Boots -- A monologue on the state of the game (I couldn't help myself)

It all began when Crimson (that's me) was reading the patch notes. It was when he got to the items that he realized the problem. Berzerker's Greaves buffs? Ninja Tabi buffs? Trinity Force changes? What's the issue? Well, it has to do with auto attacks.

I've been noticing that auto attacks feel really bad right now, except on a few select champions. But the old auto-attack kings are suffering. We have Xin Zhao, Master Yi, Udyr, Jinx, Kog'maw, and even Corki feeling very lackluster right now, and yet nothing about their itemization has really been changed since the marksman update not too long ago. I hypothesize that there were some changes made then that hurt auto-attackers but weren't really felt since assassins and mages weren't the strongest at the time. Last Whisper changes to bonus armor reduction instead of total and buffs in armor items created a situation in which ADCs could be stomped on by CC heavy tanks, and the removal of Devourer hurt auto-attack junglers. (I personally think Bloodrazor should have 5% lifesteal and less on-hit magic damage.) But back to the matter at hand; tanks don't always have the damage to kill their target before their allies can come and save them. I saw that the effective team-carry combo was a tank and an assassin. The tank brings the CC and peel, and the assassin brings the burst. But what with the mage update, the combo can just as effectively be a tank and a mage now. This change means that the options have been opened much wider -- and we can no longer ban all the threats. Also, no-one wants to play support. (I love it, but apparently I'm unique. And I get bored of playing one role.)

And thus the prevalence of Lucian and Ezreal: the assassin caster ADCs. They can perform both roles equally well and have escapes to boot. Traditional ADCs are having a lot more problems late game due to low damage output against tanks and no escapes. (And a general inevitable squishiness.) This is also where Ninja Tabi buffs went wrong in my opinion. We don't really need or want the extra 2% damage reduction against auto-attacks because it usually isn't even the autos that are dealing all the damage. It's the burst from assassins and mages. (Or Lucian and Ezreal.) The buffs to Berzerker's Greaves are nice, but they aren't necessarily going to matter if auto-attacks continue to feel so horrible. Typically, I feel like I'm only useful when taking towers and dragon or baron. In teamfights the tanks and assassins simply focus me while my team disintegrates, or I'm forced to sit so far back that I'm worthless. It's probably just my elo, as I'm pretty confident higher elos would have more cohesion, but that's how it feels for me.

~CrimsonCobra3