Should I start skipping or building it later Ardent Censer?

RedPannda·Oct 30, 2017·1 votes·553 views

With the nerf I am wondering if it is still worth going coin and rushing it now on supports like Soraka or sona. Would a redemption first or something else be a better start? Or is it still the strongest first item to get?

Unrelated what are some good off meta tank supports? There is a gross lack of tank players in silver and I am finding it almost always leads to a loss but I don't enjoy playing most of the meta tank supports (Thresh/Blitz/Ali/Braum). I don't feel like I am doing enough with a bunch of activatable items and I feel like a normal tank build would let me achieve more when I am the only tank on the team. Is this a pipe dream or can I legit support with some non "support" tanks? If so who are the best ones?

7 Comments

Mig89Oct 30, 20172 votes

Its no longer a priority to rush it first. I think on someone like soraka you still want it as its stats are still good. Its just not broken anymore. It relys on the ADC having a bit more damage for it to be fully useful. Leona can easily carry you out of silver. I main Leo and zyra when playing ranked because i like to be proactive and I hit gold easily. If youre snowballing on either you can build a bit of damage and pop squishies. Its not often but at times ill build IBG or (even rarer) if im REALLY ahead ill grab lich bane on Leo. She can lay down a good amount of damage while stun locking someone.

NakedGrannyOct 30, 20171 votes

Honestly, I'm in favor of Crucible more. Fatter heals, clutch save potential and extreme sustain with some MR to boot. It's the all-in-one, and you can just build whatever after that. Go full AP with it to see 500 point heals every two seconds and feel like you're actually making a difference.

Censer is a no-skill / no-gameplay subsidy for your carry's gold. It doesn't give anything that Crucible doesn't give you more of except for a little bit of AS on your carry... who will waste that buff time just jockeying for position / being stunned anyway. Given how much of the buff is wasted in practice, it's far less effective than it looks on paper.

Raka is the only one who can even really keep the Censer buff rolling for any amount of time, so she's the only one it's actually functional on, and I still would rather have the Crucible cleanse clicky. I would have to be up against a teamcomp with absolutely no CC at all to consider not building Crucible.

JbelsOct 30, 20171 votes

The problem with Censer is that if it isn't broken, it's usually not worth taking. The first time it was broken it was taken because it effectively allowed an ADC to stat check the other ADC by having more gold's worth of stats and the ability to outsustain in trades. Riot "nerfed" censer by removing the heal, but doubling it's onhit damage. This didn't fix the problem, this just moved the problem from being about gold value and sustain to being about gold value.

The item is fundamentally badly designed, because it doesn't require you t odo anything special to access it's power. At least Zeke's forces you to sink an ult cooldown into getting it's active portion. I predict that left as it is, the item will fade back into mediocrity and disuse once people realize that by the time it's worth taking, the ADC won't even really need it anymore, and that covering some other aspect of their weakness with a different item will be more valuable

IRyzeForNidaleeOct 30, 20171 votes

It's still broken. It's just not as broken so you might want to get your sightstone first. Maybe.

MeepianOct 30, 20171 votes

I'm a Soraka main, so maybe I'm a terrible person to ask... but item 3504 is still the first AP item I finish. ...I upgrade Ancient Coin to Nomad's Medallion first, always, to improve my cash flow, upgrade my refillable pot to corrupting, and usually buy Mercury Treads, and then I push Ardent. I'm not sure that I'd rush Ardent on other Healing champs, though.

When my team needs a Tank, I will usually break out Leona or Taric. I think these two champs are still pretty Meta.

...when my team doesn't really need a tank, but I think we could benefit from some more Tankiness, I play Lissandra as Support. I don't think she was really designed to be tanky, but I take Tank Masteries and build for durability. This seems to work pretty well: item 3111 item 2301 item 3027 item 3110 item 3102 item 3151 I rush Frostfang for more mana regen, and also Catalyst of Aeons for the Eternity effect. ...I find this gives me enough health and defense to "get in there" and enough AP that I'm not swinging a pillow in fights.

ProvengreilOct 30, 20171 votes

only on sona, who can double dip on the shield/heal buff while giving it to the whole 4 man bot lane dive. Soraka, lulu, janna, and even taric can still take it and be fine, but should at least get sightstone again.