An Open Discussion On Rylai's Crystal Scepter (And Its Future)

Greetings, ladies and not-so-gentlemen!

Today I am looking to have an open discussion with anyone who's interested on the topic of Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Riot has stated that they are looking to significantly change Rylai's in the near future, so I figured now would be a good time for us all to have a chat about what we think is good about the item, what we think is bad, and what we would like to see changed. I'll start things off by describing what the item gives, my thoughts on it, and what I would like to see changed about it in the future.

(DISCLAIMER: I am very stupid, so take everything I say with a grain of salt, which shouldn't be too difficult, since League players are experts on salt. ;) )

Stats: Price: 3200 Gold 400 Health 100 Ability Power 20%-40% Slow on Spells

Base Cost Efficiency: 101% Cost Efficiency w/40% Slow: 133%-258% (Varies with how many enemy champs are being slowed)

The purpose of Rylai's is to provide utility to Mages by making their spells slow enemies. Pretty straight forward. But it is very important for every item in League to have a well-defined niche, so that players have a clear idea of what each item does and when it is worth purchasing, and currently Rylai's is not being picked solely for the niche it's supposed to occupy (slows on spells). Why? Well my very first thought upon looking at these stats is that the Base Cost Efficiency is just too high. You could completely remove the slows-on-spells portion of Rylai's and the amount of base stats you receive would still make the item worth purchasing. This is evidenced by the whopping 100 AP provided by the item. The only items in the game that give more AP are and a fully stacked , and that's a huge problem. Because it gives so much AP, every champion in the game that benefits from stacking AP has cause to buy Rylai's, which is NOT the niche it is supposed to fill. Raw AP stacking is 's niche. BUT, not only is it incredibly efficient on AP stackers, it's also great on Magic Pen. stackers thanks to the synergy it has with . An item being universally strong on every champion in a class isn't always bad, but it certainly is in Rylai's case on account of the slow. When every Mage has such a massive slow on all of their abilities, that drastically discourages the picking of low-mobility champs. Low-mobility carries will be instantly caught if they get hit by a single spell, and low-mobility bruisers/tanks will be kited into oblivion. When an item so heavily counters such a wide spectrum of champions, AND that item is almost universally viable, that puts a stranglehold on Champion Diversity.

Now, the slow itself isn't the problem, as providing a powerful slow on spells is the advantage Rylai's is supposed to provide. The problem is that it can be bought every game. When you know that the enemy is likely to have a Rylai's, regardless of what you pick, there's no reason to ever pick a low-mobility champion, 'cause you're just going to get countered with no recompense. But, what would make picking a low-mobility champion worthwhile is if, in order to counter you with Rylai's, the enemy Mage misses out on some other stat. This isn't a new idea. When using your gold to get one item and the advantages associated with said item, you similarly are choosing to not opt into another item with other stats/advantages. For example, if I get I gain AD and Lifesteal, but I miss out on Attack Speed and Crit. In contrast if I get I gain Attack Speed and Crit, but I miss out on AD and Lifesteal. This is all good for a healthy item ecosystem, but Rylai's doesn't fit that model right know because there is no major downside to choosing it over other options. Sure it doesn't give Mana or CDR, but since most Mages rush anyways, they're already covered on those stats. For the sake of balance, if Rylai's is going to give such a powerful advantage against low-mobility champions, then in some other aspect of the game it needs to give the purchaser an equally significant disadvantage. That way low-mobilty champions can rest assured that the enemy Mage, by choosing to hard counter them, are significantly weakening themselves in some other way by purchasing Rylai's.

Which gets to the meat of the issue. How should Rylai's be changed to make it more fair?

What Should NOT Change: I think the strong slow should remain untouched. Items should provide provide powerful strengths AND weaknesses. When you successfully utilize a powerful strength to destroy your enemies, that feels fantastic, and outplaying someone by exploiting their powerful weaknesses also feels fantastic. This makes the gameplay feel incredibly exciting and dynamic. Weakening the slow on Rylai's would only make the item lose some of its unique power, and I think that would only make the item feel watered down and less fun.

What Should Change: As you may have gathered, I believe the main problem with Rylai's is that it is too good on too many champions, so I think that the item needs to lose some of its appeal to one of the two main categories: AP Stackers and Magic Pen. Stackers. Magic Pen. Stackers get the item for the slow, as that is what synergies with , and since I don't want the slow touched, that leaves the AP Stackers. And since they are, shockingly, getting the item for the AP, that's where I think we should hit it. If we cut the down the AP the item provides to 50, or maybe even 35, that would heavily discourage AP Stackers from getting it every game. This would also play perfectly into the idea of items giving significant strengths and weaknesses. The core strength Rylai's provides has always been utility via slows, and this plan would make it so that the core weakness it provides is that it gives very little in the way of direct, explosive, killing power. I would even support the idea of increasing the Health it provides to solidify its identity as a utility item, as Health is the best utility stat. However, Rylai's does not exist in a vacuum. If we were to cut the amount of AP in this item, we would need to increase the AP that other items provide so as to ensure we aren't just weakening all Mages as a whole, and personally I think the best place to put that AP is on and . Both of these items have been kinda mediocre for a while now, and I think that mainly stems from them lacking uniqueness. Sure they have unique passives, but those passives have proven to be just so weak and, frankly, boring when compared to the game changing power provided by Rylai's slow. Since we're sharpening Rylai's identity, and, if we follow this plan, we're going to need to buff the other AP items anyway, I think this would be a great to accentuate the strengths that Luden's and Rabadon's are supposed to provide. I think that buffing the Luden's proc would be a great way to accentuate its identity as the waveclear/teamfight item, which, now that I think about it, considering how powerful is right now, Luden's probably just needs to figure out what niche it's supposed to fill, and then get whatever buffs it can. And I feel like the power provided by Rabadon's is just not quite worth the crazy amount of gold it takes to buy it. If it's going to be so difficult to build, I feel it should provide an absolutely crazy power spike upon completion. You may feel like I've started rambling away from Rylai's, but that isn't the case. Any time any item is significantly changes it affects the entire item ecosystem, so if we're going to talk about Rylai's changing, we gotta consider how to balance the other Mage items as well, if only briefly.

And that's just about all my thoughts on Rylai's. I'm no game designer, and like I said, I'm incredibly stupid, so please, all you drastically smarter people out there, share your thoughts! What do you think should be done with Rylai's? I want open discussion with anyone who's interested!

My Thanks to anyone who read my whole post! You da best! [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]