Spell Vamp: Unique Passives VS Ratio Cap (and Vladimir Discussion)

Hey, all.

I am curious to know what people think of Spell Vamp, specifically the way that it exists as an odd variety of unique passives on items rather than being a straightforward stat like Lifesteal. I think that I understand why this was originally done - to prevent massive spell vamp stacking for burst healing and to prevent the old issue of Gunblade stacking. I think there are potentially better solutions that would resolve those issues while providing better clarity for players.

I personally favor treating Spell Vamp like Cooldown Reduction, in other words, applying a hard cap to the amount of the stat that can be utilized. In the case of Cooldown Reduction, that maximum is 40% (or 45% with a specific mastery). For Spell Vamp, I think that a maximum ratio of 40% to 50% would be reasonable.

Prevention of Spell Vamp item stacking should be viewed on a case-by-case basis in my opinion. For example, if Gunblade stacking made a return, the issue could be corrected by making Gunblade's gold efficiency rely more heavily on its unique active effect. If Will of the Ancients began to be stacked, then it could be granted a unique effect in addition to its Spell Vamp and its build price could be increased - in fact, that wouldn't be a bad idea in any case just to make it a more interesting item.

Likewise, if the Spell Vamp changes proved problematic on specific champions, then they should be viewed case-by-case rather than being allowed to hinder itemization diversity. For example, the upcoming mage revamp could be taken as an opportunity to tweak Vladimir's Spell Vamp synergy. I think that in Vladimir's case, the built-in heal on Transfusion should be removed. In fact, it's likely worth considering completely replacing Transfusion with a brand new ability.

Tides of Blood could then be altered so that it grants 6/7/8/9/10% Spell Vamp for the first 3 stacks rather than a general buff to all healing sources. Then the fourth stack of Tides of Blood could grant something interesting, like a DOT bleed effect on his spells.

These changes would accomplish several things for Vlad. First, they would make trading damage with him in lane more reasonable since he would need to ramp up his Tides of Blood in order to have any built-in sustain. As long as the Tides of Blood stacks were made visible on Vlad, this would allow his opponent to gauge when they have a good opportunity to win a trade.

Secondly, this would work with the suggested Spell Vamp cap to make it so that Vlad cannot build an overly oppressive amount of healing. Because 30% Spell Vamp from fully stacked Tides of Blood would put him somewhat near the suggested maximum Spell Vamp ratio, Vlad would be discouraged from building more than one Spell Vamp item. With the loss of the general healing buff on Tides of Blood and the built-in heal on Transfusion, Vlad's sustain would be capped out at a fairly reasonable level, even if Spell Vamp were improved as a stat.

Thanks for reading. Let me know what your thoughts are on these topics.

-Sam