Reworking Wit's End: The Zephyr Approach
Wit’s End rework into Zephyr
TLDR; Wit’s end was reworked into a hybrid resistance item. The new version had some issues though since it didn’t have any meaningful trade offs for only building the items components. This talks a bit about what those trade offs should be and ways to improve this approach to reworking Wit’s End. Comment down below on what you think
Wit’s End is a largely forgotten item that needs a rework. It has some very unique and interesting mechanics but these wind up with very rare appeal or strategic benefit. However, Riot has made a recent attempt at reworking and modernizing the item. We will look at what has changed, the pros and cons, and what could be changed.
Most of you probably don’t know that Wit’s End existed and were even less likely to know what it did, appearing only about 1 time in every 125 games you play. So for those of you who don’t know, this is what Wits end is:
Current Wit’s End Build: Recurve Bow + Negatron cloak + Dagger + 380 Gold (2400 total)
- 40% attack speed
- 40 Magic Resistance
- UNIQUE: Basic attacks deal 42 bonus magic damage on-hit.
- UNIQUE: Basic attacks (on-hit) grant 6 magic resistance and reduce the target's magic resistance by 6 for 5 seconds. Both effects stack up to 30 magic resistance. Ranged Champions only steal 3 magic resistance per basic attack, up to the same cap.
https://twitter.com/RiotRepertoir/status/1103515153293668352
It's a fun item but can be very difficult to use effectively for any champion. So being a bit outdated, Riot decided to turn this item into a component and then create the following
New Wit’s End Build: Dagger + Negatron Cloak + 380 gold (1400 total)
- 20% attack speed
- 40 Magic Resistance
- UNIQUE: On-hit, deal 15 magic damage and gain 3 magic resist for 5 seconds, up to 18. Melee champions gain twice as much magic resistance on-hit, up to the same cap.
New Madred’s Bloodrazor Build: Chain Vest + Dagger + 300 Gold (1400 total)
- 20% attack speed
- 40 Armor
- UNIQUE: On-hit, deal 15 magic damage and gain 3 armor for 5 seconds, up to 18. Melee champions gain twice as much armor on-hit, up to the same cap.
New Zephyr Build: New Wit’s End + New Madred’s Bloodrazor + 500 Gold (3300 total)
- 40% attack speed
- 40 Magic Resistance
- 40 Armor
- 10% movespeed UNIQUE: On-hit, deal 50 magic damage and gain 3 armor and magic resistance for 5 seconds, up to 30. Melee gain twice the amount of armor and magic resistance on-hit, up to the same cap. Unique: Tenacity: reduces the duration of stuns, slows, taunts,fears, silences,blinds, polymorphs, and immobilizes by 35%
These are some very interesting items with a lot of benefits. Without question, many champions would love to buy this item… too many. The item suffers from being too universally good on every champion, meaning that it will kill diversity and unique build ideas rather than create them. Riot Meddler said the following about it: “Hasn't tested particularly well. Was popular but pretty degenerate, given it let a strong lane counter become an all purpose late game item without sufficient trade offs. Trying a different direction for Wit's End as a result.” (Quick Gameplay Thoughts, 3/13/19)
So what are the issues that make it “degenerate”? Well, the comment itself points out that its components (Wit’s End and Madred’s bloodrazor) shut down an opponent's aggressive builds and can then be sat on until it’s convenient to finish Zephyr. The second issue is that it is universally a great late game item on many champions, being extremely powerful for anyone who buys it.
So now how do we fix this? First, power needs to be Stiffened out of the components and put into the completed item. Second, some of the universally great qualities of it need to be shaved back to allow a more niche and tactical choice when choosing to build this item or its components.
https://static.lolwallpapers.net/2014/08/Yi+Yasuo.jpg
Wit’s End update, Version II Build: Dagger + Negatron Cloak + 480 gold (1500 total)
- 15% attack speed
- 40 Magic Resistance
- Unique: Deal 10 on-hit magic damage and gain 2 magic resistance, up to a cap of 12. Melee champions gain twice the magic resistance on-hit, up to the same cap.
Updated Madred’s Bloodrazor (mirror armor version of Wit’s End)
Zephyr update, Version II Build: Madred’s Bloodrazor + Wit’s End + 500 gold (3500 total)
- 40% attack speed
- 40 Magic Resistance
- 40 Armor
- UNIQUE PASSIVE: On-hit, deal 50 magic damage and gain a stack of Tranquility, stacking up to 10 times. Each Tranquility Stack grants 3 armor and magic. Melee champions gain 2 stacks per basic attack. At maximum stacks, gain Zephyr’s Tranquility.
- Zephyr’s Tranquility: gain 10% movement speed and 35% tenacity. Disables Guinsoo’s Rage or Sterak’s Rage on your other items.
This approach to Zephyr strongly changes who this item will appeal to. Sitting on a component of it is still viable, but isn’t as optimal anymore since it provides less stats for the gold you spent on it. It also now limits its ability to work with Guinsoo’s Rageblade and slightly weakens itself when paired with Sterak’s Gage, meaning that people have to give up meaningful options to pick this. A similar precedent was established with Athene's Unholy Grail negating Mikael's Crucible health regen.
It still has some of the issues the previous version had, but they have been diluted to a certain extent. This approach to Wit’s end is a very exciting one and shouldn’t be completely abandoned yet without experimenting a bit further.
Well, those are my thoughts on the issue, what are yours? Are there any upcoming changes your excited about? Comment below with your thoughts on this or any other topic. Thank you for reading.
