Support Gold Generation - The Power of Double Gold Generation Items and the Danger of Relic Shield

1. Intro
2. Shorthand Notes
3. GP/10 Values
4. Primary vs. Support Gold
5. Relic Shield on Primaries
6. Relic Shield Changes

###Intro
**- Most players realized the power of Relic Shield pre-nerf. It was quite obvious how strong it was and the lane opportunities that it opened up. What surprises me though, is how quickly those new lane strategies were quickly dropped by the solo crowd when the nerf came around. Mob mentality seems to have immediately dismissed the use of Relic Shield on Primary lane partners.

While the nerf to Relic Shield has brought its Tier 1 form more into line with Ancient Coin and Spelltheif's edge, the nerf did nothing to address the true power of Relic Shield. Relic Shield can still be used highly effectively as a means to give TWO gold generating items to the Support lane partner. I will attempt to show why this is so effective, and how it can best be utilized. Then I will talk about how this one item can effectively change the current meta, and how/if it should be changed to prevent this.

There will be a lot of numbers until the end of section 4, where I will start to bring everything together. If you're not interested in the math and numbers, just skip to there.

###Shorthand Notes
**- AC = Ancient Coin
SE = Spellthief's Edge
RS = Relic Shield
T1,T2,T3 = Tier 1, 2, 3 respectively of the specific item.
M(x) = Mastery where x is the mastery name
Primary = Lane partner that takes CS.
Support = Lane partner that does not take CS.

Attached is a graph depicted the gold gain of each Gold Generation item as well as their combinations with Relic Shield on the primary. All items are upgraded to T2 at the 10 minute mark.

###GP/10 Values **-
This is a list of all the predictable gp/10 sources that can be found in a lane.
13 = Base GP/10
28.33+1.11(per 3 minutes) = Creep Wave GP/10 Equivalent
5.3 = Runes
1.5 = M(Greed)
2.11 = M(Scavenger)
0 - 12 = M(Bandit)
4.2 = AC-T1
10.4 = AC-T2
2 -10 = SE-T1
4 - 20 = SE-T2
5.55+.138 = RS-T1(On Support-Support's Gain)
.833 = RS-T1(On Support-Primary's Gain)
8.88+.222 = RS-T2(On Support-Support's Gain)
3.33 = RS-T2(On Support-Primary's Gain)
6.38+.138 = RS-T1(On Primary-Support's Gain)
12.22+.222 = RS-T2(On Primary-Support's Gain)
9.72+.222 = RS-T1 (On Primary/Support - Support's Gain)
18.88+.388 = RS-T2 (On Primary/Support - Support's Gain)

###Primary vs. Support Gold
**- A few gp/10 scenarios for Primary vs Support. M(Bandit) and SE will be evaluated at .25-.5 of their stealing potential for a medium to high realism value.

####-----Primary-----
13 = Base gp/10
28.33+1.11(per 3m) = Creep Wave
41.33+1.11(per 3m) = Most likely gp/10 for a Primary with perfect CS.

Add (Possible) - Only one real addition, if your Support picks up RS.
.833/3.33 if the Support has RS-T1/T2
44.66+1.11(per 3m) = New total if Support has RS-T2

Add (Unlikely) - For some reason Primary goes deep Utility Masteries
5.3 = Runes
1.5 = M(Greed)
3 - 6 = M(Bandit)
54.46 - 57.46+1.11(per 3m) = New total if Primary runs gp/10 Runes and Masteries.

####-----Support-----
13 = Base gp/10

Add (Likely) - First Add the Utility Masteries
1.5 = M(Greed)
2.11 = M(Scavenger)
3 - 6 = M(Bandit)
6.61 - 9.61 = Total likely addition, Support Masteries
19.61 - 22.61 = Likely Base gp/10 for Support going Support Masteries

Total With Gold Item
25.11 - 28.11 = RS-T1, +5.55
28.41 - 31.41 = RS-T2, +8.88

23.81 - 26.81 = AC-T1, +4.2
30.01 - 33.01 = AC-T2, +10.4

23.61 - 28.61 = SE-T1, +4-6
27.61 - 33.61 = SE-T2, +8-12

Total if Primary buy's Relic Shield - Assuming Support has T2 item.
32.72 - 35.72 = T1, RS on Support, + 4.17
38.47 - 41.47 = T2, RS on Support, + 10

36.39 - 39.39 = T1, AC on Support, +6.38
42.23 - 45.23 = T2, AC on Support, +12.22

33.99 - 40.99 = T1, SE on Support, +6.38
39.83 - 46.83 = T2, SE on Support, +12.22

Add (Unlikely) - If Support runs gold runes
5.3 = Runes

Final totals if Primary runs RS-T2
43.77 - 46.77 = RS (add .22 per 3 mins for creep gold increase)
47.53 - 50.53 = AC
45.13 - 52.13 = SE

####-----Primary vs. Support-----
For ease of comparison I will leave out the creep gold increase over time and will assume T2 item on Support.

