Riot Games rolled out a small patch last week to tweak League of Legends before taking a week off where the studio will decide the future of the game. players. It introduced few changes, but many of them were highly discussed. Along with nerfing two of the game's worst champions, the decision they made with an item was particularly striking because it started being used by characters it really wasn't intended for.
A controversial but effective decision
How could it be otherwise, we are talking about the Locket of the Iron Solari. This item isn't particularly popular with supports and is especially aimed at the more tanky champions in that position. However, many heal and shield-based enchanters have started using it indiscriminately, achieving disproportionate win rates. There were several very special cases such as Lulu, Renata Glasc or Karma for which this item was one of their best options.
This situation resulted in the following change:
Armor and bonus magic resist decreased: 5 ⇒ 3
Shield HP decreased: 230-385 (target levels 1-18) ⇒ 200-365 (target levels 1-18)
The problem with this situation is that, except in competitive play, supports based on resistances and initiation have proven to be much weaker . The supports with the best winrates were those whose spellkits focused on defense and shields, while tank-type champions like Leona, Braum, Alistar, or Thresh ended up at the bottom of the rankings. Admittedly, the nerf to the item penalizes tank champions a little bit, but above all it puts a brake on its use by enchanter/mage type supports.
The support category is one of the most problematic in League of Legends. Its equilibrium point is much more complicated to reach. Taking into account that they are the champions who accumulate the least resources, any small incompatibility can make them appear in other roles (mid, top) or can allow them to benefit too much from a particular object. Also, while somewhat of a pain for players of resistance-based characters, it seems easier to adjust item power and compensate for losing heroes with individual changes in future patches.
Riot Games doesn't treat all League of Legends champions the same and some champions even if not used are still flexing on the Solo Queue
