Should Frozen Mallet and other slowing items be nerfed?

yungmattyk·8/19/2016, 4:18:19 PM·4 votes·1,313 views

Frozen Mallet and Rylais have been appearing in more and more games since their buffs to either cost or a buff to their effects, Frozen Mallet is a big offender of an item that is toxic by design. It's pretty common on champs like Yasuo, Gnar, and Jax to name a few right now which allows them to take a lead and make sure you can't get away from them at any cost and be forced to take trades that are unfavorable for you unless you straight up out damage them (which is unlikely if they have PD/Trinity/Cleaver (all of which give a speed boost of some sorts)). Frozen Mallet is a reason that tank Yasuo is even allowed to be a thing as of now, it amplifies his strengths of being a very hard to duel carry that has some extreme combat oriented mobility with some built in defenses (windwall and passive). Yasuo is by no means OP or broken right now, but it seems that way with his itemization choices of item 3078 or item 3046 and item 3022. With a combination of the PD Passive giving insane amounts of %Damage reduction and a health pool that is only amplified by Frozen Mallet's 650 health he slowly goes from a squishy melee carry to a very durable monster that's capable of dueling just about anything and everything. If going Trinity Force like some of his natural Bruiser friends ( Irelia and Jax ) he begins mirroring their problems of being a high damage, high healthed, highly mobile threat which can't be peeled off very well. This may seem like more of a "Yasuo is too good with frozen mallet pls nerf" post but he's one of the main abusers of this item as of right now and is allowed to go for more of an offrole build that he wasn't originally meant for and is slowly becoming what Tank Ekko used to be, a high damage, inescapable, unkillable, monster because of a few items, in tank Ekko's case it was item 3025 and item 3068 when they were very cheap. With Tank Yasuo it's item 3022 alone because of it's insanely good passive.

Frozen Mallet is also slowly but surely becoming meta on champs that doesn't need the slow such as Gnar (it has been for a while), Irelia, Jax, and Teemo along with many others I can't think of off the top of my head. Slows in this game are fine, but when 7/10 champions in a game have an item that slows it becomes a problem, especially with the fact they nerfed Swiftness boots a while ago for being too good at being mobile.

Rylais is also an item thats picked up by mages that have little to no CC but very high damage output ( Elise Evelynn Brand Malzahar Mordekaiser ) which also makes it very hard to get away from them while you're getting slowed but also bursted down and having no way of escaping due to them either being tanky or having mitigation through a shield (the only one that doesn't go by this rule in this example is brand which has no defensive mechanics at all outside of items.) However Rylais is less of a problem since it's only useable on Abilities and if you run out of mana you can't use your abilities but you still have an insanely high health pool due to Rylais offering a lot of health (400 to be exact, which is 250 less than it's AD counterpart.)

For example, a common team comp you'd see in solo queue would be something like Yasuo Hecarim Cassiopeia Ezreal Karma
VS Gnar Gragas Viktor Ashe Zyra -As stated above, Yasuo is starting to build more tanky and it's crowding out his Crit build (Shiv/PD->IE) which has a measly ~48% winrate compared to his Trinity->Frozen Mallet->Tank build which is sporting a 53.75% winrate (which might I add, is insanely high for an off meta build compared to a standard build.) -Ezreal most common item after Muramana is Iceborne, which allows him to perma slow and make sure its hard for you to escape his constant barrage of Qs, -Cass basically does the same thing with her E and Rylai's, making it hard for you to escape her since she also has her Grounding ability. -Karma already naturally has a slow in her kit and Hecarim usually focuses on Trinity/warrior-> Full Tank With this example team comp of something that has a high chance of being possible, you notice that the champions either buy an item that slows or speeds them up by some means. -Gnar builds Frozen Mallet in just about every other game if possible, allowing him to chase you down and get as many Q's and W procs as possible in mini form -Gragas usually goes full tank in the jungle and picks up an Iceborne due to his kit synergizing very well with a sheen and with the slow from iceborne allowing him to keep up to you with Q's and his E -Viktor, similar to Cass, picks up a Rylais in a majority of games so he can hit the 2nd part of his upgraded E easier and more consistently and also allowing his ult to not be chased out of as easily -Ashe, naturally has a slow in her kit which makes her very good at chasing down targets and makes her very strong at the moment combined with her excellent damage output, -Zyra, is probably the one champion on this example 5v5 team comp list that needs a Rylais to get her damage out reliably and safely since her plants proc it and allow her to kit, chase, and be a better annoyance as a support (or midlaner)

Rylais, Frozen Mallet, and Iceborne all in all, are great items, however what they do is too cost efficient and because of these items are starting to make other champions obsolete since they allow mobile champions to be more mobile and immobile champions be more immobile. Ezreal with his E and iceborne is considered one of the safest champions in the game if not the safest ever, it's not because he gets tons of armor from the iceborne, and its not because of his E, it's because no other champion can get on him unless they have an instant gap closer or immunity to slows like Zed, MasterYi, and Fizz but they still have trouble with getting on him if he can hit his Q (except for Yi due to his slow immunity.)

i'm no high tier player or even high elo at all but most of the slowing items seem to have a big problem in league right now since they're being built very often now.

11 Comments

JamesTheMage178/19/2016, 4:29:36 PM3 votes

Didn't read this, didn't have the time, sorry. Frozen mallet should be nerfed since it has no cooldown and refreshes with each auto Rylais should be buffed because it only works on abilities which are on a way longer cooldown than autos

TheLazySunbro8/19/2016, 4:44:59 PM2 votes

Teemo + item 3022 = GG

Trust me I main Teeto and thats my core its just too strong on him but I like it

Blumpkin Nation8/19/2016, 5:32:07 PM2 votes

Honestly, I don't think so. They offer slow% reduction with Swifties and the mastery. I know it's not EFFICIENT for 80% of champions, but they negate the effects pretty much 100%.

Now, what I think should be done is this:

Remove slow% reduction from Swifties (give them a different effect) and make slows from items stack or scale like Black Cleaver or Sunfire.

This way, Teemo + Frozen Mallet needs to basic attack you several times to get the max effect or the slow scales with level so you're better prepared for it later in the game.

Meep Man8/19/2016, 4:21:53 PM2 votes

No, they are fine as is. Frozen Mallet doesn't provide amazing stats and Rylai's is mainly used as a synergy item.

SwiftKitten888/19/2016, 4:33:09 PM2 votes

no.. they should not be, well idk thet STATS shouldnt be nerfed.. but i think what triggers them should exclude certain things

for example item 3116 is core on a lot of CC less mages.. but i dont think things likeAzir soldiers or Zyra plants should proc it.

Very Hard Engage8/19/2016, 4:32:02 PM1 votes

rylias is pretty OK, its only an offending item on outliar champs with dirt CD's and or ones who can constantly keep the slow on through dots/burns.

but someone like Veigar trying to use it just doesn't work.

Calabok8/19/2016, 4:30:27 PM1 votes

Nope what for?