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Bringing Sunfire Cape in line with Dead Man's Plate (Using Math!)

ltmetal·10/9/2015, 1:37:55 PM·2 votes·1,039 views

TL;DR, Sunfire Cape has steadily become less valuable to champions on whom it was once core and has faded into obscurity with the introduction of Dead Man's Plate, and this calls for change.

Sunfire Cape and Dead Man's Plate are decidedly made for tanks. Both of them provide needed stats at a relatively low cost, while having passives that are little use without enough defenses to back them up. The similarities of these items mean that every time we decide on an armor item for our Garen, Hecarim, or Shyvana, we have to compare one item to the other to make the best choice. Except...as we all have seen since patch 5.16 (technically 5.15), we don't really have a choice. Here's a side-by-side look at the math:

item 3068 vs item 3742 Cost: 2600g...2750g Stats: 450 Health, 45 Armor...600 Health, 50 Armor Efficiency without passive: 80.7%...94.55% Gold value passive needs for efficiency: 500g...150g

There are two fun facts that get glossed over in the above representation: Movement speed is a stat that can have its efficiency calculated. At max momentum stacks, we have 60 bonus movement speed, which is worth 780g. This means that DMP hits 100% efficiency at 14 stacks (8 movement speed) and has 126.55% efficiency at max stacks. This is before even accounting for the second passive, Crushing Blow. With max stacks, Crushing Blow deals 200 damage to a single target. It takes a level 18 champion 4.65 seconds to deal this same damage to a single champion using Immolate, and that's before considering the 1 second slow or the movespeed gained from the momentum in the first place.

The gap created by these items' stat differentials isn't even fair. In order for there to be meaningful choice between these two items, they must be brought to similar gold efficiency ratings so that the items can have their merits weighed by the impact of their passives, or at least Sunfire Cape must be given a new or more powerful passive to keep up with the huge discrepancy in stats. Thus, I submit to all two different suggested updates for the best item for giving warm hugs since 2009:

Sunfire Cape item 3751 + item 1031 + item 3801 + 400g (Total cost 2750g) 500 Health, 45 Armor, 100% Base Health Regen (Gold value of stats 1330g + 900g + 360g = 2590g) UNIQUE Passive - Immolate: Deals 25 + (1 × level) magic damage per second to nearby enemies (400 range). (Efficiency without passive 94.18%, Gold value passive needs for efficiency 160g) ...These changes are meant to solidify Sunfire Cape as the "sustain through a long fight" choice while providing obvious synergy with many of the champions who loved this item before Dead Man's Plate was introduced, like Mundo and Shen.

Sunfire Cape item 3751 + item 1031 + 850g (Total cost 2600g) 450 Health, 45 Armor (Gold value of stats 1200g + 900g = 2100g) UNIQUE Toggle - Immolate: Deals 40 + (1 × level) magic damage per second to nearby enemies (400 range). UNIQUE Passive - Melt: For each enemy champion being damaged by Immolate, nearby enemy units are slowed by 2% (400 range). (Efficiency without passive 80.7%, Gold value passive needs for efficiency 500g) ...Muramana would suck if we were prevented from turning off the mana consumption, so why do we have to put up with Sunfire Cape forcing us to take turret aggro or lose our mobi boots bonus? Turning Immolate into a toggled ability makes life easier for those who build it and can even be brought over to the entire Bami's Cinder line of items. The remaining number buffs and CC are highly subjective and would require testing to strike a nice balance; the goal is to hit the "meaningful choice between two items" mark, not the "OMG their Leona is a fire breathing monster" mark.

It shouldn't take a genius to see that item 3068 is in a pretty bad place right now. Amumu and Rammus want to build item 3725 , Darius and Volibear want to build item 3742 , and that's cool, but if we have meaningful choice between items, it diversifies champion builds, picks, roles, and strategies. This was already accomplished to great effect with the AP item refactor, it would be a cinch to implement this single change under the same banner of choice.

Wiki pages used to calculate efficiency: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Sunfire_Cape http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Dead_Man's_Plate http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Gold_efficiency

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5 Comments

Maximum Morde10/9/2015, 1:43:08 PM2 votes

Sunfire pushes waves and is AOE damage. It's efficiency goes way up as targets go up. While I agree that DMP is generally better for most champs, your math is misleading, and maybe even dishonest, due to that omission.

Lost In Time10/9/2015, 1:49:37 PM2 votes

They both fulfil different niches.

One's good for persistent AoE magic damage in teamfights or splitpushing, the other is good for chases, initiates and single-target damage. Everyone likes BIG D4M4G3ZZZ, so DMP is more popular but Sunfire will deal far more damage over time.

What really needs looking at is stuff like Ohmwrecker.

CoolKnightST10/9/2015, 1:40:26 PM1 votes

I'm still building sunfire in certain situations. If something need to be changed to it why not reduce the price to 2500 gold. Are the increased stats & passive really worth 850 gold. That combine price could be tuned down a little bit.

AyRe CoNteMpT10/9/2015, 3:10:02 PM1 votes

like what you are saying does not even matter in the game.

sunfire cape was a good defensive item that had offensive capabilities and it also allows champions who are bad at pushing lanes to push the lane.

deadmans plate is now much better as a defensive item with offensive and utility capabilities for champions who enjoy alot of mobility or simply need more ways to get onto their enemys.

a malphite for example would still build sunfire, as would a shen. both items are very good and the sunfire has the advantage not only of pushing the lane but also of dealing alot of damage in teamfights, which deadmans has not.

how gold-efficient is a sunfire burning 5 people? do we have to balance that then too? why doesnt it cost like 4000 gold, it deals so much dmg