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Reasons why Manamune is a bad item

VoraciousX·4/20/2019, 6:18:29 AM·1 votes·2,243 views

Manamune overall is a bad item, and Riot a while ago removed the ability to use double tear builds because Ezreal was abusing them, so I figured maybe we should look at the real problem item, Manamune/Muramana and maybe things that could be done to fix it as an item.

Let's look at the item: item 3004 Manamune: _25 AD 250 mana Unique Passive - Awe: Grants Bonus Attack Damage equal to 2% of maximum mana. Refunds 15% of mana spent. Unique Passive - Mana Charge: Grants +5 Maximum Mana(max 750 mana) for each basic attack or mana expenditure(occurs up to 3 times every 12 seconds). Transforms into Muramana at +750 mana. _ item 3042 **Muramana: ** _25 AD 1000 mana Unique Passive - Awe: Grants Bonus Attack Damage equal to 2% of maximum mana. Refunds 15% of mana spent. Unique Passive - Shock: Single target spells and attacks(on hit) on Champions consume 3% current Mana to deal bonus physical damage equal to twice the amount of mana consumed. This effect only activates when you have greater than 20% Maximum Mana. _

Okay, so the item in theory sounds really nice for people who want to opt into a mana focused AD build and sounds potentially really good for late game. So why does only one AD champion in the entire game use it? Let's look at some reasons below:

Okay so as far as mana items go that could work with this, that an AD could build, we have...4, and two of those don't really work well together. Those four are item 3078 item 3025 item 3110 item 3800. Another problem with these items is that none of them grant AD, whereas mages have plenty of items that offer both mana and AP. They do give armor and health though, so there's that, but I can't really see any AD champions building Righteous Glory to work for their muramana, so that leaves us with either Trinity Force + Frozen Heart, or Iceborn Gauntlet + Frozen Heart. Iceborn gives more mana, but no AD on it's own so it could be used for a more defensive purchase, and Trinity Force gives some AD and some mana, so it could be used for more of a damage purpose. Still, mana options for AD aren't very plentiful. The only champion in the game who can realistically use the combination effectively is Ezreal, because of his Q. He procs it from afar, it uses mana, and it procs on-hits, meaning he's the perfect champion for this ONE ITEM COMBO. Jayce USED to build tear, but it was only because of his mana problems(which originally was the item's purpose, and even Ezreal's original purpose with it, to offset mana costs). Another former tear user was Urgot, before he was reworked, but his mana costs are no longer problematic, along with Jayce who got a buff to lower his mana costs so he no longer needed the tear build. So I mean, this item is pretty much useless. You can get around 80-90 AD from it if you build pure defenses, but that also means you're giving up other potential AD items. Ezreal wouldn't be building much in the form of AD anyways because most marksmen don't. They usually build infinity edge, guardian angel, and bloodthirster/death's dance for AD and that's it, which is another reason why he's such a good user of the item. He doesn't need crit as he is more of a drawn out fighter, and this build works well for him without the extra AD he'd get if he didn't build it.

So what can we do?

Well there are a few possibilities. We could: *** Make more mana items that granted AD.** Doing this would certainly make the item better, but the problem is Ezreal. He already uses this build extremely well, so adding AD items with mana would probably be a significant buff to him. Something would have to be done to either shy Ezreal away from these items, or push him away from building Iceborn Gauntlet. *** Remove this item. I mean, we could, but then Ezreal might suffer, or he might find another build path. I'm pretty sure Trinity Force Ezreal used to be a thing. Another drawback is for example champions who might WANT to opt into a more ability spamming playstyle. *** Make Muramana a tank item. Everyone runs out of mana at some point, perhaps tanks could use this item? It'd make sense with the current item options available for mana outside of AP. It'd need different passives and stats, and we also have the problems that could arise from Ezreal no longer using it. *** Leave it like it is.** I mean, we could, but should we really leave an item like it is when only one champion in the entire game uses it?

8 Comments

Illabethe4/20/2019, 8:13:57 AM2 votes

Your arguments completely are detached from the statistical benefit and persistence factors on building said tank items versus building more AD.

Build more AD: get to attack 1/4 as frequently, and feed 30% more deaths.

Build more Armor: Massive aoe slow, slow the attack of melees who get near you, remove your being a "viable first target.," and if you grab Transcendence, adds up to 48 more AD, making the AD spread ~ 143 between 3 items, or averaging out to 47.66 AD per item, which is more or less on par with most situational AD items. Furthermore, unlike item 3147 , Muramana is persistent and can be used repeatedly.

There are other viable champs to use Muramana on. Try adding item 3025 item 3042 to a MissFortune with a final build of item 3042 item 3025 item 3071 item 3142 item 3031 . You'll find that while her 1 shot capacity falls off, you can stick to someone until they are dead with no opportunity for them to ever escape, while also never allowing them to engage you because E is almost spammable. You control every aspect of the game.

And the build has a ~52-5800 damage ult spread, so it's not like she gets destroyed by doing this.

It's not as 1 strategy as going full Lethality or Crit, but it imo does a much more encompassing job than either of those builds.

Sanghelios4/20/2019, 7:06:33 AM1 votes

The issue with Manamune is that the majority of champions do not require an excess of mana, and would rather not build Tear when the mana from Trinity/IBG is sufficient.

The decreasing significance of mana is the issue. (And mages are the biggest offender)

NaughtyWord4/20/2019, 7:51:29 AM1 votes

I think we should rename the item to "Ezreal's Lizard Flogger".

Because that's basically what it is.

Saezio4/20/2019, 3:00:48 PM1 votes

You make a whole post. As if a single line wouldn't be enough to point out why it is a bad item...

ONE CHAMPION ONLY USES IT IN HIS MAIN BUILD

There, items have been removed for this exact reason, that none used them. But since it's ezreal and MANY lil kids enjoy playing him they would never deal such a blow to him. Did you not notice how long it took to disable double tear build when he was the only champion utilising it efficiently?