Balance & Itemization overhaul series: Discussion threads for the future of league balance
The goal of this thread is to overhaul the games balance, mostly through itemization and where needed through champion updates. Enhancing strength profiles of each class at the cost of generalist power. Also making up for glaring weaknesses which have led to balance problems in the past. making individual changes to champions to increase their niche strength and giving reasons to pick them over other champions of the same class. Although this thread and the related ones will mostly go over general changes and item changes as a discussion thread. I believe it's best to leave the individual updating of champions and the needs to be addressed by the champion's mains and Riot to figure that out
This thread will give my opinion on what i deem necessary and many might disagree with some of the stuff i post more detailed changes and updates will have their own thread.
ADC/DPS A lot of it with ADC itemization and some of it with AD itemization in general Personally i would overhaul crit entirely, and make items which enhance critical strikes with special effects, like armor piercing crits, or ones which expose weakness, allowing allies to attack that enemy for bonus damage consuming the mark. Or applying small debuffs like a very short 0.25 slow, or crits which apply a bleed and grievous wounds. Things like that. And there would also be options which grants small buffs to the adc whenever they land a crit like very short decaying bonus movement for example I would also make the movement bonus on zeal items unique, no more stacking them to become the flash
Lifesteal Lifesteal i would change by simply only applying it too the total AD part of attacks and if stated otherwise like botrk it can apply to bonus damage. Even playing ground for all lifesteal users. Some items i would change, like BT i would allow overhealing from all sources Death Dance would gain increase in damage delay, but less physical vamp yet this physical vamp would be stronger on aoe effects to mainly reduce it's healing effect on single target damage and in return giving greater burst protection. however i would also reduce the time in which this delayed damage applies to force quicker reactions from you and allies to deal with the delayed damage.
Penetration Penetration i would change by changing the way it works, first of all the last whisper items would be changed into crit enhancement items, like penetrating crits. This would make adc the default powerhouse vs beefy targets. This way theri damage vs squishy targets can be toned down a bit, also through crit itemization although i already touched on this. Black cleaver will be altered by vastly reducing it's ad but granting bonus damage on spells scaling off of health to even out it's damage on it's intended users, though with weaker early damage and a bit stronger late game damage. Lethality will largely remain the same. Abuse of the items will be a lot less common with all the above changes, if needed the amount of lethality can be adjusted as well as it's effectiveness throughout the game. Mages will lose % penetration in their itemization but will gain massive other advantages for it unique to ap itemization.
With all those changes tanks will end up more beefy to many classes and as such individual champion tweaks will be made to make some of them stronger vs tanks think Azir gaining bonus % on his ult ranks or Cassiopeia gaining shred on her poisons a flat amount and a % shredding both mr and armor Changes like these which help differentiate individual champion strengths, scaling and utility. But also unique features like for example Sivir's Ricochet gaining bonus damage on the next bounce whenever she it's a target with high armor values.
I have combined this with the assassin item update for now https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/Ez1Nh8TM-itemization-overhaul-series-ad-assassin-item-rebalance-ideas
Mages/AP And change a little in other places by giving other classes some things to excel at, like making mages strong vs shields for example and weaker vs tanks so they can't be a replacement of marksmen but can be very potent vs non tank champions. Personally i would change some of their items like making voidstaff an anti shield item by allowing the wielder to bypass shields and i would give it flatpen I would also change liandries by making the burn effect a bleed effect scaling off of AP and applying a bleed trail which grants bonus movement to allies running after it like the Iron elixer, very usefull for ap assassin. Stronger vs squishies, able to deal with shielding, weaker vs tanks
Assassin Also i think Assassin need more work they need something which makes their feast or famine nature a less awkward deal This can easily be fixed by giving them Optional utility through items, possibly scaling (partially) of off lethality and with low damage stats to discourage stacking the options or abuse of them. Things like bonus damage to structures and neutral monsters like dragon, Or active debuffs to weaken enemies, Like disabling their lethality for a decent while to damage an enemies armor by 150% the amount for a short time in addition to grounding and slowing the target, essentially weaking both themselfes and the enemy, can be used to make picks if behind by giving you an advantage for a short window in the 1v1 but it can backfire if you fail. Can also be useful in teamfights if you get countered at every turn in assassinating a priority target then simply weaken one of their protectors so you and the team can quickly get rid of that target. Assassin need more utility or they will always be feast or famine, and i think the best way to do this is to provide fall back options through items.
