Assassin Itemization Question

Zerenza·Oct 19, 2016·3 votes·307 views

I love that Duskblade and Youmus were given more Assassin oriented passives so now we won't have ADC's building them(with the exception of vayne) and i absolutely love the smaller AD assassin items, especially the one that gives a spell shield.

The only thing i'm worried about is that AP assassins might be left out in terms of good items for them these champs include Katarina, Leblance, Diana, Akali and Ekko(i like the ekko changes btw) currently you need to build Mage items on them and while they are pretty good i still feel like a distinct assassin item for them would be good.

Also i'm curious, is Poacher's Dirk a starting item for AD assassin junglers? If so it would be nice to get some assassin starting items since we don't have any. Ones for AP and AD of course but finding a way to limit them to just AP assassins so burst mages can't build them as well.

3 Comments

TalinisOct 19, 20162 votes

There are almost no actual AP itemization options for assassins. They work if you are a range like leblanc or a champion like kass who requires mana and has virtually no R cd late game. The itemization is piss poor for other assassins and if this joke of an update for Fizz goes through, he will be a permanent AD tank build. ADs get all these items that allow them to survive in melee while dealing damage, (skirm, steraks, yomuus for speed, maw, now edge of night) while AP get ZHONYA which doesn't even allow you to do anything during the active. With all the delayed damage in fizz's current kit there is zero ability to go AP as late game you live for less than half a second against an ADC and all his damage requires 2 seconds.

Brutalitops01Oct 19, 20162 votes

AP assassins don't need their own items. AP assassins and AP mages generally follow the same pattern of bursting down enemies. The biggest difference is that mages have less single target damage and more AoE/control. Protobelt + either Luden's (if they don't weave an autoattack into their combo) or Lich Bane (if they do), then more AP items are enough burst for an AP assassin. AP Ekko even on live is pretty good right now when played right. The reason why they changed AD assassin itemization is because ADCs were abusing the strength of their armor penetration stat, and it was too strong. AD assassin items, right now, are in a good spot for AD assassins, but they're too strong on ADCs. AP assassin burst items are in a good spot for both assassins and mages. Even if Riot made some new AP items with more of an assassin focus, either mages would start abusing the new items (thus making them broken like the current AD assassin items) or the AP assassins would just ignore them, depending on how strong they are.

ZerenzaOct 19, 20161 votes

Yes AP assassins do need to have options outside of simply building the exact same as every mage ever. I'm not talking about burst, their bursty enough and assassins are more than just damage, i'm talking about utility and survival. The new item that gives a spell shield is AD only and while yes AP assassins can use Zhonya's, they can't attack during zhonya's. I mentioned the fact hat ADC used to use the AD assassin items, i also mentioned the fact that they would need to make it an assassin only item option. I'm fairly sure that riot can do that just like how they made the AD assassin items assassin only, sure some champs can still get some nice utility out of it like Vayne on Duskblade and Riven/Fiora on Youmus but ADC will turn away from those items now because they don't give what you want anymore and the same could be done for AP assassin itemization.

One of the easiest ways is simply to make it a melee only item, Fizz, Katarina, Diana, Ekko and Akali are all AP assassins that are melee and leblance is the only pure AP assassin that's ranged so it's not like your limiting her your just giving something to the Melee AP Assassins that they probably need.