On Tank Item Recipes and Build Paths
Intro: Back in Patch 4.5, Riot changed the recipe for the two most powerful/common Armor Items - Randuin's Omen and Sunfire Cape. This left them with almost identical build paths - both require a Giant's Belt and a Chain Vest. The only difference between the two is the optional Warden's Mail upgrade for Randuin's. In 3.10, they did a similar thing with the two main Magic Resistance items. Both Spirit Visage and Banshee's Veil build from a Spectre's Cowl and a Ruby Crystal. Sprit Visage includes an extra Kindlegem upgrade for the Ruby Crystal.
I feel like these changes limit the diversity of the game and create a boring environment where the strongest items all build out of the same basic parts.
Therefore, I am suggesting a hypothetical rework of the build paths for the major Armor and Magic Resit items.
Disclaimer: For the sake of this post, I am not concerned with the costs, stats provided, or general power level of these items. I am only theorizing about build recipes, item themes, and variety.
To start, I'll lay out the basic Tank Items, to identify their main purposes in the game and identify similarities.
Item Breakdown
http://i.imgur.com/3IbMJV3.png
Basic Items:
Cloth Armor, Null-Magic Mantle, and Ruby Crystal are the most basic components for all other tank items. They provide a small amount of their respective stats.
Strong Items:
Chain Vest, Negatron Cloak, and Giant's Belt are the big brothers of the lil' guys. They give a decent chunk of stats.
Upgrades:
Kindlegem, Warden's Mail, Glacial Shroud, Spectre's Cowl, and my made-up Runic Scarf (more on this later) are mid-level items made up of the weaker items. Passive effects and additional stats start coming into play, here.
Final Upgrades:
Spirit Visage and Sunfire Cape provide bonus effects to their owner, but no one else on the team. They are built for specific reasons, and I have labeled them as "Selfish." I do not mean to imply that by building these, you are doing a disservice to your team, it's just a way to label the most common use of these two items.
Randuin's Omen and Banshee's Veil provide bonus utility/protection when purchased. In addition to pure tank stats, they also grant effects that greatly increase the amount of tanking one can do.
Frozen Heart and Locket of the Iron Solari are items based on aura effects, reaching their full potential in teamfights. Frozen Heart debuffs enemies, while Locket grants a buff to allies. These are situational items, built to help counter or enhance specific team compositions.
Changes to Armor Items
http://i.imgur.com/ISrTCxj.png
These are straight-up reverts of Riot's previous changes.
Randuin's and Sunfire Cape both still build from a Giant's Belt, however, their other components are unique. Warden's Mail is once again built from layering multiple Cloth Armors together to slow enemies' Attack Speed. Chain Vest no longer has a pointless upgrade, as it is able to stand on its own as a powerful item.
Frozen Heart, the aura item, now includes both basic Armor items. If you're providing your team with a way to increase their defenses, I feel it is thematically appropriate to include a little bit of everything.
Without these changes, there is almost no reason to buy Cloth Armor on the live servers. The only tanky items they turn into are Ninja Tabi, the situational Glacial Shroud, and even less common Thornmail. Reverting Riot's changes will give players more options and a more decisive build path, allowing them to build different items for different situations. No longer will the two most common items build from the same two parts. Different items do different things, and their build paths should reflect that.
Changes to Magic Resistance Items
http://i.imgur.com/0AVzI8C.png
I propose the introduction of a new item. I'm calling it Runic Scarf. [Referencing the deceased Runic Bulwark and continuing with the anti-magic fabric theme.] It builds from two Null-Magic Mantles. The name isn't really important, but think of it as the MR version of a Warden's Mail. It could have a Passive Effect, maybe a weaker version of Banshee's Veil's. Something like... "reduces the next incoming spell's damage by 15%, on a X cooldown". The purpose of this item is to allow players to purchase Null-Magic Mantles and be confident that they have a viable upgrade for the mid and late game. The only tanky item on the live servers to build from a NMM is Mercury Treads. The other upgrade are Fighter and Mage-oriented items like Hexdrinker and Chalice of Harmony.
Spirit Visage remains unchanged, but Banshee's has been completely reworked. Runic Scarf combines with a Giant's Belt, following a similar path as Randuin's Omen, the Armor item that most closely mirrors Banshee's Veil. Different recipes for different results.
Locket's build path has been a mess for a long time, so I suggest simplifying it. Remove the unnecessary Aegis of the Legion item, instead opting to mirror Frozen Heart's "One of Each" approach. Combine both sources of Magic Resist to grant that aura to your entire team. Rejuv Bead needs to stay in, to justify the Health Regen aspect of the item, but it isn't necessary to waste an item slot on it. You can easily leave it out while you save gold for the big upgrade.
What about Thornmail, Atma's Impaler, Wit's End, and all the rest?
I'm trying to keep this post relatively simple, but the changes here would make it easy to follow through with updates for other items. My main goal was to focus on the four most-used tanky items in the game - Randuin's, Sunfire Cape, Spirit Visage, and Banshee's Veil. Frozen Heart and Locket were also easy to include, as they share a clear goal and have been effected greatly by recent recipe changes from Riot.
Controversial and/or Crazy Idea
http://i.imgur.com/oC82Cl1.png
What if Sunfire Cape built out of a Kindlegem instead of a Giant's Belt?
Pros
- Mirrors the recipe of Spirit Visage
- The little On-Fire-Thing builds into a bigger On-Fire-Thing
Cons
- Would CDR be too powerful on Sunfire Cape? It doesn't seem too much for SV, but it could throw a lot of stuff out of balance. This is the reason I didn't include this change up in the main chunk of my post. I do think it's an interesting idea, but it would need a lot of balance-checking.
And while I'm at it, why does Warmog's Armor not actually grant any armor? I think it's fine only having Health, but maybe a tweak to the name is in order.
Conclusion: I would like to thank anyone who took the time to read my ramblings on a very insignificant topic. I realize that there are much more important things on Riot's To-Do List, but this is something that I felt like expanding on, myself.
I'd love to hear other people's thought on the subject, whether you agree or disagree with my ideas.
