Spell Vamp, is it time?

Hi Guys,

I came across this idea a few weeks ago and have done a fair amount of research into it so please hear me out. The question I'm asking is: Should spell vamp return?

Now when looking at this I was wanting to take into consideration several points:

1. What is spell vamp?
2. Why was spell vamp removed to start with?
3. Who would benefit the most?
4. How would they effect they current meta?
5. Who could abuse it and how to prevent this?
6. How much is too much?
7. Which items should have this that already exist (if any), and what new items could look like?

So I looked at each other these and came up with the following answers:

So what IS spell vamp? Well I started in S7 so didn't have any way to look at this, but by looking at previous items/patches etc I've come up with this:

Spell vamp is a sustain stat which converts a percentage of the damage from champion abilities and in some cases item effects into health. Spell vamp will apply to any source of ability damage, which generally excludes most on-hit effects or is split between damage types.

The heal is always calculated from damage after taking into account magic resistance, armor or champion damage reduction.

So spell vamp was removed for several reasons that was summed up as they were "unhealthy for the game". There are still some that exist, but are clearly designed for a small niche of champions. Now looking back I can agree fully with this decision. They were abused by several champions who had inherent heals (more detail on 4), they allowed too much sustain for those that didn't need it, and lead to games dragging out for far longer then was necessary. All of these points were VERY valid at the time, but are they still? With games lasting an average of just 25 minutes, AP champions being a rarity for the most part due to their lack of HP sustain when compared to high burst champions, and the damage creep getting more obvious with each patch, I don't think having mages etc with more sustain in lane is really such a negative thing anymore.

So who would benefit the most. Well we'll pass over those with inherent spellvamp again due to point 4, but will instead focus on others that might see use from this. So the first group I'd look at were those that can already build Gunblade (the only AP spell vamp item left). These include Diana, Akali, Katarina, Jax, Leblanc and Ekko. Granted some of these RARELY build it, but they CAN build it without much stretch. The question is, would they want/benefit from more? Remember point 1. So Akali benefits from AD and AP, as does Jax. The activate is also a great tool for Katarina and Diana's AA's doing more damage is never a bad thing (especially with HoB being a great rune for her). This leaves us with LB and Ekko, who while they both benefit from mostly the same things, are less likely to build gunblade and tend to opt for other items instead. Now how likely are these champions to "stack" spell vamp? TBH not so much. Most require something a bit more tanky anyway, and with Gunblade being so expensive, it's much the same as choosing to stack lifesteal for an AD champion; one is normally enough. Would this leed to Ekko and LB building a new item? Proabably, but then spell vamp was always a good counter to burst as well so while it might benefit them, it might benefit others far more. So who else could see use from spell vamp? Well lets look at mages. Viktor, Malzahar, Anivia, Taliyah, Brand, Sol, Cassio, Kassadin just to name a few. Most mages in some way would benefit from spell vamp, and on the right item might even be a worthwhile rush for a lot of them just to survive in lane. Not all would bother with it, but a lot would, and a lot of them are mages we aren't seeing so much of anymore.

Ok so lets look at the meta. Its fast. It's burst. It's 100-0 or lose. It's snowball. Champions that need to "scale" to have kill pressure have no place in it. So how would spell vamp effect this? Well obviously 100-0 would be harder to accomplish, and even getting your laner down to 50% wouldn't mean they would stay that way (we've all got vlad down to 50% only to find him back at 90% hp after the next wave!) meaning 100-0 doesn't really happen as much as long as you're doing damage. But this would also slow down a lot of the snowball. This would lead to games taking longer and scaling champions to come online.

Ok so abuse. This WILL happen. It is inevitable. Vladamir was a huge abuser of spellvamp, Morde is also a top contender to this. But why was this? Was it their inherent healing? Was it the other stats that went so well with their kits? Was it the synergy with Spirit Visage? Or was it the combination of these factors? Well lets look at the classic spell vamp item: Will of the Ancients.

2300g 80AP 10% CDR Unique: Abilities instantly heal for 15% of raw damage dealt, including physical, magical and true damage. Area of effect abilities only heal 5% for every unit affected.

Wow. That is so abusable it hurts. First off it effects EVERYTHING (much like gunblade) for just 2300 gold. It's stats are as good as much 3000g items, and it's lack of a mana stat made it perfect for the above to abuse. About the only thing holding it back was the "unique" part.

