Okay so I originally had this article geared towards the changes we've seen so far but it has become extremely obvious to me while writing it that the following is true: Riot is ridiculously biased towards AP champions. Not in giving them power, no, but in giving them a million options with diverse itemization builds and paths. AP champions are seeing more items just for AP dedicated roles (not items merely with AP on them) than other other two roles COMBINED. AP itemization is skyrocketing, again, while AD casters are getting a single revamped item. AP itemization is adding an entire new build option while bruisers are seeing nothing. Get my point? This is just silly, and it's getting annoying.
Simply put, Riot is so in love with giving AP champions everything amazing that anything interesting for other classes is being strangled by Riot's lack of time to do anything for them, what with all the time spent giving APs everything awesome.
AP players, you are spoiled and you should feel bad.
No seriously, was the playtest team 5 AP players, 1 AD player, and a guy who hates bruisers? AP players saw more buffed/revamped/new AP items than any 3 other classes combined. It's sort of absurdity. What's worse is all the new AP items are INCREDIBLY relevant and well stat. Not at all like Ohmwrecker's "for the tank who wants to be tanky but that that tanky but it's k cause you can stop turrets if you're diving I guess" tagline. Or Frozen fist's "for the tank that wants a massive amount of mana, some armor, some AP, and slow, but doesn't just want to buy frozen mallet instead."
I don't hate that AP champions saw so many new and diverse items. I don't hate that AP champions can go 3 completely different build paths (glass cannon, tanky-AP/flatpen, mana.) I don't hate that even within those three builds they have multiple build options. I do hate that AP champions got ALL THIS WORK done while other classes got 1-2 token items tossed at them. Ranged ADs got Phantom Dancer replacement items tossed at them. Bruisers got nothing (and Maw even got nerfed, jokes. Other than being BLINDINGLY obvious token items added to the classes (oh crap we forgot to add anything for tanks, add an aegis upgrade and erm... an item that stops turrets) it's just the amount of love and care given to AP items was so lopsided.
And I know I'm gonna keep mentioning it because: Seriously? Your answer to AD itemization being bland was to effectively just add replacement phantom dancer items? You still build the same everything except for phantom dancer which you sometimes build a different item. That's it? Wow. Even bruisers get it better than that. Hell, even tanks are getting an end game Aegis that will make their itemization significantly more diverse even on the same champion in different games. ADs? Every AD will still build the exact same way as they do in every match, they'll just build a single item different than other ADs. Ohwow the diversity is giving me cancer.
It's the design bias AP players have/are receiving that's frustrating me.
Compare Maw to Athene's. Maw gets released. Sucks. Never touched again. (Getting nerfed in S3 if you can believe it.) Athene's gets released, good but not OP. Gets buffed to OP WITHIN TWO WEEKS. Maw doesn't see any work in a MONTH, Athene's gets buffed the goddamn patch after release. It's that right there that should explain to you how much more attention APs get than anyone else. How about DFG versus Atma's? One of them enforces all champions who can use it to build it, and has seen two revamps within half a year. One of them got nerfed in to uselessness then never touched again. I'll take "riot why you so favor AP?" for $100 Alex. Both items are considered toxic by Riot. BOTH items are considered must-buys when good. One of them gets revamped twice and stays good even after nerfed, one of them is not for AP players.
Riot has so much observable bias they could just bottle the air in their offices and release it as a new fragrance called "bias." People would be able to SMELL it. How about this. AD champions all build the same way. AP champions all build differently. Who saw significantly more work on top of a (real) mana build path being added? The class that already had diverse item builds. That makes sense right? Spend more time on what is already working fantastically rather than whats busted. Hey guys, AP champions are only sometimes good in TT. Better release 3 new items there to help them! Better revamp both of them within a month! Oh AD, you're still useless on TT? Well you're not AP at all so we don't care.
Riot keeps saying AP itemization is so healthy, then keeps putting all their focus on them.
Compare end game AD casters to AP casters. AD casters do: More damage. AP casters: Have positive and negative auras, have unique defensive effects, have unique aggressive effects, have %scaling to kick it up for end game, have DFG. Why not work on AD casters? Riot keeps crying over how bad AD itemization is and if it was just better that they could make AD assassins good... SO DO IT. It's their goddamn game, you can't cry about something you own not doing what you want when YOU own it. Hey I can cry all I want over how bad AD caster itemization is and how Talon is terrible past 25 minutes. I can't change it. But when Riot does it, and 2 years later hasn't changed it? I lose all pity.
