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Should Thornmail trigger turret aggression?

The Governer·5/30/2016, 3:58:07 PM·11 votes·2,522 views

https://youtu.be/C9GFGk08gG8?t=2m17s

As you can see in this clip, Dr. Mundo had equipped Thornmail and Kindred was auto attacking him under Kindred's turret. Kindred ended up dying due to Thornmail's damage and the kill is credited under Dr. Mundo's name but due to some reasons, Dr. Mundo wasn't attacked by turret. Thornmail didn't trigger turret aggression, and Kindred just died.

People can argue how Thornmail's unique passive can only cause self-inflicted damage but if so, why is Dr. Mundo credited the kill when it should have been "exceuted" instead? I am pretty sure the death recap for Kindred would have recognized Dr. Mundo as the killer as well.

What do you guys think? Do you think it's a bug or it's something Riot has intended to do? Obviously Thornmail triggered turret aggression in 2011 but for some really strange reasons it doesn't work now?

Edit: Gromp buff, which works similarly to Thornmail's passive, actually provokes turret aggression. Champion abilities that work similarly do so as well (Annie's E and Rammus' W), so why is Thornmail an exception among all?

17 Comments

DrCyanide5/30/2016, 4:11:19 PM6 votes

I'm fine with how it works right now, both granting the kill and not drawing agro.

If it did draw agro, then you'd completely prevent champions being able to build the item and help take turrets or zone defenders away from turrets, as one auto is enough to agro them.

Critmaster Garen5/30/2016, 5:35:26 PM3 votes

thornmail doesnt need further nerfs.

redniwediS5/30/2016, 5:31:29 PM3 votes

I don't think it should. Something like Sunfire is, without a doubt, a champion's item that does damage to an enemy. Thornmail, on the other hand, has a condition tied to it that pretty much makes the damage the fault of the attacker, rather than the one who owns Thornmail.

With Sunfire you just have to stand close to that enemy to trigger tower aggro, which gives a nice bit of decision making to the process. Do you get into the enemy's damage zone in order to push them off the tower, or do you attack from range and force them off without the tower's help?

If Thornmail drew tower aggro there wouldn't be a decision like Sunfire has. If you are ranged you would simply attack the Thornmail user and get them tower aggro. You don't have to get out of position to abuse the down side of the item. There would be no trade off, and would be a direct power shift that makes Thornmail significantly worse than it already is.

If Thornmail gets a compensation buff to it's damage perhaps I'd actually be for it, but with no planned buff this change would just be a nerf to an already mediocre item.

Icestar11865/30/2016, 4:45:18 PM2 votes

I believe that this is likely a bug.

Pupel5/30/2016, 5:45:18 PM2 votes

It should item 3068 does so it only seems consistant

Remlap12235/30/2016, 6:48:52 PM2 votes

Sure. As long as the turret takes damage too.

Spoofghoul5/30/2016, 7:46:18 PM1 votes

Only if it gets a massive buff and only then it is weak enough already

i mean technically i think it should but then again it would give opponents an easy way to draw aggro on you.

Right now thornmail is just to weak to justify this mechanic

if it had a base damage on its reflection of 4+ 2x level and the %damage reflection would be increased to 20% from 15% then i could see it as fair

but even withg such a buff i think thornmil would still be weakish

Speedphoenix5/30/2016, 5:07:45 PM1 votes

it is a bug thornmail usually trigers turret agro I really believe thornamil's passive should be a toggle one