I'm incredibly disappointed with Riot for nerfing Challenging Smite & Cinderhulk.

Riot had a perfect opportunity to show that they listen to their community; a perfect opportunity to show some creativity; a perfect opportunity to give Sunfire Cape a distinct identity.

I made a thread a little over 3 weeks ago that addressed this exact issue. I pointed out that even before Cinderhulk Top was 'a thing' that there was little-to-no reason to get Sunfire Cape over Randuin's Omen unless you're playing a Champion with very low innate wave clear (e.g. and maybe ). I even gave Riot an alternative to nerfing Challenging Smite Cinderhulk.

[{quoted}](name=A Blue Quaker,realm=OCE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=6P6QT1Ez,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-04-24T02:38:08.829+0000)

If I were to rework Sunfire Cape, for argument's sake, I'd probably do it alongside a Soft Randuin's Omen Rework.

Sunfire Cape + + 800g = (2850g) +500 Health +70 Armor UNIQUE Passive - Cold Steel: When hit by basic attacks, reduces the attacker's Attack Speed by 15%. UNIQUE Toggle - Immolate: Deals 2/3/4/5% Current HP as Magic Damage per second to nearby enemies (Maximum Damage to minions: 25 + 1 per champion level). Immolate can remain toggled as long as its charges remain. 1 charge is consumed per second, and 1 charge is restored for every 2 seconds that immolate isn't active. % Current HP increases at levels 1, 6, 11 and 16.

Randuin's Omen + + 800g = (2850g) +500 Health +70 Armor UNIQUE Passive - Cold Steel: When hit by basic attacks, reduces the attacker's Attack Speed by 15%. UNIQUE Active: Slows the Movement Speed of nearby enemy units by 35% and the Attack Speed of nearby enemy units by 15% for 2 seconds (+1 second per 200 Armor and +1 second per 200 Magic Resist). The Attack Speed reduction stacks with Cold Steel Passive (60 second cooldown).

This would create clear identities for each item, as well as introduce decision making when choosing items as the Cold Steel Passive is Unique.

Once again I've given Riot too much credit and expected them to make good decisions when it comes to Game Balance.

Once again I'm incredibly disappointed.

EDIT: In Riot's defence, the changes to Challenging Smite & Cinderhulk weren't as rough as they could have potentially been.