I know that building tanky on champions that are supposed to be squishy is a issue, but...

...what if Riot actually nerfs the items that assassins are currently abusing?

What will happen to many melee assassins? Some of them will still be viable ( ) but what about the others? ( )

Part of the reason why they build tanky currently is not just because they can do so and still have the damage needed to kill squishies. It is because they don't have the same potential as other assassins to 100-0 someone in 1 or 2 seconds. Talon can build full damage and still be effective even though he is a melee because he can instaburst any squishy, and thus, he doesn't need to worry about being tanky because he is not going to take damage to begin with. Even if he takes damage or dies, it is probably that he has did his job already.

However, Kha'Zix cannot 100-0 someone unless they are isolated, and even then, it takes more than 2 seconds for him to assassinate someone, making him take a lot of damage in the process. Thus, he is a lot more vulnerable to being kited and crowd controlled. Akali has a similar problem: even with a full AP build, she can't try to assassinate someone during a fight because she is going to be crowd controlled and instantly killed. The only moment where she is going to kill a squishy reliably is when they are isolated, but a squishy champion should not wander alone if there is an assassin on the enemy team. Thus, for Akali, the only way she can be effective is by building tanky, allowing her to overcome the aforementioned problem.

Master Yi also has a similar problem. He isn't really an assassin per se, but a diving fighter. However, even if he builds full damage, not only he can't 100-0 someone, but he will die easily once he is crowd controlled. Yasuo can build squishy because of his immense control potential, and Tryndamere can build squishy because of his ult.

That's the problem. Unless you have the potential to instantly 100-0 a squishy, going squishy as a melee is incredibly risky and is almost always unviable. Many ranged champions can be squishy exactly because of their range advantage, but melees are a lot more vulnerable to CC and kiting.

What if items like Titanic Hydra/Sterak's Gage/Iceborn Gauntlet are nerfed? I know they should be nerfed because they are currently too powerful. But then, what will happen with assassins that do not have the same instant 100-0 potential as others? Are they going to become trash again?