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We need more Item Diversity in League of Legends and WHY we do

Fikuwu·5/16/2015, 4:43:23 AM·35 votes·3,319 views
We need more Item Diversity in League of Legends, more than Champion Diversity, and WHY we do. * /r/leagueoflegends

Currently, there are 124 (125 if you count Ekko) champions in the game, and on summoners rift, there are only 89 items full completed, these including Viktor's Hex Core, all 16 jungle item combinations, all boots (without the enchantments), the three Dorans items, and flask. I excluded trinkets/consumables. I personally feel like new champions aren't as exciting, as the builds aren't going to be unique as there aren't just as many items.

Mage with mana? Athenes, Deathcap, Voidstaff, Ludens, Zhonyas.

ADC? IE, BT, Bork, Last Whisper, Phantom Dancer.

Tank? Warmogs, Sunfire/Cinderhulk, Frozen Heart, Randuins, Banshees/Visage. The champions that I feel that are actually unique in terms of itemization are Corki, Ezreal, Gnar, RekSai, Kalista because they either have a large variety of builds, or utilize items/item combinations that aren't used on most champions (Frozen Mallet, Runaans Hurricane, Blue build, Triforce into AP, and whatever other builds people run. Supports, in my opinion, have the most item diversity, even if some items are situational (Zekes, Aegis, Twin Shadows, Ardent Censor), as they can go full AP, full tank, or full utility.

Like, sure, there might be some "useless" items, like Reaver, Ardent, Banner of Command (Highly underrated), Twin Shadows (Highly underrated), Frozen Mallet, Iceborn Gauntlet (Highly overrated), and Zzrot Portal, but they are options, and good in certain situations.

I feel like a lot of the items on Twisted Treeline/Crystal Scar can at least make their way over to Summoner's Rift, just because, WHY NOT? Examples being Dervish Blade, Entropy, Moonflair Spellblade, Sanguine's Blade, Odyn's Veil, Overlord's Bloodmail, The Lightbringer (YOU MADE A SONG ABOUT IT, NO ONE KNOWS WHAT IT IS), Orb of Winter (Same as Lightbringer), Hextech Sweeper, the Prospector Items..... I think I listed every single item by mistake.

Also, reworked/removed items like Executioners Calling, the old Black Cleaver (Rename it White Cleaver or something, it's a White Cleaver, it makes sense), the NEW Abyssal Sceptor, Soul Sickle, Emblem of Valor, Force of Nature, Heart of Gold, Runic Bulwark, etc, etc, etc.

Now don't say any of those items were removed for being too "OP". I'll say DFG/BFT were OP, and Atma's Impaler would be pretty strong with Cinderhulk, but even if they are strong, or would be too strong with the current game, we could simply lower the stats/ratios on the items, or whatever. I'm just personally getting bored with the new champions/reworks, the originality is there, sure, but there's already so many champions in the game, it's as simple as learning what to build on a champion and playing them. There isn't much to experiment within the game, and I feel like that's a shame, as this game should have A LOT of experimenting in it.

Some people, and even Riot Games said this, that with too many items, the game would be difficult for a new player. This is indeed true, but the fun of the game is learning, Maybe just update the recommended items to be something actually GOOD, but yeah, the technology isn't there yet.... or is it.... And come on, Ekko, A time warper dude is coming out, maybe he can rewind a few seconds of League of Legends history and bring back some items we all know and love (get out Deathfire Grasp, you deserved what's in your name....... Grasping, Kappa).

New items just make the game feel more fun and dynamic! :D

Ninja Edit addition: More actives, or simple stat actives to lets say Fear, Invisibility, Attack Speed Steroids, Defensive Steroids, etc, would help with the game a lot I feel.

tl;dr: Item diversity in League of Legends isn't growing, while champion diversity is growing too fast. This should change, in my opinion.

Thoughts? Comment down below. I love discussion.

28 Comments

IcyPepper5/16/2015, 6:20:27 AM17 votes

I wish we had more summoner spell diversity. Smite/teleport top was complained about for good reason, but I felt that videogame complacency syndrome was fueling quite a bit.

You got teleport flash top. You got smite flash jungle. You got ignite flash mid. You got exhaust flash support. You got heal flash adc.

