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Pyro's Item Overhaul - The Mage Project

Pyro··9 votes·1,740 views

TL;DR: Breaking the set-in-stone mage build core - Changes to magic penetration items such as Void Staff - New mage items - Shaking up the mana regen itemization

http://i.imgur.com/0WKC3LW.jpg

This item overhaul is a fanmade set of suggested changes to improve the gameplay diversity in League of Legends. The ultimate purpose is expanding the realm of possibilities, both in the spectrum of "viable champions" and the in-game actions. The overhaul covers all item systems, from AD and Critical Strike rework through AP and Support expansion to differentiating Fighter and Tank classes.

Why? Well, more or less to have more than top 3-5 champion picks for every role in LCS with cookie-cutter builds. Item builds should be more flexible and reactive, not predefined for a whole class of champions.

Previous episodes:

Keep in mind some of the oldest drafts are outdated and have been changed after your feedback. You can see the complete current list of all items from all projects of the overhaul here.

#The Mage Project

I might be a little bit biased about this, but I'm a fan of the "oldschool" class of mages. Toplane mages ruin the fun for the "usual" toplaners, midlane assassins are flashy but overall opressive with no counter ("fight fire with fire", you send assasin against assassin), and whenever a mage sees play in the support role, it usually means a round of nerfs is incoming (see; Zyra, Annie).

In the midlane itself, the everlasting war of Athene's Unholy Grail and Morellonomicon is just a cover for a bigger problem: champions who are gated by mana need to rush a mana item to farm, and then the only viable route on most of them in competitive play is Rabadon's Deathcap into Void Staff, which invalidates any MR purchased before it can even happen. This is anything but healthy.

This project consists of two main elements:

  • Penetration Rework - changes mirroring the ones in Fighter Project
  • Flat magic penetration becomes unique between Sorcerer's Shoes and Haunting Guise. This is important only for HG users, and the item itself changes a bit.
  • Void Staff now penetrates 50% of bonus magic damage instead of 35% of total. That means it's less effective under 100 MR for squishies (30 base) and about 100-160 MR for tanks (30-50 base). From there on it's more effective than the old VS.
  • Abyssal Scepter becomes an alternative to Void Staff, reducing MR by 25% instead of flat 20. This means it's slightly worse against squishy targets and it lessens the effectiveness of VS. Overall a mage bruiser item, not an assassin item. There's also a new item that does a similar thing from range.
  • Mana Scatter - spreading mana and CDR through AP items
  • Mana regeneration and CDR is now found in other items.
  • Variety in laning items is broadened by introducing new ways to upgrade Fiendish Codex and Forbidden Idol.

#Components

item 3113 Aether Wisp

  • Recipe: item 1052 Amplifying Tome + item 1004 Faerie Charm + 335g (total cost unchanged)
  • +30 ability power, +50% mana regeneration (new)
  • Unique Passive - Ethereal: +5% movement speed

A straightout buff to the item, albeit rather a small one. The MS passive now doesn't stack now across Wisp upgrades.

item 3136 Haunting Guise

  • +20 ability power (-5), +200 health
  • Unique Passive - Blast: +20 magic penetration (+5)

Now doesn't stack with Sorcerer's Shoes, allowing you to buy other boots (for example Ionian Boots of Lucidity while not losing that much on magic penetration.

Malady (new item)

  • Recipe: item 1042 Dagger + 400g (total cost: 850g)
  • +20% attack speed
  • Unique Passive: +15 magic damage on hit

Mentioned already in the Fighter Project. Builds into Devourer, BotRK, Nashor's Tooth, etc.

item 3101 Stinger

  • Recipe: item 1042 Dagger + item 1052 Amplifying Tome + 415g (total cost increased to 1300g from 1250g)
  • +30 ability power (new), +25% attack speed (-15)
  • Unique Passive: +10% cooldown reduction

To sum it up, Kayle gets a new, very cost-efficient, core item that builds into Nashor's Tooth. Diana should like it as well. Note: No longer builds into Zephyr, which builds out of Zeal and Brutalizer instead (see: Fighter Project).

