FIXING AP
Its been widely agreed as of late that the state of ap items is not so great. This is partially a result of the meta, but there are some sloppy and badly purposed items lying around that I'd like to adress and propose some fixes for.
MANA ITEMS
The Problem
Morello has always been a problem child. Before the mid year mage update, there was a constant war between morello and Athene's to be the single dominant starting mana item. This was largely due to the fact that the items were meant for different kinds of mages, but in lane it ended up just being a stat check between the ap of morello and the Mr of Athene's. When the mage update rolled around, they gave up on the whole thing and repurposed Athene's, leaving morello as THE starting mage item. To compensate for the fact that Morello and Rod of Ages were the only practical starting items, Morello got insane stats to make sure it could serve ALL mages.
The Solution
Morello can be unloaded in terms of raw power if there was more than 1 starting item for mages again. To avoid the previous scenario where one item simply dominated the others, the items must not heavily overlap in the kinds of champions they support. Morello should be broken down to at least 2 items.
ITEM A: 100 AP, 10% CDR, flat mana, passive that promotes burst rotations
ITEM B: 75 AP, 20% CDR, mana regen, passive that gives movement speed
Item A is clearly built for assassins, artillery mages, and aoe burst mages with its high ap, flat mana for heavy rotations, and burst passive. Item B on the other hand is better suited to utility and DPS mages since they need more mana over time and constant repositioning during fights. Grevious wounds was left out of the equation, as the ad items got it right. Its better off as a situational side purchase at the cost of raw damage or as part of a tank buster item.
PENETRATION ITEMS
The Problem
Its not brought up often, but magic penetration is outdated at best. Void staff is effective at boosting all damage against all champions, while Liandry's Torment's flat pen punishes squishies, but the burning passive makes it seem like an item for killing tanks when in reality it mostly just bolsters the damage of dots. Also it has hp for some reason. The magic pen items could really use an update like last whisper got.
The Solution
Honestly the pieces are all here, they just need to be rearranged a bit.
ITEM A: 80 ap, flat pen, burst or movement passive
ITEM B: 80 AP, 35% bonus MR pen, Grevious wounds passive
ITEM C: 80 AP, 35% bonus MR pen, %hp burn passive
Item A is for killing squishy champions. I was undecided on the passive, but I'm fairly certain it would be geared toward assassination
Items B and C are for increasing damage to tanks. It is split into two much like how last whisper upgrades into mortal reminder or lord dominik's regards. The bonus mr pen is no longer going to hit squishy champions as hard, while the unique passives will let you decide what kind of tanks you need to shred. This is a much better place for the grevious wounds from morello and the burn from liandry's.