And then, and this is really what sets me off, to just keep doing more and more and more and more for AP champions THEN REMOVING PILLAGER because it might be unhealthy for the game. Well jesus fuck me christ, how unhealthy is the ability to go invulnerable for 2.5 seconds for the game? How about the ability to buy an item that ensures anyone without MR automatically dies in 1 combo and doubles as an anti-tank item? How unhealthy is it for a class to gain more and more options so that they can always counter build whatever they're up against? Talon on the opposing team? Get an early hourglass so you can invuln his combo in team fights and have enough armor to not die in the silence. Up against Leblanc? Well you got Abyssal, and Athene's, and Rylai's, and Rod of ages. Take your pick! Shit, combine two of them.
We've all played that game.
You know, that game where the designers clearly favored one aspect of it. An RPG where one class has all 3 of their talent trees viable while other classes might struggle to get 1 tree viable. An RTS where one faction is constantly receiving help on any unfavorable matchups while other factions are struggling all the time. That's AP right now. Their options, their ability to build against whatever they want and do it without sacrificing any power (take for example: How is a support player going to counter build a draven/blitzcrank lane? Build an armor item? You know, that armor item... the one... that supports) is getting simply crazy.
And the worst part is that the time put in to ensuring AP players are so babied is clearly and overtly taking time away from other classes. Where is the AD caster item? Where are all those bruiser items promised after Atma's got nerfed? Why did it take 2 years for supports players to finally see an overhaul? Why was the big push for AD players to be more diverse simply taking out phantom dancer and adding a replacement? You know why? We had to spend all our time coming up with new AP items.
And in the end, please consider this Riot.
You have so many neglected classes that build the same items game in game out. ADs basically just saw "phantom dancer removed, phantom dancer replacement items added." Bruisers saw... nothing. AD casters got to see "JACKBOT... no wait bust." Etc. Basically, you're hurting other classes because of your clear design bias towards AP. Maybe you're not making them OP (oh, no, wait you are) but you sure as hell are making them stand out wayyyy above what other classes can bring. Can you give me a single actual reason to bring Talon over Leblanc? Even NOW Leblanc is the better pick and what do you think will happen when she sees a significant increase in options?
Consider SF3. Chun Li wasn't particularly OP because her moves were OP, she was OP because she just had an option to deal with any feasible situation. That's AP champions right now. With AD carries going down in power we're going to see the #2 class shoot up into #1, and with all these new items and toys they're going to be far more up #1.
Please remember that not everyone loves AP as much as you do. Many of us enjoy playing Talon, Olaf, Zyra (who is apparently a support now) and Nautilus. We like seeing health itemization, damage itemization, burst itemization. And not just "this item has good stats!" but "this item has damage AND unique effects that play perfectly in to what AD assassins have needed!" We aren't looking for an item that has 1000 HP and 30 damage for Olaf, we're looking for items that give Olaf the ability to do things he doesn't do baseline. That's it, right there. Give OTHER classes than AP the ability to do things that they don't do baseline through items.
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Posted 11/19/2012 8:38:24 AMOne thing should be put into account: AD carries role is always the same, so you can do a good job with the same items of a different adc. AP carries champs instead have completely different roles so you need to get specific build to fullfill your role in tf.
Think about teamfight role of an AP carry of your choise.
Is it the same role Twisted Fate has? Is it the same role Orianna has? Is it the same role Karthus has? Is it the same role Kassadin has?
I bet you did not answer yes to all these answer.
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Posted 11/19/2012 8:30:40 AMAd runs the unforunate risk of being used by other roles in unintended ways, between bruisers, melee carries, AD casters, and ranged carries AD is simply too universal to too many different play styles to predict how and by who each item will be used. i think their affraid to release too many AD + utility items as they could be picked up by any number of AD useing roles, possibly with unintended consequences. they also have to account for its synergy with supporting stats such as attackspeed crit chance and crit damage as apposed to just plain cooldown recution, its alot more to keep track of to ensure no item becomes a run away must have.
tldr: the usefulness of AP is linear and easy to track, only 1 role desires the stat so its easy to assign an identity to the item, AD scales with many other DPS related stats and can be used with any number of 4-5 AD useing archetypes, makeing it very difficult to give an item to one archetype without makeing it desirable for another, makeing it very difficult to implement correctly.
