Super Expensive items, Poor build paths in the face of superior ad itemization, repeated nerfs to ap items due to non mage champions abusing them.
Most of the problems arent even the mages themselves being weak, its the game changing around them in ways that favor everyone but them.
Mhihnj40 votesYou know, I am an immobile mage player.
. Yet, I flourish in this meta....somehow(
)
Ancestor0076 votesmah boy TF <3... if only i could play against someone that's not Zed/Yasuo
Mhihnj3 votesI have beaten yasuo and Zed in lane. usually they are some bad players just buying skins to look cool, especially blood moon yas. but zed is sort of fluctuating
Jet Sett9 votesYou know, I am an immobile mage player.
Ah, I had a game as TF where my PC crashed, so I enter 40 cs behind an AD Ezreal mid that kills me 2 minutes after I get into lane.
I get some gold and xp, Shen ganks for me and we kill Ez because he was being hyper aggresive and used E early, I gank top twice, I ended doing better and being able to duel Ezreal by the end of the game.
It's always good to have an Ace up your sleeve.
Alleo19 votesI play Vel'koz and shoot lazers at people.
SpecterVonBaren12 votesI prefer killing them with the power of geometry.
Alleo5 votesThat's for early game, late game I just go qwer and vomit my lazers on them.
ItsOrval6 votes I do 2k magic damage when combining her R and E together. Very op. Not even counting the Rs damage, only the double damage that occurs with E
killd0zer3 votesYou'd need like 1650 AP to do that. Her E only has a 1.0 ratio and a base damage of 350.
Her Q and E togther can however
3TWarrior4 votesif the actual base is 350 (and not 175), the damage would come to 1800 at most (with 1100 AP...something not really possible anymore unless you build something ludicrous)
though actually, if he Q then E's, it is an easy 2k damage with 1800 just from ap values and pass through bonus damage
Kanzaki Ranko22 votesunless ur lux
MrWasjig8 votesAnd yet she's getting a nerf. (FInally)
Blue Moon Wolf6 votesto her shield. But hey, guess it's something
KING 5HARK1 votesDo you want to nef her (unable to clear the backline) e damage?
3TWarrior5 votesdoes that really matter when she has easy access to extended crowd control on two opponents?
swain was nerfed for having 2 seconds...she keeps hers, can burst you at level 3 and remains viable all game...swain...doesn't...he doesn't even come close and top lane resistances negate his damage
if he goes mid or bottom(where opponents he is suited to fight with low resistances), he can't keep his carry alive or himself for that matter in either lane
Arakadia2 votesDat ult needs a CD nerf or a scaling nerf. First 3 times I played lux, and only times, I got fed and I will waste her ult for laughs because of its low CD.
3TWarrior3 votesat only 30 seconds(after cooldown reduction), she can reasonably use it twice in a teamfight...heck even 3x in an extended one...
that's just wrong
MrWasjig2 votesExactly. And a tentative step is a step nonetheless. Now we just need to get Riot into taking a leap rather than a step. I'll see if I can lure them out with a saucer of milk and some $20 bills.
TekkenPlayer13 votes
are still decent.. but that's only few
EcchiOtakuTM7 votesMalz, galio, zil, and anivia are strong atm too.
Dengeden7 votesDidn't include 
because of that love tap? 
are a thing too and then we have the 4 for the mage update.
morris18 votesThere are very few good , especially with Zed being in all games with 
Cryo002 votesLooks like 
is forgotten :(
TekkenPlayer3 votessyndra is like one of those champions you really have to have higher skill than usual to play proficiently with
Potato Doc9 votesI guess you could call this the Dark m"ages"
Dessem6 votesMages are still good. I do think 
is a bit too much of a no-brainer item, because there's basically little reason not to build it.
iainB858 votesAgreed... and 
are insanely good and provide great stats and benefits while countering any kind of AP burst hard.
Meanwhile, 
is a total gold sink and means the mage has to sacrifice important stats like mana regen and CDR to rush it.
There either needs to be a stat nerf on / to make building it to counter AP burst actually have some downsides, or another AP / AR item option with equivalent value needs to be introduced.
Dessem6 votesThe main thing with building is that, until you have the full item, you only get some stats. already provides you with a shield against burst damage once you've built one of its components.
Since also builds out of 
, you can even build towards it when you're up against AD in your lane by simply going Serrated Dirk first, and then go towards Maw of Malmortius once magic damage becomes something to consider.
