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Bonipherus·2/21/2016, 2:56:37 AM·2 votes·589 views

Inspiration: I've been thinking a lot about both mana and mana regen items and how they feel on ap mid laners both early and late game as well as mechanics that offer certain "trades" in power.

I've got three of these "trades in power" items in my head but here's the first one.

Item name: Athene's Unholy Cornucopia

Purpose of the item:

  1. To grant mages the ability to spam their spells and get tons of cdr and mana regen in a single item.
  2. Create a late game mana regen/cdr item which scales better than current mana regen items into the late game.
  3. Create more diversity in mana regen/cdr itemization.
  4. Offer a unique experience for mid laners taking this item.

Recipe: item 3028 + item 3108 +item 1052

Cost: 3000g

Stats: 50 ap 25 mr 20% cdr 100% base mana regen

Unique Passive: Manafont - Restore 2% of missing mana every 5 seconds Unique Active: Mana Harvest - Consume 1/3 of maximum mana to gain a stack of harvest. (45 second cooldown and starts on cooldown upon purchase). Unique Passive: Mana of Plenty - After reaching 10 stacks of harvest you gain an additional 20% cooldown reduction, 300 mana, 30 + (5%) ap and 30% of maximum mana is restored on kill or assist.

FAQ

Q: Why rework Athene's? It's perfectly viable!!! A: While Athene's Unholy Grail is certainly not in the worst of states at the moment, it can be seen as a lesser of a pick for mid laners (even outclassed by a support item). Giving ap mid laners superior itemization to supports will hopefully make ap mids feel better to play than they currently do and making that "first-item buy" feel more rewarding for champions who can't just rush a pure offensive item due to their mana issues.

Q: Won't this completely outclass Morellonomicon? A: Short answer is "perhaps" and if that becomes the case then it can be looked at as well. Longer answer is that Riot should aim to diversify these items and bring forward more of the strategic choices in their game philosophy. These items have historically been competing in a "which is better" be all/end all battle of mana regen for mid laners. As for why you would pick the current version of Morellonomicon over Athenes Unholy Cornucopia is that will grant more ability power upon purchasing it, a lower gold cost, and the grievous wounds passive. The static 20% cdr of Morellonomicon also lets champions who get cooldown reduction elsewhere (Zyra, Cassiopeia, Nashor's Tooth, Lichbane, etc.) to not let the stats go to waste due to the cdr cap.

Q: Why this item be the way that it do? A: Odd way to ask that question but I think I get what you mean. Athene's Unholy Cornucopia has a mechanic where you sacrifice a portion of your mana now to put away and save towards the promise of a better future. This effectively gates the item's power spike which is important because this is what allows the item to have this much strength in it. Due to this built-in "power gating" the item won't be overbearing when bought as a first item but will scale quite nicely for a mage.

Q: Why am I losing ap when I upgrade this item? A: You've been losing ap when you've upgraded to Athenes Unholy Grail since forever (I know, right?) so ask Riot that one. At least in this version you get the ap back once you're done Harvesting.

Q: Why is the item so expensive? A: The initial gold stats are worth 2,637.5g without calculating the Manafont passive. After accumulating ten stacks of Harvest the item offers over 4000g worth of stats without accounting for the Manafont passive, the 5% ap increase, or the mana restoration on kill or assist. It's expensive because it's worth it.

Q: This item will be too good on Vlad and other manaless champions who want 40% cdr!!! They'll get it regardless of the mana regen!!! A: Sir, calm down. Also, that's not a question but I'll address it anyway. Manaless champions don't have access to the additional stats from the passive due to the active's need to consume mana to generate stacks.

Q: Why does the Harvest active take a third of my maximum mana? Why not have it take a flat amount of mana? A: The active takes 1/3 max mana to still be punishing on champions with high mana pools (whether naturally or from items which grant a lot of mana such as a tear of the goddess) compared to flat mana amounts which punish champions with lower maximum mana.

Q: Can I still use the Harvest active when I'm below 1/3 mana? A: No, 1/3 of your maximum mana must be consumed by the item to generate a stack of Harvest.

