I'd like some thought on the way some high tier defensive items build (preferably some from riot)

So, looking at Infinity Edge and Zhonya's Hourglass (Blade of the Ruined King as well) got me thinking, I mean these items are definitely very good on their own partially due to just how much raw power their is on IE and how amazingly useful the active on hourglass is, but if you're making either of them your first big offensive purchase, you've got a distinct advantage over your foes if their first big item is one of the OTHER BF sword or Needlessly large rod items even before you just consider stats, how good the item is on the whole, etc.

That advantage is that you are far less hindered if you concede first blood.

Why do I say this? Well, let's look at the way the items build relative to each other.

The big rush for getting one of the items is to try to stay in lane long enough to afford either a BF sword , or a needlessly large rod. Obviously saving up enough for this item is a long task, and getting first blood on your foe can really help to expedite this; you'll get an advantage in level AND you can now afford a really big item to augment your damage and make keeping your advantage even easier. If you end up dying, you often have to settle for a consolation prize and play safe, either a doran's item or the other parts of your big purchase. And that's where IE and Hourglass have got something the other items don't. If you can't quite afford your BF sword for your IE, you can always buy a pickaxe , then, through a good gank to reset the lane or some careful farming, you can LATER buy an agility cloak . Now, I'm not going to argue that early on, those two items are as useful as 1 BF sword, but since they are buyable in more manageable chunks, you can go for an IE against your foe, and be on SIMILAR footing with +25 AD and +15% crit vs 50 AD, as opposed to people building a bloodthirster or an essence reaver against a foe with a BF sword where you just have to sit on a vampiric sceptre and pray you can farm a BF sword in a reasonable amount of time, and THEN you have to be able to afford a decently sized combine cost next... you don't get the smooth options for build path that IE has.

It made me wonder to myself, Why would it be so bad to smooth out those big items a bit to help the slightly farther behind champion compete. It can be debilitating in solo queue, and it leads to pretty sizable powerspikes in challenger type games.

Bloodthirster, how bad would it be to change its recipe to one BF sword + 2 vampiric scepters? ? In the long run it makes the item path a lot smoother, and it makes a lot of sense given how much lifesteal is truly on the item (the jump from 16% from 2 scepters to the 20% of a full BT is less extreme than the 8-20 jump it has now). But, more importantly, being behind, it isn't unreasonable to be able to farm 2 seperate vampiric scepters to compete with your foe's BF sword, and the +20 AD and +16% lifesteal makes a reasonable answer to the 50 AD of a BF sword.

now, obviously, you won't be able to afford TWO vampiric scepters to your opponent's BF sword unless you get a reset gank, but looking at that situation where your foe kills you so you have to shop early, and then you quickly return a kill, shouldn't you be on similar footing? Because right now, given the huge advantage the BF sword gives, that doesn't happen, especially in solo queue.

Essence reaver is even worse since, as an item, it's just generally less useful than the other BF items, so I think it just flat out needs help. Odds are, if you're even considering this item, you really like CDR, and mana is a bit of an issue for you. But, honestly, if you're in need of mana regen, you probably need that ASAP, and can't really wait for a full essence reaver, so manamune is going to but it out a lot of the time d/t the ease of an early tear. Would it be so bad to add a forbiden idol to the item's recipe? Sure it beefs up the item a tiny bit by adding some non-situational mana regen, but that's not an altogether bad place to buff the item since it needs it, and bigger combat stats don't seem like the right approach. Being able to sit on a vamp scepter and a forbidden idol would NOT make you a super huge threat against your BF toting foe, but it at least gives you a touch more sustain to make surviving the lane a bit easier, and giving you less of a hump to need to clear to afford your reaver.

deathcap really doesn't have QUITE the same problem just due to the dynamics of mid lane and the other convenient items to build, but it certainly suffers build path smoothness compared to the hourglass in a way that isn't altogether necessary. ( no reason deathcap should have a compartitively larger upgrade hump given their comparable usefulness). I don't see why tossing in an amp tome to lower the burden of the combining cost would be such a bad thing, it would certainly smooth out the power spike just a bit.

I know that smoothing out powerspikes isn't an absolute good, nor is it an absolute bad.... I just want some other viewpoints on this. Thanks!