We need more items like Stopwatch.

ModCaptainMårvelous·Jan 23, 2018·62 votes·7,187 views

Now, bear in mind, Stopwatch might be too strong due to the free aspect and maybe being underpriced.

But Stopwatch, beyond that, is an incredibly interesting item: A statless, one-time use consumable that gives you a Zhonya's effect for a clutch play early game while building into strong late game items. Imagine more items like this, things you can buy that can help you. Imagine a statless, weaker version of Zzrots that lets you keep your wave pushed when you go TP bot for 1000g. ~~Imagine a one-time component for youmuu's that boosts your attack speed for one fight.~~ (TIL Ghostblade doesn't give AS anymore. Ok so maybe a one-time use for like...MS? IDK. ) These sorts of things could be perfect for bridging the gap.

That's just my thought on the subject, however, and I'd like to hear others.

73 Comments

RiotRiot CaladJan 23, 201823 votes

I don't work on Runes, but I totally agree with you! I think getting a one-time use thing is really risky and powerful and exciting. Stopwatch is probably currently overkill as you said, since everyone and their mother seems to be using it, but it's still my favorite Rune.

Fun fact! When the gameplay team was pitching Runes Reforged pretty early on, a single use zhonyas was one of the earliest examples of a potential rune that I remember hearing about. Specifically because it was a really impactful effect that didn't involve stats. So that idea has come quite a long way.

DecritJan 23, 20183 votes

Consumables and likewise is something really underdeveloped on LoL right now. No wonder Stopwatch feels so good!

... however, the UI should be improved to support consumables too xP

ModCaptainMårvelousJan 23, 20181 votes

Well I hope you guys can make more of these.

AirKingNeoJan 23, 20184 votes

Except the Stopwatch rune is very overpowered, so it probably shouldn't be a rune.

LVL99 Helper TKJan 24, 20182 votes

can you sparkle some magic on the keystone tree and make a bruiser keystone for us please?

TèrminusJan 23, 201817 votes

You do know that Ghostblade's active no longer gives attack speed, right? I'm assuming you meant movement speed, though.

The single-use Zz'Rot sounds interesting, though.

ModCaptainMårvelousJan 23, 20183 votes

This goes to show how I can't read. RIP

The SoulforgedJan 23, 20182 votes

You mean write?

ModCaptainMårvelousJan 23, 20184 votes

Naw, read. I haven't bothered to read Ghostblade's active for years because...well, been playing since 2010 or so and didn't realize it changed.

5000000000000000Jan 23, 20181 votes

I believe the change happened during ADC rework to separate marksmen item from assassin items.

ninjaroxasJan 24, 20182 votes

Happened during the assassins rework. I wasn't here for the marksmen rework but I was for old ghostblade

Raven RedeemedJan 23, 20183 votes

Don’t worry. I’ve seen hundreds of people hit the active when they are only attacking a structure. You are far from the only one.

Karn BishopJan 23, 20188 votes

Keeping track of one time powerful consumables is very problematic and honestly keystones should not give free items at all, though i would be open to what i call item options instead.

Lets take magical boots for an example why not make an entire rune line called Nifty boots or something like that which lets you pick from 3 options of unique boots you can add to game and buy with gold if you select that rune such as +10 extra speed, boots of attack speed slowing, and scuttle boots which lets you do a mini scuttle dodge on trigger away from enemy champions.

Keeping in mind the boots could also do other effects so long as those effects are not offensive in nature, besides i believe offensive boots in general make the balancing of other items much more difficult and we would be better served by removing item 3006 item 3020 and replacing them with defense option boots that make sense for most classes/roles.

i kick routersJan 23, 20183 votes

[deleted]

Karn BishopJan 24, 20181 votes

Oh i agree on the magic boots and presumably the boot change would hit along side an ap item rework.

Velzard of KozJan 23, 20182 votes

buy with gold if you select that rune such as +10 extra speed

Yeah, but you realize the items are not free? You realize you opt into entire Runetree for them, sacrificing defense good Resolve would give, good access advantage Domination would give or good killing reward Precision would give? Then you sacrifice something any other Rune would give. If they'd be equal in stats, why would I choose that over something free? Is the 10 extra speed that I have to still PAY for more than +5% Cooldown Red and Cap on spells and items that I can get without purchasing anything.

The boots would have to be really powerful to justify you pay by choosing the Rune and then pay again with money, similar to how Unsealed Spellbook uses shard system to balance out its supposed power. And even then it's considered suboptimal probably because people feel like they need to pay twice (rune slot and shards). And then it's questionable If the boots weren't so powerful it still outshines everything else nontheless.

