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Lethality Changes Fail to Accomplish Goals

iiRebs·11/6/2019, 8:42:25 AM·2 votes·1,435 views

tl:dr Rior wants to open build diversity for lethality users but changes fail to address why Ghostblade/Duskblade are currently rushed. New items will be built as 4th/5th items like current EoN. EoN will not be built because its niche is being removed. Umbral Hydra is useless and Sanguine Blade will not be opted for over Ghostblade/Duskblade

Riot's goals for lethality changes: "Lethality items are core for a pretty big group of AD assassins and fighters, but with only Duskblade and Ghostblade commonly used, choices feel limited. We want to make Edge of Night a more attractive option and add a fourth choice to the lineup. "

For those that did not know, today the set bonuses were removed from PBE and the items recieved poor compensation for the set bonus removal. Duskblade and Ghostblade have the same stats as live but duskblade no longer has vision control and has greivous wounds instead. EoN now only has 10 Lethality???? 325 Health, and 55 AD but is a passive instead of an active. Sanguine Blade is 50 AD, 15% Life Steal, and 50-120% AS when one or fewer enemy champs are visible. Umbral Blade now has duskblade vision control, 10 Lethality, 10% CDR, and 50 AD.

The glaring issue is that these changes do not address Ghostblade and Duskblade being mandatory rushes. Ghostblade is currently rushed because it enables roaming and gives CDR. Duskblade is currently rushed for the damage potential and CDR. The key here is the CDR. Without CDR and enough lethality, the new items will be exactly like current EoN because they fail to offer the early combat stats assassins need.

Speaking of EoN, after these changes, it will not be built. Every high elo player has talked about how terrible having the item as a passive is, with only 10 lethality, there is zero reason to build it. If the item stayed the exact same but had the HP switched to CDR, it would be viable early in the game.

Sanguine Blade sounds nice until you realize that Tryndamere, Yi, and every other split pusher will make better use of it than its intended audience. Furthermore, it lacks CDR which means that no AD assassin will want to build it instead of Ghost/Duskblade early. To fix this item, it just needs CDR and maybe for some of the attack speed to be put on the item instead of the passive, item defintely needs less AS on passive though.

Moving on to Umbral Hydra, it seems like Riot had zero ideas for an item so they moved duskblades passive to a new item. That may have been okay, but it only has 10 lethality. Why would I ever opt to build this item when I can spend 500g more and get 8-11 lethality more? Why would I ever rush vision control over early stats in general, especially when I can get sweepers lens.

After these changes, lethality users will still be forced to build Ghostblade/Duskblade first after these changes. EoN and Umbral Hydra will be dead items that have 0 core users. Sanguine Blade will be abused by a small group of split pushers until it is unviable because it offers too much AS. Without EoN being a viable 3rd item, lethality users will feel worse.

2 Comments

Umbral Knight11/6/2019, 11:25:52 AM1 votes

You underestimate the power and need for the vision control. I agree Ghostblade will always be a first item rush because of the roaming it enables but the other points are limited.

It also depends on the match up. If the Assassin CAN'T Roam without majorly being punished in mid because his opponent can clear and push the turret hard then he might not rush Ghostblade. Instead he might rush Sanguine for the AS and Lifesteal that makes it great in 1v1 scenarios, not quite the splitpushing item they are selling it as. If he roams and keeps getting seen by wards the second item as Umbral to try and help counter that could be important. Duskblade becoming the pure damage item means I see it being moved back in the build order more likely.

Even the EoN changes are not as bad as you seem to say they are. Though you are right that it won't be a very rushed item on anyone except maybe Pyke since his Passive makes the health from it into more AD and the utility then makes him safer.