After some feedback in my [previous huge post] I've decided to continue my project part by part and post the drafts on community forums. Any further feedback is more than appreciated.

Note: this is half "Rito pls", half hobbyist theorycrafting - I'm a Game Design engineer and enjoy designing systems like these. Nevertheless, I feel like some issues raised here, especially the OP state of Talisman of Ascension and annoying buildpath of Aegis of the Legion, truly require some work. I also believe abandoned items such as Atma's Impaler or Ohmwrecker deserve some love and that my solutions would help them find their place in the game.

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The Route Dilemma

Don't get me wrong, the new gold generation items are one of the best things that happened to LoL in the last few years. That doesn't mean, though, that the system is flawless. There are some key issues that need to be addressed and, in my opinion, can be easily solved.

First and foremost, the supports are facing a tough choice between optimal gold generation method and desired final item. The main culprit here is the Talisman of Ascension with its stupidly high lategame power. In its current state it outclasses the other options in both post laning phase gold gain and team-wide utility on active. Even though new Frostfang became a strong laning item, we still see supports selling it for Talisman.

Second problem is the followup after gold gain + Sightstone + boots core. Long story short, Aegis of the Legion needs a better build path that doesn't require four basic items, when supports are the ones with least free item slots.

The last point would be, after piggybacking some new ideas for items, allowing for supports to choose a different way to upgrade their Sightstone and utilize underused summoner spells such as old forgotten Heal and Clairvoyance.

Bringing Back Shurelya's

As I've already mentioned, Talisman's active in conjunction with its superior late power warps the whole support itemization. The only way to free the gold gain items from that burden is to rework Talisman, leaving the same base stats. The team-wide speedup, however, is surely sought after, and bringing it back to a widely available item would not only allow supports for a better gold item adjustment, but also open up the possibility of becoming team's engage tool for wannabe initiators such as Skarner, Udyr or even Darius.

+400 health, +300 mana, +10% cooldown reduction

Passive - Valor's Reward: On leveling up, restores 150 health and 200 mana over 8 seconds.

Active: Grants nearby allies +40% movement speed for 3 seconds. 60 second cooldown. 600 range.

Hidden Passive: The movement speed buff is halved for targets who have been affected by it in the previous 10 seconds.

I believe this form suits the item's purpose perfectly. It requires a thought out investment that doesn't neccessarily have to pay off. Stacking more than one on team is counterproductive due to the debuff similar to the one on Locket of the Iron Solari.

And even if you feel like you still need to get it, you can at least have your desired gold generation item before it.

Six Cores

As you may quickly realize, the design behind this rework is to make every gold generation path have two final upgrades - one active and one passive. The active ones are a little bit cheaper since they require some effort to be fully utilized, while the passive ones bring potentially impactful auras.

Face of the Mountain is fine in its current form, allowing tanks like Alistar or Leona to increase their supportive power while itemizing for defense they so much need. However, sometimes the durability from Relic Shield is desired in lane on supports who don't really plan on stacking health, or don't really need the shield active as much as the ideal case would imply. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to implement Zeke's Herald as an alternative Targon's upgrade:

+200 health, +10 health regeneration

Passive - Spoils of War: Melee autoattacks execute minions below 200 (+100% AD) health. Killing a minion by any means heals yourself and the nearest allied champion for 50 health and grants them gold equal to the kill. These effects require a nearby allied champion and consume a charge. Recharges every 30 seconds for a maximum of 4 charges.

Aura: Nearby allied champions gain +15 attack damage and +10% life steal. (1100 Range)

Right now Zeke's Herald is an extremely situational item built quite late in some games with very AD-heavy comps, and that's partially due to its difficult build path that renders it a very expensive Kindlegem upgrade that doesn't give the support itelf anything more. As a Targon's upgrade, however, it can replace the mandatory Vampiric Scepter opening on ADCs and allow them to rush Infinity Edge or even Trinity Force instead of the mandatory The Bloodthirster. Not to mention that such an item could make way for some interesting laning pairs ( Leona- Jarvan IV being one) or more unorthodox crazy supports like Pantheon.

Note that I've added a Rejuvenation Bead to the recipe for Targon's Brace - it's mostly to allow for more flexible item purchases without losing the progress towards the final gold gain item (wards+pots+bead on first trip back, for example). Same goes later for Frostfang and Nomad's Medallion.

As I've mentioned earlier, Talisman of Ascension loses its active. The new go-to active upgrade to Nomad's Medallion is an already popular item that suits the regeneration theme perfectly.

+40 magic resistance, +10 health regeneration, +15 mana regeneration, +2 gold per 10 seconds

Passive - Favor: Being near a minion death without granting the killing blow grants 3 gold and heals for 10 health.

Passive - Mana Font: Increases your Mana Regen by 1% per 1% Mana you are missing.

Active: Removes all stuns, roots, taunts, fears, silences and slows on an allied champion and heals for 50 + 10% of the target's maximum health. (180 second cooldown)

This item already has its purpose and allows for some really nice plays. The sheer power of the active, nerfed a tiny bit in this draft compared to the live version, is enough to make it a worthwhile pickup. As with the current version, its scaling mana regen can be handy for mana hungry supports such as Nami.

