Spring began in March, so it only makes sense that people start to do some spring cleaning around the house. This also applies to Riot Games, who plans to do some spring cleaning of League of Legends‘ item shop as well by removing “‘dead’ items from the shop to clean up unnecessary clutter,” according to Mark “Scruffy” Yetter, the lead gameplay designer for Riot.
Now, as we look at the overcrowded in-game shop, which items should get the boot? There are many items that need a rework, and they haven’t been in use for a long time. But, on the other hand, there are multiple items that need a change because they negatively impact gameplay. Let’s look at five items that need a rework or simply need to be removed from League.
Ohmwrecker
Ohmwrecker has been an item that hasn’t seen the light of play for a long time. It was named after the first player to reach 1,000 referrals, but not many people know the item even exists anymore. There are simply way too many items that provide better stats at around the same cost.
Its unique active effect is that players can disable a turret from attacking for about three seconds. Although this may seem great for diving champions, its stats aren’t the best for a first or second item. Unfortunately, this is the only time where you would buy this item—farther along into a game, the active is pretty useless as towers don’t do too much damage to you late.
If Riot does go ahead with this item shop cleanup, it may represent the death knell for this long-forgotten item.
Manamune
We’ve already talked about how this item desperately needs a rework, and Riot agrees with us as well. Scruffy says that Manamune would “benefit from some ‘broadening’ changes that allow more than just Ezreal to use it,” which hits the issues with the item right on the nose.
The only champion in the game that builds Manamune right now is the Prodigal Explorer, which means that it’ll be hard to balance such an item until it is completely reworked so other champions will be able to use it.
Spellbinder
For an item meant for an AP caster or assassin, Spellbinder doesn’t provide much stats for its price point. The item’s passive gains a charge each time an enemy or allied champion within 1,800 range uses an ability, up to a maximum of 100 charges.
When activated, Spellbinder grants zero to 80 ability power and a decaying zero to 50 percent bonus movement speed for four seconds, on a 60-second cooldown. The active is pretty underwhelming, considering there are much better items available early, like Hextech Gunblade or Hextech Protobelt. Also, its overall global popularity is pretty low at a measly 0.7 percent.
Mikael’s Crucible
One item that Riot said is in need of a rework is Mikael’s Crucible. The item allows you to instantly remove any stuns, roots, taunts, fears, charms, silences, and slows on an ally. Additionally, when an effect is successfully cleansed, Mikael’s will grant the target 40-percent bonus movement speed for two seconds.
Unfortunately, Riot has pointed out that the item is “overtly ping reliant,” which is very true. Should a player have a higher ping than his opponents, the activate won’t make much of a difference as his target might already be dead. Scruffy says that the item “can be made to better work for players of all skill levels.”
Zz’Rot Portal
Riot also mentioned that Zz’Rot Portal is an item of focus that the team will be looking to rework when the right time comes.
“We’d like to make a healthy ‘tower pushing’ focused item that doesn’t have the problems of Banner of Command or Zz’Rot Portal,” Riot Scruffy said.
Scruffy also said that Riot wants to remove items that “incentivize not interacting with the enemy team,” which Zz’Rot does. Riot needs to create a tower pushing item that doesn’t promote avoiding the enemy team in order to win.
