Rageblade Changes for Clarity

Dear Rioters and fellow players,

Without aims to completely disregard the work beforehand, I present some options to bring Guinsoo's Rageblade back into a proper item selection. Consider them as you will; there are certain functions to the item, I feel, make it less than a clear optimal choice. Rather I think it is TOO optimal, or at least, perceived so. We understand the item is certainly strong right now, but we should examine why that is, and how to bring about a clear decision for choosing it rather than letting the item stand as the Max-Engage-Optimization item. (This is in no way fully definitive towards what I have seen the item accomplish; it is a good and comparatively strong item. I would just rather see it accomplish different things.)

Option 1: Revert Guinsoo's Rageblade to where it only proc'd when falling beneath a certain threshold of health. I feel this would make the item much healthier, and give back incentive to the risk-reward style of gameplay it used to have. Now, it is pretty much a must-have on any AA heavy champ that coincidentally has some sort of AP-scaling ability and wants to build Devourer along side it. Notably, however, it is often purchased before Devourer to win trades and counter-jungle relentlessly.

Option 2: Turn the item into a new Elixir with reduced or scaling stats so that it discourages this neglectful style of gameplay (detailed below), but also letting these players get what they want. Turning it into a Level 9 purchase not only allows its purchaser to invest in more ideal options earlier, it opens up a much valued item slot and saves near 1k gold. In a way, this item could very well be an alternative for split-pushers that do not wish to buy Cleave items or take Iron Elixir.

The purchase method for most players buying Rageblade is highly unproductive as it's often a rush buy. They neglect ganking, trading, or roaming solely to finish Pickaxe first, Blasting Wand second, and then a total purchase possibly followed by (at least one could hope for) boots.

In addition, why should we let this item, the perfect compliment to split-push champions, let them do better at a tactic they already exceed in, and that so many other champions must expend time in order to prevent this tactic?

As a last note, attempting to tackle a champion that has a full build alongside Rageblade often takes the effort of multiple champions somewhat discouraging a trade at all. A limited timer to this effect would ease the burden of these pseudo-hyper-carries.

Option 3: Remove the item.

Option 4: Turn the item into something for weak auto AP champs. "What? Why?" you ask. Hear me out.

A champion that builds attack speed inherently has an advantage while pushing or trading. It costs NOTHING to auto-attack and all AD characters are quite capable of exchanging damage or targets on the fly. An AP champion, yes, does have burst, but it is often not enough to simply kill a champion. Objectives are notorious obstacles for mages, and though the mage might win the trade ultimately by a sliver of health, if even minions pose a threat, it's often not a choice to stick about and wait for surprises.

Possibly replace Blasting Wand with Aether Wisp. Remove the Pickaxe entirely and replace it with Recurve Bow (added pushing), Kircheis Shard (burst pushing akin to RFC without range bonus), or Hextech Revolver (sustain). Remove all the AD components. Add a small bonus damage (+5/15 on Kirchesis proc) to structures only. Keep the AoE and allow it to stack with abilities. What you essentially have is a mini-Righteous Fury and Short Fuse.

So who might best benefit from these changes?

These champions have a bit of reduced effectiveness in the early game due to their feast/famine playstyle. They either do well or do not help much at all. They all have exceptionally high abilities to support an engage, but their options run short after their reliance on cooldowns and mana run out. Evelynn and Elise usually go for Runic Echoes enchantment, but in lane, Luden's Echo is a far cry from wave-clearing help for them. Rageblade as it is helps them a bit too much in that regard. Cass and Ziggs suffer from almost the same problem of having to heavily rely on a harass style that ultimately is too risky. Ori, Soraka, and Zyra simply do not have much going for them in terms of objective control if they aren't actively being supported or are supporting someone.

This should probably warrant some testing as I fear it might be too powerful in conjunction with Lich Bane or Rylai's.

Option 5: Turn it into a new hybrid jungle enchantment.

This requires toning down into and into , throw in a to balance out the gold. Turn the effects into an enchantment with its own fancy color. Let Guinsoo's Rage passive stack to 4 with a 250-ish radius. Let all hits only count for 1 stack. Enjoy your new Harvester's Rage enchantment. The downsides of this item are that it limits you to a stacking passive for fights, and that it brings no CDR or defensive scaling with it. But it does what it's originally intended to do: Split-push and compliment AA builds.

This also readily takes the power out of snowballing lanes (Kog'Maw, Trundle, Shyv) and puts it back into the jungle decisively and deservedly as that is where much objective control lies.

So there you have it. I'm sure some of these numbers or ideas can go for a few tweaks, but this is what I perceive to be a better direction for an item needing some creative attention.