Balance of Sated Devourer in 3v3 (Ranked)

TLDR Devourer in its current state has been balanced around 5v5/Summoner's Rift. Often items are rebalanced for 3v3 gameplay. Devourer should be considered/investigated as one of those items, because its synergy offers too much sustain.

Full Text My friends and I have been playing ranked 3v3 for over 2 years and it's not often that there are items on Twisted Treeline that single-handedly change a meta and winning odds like Devourer has (across gold, platinum and diamond 3v3 ranked teams). The opinion that Devourer is OP on this map is not just shared by the teams losing to that item, it's even admitted by the teams we've played against that use it, and they pick their champions for that reason. It shouldn't be that whichever team picks a Devourer champ has the odds shifted heavily in their favor.

In 3v3 there are a number of issues that make it difficult dealing with Devourer champs like Jax, Shyvana, Xin Zhao, Aatrox, Vayne and a few others.

First of all, there's the pick and ban phase. Using all your bans on Devourer champs leaves far too many other picks open that you cannot properly pick against with only 3 champion slots. In a 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 picking order it is difficult to balance your team comp around countering a Devourer comp anyway, because in most cases you've either picked two thirds or your entire team when the enemy team selects their Devourer champ.

Secondly, there's the 3v3 game pace. Jungle camps in 3v3 spawn very quickly and invades are very common. Enemy Wolf camp can often be easy pickings for an invading jungler. Another aspect that makes Twisted Treeline fun is the earlier start of team fights. As such, Devourer champs can get Sated quite quickly. As early as 17 minutes and more commonly around the 20 minute mark, with slower ones reaching Sated at ~25 minutes. The window for doing Vilemaw with a Devourer champ is also very small (it's soloable by them in a much shorter timespan than before). Obviously this requires good objective control to prevent, but it is common where Vilemaw is checked, then one tries to establish where the enemy is, and then realise that the Devourer champ snuck in and did the boss right after you checked, leaving little room for counterplay on a map that relies on map movement for vision control.

Thirdly, and most importantly, there's the Sated Devourer passive and its synergy with items. Every Devourer player builds a Blade of the Ruined King (if they know what they are doing) or a Hydra. This gives them such sustain that especially tankier Devourer champs like Shyvana and Jax become (nearly) impossible to take down with only 3 players. That gives them effective health that is simply too high for 3v3. Shyvana can be dealt with by peeling her correctly (Nautilus and Maokai are very strong against her for that reason) as long as you have damage dealers that can kite her. Xin Zhao, Jax, Aatrox and Vayne are a different story because they have gap closers. In many cases there simply isn't enough damage or peel to take down these mobile high sustain, high damage Devourer champs. In Summoner's Rift there are usually 2-3 carries and there is enough peel from a support or utility tank to protect said carries. The numbers are simple: sustain through enough damage (as the Sated champ) to get 1 enemy down and the team is pretty much assured the team fight.

Ticking time-bomb. With the changes to the Twisted Treeline map games now last longer, especially when matched against equally skilled players. This makes the map ripe for Devourer. The number of times that I've seen teams ahead only to then lose out to the team with the Sated Devourer is more the norm than the exception.

Perhaps one of your Insights teams can run numbers on Devourer win rate in 3v3 and perhaps investigate whether (Sated) Devourer in its current form needs to be adjusted specifically for Twisted Treeline.

Suggestions On or more changes that might be considered for Sated Devourer in 3v3:

• Reduced Life Steal from items;
• Reduced healing from on-hit abilities (e.g. Xin and Aatrox W);
• Reduced proc rate of the Phantom hit (e.g. every 3rd attack);
• Proc fewer other items' on-hit effects (to reduce raw damage output).

If there are any other 3v3 Ranked players want to share their experience, please don't hesitate to join this discussion.

Thanks!