You might see the occasional ghost, ignite instead of the utility spells (yes, true damage is going to help your team so much, go you), and... that's it. One every 100 games I've seen a barrier, and maybe once I saw clarity.

Oh, and every single game has at least 8-10 flashes. It's annoying. We need some summoner spell diversity, dammit.

CreationFlaw5/16/2015, 5:10:36 AM5 votes

Well, that was well written and thought out! And I really do agree with you on the general builds. 9/10 you'll see IE Rush, Beserkers, PD/Shiv, BT, etc etc. It's just too binary almost, because if you don't choose those, you're going to go subpar and not do as well. There's no in between sometimes. Like, excluding Corki/Ezreal and the hyper carries, if you don't build much crit, chances are you're going to be screwed, and to be efficient, you'd buy Phantom dancer because THIRTY FIVE PERCENT CRITICAL STRIKE CHANCE IS AWESOME. And you know, 50% attack speed, oh and a nifty 5% movement to just barely scrape your butt out of that Rengar bush leap range. Oh, what's this? It's already pretty gold efficient, yet there's also a passive that ignores collision, so you won't get stuck in minions or the like! Nice.

There are certain items that are just head and shoulders above with their efficiency that there's no reason not to pick them, other then you want to be a League of Legends hipster. And yeah, more items having unique interactions would be cool, instead of just the most powerful without even having to think about circumstance.

And they have items that are itemized for literally like three champions. (Guinoo's Rageblade, Nashor's Tooth) You can rework champions, why not rework items more? Don't just shift values, do what you did with Black Cleaver with more items. More More More!

Anyway, a substantially less well written and thought out discussion, but I hope I got the point through. There's no point having top tier items because unlike champions, there's not really an outplay potential, or favoritism outside of a build that you're used too (IE, PD, Zerker, LW, BORK, GA, vayne mains?). It's just better items, plain and simple.

CoolKnightST5/16/2015, 5:42:27 PM4 votes
  • item 3136 + item 3067 (mpen support item)
  • item 2053 + item 1026 (toplane ap item)
  • 3th item 3105 upgrade
  • Another item 3155 upgrade
  • Another item 3077 upgrade (or rework)
  • Etc...
qetzel5/16/2015, 3:02:37 PM3 votes

Okay. Long post. Interesting post. LET'S GO!

{quoted}

Mage with mana? Athenes, Deathcap, Voidstaff, Ludens, Zhonyas.

ADC? IE, BT, Bork, Last Whisper, Phantom Dancer.

Tank? Warmogs, Sunfire/Cinderhulk, Frozen Heart, Randuins, Banshees/Visage.

Well, there are always going to be items which are necessary. Rabadons, Voidstaff and a mana item will have to be bought on virtually any mage because without them you can't do damage.

Luden's will have to be bought on any poke mage because without that you lose a lot of damage. zhonya's is near the top of "must buys" because it is so goddamned useful.

Same with the adcs. You need to maximise your output. You do this with IE, crit item, LW. Then you need some lifesteal, then you need some form of defensive item so you can't just be bursted down.

Same with tanks.

Like, sure, there might be some "useless" items, like Reaver, Ardent, Banner of Command (Highly underrated), Twin Shadows (Highly underrated), Frozen Mallet, Iceborn Gauntlet (Highly overrated), and Zzrot Portal, but they are options, and good in certain situations.

Well, yeah, you could buy these but then you woudn't have your maximum output. There is no point to buying these.

I feel like a lot of the items on Twisted Treeline/Crystal Scar can at least make their way over to Summoner's Rift, just because, WHY NOT? Examples being Dervish Blade, Entropy, Moonflair Spellblade, Sanguine's Blade, Odyn's Veil, Overlord's Bloodmail, The Lightbringer (YOU MADE A SONG ABOUT IT, NO ONE KNOWS WHAT IT IS), Orb of Winter (Same as Lightbringer), Hextech Sweeper, the Prospector Items..... I think I listed every single item by mistake.

Those items (after adjustments in power/cost because, lets face it, those are needed) would be in competition with the items on Summoner's Rift. Again, it comes down to optimisation. You will only buy the best item in any situation. If these competing items were introduced, half of them would go unused and the other half would replace the SR items. There are, of course, some exceptions, for example Moonflair Spellblade.