I have combined this with the assassin item update for now https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/Ez1Nh8TM-itemization-overhaul-series-ad-assassin-item-rebalance-ideas
Enchanter Supports Enchanter supports will have their itemization changed to better suit supporting of all manner of allies. Different cleansing effects come to mind like restoring shredded armor values for example to help tanky allies, or speed buffs and slow immunizing allies more effective on melee, to help out your friendly fighters, divers juggernauts, or other buffs, think of shield effect buffs from their items which fundamentally change how their shielding works. For example consuming the shield on next spellcast to apply a bonus effect, or a debuff to whoever breaks your shield or an effect when a shield expires before it gets destroyed.
Tank supports Tank supports will get other utility options to help with specific situations where you would need a tank which can help with certain things, like providing cover in sieges or you need a peel tank or a vanguard There would be changes to items and new items which would help with that
For example an item which absorbs a very small amount damage from all nearby allies and applies it to you over time DD style and grants an aura which allows allies to benefit from your health regen values, this effect disables when taking damage and goes on a shot cooldown warmogs style. Very useful siege in sieges
And some other selfless item choices, for example one which helps with peeling, an item with an active which roots you in place and creates an area around you which slows down and grounds enemies inside
Things like that
Tanks
Tanks, as in pure tanks, after all these changes would end up stronger vs damage in general mainly through itemization, though they will now have to content with certain champions being stronger against them.
Tanks will mainly need kit changes and some minor itemization changes
Riot wants to move them away from their spammy aoe damage nature, and that is fine but will require some kit changes
But before this can be addressed item wise kit changes are needed, first and foremost tanks need to be able to fight minions and monsters and farm them like everyone else Area damage is the fairest way to do this as it is weaker in the 1v1 fights but also strong in teamfights giving exceptional damage sometimes and often with the only counterplay besides building resistances yourself being avoiding proximity.
Sion is often referred to as a fair tank in this respect as he doesn't really have this spammy aoe damage but rather hard hitting abilties you can entirely avoid However his damage is handicapped vs minions and monsters which doesn't seem fair for such trade offs as he makes the spammy area damage other tanks have access too allow them far easier farming by comparison So one ability which can excel for farming would be key in Sion's case that could be his Q by reducing the handicap at later levels for example
Making other tanks more like him with harder hitting area spells that are a bit less spammy then gives the option of allowing better more reliable area damage through itemization which can then be given weaknesses as well to allow for better trade offs
Ill give an example, Sunfire cape deals minor area damage, this could be weakened further but strengthened vs minions/monsters And given an additional component where getting hit charges it up to unleash a wave of fire on your next spellcast/attack. This would allow for far more conditional spammable area damage with more counterplay
I would make defensive itemization synergize a bit better think thornmail randuins for example as right now it doesn't synergize too well With defensive itemization in general stronger we have to be careful here and assess the impact of other changes first. However defensive itemization is available to everyone so other classes can opt into a defensive item as well and get more value out of it. I would also give more utilitary defense in anti debuff and the ability to apply debuffs as a way to draw aggro besides damage which allows for less reliable damage and cc.
All of this would require many more changes then most of the other class changes or champion changes it could be done first or last Though last would probably be best as it is one of the more upsetting changes and requires a lot of individual champion reworks and changes
So in that sense the bigger reworks could be done on individual champion updates as the other changes are made with the itemization and minor champion changes last. as the other champion/class/item changes will already have an impact on how effective defensive items are
Finally i would want to give tanks a late game option through armor sets which have large requirements and decision making aspects as well as costs But i will elaborate more on that when i address this in it's corresponding thread.
Tldr: Many class changes mostly through itemization. ADC less general power more utility and class specific strength profile Mages gain more power vs squishy targets Assassin will get more available utility giving them fall back patterns Supports gain more adaptability and will gain the power to enable other classes again making them more versatile and fun. Tanks will change more drastically with other ways of attracting aggro as well as making themselves less attractive targets. Big overhaul is needed to get rid of the spammy aoe nature without olafing the class.
I have more specific threads on the changes which ill link These are all concept changes, have better ideas post them, have specific feedback and ideas for itemization changes or a class or champion post them in the corresponding thread or if that thread is not yet made you can create one yourself and ask me to link it by posting the link here.
This is mostly my vision now but the idea is that if better idea's get posted ill change and update over time there are probably plenty people out there with idea's better then mine so if i see those and other players agree ill just replace mine with them.