ranged dps – Page 2 – Fearless Gamer

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.

Another excellent community post has been floating on or near the front page for a little more than a week, this time with regard to the relative power of ranged carries versus melee DPS and mages, and the way that Exhaust and Banshee’s Veil augment that disparity. Again, I’ll let you read through the post on your own, but I’ll cover some of the major points.

The basic idea behind the post is that by late game, almost every carry in the game will have a Banshee’s Veil, dramatically reducing the opponent’s chance at killing that carry. Because ranged toons can already kite other toons, giving them a free CC block or blocking one spell in a rotation from a mage means that character will probably remain free to stand back and wreak havoc. I think it’s a really good point, and I like the solution he offers: make BV block one CC spell, but no damage. It can still increase your magic resistance, but don’t allow it to completely nullify a spell.

The author also points to exhaust as a big problem for melee DPS, mostly because it has too small a range to get on your average Flash/Ghost-equipped carry. When players can’t reach the carry, they exhaust the melee DPS, slowing those characters and negating their auto attacks when those champions don’t have a way to get out of the mix.

I think it’s interesting to note that ranged carries are often the characters with skills to break Banshee’s Veil from ranged. Ashe’s volley breaks it. Ezreal has three low-cooldown spells to pop it. I’m pretty sure Tristana’s explosive shot proc from killing a minion will pop it. Obviously Corki has skills to pop it. MF can use Double Up. Kog’Maw, enough said. All of these characters can break veils from range, allowing them to deal magic and physical damage and exposing enemy tanks and melee DPS to their own tanks and mages.

In short, I would love to see some mechanics altered to increase the prevalence of melee DPS. I love a lot of the melee characters, but without getting overfarmed or unique use of Flash (enemy players don’t have it), melee DPS is woefully susceptible to control mechanics and kiting.

Tag: ranged dps (Page 2 of 2)

Infinity Edge change can’t save ranged DPS

Another great forum post on range and the scalability of melee DPS and mages

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