Also, the trap items would seriously mess with the balance in SR. Not a great addition.

Also, reworked/removed items like Executioners Calling, the old Black Cleaver (Rename it White Cleaver or something, it's a White Cleaver, it makes sense), the NEW Abyssal Sceptor, Soul Sickle, Emblem of Valor, Force of Nature, Heart of Gold, Runic Bulwark, etc, etc, etc.

Now don't say any of those items were removed for being too "OP". I'll say DFG/BFT were OP, and Atma's Impaler would be pretty strong with Cinderhulk, but even if they are strong, or would be too strong with the current game, we could simply lower the stats/ratios on the items, or whatever.

Those items were removed for a reason though. Many of them were useless, or kept useless because they would otherwise be OP. Reworked items have another problem. The old item would compete with the new item again. Only one would be used (Except in the case of Abyssal Sceptre which is apparantly eing split into two items over the course of a few patches).

I'm just personally getting bored with the new champions/reworks, the originality is there, sure, but there's already so many champions in the game, it's as simple as learning what to build on a champion and playing them. There isn't much to experiment within the game, and I feel like that's a shame, as this game should have A LOT of experimenting in it.

Some people, and even Riot Games said this, that with too many items, the game would be difficult for a new player. This is indeed true, but the fun of the game is learning, Maybe just update the recommended items to be something actually GOOD, but yeah, the technology isn't there yet.... or is it.... And come on, Ekko, A time warper dude is coming out, maybe he can rewind a few seconds of League of Legends history and bring back some items we all know and love (get out Deathfire Grasp, you deserved what's in your name....... Grasping, Kappa).

New items just make the game feel more fun and dynamic! :D

So yeah. Interesting opinion. I disagree. I think that most of the items would go unused, or just the build options for each champion would change. Overall, I don't think we will get the change you want.

Except with this:

Ninja Edit addition: More actives, or simple stat actives to lets say Fear, Invisibility, Attack Speed Steroids, Defensive Steroids, etc, would help with the game a lot I feel.

But that holds new problems. Every champion in LoL is developed with a power budget in mind. Zed is not balanced around invisibility, some champions are not designed with CC in mind (your fear example) and simple stat actives might just as well go onto the items base stats really. They don't create very much interesting gameplay...

And anyway, Even if this were to be introduced (which I don't think would be a good idea it would take several preseasons and, more importantly, might not even solve the problem. You know. Optimisation. There will almost always be one build that deals with the situation in the best way for each champion. New items just change this.

That was very interesting to read and write. Thanks for the discussion.

Abyssphere5/16/2015, 3:49:39 PM3 votes

I don't think item diversity is as bad as you say. I think the real problem is that when it comes to more niche items, there aren't many champions that use them. If you look at items like Lich Bane, they have a dedicated base of champions who like them and deviate from standard AP builds to get them. That's great. But then if you look at Nashor's Tooth you get Kayle and Diana (and Teemo...?) and that's it. Obvious solution? More AP champions who use their autos a lot. Wit's End? More champions who like on-hit damage and do magic damage.

Of course, certain items probably just need buffing. Essence Reaver is pretty bad, Ardent Censer is thankfully being changed on the PBE, Zz'Rot Portal is probably too situational to ever see use, etc. But I firmly believe that the reason itemisation looks as homogenised as it does is because so many champions need all the same things - most mages just want AP, CDR, magic pen, mana regen and some defense so they get the best items that give all those and have no room for weirder items. If they make more champions of each class that want more unique stats from their items then I think we'll see more diverse building in games.

All the same, new items are always nice, for every class. I'm glad the stuff with Abyssal Scepter is happening just because we'll possibly get a new item at the end of it. But I think the problem of item diversity in league needs to be approached from more angles than just "make new items". We need more champions who synergise with builds that aren't the standard for their role and also to buff some items that are just not really performing right now.

Earl Eulrich5/16/2015, 1:30:37 PM2 votes

Absolutly agree, would love to see Lightbringer, Odins and Moonflair make it to SR.

