Spell vamp and mage resist

cfreetenor··1 votes·443 views

I have always thought that it was incredibly difficult to itemize for magic resistance. You can, but you sacrifice majorly for it. The maximum you can get on one item is the portal, which does come with 60 defense as well and is great for sieging, and I do frequently get this. However, I am at a much greater disadvantage as a tank against a primarily magic damage team than an AD team, as it is easy to itemize lots of armor and lots of health. In face the champions that come out most ahead in terms of late game itemization, all else being equal, tend to be the AP tanks to my reckoning. Amumu, for example, can stack lots of health for cinderhulk passive and be nigh on unkillable while still having Liandry's and Rylais, for basically a 5-7% ps melt with his W after resistances. I have 1v1d Nasus late game as Amumu. Same story with Chogath, the items are just way too supportive of these AP tanks and they tend to bring so much utility that actually shutting them down or getting team fight control with Cho, Amumu, Ekko, Volibear, or any champ that stacks armor + health and has utility ends up being very, very difficult.

We do have armor pen items, but they come at a great cost. LW is 30 less damage than void, and granted it's sustained damage, but it's not really sustained if you would only have enough time to get a full rotation off as a caster (maybe) against a rushing Volibear.

I believe the difference may lie in the difference in lifesteal capabilities between the two kinds of damage, so I would propose something along the lines of bringing more spell vamp opportunities into the game (we only have what, 2 fully built items that have it and it's not a very astounding amount at that, especially considering the difference between aoe and single target), and also more magic resistance.

This would give us the edge we need to square off against moderate-dps utility tanks who do a lot of AP damage, while not completely neutering their team fight presence by improving their siege in exchange for damage.

I think this may be a good alternative to the incoming nerf for Eve as well, though I recognize it is already in the works so it could at least mitigate the changes you were going to make. As of right now champs like Swain, Cho, Amumu, Taric, Blitzcrank, Fiddle, And maybe even Jax in this category just shut down fun if they get too far ahead. I think for some better itemization against AP we'll have more diverse strategies, and it would give you the room that you need to tinker with AP casters' kits without too much of a rework power swing. Maybe we might even see Ryze again.

1 Comments

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

The maximum you can get on one item is the portal, which does come with 60 defense as well and is great for sieging, and I do frequently get this. However, I am at a much greater disadvantage as a tank against a primarily magic damage team than an AD team, as it is easy to itemize lots of armor and lots of health.

I'm pretty sure it's as easy to itemize for MR+Health as it is Armor+Health now; item 3102 and item 3065 both provide 60 MR and 400+ health (among other effects) which is comparable to the current state of armor items. There are also more offensive items with MR (item 3091 item 3156 item 3139 item 3001 ) with MR than with Armor.

We do have armor pen items, but they come at a great cost. LW is 30 less damage than void

An item will always have more AP than a comparable item has AD. It due to how the items scale and the fact that AD empowers autoattacks.

I believe the difference may lie in the difference in lifesteal capabilities between the two kinds of damage, so I would propose something along the lines of bringing more spell vamp opportunities into the game (we only have what, 2 fully built items that have it and it's not a very astounding amount at that, especially considering the difference between aoe and single target), and also more magic resistance.

The number of spell-vamp items in the game is not an issue; it's not effective for most mages and those few who work well with it will abuse it when it's powerful. Also, healing from Will of the Ancients is not affected by Magic Resistance.

As of right now champs like Swain, Cho, Amumu, Taric, Blitzcrank, Fiddle, And maybe even Jax in this category just shut down fun if they get too far ahead.

Unless Jax deals a massive amount of AP, he will deal more physical damage than magic damage because of his kit.

Taric is an armor-stacking tank support; he won't typically be buying magic-penetration so any MR items reduce the damage of his abilities significantly. If Taric builds for damage, he's likely going to get Iceborn Gauntlet which adds physical damage to his autoattacks after ability use.

Fiddlesticks isn't a champion you outstat; you have to control vision so you can CC him or disengage when he uses his ultimate (or Drain), negating the majority of his damage.

The majority of Blitzcrank's damage is loading into his grab which can be easily dodged; he's not really an issue damage-wise unless your positioning and ward-coverage is horrible.

There are very good reasons for the differences between AD and AP itemization. I can't be bothered to explain it, but there are plenty of articles and posts covering it if you care to look.

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