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So boards, what should be done about the mage items?

Lazypeon100·4/7/2016, 8:26:08 PM·2 votes·228 views

So, unpopular opinion time, but I'm honesty a bit surprised right now with the boards. Riot stated multiple times they would be removing most of the mana regen for mages in favor of flat mana, yet when it actually happens the boards start to freak out.

I can understand not liking the changes, but I'm not convinced that "mages are dead." I've seen statements like this literally every season I've played the game (since late S2) and they never turn out to be true. I think declaring the sky is falling essentially is false.

The player base has asked for more CDR options for mages for quite awhile now, and Riot is finally fixing that issue.

There's still ways to maintain mana, with tear refunding mana, catalyst giving 25% of your mana per level up (which will be a lot more mana than it currently is for most mages) and an alternative mana regen system for a few niche champions.

So what would you do instead guys? What do you think would work better? The current item system where most mage builds are identical and feel lack luster?

I'm not saying it's perfect or that you have to like it. I just don't understand the outrage when we knew this was coming.

Anyway, I hope this doesn't come off too poorly. I'm just hoping for an honest conversation about what's going on.

6 Comments

KoggyStyle4/7/2016, 8:29:56 PM1 votes

honestly i always prefeered a large mana pool .....

Profirix4/7/2016, 8:35:52 PM1 votes

I think ultimately the outcome of these changes will be that mages will absolutely have to get blue every time they can and will have to back quite frequently. Mana only gets you so far before you run out of it. With the sheer amount of mana regeneration that is proposed to be removed, I expect practically no regeneration to exist on a properly built mage. With that in mind, Archangels will become the go-to item for every mage because it synergies so well with the increased mana pools.

If you consider that CDR increases the amount of mana used per second, mages will need to be very careful where and how they spend their mana.

With the reduction in all of the available ability power on mage items, there will need to be rebalancing of AP ratios or else most mages will be relegated towards sustained damage instead of burst. This will greatly impact their playstyles, though I cannot say for sure whether this will benefit or harm mages more. I guess we will have to wait until after PBE testing begins.