I’m not happy about the Gunblade nerf. It’s not that I don’t think the item should have been nerfed – it absolutely should have been – but rather that the item nerf didn’t solve the problems with champions that use Gunblade. The most obvious offender here is Akali.

Zileas posted on the forums this weekend, claiming that Akali “WAS toned back by gunblade nerf.” That could mean a lot of different things. It might mean Riot thinks her damage is now at a reasonable level. It might mean she’s being banned less and running away with fewer games. It might mean all of the above and more, I can’t really say. I will say that I disagree. I don’t even build Gunblade on Akali in most situations. She doesn’t need it in order to be successful. Plain and simple, it’s just bonus damage.

Zileas said a bit more about the nerf, and it’s his latest statements that really have me confused. Here’s the quote, answering the question, “Why did you decide to nerf gunblade instead of akali directly?”:

Because [Gunblade] when stacked was causing the majority of the problem due to the stats being of such high value relative to other items.

We believe in taking the minimal effort required to adjust for OP situations, and a number of OP situations were coming out of gunblade. Rather than get into the hazy territory of nerfing several of champions who would then use gunblade as a crutch, we just did that. Less undesirable side effects.

First of all, stacking Gunblades have absolutely nothing to do with Akali’s current state. Was it problematic on Dominion? I don’t know. I never saw it. But I have never seen a Gunblade stack on Summoner’s Rift on any champion other than Kat. Never.

And Gunblade is hardly a crutch for Akali. It’s more like the minigun that gets strapped onto War Machine in Iron Man 2. He already had a massive arsenal. Did he really need that minigun? Same goes for Gunblade on Akali.

Most importantly, though, I really dislike the whole “minimal effort required” when it comes to nerfs. I’m not saying “you guys aren’t trying,” because I know that they are. But to see a problem with multiple solutions and say, “which one is easiest?” is shoddy balance at best. This would be a fine approach if the easy solutions were actually solving problems, but they just aren’t. The Gunblade nerf is almost perfectly analogous to the age old “attacking a symptom instead of curing the disease.”

Akali is a plague on this game in her current state. I know she has counters. I know there are plenty of bad Akali players. But for every Akali I see play poorly or get countered I see another 20 run away with games they had no business running away with, securing double kills and triple kills with ease, and essentially ruining the game for at least five other people involved.

I understand you guys don’t want to disrupt the game too much, Riot, but an Akali nerf is long overdue. Her combination of burst, mobility, and survivability is just too high, even for an assassin. Stop doing the easy thing. Stop attacking the symptom. Cure the disease.

At long last, here’s a post about the newest item, Hexdrinker. I can definitely see the need for such an item, and it seems like this could be an early step toward addressing the power of Banshee’s Veil against mages. Hexdrinker works as follows:

+35 Attack Damage
+30 Magic Resistance
UNIQUE Passive: If you would take Magic Damage which would leave you at less than 30% of your Maximum Health, you first gain a shield which absorbs 300 Magic Damage for 4 seconds. 45 second cooldown.

For a total cost of 1800 gold, it’s really not a bad item. I often have a hard time deciding on my early-game magic resist item for my DPS toons and this readily fills that spot. The shield actually works quite well for the mid-game (levels 9-15 in my mind). The 300 damage shield is just enough to keep you alive in most instances without feeling heavily unbalanced to play against.

The big problem I see with Hexdrinker is that it doesn’t combine into anything. That will probably come at some point (as leaked in the picture above), as we’ve seen with the Gunblade, but for now it can feel like a wasted slot, especially if an opponent gets ahead. A fed Anivia will blow through 300 damage without thinking about it, but if you’re playing some controlled and consistent games, this could be a good choice for you.

Speaking of Gunblade, there’s an item that got a huge buff. Both spell vamp and lifesteal got serious boosts, which is good. I never believed in Gunblade, but it certainly looks a little more attractive for a few toons. The other spell vamp item, Will of the Ancients, got a nice cost reduction and a vamp boost. Again, it’s an item I never think to use. I might have to find space in my Vlad build.

Sword of the Divine got a small buff, but who uses that item anyway. Oracle’s now has a little truesight eye over the wearer, which is really nice. I do wish it was a little more pronounced. If you put a ping mark on a target it can be hard to see, but then again, you’re probably marking them for a reason.