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@RiotRepetoir, what would you think of the following item?

mi ramfan·8/26/2015, 1:03:15 AM·2 votes·724 views

> Icathian Key 1200 gold (builds from Amplifying Tome+765 gold) +30 AP UNIQUE Passive: After inflicting spell damage on an enemy champion from at least 500 range away, one stack of Riftcrawl is gained (up to a maximum of three). Stacks decay after being held for 30 seconds without being used. UNIQUE Active-Riftcrawl: Blinks user to a target location within 300 range. Riftcrawl can be recast within 10 seconds if the holder has stacks remaining to use; after all stacks are consumed or the time period expires, the item goes on cooldown. (120 second cooldown)

Why this item would improve League of Legends:

Currently, mid lane casters like Cassieopeia, Lux, and Brand have very few options against enemy assassins in lane. Their early harass is negated by high base movement speed (making it easier to dodge their skillshots), the existence of Crystalline Flask+3 pots starts, and the high mana costs required for them to even attempt to harass. Making things worse is the inherent advantage in outplay potential that assassins have, being able to use their mobility tools to completely negate the CC skillshots of mages while also engaging upon them at the same time. As such, the mid lane situation for a while has been lopsided in favor of mobile divers instead of more traditional mages, because the traditional mage must wait for their assassin opponent to make a serious, SERIOUS mistake before they can attempt to retaliate, while the assassin holds most of the agency during the laning phase.

Previously, the main advantages mages had to counteract the much lower amount of counterplay they possessed were their greater utility and CC potential. However, it is clear as of Ekko's release that this principle is no longer being respected. In addition to his mobility tools, Ekko also brings a massive heal and AoE stun to the table. There's very little reason to select a mage when Warmogs tanks can heal off any poke with trivial ease and assassins bring the same utility with more outplay potential.

This item solves part of the problem by attempting to rectify the difference in outplay potential between the two classes; the lopsided risk/reward ratio of assassins with escapes (LB, Zed, Ekko) and the lack of appropriate differentiation between the two classes can be addressed later. In the meantime, this item will correct the imbalance by giving traditional mages a piece of the mobility pie. They will finally have the ability to outplay assassins the same way assassins have outplayed them; just like an assassin can currently jump around a mage's spells with ease, a mage will be able to do the same to the assassins.

The item's weaknesses

-Gold cost coming out of other items that might be more important to the champion -Can't be used if an assassin skillfully dodges the mage's poke -No late game build path -Slot inefficient -Does not address mana weaknesses -Blinks are too short to be used as true escapes; they're more useful as combat mobility tools

Things that might need tweaking

-Combine Cost/Buildpath -Stack decay; it may turn out that stacks need to decay more quickly in order for them to disappear -Cooldown on the active

Potential Abuse Cases

Janna: Makes an already nearly impossible to catch champion even more slippery if she can tag someone far away with a tornado

Morgana: Would make escaping her ultimate much more difficult

Teemo: Could make it much harder to kill the little rat if it's allowed to proc on shooms

Rumble: Could make it too difficult to escape him if he uses ult to refresh his jump capability

2 Comments

Whut Thuh 8/26/2015, 1:55:05 AM1 votes

this item would be used by assasins and junglers to just jump under turret and kill you and then blink out so your item would make skillshots even harder to land. i see what you tried to do this the range thing but there are still lots of assasins that have skillshots/ ranged attacks like ahri fizz nocturne gnar jarvan and some others and i know some of these arent traditional mid laners but with this item it would make then halfway viable

feral rrooaarrrr8/26/2015, 2:36:02 AM1 votes

Strong immobile mages get to have that power in their budget because they are immobile. They typically farm safer, poke better, prevent siege better or have some other advantage. Assassins have some advantages in their potential damage an mobility, but typically their laning is hard if you know how to go against them. For instance lets look at ekko, his stun requires a huge amount of skill to land for a mid lane ekko, his q is his main farm tool since he is melee, what this means is his cooldowns and mana are abusable, if he goes to auto minnions, someone like cass gets free hits on their "easy to dodge" skills, and when he goes for damage with his q he is predicatable and all in, if you save your cc for that time you can wreck him with someone like cass or morg.