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Item Discussion Series - Supports and the CDR Overload

Pyro·7/18/2014, 7:37:10 PM·23 votes·1,578 views

http://i.imgur.com/sIq0Ero.jpg

Hi there! Some of you might remember the huge post Never Go Full Meta - On the state of the LoL metagame and its effects. I'm an undergraduate game designer/developer and analyzing game systems like LoL is my hobby. I would like to revisit my item discussion series that I've started on LoL Wiki a few months ago. I was actually right on the spot with the predicitons of Aegis rework, introduction of Forbidden Idol, Aether Wisp and Quill Coat. Many of the designs were off, but some hit the nail on the head.

Some champions have cool builds that work like a charm every time, with some adjustment to lane matchups. You can even plan on how long do you want to stay in lane basing on the gold needed for the next purchase. For supports, however, it's not that convenient. There's a few reasons for that - first, supports usually don't have as much gold as other roles, unless their lane gets rolling and they start stacking assist gold. Second, bot lane is dictated by the purchases the carry is ready for, not when the support feels like it. Third, support items are in a bad spot right now and here's a short explanation why.

##The CDR Overload

Cooldown Reduction is probably the most important statistic for most supports. Their abilities have effects that aren't significantly altered by AP, but the effects such as buffs or crowd control are the better the more often they're available. Ability cooldowns are vital in prolonged trades, when the second round of spells can be deciding, or in the midgame, when the cooldows on ultimates decide the team's ability to contest objectives.

Most supports want to get CDR quickly and almost all of them plan to get 40% in their endgame build. The problem is that CDR became present on pretty much all support items, making a significant portion of it a waste. Every support will start with 5 to 15% from runes and masteries. Every gold generation item grants 10 (or 20) %, and that allows to easily maximize CDR with Ionian Boots of Luicidity, Kindlegem or a Forbidden Idol.

item 3401 item 3190 item 3110 FULL, with CDR from runes/masteries wasted
item 3069 item 3222 - 10% from masteries and you're full, making item 3504 or any other CDR item a bad idea

First problem I see here is the danger of wasting CDR from Frozen Heart. It's the only "defend my team from physical DPS" item and the only somewhat dedicated armor item for supports (although it works for any tank). When Aegis lost its armor, it left Ninja Tabi and Glacial Shroud as the only cheap items with armor for supports.

Second problem is of course items so forgotten and obsolete that even if the CDR overkill wasn't a problem, they wouldn't see much use. Zeke's Herald and Banner of Command both give 20% CDR and they're both damn near useless in their current form. Together with Ohmwrecker they form a group of items that are completely out of competitive play and hard to utilize even in solo queue.

##Three Item Wonder

item 3097 item 2049item 3067 Leona and Braum. For AP supports: item 3098 item 2049 with item 3108, item 3028 or item 3114

What's perhaps the only beneficial thing about the CDR overkill is the theoretical variety (in practise some options are sub-par) in building the first three items. You can start with a GP10 item or even a Ruby Crystal and after getting the final upgrade and Sightstone, you can try assembling your first item of choice by purchasing a cheap tier 2 component like Kindlegem, Forbidden Idol, Chalice of Harmony or Glacial Shroud. All but the last one build into cheap, useful support items.

Unfortunately what we often omit is that the first two items (GP10 and SStone) are almost always the same for any given champion. Ancient Coin is an alternative choice, but with its nonexistent value in all-ins it's often outclassed by Shield/Spellthief/Ruby start. All three GP10 items have only one final upgrade, which makes a major part of your first few trips ot base a mandatory static build, with next to zero variety.

The only real personal choice is the first item after GP10 and Sightstone. And that item is very likely to be redundant with other options - if you get Mikael's Crucible, mana regen from Ardent Censer won't matter; if you get Locket of the Iron Solari, part of CDR on Frozen Heart will go to waste, and same with pretty much all CDR thereafter. So you can pick one of many items, but due to mana regen and CDR stacking only one of them will bring full value.

The mana regen/CDR redundancy and the domination of powerful disangege supports (Morgana, Thresh, Braum, Nami) is currently keeping Talisman of Ascension down, but even if it was popular, it's still at most two GP10 paths for a champion, and the decision has to be made at the very beginning of the game. Meanwhile in other lanes, you get to adjust to the situation and go offensive or defensive based on the state of the game, with various options in every direction.

