The latest client patch for League of Legends saw some much overdue tinkering done to the Ardent Censer item. This relatively cheap support item has been a favourite pick up of mine when I can get away with it – i.e. with a good early lane lead – but the tank meta means that Leona/Thresh/Braum pickups have been more my thing. Oh, and the odd Alistar. Who’d have guessed?

The result of this is that ranged supports, such as Janna, Lulu and Nami, have been pushed to one side. Their kits aren’t particularly weak, just that they aren’t too suited for this meta, but with the item being buffed it could be their time to claim starting roles once more…

The Changes:

The changes were quite simple. The buff from the item now only affects champions, the attack speed buff is down from 30% to 15%, but in compensation the buffed champion deals +30 magic damage on-hit; a tidy bit of bonus damage!

Ardent Censer got buffed with 30 magic damage on hit ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

— kaSing (@kasinglol) May 19, 2015

The Advantages:

Ardent Censer is a very nice, broad item in terms of stats. It offers 10% cooldown reduction, 100% base mana regeneration, 8% movement speed increase, and 40 ability power. This variety of kit costs a whopping total of… 2100g. Making it cheaper than a lot of other items available and on par for cost with things like the support gold-income items.

The build path is useful, splitting down into Forbidden Idol and Aether Wisp. One side gives you mana regeneration and cooldown reduction for 600g, the other gives movement speed and AP for more lane poking at 850g. Whether winning, tying, or losing, this item has something to offer you in lane phase.

Build & Synergy:

I’m presuming ranged supports will do what I have always done and pick up Talisman of Ascension over Frost Queen’s Claim. Besides being 100g cheaper than FQC with double the CDR, the movement speed active available is IMMENSE – even more so with the latest patch reducing the downtime on it. The ability to engage is massive, but the ability to disengage is even better – especially in a tank meta where they WANT to fight and engage.

With this in mind, and the 20% cooldown factored in, you are left with 20% CDR available before the cap. Ardent Censor grants 10%, and Locket of the Iron Solari another 10%. By opting for this item you can bypass the cooldown reduction masteries and opt into another tree (offence or defence) or alternative utility options like Runic Affinity and Inspiration. Alternatively, take the masteries and build 30%. Not every opposition will need Solari against them and a tank should be picking up Frozen Heart usually, so you can balance the cooldowns.

If you go for a tank support, like Alistar or Taric, then it’ll be the Face of the Mountain for you. The active shield does proc Ardent Censer, as do the charges off the item. It’s quite nice to get money, health, and bonus magic damage off the two items in collaboration. Locket of the Iron Solari’s shield active does also trigger the Ardent Censor but not from the health regeneration.

Who uses it:

Given that heals and shields apply the protection, increased attack speed, and 30 magic damage on hit, it makes sense that all those listed below can heal or shield.

Sona: So yeah, I listed everyone with a heal. Sue me. Sona is the one ranged/poke support who picks up a Frozen Heart. Ardent Censor and FH combine to neutralise the enemy attack speed and buff your team’s, which makes it insanely valuable on her and allows rapid securing of objectives.

Alistar: The most popular support tank at the moment has a short-ish cooldown on his heals and it is an AOE ability. It’s a great way to buff your team in the early/mid game but is arguably less impactful later on. Another issue is that an early Forbidden Idol is very handy (for cooldown and mana regeneration) but sacrifices HP/tank stats for his ultimate and the inevitable team fighting as you come out of lane phase, suggesting you DO pick it up later. Go with your instinct based on how tough the early game is.

...hm. Alistar's already back in the meta, but the Ardent Censer flat damage bonuses'll make him very interesting later... #OGN

— Obscurica (@Obscurica) May 28, 2015

Nami: I love Nami. If you can consistently land her abilities then you can comfortably sustain in lane. She has fallen off in the last couple of months due to her ult providing no real disruption and the issue of being dived upon, but with her healing tricks she can provide a lot of uptime for the Censor buff on an ADC to do real damage.

Soraka: Soraka is nice since the rework, even with losing her ability to grant mana. But she is just far too squishy to be useful at the moment. However, now that Ancient Coin earns more, Talisman of Ascension is useful more often and Ardent Censer has been buffed… Soraka could inspire much more aggression in lane. I would love to see it being done. A tanky jungle/top combo would be required to frontline for the team, and maybe an Azir to really get numbers on the ground, but that’s hardly upsetting for a team composition.

Just sayin' . Coin Soraka with Ardent Censer buffing up a kog'maw hitting you with + 30 magic damage on hit. Sounds fun

— Shakarez (@Shakarez) May 27, 2015

Bard: People clocked on to the fact that Bard is strong. He’s difficult, squishy, and very situational, but the stun off the Q shot is immense and his team fighting capacity makes up for a weak lane phase. With his heals able to be placed your ADC could actually time when they wanted a dose of HP and damage to spin round on a greedy enemy and surprise them with an out-trade.

