Sharp, Negative, Side-effects of the Guinsoo's Rageblade Rework/Changes

Not only were they completely unwarranted, but they skewed the power curve of the champions that used it in the WORST way possible. Most noteworthy cases are where the strong ranged champions were unaffected while the weaker melees were hurt badly:

Master Yi: 50% -> 43% Jax: 50% -> 46% Xin Zhao: 51% -> 46%

Kayle (Top): 54% -> 53% Kog’Maw: 54% -> 53% Tristana: 49% -> 47%

Clearly we can see how the higher winrate champions are unaffected as they have fallback builds but all the melee champions using this item were pretty much killed, save for Yi, who was killed through champion nerfs in conjunction with build nerfs (also relied on titanic at one point).

But win rates don’t mean everything, right? What other evidence do you have?

• Massive efficiency cuts on the item for an indisputably weaker passive, even in the lategame, where the item is intended to “shine”
• The greatest (by far) abusers being Kayle and Kog’Maw, being relatively unaffected compared to the balanced/weaker users as they ALSO have other viable rush items.
• Melee and ranged are equalized in terms of stacking instead of 2:1, respectively, so that the melees suffer significantly and the ranged do not in comparison

But your opinion doesn’t mean much, right? Playing 1k games using the item and being Master tier aren’t enough!! You’re also biased!!

• Riot stated they would err on the weaker side of balancing Rageblade as it has already had a strong point in its life cycle (6.1, anyone?)
• There is general consensus that the item is too weak (just look at comments wherever the item is mentioned on the boards)
• Item popularity has decreased significantly, going with above point
• Notable players of the top users do not build the item or play their champions as frequently anymore (Cowsep, Hashinshin, IreliaCarriesU, for example).

So what does this really mean?

• Jax, Xin, Yi, and Trist are pretty much dead as a side-effect of the change while Riot only considers rebalancing Yi, but only as a result of the item+champion joint nerfs
• PBE changes have not been made yet for the item or the champions affected so it is important to bring this to attention, as again, it is a side-effect so it may go easily unnoticed

Source:

• Winrate differentials are from Champion.gg

• Consistency was checked with leagueofgraphs.com for large errors in winrate margin

• Maybe I'll edit to how to easily fix the "game health" issue of stacking in a cleaner way or more specifics of item balance if this gets attention