Hat is pretty much always the most efficient second item for damage now.
I'm pretty sure this was not intended, if raw AP is better than all of the other items that give other stats, then DCap rework is going to be reverted or nerfed.
On February 27 2018 02:40 JimmiC wrote: I've been seeing a lot of mids buying two NLR first, I wondered why, your math will be interesting.
Ok I’ve run the numbers and the answer is yes. If you are trying to maximize your damage with each buy, or your burst damage efficiency (damage dealt by one full spell rotation divided by gold cost of all items) then you buy 1 component, then 2 NLRs, then you finish first item, then you get hat.
So You might buy hextech revolver, then NLR then NLR, then upgrade the revolver to a protobelt, then merge the NLRs into a hat. Somewhere in there you also get sorcery shoes.
Note that this all assumes you are trying to maximize burst damage and maintain kill threat with each purchase (ie no power troughs). If a champ has other urgent needs those could dictate different items. A champ that goes oom would prioritize mana pool or mana regeneration over the AP. Likewise someone with terrible cool downs might need CDR or someone with super short cool downs might be able to stack spellbinder.
I would bet that they probably want to balance it so it prevents around the same amount of damage, but with the support in the center of a visable shield circle. Make moments of power more visable. Make the consequences of play choices more visable. I bet long term they think it will attract more players to the support role.
its a passive, percent based effect. Very low-visibility and not viscerally satisfying which is not going to convince the people who avoid support to try it out.
If anything it feels like moving away from instant oshit shield (usable by all support) and more diver assistance. Not a real big "support" item, but something more along the lines of stoneplate that helps your team when you all pile on.
removes a ton of kiting from the equation so ranged supports and peeling supports don't like it as much.
I'm with kaneh, i think hype shield feels way more satisfying even if the damage reduction stronger. A good DR shield will be barely noticeable will just look like they less fed and your ADC didn't get low, whereas a clutch locket has a very visceral "wow that shield just saved the adcs life."
It's kind of like if you're an IT guy you get more credit if you work 2 weeks of overtime after some dumbass opens xXxT0ta11y_n0t-cryptol0ck3RxXx.exe on an email attachment than if you just make it so .exe files don't go through your email server...
If they really wanted something cool, powerful and obvious for aegis, have it be a skillshot anti-projecticle. Like you target it to intercept a projectile and it nullifies it.
I assume they're doing it because of the insane synergy between redemption/ardent and locket. This way the bonus to heals and shields wouldn't proc as far as I can gather from the text.
I don't agree with their decision and I like the idea of making a separate item that has this ability. But I understand where their logic comes from.
Was listening to “The Dive” on the way to work this morning and the hosts seemed to think that Banner of Command plus the new baron buff was a really big deal. I haven’t seen much banner in any of my games. Have you guys seen it used, or tried it recently?