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I think I know how to fix Will of the Ancients

Linna Excel·2/20/2014, 7:37:53 AM·9 votes·1,385 views

WotA is in a pretty bad spot and is one of the worst items in the game. While it doesn't cost so much, the stats are meh. Only 50 AP, 10 mana/5, 10% CDR,and 20% spell vamp.

Reducing the AP it gave its buyer by 30 and adding the mana turned off a lot of people who used to get it and frankly it is difficult to justify now. There are just too many other good options out there for AP champs.

So how do you fix it?

I was looking at Athene's when it hit me. This item need to build out of a chalice and work similarly to Athenes. Here's how I'd fix it.

First the recipe. I'd make it plus a and set the total cost about 2500 gp. Then I'd redo what it gives you stats wise.

Here's what I'd have it give: 40 AP 40 MR 10 Mana/5 10% CDR

Then I'd add the following passives 20% spell vamp +1% mana regen per 1% missing On a kill or assist, you get back 12% of your health (it'd also share a unique name with Athene's mana version so you can't double up).

So I'd essentially remake it into Athene's for AP champs who'd prefer health sustain. No it won't give a lot of AP, but I think the bonus MR and the new passive would make it much more appealing overall.

That's great (I hope you are saying) but what about people who just want spell vamp... the manaless champs. Well, not to worry, I have an idea for that too. I was thinking ahead to make those players happy as well.

The Excel Scepter (I'm sure this name will get changed of course) :(

+ + 740 GP = 2800

100 AP
20% spell vamp
Passive: on hit, you do 10 (+.10 AP) magic damage and gain back that much as health.

This new items does 3 things: improves spell vamp itemization, particularly for non-mana champions. It will diversify AP builds more. Finally it'll give another item for AP on hit players to look at like kayle and teemo players.

28 Comments

Earl Eulrich2/20/2014, 11:40:08 AM3 votes

just bringing back the old Aura would be sufficient I´d say, especially as Support item-choice for more ap-heavy comps (maybe you could even Combine it with the much missed manareg-Aura). Sth. like item 1004 + item 1052 + 120g -> Mage´s Augment (735g)

30AP
Aura: Manastorm - give´s 7 MP/5 to all allied Champions in x area and allows them to restore 1%of their maxmana on hitting a enemy champion every xy seconds

combined with item 3067 + item 3145 +215g -> Mage´s Embrace (3k Gold)

70AP
10%CDR
300Health
Aura: Manastorm - give´s 10 MP/5 to all allied Champions in x are and allows them to restore 2,5% of their maxmana on hitting enemy Champions every xy seconds, also dmging those Champions for the amount of mana restored.
Aura: Mage´s Embrace - gives 20%Spellvamp to every allied Champion in x area

I think this really could bring back a lot of manaheavier botlane-adcs that you rarely see nowadays + more ap-heavy compositions, that you don´t see too much nowadays aswell.

Sire Hippington2/20/2014, 12:57:30 PM2 votes

I also would like to see more spellvamp options, but more or less puting spellvamp on athene's is not very smart. The main reason riot nerfed spellvamp was that most casters can sustain themself from a save distance, only limited by mana.(and some manaless champs that heavily abused spellvamp, but those could get nerfed acordingly) If u combine heavy mana reg with spellvamp, it will probably leed to very stale lanes, as the only way to force ur enemy away is to 100-0 him. In ur case, there is even mr on that item, makeing it even harder for the enemy mage to get through ur sustain.

I'm all for more spellvamp options(especially an return of the aura), but a rather cheap item that offers resistances, (huge)manasustain and spellvamp will be damn unhealthy for the laneingphase imo

PirSultanAbdal2/20/2014, 10:36:09 AM2 votes

I'm sorry but you are missing a vital point.

Spellvamp items were meant to be AD-lifesteal counterpart for mages. Back to then when Lifeleech was in its prime time, you could fill your health with 2-3 shots and stacking BTs on AD carries was a thing. Riot nerfed both lifesteal and spellvamp for early and mid game. They wanted game to be more dynamic.

What spellvamp seemed to causing problems was, unlike AD, there was no power limit for AP champions. AP was limitless power, you could increase your AP with Rabadon by %, there is no alternative for it on AD side. Your autoattacks and on-hit spells were only things you could rely on, if you were stacking lifesteal. But in a chaotic teamfight, you cannot guess how many times you will land a skillshot or autoattack successfully before you die or untill you have no power to fight and have to run away.

You don't have much to worry about how many spells you'll be able to hit before you die or unable to fight anymore and run away. That's because mages (who mostly benefits spellvamp) are fairly safe or has mechanics to help them to get away with that sticky situation without any harm.

But yeah, the biggest reason Riot dislikes spellvamp (and the reason casual playerbase in this community whines) is, there is not really a hard limit for ability power and magic damage. Think about this:

Lich bane is Trinity Force's AP counterpart. Whilst Trinity Force's spellblade won't scale with AD or anything, Lich Bane actually scales with more ability power you have in your disposal.

Also that's another reason why non-spell effects won't proc spellvamp (for example lich bane's spellblade effect and Arcane Blade mastery) is to limit the incredible power of combo mages and safe casters.