Karn BishopJan 24, 20183 votes

Regarding the runes providing free stop watches / boots i am hardly alone in the opinion that such items should not be rune options, in fact whenever i see someone ask a pro streamer / other high mmr players they all say the free item runes are bad design that encourages snowballing.

Besides i believe that runes that give raw gold in general are just terrible and should be removed because in any scenario those runes are good enough to pick they become just better then any of the runes it should compete against merely on the merit of the value in item power they will provide.

Unsealed spellbook suffers from a few issues a few of them are flaws with the rune but the other flaw is that it must compete with kleptomancy and having the option between switching spells which could potentially be useful but compared to guaranteed gold + items which will be useful 95% of the time its trash in comparison.

I believe the inspiration tree would be better off if free gold runes were removed and replaced with runes that make actual sense for the inspiration tree like a rune that adds 1-15 seconds onto ward life based on level or something.

TraustJan 23, 20184 votes

They should replace minion dematerializer with a 1 time use banner of command

Sexy Jack RabbitJan 23, 20182 votes

Sounds like a really cool idea tbh. But with it's high recent use in competitive games would dematerializer be removed now?

ISLAMICWARRIOR99Jan 23, 20183 votes

Stopwatch is cancer due to the ability of everyone to take it for free but yea, great item concept just shouldn't be a rune.

Z3SleeperJan 23, 20183 votes

Imagine a statless, stronger version of Ohmwrecker!

Oh wait, Demolish exists.

Btw Youmuu's doesn't increase Attack Speed.

BârdJan 23, 201815 votes

The two serve different purposes, in that Demolish actually serves a purpose.

Z3SleeperJan 23, 20184 votes

LOL

bbQsauçeJan 23, 20183 votes

[deleted]

GayFluffyUnicornJan 24, 20183 votes

I'd rather revert the game to s5 and start from there with a new design team

SpoofghoulJan 24, 20181 votes

I'd rather revert the game to s5 and get rid of the design team altogether after that

KieferrJan 24, 20183 votes

I wish I could downvote this a million times. There should never be an easily accessible item that anyone and everyone can buy that totally changes the outcome of a play and game. Not fun at all. I really hope riot does something about it soon.

GayFluffyUnicornJan 24, 20183 votes

Especially when you are a fighter main who NEEDS to snowball and lose three kills just because this rune exists. It's free gold, zero risk and maximum reward.

An DraoiJan 23, 20182 votes

Items like those, I think would bring a lot of fun to support playstyles, if they had more gold income.

press R nowJan 24, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=An Draoi,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=MVpKzt2u,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2018-01-23T04:00:10.325+0000)

Items like those, I think would bring a lot of fun to support playstyles, if they had more gold income.

Honestly they get enough already from the support items which is why like every other role is abusing them and why they are getting changed in 8.2

Teridax68Jan 23, 20182 votes

I largely agree with this. I'd very much like League's itemization to move away from raw stats, and in general I think the game could afford to have more tactical and strategic gameplay attached to it. Stopwatch is the perfect example of a meaningful strategic choice on purchase, and an equally meaningful tactical choice on activation, as its one-use nature means it forces the user to consider whether they are truly using it at the best time, and what they're giving up by consuming the item then (similarly, this also means their opponents can exploit this as well to fight more aggressively thereafter). In fact, I think it could be interesting to have an experimental RGM where the only items offered were consumables of the same sort, which could thereby force players to plan their future encounters in much more minute detail.

If there is one limitation I'd see in this, it's that implementing more actives as starter components would most likely require those components to fit into multiple end-tier items. Stopwatch is already inserted pretty weirdly into League's itemization, as Gargoyle Stoneplate in particular really doesn't function in the same way, despite having the item as its component. There might be potential for, say, a one-use item that boosts movement speed (which would fit into Youmuu's, Merc Scimitar and Righteous Glory, perhaps even BotRK and Protobelt), or another that provides a spell shield (which could then build into Banshee's Veil and Edge of Night), as well as adjustments to current build paths (Mikael's could build off of QSS, for example), but beyond that there are a lot of disparate actives that only really exist on one item, with many more passive items or even just stat sticks after that. I think there's tremendous potential for more items like Stopwatch to fit into the game, and I think they'd bring fantastic new gameplay, but I think we'd also be likely to cap out on that potential very quickly past only a few items, if itemization remains in its current state.

iDarkWindJan 23, 20182 votes

You may call me a biased AD Assasin main, but in my opinion it wasn't smart at all. It reduced drasticly the window of oppurtonites where Assasins would shine.