#Burst The "typical" burst items, both for assassins and various mages.

item 3128 Deathfire Grasp

  • +120 ability power, +10% cooldown reduction
  • Unique Active: Amplifies all magic damage that champion takes by 20% for 4 seconds, then deals 10% (+4% per 100 AP) of target champion's maximum health in magic damage. 90 second cooldown (750 range). (reworked)

Moved the damage component till the end of the Doom debuff, giving the victim some time to retaliate (yeah, it's similar to Death MArk). However, the damage scales now with Ability Power (when rushed, it's the same).

item 3146 Hextech Gunblade

  • Combine cost reduced to 600g from 800g (total cost reduced to 3200g from 3400g)
  • +60 ability power (-5), +50 attack damage (+5), +15% lifesteal (+3)
  • Unique Passive: +15% spellvamp (-5)
  • Passive and active unchanged

Lower AP/spellvamp and reduced price to make this a good agressive item, but not so slot efficient one. It should still be good lategame, just not as oppressive on Akali. Higher AD and lifesteal are meant to slightly shift this item towards "hybrid" characteristic.

item 3100 Lich Bane

  • +80 ability power, +200 mana (-50), +50% mana regeneration (new)
  • Unique Passive - Ethereal: +5% movement speed
  • Unique Passive - Spellblade: After using an ability, your next attack will critically strike. 1.5 seconds cooldown. (reworked)
  • Unique Passive - Critical Damage: Your critical strikes deal +50% AP bonus magic damage. (new) ** Only one Critical Damage modifier will apply. Does not stack with Infinity Edge or Trinity Force.

Spellblade is functionally more or less the same. Mana regeneration is inherited from the revamped Aether Wisp. Movement speed is now unique between the Wisp upgrades. Some crit-AP builds should be possible on champions like Twisted Fate. For more information on Critical Strike rework, see the Carry Project.

item 3089 Rabadon's Deathcap

  • Combine cost increased to 940g from 840g (total cost increased to 3500g from 3400g)

With Athene's having higher AP, Deathcap as a 2nd item is an immense power spike. Cost goes up by 100g - not much, but puts the item in a better place, it's almost as much of a culprit as the 35%-total-MR Void Staff.

item 3135 Void Staff

  • Recipe: item 1026 Blasting Wand + 1140 g (total cost reduced to 2000g from 2235g)
  • +60 ability power (-10)
  • Unique Passive: Your magic damage ignores 50% of target's bonus magic resistance.

Still shreds tanks. Doesn't do as much against targets with low MR now, though. Does more above about 100-150 MR, depending on champion's base MR. A neat calculation would be: This item grants you 1300g worth of AP, so you need to penetrate through 800g worth of MR to make it gold efficient. This means the item is gold efficient when the target has 80 bonus MR or more.

#DPS Items oriented around dealing damage over time.

item 3151 Liandry's Torment

  • Recipe: item 3136 Haunting Guise + item 3114 Forbidden Idol + 815g (total cost unchanged)
  • +40 ability power (-10), +200 health (-100), +50% mana regeneration (new), +10% cooldown reduction (new)
  • Unique Passive - Blast: +20 magic penetration (+5)
  • %health damage passive unchanged.

Less raw AP, more magic penetration (doesn't stack with Sorcerer's Shoes, though) and a mana component. Champions like Malzahar, Cassiopeia or Brand should love this. As for manaless champions, if they don't appreciate the CDR, there are two new health+AP items later in the Durability section.

item 3115 Nashor's Tooth

  • Recipe: Malady (new item) + item 3101 Stinger + 650g (total cost reduced to 2800g from 2900g)
  • +60 ability power, +50% attack speed, +10% cooldown reduction (-10)
  • Unique Passive: Basic attacks deal 15 (+15% AP) bonus magic damage on hit and restore 5 (+1% AP) health.

100g cheaper, much better build path, 10% CDR less and healing on hit. On Kayle, you're encouraged to opt for Ionian Boots of Lucidity instead of Berserker's Greaves if you want more CDR.

Wizard's Regalia (new item) Recipe: item 1058 Needlessly Large Rod + item 3113 Aether Wisp + 750g (total cost: 3300 gold)

  • +120 ability power, +50% base mana regeneration
  • Unique Passive - Ethereal: +5% movement speed
  • Unique Active - Magma Chamber: Create a zone for 15 seconds that reduces magic resistance of all enemies within by 5% per second, stacking up to 6 times. (900 range, 1000 radius) 90 second cooldown.

The fourth NLL upgrade, dedicated for immobile AoE DPS mages. Just like Wicked Hatchet in the Carry Project doesn't stack with Last Whisper, this item is rather an alternative to Void Staff than a counterpart. Unless the enemy has absurdly heavy MR, then maybe using both could be a good idea. As for area range, it's more or less Trundle's Frozen Domain.

#Durability Items with defensive stats - armor, MR and health.