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Posted 11/19/2012 7:33:43 AMI am dead serious if I say I've been searching for more than 2 hours now and I have only found Two new proper AP item(One not available on SR), all the other are Utility with AP, Tanky with a bit of AP straight out support items that build from Kage's lucky pick. Lets try to build a mage out of the new(AP) items for SR shall we:
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*Note: I don't know the exact values, I am just looking at what information is available to me and riot might change everything anyway.*
Banner of Command
+50 ability power
+30 armor
Unique Aura - Valor: Nearby allies gain 10 health regen and nearby allied minions deal 15% increased damage.
Unique Active - Promote: Transforms a nearby siege minion to a more powerful unit. You gain all the gold this unit earns. 180 second cooldown.
2400 (890g)
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Kage's Last Breath
+45 ability power
Unique Aura: Mana Warp - Nearby allied champions gain 6 mana regen per 5 seconds.
Unique Passive: Lucky Shadow - Gain an additional 4 gold every 10 seconds.
Unique Active: Surrounds an ally with a blizzard for 4 seconds that slows nearby enemy movement speed by 30%. 60 second cooldown.
1700g (535g)
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Wraith Collar
+50 ability power
+30 magic resistance
+5% movement speed
Unique Active: Hunt - Summons 2 invulnerable ghosts for 6 seconds to seek the two nearest enemy champions. If they touch an enemy champion, they slow his movement speed by 40% and reveal him for 2.5 seconds. 120 second cooldown.
1900g (735g)
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Liandry's Torment
+70 ability power
+200 health
Unique Passive - Eyes of Pain: +15 magic penetration
Unique Passive: Dealing spell damage burns enemies for 5% of their current health as magic damage over 3 seconds. If their movement is impaired, they take double damage from this effect. Half duration for multi-target or periodic effects. 300 max damage vs monsters.
2900g (980g)
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Then we add something like Sorcerer's Shoes and Rabadon's= 13 600
*Note: I know you would normally not buy more than one kage's lucky pic but lets just say you do for the sake of looking at a build like this. Also lets calculate Rabadons on the old value, I've seen some posts saying it might change.*
(+215 +140) x 1.3 = 461.5 AP
30 Armor, 30 Magic resist, 5% MS, 35 MPen, 200 HP
Unique Passive: Dealing spell damage burns enemies for 5% of their current health as magic damage over 3 seconds. If their movement is impaired, they take double damage from this effect. Half duration for multi-target or periodic effects. 300 max damage vs monsters.
And then a shit load of other actives and aura's that any champ in the team might as well have had.
A normal AP build:
Rabadon's, Zhonya's, RoA, Rylai's, Abyssal, Sorc Shoes = 16 590
+611 AP
+20 MPen, +20 MR reduction, +1130 HP, +50 Armor, +57 MR
And then you get Unique effects that will benefit you as Mage a lot.
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To me it feels like there is no comparison what so ever, the only item I would buy is the Liandry's Torment, the other items don't even make sence. If you buy a lucky pick as a mage you generally want to go for a late game, or you need a specific high cost item, or you are far ahead and want to secure late game. The two lucky pick upgrades give none of that, they are cheap so late game is not what you are looking for, and they are not really something you want to be saving up for anyway, just buy a DFG instead.
Though there are some other AP items that are being changed there are also 6 new AD, 3 tank and lots of support items there is basically only 1 new AP item and other AP item changes.
I do feel however that something like IE should have its bonus crit damage reduced as this opens up the build a bit and something like Maw's cost reduced and so on then I feel AD carries will be fine, Mage's have to be able to build more flexable anyway, vlad is not going to benifit from DFG/RoA build that much, and try building Ryze pure AP, AP Kog with no Mana/Mana regen. It would be a total failure If AP was not flexable, AD carries on the other hand can afford going only one build.
"Were the play-testers 7 mages, 2 ADs, and a guy who hates bruisers?"- Hashinshin
Supports are getting the love they deserve and AP's are fine where they are, next time do your research properly!
Besides, if you dont like it stop playing lol, it will fix the problem entirely and you never have to care about it again, we like what riot is doing atm.
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Posted 11/19/2012 8:33:49 AMArcane Helix, New Archangel Staff, Frozen Fist (not strictly ap-only), new Rageblade, Liandry's, Muramana, Spirit of the Spectral Wraith, The Rose's Pride, Wraith Collar. That's 9 after a very brief scan. I've probably even missed a couple.