Q: Why does the item active start on cooldown? A: Athenes Unholy Cornucopia starts on cooldown to prevent being able to generate a free and immediate stack of harvest upon purchase at the shop.

Q: Why is the Harvest active so punishing? A: The item makes you commit to a single goal. What time you choose to use the active is up to you and this is something you'll have to work around in-game. You might have to make some tough calls when of when to stack up your harvest but in the wise words of Twisted Fate "You got to know when to hold 'em. Know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away. And know when to run." (might have been Kenny Rogers). Don't forget the Manafont passive is still there to give you some help restore your mana when you're low. Times may be hard but the reward for your struggles will be worth it in the end.

Q: This item isn't super strong when I first purchase it!!! A: You're right. That wasn't a question, but you're right. You could have gotten more immediate value out of another purchase. The good news is that you can get the item fully stacked in as little as eight minutes and fifteen seconds. But remember that once you stack this item it becomes extremely gold efficient and has some of the highest slot efficiency an ap champion can ask for.

Q: This item is too good after you get full stacks!!! A: Again, these aren't questions... Why do I... Nevermind... The item is currently in a developmental period and numbers can always change so don't worry. However, the item is supposed to be strong and AP mid laners could use some lovin' right now, right?. The item hasn't been that strong since the initial purchas and the trials that player had to endure in order to get those stacks haven't exactly been easy. The item costs a lot of gold upfront and the user has had to constantly dump mana (more effective gold) into the item to bring out the strength of this item; they should reap what they sow.

Q: Won't supports pick up this item so they can get 40% cdr and all those good stats? A: While a support champion can purchase this item and receive a lot of benefit from it, a support player typically has far less gold in their pockets to be able to work towards this item. Support items also typically have built in cdr which would further dissuade them from purchasing this item. The typical mana regen item for supports is a Mikael's Crucible and if Athene's ends up being a better purchase on support champions than it then Mikael's would likely be the item that needs looked at.

Q: How will I know when my opponent has filled their Unholy Cornucopia? A: Good question. The item icon should change to reflect that the harvest has been completed and the bounty is there to be collected. The picture should illustrate the overflow of mana which it has now bestowed onto the owner.

Q: How long did it take you to come up with this idea? A: About 30 minutes but I was thinking of 2 other items at the time as well.

Q: What are the other 2 items you thought up? A: Might need a little more refinement on those two before I'm ready to talk about those. Also waiting to see how well this item is received.

As always please leave a like if you thought something here was cool and leave a dislike if you hate puppies. Tell me below what you liked or disliked about it so I can better tweak this item as well as future items. Thank you.

6 Comments

King Merlin2/21/2016, 5:16:47 AM2 votes

Anyone could just buy this item, sit in base and fill up the stacks easily. The active needs a significant cooldown, maybe 90 seconds, otherwise it will be abused heavily. Just pointing that out since I didn't see a cooldown for it in the description.

ModThe Djinn2/21/2016, 2:45:23 PM2 votes

{quoted}

  1. To grant mages the ability to spam their spells and get tons of cdr and mana regen in a single item.

This reads a little too close to "Be a one-stop solution to every problem a Mage has."

  1. Create more diversity in mana regen/cdr itemization.

We'll go into this later -- it doesn't accomplish this goal, because it's simply superior to every other option.

  1. Offer a unique experience for mid laners taking this item.

Unique, yes. Healthy or fun? No. Again, I'll discuss why.

Stats: 50 ap 25 mr 20% cdr 100% base mana regen

Nothing out of line here.

Unique Passive: Manafont - Restore 2% of missing mana every 5 seconds Unique Active: Mana Harvest - Consume 1/3 of maximum mana to gain a stack of harvest. (45 second cooldown and starts on cooldown upon purchase). Unique Passive: Mana of Plenty - After reaching 10 stacks of harvest you gain an additional 20% cooldown reduction, 300 mana, 30 + (5%) ap and 30% of maximum mana is restored on kill or assist.

And here the issues begin. Alright. Let's dig in.

