New Ravenous Hydra Idea
Ok, I'll be the first to say that this idea is a HUGE change, it's entirely unclear how well balanced these numbers are, and the idea may be inherently broken. Why am I bringing it up?
The recent change to Black Cleaver leaves AD casters in a bit of a bind in regards to Armor Penetration. Don't get me wrong- this change was absolutely a good and healthy one. It greatly increases the difficulty of assassins and fighters stacking armor pen (eg Black Cleaver Ghostblade Last Whisper), while simultaneously increasing the strength of Black Cleaver on certain tanky champions. However, it puts casters that want The Brutalizer early into a bind- their only option is Youmuu's Ghostblade, which is far less than ideal on many of them. Simultaneously, the Rejuvenation Beads in Tiamat seem highly out of place. Why does an item with lifesteal also get health regen? Why does an offensive item get health regen at all? If I have Pickaxe and Long Sword and 400 gold, why am I buying these rejuv beads?
As a solution to this, I moved the Vamp Scepter in Hydra's recipe into Tiamat, removing the Long Sword and rejuv beads. I then had space to combine a Brutalizer with Tiamat to make the completed Hydra.
For those of you unwilling to look at the spreadsheet, here are the stats my proposed Hydra and Tiamat would have:
Hydra=Brutalizer+New Tiamat+63g=3300g 60 AD 12% Lifesteal 10% Cooldown Reduction LIFESTEAL Passive CLEAVE Unique Passive CRESCENT Unique Active NEW "BRUTALITY" Unique Passive: 10 Armor Pen
Tiamat=Pickaxe+Vamp Scepter+225g=1900g 35 AD 8% Lifesteal CLEAVE Unique Passive CRESCENT Unique Active
Additionally, I would name the Armor Penetration passive on Youmuu's Ghostblade to "Brutality" (making it not stack with Brutalizer or the new Hydra), and would consider naming the shred on Black Cleaver "Brutality" as well- although I feel that this would be overkill.
What does this do?
It prevents FLAT armor pen stacking while giving fighters another option in building The Brutalizer. It also makes Tiamat's build path more natural, and makes a completed item that is likely significantly stronger in combat than the old Hydra. Note, however, that I have lowered the actual gold efficiency of BOTH Hydra AND Tiamat, however. I did this because:
- The health regen of old Hydra/Tiamat was not impactful in combat, while all new stats are.
- Flat armor pen on a 75 AD item would be totally ridiculous, and likely would be built on ADCs instead of Bloodthirster in spite of the wasted passives.
- This combination of stats is still incredibly strong for a single item.
This item is basically the perfect item for AD casters that want to cancel their animations. I don't think an item could be designed any more directly for a champion like Riven. It should be very good on anyone similar to J4, Wukong, Renekton- even Talon would like it a lot. Do they need the help that this change would give them? I can't really say, as I haven't seen too much of either one. However, I don't think that this change (due to the reduction of AD on Hydra) would benefit champions other than the ones I've targeted it towards. Overall, I'd lean towards saying "no, AD casters do not need this change, and it's more likely to cause balance issues rather than solve them," but I thought this was too interesting of an idea to not share/ hear discussion on.
Any thoughts? Suggestions?
Is this an entirely retarded OP idea (totally possible)?