##Everyone Wants to Be A Hero

When the "true support" items like Talisman, Mikaels and Ardent Censer don't work well with each other, the "selfish option" suddenly becomes way stronger lategame. It's not uncommon to see Morgana with Zhonya's, Zyra with Liandry's and Annie with DFG - and from that point, what stops them from going full AP? The same goes for tank supports like Leona and Braum, who, after getting FotM and Locket, simply stack tanky items like Sunfire or Banshee.

What we possibly lack, in my opinion, is "true support" items that would amplify not damage or durability, but utility. And I'm not talking about adding new actives like Twin Shadows - I mean taking the curent utility from spells and items, and amplifying it. A great example of a "true support" item is Ardent Censer, but it has its own issues at the moment. Issues we could fix.

##Problem Summary

I think that we can agree that:

  • Supports are limited in their first items, that being a single one-way GP10 path and Sightstone. Both lack branches and strategic decisions allowing to adapt to situation in lane and right past it.
  • Support itemization is overloaded with CDR and mana regeneration, making part of those statistics go to waste. This is detrimental to Talisman, Ardent Censer and Mikael's.
  • Supports could use a laning armor item, or an alternative "true support" upgrade to Glacial Shroud.
  • Abandoned items such as Zeke's Herald, Banner of Command and Ohmwrecker could use some retouch.

If you disagree with this assessment, let me know. Otherwise, let me present example solutions to forementioned problems.

Disclaimer: The item concepts and reworks listed below are my personal idea on how to fix the problems I've outlined above. They are not the only and quite likely not the best solution.

##Variety In Mandatory Pickups

This is as simple as it gets: introduce alternative upgrades to GP10 items. All current items have active effects - those would be toggled.

Targons: Instead of granting active shield on one ally, allow to absorb part of damage that would harm nearby teammates.

item 3097 Targon's Brace + item 3024 Glacial Shroud + 385g = Root of the Mountain (total cost: 2200 g) 200 health, 300 mana, 30 armor, 10 health regen, 10% CDR, Spoils of War passive (same as FotM)
Toggle: Prevent 10% of damage that would be dealt to nearby allies and redirect it to you.

  • Toggle is the way for "tank supports" to literally tank for their team, at the cost of their own life (bringing back the "martyr" part from the old FotM active).
  • The item should be slightly weaker than FotM in lane and against assassins, but better in "even" fights.
  • Name is a placeholder. Possible alternatives: Zeonian Buckler, Shield of Rakkor, etc.

item 3096 Nomad's Medallion + item 3070 Tear of the Goddess + 635 g = Shurelya's Source (total cost: 2200 g) 10 health regen, 15 mana regen, 250 mana, +2 GP10, Favor passive (same as Talisman), Unique Passive: Mana Charge (Tear)
Unique Passive: Gain health equal to 20% of your mana.
Toggle: Consume 2% of your mana per second and divide it between other nearby allies.

  • Toggle allows for mana transfer, providing mana regeneration to allies (Ezreal, Urgot, Corki).
  • Manaless champions will not count towards the mana regeneration division.
  • Grants some durability that further increases with flat mana purchases.
  • Mana-consuming toggle should work well with Forbidden Idol upgrades (Mikael's Crucible, Ardent Censer).
  • Fully stacked version (Shurelya's Oasis) also restores health on toggle.

item 3098 Frostfang + item 3113 Aether Wisp + 385 g = Shard of the True Ice (total cost: 2200 g)
50 ability power, 10 mana regeneration, 5% movement speed, +4 GP10, Tribute passive (same as FQC)
Toggle: Your spells cost 20% more mana and reduce the target's Magic Resistance by 10 for 2 seconds.

  • This should be fairly useful on combo-based mages. Poke-oriented supports can make use of it if their lane partner has some magic damage.
  • Increased mana costs prohibit this item from overpowering trades in lane without any drawback.

##Lategame Options

I can't really comprehend why there is no alternative upgrade to Sightstone. That seems like an easy way to improve variety in support builds.

item 2049 Sightstone + item 1027 Sapphire Crystal + 800 g = Sapphire Sightstone (total cost: 2000 g)
250 health, 250 mana, 15% magic penetration, ward passive/active

Lategame pickup for supports like Zyra or Karma whose purpose is peeling brusiers off their carries. Alternative passive: 25% increase on slow strength.

item 2049 Sightstone + item 1006 Rejuvenation Bead + 220 g = Emerald Sightstone (total cost: 1200 g)
200 health, 10 health regeneration, 25% increase on all healing effects, ward passive/active

A way for supports like Sona and Nami to keep their heals strong in lategame without having to invest in heavy AP items.

