

The Hextech line item 3146 - First, the Rocket Belt: I am really looking forward to having this item. It gives immobile mages an item to help them survive against the assassins and skill shot oriented champions. Having this and Zhonyas will offer a large amount of safety. Gunblade: The change on the active is pretty cool, and really helps out sustain burst styles (like akali). Hextech GLP-07A: A really interesting item. How this will be used is quite a mystery to me. Offers some waveclear or a simple amount of light CC to set up a chained fight.

Finally, what are your thoughts on all of this? Please keep it civil, I don't need any raging or cursing in this post.

10 Comments

ChaddyFantome4/8/2016, 6:27:03 AM2 votes

First, the Rocket Belt: I am really looking forward to having this item.

Literally the only part i disagree with. Too much safety, and is contradictory to the purpose of making immobile mages strong in spite of their immobility. Its a mess waiting to happen and even Xypherous thinks so, lol.

Leeerzeichen4/8/2016, 10:37:09 AM2 votes

I should be happy because i have zhonyas ? Yes the active is strong, but it's not stronger than the active of mercurial scimitar or maw. They are all on a similar level but if you just want to have the active/passiv of mercurial/maw you can build qss/hexdrinker and upgrade then later, if you want to have the zhonyas passiv you always have to pay 3000 gold instead of 1300. But now look at the final items: Mercurial scimitar: 70 ad (75 is the current value) 35 Mr 10% lifesteal => stats comparable to the old zhonyas (highest ad/ap in the game, half of a tank mr/armor item) + the average amount of lifesteal Maw of malmortius: 55 ad 40 mr 10 pen 10% lifesteal + spellvamp if the passiv is active => stats comparable to the new zhonyas (73% of the best ad item vs. 58% of the best ap item, 10 pen vs 10% cdr) + average amount of life steal.

Both items are just flat out better than zhonyas, while having a similar valuable passiv/active

BTW: 2 strong utility + strong buildpath + strong stats items vs 1 strong utility + bad buildpath + bad stats item.

Kai Guy4/8/2016, 6:35:35 AM1 votes

I'm waiting to see what they do with the reworks on champions first. Few things are nifty looking and im probably going to irritate all my hommies in normals as i brush up on my middlesticks.

Vistha Kai4/8/2016, 6:39:20 PM1 votes

Diversity, my ass.

Building AP items on AP champions? Madness. Everybody knows you should build everybody as a tank.

Into The Aether4/8/2016, 7:05:36 PM1 votes

{quoted}

I should be happy because i have zhonyas ? Yes the active is strong, but it's not stronger than the active of mercurial scimitar or maw. They are all on a similar level...

Zhonya's really isn't on the same level. They can serve similar functions, but Zhonya's enables a substantial playstyle change, where mages can often become extremely damaging/disruptive initiators. The pick avoidance that QSS gives, and the tankiness of Maw isn't quite the same thing. The overall stat change may make the raw power a bit different, but the playstyle change will come at a slightly lower pricepoint, and be part of the match sooner. If anything bad happens with mages due to the Zhonyas thing, I'd say it'd be due to the +30 second cooldown nerf.

{quoted}

item 3174 - The new Athenes is certain to raise a few eyebrows. But the way it will now work will be to help advance Support or Control Mages. Giving them another way to further uphold that role in the team. It's to promote DIVERSITY.

I dunno what I think of the new Athenes. There aren't that many people who can buy and use it well, and the efficiency gain for the little "poke between teamfights" minigame has to compete with simply making stronger purchases in the first place. To get 270 in healing you have to do 1800 damage, which will make it wonky for most of the relevant supports who'll be trying like hell to poke. And I'd think that I'd want more AP on someone wombo-oriented like Orianna instead. On top of that, since a lot of the champions that can use it are shield oriented, and shields are preventative, half of the play-pattern for several of these champs would straight-up waste the passive if used on a full health ADC, or a near full health ADC who has lifesteal.

item 3165 - Morello is now a super aggressive buy. The point of regen v flat mana is a pretty interesting topic. It can now synchronize with more Burst oriented mages and those with higher mana costs. Where if it had regen there are limits to downtime due to the mana regen. The flat mana is better for more upfront and aggressive play because you have more of the resource needed right then and there.

Generally whether you have mana items or not, you can go for a full rotation of abilities on any champion. Skipping mana entirely(Or until late) right now is the ultimate in burst. Regen items allow long term outings from base. Non-mana itemization allows short bursty outings, living off fumes and natural regen. This push towards non-regenerative mana will be more for medium duration activities, so I don't really read that as burst. To truly be a burst enabler, mana costs would have to go so far through the roof with a mage update that a lot of mages can't press Q W E R without purchasing a mana item. Or natural regen drop so much that gold starved mages are crippled.

The Hextech line item 3146 - First, the Rocket Belt: I am really looking forward to having this item. It gives immobile mages an item to help them survive against the assassins and skill shot oriented champions. Having this and Zhonyas will offer a large amount of safety.

I kinda hate this item. Forget the "always have a semi-flash available" thing. Forget mages in general. A lot of AP Bruisers already tend to have strong flash engages, and in theory, this extends the range boost of a flash engage from +425 to +725, as well as gives a tool for Amumu and Gragas to bait the flash of most squishies in the game in exchange for a 30 second active cooldown. On top of that, over-wall engagements are threatening from an extra 300 range out from any flashable barrier