Don't nerf the item, Nerf the Champion.

Erockandroll·7/14/2015, 6:28:33 AM·2 votes·473 views

Tho more likely, were going to have to nerf both. Sated Devourer is Obviously strong, Though I wouldn't say Broken, Just overTuned. But it does break a select number of Champions. Notably, Yi, Shyvanna, possibly Jax as well. That said, Their is good reason to nerf these champions, and not just Devourer. And here's why.

Sated Devourer was made to help Auto Attack based Junglers, who like to Farm and scale late into the game. Helping champions like Aatrox, Noctern, Xin Zhao, as well as the once already mentioned. And it does exactly that. But Yi, Shyvana, etc, use Devourer way more effectively than their counterparts. And heres the rub. Even if we nerf Devourer, (say, nerf it's on hit damage) Yi, Shyv, etc, Will still use Devourer more effectively than Aatrox, nocter, etc.

Bottom line, Devourer might need a nerf, But Yi, Shyvana, broken champ here, won't be escaping nerfs, as they need to be balanced around the new item.

On a side note, Devourer's Synergy with BotRK, is probably a trickier thing to tackle. I'm a little hesitent to call for nerfs on it, unless it was problematic elsewhere. That said, I would like to point out that it's 8% Current Health damage means it deals 80 damage on hit, (which applies life steal) against enemies with 1000 health. That's more damage than Any other On hit effect item. (except maybe nashor's tooth since that scales with AP) Still, it was made to be the tank Destroying item, so it's difficult to say whether it should be Nerfed/changed or not.

9 Comments

NemeBro7/14/2015, 6:40:58 AM2 votes

For a champion that is super broken with Sated Devourer, Yi's win rate has barely changed since it was released.

Even the win rates of players who have 125+ games with him are merely okay, rather than exceptional.

Jax and Aatrox's win rates went up in the jungle, but both are still below 50% last I checked.

Kayle is the only champ that uses it that worries me.

Lord Dusteon7/14/2015, 6:34:43 AM1 votes

I'd also point out balancing the champions around the item forces those champions to go whatever role can get that item the fastest as they are intentionally gimped without it. That also means they are forcibly removed from any role but jungle if this is done. Balancing champions around items is not a particularly good thing, as it means they are balanced with the item and weak without. That means anytime the item is nerfed those champions are directly nerfed (kinda like Lichbane nerfs for people like Twisted Fate and Fizz).

Guy Fox Teemo7/14/2015, 6:38:10 AM1 votes

Can't balance a champion around an item , since if they don't build that item they'll be INSANELY weak because they didn't build that item, I dont always build devourer when i play Yi (I almost never do), since I think its a waste of time to sit in jungle for 25mins getting stacks, much rather help me team out and secure a victory early instead of hoping for the best later on in the game.

Maximum Zilean7/14/2015, 6:41:49 AM1 votes

So your saying because my jungle XinZhao is strong with sated devourer, nerf Xin so he NEEDS the item and heavily hurts his laning since he won't be getting it in lane?

WRONG!

-This stupid idea of yours forces said champions to build the item to be usable.

-It forces said champions into the jungle, when some of them are perfectly viable in lane. As mentioned above, Xin is a good top laner.

-If said champions don't get the item, they will suddenly suck because you balanced them around an item.

AyRe CoNteMpT7/14/2015, 6:57:51 AM1 votes

as my colleagues allready noticed, balancing a champion around an item is complete bullshit and we wont discuss this any further.

also, even tho it might seem extremely strong on paper, the beforementioned "overtuned champions" are actually in no way overtuned, as you can see in their average performance (winrates etc). aside from statistics, the power of an auto attack based champion is very hard to measure because you cant just press a button and say "all right, thats too strong". auto attack based champs are very hard to play, generally, and require good planing and execution to even get to auto attack, against non-zombie players that is.

this means, if you actually get to auto attack someone, you have to be able to kill them in a certain amount of time. if that timespan is too long, there is basically no way you will ever kill someone because if he can run for 10 seconds, his team will show up or his jump/cc cooldowns are back up.

if the timespan is too short, well, you see, thats where it gets interesting. there is no "too short" timespan for a melee champion without cc to kill you in auto attacks. even if he is strong enough to kill you upon a facecheck in such a short amount of time that you cant even react, its still balanced because he outplayed you in a way that he was able to make you facecheck that bush.

also, this is only while playing on the map. teamfights are a whole other story again. no matter how fed an auto attacker is, he will ALWAYS have trouble to teamfight properly because of how vulnerable he is to any form of CC and attention.

sure, the midgame strength of those champions has increased but now doesnt scale infinitely into lategame anymore, which, in some games especially soloQ, can be a downside. also, their way of using their high power comes at such a high price that its actually no problem that they are a bit stronger now. and last but not least, they werent were strong/oppressive in the first place, so its not like they buffed allready-overtuned champions.

also, ive seen champions pick up that sated devourer who dont even have a single on-hit effect in their kit and they CRUSH. anyways, since this comes at the price of having to farm it up first, im actually totally fine with the new item.

Monstrous Yi7/14/2015, 8:03:01 AM1 votes

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