@Riot, Have you Noticed the Item Power Creep?
Riot, you've always been pretty against power creep on champions, but have you looked at your items lately? They've gotten to the point where items are just way too versatile. This isn't to say that they're OP, just overburdened in their designs. You knew this was true about Zhonya's Ring -- it gave too much offensive and defensive power in one item -- so you split the item up. Yet after a few seasons of power creep I think there are some worse offenders than Zhonya's Ring was.
Examples:
- Spirit Visage Remember how you nerfed DFG's CDR because you didn't want people to "fall into it"? You wanted people to build specifically for CDR if they wanted CDR. Then why does the tied-for-highest MR item on SR give tied-for-highest CDR along with some pretty amazing sustain stats? This item should be taken specifically when its passive is needed. It shouldn't be core on virtually any top laner.
- Blade of the Ruined King Again, the item has two different things going on with it. Originally it was made so the melee champs could get into range, and also to counter the health meta that was going on at the time. These two goals are so far apart design-wise it really makes me wonder why they're on the same item. Because of that its been rebalanced a lot since it was released. If you want a melee chase weapon that's fine; make a weapon that has BoRK's movement speed effects and give it good melee stats. Something akin to Hydra or Ghostblade. If you want percent health that's fine too. Put it on an item that specifically says "I want this to counter those 6 warmogs." Don't put them on the same item.
- Black Cleaver AD casters needed an item to cover their AD, CDR, and give them a little bit of tankiness. This was that item, but it gives so many different stats that there's really no downside to the item. You get pretty much everything you need. AD casters [I]should[/I] be able to get everything they need. But they should have to itemize for it, not get it all in one package. The part of this item that's especially overburdened is the armor pen. Armor pen should always be something you have to specifically itemize for because your opponent built armor. Like CDR, armor pen shouldn't be something you fall into.
- Hextech Sweeper, Grez's Spectral Lantern, and The Lightbringer Back when the new TT was released Teemo was an absolute nightmare. The entire lack of vision made trap champions extremely strong because of both the map awareness they offered and the inability to get rid of their traps. At the same time mages suffered because they needed a lot of stats. So Riot made these three items. Good. They were needed. But they have a little too much going on. For one, they address three different problems on one item -- Map awareness, trap detection, and jungle clear (not for Sweeper obviously). Keep in mind this is TT and that the versatility is a little more necessary here than on SR. The problem here is a little more subtle: Stealth detection. Stealth needs to be counterable, but not by an item that you'll see in every match anyway. A quick fix to this one is to remove the true sight and trap detection from the items. Then make a mirrored version of the items with worse stats that are specifically designed for stealth detection. That way you're taking a hit for countering a mechanic rather than just "falling into" the counter.
Compare these items to Executioner's Calling. Executioner's was specifically designed for ADCs to counter healing. Even though the item is pretty under-tuned it has stats stay true to its intent. Its stats are only really useful to ADCs and it has one passive with a clear goal in mind. If you want that goal then you need to take a hit in offensive power. In this case that hit is a little too hard, but an item that you build for a specific goal should make you take a hit elsewhere. This item does that.
TL;DR: There are some items that have too much going on with them. That's not to say they're OP, rather they're not "balanceable" in Riot's terms.
