Should counterbuilding come at a cost?
To explain what I mean, I'll take 
as an example (I'm not saying that is unbalanced, I'm just using it to explain my point).
Grievous wounds is intended to be a counter to healing.
But if the item giving it is so good that everybody would buy it regardless anyway, then what's the point in having this mechanic at all?
The enemy having some healing becomes irrelevant, as you'd have bought anyway... this is not counterbuilding, there is no decision to be made here.
This is handled much better for ADCs: the GW item they get comes at the cost of the other Last Whisper upgrade, which is a net loss in damage if the healing enemy also stacks health (which is usually the case). This means that ADCs can trade damage for the ability to reduce healing, thus there is a decision involved here.
What do you think about this?
Imho this is a problem that should be addressed.
Taking again as an example, a possible fix could be:
- Add an item with slightly better stats than but without GW
- Make the GW on trigger more easily
- Nerf the other stats on
This should add a decision: I'm a mage, do I want to reduce healing or would I benefit best from some more raw damage this game?
's GW is on every AA.
are counter build items. If the enemy has 1 or 2 or more opponents stacking armor, you build this, if they don't then you don't.
with 
will enable you to do true damage.