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Posted 11/19/2012 9:12:26 AMArcane Helix and The Rose's Pride aren't released on PBE, that was RoG being dumb and datamining instead of actually hopping onto PBE to test them. You're also being really silly if you seriously think Rageblade, Muramana, and Wraith Collar are good AP mid items.
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Posted 11/19/2012 9:29:26 AMArcane Helix was too risky and could have been abused by champs like Swain and Ryze. The Rose's Pride is a alpha/beta OP item, forever removed from the game.
Obviously the guys above you doesn't play in PBE.
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Posted 11/19/2012 10:13:40 AMRyze will still love Muramana...how can I get EVEN more bursty as Ryze? Make my auto attacks use my ginormous mana pool!!!
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Posted 11/19/2012 10:57:37 AM/Sarcasm_ON Why getting a Sorc Shoes + Tear + RoA + Glacial + Negatron Cloak + Archangel into Seraph + Abyssal + Frozen Fist + Void when you can... get the Muramana!?!?!! Wow Muramana on Ryze never thought about it! So much better than Void, Rylai,WotA or even a darn second Rod of Ages! So brilliant, GJ! Time to AA with Ryze /Sarcasm_OFF
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Posted 11/19/2012 7:50:29 PMArcane Helix - not in
Archangel staff - not new
Frozen Fist - as you said not designed for APs (why do people keep using this as an example for a new AP item?)
Rageblade - for hybrids
Liandrys = the only legitimately new AP carry item
Muramana - an AD item, wtf?
Spectral - for junglers, and all 3 archetypes have a new jungle item. Invalid example
Rose - not in
Wraith collar - for supports
So.. 1 after a very brief scan. Maybe you should scan more thoroughly next time.
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Posted 11/19/2012 6:47:45 AMI even see Cho'Gath mid now. What the hell is this? It's so true, APs get everything they want. No one wants to play carry anymore, because it's the same build every time. And bruisers.. They go trinity (most of them) and GG? And when the tank gets Aegis, the support can't even get a full build. That's ridiculous. I'm glad supporter got sightstones and shit now, but even then they don't get full build. Nearly every ranked game they all scream "Mid!", poor guys who have to play sth. else then..
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Posted 11/19/2012 6:12:05 AMI can't understand the hate for bruisers from Riot - remember Xypherous claiming top laners were 'OP' and had to be nerfed - while AP carries get so much. Remember the infamous 'A champion can't be relevant all game long' quote? Looks like AP carries don't have this issue.
Not only do AP carries get the best lane - safest, highest amount of farm, best roaming potential - but their itemization is ridiculously good. Abyssal, Grail, WotA, Zhonya, Rylai, Guise - AP champions can be built fairly tanky and still get 700 AP with a full build. It's like each and every AP item has to bring defensive stats of some sort.
Meanwhile, awful items like Atma or Maw are getting nerfed. How does this make sense?
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Posted 11/19/2012 6:30:43 AMdid you ever consider, why ap carrys are played midlane?
try playing karthus top vs an irelia, jax etc.
ull get stomped and towerdived by their jungler every single time.
ap carrys have a super weak laning phase early on.
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Posted 11/19/2012 10:21:23 AMBy the same token, MOST bruisers (have to qualify this because certain bruisers have kits that allow them to get around this...Lee...or survive long enough til they are tanky enough to deal with their lane partner...GP) can't be played midlane because they get crapped on early game. The shortness of the lane means that bruisers don't have the length of the lane to deal damage and harass the caster before they can get back to turret safety.
The lanes have just fallen out such that ranged perform much better mid and melee perform much better in the outside lanes (remember...double bruiser bot still does fairly well against other bot lanes except for sustain lanes...though where are you gonna put ur AD carry? And if the jungler gets involved, you can kiss your advantage goodbye...).
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Posted 11/19/2012 6:09:34 AMAre they removing Pillager? Didnt they say, that it was a new item for AD casters?
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Posted 11/19/2012 5:34:46 AMBah a lot of crying, howbout you simply adapt? Put Vlad on top, random AP on mid and AP Kennen on bot with support, with Malphite/Amumu/Fiddle jungle. They buy mres? A simple void staff and poof! Its gone! AP isnt AD so you can counter it with passive effects on items like ninja tabis, randuins, frozen heart and thornmail - a simple void staff counters any amount of anti mres itemization in the game!
So screw you guys, Im rerolling to AP like a boss! Quadruple AP meta, here I come!