Give Battle Mages a Keystone Already

Oakleaf Ranger·Aug 12, 2018·11 votes·3,460 views

Do I seriously need to start bitching like Hashinshin for battle mages to get a keystone?

Aery is the closest thing to a combat keystone that AP sustained damage dealers have and its going to be nerfed.

Instead of still trying to pushing Phase Rush onto us you could use that time and effort to release a real keystone for battle mages.

Or you know, change something about Phase Rush so that its actually appealing to more than 1 maybe 2.25 of the champions.

P.S.

Fuck Phase Rush

17 Comments

IllusionLord333Aug 12, 20183 votes

I agree to most of this, a battle mage focused keystone would be appreciated.

I basically play all mages, so a battle mage keystone would be good new way to spice things up!

NaalithAug 12, 20182 votes

The ironic thing is the best thing I've found that works on battle mages is Electrocute, only because it's so crazy. I play Electrocute Swain with Nimbus Cloak in my secondary to burst people up front and then stick to them. I think deathfire touch was basically the most boring keystone and shouldn't be re-added because however much damage it does they will just subtract that from a champion's base values since it will be mandatory, but battle mages should get a keystone.

KaìjuAug 12, 20181 votes

Sol is meant to go Phase Rush but I also take Electrocute because why run faster when I can just kill my lane opponent.

Oakleaf RangerAug 12, 20182 votes

Sol is meant to go Phase Rush but I also take Electrocute because why run faster when I can just kill my lane opponent.

This is my biggest gripe with Phase Rush.

Who really cares about the ability to run faster AFTER using half to all your abilities?

Why would anyone want that when the alternate is having the ability pump out more damage?

This going to sound memey ass fuck but all I think Phase Rush needs is a base movement speed buff as bonus for having the rune.

Something to actually make it more useful before phase rush is activated by a champion.

Need Gold 4 TentAug 12, 20182 votes

It's for bruisers like Darius to stick, or Garen to disengage safely.

KaìjuAug 13, 20181 votes

Do they take it? Ever since Conq came out I have never seen a bruiser take Phase Rush, only Sol.

Need Gold 4 TentAug 13, 20181 votes

Phase rush is still solid on Darius (they take ghost/flash on top of that) and is a niche setup on Garen (run by Riste the Garen OTP in Masters). Darius is self-explanatory, but apparently the playstyle with Garen is max Q. Trading pattern is Q enemy and E out (Q/sunfire tick/E) with phase rush for a riven-style short trade with no counter.

DisulfiramAug 12, 20182 votes

From the wiki:

Battlemages (also known as Warlocks) get into the middle of the fray, seeking to wreak havoc upon the entire enemy team with their overwhelming sustained area damage. Due to their relatively short (but not melee) combat ranges and the need to burn down their opponents over time, Battle Mages have significant defensive capabilities that range from sustaining endlessly to literally defying death for a short period of time.

So, if we don't want to add more damage into the game, what else might battlemages find useful?

Movespeed (Phase rush) - yeah, sure, but as already pointed out it's not much use to a mage who's stuck in position, or whose kit already stops/slows the enemy, or who is waiting for his cds after proccing it.

Some defensive ability? Might do... not a straight defence boost, no, that would make it mandatory on tanks since there isn't an actually full-defensive keystone. Sustain then? Heal for a base+scaling value over X seconds after casting a spell; this should reward spell spamming in a fight.

What else could battlemages use? Let's see... they all seem to have some CC. Maybe an effect that weakens the enemy after the CC ends? Grounding sounds good, but even just a slow or a slight reduction to that enemy's damage might work. To prevent this being used to 1v1 people they're not supposed to, it could also scale with the number of champions (allied or enemy) present in the area.

What else? Don't know, can't think of anything else right now.

P.S. I'm a little offended that Fiddlesticks is not categorized as a battle mage.

Hotaru is WaifuAug 12, 20182 votes

im curious what champs are classified as battle mages?

MalakAug 12, 20185 votes

{quoted}

im curious what champs are classified as battle mages?

Swain Karthus Ryze Cassiopeia

non-burst, sustain damage champions with low range

lightdragoon88Aug 13, 20181 votes

Doesn't that also include Malz? Malzahar

MalakAug 13, 20181 votes

{quoted}

Doesn't that also include Malz?

malzahar is a traditional mage because he has longer cooldowns, doesn't have sustained aoe, longer range with some abilities, spends time moving around a lot waiting for cooldowns or getting into position, doesn't go into the middle of the fight

Then you look at karthus, he wants to be closer to the frontline and is always doing damage with Q and E both which have no real cooldown

Swain's Q has very low cooldown, but he's mainly a battlemage because of his sustain and his ult which requires him to frontline. This also has an effect on the items he buys and runes he needs.

lightdragoon88Aug 13, 20181 votes

I play Malzahar and he is more battle mages to me personally.

Most of his Damage is prologue, not burst due to his Voidling and E. He has to get close to set his E and R on targets (unless you bounce his E through minions).

And like the title says: Malzahar doesn't really have a good keystone to use. Most use Aery but again, it being nerf and he only using half of it. Which usually leaves him with Unsealed Spellbook.

Oakleaf RangerAug 13, 20181 votes

Malzahar is a battle mage.

The sub class lists him as one and he also fits the description of one.

The thing about Malzahar is that he is on the squishier side of the spectrum compared to the rest of battle mages.