Since Apen Is Getting Reworked In The Preseason, Can You Guys Also Look Into Mpen?

I just find the current situation of Mpen pretty meh.

First off there's runes. While AD Champions have a lot of options to choose from for their reds - attack speed, AD, Apen and even crit if you're feeling fancy, AP Champions really only have Mpen. I would at least like to be able to choose between maybe that, AP and %Mpen, since flat pen is made to counter low MR values, because of the way diminishing returns work. If you are not a champion that stacks a lot of Mpen and that buys CDR boots, it won't grant you a lot of extra damage, because early MR values are much higher than armor, so Mpen Runes just won't do that much. Sure, the MR value stays the same and most champions don't get MR per lvl, but there's still Maw and Abyssal that counter it super easily.

Then there's Haunting Guise and Liandry's Torment. I just find the flat Mpen to be a bit out of place here. As I already said, flat Mpen is made to counter squishies - but Liandry's gives you %HP damage, which is made to counter tanky targets. A lot of the squishy killing AP champions like Veigar, LeBlanc and FIzz also would probably just like more AP instead of the HP that Haunting Guise and Liandry's give you. I think %Mpen would fit much better on Haunting Guise and Liandry's than flat Mpen does. If you look at the champions which buy those items currently - Brand, Rumble etc. - you can clearly see that they are semi-frontline battle mages and fighters who would make much better use of %Mpen to kill the most likely tanky targets in front of them. It would also fit well with the health component of these items, because these kind of champions are really close to the frontline and want to stay there to deal damage, so the extra survivability just makes sense. Lastly, the %HP magic damage of Liandry's would also synergize much better with %Mpen than with flat pen.

And the Mpen item that I really like the least of them all is Void Staff. While it is probably balanced and a pretty decent item atm, I see three problems with it. First one is, it is not really an anti-tank item. Of course it helps with dealing with them but it also is an item that combined with flat Mpen, that procs before %Mpen does, is really good at killing squishy targets too. It doesn't really scream "anti-tank" at me like the Last Whisper Upgrades as a counterpart example do, instead, it just seems like "deal more damage to everyone" to me. Secondly, it hurts AP build diversity. I hate that it is a mandatory item in full AP builds next to Rabadon's, so when you are coming up with your own builds you really can only pick 3 other AP items and between 2 kind of boots. Making AD builds is just much more fun for me and feel like they are much more diverse. Which brings me to my last point. While its design is effective, it's just really boring and simple. Ever since Last Whisper got reworked into two items, I loved how awesome all the new passives where and what this actually meant for the game. The components of the Last Whisper items are also really unique and awesome whereas the components of Void staff are just giving you flat AP. The combine cost of it is also super high, which feels frustrating at times.

To be fair though, I also have to mention the two AP items that are actually doing their job properly - Abyssal Scepter and Sorcerer's Boots.

Abyssal Scepter is basically just the go-to option for AP bruisers who are looking to deal with magic damage, the perfect counterpart to Maw of Malmortius for AD champions. There is not a lot more to say about it, because it really just does do its job well.

Sorcerer's boots are also a pretty awesome boots option. While they're really simple, they create an interesting choice between them and Ionian Boots. If you are a spammy DPS kind of mage like Xerath you will probably go for Ionians because you don't need the extra squishy burst since you are probably targeting opportunistic targets instead of actively aiming for the squishies, especially since they are way in the back and protected. Then again, will they make you overcap CDR or not? If they do, you might aswell go for Sorcerer's Boots. Or you could also just replace the 6 CDR per lvl Glyphs that give you 10% extra CDR at lvl 18 with flat AP Glyphs or AP per lvl Glyphs or Mr Glyphs or Mr per level Glyphs and go for Ionians anyway. This is just an example for all the thoughts that have to go into the simple choice between Ionians and Sorcerer's Boots, you will to have consider a lot of similar aspects with every other AP champion too.

I think there should also be some new Mpen items added to the game maybe. If you look at what choices AD Assassins and burst champions have for anti-squishy flat pen items, the options that AP champions have just pale in comparison. The only real option are the aformentioned Sorcerer's Boots and maybe an Abyssal, which is really not an assassin item in the first place. AP Assassins could use an item that gives you flat pen, AP, maybe a bit of CDR, maybe a bit of movement speed and an active or passive that helps you burst someone, an AP counterpart for Duskblade and Youmuu's that AD champions have. It would also be just the right time for it, with the assassin rework almost being here. It could also be another thing to balance Fizz, Akali, LB etc. around, if they happen to be over-or underpoerforming again. Only problem I see is that it could also be really hard to balance and become a Deathfire Grasp 2.0, and nobody wants that to happen of course.

Before I end this thread, there's just one last thing I noticed, which is that flat magic pen for some reason seems to cost more than flat armor pen. Just look at the difference between both runes for quints and reds and the gold cost of their respective items. I don't know why it is like that, I'm pretty sure there is a reason, I would just like someone to explain it to me.

That's about it, I hope you liked the post.