- Grants 10% cdr in compensation. 10 more MR in compensation. Any changes in Season 5 were basically cost changes.
- Grants 10% cdr in compensation. I'll grant that its raw stats have been nerfed since the beginning of Season 5, but this item has always been almost exclusively mandatory on mages by being both one of the largest whacking stats and having one of the best item actives in the entire game. Its utility is almost unparalleled. It shouldn't be a giant metal bat on top of that.
- Now exist. This effectively adds 140 AP to the potential pool of items based on the way you're counting.
- +20 AP.
- Now you are STRAIGHT UP LYING.
At the beginning of Season 5, Rod of Ages actually already had 60 AP. In patch 5.13, The AP growth stat was doubled from 20 AP at full stacks to 40 AP at full stacks. Its stacking mana rate was also doubled from 200 Mana at full to 400 Mana at full, losing 50 base Mana and 150 base health (becoming 400 mana 300 health base).
In 5.22, the cost was increased, but then Rod of Ages got 20 base AP. So now it's gone from an 80 AP to a 120 AP item.
Rod of Ages flat out got 40 AP over the course of Season 5, then MYMU cut out 20 AP and gave it the new Eternity passive for sustain instead.
Rod of Ages has actually been buffed by 20 AP since the beginning of Season 5.
- Grants 10% Movement Speed and an additional 10% AP damage proc. It's honestly a big step up in terms of utility over DFG.
- Rylai's was not even addressed in Season 6's MYMU. All changes barring the stat drops that are current stem precisely from Season 5.
At the beginning of Season 5, Rylai's was a 400 Health, 100 AP item. Single target slows were 35%, Instant AoEs were 15%, DoT slow were 15%, all lasting 1.5 seconds.
Then this happened in 5.13:
Single Target Slow increased to 40% from 35%
Area of Effect Slow (instant) increased to 40% from 15%
Damage over time or Multi-hit Slow increased to 20% for 1 second from 15% for 1.5 seconds
Summoned minions now slow on-hit 20% for 1 second
The only real nerf from the beginning of Season 5 to now on Rylai's is (realistically) raw stats and single-target utility.
And no, mages never built
or
at any consistent rate.
I can't even take your argument seriously because it outright ignores certain Season 5 itemization changes that are likely crucial to understanding why these items might have been nerfed in MYMU or are being nerfed now. You also don't consider the fact that a mage doesn't have 8 item slots. The potential AP lost should be typified based on how much AP the mage could even build to begin with, not by the total loss of all potential items.
On average, mage itemization has probably lost around 60-70 raw AP, a good chunk of it coming out of Zhonya's neck. And with good reason.
Let us also not forget the 50 AP from the Elixir of Sorcery come end game, which replaced the 40 AP Elixir of brilliance.