Morgana: Black Shield triggers the buff, and movement speed on Morg is nice to keep up with people flashing out of ultimate range or trying to dash out. Mana regeneration is always welcome too, especially with trying to poke out the enemy, and cooldown reduction helps to shield the ADC more often.

Janna: Janna’s shield gives attack damage. Ardent Censer gives attack speed and magic damage. The combo was strong and a favoured move for Janna’s build before adding the magic damage, and given Janna is still viable for her strong disengage capacity she should reclaim a place.

'Black and Red Karma', courtesy of lolchromas.com

Karma: Karma is a champion I love to play but rarely felt comfortable to pick up because she just didn’t do enough damage to reward her pick up. Now, newly buffed, she can provide more damage as well as her usual high amount of shielding. She is similar to Soraka in that she’ll inspire a very aggressive lane but rather than just keeping it up on her ADC it’ll be a quick shield and then ult/Q from her and an attempt to tether. Synergy is a tough one – Kog and Urgot stand out– but a good Vayne would be ideal.

Taric: It’s disappointing that my favourite and first support champion is not much of use, but like Gragas/Maokai/Nautilus, he is quite a cheeky support vs Leona/Thresh. He recently received lower Q/Heal costs and also uses Face of the Mountain. Tanks are in, Taric isn’t, but he is good vs AD comps and now has a mid-game at least, and can proc the Ardent buff pretty regularly.

Lulu: Lulu will be a much more viable support with Ardent Censer because she can chip away at the tank supports more with her ADC dishing out improved damage. She already ran Talisman of Ascension (newly buffed), so that + Ardent Censer gives her a lot of kit options. I personally opt for Sorcerer’s Shoes, Void Staff and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter on her to be a frustration with the Glitterlance and high mobility/penetration.

I’ve left Lulu lower down this list because her best support build at the moment revolves around Talisman, Righteous Glory, and Mikael’s Crucible. On the back of that you get tier 2 boots, the Sightstone and a Locket of the Iron Solari or Banner of Command. This is full build, provides movement speed, regenerations, cooldown reduction, ability power, shields, slows, armour… It’s hard to pick a fault with the build path which is why it’s a tough call to say put Ardent Censor in there. With an early lead I would say put it in ahead of Void Staff or Solari/Banner, but you will want to sell it later on.

Don’t get too cocky!

For all that is good about the Ardent Censer it does have a limited lifespan. It is a window of opportunity to snowball your AD Carry and/or your team. The idea is that you pick it up with an early lead, as I have said, before the opposition get the resistances to ignore the magic damage and shrug off the improved attack speeds.

If it gets to the 25-30 minute mark and you haven’t built the item already I would not consider getting it, not unless the enemy has no magic resistance and sucks at teamwork. Other items will do more good.

Also consider who you are supporting. Not everyone will benefit from attack speed increases and unless you’re on Janna for AD shield bonuses too, it might be a wasted effort. Pick smartly!

What can I buy instead or replace it with?

Morellonomicon costs 300g more and offers 80 ability power, the same 100% base mana regenerations, and 20% cooldown reduction. For 350g you could pick up a Zeke’s Herald which provides solid attack damage/life steal gains to your team. With 600g more you can claim Athene’s Unholy Grail for AP, a bit of magic resistance, base mana regeneration, the mana pool gains off kills/assists and again 20% cooldown reduction.

The priority purpose of a support is to enable your team or disable the enemy. You shield, heal, stun, intercept, body block… all of that requires health, resistances, and regeneration rates. Ardent Censor is a very nice item for causing some mischief, but you have to play to your win conditions and fulfil your duties before branching out.

Q+A:

If I Ardent Censer shield/heal an Azir, does that mean his soldiers do 30 more damage?

— Jeff Dee (@RiotZephyreal) May 29, 2015

Tut tut, Riot staff! No. Azir’s sand soldiers do not apply on hit effects. It’s for this reason too that Baron buff isn’t actually as powerful on Azir as compared to other mid laners.

Does Kayle’s ultimate trigger the Censer?

No. Kayle’s ult is a prevention ability, not an absorption. It’s negating damage.

Can Alistar’s heal still give increased attack speed (and now magic damage bonus) to creeps/minions?

Nope. This is why it was changed to being champions-only affected, else Ali would basically be a temporary baron buff for wave surging and lane phase would be ridiculously short. All these teams going round 5 man shoving lanes… except TSM who would sacrifice Dyrus to the Old Gods in a 1v5 yet again to claim their victory.