Likely - This the important one
41.33 = Primary
27.61 - 33.61 = Support
32.72 - 40.99 = Support w/ Primary RS-T1 (18.5% to 21.9% increase)
38.47 - 46.83 = Support w/ Primary RS-T2 (39.3% increase)

Unlikely - Maximum potential with realistic values for M(Bandit) and SE
54.46 - 57.46 = Primary, Utility Masteries, gp/10 runes
43.77 - 52.13 = Support, Utility Masteries, gp/10 runes, w/ Primary RS-T2

Unrealistic - Just for fun, if you could max the potential of M(Bandit) and SE
63.46 = Primary
66.13 = Support

####-----Conclusions------
The ability for supports to gain gold is extremely high and in some cases it is actually higher than what their lane counterpart has the ability to earn. On top of this, the Support receives less downtime on gold generation than the Primary does, they still generate gold outside of lane as well as generating even more gold when the Primary is outside of lane. However, this hinges on your Primary picking up RS, and hopefully building it into its T2 version. RS-T1/T2 is such a massive increase to support gold while also being extremely consistent, as RS is highly consistent and suffers from very little downtime. While the numbers put the increase around 39%, I believe the increase is actually higher, just because of how consistent RS is compared to all other forms of lane gp/10 generation.

This allows Supports to plan for the extra gold generation and actually build in a manner to be just as powerful as their Primary counterparts. It also opens up paths of sacrificing other forms of gold generation for more early game oomph. This can include not using gp/10 runes, or the Utility mastery tree and instead running 21 in Offense or Defense. In the next section I will talk about the trade-offs in lane that this can cause.

###Relic Shield on Primaries **- So we have established that picking up RS on the Primary lane partner is a huge increase in gold generation of the Support partner (the largest single increase possible). The question then becomes, what are you sacrificing by picking up Relic Shield as the Primary. In most cases, the primary will be an ADC, picking up Doran's Blade. Let's make a quick comparision.
vs
Doran's Blade
+8 AD
+30 HP
Relic Shield
+2 Health Pots
+Proc Heal

The regen on both items is pretty similar when you take into account how often attacks are made versus the constant hp/5, so we can call that similar. Taking that out, Doran's Blade has slightly more hp and gives some damage. With Relic Shield however, you get 2 extra pots. These extra pots provide much more sustain than Doran's Blade, and can make up for the HP if used during a fight. The biggest trade off, is the damage. So lets look at what bringing a Relic Shield on your Primary, allows for your Support to bring, without sacrificing gold generation.

If your support moves from a deep Utility tree mastery build to a deep Offensive tree build, they can bring much much more damage at level one that the +8 from the Doran's Blade brings. With AP blue/Quints, the change gives your support +11 AP at level 1, on top of all the other damage increase masteries like Havoc, Executioner, and Arcane Blade to name a few. Not only does this bring more damage/defense in the lane, but it also brings more of the same to the late game, as your Support will scale even better.

Starting with a Relic Shield, and potentially upgrading it to Targon's Brace is a personal sacrifice yes, but its only a very small one, especially compared to the massive benefit it brings to your partner. It's one that all Primary lane partners should start to consider. In my opinion, its far superior to any other item you could start with.

###Relic Shield Changes **- Relic Shield has to change. In it's current form it has the power to be Meta defining. Relic Shield is the only item in the game that has the ability to create gold for another player, there is nothing else like it. With how strong Relic Shield is in terms of gold generation for your partner, on top of how strong gold generation items are for Supports, the ability to essentially give a support TWO gold generation items is borderline game breaking. A single item should never define the metagame, but Relic Shield is very close to doing so. If it comes to light that it is the vastly superior choice (which I think it is), there will no longer be a choice. It will end up defining roles, and the champions that can fill them. This is simply way too much power for a single item.

As much as I enjoy Relic Shield, one of two things need to happen. First, they add in more items that give gold to your partner, essentially creating choice in items. However this would not change the power that these items have, only solidify their role in defining the metagame. The other solution, and seemingly more useful one, is to make it so that Relic Shield cannot share gold with someone who already has a gold generation item. This simple design change would halt this item's hiding power without hampering it for supports who want to pick it up.

And as one last small note, I'd like to see the execute return for ranged champions, but at a much lesser amount, say 25-50 + AD. Its a large quality of life improvement, especially in solo Q's for supports who have to deal with lane partners who do not let them last hit.

###Ending **- I hope this was informative. I know I can be a bit long winded, but I actually love Relic Shield a lot in it's current form, I just believe it will become too game defining, potentially reversing the roles of Primary/Support as well as removing a dedicated jungler. Until then, and if it doesn't, then I hope it inspires you to try out some more unique setups (Ashe + Volibear is currently my favorite).