An interesting idea to reduce the effectiveness of ADCs without a single direct change to them

AD carries are the best scaling class in the game. They are basically strong at all phases of the game and offer the best and most consistent form of sustained damage. I'm okay with that. I'm not even bothered about them basically bursting squishies late game. I don't really mind the lifesteal they end up having with warlords/LS items because there are ways to counter that. What I do mind is how support itemization is made, by default, to protect ADCs and any usage of it that isn't directed to the ADC is a gross misusage of support itemization.

One of the things that make ADCs so difficult to deal with right now is that a support can dedicate their entire arsenal to making sure their ADC stays alive. Honest to god, you could play Shyvanna as support and build support items and keep ADCs alive, it really is that good. I don't mind it being that good, it's actual interactive itemization that give support players a sense of impact that they've never truly had in the past with bland aura items and being ward bots, I advocate no nerfs to this - but I do advocate some change.

The change I propose isn't necessarily a nerf, but it does technically reduce the strength of the itemization. And typically, I'm not a huge fan of this style of itemization balancing but I'm willing to make an exception for this proposal because i think it can truly be a difference maker. Without further adieu:

My proposal is simple: make all support itemization in forms of healing, shields and auras 50% less effective on ranged champions. Being ranged is an enormous defensive steroid in itself and it allows for an unequal advantage to ranged champions that almost never truly gets surrendered because the burden is always on the shorter ranged champions to close the gap on the longer ranged champions.

There's no incentive to use this itemization on melee champions because it would be an inferior investment. With this change, it opens up the likability to actually link oneself to a melee champion and giving them the capacity to be a true potential carry. This doesn't make supports slaves to the ADC and it allows avenues of strength to other classes and thus reduced effectiveness of the ADC. Even though the itemization still likely gets used on ADC, you suddenly develop a situation where the 90/10 to the ADC and take it maybe to 60/40 and that's a massive difference.

Next season will be an enormous change to the game on a level we've never truly seen. I dare say this would be a more significant change than keystones and I think this is the perfect opportunity to make these sort of changes because nerfing ADCs across the board has proven to be just as problematic in the past as leaving them overpowered as shit. And because next season is changing so drastically, I'm not even sure an answer cross the board change like this should be made.

That's all I've got. It's my hope that melee champions - not tanks but fighters - can actually make significant contributions to teamfights other than being meatshields. Some can but their names start with "Fiora" and end with "isn't balanced." And that's no reason to allow melee champions to feel less effective. And with this change, I think it could close that gap in a healthy manner while toning down ADCs.