AP + MR

item 3001 Abyssal Scepter

  • Combine cost reduced to 590g from 730g (total cost reduced to 2300g from 2440g)
  • +60 ability power (-10), +50 magic resistance
  • Unique Passive: Reduces the magic resistance of nearby enemies by 25%. (700 range) (rebalanced)

Redefined as a mage bruiser item, with less AP and more anti-MR approach (instead of squishy-stomping one). The debuff is weaker than the old one until about 90 MR (keep in mind flat reduction comes before % penetration). Just like with Wizard's Regalia, it's an alternative to Void Staff and doesn't work that well with it. If MR reduction becomes too problematic, it can share the debuff name with Wizard's Regalia, making sure the two reductions don't stack.

item 3174 Athene's Unholy Grail

  • Combine cost reduced to 780g from 880g (total cost reduced to 2600g from 2700g)
  • +80 ability power (+20), +30 magic resistance (+5), +50% base mana regeneration, +10% cooldown reduction (-10)
  • Passives unchanged.

Grail loses 300g worth of CDR and gains 400g worth of AP - and is 100g cheaper. CDR is now found in other - new and old - items. Grail becomes centered around its AP, MR and mana regen.

AP + Armor

Chillwind Crown (new item)

  • Recipe: item 3024 Glacial Shroud + item 3108 Fiendish Codex + 730g (total cost: 2500g)
  • +60 ability power, +50 armor, +300 mana, +20% CDR
  • Unique Passive: Upon taking lethal damage, prevent it and become immune for 0.5 s. 180 second cooldown.

For midlaners, this should be an alternative to Zhonya's Hourglass as their anti-AD core. Possible option for AP bruisers or supports. Will probably ruin Zed's day. The effect is very much based on a mage spell "Iceblock" from Hearthstone.

item 3157 Zhonya's Hourglass

  • Unchanged.

AP + Health Items with less than 400 health in other sections: Liandry's Torment (DPS), Rylai's Crystal Scepter (Utility)

Breathstealer (new item)

  • Recipe: item 3136 Haunting Guise + item 1011 Giant's Belt + 715g (total cost: 3200 gold)
  • +40 ability power, +600 health
  • Unique Passive - Blast: +20 magic penetration
  • Unique Active: Copy all temporary buffs from nearby enemies and put them on yourself for 20 seconds or until they run out. 90 second cooldown. (700 range)
  • For the buff to be considered "temporary", it needs to be timed or disappearing when out of combat. See the wiki.

Magic penetration from this item doesn't stack with Sorcerer's Shoes or Liandry's Torment. This one is suited for tanks and mage bruisers as a replacement for Rylai's Crystal Scepter item.png Rylai's Crystal Scepter and can bring some absurdly fun results.

item 3027 Rod of Ages

  • Combine cost reduced to 540g from 740g (total cost reduced to 2600g from 2800g)
  • +60 ability power, +400 health (-50), +400 mana (-50)
  • Passives unchanged (grants 80 AP, 600 HP and 600 mana when fully stacked).

A small yet impactful change - cost reduced, base stats slightly lowered. Can be now picked up a tiny bit earlier.

Sanguine Orb (new item)

  • Recipe: item 3067 Kindlegem}} + item 3108 Fiendish Codex + 730g (total cost: 2500g)
  • +400 health, +60 ability power, +20% CDR
  • Unique Active: Gain 40 ability power and 15% spellvamp for 10 seconds. 60 second cooldown.

It resembles Youmuu's Ghostblade a bit - not so overbearing during laning phase, but can give you an edge over your opponent in an all-in fight.

AP + Armor + MR

item 3170 Moonflair Spellblade

  • Recipe: item 3191 Seeker's Armguard + item 1057 Negatron Cloak + 450g (total cost: 2500g)
  • +40 ability power (-10), +50 armor, +50 magic resistance
  • Unique Passive - Tenacity: Reduces the duration of all crowd control effects by 35%.

Introduced to Summoner's Rift with 10 less AP, better build path and price lowered by 100. Followup to changes to Abyssal Sceepter - those two should make for a neat mage bruiser build.

#Utility Buffs, debuffs and slows. Some can be considered support items.

item 3003 Archangel Staff

  • Unchanged.

item 3504 Ardent Censer

  • +60 ability power (+20), +100% base mana regeneration, +10% cooldown reduction
  • Unique Passive - Ethereal: +5% movement speed (-3)
  • Passive unchanged (25% AS on shields/heals)

In sheer stats, this becomes comparable to Athenes/Morellonomicon. If you're playing Karma, Morgana or Lulu in the middle lane, it might actually become worthwhile. Otherwise, it's still great on them in the support role.

item 3165 Morellonomicon

  • +80 AP, +75% base mana regeneration (-25), +20% cooldown reduction
  • Passive and cost unchanged.

