For the unfamiliar, Soul Scythe was an item they were testing on PBE that gave you early mana leech and was supposed to build into Essence Reaver, giving it a better build path. However, when deployed to PBE, Soul Scythe didn't build into Essence Reaver (a glitch, I'm sure), and soon after its introduction it was removed entirely.
May I ask why it was removed? It surely wasn't that glitched build path.
Sachabot1 votesI seem to recall it was the build path. I don't think it was a bug, but they decided they didn't want a mid-tier item with that sort of power, especially since you'd just resell it later.
Or maybe I'm totally wrong.
Kingsgrave1 votesMost of the community, including myself, thought it was going to be too powerful on Assassins and some bruisers and they wanted it solely to work for Carries. Even with the mana restore, AD + Lifesteal + CDR is too good of an item to pass up on nearly every AD Caster even Riven. Giving it an easy build path makes it too powerful.
It might also just shift the bot lane meta into whoever can build that effectively, so Graves/Sivir/Lucian basically. I think they might just want to remove it because Carries and Casters are supposed to be balanced around their mana pools if they have them and giving them an item that lets them ignore that completely is problematic.
darkdill2 votesSimple way to fix it would be to reduce the number of stats it gives and make it be another "strategic decision" alongside Bligewater Cutlass and BFS.
Basically, I'd remove the CDR and lifesteal from Soul Scythe, and have it give about 25 AD and the mana leech effect. Then change up the recipe of Essence Reaver to Soul Scythe + Pickaxe + Vamp Scepter + Recipe.
Now you pay a price getting it early on. You want that mana leech? You can't also get lifesteal with only 1400 gold on your first recall. Make a choice!
Teridax681 votesSoul Sickle didn't give CDR, but it did give lifesteal. It got dropped due to negative feedback, and I think the biggest issue with it is that it promoted the opposite of its intended playstyle (i.e. passive sustain instead of aggressive spellcasting), and risked leading into very boring gameplay. On one hand, it didn't really benefit champions who would prefer 
in the first place, namely aggressive AD casters such as 
, 
or 
, due to it offering little additional damage or spellcasting potential, and on the other its combination of health and mana sustain on a relatively cheap item meant that marksmen could pick it up early on, play super-passively with it and never have to budge from their lane. Bot lane has always run the risk of being overly passive and farm-heavy, as it has been in the past, and an item like this could risk bringing it back to such a state.
Honestly, I think the problem could be easily solved if they just traded the lifesteal out for CDR. A Soul Sickle without its 10% lifesteal and instead with 10% CDR and perhaps even, say, 5 extra AD (for a total of 25, up from its original 20) would appeal much more to mana-hungry AD casters and not go into issues of abusive sustain. The lifesteal could then just add itself later on as part of Essence Reaver's recipe proper.