Firstly, the Mana Harvest active isn't that painful a downside when you have +100% mana regeneration and Manafont to feed you from your missing mana. It's also not that painful an active because nothing is limiting you to not just using it whenever you're about to back, effectively negating any sacrifice you'd have to make.

So, used optimally, it's a non-issue. You miss out on a few spells here and there, but that's a small price to pay on the mages who will be using this item.

Once you get 10 stacks, the item becomes hideously overpowered. 133% gold efficient WITHOUT Manafont (and that's assuming just the 4000g value you quoted -- and I think you mentioned that the actual value was higher), without the 5% AP increase, and without the mana restoration on kill. The item is insanely undercosted. Interesting, that undercosted nature comes more from the fact that it solves ALL your problems and less from the cost itself -- high efficiency is fine on items that aren't as single-solution (like Nashor's Tooth, for example).

It's made even worse because you don't have to make choices. It's strictly the best option on any mage -- it provides the most AP, the most mana regeneration, and 40% cooldown of all the mana regen items, meaning you don't even have to decide between straight AP or cooldown any longer. You just buy this into Deathcap / Luden's / Zhonya's / Void Staff / Sorcerer's Shoes and run around topped off on mana and with 40% CDR, 800+ AP, and the best of both offensive and defensive options.

So what are you giving up for this?

Well, you pay +600 gold on Morellonomicon. Totally worth it, because Morellonomicon is only 118% gold efficient, and its passive is nowhere near as good as the benefits of this fully stacked.

You're also giving up on fun. That's the big kicker -- you get to choose between an item that actually does what mana restoration items are meant to do (help you sustain your mana in the early-to-mid game), or one that, if not tweaked so you can ignore the cost entirely (like you can currently by just activating it whenever you recall), ACTIVELY REMOVES YOUR ABILITY TO USE YOUR SPELLS. But, because it's numerically and strategically the best, you feel bad if you DON'T buy it. Not good.

A: You've been losing ap when you've upgraded to Athenes Unholy Grail since forever (I know, right?) so ask Riot that one. At least in this version you get the ap back once you're done Harvesting.

...this isn't true any more. Fiendish Codex + Amplifying Tome is +45 AP, and Athene's Unholy Grail grants +60 AP. In fact, you don't even lose AP with THIS item, since it increases from +45 to +60.

Q: Why is the Harvest active so punishing? A: The item makes you commit to a single goal. What time you choose to use the active is up to you and this is something you'll have to work around in-game. You might have to make some tough calls when of when to stack up your harvest but in the wise words of Twisted Fate "You got to know when to hold 'em. Know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away. And know when to run." (might have been Kenny Rogers). Don't forget the Manafont passive is still there to give you some help restore your mana when you're low. Times may be hard but the reward for your struggles will be worth it in the end.

It's not really that engaging though. The solution is "use when backing." The solution is "use when the enemy is dead." The solution is, in effect, "use when it doesn't matter, because the Manafont passive can help keep you topped off, as its design is specifically tailored to make sacrificing your mana mean less that it otherwise would."

But remember that once you stack this item it becomes extremely gold efficient and has some of the highest slot efficiency an ap champion can ask for.

And that slot efficiency is so high that you HAVE to buy this item if it is implemented. It's simply too powerful not to.

#CONCLUSION

I get what you're trying to do here. Itemization is, however, a careful balancing act. Making an item so good that you're clearly making a sub-optimal late-game choice by NOT buying it but making it ACTIVELY PUNISH your early game isn't fun. Making a single item that fixes all of a classes problems is likewise problematic -- this item gives huge AP, incredible sustain, AND is a single-source solution for cooldown, which is simply overpowered. Items shouldn't have everything a class needs unless they're designed to be the single core item of that class -- in which case they should provide a unique feature (like Infinity Edge / Essence Reaver / Duskblade / Sterak's Gage) that emphasizes that class's strength, rather than a combination of EVERY feature a class likes in a single nicely-wrapped package.

I think the two big things that you need to address here are A: no item should provide more than 20% CDR on its own (even Essence Reaver requires another item to hit that 30% cap, and it's less problematic because AD spells tend not to be as potent as AP spells), and no item should force you into an un-fun play pattern to gain its benefit.