Support Shopping Spree: The New and Reworked Items of Preseason 7
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14 Jan 18

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Support Shopping Spree: The New and Reworked Items of Preseason 7

A look at each of the new or reworked support items from preseason 2017.

With any preseason overhaul, a wide array of changes are made to League of Legends. Despite this preseason clearly being the assassin update patch, support items got a shiny new coat of paint as well. This is a look at each of the changes, how they affect the relative value of the items, and when to buy them. For each of the top level items (i.e. Locket of the Iron Solari, not Aegis of the Legion), a summary of the specific champions or types of champions that should consider buying the item is given.

Aegis & Friends

Aegis of the Legion

Stats: 30 Armor, 30 Magic Resistance

With the removal of the magic resistance aura, the Aegis of the Legion tree is no longer something that needs to be invested in during nearly every game. This frees up so many new build paths and generally makes support itemization more interesting.

That being said, Aegis of the Legion is now an item that gives 30 armor and 30 magic resist at a discounted rate. There's nothing gimmicky or situational about dual defensive stats. It also builds into two items that are still quite good even after their changes.

Locket of the Iron Solari

Stats: 30 Armor, 60 Magic Resistance. Active: Shield yourself and nearby allied champions for 2.5 seconds, absorbing up to 70 - 665 (based on level) damage (90 second cooldown).

With the removal of the aura, the power of Locket was shifted to the active shielding ability. The new active ability grants a significantly larger shield than the old Locket, but that shield now decays over 2.5 seconds. The changes reward timely use of the active ability more heavily than before. While the removal of health and health regeneration do hurt, the lowered cost allows you to pick up health from other sources earlier and more easily.

When to Buy: Locket purchases are less champion-focused and more composition or tendency-focused. Because of the quickly decaying shield and area-of-effect, Locket of the Iron Solari is best purchased when teamfights are expected to be common and the enemy team has high burst champions.

Banner of Command

Stats: 60 Armor, 30 Magic Resistance, 400 Mana, 10% Cooldown Reduction. Active: Greatly increases the power of a lane minion and grants it immunity to magic damage (120 second cooldown).

Banner of Command has undergone an identity change once again. The ability power has been stripped, health has been traded for mana, and health regeneration has been replaced by armor, echoing the Aegis of the Legion changes. Despite being a tank item once again, Banner is still a very situational item. The active ability, buffing a minion and granting it magic immunity, is certainly powerful against double or triple ability power threat teams, but can be a mild inconvenience at best against any teams with a high-DPS AD champion, especially those who want to split push in a lane where your buffed minion would be pushing the lane.

When to Buy: I've found Banner most effective when paired with Zz'Rot Portal and used to constantly push a wave without needing to be there, either during a 1-4 / 4-1 split push or a 5 man push in the side lane opposite the Promoted minion and Zz'Rot Portal. Generally, it's hard to use this item effectively enough to justify purchasing it often.

The New Items

Redemption

Stats: 400 Health, 75% Base Mana Regeneration, 75% Base Health Regeneration, 10% Cooldown Reduction, Passive: +10% Bonus Healing and Shielding Power. Active: Target an area within 5500 range. After 2.5 seconds, call down a beam of light to heal allies for 150 - 490 (based on target's level), deals 10% of maximum health true damage to enemy champions and 250 true damage to minions (120 second cooldown). Can be used while dead.

Easily the flashiest of the new or reworked support items, Redemption is a powerhouse for the cost. None of the stats other than the heal and shield power feel bad to purchase on any champion. Beyond the stats, the versatility of Redemption's active is very high. It can be used as a miniature-sized Janna ultimate. The 150-490 points of healing for your entire team is nothing to scoff at. It can also be used like a Gangplank ultimate. This includes softening up a wave of minions, securing kills that got away, or creating a zone that the enemy team wants to avoid during a teamfight, all from 5500 range! To put that in perspective, that's the same range as Twisted Fate's ultimate teleport range. Finally, for some thematic flavor, the active can be used while dead. Redemption is both powerful and truly unique.

As for synergies, the health and regeneration stats pair perfectly with the items in the Aegis of the Legion tree to create a bundle of well-rounded tank stats.

When to Buy: This is a great item on most champions in most situations. Redemption is a solid first item choice for your traditional "heal and shield" supports and a decent later item for champions like Bard or Thresh who have other priorities but still benefit from every facet of Redemption. The only champions who would not want to purchase Redemption at all are the mage supports who want to go down the Rylai's Crystal Scepter path, such as Brand and Zyra.

Knight's Vow

Stats: 400 Health, 20 Armor, 100% Base Health Regeneration. Passive: If your Partner is nearby, gain 40 armor and 15% bonus movement speed while moving toward them. Passive: If your Partner is nearby, heal for 12% of the damage your Partner deals to champions and redirect 12% of the damage your Partner takes from champions (after reductions) to you as true damage. Both effects are reduced to 6% if the item holder is ranged.

Another brand new item, Knight's Vow is the next example in a line of bonding mechanics. While the damage redirection part of the bond draws directly from the Bond of Stone mastery, the second half of the bond's effect is new. You are healed for 12% of the damage dealt by the nearby bonded ally to enemy champions. Simply put, you take some of the damage dealt to your bonded ally while your ally heals some of that back by dealing damage to champions. The accompanying stats (health, health regeneration, and armor) also point to this being an ideal tank support item. This would pair incredibly well with Zeke's Harbinger if not for the whopping 50 ability power on Zeke's, which will be wasted gold on almost every champion that wants Knight's Vow.

When to Buy: Really, this is the Braum of support items. Fittingly, it's quite good on champions looking to soak up damage. Braum, Alistar, Thresh, and Nautilus are all champions who can make the most of this item's passive ability and stats.