And to top it all off, Zhonya requires precise activation to do anything for you; if you get bursted down 100-0 by Talon before you can activate Zhonya, it's a useless item. Maw of Malmortius and Hexdrinker require no thought from its wielders, and activate passively.
I do still believe AP champions are in an OK spot. However, provides more magic resistance than provides armour, and then Maw doesn't inhibit your ability to dodge and deal damage while it passively protects your life, gives lifesteal, spellvamp and attack speed.
It just gives a tremendous lot, such that it's worth building even if the enemy team hardly has magic damage... because once Master Yi's devourer procs your Maw's shield, you instantly get bonus lifesteal, spellvamp and attack speed. You already get 55 attack damage and 10 armour pen anyway.
WadeWilson13375 votesAps finally get a chance to be viable in the meta due to how strong 
is, and of course, gets nerfed twice. Cant have mages outdoing those AD, lord knows they need the help.
elon wątroba7 votesGuess who was abusing that item, 
.
HaugheyPuck995 votesSeriously, Zhonyas is so expensive now that I almost never actually buy it anymore
MunchCrunchLunch4 votesunless your the both poke/burst mage now which are pretty much lux and ahri. they bully you in lane. stay safe. and they can still 100-0 you. complete BURST mages are in a bad state. except leblanc because she doesn't have any counterplay associated with her considering her low cooldowns her window of power is much more frequent than any burst mage.
Zero Skill Tank14 votesa) LB isn't really a mage, she is AP assassin b) she is in pretty bad shape too
Lady Hammerlock7 votesa) LB isn't really a mage, she is AP assassin b) she is in pretty bad shape too
ahri is 10x better then lb honestly..
HadesBlades3 votes +
+
= burst+protection+wave clear (O_O)/ BUT WE HAVE A ZHNOYAS SO ITS OKAY -_-
Carry2 votesIf only 4 of the top 5 mids weren't mages 
Meanwhile AP assassins actually get the shaft...
Clockwork Mouse3 votes
is doing good in both mid and jungle
has enough ways to outplay people his items barely matter
is making a comeback and is being played 3 times as much as she was last patch.
Carry1 votes[{quoted}](name=Clockwork Mouse,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=cgEHwgg8,comment-id=00100000,timestamp=2016-03-11T15:59:31.938+0000)
Fizz and Kat are really the only good AP assassins atm, and Fizz isn't really doing too well in the JG he's much better off mid.
I don't buy into your BS argument about Ekko. Having an interesting kit doesn't make you immune from being strong or weak, balance is still a thing.
Champs like:
are barely playable. Balance atm is less about certain classes being too strong/weak and more about particular champs being too strong/weak. That being said, if any class is too weak it sure as hell isn't mages and it's difficult to argue that Warrior Jg's and AP assassin mids aren't performing the worst.
Clockwork Mouse7 votesDidn't think of as an assassin. haven't seen him ina while, but a few patches ago he was very stong. Not sure about now though
is very strong though. i can't see an Ekko fucking up if the guy has more then 30 games with him. A noob sure, but Ekko has enough in his kit to really survive the meta as it is. he has the damage, he has the dashes, he has his amazing ult, and his big AoE shield stun.
are all champs that, unless they are just gutted like bard was on release, i don't see these guys ever being out of style.
Choaru2 votesI never play mages...and when I decide to play Ahri mid I went against a Jayce...and I just realized that Mages need another AP armor item :/
Need Gold 4 Tent2 votesWell, while I would like another AP armor item, there are possible ramifications of having a second AP armor item in addition to hourglass. Stacking that together with hourglass (which is a decent though not perfect go to item) would give AD champs the same problems that AP champs are facing right now.
That being said, AD champs DO have access to both Mercurial and Maw, so I suppose just 1 more AP armor item shouldn't hurt.
The Yetii Rider2 votesI guess that makes you a... Dark Magician.
James Winter2 votesNot really. I main 
on my main account and I'm doing pretty well :P
DEmperor952 votesI miss the good old days when costed 3100, and gave 120 AP and 50 Armor
Yash Gautam2 votesI don't think 
are having trouble...
Jasiwel2 votesIMO, I've lost more games from poor team fighting as a mage than I have being outplayed in my lane.
I think if anything is more evident in this meta, it is that a lot of players have forgotten how to team fight alongside mages that aren't Lux or Brand.
As someone playing Viktor at the moment, I am also super guilty of this trend whenever I jungle.
