Ah, defense. The tree I used so little I hardly remembered it existed. I ran defense for a while with Kennen when he first released. I also used a 9-point defensive build on Jax and Singed, but other than that, I tried to avoid the tree as much as possible. It just didn’t have any pizzazz. Now, though, it’s a different story.
The Defense tree got the most significant rework and will probably become the new favorite of Tanky DPS champs everywhere. The tree seems to be focused on staying power, which is perfect for that solo top lane. Bonus armor and MR, increased gold on kills and assists, CC reduction and health buffs – it’s a nasty, nasty tree. One of my biggest concerns is the 8-percent cooldown reduction near the top of the tree. Couple that with 4 percent more from Offense and champions can be much less reliant on gear to provide those significant benefits.
Defense is also going to be a nice tree for several of the game’s junglers. The combination of survivability and extra damage from Blade Armor can make a dramatic difference in early game clearing speed. Defense is also now the place for improved Smite which grants 10 bonus gold on each use.
I’ve already heard from a few of you asking about my current mastery builds. Honestly, I haven’t spent a lot of time on them just yet. I’m still getting used to the new system, so I’m slowly creating a few pages and trying them with some of my favorite champions. If you keep an eye on my page in the PvP.net client, you should be able to see some of he basic ideas I’m working with.
I’m curious to see your builds, too! Drop your favorite new build in the comments and let me know how you’ve been speccing since the patch.