Alternative nerf to the one shipping in patch 5.1 (which increases the price to 2300g).

item 3116 Rylai's Crystal Scepter

  • Recipe: item 1026 Blasting Wand + item 3801 Crystalline Bracer + item 1027 Sapphire Crystal + 640g (total cost reduced to 2700g from 2900g)
  • +80 ability power (-20), +200 health (-200), +300 mana (new), +100% health regeneration (new)
  • Unique Passive - Icy: Dealing spell damage slows the target's movement speed by 35% for 1.5 seconds (15% for multi-target and damage-over-time spells).

Part of the "Mana Scatter" project, gearing this one towards immobile ranged mages such as Vel'Koz or Brand. Mages looking for heavy health should consider some of the new items like Breathstealer or Sanguine Orb.

item 3023 Twin Shadows

  • Combine cost increased to 730g from 630g (total cost increased to 2500g from 2400g)
  • +80 ability power, +50% base mana regeneration (new), +10% cooldown reduction
  • Unique Passive - Ethereal: +10% movement speed (+4)
  • Active unchanged.

Basically a mage Zephyr. Situational, not as outright efficient source of DPS as Morellonomicon or Athene's, but in right situation a viable pickup. Price goes up by 200g.

item 3152 Will of the Ancients

  • Recipe: item 3145 Hextech Revolver + item 3114 Forbidden Idol + 600g (total cost reduced to 2400g from 2500g)
  • +80 ability power, +50% base mana regeneration (new), +10% cooldown reduction
  • Unique Passive: +20% spellvamp

Mages now can build it starting with mana regen in the Forbidden Idol component. The idea of WotA having mana isn't new, but at the time of first (failed) implementation Forbidden Idol did not exist. Slot efficiency for manaless mages unchanged, item's price gets 100g lower to compensate change of the component.

Elixir of Spirit (new item)

  • 400g, requires level 9 to purchase
  • On use: Gain 15% CDR and Tranquility for 3 minutes.
  • Tranquility: When out of combat for 15 seconds, your mana regen increases by 100%.

This one fills the niche for champions who prefer maxing out CDR over stacking AP and dealing damage to towers. Since the elixirs are a choice now, we don't have to account for every single champion taking this one. Numbers are a shot in the dark - the idea of "CDR elixir" is the key here.

#Jungle

item 3708 Magus

  • Recipe: item 3108 Fiendish Codex + item 3114 Forbidden Idol + 80g (total cost unchanged)
  • +80 AP, +50% mana regeneration (new), +20% CDR
  • Unique Passive - Soul Drain: Restores 15% of your max mana on kill or assist.

Mana is still something to keep in check while farming jungle, but the restoration on champion kills allows to live through losing a blue buff. The passive does not stack with Athene's Unholy Grail.

#Addendum This is possibly the most controversial part of the overhaul up to date, as even though the penetration changes and new items have gathered rather positive feedback, changes to items used right now by manaless champions have met with harsh critique. The project contains new "manaless" items to compansate for the "loss" of the old ones, even though most of them are still very much viable on manaless champions.

This is the last project in this overhaul. What that means is that soon enough I will be posting an improved version of the Tank Project (after feedback in the first thread), and we'll probably revisit this project as well. Please leave your feedback so that can happen :)

#The Other Parts of the Overhaul

Full list of all items

12 Comments

Rebonack1 votes

Jackin' my walrus polls, man.

That said, the %Pen change that you propose only displaces the problem, it doesn't solve it. All this would do is make building oodles of HP and totally ignoring mitigation stats on a Tank even more attractive than it already is. And optimum EHP is already nearly impossible to obtain. Just to put the numbers out there, right now you want 1500 HP for every 100 resist you have to hit optimum EHP. If someone has Void/Whisper it jumps up to 2400 HP per 100 resist. If your change went through then that number would increase to 3000 HP per 100 resist beyond your base value. I'm not kidding in the least when I say your most cost-effective solution would be to grab Ninja Tabi, Locket, and then totally ignore magic resist and just stack HP to high heaven.

Simply changing the order that %Pen and flat pen are applied could help, but the simplest solution would be to remove %Pen/shred as an itemization option and then reduce resist values to a sane level. Right now, if someone is building tanky and you don't have %Pen they're immortal. If you DO have %Pen then it's really no big deal.