As I said, it would be nice to have a Glacial Shroud upgrade for supports that's not as huge as Frozen Heart:

item 3024 Glacial Shroud + item 1028 Ruby Crystal + 450 g = Soul Shroud (total cost: 1800 g) 30 armor, 200 health, 300 mana, 10% CDR Passive: Increases your Cooldown Reduction capacity to 50%.

10% extra CDR should not make that much difference, considering this item is bound to take an item slot. Item itself shouldn't be too troubling since its passive effect will not function until you go beyond 40% CDR.

##Fixing Problematic Items

item 3056 Ohmwrecker was at first a Catalyst upgrade with Chain Vest. Unfortunately no support will buy Catalyst in lane, even for RoA, and tank supports would rather buy more durability and tank the tower shots than buy such a situational active item. Second version had Philosopher's Stone in recipe, but everyone built Philo into Shurelya's Reverie, and Blasting Wand in recipe was too much. Now it's the Blasting Wand cause again - supports don't have that much spare gold to spend on pure AP when building towards something so situational. And on mages, it doesn't give the best functional stats in laning phase (mana regen, MR, CDR).

This item needs to be a situational pickup when your team needs to five turrets, but lacks dedicated tanks. My approach would be a mage item that's cost-effective by itself, and the active makes it situationally a good purchase.

item 1026 Blasting Wand + item 3028 Chalice of Harmony + 760 g = item 3056 Ohmwrecker (total cost: 2500 g)
80 AP, 30 MR, 10 mp5, Mana Font passive (Chalice), Ohmwrecker active

  • This is a slightly cheaper alternative to Athene's, without the CDR boost, but with bigger chunk of AP.
  • Potentially useful for burst-oriented champions who prefer AP over CDR.
  • Tower-disabling active could turn out useful for assassins like Diana or Ahri.

I've decided to incorporate Chalice into the build to break the holy trinity of midlane items (Athene's, Rabadon's Void Staff) and open up some new possibilites.

item 3060 Banner of Command was designed at first as an AP+Armor+HP5 item, giving a little bit of all of those, but not enough to warrant a place in lategame builds. At the time, supports simply didn't have the money to afford it, and at the time they could, the numbers on it became obsolete. Season 4 changed the recipe to Blasting Wand + Fiendish Codex, but Blasting Wand is simply unfit for supports, not to mention the CDR overload. The item could work on mages like Heimerdinger, Malzahar or even Annie thanks to the pet boost, but CDR doesn't mean much in lane without any mana regeneration to back it up.

I can see two ways to give this item its own place: make it good for pet users or make it good for supports. Support version:

item 3113 Aether Wisp + item 3067 Kindlegem + 600 g = item 3060 Rallying Banner (total cost: 2500 gold)
40 ability power, 300 health, 10% cooldown reduction, Promote active
Aura: Nearby allied champions have bonus 5% Movement Speed

Pet mage (Heimerdinger, Malzahar, Zyra) version:

item 3191 Seeker's Armguard + item 3114 Forbidden Idol + 940 g = item 3060 Banner of Command (total cost: 2800 gold)
60 ability power, 50 armor, 10 mana regeneration, 10% cooldown reduction, Valor passive (minion boost)

  • Passive and active effects of the old Banner get split between those two items to ensure they can get used by champions that want it.
  • Rallying Banner's passive is more or less Janna's passive. An alternative version would be an AP aura, leaving % MS as an individual effect.
  • Banner of Command with Seeker's Armguard in its recipe would be perfect for pet-using mages like Elise and Herimerdinger, but also possibly become a situational pickup in midlane against AD champions.

##Everybody Can Support

item 3050 Zeke's Herald is just bad at the moment and unfit for supports - too much of the gold (that they don't really have) is spent on statistics they have no use for. I'm convinced this should be moved to a different class - fighters. We've seen junglers build Aegis and Sightstone, and as long as such decisions have clear tradeoffs, I'm fine with "team utility" being provided by more than one role. This prompted me to redesign Zeke's Herald as a bruiser item that's not as absurdly efficient in 1v1 scenarios as BotRK, Triforce or Hydra, but can provide a significant boost to AD-heavy teams.

item 3044 Phage + item 1053 Vampiric Scepter + 450g = item 3050 Zeke's Herald (total cost: 2600g)
300 health, 20 attack damage, Unique Passive: Rage (MS on hit/kill), Aura: +10 AD and +10% Lifesteal

  • Barely gold efficient, providing 2430 g worth of pure stats for its user - gets much better with allies around.
  • Not as efficient in lategame build for bruisers like Renekton as other options, but great in coordinated dives (AD jungler/midlaner).
  • As always, numbers can be tuned - it's the concept that matters.