Unlike spellvamp, lifesteal procs almost every non-spell effects if they are dealing physical damage (for example, Sheen and Trinity force)

Current WotA is amazingly slot inneficient and there is no reason to buy it over gunblade. Gunblades active is also lovely and scales with AP and procs spellvamp too.

Schtauffenz2/20/2014, 9:30:19 PM2 votes

The biggest thing would be remove the mp5 and adjust cost / other stats accordingly. WotA was the goto item on Vlad and Morde but since they are manaless it is now junk on them. Please fix!

Knight Devout2/22/2014, 11:05:55 AM1 votes

I really like Linna's scepter (much better than Excel Scepter tbh), altough I think that AP on spellvamp item isn't a primary stat, the extra magic damage on hit is useful for champions as Diana (who also scale well with AP of course).

Gameplay wise, I think spellvamp should be looked into: is it now in a state of poor itemization because, as more experienced playes have already said, Riot didn't want mages to sustain. On the other hand, as the game evolved we now have more and more AP fighters who just can't buy a Bloodthirster/Hydra as any AD/Fighter, but still need some sustain, like Akali, Diana, Morde, etc.

+1

Pollyanna Wright2/26/2014, 12:26:51 AM1 votes

I don't think it would be wise to have a MR+Spellvamp item. With tons of mana regen. That's like asking people "Hey, only build this! You won't ever have to go back unless they burst you from full!". I kinda like the second item.

Wappla2/20/2014, 8:44:09 AM1 votes

I wanted to open a own discussion about Wota but i cant and i dont know why so:

My Suggestion would be replacing item 1004 by item 1006 because most of the champs who buy the item dont even have mana like Morde, Vlad, Kata, Rumble, Kennen and maybe even Zac. Also rise the Price by 100 or 200 and give it 60 AP.

To your suggestions: I really like the second one but i think 100 AP with that passive is really a lot for 2800g.

Linna Excel2/26/2014, 7:45:32 AM1 votes

Okay, after a lot of posts, one common problem with my "rework" is it gives too many stats to a single player while not making it friendly to manaless champs. Even though there's defensive items which give you MR and sustain, an offensive one doing that is bad. I partly agree (I stillpartly think it could be done with the right numbers).

I think mana regen is probably going to stay on it so mana champs can get it. Does that make it more inefficient for manaless champs to buy it? Yes, but two faerie charms isn't too expensive.

So time for take 2.

**Will of the Ancients (my version) **

60 AP (needs 10 more at least)
10 Mana/5
20% CDR (makes getting 40% easier)
20% spell vamp
Active: for 5 seconds your spell vamp heals all allies within 400 range. (Could be a passive)

The old version was a niche item on supports because it'd let them help allies, whereas the new version is much more selfish. So I think boosting the stats it gives a little and giving it an active which allows supports to heal allies as they attack might help. However I'd prefer it being a passive effect that triggers when you damage an enemy. So at least with this version the support has to get involved for the healing to work.

** Linna's Scepter (take 2) **

100 AP
20% Spell Vamp
Passive: on hit, you deal an additional 6 plus your level magic damage and get back that much as health.

I think if the devs are ever going to take a look at Linna's Scepter the on hit needs to be in a safe level and it shouldn't step on the toes of Nashor's. So making the damage and healing level based should keep it balanced and allow more counterplay. It gives you just a bit more sustain when attacking without the potential for being broken.

Rhyto2/20/2014, 3:04:59 PM1 votes

WotA has potential, its just the time required to make the item usable again, there should be a chart for most commonly used items in game and revamp those items that are not commonly used or not even touched at all.

Hirok02/21/2014, 12:08:33 AM1 votes

IMH all the WoA needs is a mana regen buff and its golden. Its meant to keep you in-field longer, and having one item to heal an significantly keep mana up would be amazing.

Sneak Dog2/21/2014, 2:22:16 AM1 votes

I believe spellvamp isn't allowed to be efficient because of the play pattern it gives. Lifesteal requires your champion to autoattack consistently and this will keep you at risk for longer amounts of time in return for sustain. Spellvamp requires your champion to blow all his spells. While you still need to get in range, you only stay in range for a very short amount of time and retreat afterwards, waiting for your next rotation to heal, giving it significantly less counterplay than lifesteal.

Another point is that someone building lifesteal either builds complete glasscannon adc or only has limited use of it because he is not focusing all his items into autoattacks, but also relies on abilities to deal damage. This autobalances itself so that the highest sustain is given to the squishiest champion. (Either that or you're Nasus, this is not a Nasus thread)

Spellvamp however scales with ability power (not considering ad casters here, they have lifesteal). Ability power often can be effeciently splashed with survivability like Zhonya's, Haunting guise and Abyssal. This means that the autobalancing effect of lifesteal doesn't work as effectively for spellvamp.

Lastly, not many champions need spellvamp. Most mages just want raw burst, better long-range poke or if they do stay in a fight for longer amounts of time, a Zhonya's hourglass. The champions that do want spellvamp would be very abusive with it during laning phase (Vlad, Morde).