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hot take: the ADC update is less a direct nerf to ADCs and more a buff to Assassins.

Unironic SJW·5/1/2018, 10:35:38 PM·29 votes·11,052 views

Old LW back? That's massive, every AD assassin player has been begging for it back. Lots of AD assassins weave in autos into their assassination pattern. Enter Stormrazor and Hall of Blades. That 400 AD Zed is now going to crit on his first auto while not having to buy crit, AND gets more sticking power with the MS. Even if you Janna shield the Rengar jumping into your face, he can still catch up to you and kill you again. Also BORK is getting buffed as well. Lower upfront burst from scaled up ADCs due to the IE change (and they now take longer to get there) means that the fed assassin can run in and kill the ADC unless the support is Janna or Lulu, or he gets a point and click stun.

Obviously we need to wait until games are actually played with it (wish I had a PBE account) but assassins may well be returning to S3/S4 levels of power with these changes.

Also support nerfs may be coming soon.

I'm pretty excited for this even as an ADC player, yeah crit is strong and shit but it's boring and stale as hell, sometimes being OP doesn't translate into fun. Also I tend to play AD caster ADCs anyway

49 Comments

Colte5/1/2018, 10:47:31 PM15 votes

i hope ad assassins get toned down to compensate that huge last whisper buff, they hardly need to build last whisper to begin with.. i didn't like how they buffed some assassins that were completely fine with that duskblade nerf, duskblade is still op as hell [sg-zephyr]

saltran5/1/2018, 11:06:59 PM13 votes

Laughs in Sarah Fortune

GigglesO5/2/2018, 7:12:14 AM5 votes

{quoted}

Old LW back?

Its better, its now 35% total, and it applies before flat pen.

It used to apply after, and be for less.

We gonna have more league of one shots...

Risen295/1/2018, 11:32:30 PM4 votes

Your analysis is faulty. Zed needs and benefits from armor pen more than a single crit, because lethality enhances all his ability damage. Zed will still go armor pen items first. He doesnt want to hang around auto attacking a target if he doesn't have to. Same is true of Talon.

I cant think of any assassin off the top of my head besides rengar who would even possibly consider prioritizing it - but thats because he is designed to stick around and auto his target. And even then, there's no guarantee it will actually be superior on rengar. It may turn out with testing that he still gets more done with lethality. We'll see. But I am fine with rengar using this. At least then we have some more diversity amongst the ad assassin itemization.

Another problem with your conclusions: this is not a buff to just assassins. Its a buff to any mid game carry. Whether it be a burst mage, fighter, juggernaut, or ap assassin. Because now they actually have a mid game window with which to do something before the adc runs away with the whole game. Marksmen could do so much DPS with just a couple items that they practically bursted as hard as anything else in the game, thus rendering other burst classes redundant in the mid game. The adc isnt suppose to out scale them until later.

CyberBalt5/1/2018, 11:13:48 PM3 votes

wish I had a PBE account

Just FYI, I'm pretty sure anyone can get a PBE account now as long as your honor is above a certain threshold.

Sire Hippington5/2/2018, 11:50:12 AM2 votes

That's what you think on first read, but after some testing on PBE, Stormrazor isn't that great for most assasins. it's really expensive and gives a lot stats you don't use that well. The as is not a stat assasins want that badly, and the bonuses from crit only last for 1.5sec cause you won't have any other crits, and 64ad for 3400g is not that big. It certainly will help to keep the burst strong in the late as 5th or 6th item and might work well on fighters like Rengar or YI, but most assasins have issues fitting it into their built.

I'm actually more scared of high ranged adc getting massive chip damage from their first item, like cait critting you every 2.5 sec, while the mobillity that it grants for crit builts is rather stupid given that zeal items still give ms.

The Yetii Rider5/2/2018, 5:12:48 PM2 votes

Stormrazor? Sure. But Hail of Blades? Really? You think Hail of Blades will be better for a lethality/LW stacking assassin than Electrocute? Come on now.

Big Lincoln5/1/2018, 10:42:49 PM2 votes

crit garen >:)

ChaddyFantome5/2/2018, 12:41:22 AM2 votes

the fed assassin can run in and kill the ADC unless the support is Janna or Lulu, or he gets a point and click stun.

...or literally any support? Rakan Braum Nami Sona Blitzcrank Thresh Alistar Leona Fiddlesticks Teemo

Yaśuo Main5/1/2018, 10:41:05 PM2 votes

i love the bullshit here, especially when you say zed as if he is the only assassin that gets 400 AD and that he can use the crit for deathmark

Xonra5/2/2018, 11:03:47 PM1 votes

ADCs don't feel weaker, just slower spiking, and Assassins feel effing ridiculous (play on PBE). Zed is 100% going to be a major issue, and champs Riot didn't even think of can hugely benefit from some of the changes.

Harden Stepback5/1/2018, 10:51:04 PM1 votes

i agree good hot take

Colton1475/1/2018, 10:52:26 PM1 votes

Lucian item 3153 item 3071

Athenes Lulu5/1/2018, 11:35:28 PM1 votes

I have heard that MF might be "hit" with these changes.

But we will have to see on that. Still asking around, so don't get your hopes too up yet.

On the other hand, if it means to make peeling and working with casters feel satisfying again, sounds like good news from there.

Wild Geese5/2/2018, 4:17:15 AM1 votes

Not just assassins, like take this new item 3508 And put it on say.... Fiora , Darius , Jax , Illaoi ... And so on...

Manslayer5/2/2018, 6:15:35 AM1 votes

This, 100% this. The ADC item changes are going to remove all Essence reaver adcs, and the only adcs worth playing with be the IE double zeal adcs. However, that would ONLY be true if Stormrazor was not an item. So in fact only Jhin and Caitlyn and maybe one other will even be good this coming patch. It will be a bottom lane rush to Stormrazor, first to get it wins the lane 100% every time. I am just sad because champs who built not IE double zeal (or have very good range or can abuse Stormrazor) are bad. New Essence Reaver isn't even an ADC item because it is a better fighter item now. I dunno what Riot is doing, but only have IE +double zeal adcs or Stormrazor adcs being good is NOT good for the bottom lane.

Doozku5/2/2018, 3:01:29 PM1 votes

I'm honestly surprised no one is bringing up Gangplank . A big balancing factor with his builds was that you had to decide between going pen, crit, or a mix. Crit build is best late game and vs tanks, lethality build spikes mid game and shred squishies, and 50/50 is in between. The thing with lethality is that you could build 1 crit item and if you got a crit it would no joke completely one shot an ADC 100/0. Now with the guaranteed crit you can build that and proceed to stack lethality/LW and crush.

Hexs Fortune5/2/2018, 3:05:24 PM1 votes

These changes look interesting. I wonder if Riot is going to adjust MF's crit scalings in her kit to match

BobaFlautist5/2/2018, 5:50:54 PM1 votes

Time for tanks to stack health and avoid getting more than like 150 armor again.

ChaddyFantome5/2/2018, 8:27:41 PM1 votes

On the subject of old LW. Initially i was in cimplete agreement. However thinking about it now, assassins have a much more streamlined flat pen system to work with now, so old LW could be more of a situational deal than it has in the past.

Depending on what you need, stacking lethality might actually be better wheras in others, LW would be the right option.