Grievous Wounds on Thornmail and its progenitor
I don't like it one bit. Why?
Because having GW on Thornmail, even if it works only for a second, changes the purpose of the item too much.
Live Thornmail's passive, as it is, works quite well denying the Thornmail user as a valid Lifesteal target. Paying regard to on the damage return based on damage dealt, a tank with 90 base Armor barely needs more than Thornmail's own Armor to negate all an attacking ADC's Lifesteal until said ADC has both additional MR and ArPen - detailed calculations here.
PBE Thornmail loses that effect of denying its user as a Lifesteal target. Even with its Grievous Wounds, the passive gets outhealed by Bloodthirster's Lifesteal (20%, effectively 12%) at 208.3 + (5/6)ths bonus Armor, if the attacker doesn't have MR. With only 50 MR, the damage required to outheal it sinks to 138.9 + (5/9)ths bonus Armor.
Instead, the Grievous Wounds effect shifts both Thornmail and its progenitor to being items that shut down the attacker's general sustain, extending the scope of the effect way beyond denying the user as a Lifesteal target. In addition to Lifesteal, applying Grievous Wounds affects sustain from heals from other champions, the Summoner Spell Heal, Feast Mastery...making the effect both more impactful and changing its nature from a selfish utility effect to a team-wide one. EDIT: Also, the effect's nature changes from countering continous sustain, but not burst healing, to be effective against both.
EDIT: That being said, I somewhat like the new statline of the item. High Armor and a bit HP at 2.9k make it far more slot-efficient, and while Cold Steel and Thorns as effects clash somewhat, they still serve to majorly increase survivability. And Thornmail isn't really there to make them kill themselves attacking you - rather, it is to deny them their offensive sustain when attacking you.
Thus, I'd prefer to see Grievous Wounds changed for a passive that affects Lifesteal and other vamp effects. Two ways to do that:
- First, simply add a unique passive that says: Lifesteal and Vamp effects against the user have their effect reduced by X%.
- Second, return the damage-return-on-damage dealt effect. As the numbers I linked show, this serves really well to deny Lifesteal on the Thornmail user.
On a related suggestion, maybe there is a better way to display Thornmail's effect on Lifesteal? For example by displaying, in the same line as the green health return over the champion, the damage of the Thorns passive? Like +40 - Thorns: 60? At least for the Thornmail user?
Feel like part of the reason people think that Lifesteal counters Thornmail, instead of the other way around, is that obviousness of the bright green sustain numbers vs the muted red/violet of Thornmail's damage.