Pyro1 votes

Jackin' my walrus polls, man.

Guilty as charged. To be fair, the poll question is quite bogus, as I've already gathered enough feedback on Wikia, where I could insert 3 polls into one post :)

If your change went through then that number would increase to 3000 HP per 100 resist beyond your base value.

Here's a catch, though: this is only if the mage gets Void Staff. And with VS much worse against squishy targets, many mages will forfeit that item.

Right now, if someone is building tanky and you don't have %Pen they're immortal. If you DO have %Pen then it's really no big deal.

That's a very fair statement. One different approach I've thought of was scattering % magic penetration through other items in way smaller amount, so that the situation isn't as binary (no VS - tanks are immortal, VS - tanks are paper). The suggested changes to Abyssal Scepter and the new NLL upgrade sort of do that.

CoolKnightST1 votes

I think the item 3113 changed. It would be really intressting change for poke support. The only thing I'm worried about is that this would be another buff for Fizz.

Pyro1 votes

Assassins like Fizz aren't concerned about mana regen as much as other mages (have you ever seen Fizz building mana regen?). If anything, 50 less flat mana on Lich Bane (which is to balance out the regen gain on final item) would be a net nerf for him.

And yes, that change to Wisp is mostly geared towards supports, who have lost TONS of regen from their GP10 items with the regen changes.

Felvyne1 votes

I don't understand the passive of Chillwind Crown. Actives a zhonya when your health s going to be 0 nullifing the dmg?

PD: Rumble cries with that much Mana and CDR and less Magic Pen.

Pyro1 votes

Yes. It blocks one block of lethal damage - be that Zed's ultimate or reworked DFG's effect. Weak against DoTs, though.

Rumble should be more than okay with Breathstealer and to lesser extent Sanguine Orb.

Felvyne1 votes

Mmm... I think that this passive wouldn't be a good idea. Is just destroying the damage you would receive without any counterplay. You can't bait it while you can bait a Zhonya, being invulnerable 0.5s don't probably won't allow the enemy to reposition... and if something is going to kill you, this protect you. If you are with 1hp maybe will be able to kill him with another spell (if the CD allow you), but if it's something like Syndra's ult, you just have ignored like 800 damage maybe, and another spell is hard to do that. Idk if I'm expressing correctly >_<

And yes, but it's still wasting a lot of gold in mana, mana regen, CDR... there are a very few items that would be 100% cost-effective.

Pyro1 votes

Well, it's meant to counter one-chunk burst, straight out. The easiest way to work around it is to apply any sort of DoT - Liandry's, red buff, Ignite...

And Syndra's ultimate doesn't deal damage in one chunk, each orb is a separate hit.

EfficientDynamo1 votes

But wouldn't that be a massive counter to Veigar? Admittedly the armor is useless against him, but his combo usually relies on his ult to delete you. You wouldn't even have to worry about the timing and longer immobility of hitting Zhonyas, and you effectively ignore 500+ damage.

Pyro1 votes

Yeah, that would be my biggest concern with it as well.

There is no problem in one item countering an ultimate (like QSS does with Death Mark), but this mechanic might need some revision.

EfficientDynamo1 votes

  • I have to say I like the distribution of mana regen, since laning will no longer be a race to completing your Athene's or Morellos. That said, I worry that spreading it out will require multiple complete items to reach the level of mana regen that is currently live. I don't have the mental capacity to calculate those numbers, but it could be a stealth buff to champs like Zed since their opponents won't be able to spam spells until much later in the game.

  • I am a little surprised you didn't go with an idea that has been floated about Liandry's, and give it some small flat damage so it has the capacity to finish someone off. Just a thought.

  • This idea may be suited more for a tank than a mage, but why not have an item that leeches/steals mana upon hitting a champ with a spell? It could be an interesting counter to mages, encourage counterplay (since if you want to get increased regen you wouldn't be able to sit under tower and wait), and offer new regen options to DOT mages like Cass or Malz (assuming each tick of damage applies a mana leech).

Pyro1 votes

This idea may be suited more for a tank than a mage, but why not have an item that leeches/steals mana upon hitting a champ with a spell? It could be an interesting counter to mages, encourage counterplay (since if you want to get increased regen you wouldn't be able to sit under tower and wait), and offer new regen options to DOT mages like Cass or Malz (assuming each tick of damage applies a mana leech).

Poke comps? Linear mana regen helps keeping them in check.

Yeah, I had the idea of Mana Leech around (it was even used in a few projects), but this particular stat would need a new advanced item and I'm not 100% sure what should the recipe be.

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