Runeglaive will never be a balanced jungle item
So Runeglaive has been out for a while, and to me it's already clear that this item was a big mistake and will never be truly balanced. Let me show you some of the problems:
Enchantment Runeglaive +40 ability power +200 mana +10% cooldown reduction Spellblade passive (75% Bonus AD + 30% AP) that converts to magic damage and restores 8% missing mana on hitting a monster.
Problem 1: Spellblade users are not created equal
Mostly the AP jungler pool is divided into a bunch who use spellblade well and a bunch who don't. If a jungle item is supposed to fill an entire niche, it should be mostly usable or decent on all of them. No other jungle item has the same sort of unique effect attached to it that only some of its target users can use. It would be like Warrior having Crit Chance attached.
As it stands, there is no balance changes that could make this a reasonable item on champions who don't want spellblade without making it broken on those who do.
Problem 2: It will forever be compared to Lich Bane
Because the stats are so similar to Lich Bane and both have a UNIQUE spellblade, there will always be the comparison between the two.
Lich Bane is currently a stronger item (certainly on a slot basis -- probably on a cost basis as well) on almost all champs that aren't Ezreal or Evelynn. When this is the case, it will always feel shitty to buy Runeglaive on junglers that would have used Lich Bane well. Yeah, you can always sell it eventually or skip your jungle item altogether and just build a Lich Bane -- but neither of those options are amazing.
Meanwhile, if it is ever buffed to be stronger than Lich Bane (certainly if it ever is on a slot basis), you will see lots more of Lich Bane laners start using smite and buying it.
Problem 3: It causes issues with physical damage on-hit applying spells (
)
Perhaps this item's only real strength at the moment is its interaction with Physical Damage spells that apply on-hit effects. Making these spells do magic damage (and also apply spell effects like Luden's) changes the balance game for a few champions (notably AP ezreal and AP evelynn).
Champions with these effects will always want this item far far more than the AP junglers it was designed for. Yeah, these champs could be nerfed but it's really not an ideal solution. Or the interaction could be removed (which wouldn't surprise me) -- but then the item is even more of a lich bane clone
Problem 4: It pidgeon holes AP junglers into building heavy AP
This item is only really effective when a high AP build is used. In it's current state, it is worse than a sheen with a low AP build (and even with the coming buffs -- it won't really be worth it if you aren't going to build a ton of AP).
This means that it isn't good on anyone that might want to go tanky, utility, pen, or AP bruiser type builds don't really benefit from this item. This is kinda a shame because you would see the old Magus (or especially Spirit of The Spectral Wraith) combined with these sorts of builds quite often.
And notably, people who build Warrior or Devourer are generally much freer to build tanky or utility items. More on why this is significant in Problem 5.
Problem 5: It won't help AP junglers see more competitive play
No one is disputing that AP junglers were lacking in competitive play. Apart from Nidalee, no junglers would even build Magus.
But let's think for a second about why that was. AP junglers were largely avoided for two major reasons: because they were relatively weak at skirmishing/ganking (by far the most important aspects of competitive jungling) and because they frequently lead to team comp trouble (They often lack CC or lockdown that is desirable in junglers -- and almost always lack the tanky front liner/initiator aspect).
Nidalee is the exception, largely because she does gank and skirmish well (especially early) and because she has a clear role in a specific team comp (Poke).
Runeglaive doesn't solve any of these problems really. It even hurts the team comp issue because it forces a far more damage oriented build (which isn't really suited to competitive jungling).
TL;DR: Runeglaive is a very flawed item that fails to accomplish any of its goals.
