Stupid Idea: Support Vision Changes

Vision has always been a central part of the Support role, and it likely will always be that way. The vision game has changed a lot since the beginning of League, and it should continue to grow and develop. One of the big issues with supports and vision is how much the role is shaped by Sightstone. It's basically a mandatory item that has to be built every game, preferably early on. But it lacks much presence beyond the wards it provides, only giving a small amount of health, and it takes up a valuable item slot that could be used for other items.

An item that players look at, thinking "It would be nice to get a better item, but I need what this item provides" should not be a mandatory item. It should be something optional that players get under certain circumstances where they feel they really need it, and they are willing to give up better stats for it.

Why not change the support role's vision items to allow them a bit more flexibility and freedom in their itemization? Rather than 2 nearly mandatory items (Sightstone + gold gen), boots and a few extra items. The ideal situation would be having only one mandatory item - gold gen - similar to junglers having the mandatory jungle item.

In the vision game, supports have 2 big roles: creating and denying vision. Currently, they create vision using Sightstone and deny it with either Control Wards or red trinket. Supports would need to retain the ability to do these two things if any changes were made.

Move Sightstone's current ward active to a trinket upgrade that is only available if the player has a second-tier gold gen item. Sightstone would no longer be a mandatory item, and space would be freed in the supports' inventory. The gold gen items would necessarily become more expensive to compensate. This would maintain supports' current ability to create vision in games, with little change other than build path.

Supports could purchase the second-tier items first instead of always being pressured to get Sightstone. The gold gen items give stats the supports want more than the flat, generic health on Sightstone and they help supports earn even more gold. Obviously, that is something supports would want early, rather than having to wait until after buying Sightstone.

However, supports still need some way to deny vision, other than slapping control wards everywhere. With the Sightstone trinket taking up the trinket slot, they can no longer get Sweeping Lens to find and clear enemy wards. A second active can't be added to the gold gen items, so sweeper can't just be slapped onto those.

Thankfully, Riot recently added a useful passive to : "Blackout - When spotted by an enemy ward, causes a blackout for 8 seconds, disabling all nearby enemy wards and traps (90 second cooldown)." This could be added to the third-tier gold gen items to give supports their vision denial. This makes a price increase for the gold gen items even more important, since the higher price would simulate the level 9 barrier on the Sweeper upgrade.

Sightstone would not be removed from the game, however. Instead of providing Stealth Wards, it could hold a charge of 1 Control Ward that replenishes at your fountain. One problem supports often face late game is not being able to carry Control Wards with them because their item slots are filled up. Sightstone gives some stats, and Ruby Sightstone gives its passive item CDR, so letting them provide Control Wards would allow supports to keep using them without completely giving up a slot.

Sightstone would not be mandatory this way, but it would be an item that was beneficial to buy in certain situations when you know you'll want Control Wards in the late game but don't just want an open slot for them. It would usually be a late game item bought based on need. Both Sightstone and Ruby Sightstone would only carry one Control Ward at a time, making it inefficient to use for just getting tons of free wards everywhere. It would just be more convenient and slightly better for stats than just buying the wards.

The third-tier "Eye" items would also provide Control Wards, presenting supports with the choice of (combat active with no control wards), (combat active with control wards that take up a slot), and (control wards that don't take up a slot but no combat active).

With these kinds of changes, supports would only have 1 mandatory item instead of 2, while still being able to fill their role of creating and denying vision. Supports would no longer be chained to Sightstone (and frequently get harassed for not buying it first) - they would have to get the second tier gold item first, but those give stats they actually want and improve gold generation. Which supports really want.

Whether or not this is the best solution, moving away from the mandatory Sightstone would be a huge help for supports - especially for making the role more appealing to non-support mains.