THough I think what actually would help even more than just adding more items would be to make more Hybrid-Champs. Champs that can itemize for various situations and adapt their playstyle by going AP or AD or Tank or a mix...e.g. Ez can be played as a bursty poke-mage (AP), a very mobile high-dps (AD) or a mid-dps kite-specialist ("blue") - and all of this is actually viable, depending on teamcomps.

Ancestor0075/16/2015, 6:33:59 PM1 votes

It was deleted from reddit

Rand0mH3r0X5/17/2015, 5:40:22 AM1 votes

Your Reddit post got deleted. XD I guess that's why I don't see as many posts there as here.

aaronconlin5/17/2015, 3:14:57 PM1 votes

Honestly I think there should be an item overhaul. There should be enough items to fill all if not most situations, this would bring about diversity in terms of what each champion is capable of, it would encourage itemization instead of the same build for multiple champions. There should be a small item for each base stat (attack damage, AP, health, etc), those can build into higher versions of themselves and/or combine with others to make higher tier items. Say you're an AD champ struggling against an all AD enemy team, you should be able to have an item that gives AD and Armor. Aside from this, the items with unique passive and active abilities should be expanded on. More diversity, roles and itemization should happen, although it would probably make balancing certain champions very hard

Scazie5/24/2015, 3:52:33 PM1 votes

I agree. More Items and more niche items would make the game more interesting. Right now it's sort of just building the same thing over and over again, and the only excitement is seeing how fast you can get your items. But after a while the novelty of exploring the item choices just wears off...

MLDzXnRRR5/16/2015, 6:25:17 AM1 votes

Some items are too gold and slot efficient. There is no need to buy midgame items, when the lategame items are so cheap, give tons of stats, don't take space. Nashors, Wits end, Rageblade are all midgame items. 10 minutes after you bought them, they are becoming useless compared to items that give more stats for similar price or just a little bit more gold.

Plorpmeister5/16/2015, 7:35:49 AM1 votes

I 10000% agree with needing more item diversity. In this current League of Tanks meta, it'd be insane to see Leviathan come back. Tanks are the ones that are really hurting on item diversity. I personally always build situationaly. I'm an ad champ getting blasted with lots of magic damage? Build Hexdrinker, which I am likely to sit on for a little while, into Maw. I'd like to see some more tank items with CDR. I had a game earlier where we needed grievous wounds, and had to turn to our mages to bring it.

There are 15 armor items, excluding cloth armor available on summoners rift, and 20 magic resist items, excluding Null-magic mantle. However, the armor item are pretty generally useful. if the other team is ad heavy, nobody will say a word if you buy a Thornmail. There are plenty of magic resist items that are probably never built (who the heck build Wits End? AP Varus?)

Let's get some items with strange stat combinations. Say Health, Health Regen, and damage. Be a neat item for a bruiser. How about Mana Regen and health? That would be a neat situational build for tanks and mages. I'd like to see more mana regen items in general. Do you know what that would do for all the mana hungry champs out there, Skarner comes to mind immediately. Imagine what he'd do with a mana regen item that worked for him. Pretty much all the mana regen items are support items, or provide very little extra regen.

Lots of problems with item diversity, and the easiest solution is to make more items.

doublelift fg5/16/2015, 2:27:54 PM1 votes

Here is what they can add: -mana burn item but riot said that they won't because it is too strong against bruisers, why aren't they doing a %mana burn then? -active item which grant illusion? -blind item? it can help against AA champions like tryndamere/vayne -item which summon 2 beasts. Can help to push

Old Man Teeto5/16/2015, 3:08:03 PM1 votes

League has always and likely will always have shallow itemization.

If you came from DotA, it feels really weird since there's such a drastic decrease in itemization and choices.

However, increasing itemization, while good for those who play this game a lot, would only make it more and more difficult to get into.

One of the biggest hold backs of getting into DotA is learning item builds. League, champions tend to function the same regardless of what they build as they did at level 6. This game is mainly stat sticks, only a dozen or so activatables, and only 1 or 2 per role (Besides support/tank for... reasons) and those activatables aren't as insanely impactful. (Though relatively they ARE since there's so few activatables -- Zhonya's excluded, that things f'ing nuts)

Xenohaz5/16/2015, 5:04:28 PM1 votes

I would be a little scared of Entropy being put on Summoner's Rift.

item 3715 plus item 3184 ...Shudders