Chalice & Friends

Chalice of Harmony

Stats: 25 Magic Resistance, 50% Base Mana Regeneration. Passive: Harmony: Gain +25% base health regeneration for every +25% base mana regeneration.

One of the older items in the game, it took on its dual regeneration characteristics relatively recently. With the new changes to it, the regeneration it provides at any given time is clear cut. Mana regeneration increases also increase health regeneration by the same amount. While the old passive accomplished a very similar function, it only scaled with your base regeneration stats and only increased one type of regeneration (the resource of which you had less) at any given time. At equilibrium, the regeneration type would constantly flicker between the two types, creating a pseudo-dual regeneration system. Replacing this is the passive that actually regenerates both resources. While obviously the specifics depend on the champion purchasing item, a rough estimate tells you that the new Chalice breaks even with that strange equilibrium case at around 50% increased base mana regeneration. Anything past that, and the new one is quite a bit better than the old one.

Mikael's Crucible

Stats: 35 Magic Resistance, 100% Base Mana Regeneration, 10% Cooldown Reduction. Passive: +20% Bonus Healing and Shielding Power. Active: Instantly removes all stuns, roots, taunts, fears, silences and slows on an allied champion, as well as granting 2 seconds of slow immunity. Successfully cleansing an effect will also grant the target 40% movement speed for 2 seconds (120 second cooldown).

The Mikael's changes reduced the price by a whole 300 gold. The tradeoff for that price decrease is the removal of the heal on the item's active ability as well as 50% mana regeneration. There was, however, also an increase in heal and shield power from 10% to 20%. In general terms, if you're buying Mikael's, you're buying it for the active. While the active lost the healing component, it still removes crowd control and now has no travel time. Like the polymorph function of Lulu's Whimsy, most people probably didn't even realize the active on Mikael's involved a projectile. This is a great change both for the power of the item as well as the feel of the item.

Also of note, Mikael's is the only item with 20% increased heal and shield power. That change in itself can draw primary healers or shielders like Soraka or Janna towards purchasing it.

When to Buy: To start, Soraka wants Mikael's Crucible almost every game. She values health regeneration very highly as she grants her own health to her teammates. She also values the extra 10% heal and shield power more than any other champion in the game. Other champions, like Janna, may want this item, but the level of urgency will depend on how valuable the active ability is against the enemy team.

Athene's Unholy Grail

Stats: 25 Magic Resistance, 75% Base Mana Regeneration, 40 Ability Power, 20% Cooldown Reduction. Passive: Gain 20% of the premitigation damage dealt to champions as Blood Charges, up to 100 - 250 (based on level). Healing or shielding another ally consumes charges to heal them, up to the original effect amount. Passive: Harmony (from Chalice).

Athene's received no changes outside of a 150 gold reduction and the changes carried over from Chalice. While the item itself didn't change very much, the changes to Ardent Censer affect the desirability of Athene's. Both function as a way to heal allies after you heal or shield them. While Athene's Unholy Grail's heal scales well and boasts a rare 20% cooldown reduction attribute, Ardent Censer's 20 on-hit heal for affected allies is significantly more convenient to use often. Beyond that, Athene's requires a champion to deal a substantial amount of damage to build up that heal. Champions with both decent damage capabilities and targeted shields or heals are uncommon. Buying this item should generally be limited to cases where you need a large chunk of cooldown reduction as well as additional regeneration stats. The 200 gold discount between Ardent Censer and Athene's Unholy Grail isn't enough to overcome the value of the stats and effects provided in many cases.

When to Buy: Athene's Unholy Grail is only a great item on a few supports because of the odd connection between needing to deal damage and needing to have a heal or shield. Sona, Karma, Lulu, Nami, and Lux are the best candidates to buy Athene's Unholy Grail, though I believe Ardent Censer is a comparable or better purchase on at least Karma and Lulu. Nami may also fit this category, but Tidecaller's Blessing's sneaky damage output and the high cost of her heal push her towards an Athene's purchase.

The Last One

Ardent Censer

Stats: 50% Base Mana Regeneration, 60 Ability Power, 10% Cooldown Reduction. Passive: 10% Bonus Healing and Shielding Power, Passive: 8% Movement Speed, Passive: Heals and shields on allied champions grant them +20% attack speed and their attacks drain 20 health on-hit for 6 seconds.

This is my new favorite of the old support items. The small change to its passive ability really washes away some of the guilt you used to feel by purchasing it. The added defensive flair in the life leech makes this a great all-purpose item, especially for those champions with shields but no heals. Given that the effect lasts for 6 seconds, it's reasonable that your target will be getting upwards of 100 health back in the average case. Pretty incredible for an effect tacked onto a preexisting shield or heal. The knocks on this item are the lack of scaling on the life leech (20 at all times), the lack of cooldown reduction, and the minimum heal and shield power increase. This is best purchased early in a build with Ionian Boots of Lucidity or when using a rune page with cooldown reduction Glyphs.

When to Buy: This item is perfect for Lulu. It allows her to heal her teammates and meshes well with her single-target enchanter identity. Janna and Karma also gain the ability to heal teammates (without the use of Monsoon, in Janna's case) by purchasing Ardent Censer. Generally speaking, any healer or shielder that doesn't want to or can't trade often enough to make Athene's Unholy Grail work wants Ardent Censer.

Support itemization is almost certainly the most interesting it has ever been. Even if Redemption does end up being as much of a "must buy" as the old Locket of the Iron Solari was, it's an item that actually feels good to buy, as opposed to being an item you need to buy for a magic resistance aura like Locket. Knight's Vow adds some much needed variety for tank supports. In general, the support items in preseason are more gold efficient and more specialized than they perhaps ever have been.

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