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Improving Hextech Gunblade

Stealthiness·10/12/2013, 12:01:14 AM·3 votes·997 views

Currently, very few champions build Hextech Gunblade, and those who do rarely build it. I've read posts from Riot saying that the item is hard to balance. This is true for multiple reasons:

  1. Since Gunblade generally doesn’t scale well with either the AP or the AD track, it is only useful if it is incredibly cost-efficient.

  2. If Gunblade is incredibly cost-efficient, then it becomes a “must-build” champions who can “double-dip” and fully use both the AP and the AD.

  3. If Gunblade isn’t OP on champions who can double-dip like this, it isn’t worth building on anyone else.

What if instead of giving tons of AP and AD, Gunblade scaled with all damage types? For example, reduce the stats from “45AD 65AP” to “25AD 40AP” (about 1200 gold value), and add "Unique Passive: Increases damage dealt from all sources by 15%" (exact numbers subject to change). Gunblade then becomes the ultimate hybrid item, not because it is good on hybrid champs, but because it scales with anything. The scaling should be about 75% as cost-effective as other scaling options such as critical strike, Rabbadon’s, armor penetration or magic penetration, so that building Gunblade would be a trade-off. Champions could scale all of their damage at once, but would sacrifice some scaling for their primary damage source.

The altered Gunblade could be used in a lot of different situations:

• Traditional “hybrid” champions who want to scale a mixed damage build

• On-hit champions

• Auto-Attackers who build primarily AD but want to increase damage on an AP abilities.

• Champions who do a lot of their damage from items

• Champions who deal true damage, which often doesn’t scale with other sources

• Champions with relatively poor AP ratios who benefit from spell vamp

Champions who can’t “double-dip” because they have middle-of-the-road AP or AD ratios could still feel good about building this item, since only about one quarter of the item cost each would now go towards AP and AD. At the same time, Gunblade would be much less OP on hybrid champs, because the free stats that Gunblade gives as a hybrid item would be reduced.

The thing that excites me most about this change is that building Gunblade would often be a game-to-game decision. Do I want to max out my autoattack damage with Infinity Edge, or would I rather benefit my spells as well with Gunblade? Team comps and personal preference could influence this a lot.

As an added bonus, instead of giving Life Steal and Spell Vamp, these stats could be transformed into “Unique passive: restores health equal to 12% of damage dealt from all sources.” This would then include on-hit effects and item damage. I realize that this could be difficult to balance, but it at least deserves some consideration.

3 Comments

bahamutkaiser10/12/2013, 7:35:28 PM1 votes

It's not that bad of an idea, but I don't think it is necessary.

Hybrids have poor scaling since they have basically no multipliers, their lucky if their the handful with on hit builds so they can at least multiply their AD and AP with AS, or if their damage is all one type like Katarina so they can get get full value out of one form of penetration, but most of them are raw damage with the weakest of item synergy.

Items like Gunblade combine multipliers from both spectrums like lifesteal and spellvamp to overcome that gap, their not incredibly powerful, and the few with overly effective scaling can be addressed individually. With BotRK outperforming HTGB, even on the best hybrids, there's no reason why it can't be plain stronger.

The universal damage bit is great, but it should be on another hybrid item, HTGB already has multiple dimensions of value. As there are no physical forms of spell vamp, perhaps they should just trade out some of the AP value for AD value to make it more hybrid and more appealing to AD.

50 AD, 50 AP, 20% lifesteal and 20% spellvamp, Active does 300 True damage and slows by 50% for 3 seconds, with a 60 seconds cooldown, and the recovery is 3 seconds faster every ability or attack used.

this emphasizes the active use and power, as well as offering more lifesteal and less AP. The item is designed for offensive recovery, it shouldn't be accentuating greater spellvamp and AP, especially since some champions have no AP ratios, unlike AD which applies to any champions auto attack regardless of skills. As an item with a combination of stats, the lifesteal should be higher since hybrids don't maximize their AD modifiers for best case lifesteal, and physical users sacrifice using higher AD items to gain spell vamp.

They could also cut the lifesteal and spellvamp to 15%, and lower the cost. But this isn't the only item Hybrids need help with, they need a force multiplier which works for them, an equivalent of IE or Rabadon/Wooglet, or at the least, a Dual pen item so they can fit competent defense penetration in a build with various items so they at least get the first and most common force multiplier. They could do a little bit of both in one item since hybrid itemization is cluttered.

Between those 2 staple items it would be a lot easier to build hybrid and have a spellvamp option that's more accessible to more champions. And I'm not concerned at all about necessary items on champions when there's one obvious force multiplier for AP which all carries value, and 1 or 2 most likely force multipliers for AD as well... with options like Ravenous Hydra and Blade of the Ruined King available offering multiple dimensions of value for offensive recovery, HTGB needs flat out more value, no qualms about it.

Abyss Gear Syxx10/13/2013, 8:32:47 AM1 votes
  1. I find the title "spellvamp" to be misleading. All damage from any type of ability falls under here whether it's physical or magical as long as it is from an ability. While this needs some change for it to be even used as an Item i think league needs to see that there are ad casters and they might benefit from ability vamp [which is what it really is] and that there are no attack damage based items including this mechanic.
  2. Lifesteal is misleading in the same way. It only heals based on auto attacks. So even if you do physical damage with your ability or on hit item it will not heal unless the on hit specifically magnifies the damage of your auto attack.

There is currently no character in this game that benefits 100 evenly from both except maybe kayle on her q and even at this point she nukes harder with one build using pen to magnify rather than building both

I would explain more but it requires lengthy analysis of the items made to create the item. I just don't feel like this topic will get much a look at it.

blackcat130010/28/2013, 4:37:49 AM1 votes

I started a post about Lich Bane and I think that Hextch Gunblade would be better if it had a

partner item. I Lich Bane had spellvamp then it could be the perfect fix. Now ap chaps

without spellvamp could benefit from it. Their are other reasons on my post that I wont go

into but it would make Gunblade more usable as a combo item. Through in Ravenous Hydra and

you would have 40 spellvamp 145 Ap a speed boost bonus damage from attacks flowing

abilities + 120 attack aoe damage and 24% life steal. This would be a powerful triple

threat.

So in short I would say Gun blade needs Items to synthesizer with is all.