League of Legends Season 14 is here and one of the biggest changes that it has brought to the game is a complete overhaul of the item system. Readjusted old favorites and brand-new items have made their way to the shop. With these changes, some of these new and re-adjusted items have already solidified themselves as staples for certain builds and champions.
The new changes to the item shop in Season 14 have shaken things up on Summoner’s Rift. Not only are Mythic Items a thing of the past, but several new additions and reworked items have been added to the game. Several of these new and changed items are key pieces in countless builds for several champions and roles. This article is going to go over the ten most impactful items in League of Legends Season 14.
To start things off strong, we are going over the item everyone is expecting to see on this list, Stormsurge. This item has taken AP hyper-carries and burst mages to a whole new level with its release. Not only are the base stats on the item solid, but the passive that it grants is what is strong about it. When you deal at least 35% of an enemy champion’s max health within a short period, you apply them with Squall and are granted 25% Move Speed for 2 seconds. When enemy champions are affected by Squall after a few seconds, they take magic damage; however, if they are killed before they are struck by the passive, they immediately detonate, dealing damage in a large area around them and granting bonus gold.
The main reason why Stormsurge is so strong is that it can be built on such a large variety of champions, and since the base stats that it grants are just very good for AP characters in general, there is no reason not to buy it. Even after the hotfix nerfs, the item is still a must-buy for a lot of champions. Although it is not as overtuned as it was on release, it is still very strong.
Keeping the theme of AP carry items going, next up is Malignance. Malignance specializes in giving mana and ability haste in addition to AP. However, like Stormsurge, the biggest appeal of Malignance is for the passives. First off, the item’s Scorn passive just gives your character a flat 20 Ultimate haste, which is great for champions who love to spam their ultimates like Anivia, Kassadin, and Teemo. On top of this, the second passive Hatefog burns the ground underneath enemies that are damaged by your ultimate and reduces their Magic Resist. This passive makes this item even stronger for the previously mentioned characters and characters who have large or global ultimate hitboxes like Karthus and Lissandra.
Malignance can be sort of a niche pick at times, but when it is built in the correct setting, it is extremely strong. Getting ultimate haste is a big perk for a lot of AP characters, and sometimes people opt to pick up the item just for that extra reduction on their ultimate. Keep an eye out for Malignance as the season progresses because it may start to be a pickup on more and more characters.
Here, for nearly the same reason as Malignance is Experimental Hexplate. This item is essentially the AD Bruiser equivalent of Malignance, granting Health, Attack Speed, and AD. This item also gives a flat 30 Ulitmate Haste buff with its passive Hexcharged. On top of this, its passive Overdrive grants 35% Attack Speed and 15% Move Speed when you cast your ultimate, making it great for champions like Tryndamere, Nocturne, and Master Yi.
It’s no surprise that Experimental Hexplate was made to balance Malignance and vice versa. The item is very good on auto-heavy champions whose Ultimate doesn’t have a cast time or channel but rather a one-and-done press of the key, where you can cast it and continue fighting with the benefit of the item. Don’t be shocked if some ADCs like Twitch or Vayne try to pick up the item for some added damage in fights as well.
Moving along with another Bruiser item is Sundered Sky. This item is a favorite amongst so many AD Top Lane Bruisers. The item grants AD, Ability Haste, and Health, which is already an enticing purchase for some champions. In addition to the stats, the passive Lightshield Strike is what makes the item powerful. The passive gives you an empowered auto that critically strikes for 150% and heals for a percentage of your base AD and a small portion of your missing health. Any excess healing grants bonus health for a short time.
Right off the bat, you can easily tell that this item is good for a large majority of the AD Bruisers in the game. It is even better on characters that can empower their autos one way or another, either through an ability or their passive, such as Aatrox, Jax, or Sett. Even if you don’t rush this, picking it up later as a fourth or fifth item can be helpful for some additional damage and sustain.
Getting onto the first reworked item on the list, we have Hullbreaker. For a while, Hullbreaker was a very niche pick for some characters since its only useful perk was giving the player added resistances while split pushing alone in addition to the Boarding Party passive. The reworked item grants AD, Health, and Move Speed along with two passives. The Boarding Party passive has remained in the game, giving bonus resistances to Siege and Super Minions while there are no allies around. The new passive Skipper stacks with basic attacks on hit, up to five times. The fifth stack consumes all of them, dealing bonus damage, which is increased against structures.
