Adjust ADC itemization to reflect "when the player wants to spike."

Hey friends,

I just watched this interview with Ghostcrawler. There were a few ideas that came to me that sort of reflect directions taken in the past, but seem like design space that didn't get utilized.

The problem I'm trying to address: 'ADCs aren't spiking early enough in the game.' Currently, players are circumventing this by leaning on Lethality items. The main complication: Ghostcrawler suggested it's unhealthy for ADCs to spike early 'and then stay strong throughout the game.'

My suggestion: Make a large shift in AD itemization that has less expensive "finished" items that fall off and more expensive items that "are strong late game."

These less expensive items should be items players either build with a specific plan in mind or possibly reactively.

• I want my damage output to spike soon.
• The enemy team has multiple tanky targets and I want to be able to threaten them.
• I want to safely be able to split push.
• I want to be able to sustain through this rough lane.

None of these items necessarily have to have a large late-game impact. An item that gives you health recovery on last-hitting similar to the Feast mastery will not turn you into a hyper carry (but it might help you get there eventually). An item that allows you to split push and retreat faster doesn't necessarily have to make you survive being matched by one or two enemy champions. An item (like Sheen or Kircheis Shard) that empowers your auto attacks doesn't necessarily allow Kog'Maw or Vayne to carry right away. These are example items, not necessarily suggestions for new items.

So, these sorts of "mid-game spike" or "snowball" items would have decent effects that you would feel throughout the majority of the game, but the idea is that there would be objectively more powerful items to build on a "hyper-carry."

Perhaps I'm (somehow) ahead in lane as Vayne and I really want to capitalize with an item that gives me attack speed and on-hit damage like Wit's End. Regardless of my stats or other items, Wit's End is going to boost my damage output and make me a little harder to shut down! As long as I can keep winning trades/skirmishes/fights and getting objectives for it, the enemy team will have a hard time recovering. Unfortunately, Wit's End doesn't build into anything else and there are ultimately more powerful items I could have built if I had waited longer and spent more gold. This is the sacrifice I made to obtain a quicker power spike in the game.

My idea, then, is to create a larger cost gap between an item like Wit's End and Blade of the Ruined King. I know, there's already a pretty large gap between the two items (900g). But, what I'm suggesting is that items designed specifically for late-game AD carries and doing oppressive amounts of (auto-attack) damage have their cost increased to make room for a new "middle" tier of dead-end build path mid-game items.

I think these sorts of mid-game items could possibly be introduced and catered to other roles--primarily Mages--but I think the ADC/Marksman role desperately needs this kind of change the most.

What are your thoughts? Is there any merit to the overall idea?