One time use may look something 'meh, not huge deal' but indeed, in a meta where snowball is so important it is a huge deal. Playing as an Assasin, like in my case Zed, and not being able to take the advantage of lv6 power spike is a big deal. Plus, it makes item 3157 / item 3026 / item 3193 cheaper by 600 gold, wich is amazing. Mages would only waste 2100 gold for an amazing defensive item, and ADC's, if I'm not mistaken, even less for the . Since the season started there were games where I wasn't capable of winning, even tough I snowballed, because the enemy ADC rushed item 3047 plus item 2423 (to build item 3026 later) I wasn't able to kill him in the team fight wich lead us to lose that team fight, and nowdays losing one team fight can decide the game.

If I was weak and didn't snowball properly, it wouldn't matter, for the must of the time I wouldn't be able to caught the enemy ADC or kill him easy anyways, but in this case, I was fed. I felt extremly bad after doing everything I could to win just to lose to some 600 gold item one time use late in the game.

Here I'm not saying that we should buff AD Assasins or something, I'm just reminding that this thing here item 2420 is insanely good against the Assasins, and even tought it is one time use, that one time use can change the whole game. Plus it is a component to items that are very effective against Assasins.

DJMason88Jan 23, 20185 votes

Stopwatch from the rune only contributes 300 gold to it's upgrades, not 600.

like in my case Zed, and not being able to take the advantage of lv6 power spike is a big deal.

This is the same problem mages have when the enemy buys a item 3155 . Hex does cost more gold but it also gives stats and isn't a one time use. Now, i agree about how its built on everyone these days, which makes it very hard for assassins to start their early snowball.

iDarkWindJan 23, 20181 votes

Do not compare Hexdrinker. Hexdrinker is a item that cost 1300 Gold and is insanely good against mages, yes sure, but at the same time as an Assasin you will be wasting 1300 gold on an defensive item. Do you know what that means on the early game? The Assasin will lose a item 3134 plus a item 1036 if he had 150 more gold. That's terrible. Extremly awful. If you're going to play passive in the early game what's the point of picking an Assasin anyways? if this isn't bad enough, item 3156 is extremly bad on the Assasins, wich will lead to item 3155 being sold in the late game (meaning you'll lose gold).

You sure it only contributes 300 gold? It makes no sense it costs 600 gold and would only contribute 300. I'm pretty sure you're wrong.

DauntJan 23, 20183 votes

So removing any sort of kill pressure on yourself when 1v1ing an AP champ is a waste of gold?

Sp33d Zer0Jan 23, 20181 votes

An item that lets you 1v1 any time you want because you are too tanky while dealing assassin level damage in the early game is a bad buy?

Automated RivenJan 23, 20181 votes

{quoted}

Stopwatch from the rune only contributes 300 gold to it's upgrades, not 600.

This is the same problem mages have when the enemy buys a . Hex does cost more gold but it also gives stats and isn't a one time use. Now, i agree about how its built on everyone these days, which makes it very hard for assassins to start their early snowball.

Maybe make hex 1time use until upgraded. I actually wouldn't mind it's existence if that was the case.

AckelopeJan 23, 20181 votes

Hey, just letting you know, assassin is spelled like this, with four S's, and you don't really need to capitalize the first A, unless you feel the need to because you're referring explicitly to the class. Even then it does look a bit odd.

iDarkWindJan 23, 20181 votes

Thank you.

Jerry SeinfeIdJan 23, 20182 votes

honestly i'd like to see LESS active items. support really became fucking boring.

maembeJan 23, 20182 votes

support is boring because they actually do stuff now?

Jerry SeinfeIdJan 23, 20182 votes

no because your champion barely matters, it's a bunch of items.

TaliyahcJan 23, 20182 votes

It would be amazing to have items like this for AP Champions honestly.

AD champs get hexdrinker for a clutch save in a 1v1 but mages have no early game item to make a clutch other then stopwatch which is used by ADs as well however.

Lios AshenbladeJan 23, 20182 votes

I want a baron buff elixer

Crede777Jan 23, 20182 votes

A single use TP item would be interesting. It wouldn't build into anything so would be sold when broken, but the effect could allow greater flexibility in summoners for champs who want to run something other than TP but risk losing out on farm and xp without an early buy + TP to return to lane. Could also allow for more early TP plays in different lanes.

LongtowelJan 24, 20182 votes

I like the stopwatch! It adds more interaction to the game.

It makes a jungler's first gank more complex, and potentially more rewarding if done right. If I gank and I force the stopwatch, its like forcing the enemy to burn flash. But if the jungler gets too greedy and dives for a kill without realizing that the stopwatch is up, then you're dead.

It can also be used to make plays! Its quite satisfying to turn up to a teamfight at midgame with a stopwatch that you bought in the store, without anyone realizing, and screw up everything for the enemy team.

That's quite fun.