The rework on Hullbreaker justifies picking it up on a plethora of champions now. It still rewards players for split pushing with the item, but it does not feel like a tough purchase to make anymore since you are no longer punished for grouping with your team and fighting. Expect to see a lot more of the item as the season progresses.
While it might seem odd to include a component like Haunting Guise on this list, the item is extremely integral to a lot of AP builds. With its return, Haunting Guise builds into two extremely powerful items: Liandry’s Torment and Riftmaker. Not only that, but its stats and passive are good for the cost. In addition to granting Health and AP, Madness gives the player 2% increased damage, stacking up to three times for a total of 6%. This may not seem like a lot, but for prolonged fights, it can add up.
Haunting Guise is a great item to grab when you plan on building Liandry’s Torment or Riftmaker, but you may need to stray away from grabbing them right away. This can be due to needing a certain item to counter the enemy team's composition, like Banshee’s Veil or Zhonya’s Hourglass. Either way, the item is an important component of two core items, so it felt important to include it on this list.
Hubris is the AD Lethality counterpart to Mejai’s Soulstealer. It is a stacking AD Assassin item that grants AD, Ability Haste, and Lethality. It has two passives. Ego summons a statue of your champion near the outside of your spawn; takedowns grant you a rank that upgrades the statue. The second passive Eminence grants you a flat bonus of 15 bonus AD plus an additional 1 AD per statue rank, but only for 90 seconds.
There are obvious similarities between Mejai’s Soulstealer and Hubris due to the stacking nature of the items. However, one benefit that Hubris has is that you do not lose stacks upon death like Mejai’s. The tradeoff here is that Eminence is not active until you get a takedown, and after you do, it only lasts 90 seconds. Still, Hubris has a lot of power when built on the right champion; just make sure you build it early so you can fully benefit from the stacking the item has.
It might seem odd to include the starting Support item on this list, but it’s for a good reason. World Atlas has made itemization for Supports much easier. The item grants basic stats for Support Champions like Health, Base Mana Regen, Base Health Regen, and Health. However, what makes the item great is the passive. Quest is the item’s passive that transforms the item into Runic Compass after you earn 500 gold using World Atlas. This can be done by executing minions or hitting enemy buildings or champions with damaging abilities and attacks, like the previous season’s support items.
Now what makes World Atlas so great is the versatility the item has. Since you can earn gold in more ways than one now, it is easier to upgrade your support item to its maximum rank. On top of this, after you complete Runic Compass’ passive, the item is upgraded into Bounty of Worlds, which allows you to upgrade the item into Bloodsong, Celestial Opposition, Dream Maker, Zaz’Zak’s Realmspike, or Solstice Sleigh for free. So, there is so much more variety in support items now without having to select from a pool; rather, all of it starts with having World Atlas.
Shadowflame is another item that was reworked this season, and it is so much stronger than its past version. The new item grants AP and Flat Magic penetration, as opposed to how it used to grant Magic Penetration through its passive. Instead, the passive, Cinderbloom, grants Magic Damage and True Damage a guaranteed critical striking effect to enemies below 35% health, dealing 20% increased damage.
This new passive is so much stronger than the past version of the item, not to mention that the item still grants Magic Penetration through its core stats. This item is a must for the majority of Burst Mages and AP Assassins in the game. Ahri, Lux, and Diana are all champions who will love this item, just to name a few.
The final item on this list is Hollow Radiance. What makes Hollow Radiance special is that it is the first time in a while that we got a Tank Magic Resist item that not only gave great defensive stats but also had a great offensive passive. The item has the same Immolate and Desolate passive as Sunfire Aegis but grants Magic Resist instead of Armor. Immolate causes you to begin dealing magic damage to nearby enemies for 3 seconds, and taking or dealing damage refreshes this passive. Desolate is activated after killing an enemy dealing magic damage in an area around them. Both passives scale from bonus health.
What makes Hollow Radiance a good item is that it gives tanks that benefit from the Immolate and Desolate passives an option against AP-heavy team compositions. Champions like Shen, Amumu, and Ornn now have this option. Gaining this versatile option helps tank champions out a lot since now you are guaranteed to get the benefit from these passives without wasting an item slot.
There were so many great items that were reworked or added to the shop this season, and picking just ten was a challenge. However, these ten items all have a place in most games, you will almost always see one of these items in every game. If your favorite item was not listed, don’t get discouraged, consider working in some of these items to your favorite builds and see how it goes!