Another item that some tanks would like to purchase, but are afraid of wasting CDR, is Locket of the Iron Solari. The active and passive are powerful enough to swallow any possible CDR waste, but an alternative upgrade to Aegis could open up more efficient builds.

item 3105 Aegis of the Legion + item 1031 Chain Vest + 380 g = Runic Bulwark (total cost: 3000 g) 250 health, 40 armor, 20 magic resistance Aura - Legion: Nearby allied champions gain +20 magic resistance and +10 health regen per 5 Active: Nearby allies gain armor equal to 25% of your magic resistance for 5 seconds.

  • Why the weird scaling? First, I didn't want this item to screw over full AD compositions too much, second, it's meant for true tanks - and from what I see, only those buy big amounts of MR when a significant part of damage on enemy team is physical.
  • MR aura does not stack with Aegis or Locket, of course.
  • This should be a good answer to AD casters. Right now the only answer is FotM's shield active, since FH debuff doesn't affect the likes of Riven and Pantheon that much.

##Next Discussion

It's annoying how every midlaner has to build Athene's Unholy Grail, followed by Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff. This effectively limits the midlane champion pool to those who can utilize this build the best (barring few exceptions such as Fizz and Twisted Fate).

Items like Rod of Ages, Archangel Staff, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Liandry's Torment and Morellonomicon could use some retouch.

25 Comments

Luner Hunter7/19/2014, 5:45:34 AM4 votes

i like Emerald Sightstone :3 thats about all ill say here :x

Cloud Potato7/19/2014, 7:31:22 AM3 votes

Really good analysis. I like a lot of the item suggestions (I always like more items) but there's one part that I want to disagree with:

When the "true support" items like Talisman, Mikaels and Ardent Censer don't work well with each other, the "selfish option" suddenly becomes way stronger lategame. It's not uncommon to see Morgana with Zhonya's, Zyra with Liandry's and Annie with DFG - and from that point, what stops them from going full AP? The same goes for tank supports like Leona and Braum, who, after getting FotM and Locket, simply stack tanky items like Sunfire or Banshee.

What we possibly lack, in my opinion, is "true support" items that would amplify not damage or durability, but utility. And I'm not talking about adding new actives like Twin Shadows - I mean taking the curent utility from spells and items, and amplifying it. A great example of a "true support" item is Ardent Censer, but it has its own issues at the moment. Issues we could fix.

I don't think this is the right way to go with fixing Support itemization. Making items like these that affect every champion equally does not usually end well since you need to try to balance them in order to prevent other positions from buying them, usually by placing restrictions on their effects. Instead, I think we need more variety in utility scaling on the champions themselves, so that the items do more on certain champions rather than less on everyone. Utility scaling is not a bad concept but Riot hasn't gone far enough with it.

Mainly, there needs to be more scaling with stats other than Ability Power. One of the historic problems with Bruiser/Tank balance is that they share the same itemization but Bruisers make better use of it; more Tanks with abilities that scale from defensive stats can help that problem. Supports too would be better off getting scaling from non-AP sources; it makes sense on a champion like Nami where all of her abilities interact with her opponents in some way, but on say Soraka half her kit is used on her allies, so she would be better served by other stats. It's strange that Rabadon's Deathcap is so good for utility scaling when AP items that have utility themselves should be more attractive.

Bringing other stats into the mix also helps item diversity. The less stats you can make use of the less variety you will have due to item synergy (CDR being the big offender in this case, as is the main point here).

Lewd Neeko7/18/2014, 9:33:17 PM2 votes

I main support and I have noticed that a lot of the CDR goes to waste. Just the other day, I was thinking about how I could change my item builds without going over 40% CDR, but since basically all the support items have CDR, it's kind of impossible for me to. After maxing my gold generation item and getting a sightstone, my third item usually gets me to 40% CDR (because I also have CDR in my runes and masteries) and any support items after that is just bought for its unique passive.

Pushover7/19/2014, 12:06:20 AM2 votes

It's fairly common for me to max my CDR out using item 3158, and as the game goes on, I'll swap them for item 3111 or item 3047, because there's a point where spending 500 gold for tenacity and MR becomes worth it, or 300 gold for autoattack reduction and armor.

