Doran's Shield Buff Suggestion

Velzard of Koz·Jun 1, 2016·11 votes·435 views

Some people say Doran's Shield is no longer good and would need buff. Just a little suggestion. Some wanted it to block basic attack damage (which is weird because it does), while not all basic attack damage is the problem, people usually complain ranged attacks versus melee attacks are the issue. Because of Ravenous/Titanic Hydra and Runaan's Hurricane, the game does have the concept of judging whether a range is melee or ranged. It may also judge whether incoming basic attack damage is from ranged or melee attack.

So why not bonus ranged attack reduction? Would that be a problem? If it would, why? Is the item even in need of change or is it just some peoples' feelings?

9 Comments

BloodyTomponJun 2, 20164 votes

Just some peoples feeling IMO. Most people notice it is underused and then want it buffed. That's not a good way to do it. One needs to first analyse and create goals. Why is it underused? Should it even be used? Is it supporting a healthy play pattern? What pattern should it support? What champs should it be used on? Why is it different from the other Doran items? Maybe they all need work?

There are a huge number of questions that need to be considered, but most people only consider one or two. I do not think they want to support the item to be blunt. It promotes passive play where as the other two have action based rewards so it is desirable to be the weakest of the three D items.

Erractic EickJun 2, 20161 votes

It is so nice to see a well thought out and considerate post like this. If I could up vote you more, I would.

BloodyTomponJun 2, 20161 votes

I like to think all my posts are well thought out, but don't we all haha

Velzard of KozJun 2, 20161 votes

Thank you for the insight. Indeed that it is not primarily picked in some elos might created the illusion. I didn't know about how it could get abused in bot lane as other people here comment, too. I really thought about toplane mainly.

BloodyTomponJun 2, 20162 votes

Few people would if they weren't there in the past when it happened haha

Anu3isIIJun 1, 20162 votes

I think any buff to Doran's Shield versus Ranged Champions will affect more the Bottom Lane than any solo lane if it becomes viable.

In season 4, when Doran's was a pretty powerful item in general, people would play Mundo/Shyvana/Renekton Top, and Leona/Thresh/Alistar as Bottom Lane Supports (and maybe Blitzcrank and some other tanky Supports I don't remember). The other types of Supports (poke and sustain) didn't really have any chance versus them because you could not damage them, and not survive their all-in.

The only 2 particular Champions that countered this meta were Morgana (anti-CC shield versus a full CC-based Tank is amazing) and Janna (lots of CC to disengage, powerful Shield to survive all-ins and Bonus AD for your Carry).

If you buff Doran's Shield to work well only against Ranged Champions, then there is the great possibility Tank Supports will overcome Bot Lane again and the meta may become stale again...

Thought, the only excuse they have for not experimenting some changes to Doran's Shield would be that they don't want a powerful full Defensive Early Game Item to be viable because there would be more outliers/abusers than actual Champions who benefit fairly enough of it.

Sire HippingtonJun 2, 20162 votes

The main issue in the past was that if dorans is good enough for sololanes, tanky supports with dorans shield start will dominate bot. Imo they should:

increase the damagereduction(evt more so vs ranged)
add some bonusdamge vs minions(i really hate picking dorans because it screws my early cs as i'm used to higher ad from longsword/d-blade start)
and replace the healthregen with some hp restore on cs, just how dorans ring restors mana on cs.

This should make it a bit less attractive to supports as they wouldn't get much sustain from it, and sololaners would be happy about some bonus damage vs minions.

BloodyTomponJun 2, 20161 votes

Instead of supports ADC's would take it. Better trades, better sustain, better against all ins.

Sire HippingtonJun 2, 20161 votes

Which wouldn't be a huge issue, as both adc would get it. It would just be a shift from starting blade to starting shield, but it would hardly impact which champs are viable. Dorans on supps lead to a meta where only tank supports were played and poke supports were considered trash(though the poor state of the frostqueens line contributed to that aswell at the time)