Nobody liked Feral Flare - so who the hell though this would be a good idea? Its even stronger than Feral Flare was most of the time. Its not an option for most champions, it doesn't bring variety in the jungle, all it does is make the 3-4 champions who use it best ridiculously annoying to play against, if not insanely broken (looking at you, Yi, Udyr, and Warwick).
EndlessSorcerer3 votesThere were 3 main issues with Feral Flare that Devourer doesn't have.
Devourer has fixed most of these issues: it doesn't need to transform, it doesn't have any healing, it doesn't deal extra damage to monster camps, and it gives 2 stacks for champion kills and assists which incentives junglers to gank and teamfight more than Feral Flare did. These changes, combined with the increase difficulty of the jungle, camp spawn times, and experience changes to jungle monsters, have greatly improved the item.
ProfDrDeath1 votesThis.
The current "problem" with the item, if there's anything, lies in a little overtuned numbers. From jungling alone, you can get enough gold to get your Devourer by roughly 8:30 to 9 mins, at which point the starting 40 magic damage might be a little strong.
But that's nothing number tuning can't fix - for example, give the magic damage level scaling, like 12 + 2 * level, capping at 40. Or 22 + level. Or simply reduce the starting number.
AtheosisX2 votesSo what would you suggest for all the champs who do benefit from it? It's more than three by the way.
Anonagon1 votesSo what would you suggest for all the champs who do benefit from it? It's more than three by the way.
I realize there are some champions who would like Devourer but aren't super broken by it, but those champions are never going to get played unless the champions majorly broken with it are gutted, of which there are only a couple. And while Weedwick definitely deserves it, I'm not quite so sure anybody else deserves a gutting over this enchantment.
Most of the champions who are good with devourer but not broken with it need their own buffs. Shyvana for example, has been nerfed repeatedly over the course of many patches, and is now nearly useless, having both lower damage and lower survivability than ever before. Many other champions I can think of that would use devourer would do perfectly fine with either Warrior or Juggernaut.
The Rager2 votesYou forget the jungle was buffed too.
Cupkek2 votesTo be frank, the Devourer enchantment isn't all that overpowered. It's pretty much just a Feral Flare.
I think that your issue is with the Smite effect that comes with the Machete upgrade. Skirmisher's blade deals on-hit true damage that stacks with the Devourer enchantment. It doesn't make champions with high attack speed or on-hit abilities broken, just very dangerous. However, the threat of a jungler like with a Devourer's Skirmish blade is entirely dependent on him landing smite.
Learn to adjust your playstyle and strategy to this. Stop getting caught out by Warwick, mess up Udyr's farm, don't overextend, etc. etc.
AtheosisX1 votesSo you don't think capping the bonus magic damage at 80 or less would solve the problem?