Life for real, yes it is a DPS, yes whatev, aren't DPS meant to deal more damage than bursts because they allow you to repply for let's say A LOT OF TIME.
But when Thunderlord is landing blows of 160 and your DFT is barely dealing 50 damage it feels LAME AF, or at least make it deal true damage, SOMETHING.
I would like to see If we could make 20 random champs use DFT and then have other 20 use Thunderlord and see their winrate depending on the masteries.
Blitzidious1 votesDFT is designed as a late-game keystone. It can eventually get to a point where it's dealing 100 per tick. This doesn't seem like much, until you realize that it can be reapplied multiple times. DFT seems to be the most niche out of all the masteries excluding WIndspeaker's, of course. I personally don't see that as a bad thing.
Now, the reason why you'd pick DFT over Thunderlord's is due to the downtime Thunderlord's has. This downtime comes out to a minimum of 15 seconds, later on. DFT, on the other hand, if you have a frequent way to apply it, will out-damage Thunderlord's.
Swain is a good example of this. Thunderlord's is wasted on him as most of his damage is delayed. To properly apply Thunderlord's, as it doesn't stack per tick of his dots, is to E Q, than auto, or land W. DFT, on the other hand, is instantly applied by his E, reseting per tick, additionally benefiting from his E damage amp, and, will again reset on his Q. If his ult is running, it will, yet again, reset.
Basically, it comes down to this when choosing between the masteries: Do you have a consistant way to deal damage to the enemy? If yes, go DFT. Do you have a combo which requires more or equal to two hits? If yes, go Thunderlord's.
Both masteries seem to be designed to flesh out these two damage patterns. I think DFT is fine where it is, as a late-game, dps based Keystone.
Cherysse1 votesWell the problem is that as a low damage keystone (per tick) it's damage is very low due to magic resist.
BobbyCarHaterX1 votesThunderlords can deal around 300 dmg all 15 secs. Deathfiretouch can deal around 50 dmg each second without a cooldown on every champion.
Do the maths
Afk Teemo Ward1 votesDFT is designed to be more of a aoe champs pick, particularly if there is a dot effect to that aoe, or if that aoe is a low cooldown. Think Brand, Teemo, Cass, karthus, anivia, Swain. DFT is all about keeping it up. Thunderlords is all about getting that burst, so its better on champs like Yasuo, Fizz, Syndra, Zed.
The real reason why Thunderlords feels so suffocating is that all the champs that benefit from it are the champs that you are usually facing.