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Current Essence Reaver is bad and needs to be reverted to its crit design (audio included)

Novanious·7/23/2018, 12:54:13 PM·8 votes·3,498 views

When the ADC itemization update hit, a lot of changes that were beneficial were included, such as changing IE's crit-based passive to true damage, adding Stormrazor as an item for bursty crit-based champions, and... that's about it.

But those changes were caked in the middle of an unrivaled cavalcade of ultimately bad changes, such as increasing the cost of zeal items (which was swiftly reverted), and reworking Essence Reaver from its crit-based CDR item design into essentially its original mana-based design with a gimmick tacked on almost thoughtlessly.

Current Essence Reaver is only built on 2 ADCs more than not at all at this point. It only sees play on Lucian and Sivir, and even then they both only build it in 50% of games. It's a gimmick-y suboptimal item that will only see use when it's overbearing (if it gets buffed before it gets revwered, expect Yi to become the top jungler in the game). Previous Essence Reaver was a good flexible item that saw play on a swath of different champions, from the expected CDR/ability ADCs like Varus, Miss Fortune, Jhin, and Lucian, to more late-game focused carrys like Tristana and Kog'maw, to even a champion that didn't use mana and thus didn't benefit from a majority of its stats, Tryndamere. Now that IE has been taken off its throne as "the only crit/AD item worth rushing", it would've bloomed in this update and created a trifecta of crit-ADC items that offered different benefits and were over-all good for the state of ADCs.

Why it was reworked, and why that rework was released alongside a bunch of changes with a clear goal of changing crit itemization for the better, is beyond me. But, I wanted to discuss why i think this rework is probably one of the worst item reworks in recent memory and why, in my opinion, it needs to be reverted. I'll put my listed reasons why current ER is bad and why old (not oldest) ER was good below, to follow along:

  1. Why is current Essence Reaver bad/unhealthy? a. Current Essence Reaver’s item design is very specific in its gimmick – champs that like using abilities after ult b. Doesn’t synergize with any existing build path for any champions, crit, pure damage, utility, or otherwise c. Promotes an unhealthy state for whatever champion – if the champ can make use of the its passive (Lucian, Renekton and Yi for a brief time), they are unbearably strong. If they can’t, the item isn’t worth building. d. Is only built in more than 20% of games on Lucian and Sivir, no other champion e. Is literally pre-2016 Essence Reaver but sustain is replaced with its Essence Flare gimmick passive.

  2. Why is old Essence Reaver healthy enough to revert to? a. Old ER’s item design fit the philosophy of current crit itemization – Giving benefits to a certain set of champs that are seen in the carry role b. Synergized incredibly well with crit builds, thanks to offering AD, crit, and CDR, as well as a unique passive incentivizing building crit c. Was a core item on many champions, but was flexible and not overbearing like past IE or current ER d. Could be built on any champion that wanted crit and CDR. Tristana, MF, Jhin, Lucian, Crit Ezreal, even Tryndamere who didn’t have mana all saw item usage

  3. Why revert the Essence Reaver update? a. New ER is a gimmick weapon like old Banner. It does one thing extremely well (Banner being sieging while moving to other lanes, ER being using your ultimate than spamming abilities and auto attacks) but is otherwise underwhelming. b. Old ER, as mentioned, fit the design philosophy of post-crit-rework crit items. Instead of just being damage boosts, building crit offers utility as well as damage. Burst ADCs like Stormrazor as a rush, and new IE offers a way to counter tanks, fitting with the late-game role of ADC. c. Riot can and has reverted any number of updates, from items to complete champs.

10 Comments

Arammus7/23/2018, 1:11:55 PM1 votes

i dont think its bad, but we SERIOUSLY need more than 0 items that give ad + crit chance. ie counts as half due to its passive but man if i have to go 2 full zeal items and then ie, my true dmg is still low as shit BECAUSE I HAVE NO AD meanwhile the full tanks in top deal more dmg because their base ad is higher lol

Wild Geese7/23/2018, 4:35:55 PM1 votes

Upvote this man.[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

saltran7/23/2018, 4:48:04 PM1 votes

I honestly miss old ER [zombie-nunu-bummed]

rtbf2216514127/23/2018, 4:52:05 PM1 votes

It's hilarious on Vayne when combined with item 3147 and the ult rune.

Vaylen Obscuras8/21/2018, 1:01:26 PM1 votes

The old crit-version was not very good in terms of design. Although, I also dislike the new one. Let me elaborate.

ER was always an item intended for AD Casters, especially those struggling with mana issues. The only other options for those kind of champs was tear/manamune for manasustain. Crit is a counter-intuitive stat on such an item: Crit is oftentimes not a stat that actually improves your ability damage. This made the crit on it a very awkward stat for many potential users, as Crit always requires a heavy investment(At least 2 items, with old ER being a third item). Crit has no synergy with the main draws of ER: Mana sustain and CDR. Thus, crit is not a good choice on it. Additionally, ER, especially the old one, has a terrible powerspiking issue: You get it for manasustain, but it is too expensive to get early... when you need mana the most. Additionally, due to how old ERs CDR worked, it was a suboptimal buy(Similar to how Rabadons or Lichbane first is suboptimal). Ideally, you first wanted to get crit, then get ER... But if you first got crit, you always wanted IE afterwards. Old ER was just very, very poor in design. To summarize:

  • Very awkward powerspiking(Mana-sustain hits too late, optimally requires pre-built crit)
  • Crit is not an "AD Caster"-stat, thus it lacks synergy with itself
  • Crit being on it makes non-crit ADC builds with it pretty dumb(Ezrael, Corki, Sniper Varus, Lucian, MF)

No~ow, on to the new ER...

It at least has a mana component - however, this really is not enough to count as actual "manasustain". In fact, a sapphire crystal is a buy you always want to avoid, as it gives no actual combat stats. Additionally, the new passive is, as you said, gimmicky as fuck. On some champs, it is underwhelming... on others, absolutely overpowering. Add to that, that it does very unintuitive things to your playstyle. When buying it on lucian, I sometimes just double tap R to get the Essence Flare, instead of using R as it is intended. Overall, not many ADC have "engage" or "in-fight" Rs: Most of them have "end-of-combat" R's or time-sensitive R's(Like Xayah R). This highly limits the applications of new ER and makes it feel pretty bad oftentimes. Compared to old ER, though... New one is much better for AD Casters in general and doesn't powerspike as awkwardly.

So, I would propose... Neither of the ERs. First off, I'd like to see a "mini-ER" - An AD+10% CDR+Mana(Be it flat or sustain). Should be costed at around a BF(1300-1500) and be similar in power. This mini-ER would alleviate a lot of the powerspiking issue, especially in regards to manasustain(A BIG selling point of the item). In terms of stats, I'd still go with AD, CDR and mana(sustain).
I'd abolish the current Essence Flare: It is such a divisive passive on the (close to) only item for a whole subset of champs(AD Caster ADCs). It is difficult to say what to exactly use in place of it - if anything(A boring item would probably work just fine .)... But the current essence flare is just too divisive, varies wildly in terms of powerlevel and does unintuitive and undesirable stuff to gameplay.