I'll play into one of the circlejerks. The "nerf supports" one.

Alright, so a lot has happened with support over the years to try to make it cooler and more appealing, right? We got some new toys, we got some new champs with surprising new twists and additions to their kits to make them more engaging, and Riot's revamped A LOT of the really tedious bullshit to make supporting more about being an active part of the match and less about being a ward slave. Reactions here were initially positive, but recently they've taken a turn for the worse, with melee champ players getting rather ticked that they're running into a ton of cock-block scenarios which cause them to lose a shit ton of value during later stages of the game.

Now THIS is a circle jerk I can actually add some input to, because I was talking about this a year ago.

The issue is that the value of these actives is just fucking insane: It's an aoe shield on command and a delayed healing pulse from space with a TF ult or so of range. Even after Riot toned the items down when they were overtuned as a combo, it seems people are FINALLY realizing that their power even separate are just ridiculous. I made threads in the past about the sheer power they bring to a team fight, although those numbers may be in need of a touch-up. Regardless, if anyone wants to do the math, the overall value these items bring in extra hp team-wide is high. VERY HIGH.

So what's the problem with aoe heal/shield items? The problem is that the power these items grant to a team fight makes it extremely difficult for fighters to survive a dive into the fray because they got a crap ton more health to deal with per head that they jumped into than they were bargaining for. A support's innate kit is already strong peel, and now they gotta deal with either one of or both of these items, too? It's just ridiculous, especially because you can't even switch targets. EVERYONE within reach is going to get a pulse of supporting and you can't really do much about it except run into it harder.

The other issue is that it's hard to justify other types of support items, like Banner of Command, Zeke's Convergence, and Athene's, when items like these are massive team fight boons. Riot did work on Redemption so it's a bit more manageable in this regard (it's pretty "bleh" without at least one other heal/shield item and some levels), but I've been a harsh critic of Locket, and I still am. I get that supports may want to help out more than one teammate with an active, but everyone in the immediate vicinity is just a little too courteous. You don't really get to weigh the costs of taking one item or the other since every team's gonna want the added hp value these items provide. Sure, as a combo they're worse, but even separate they're too strong in comparison to everything else. There's no game where you won't have at least one of these on your team, unless you have a mage support or a bad support.

Personally, if it were up to me, I'd tinker with Redemption a bit. Since it's delayed and has a longer cd, it being an aoe heal, which can be decreased by Grevious Wounds, isn't the worst on its own. Maybe decrease the heal size, the heal amount, and/or the heal range to nerf the item's ability to just "make everyone gucci at once" so easily. Locket, on the other hand, is an instant shield that's off cd for nearly any large team fight. Honestly, Locket needs a rework to be more in-line, power-wise, with the other Aegis items. It's the best one by a long ass mile and all it does is make every melee champ's job significantly harder. I don't know how you could rework the thing, though. Maybe make it so it shields your primary target and up to 2 others around them? Maybe make its overall shield amount based on certain factors, like tanking damage? Maybe make it the new FotM active and remove the aoe shield altogether? Idk, but something's gotta be done.

These are my personal thoughts on the matter: I think having access to massive aoe sustain options for cheap is what's making supports feel way too strong.