Boards›Gameplay

How do we build against "true damage"??

LatetotheRace·8/13/2015, 5:21:43 AM·1 votes·12,597 views

Yes, I understand that true damage is there for a reason, and it's designed to counter Super tanks. As an example Vayne's true damage is designed to demolish huge armor champs like Taric, and Rammus. For example; at times an enemy Sion can seem unkillable. So of course I would like to see some champions with the ability to kill them, but I think these more recent concepts about true damage are a bit...... stupid (I don't feel like using some another word to make it sound like it was an accident It wasn't.)

Fiora's new rework is an amazing example of this. At mid game with her ult up, she can hit 15-20% max health in true damage per hit to her target'd champion. Now, this isn't including her massive damage she does normally. cough cough 360-440 ad cough cough She can completely destroy a bruiser, then move onto the rest of their team. Not to mention healing herself along with her entire team in the process.

I like true damage, when it's capped, and doesn't scale on health make sense. Darius, and Cho'gath have large outputs of true damage. However, these come from their respective ultimate's, and not passive abilities. Cho'gath can reach 1000+ true damage to a single target, if he builds full ap. But as a result, he is too squishy to survive in team-fights. Darius on the other hand has to make use of all of his skills to get his ult to its full potential. Getting 6 stacks quickly before the enemy fighter can butcher you isn't as easy as you might think. (especially if they bait out your abilities, or build quicksilver sash) I do sometimes think the damage on these abilities is a bit excessive at times, but I agree that it is not unprecedented, and it is generally well balanced.

Consistent true damage without being too massive also makes sense. Certain champions have the ability to bust tanks, but don't rely fully on their true damage to get things done. Master yi, Irelia, and Corki have true damage built into their kits, but when all is said and done, the damage of their basic attacks and other abilities will far out weigh that of their true damage.

Now, in league's past, to build against champions like Darius, Vel'koz, and other similar champions, you built health. But when it comes to Vayne and Fiora, that's actually digging yourself deeper into a grave. Even if you build armor, the true damage is still too much to deal with.

I would like to sum up real quick. I think true damage is fine, when it's properly implemented and a champion doesn't completely rely on it for everything. I think riot is getting to generous with the amount of champions they give true damage to and the magnitude at which they dish it out. Just reconsider the use of true damage in places where a simple conversion to magic damage would more than suffice.

6 Comments

PiRoScOuT8/13/2015, 5:32:52 AM1 votes

The counter to true damage is health, and shields. Now, I see the problem with Vayne and Fiora, they ignore the health problem You would have to counter them alone, true damage isn't the most annoying part of their kit. My answer would be cc. Those champions would get shut down by hard cc.

Erockandroll8/13/2015, 5:33:02 AM1 votes

If were talking %HP true damage, their really isn't anything you can do against that. Except in Vayne's case, maybe an AS slow like Frozen heart.

I don't actually think the true damage is even that much. You can still do fair against them Building against their other damage types. Against vayne, Armor and AS slow is a must. And with Fiora? that is completely limited by how often her passive even functions, and is completely avoidable.

Only Play Darius8/13/2015, 5:34:10 AM1 votes

Attack speed slows and shielding. Other then that, you simply can't. You're better off building some damage and bursting them down before they can get too many procs off.

AtheosisX8/13/2015, 5:37:26 AM1 votes

Vayne and Fiora have been designed to screw over tanks. That's Riot's intent. Personally I think it's lame since there are already plenty of items that do that, but Riot doesn't seem to agree.

Ilionikoi2/12/2020, 6:21:45 PM1 votes

So this is an old, old thread, but I thought I'd add that Vel'Koz does entirely true damage once he lands 3 stacks of his passive on a target and ults, refreshing his true damage burst on a constant (which is easier than you might assume, given his relatively low cooldowns in my opinion and ranged abilities, especially the massive range on his ult and mobility of the beam, so he can spam w and q). I'm honestly looking for a better way to deal with that sort of true damage as now Vel'Koz is becoming more popular (at least in low elo) in the mid lane, and I've had to deal with him as a counter-pick to the mid-lane melee assassins and light bruisers I tend to play. Range, at least by the looks, wouldn't be enough to counter it, either, and neither would a blind like Teemo has, as his true damage is ability based and his ult has such a massive range that spacing wouldn't exactly help per se. Kinda wondering if anyone has some tips for dealing with it other than altering my build to give me more HP, since I already have to alter it as is to deal with magic damage harassment in-lane :/