The rise of tanky DPS brought with it the fall of ranged DPS, a change I was initially glad for but have since grown to loathe. For all the pain that ranged DPS has brought on me in the past, I much prefer seeing a squishy guy kill me than a brick wall with 2800 HP do the same thing. At least with the squishy guy I know there’s a bit of risk involved in killing me. Bruisers don’t have to think twice.
Among the changes this patch, which I didn’t have the time to cover in full, was a buff to Infinity Edge. BF Sword is now 200g cheaper. Agility Cloak is 50g cheaper. And finally, the combined item got a 5 damage buff, up to 80, and a 5 percent critical chance buff, up to 25 percent. The idea was to get damage dealers up to that critical damage point earlier in the game. Unfortunately, I just don’t think it’s enough.
Part of the problem is character design. Many defensive toons now have built in shields, which can completely negate an attacker’s damage. This is especially painful if the hit was a critical strike – with normalized critical strikes you might not get another one before you die. In the case of a champion like Malphite, the shield even scales with defensive stats, making it all the more painful.
Another part of the problem is dodge. Dodge is hugely problematic for physical attackers because it completely negates their attack without any real cost to the target. Granted, most dodge stats are pretty low, but the complete negation of an attack is a brutal penalty, and its inflicted with the same effect at all levels.
The last issue is itemization. Sure, you can address the dodge issue with Sword of the Divine, but that armor penetration is virtually worthless on a target with 200 armor and 3000 health, to say nothing of the laughable 100 magic damage proc. I know I boisterously supported the Last Whisper nerf in days of yore, but I think it’s time to give the item its attack speed back. Damage dealers need that big DPS boost around level 12-15.
I almost suggested the creation of some kind of health/AD item, but that would be such a monster buff to the bruisers that it just wouldn’t work out.