For many supports such as Braum Janna Nami etc, their role in fights is largely related to beginning the fight towards the frontline to get a few important skills off, and then running backwards as the enemy frontline threatens to pass them. For them, the most important thing that items do for them is peel. This can be done via buffing allies such as item 3069 item 3190 or slowing enemies, such as item 3092 item 3143 .

Assuming a 10% CDR from runes and masteries, you can pick up 3 different items that have 10% CDR. Most commonly it's item 3190, gold item, and item 3222. Any other CDR item tends to be fairly weak, even with its CDR item 3504 item 3050 or much better spent on a champion who will use its stats in the case of item 3110 .

The one support item I can see a reasonable argument made for would be item 3023 since it's got a reasonably powerful active, and reasonably attractive stats. However, in most games I'd rather have a bigger MR item in the form of item 3102 . You could also make some argument for making item 3065 an alternative to Banshee's Veil on supports.

You tend to be unable to build pure support items and be as effective as you would like to be in fights, since support items typically provide only moderate survivability, and you can be picked off very easily by many burst mages and assassins. A fairly common build to many supports looks something like item 3190 item 3222 item 3265, item 3143 or item 3102 and one of item 3069 item 3092 item 3401 Swapping out the Banshees or Randuins in the late game is often suicide, since you need the survivability.

I think you have reasonable points for redesigning many of the support items, as they end up in a niche that few supports want to go into. However, I do not believe the primary issue with support itemization is due to the CDR making alternative items worse, it's that the alternative items are too specialized for most teamfights.

As far as your problem summary, I don't quite agree with your first point, since supports have ~2-3 different ways they can start, whether it be Doran's Shield, or a choice of 1 or 2 gold items. Many midlaners start Dorans Ring or Flask. The second point I've largely addressed. The 3rd point isn't really true, if you need armor on a support you can still build Ninja Tabi, but it does hurt CDR. However, the supports that need the armor are largely burst supports like Braum or Leona . Supports need a laning armor item as much as fighters need an armor/AD item. I definitely agree with your 4th point.

Maybe we will have a CDR item if items get reworked, but right now, some of the support items have much more general use or a more powerful effect than others, and that is a problem that should be addressed before looking at CDR.

tl;dr: Some support items are simply stronger than others, that's not a CDR issue. Focus on reworking the weaker support items before looking at CDR. Man does adding inline images make long posts look ugly if they aren't on the first line :<

Serpents Embrace7/19/2014, 12:00:50 AM1 votes

Would the alternate SIghtstones have a storage of 4 or 5?

As in, are you leaving Ruby Sightstone in to have the "extra" ward and health as its bonus?

PokladnicaZla7/19/2014, 8:59:43 AM1 votes

Firs of,great discussion

Second i dont really have problem wiht the CDR going wasted(atleast not always)

On utility support with frostqueen-masteries(no CDR runes)-Athens i alredy have 35%CDR Then i buy Botts of swiftness,after that i mostly build tanky Locket/Rarely frozen heart....

So motsly i only wast 5%CDR on Utility supports

On tanky i try to build HP/Def stats and try to max CDR

I get your point,but is quantity better than quality?

You stated that supports should spam their abilities constantly instead of having strong abilities in the first place.I sadly dont agree with that. The current mate favours oneshooting,dealing high damage in a few seconds.So if someone attacks your carry would a weak shield that can costantly used do any good?Would it save your carry?I think not.

But i agree,that the support items needs some fixing.

MEMEME6707/20/2014, 1:03:45 AM1 votes

Making an item that heals your whole team over time will likely never happen. Riot has tried the concept twice already (Taric's ult, Locket) and has found that if the numbers feel good, they're OP. And if the numbers are balanced, they feel horrible.

I also highly doubt they're going to make an item that increases outgoing heals, after the heal-poke meta. If we ever want Soraka and (any champ with a good heal) to feel useful when healing, we probably can't afford this item because dedicated heal teams are horrible for the game.

Stacona7/20/2014, 9:42:23 PM1 votes

Too much text, but for CDR do not worry about over capping the CDR because it doesn't matter cause the items are good in themselves with other stats and passives/actives I like to see multiple upgrades to sightstone rather than just health, this would be really cool- the icons could just look like Ruby Sightstone but in different colours

Goumindong7/25/2014, 1:13:38 AM1 votes

Credit where Credit is due?