A few thoughts to improve Recommended Items
I feel like recommended items can be vastly improved. I want to present and explore some ideas for what I think can be done to improve them. You can take all these suggestions altogether or you can focus on just one or two of them, but I just want to get a discussion going on changes, big or small, that can be made to the shop and how it recommends you what to build:
Table of Contents: Item and/or Champion Recommendation Description pages Searching up Champions by Stats and what they build Community Recommendations Deselecting Stats in the Shop Popular Items, High Winrate Items, and Pro player suggested items Death Recap Should Recommend Items Emphasizing Item Flexibility Recommended Items Should Update Against Certain Matchups Live Updating Recommended Items
Control+F is your friend if any single topic interests you
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Item and/or Champion Recommendation Description pages
I'm slightly confused why there isn't more information about who to build items on and when to build them. I realize a lot of this information is already implied or given, for example how Lethality items show up in Assassin Pages. I'm just disappointed that there's no explanation why you should build Lethality on Assassins in the recommended items page or in the item sets part of the client. Simple descriptions like "Build Lethality on AD Assassins to combat squishy targets" or something along those lines can massively improve clarity on these things.
On a similar note, more clarity on what to build on a given champion. If you click on any given champion for their description, there is a gigantic lack of information regarding what to build on what champions. For example, if I click on Master Yi, his Overview page heavily hints towards building AD due to his massive Attack Power and weak Ability Power, with some minor concerns over his defense. I can infer he likes Attack Speed, On Hit Effects, and Critical Chance from his ability descriptions...and AP on his Meditate? Well, fine, I got a general idea of the stats he likes. Where are his core items though? Is Warrior or Bloodrazer his more useful Jungle Item? Or even below that, Chilling or Challenging Smite? Should I bother with AP, I can see the AP Ratio in his kit. Is it okay to build defense? What do you mean there are items to buy in certain situations, can I get a brief description of those items and when to buy them? So on and so forth, there is a dramatic lack of information towards building a champion within the client.
On a related tangent, Champion description Pages as a whole kinda suck in one way or another. I sincerely hope this is improved upon in the new client. Not just looks prettier, but gives real and valuable descriptions for champions.
Searching up Champions by Stats and what they build
This is a more abstract idea I have and the least I've put serious thought into fleshing out, but I want to get the idea out there. See that search bar in champion select? What if I wanted an AP Champion for my team, or more AD? A Crit Based Champion or a Lethality Based one? Maybe more specific, what if I want champions that synergize well with a key item like Rylai's?
I just think the Search bar can be improved upon in many ways :x
Community Recommendations
I'm kinda surprised that, given how much the community does and how much LoL as a whole relies on its community, there's no direct link between, say, the client and player made guides.
Think a sort of MobaFire/ProBuilds built right into the client. Or, if that's too much for the client as a whole, a link or list of links to websites just like MobaFire or Probuilds or Champion.gg or so on.
Deselecting Stats in the Shop
I don't want a Frozen Heart on my Zac. I have too much attack speed already on my Yi. And I'm already sitting on 45% CDR on my Supports. Sometimes, there are just things I don't want in the items I build. Why isn't there a way to deselect if I want certain stats?
Popular Items, High Winrate Items, and Pro player suggested items
As the title says. Give the players an in client way to see what's commonly built on a champion, items that are over performing, and/or allowing professional players play a hand at recommending itemization choices.
Death Recap Should Recommend Items
And also fix Death Recap in general but seriously though:
The information is in fact there. Death Recap knows how you died, and if designed smartly, a system to point out a good item to buy to avoid dying in a similar way could dramatically help the player base. Maybe it can clearly tell you to itemize Armor or Magic Resist. Maybe it will notice that your death was started by getting hit by a single dangerous ability like a Blitz hook or Morgana Snare, and it can recommend you buy a Banshee's Veil. Maybe it will notice your death was largely caused by auto attacks, or you were significantly CC'ed for a period of time, or you were slowed for the entirety of your death, or so on and so forth. Perhaps it can relate some items for your class, so Fighters can get clear recommendations for Maw of Malmortius or Sterak's Gage. This is an entire topic in and of itself, but I sincerely think Recommended items would be hugely more useful for players if Death Recap can start making suggestions.
Emphasizing Item Flexibility
So there are some items that are core to a champion; especially when you play them for their given role, you really can't abandon a certain item or you lose the stat-stick that that champion relies on. On the other hand, there may be a range of items that could all fit the bill for whatever job you need, and you as the player need to decide which path you want to take. Crit based itemization has wonderful examples of this:
All these component items are rather core to Crit based ADCs; almost every full build ADC will have built at least one of each item at some point. Once you start looking at these a bit more step by step however, you start to notice some patterns. Infinity Edge and Essence Reaver tend to suit some ADC play styles far more than the other; they're core items and closer to must buys for any given ADC to achieve their role. Zeal is similar to this, you want a Zeal upgrade to fulfill your role. Which one however can fit different situations. You could take Rapid Fire Cannon for the extended poke, Statikk Shiv for Waveclear and Burst, Runaan's for multiplied DPS damage in team fights, or Phantom Dancer for dueling capabilities.
I'm not sure how to present this in a neat and tidy way, but the idea should be there already. There are items you must stick to, there are some items you can flex around, and there are times when you need to stretch your build. Recommended items should make these key points waaaaaaaaaay more obvious.
Recommended Items Should Update Against Certain Matchups
Alright so here's the simple example: If you are an ADC, build an Executioner's Calling against Drain Tanks and other super healers.
I realize that with the many, MANY permutations of team combinations and so forth that the complexity of such a system may be faaaaaaaar greater than first appears, but there are some obvious standouts. Build %Penetration against Bulky teams or HP Shred against the other kind of Bulky teams. Build Armor against Lethality or MR against Flat AP Burst. Randuin's against heavy Crit Users or Banshee's Veil against high impact single abilities like Blitz Hooks. If you want to take it a step further, Zz'Rot Portal against bad siegers or Rylai's against movement speed based champions.
On one hand, I really don't like that certain items hamstring balance by being complete counters to certain champions. On the other hand, stop building a Giant Slayer and build an Executioner's Calling ADCs! We need you to shut down their healers and you need to recognize your targets.
Live Updating Recommended Items
A combination of many of the previous points. What if the entire Recommended Items page simply changed based on what you've already bought, what time/stage of the game it is, and generally what happened throughout the game?
This is the most complex to create but, if done right, I think could vastly improve Recommended Items as a concept the most. Recommend to players what to build in a given situation at that point in time and based on the game that they are in.
Some of my ideas. Anybody have their own ideas to improve Recommended items, or criticisms towards my suggestions? After the hullabaloo about Item Sets getting removed, I do think the topic warrants discussion.