So how can we stop this from being an issue without applying nerfs to the champions that would abuse it, effectively forcing them to build it anyway? Well first off lets look at changing the way spell vamp works. Should is REALLY work off ALL damage dealt? Wouldn't it be far more balanced if it just worked of abilities and items? Would this really change these abusers? Not really. How about making it only work on those who AREN'T gaining healing from their ability? Well then EVERYONE is able to heal like Morde and Vlad, which really takes away a lot from them. Lastly what about the ITEM? Maybe that's where the biggest flaw of this is. The item was so GOOD for so CHEAP that you really might as well get it? We'll look at this more in point 7.

How much is too much? Well lets look at similar items. Gunblade: 15% for all damage (5% for AOE). Death's Dance: 15% Physical (5% for AOE). I think this much a least makes sense. 15% is a fair amount without being "OP", and the AOE being 5% means it isn't going to be hugely abusable on largely AOE champions. Unqiue is DEFINITELY important, to prevent stacking more then one, though few would do this, it's not worth the risk.

Ok so lets look at Items. We need to take into consideration the previous points, but also make it viable on those that we want to have this as an option. So first off these are going to be AP items, so lets look at existing items that need some love.

Spellbinders Orb for starters is rarely, if ever, built. It was, lets face it, and complete flop. Now lets imagine a slight change to it. Lower the AP down to 80, add the unique passive 15% (5%) spell vamp and 300 mana. Change the active to "5% of spell vamp healing is stored up to 10%-40% mana (based on level) and can be a activated to regen this over 5 seconds. Cooldown 180 seconds" Cost goes up to 3100 gold, build path changes to accommodate different stats. So here we have an item that is perfect for SO many champions. Vlad and Morde COULD build it, but the activate would be pointless on them.

Rod Of Ages is rarely built on most champions, but would this be a good item for spell vamp instead of the catalyst passive? Well it gives HP, Mana, AP, scales, and costs less then most items. It could still be abused by Vlad and Morde thanks to the high AP and HP stats. For this reason I wouldn't put it on there. But would it need to be changed to increase it's popularity? I personally don't think so. The catalyst passive would work well off spell vamp, giving extra sustain for a cheap price.

So say we don't want to change the items we already have? What about new items? We know that AP, HP and Spell vamp would make it too viable for Vlad and Morde. We also know most AP users rely on mana sustain to keep in lane almost as much as HP. So why not combine the two in an existing way?

Vamperic Rod 1100 gold: Amp Tome (435g) + Amp Tome (435g) + 230g 40 AP UNIQUE PASSIVE – SPELL VAMP: Abilities instantly heal for 5% of raw damage dealt, including physical, magical and true damage. Area of effect abilities only heal 5% for every unit affected.

Vamperic Blade 3200 gold: Sapphire Crystal (350g) + Vamperic Rod (1100g) + Blasting Wand (850g) + 900g 60 AP 250 mana UNIQUE PASSIVE – AWE: Grants bonus ability power equal to 1% maximum mana. Refunds 25% of mana spent. UNIQUE PASSIVE – SPELL VAMP: Abilities instantly heal for 15% of raw damage dealt, including physical, magical and true damage. Area of effect abilities only heal 5% for every unit affected.

So now we have a new item, building from two items (one existent, one new) giving a small amount of sustain on each, culminating into one sustain item. It would be pointless on those that would normally abuse spell vamp, while being a great item for those that currently lack sustain. The low AP means it's not a massive powerspike, only a lane sustain, and as it doesn't grant extra AP or a large amount of extra mana it isn't really subsidized like Serephs is. The lack of CDR makes it a choice between this and other items so isn't really a "fix all" early, but would continue to scale well later.

In conclusion I think that reintroducing spell vamp COULD have a positive impact on the game. It would have to be done carefully, with the items designed to be less viable on champions that used to abuse it, while still being strong on champions that really need it. These are for the most part those with inherent healing in their kits already, and do not use mana. The solution I have found therefore was to combine mana and hp sustain in some way without giving unlimited sustain. I believe the spellbinders orb to be the better representation of this, but feel Vamperic blade is also a viable option. Please free to leave your comments regarding this, but do so only after you have read the post.

• Loki -