@Meddler. Could give us insight on why Mages are getting so much health?

I know spell vamp was removed and mages are prone to being weak, but is giving them easy access to health the best solution riot could come up with?

In my opinion, most mages, whether they are artillery or battle mages, are going for health/ap items. Overall, I don't think this is healthy for the game as mages are beginning to function like bruiser/off tanks, while retain tons of damage/utility. Not to mention they don't have as much trouble getting in range to do damage as a bruiser would. The situation is similar to tank ekko where mages are not dying easily and are doing a lot of damage/CC.

On top of that, they are becoming less attractive as priority kills for assassins in particular. In the heat of a skirmish/team fight, when there are all kinds of spell effects on screen, I usually look for the squishes health bar as my priority target before identifying who the target is as I want to act quick. Before, that health bar would almost always be a mage or and ADC. Now, its just the ADCs that look squishy, putting more focus on them and not mages.

So Meddler, could you give us some insight into what riot is trying to do for mages and why are they getting so many health/ap items?

Should mages have more creative defense systems such as and ?