Thoughts on Mage Changes

dons flame suit

Mages have too much mana, and though the proposed change could have been better, it moves things in the right direction. From experience playing Taliyah, the poster child for the accusation that spellcasters can clear waves and roam without having to worry about mana after getting an item, I can say that this is true.

Tear of The Goddess lets me cast spells like I have a permanent blue buff. Furthermore, with her high base damage, I don’t need AP for efficient waveclear or adequate poke. I can just buy Tear, instantly clear a wave under turret with an all-in combo, and refuse to play League of Legends against such hard matchups as Yasuo.

The mana regen from Doran’s Ring means that I can almost ignore that I cannot buy Tear until later. Every fully cleared wave restores 24 mana. Combined with +50% mana regen from the same item, I get at least 3.5 more mana per second or 115 mana per wave. That’s 139 mana—two spells for almost nothing— every time another six minions spawn.

Manaflow Band, once stacked, means that I can ignore Blue Buff. Full Mana or not, I have to back sometime anyway, so while 1% missing mana every 5 seconds is not 1% maximum mana every second, it’s good enough for never quite being out of mana when I recall and see a wave coming.

So, good on Riot for trying to fix this. Midlane should not be two roamers pounding waves and looking to ult somewhere or an assassin flailing about for some action while his opponent waits under turret to outscale. This place once was where legends were born. Bjregsen in EU and then NA, Faker in KR and then the world, and many others made their names between the turrets and the river. While I don’t want a return to the days of mechanical gods 1v9’ing with broken champs that got a little fed, I do want my lane to be useful for more than carrying teamfights or roaming to sidelanes.