40% CDR should be something you build for intentionally, not somethng you just pick up along the way

There has been a lot of CDR inflation in the game to the point where they are making the new items to essentially get every mage to 40% CDR every game.

Honestly, the balance of CDR items was perfect before the marksman update, but along came Essence Reaver that gave marksmen all this free CDR for nothing. Because of that, mage players were all, "Why do they get so much free CDR when we have to actually work for it?"

Marksmen should have never had access to that much CDR in the first place because it's not a class vital stat for them. If a marksmen wants CDR they should be sacrificing crit and attack speed to get it. If a mage wants CDR they should be sacrificing AP to get it.

Zhonya's was a good example of how the ideal system would work, because if you rush it first you gain good damage and defense, but you push back getting CDR which can really change how a mage plays since it's such an important stat to them.

The old Zhonya's is a perfect example of meaningful choice. More power and safety now, versus more spammability (and usually some kind of mana benefit) - both choices equally viable and I don't feel bad for going either way.

Adding CDR to Zhonya's makes it too general purpose of an item now and I'm wondering if it will have that same level of meaningful choice in NOT picking it now.

In my opinion, I think CDR should be considered an intentional build choice, and CDR items should have generally lower AP values.

But because of Essence Reaver, it's just not possible. It skews the CDR availability curve by too much.