Thornmail Thorns Changes

In this post I'm going to go over changes to Thornmail's Thorns passive that could help the item feel so much better than it does now with its new update.

For starters, a change in build path and price. (nothing to crazy) Bramble Vest + Ruby Crystal + Warden’s Mail + 600 gold (patch notes was 200 build gold lower than the actual item total) >>> Bramble Vest + Ruby Crystal + Chain Vest + 500 Gold (2600 total) 250 Health 75 Armor

If you notice, I removed Warden's Mail and lowered the item's price. I feel the addition of the attack speed slow given from Warden's Mail contradicts the item's overall purpose because its damage is based on how often (and fast) you get auto-attacked. If the opponent is auto-attacking slower then the item's DPS goes way down as a result. Due to this, the Cold Steel passive is removed from the item.

Unique Passive: Thorns is the highlight of Thornmail, as its the only item passive in the game that reflects damage back at those attacking you. However, the reflect damage from Thorns was drastically changed resulting in it being a big nerf to the item's damage from champions who actually rely on auto-attacks but buffed the damage vs those who don't rely on them (which is a questionable rebalance as enemy auto-attackers are the point of buying the item to begin with) resulting in sub-par reflect damage no matter who you get attacked by (25 base +10% BONUS armor as the reflection damage, which is extremely weak).

Changes to Thorns. I've been exploring in my head changes to Thorns that could make it feel a lot better of a passive than it does right now while keeping the reflection idea it currently has. (NOTE: Any changes to Thorns with these iteration ideas would be for THORNMAIL ONLY, not Bramble Vest and does not remove the Grievous Wounds passive)

Scaling Thorns Armor Damage Live: 25 + 10% Bonus Armor Iteration 1: 30 + 7% Bonus armor (+1% per your level) [capping at +25% Bonus Armor at level 18) The Live version feels like the Fresh Blood mastery where it does so little at every stage of the game it feels like there is no point in buying it. By increasing the base by 5 damage and giving it scaling Bonus Armor it ends up feeling better as the game progresses compared to Live, allowing it to somewhat keep up better with item power spikes enemy champions are obtaining without becoming ridiculously strong. With 200 Bonus armor, the item at level 18 would only give 80 reflection magic damage (30 base + 50 from Bonus Armor scaling) which by that point feels minuscule but is still better than it is right now while being less than the original.

Barbedmail Live: 25 + 10% Bonus Armor Iteration 2: 25 + 12.5% Bonus Armor The reflection damage is slightly different, giving +25 damage at 200 Bonus Armor for 50 reflection magic damage between it and the Bonus Armor. However, this iteration also has something else added in the form of a passive that works along side Thorns called Barbs. Unique Passive: Barbs - Basic Attacks by you deal 50% of Thorns damage per attack. If an enemy champion has been damaged by Thorns, your next basic attack on them within 1.5 seconds deals 100% of Thorns damage instead (15 second cooldown per champion). The idea behind this iteration is to give players who buy Thornmail a little extra when going against champions that don't rely on basic attacks while giving it a small bonus for fighting champions who are using basic attacks.

While neither iteration will fully fix Thornmail, they would give it more accessibility than it does now. Let me know what you think and which versions you prefer.