The active is similar to the one of Face of the Mountain, but serves different purpose and has significantly longer cooldown. Both should remain viable options.

+20% cooldown reduction, +10 health regeneration, +15 mana regeneration, +2 gold per 10 seconds

Passive - Favor: Being near a minion death without granting the killing blow grants 3 gold and heals for 10 health.

Aura: Nearby allies have their health ana mana regeneration effects from all sources increased by 20%.

New Talisman is a passive aura item that allows you to amplify you team's sustain. It should be exceptionally powerful with champions such as Dr. Mundo or Swain, but works quite well for every carry's lifesteal or your own heals. Should be a very good item for support Soraka or Sona.

Note: Meki Pendant is a cheap CDR item meant to compete with Chalice in mid lane. Builds into Talisman, Morellonomicon and Will of the Ancients.

Regarding the Frostfang upgrades, one thing that I can't really comprehend is why Riot gave conventional supports AP ratios on utility while giving them no viable way to get meaningful amounts of AP. If supports worked with AP, they'd be played mid (see: Lulu, the new midlane terror). First step here would be changing the ratio on Frost Queen's Claim active from per level to 30% of Ability Power. Second step would be introducing an alternative upgrade that would allow supports to get a meaningful amount of AP for themselves:

+50 ability power, +8 mana regeneration, +4 gold per 10 seconds

Passive - Tribute: Your next damaging ability or autoattack against a champion or structure will deal 15 additional damage and grant 10 gold. You generate one charge of Tribute every 10 seconds, storing up to 3.

Passive - Snowball: Champion kills and assists grant a stack of Snowball (max 10 stacks). You lose 2 stacks on death.

Aura - Brilliance: Nearby allied champions gain +4 ability power per stack of Snowball.

So with this item fully stacked, you gain +40 AP for yourself and the whole team. Fits the "high risk" playstyle of AP supports without creating too much impact right after purchase. The AP aura can of course prove useful in any double AP comps. Overall it should eb a worthwhile pickup for safe supports with good AP scalings such as Lulu or Janna, but also a possibility for Zyra or Annie.

The Step Further

As mentioned in the first part, supports don't have many free item slots. The current build of Aegis of the Legion is a byproduct of multiple retunes of aura items, including the change to Emblem of Valor, which used to be a lifesteal aura item building into Stark's Fervor, then a health regen aura mid-tier item, and finally transforming into what is now known as Targon's Brace. At this point, the best way to enable supports to pick up this item will less panful path, while evading the Bulwark syndrome, where the item becomes must-have for every team, is to drop the health regeneration and make the whole Locket line specifically anti-burst.

So, the support-friendly Aegis of the Legion goes as follows:

With lowered health and no health regeneration, this item becomes an easier, but more specialized pickup. The upgrade remains almost unchanged in its final form:

+350 health, +20 armor, +10% cooldown reduction

Aura - Legion: Nearby allied champions gain +25 magic resist. (1100 range)

Active: Shield yourself and nearby allied champions for 5 seconds, absorbing up to 50 (+10 per level) damage. 60 second cooldown. (600 range)

The power shift rounds down to more comfortable build path and slight more specialized statistics. With no health regeneration, the item gains a slight stat buff and a small cost increase. Kindlegem build seems intuitive (the CDR doesn't appear out of nowhere) and allows for more comfortable build for toplaner or junglers.

We've got anti-burst, but Aegis losing regen means no anti-poke aura. That's where the tank-based aura items come into play.

The idea behind tank scalings on auras is to prevent junglers and supports from being forced to rush those items, since aura items have the potential to be very effective in teamfights. Scaling aura effects I've designed are meant to be effective only in conjunction with other items, making rushing them very ineffective. The philosophy is to make true tanks provide team-wide utility after getting themselves tank stats, at the cost of having a slightly ineffective item from the selfish point of view. This implements the idea of bruisers having durability+damage, and tanks having durability+utility. An example of such an item is the alternative upgrade to Aegis:

+200 health, +30 armor

Aura - Valor: Nearby allied champions gain armor equal to 20% of your magic resistance.

Aura - Legion: Nearby allied champions gain +20 magic resist, +10 health regen per 5 seconds. (1100 range)

So here's how it works. In a matchup against AD-heavy team, Locket of the Iron Solari can protect your backline against their burst, but not against DPS. And AD means a lot of DPS. So the idea is to provide an armor aura expansion to Aegis, but with a condition: you have to be a tank. Because only a tank will itemize not only against primary threats, but also against the secondary ones. Plus, tanks often have their own resist steroids. It's surely a new concept. You basically need to purchae an MR item beforehand - a Banshee's Veil, for example - to make sure this one becomes cost effective at all. However, in a lategame build, the aura can reach a really meaningful amount of armor. Still, it's barely slot effective for the wielder as it should - it's very effectively tanking for your team at the expense of your own power.

What about full AD teams? When the tank doesn't want any MR at all? Well, that's where stacking armor via Thornmail and Randuin's Omen is already effective enough, and being able to top it with an armor aura would be an overkill. This item is meant to protect your squishies against the likes of Talon, Riven and Zed.

The second ingredient in the recipe - Emblem of Valor - shares the MR-to-armor conversion passive and has an alternative "selfish" upgrade - more on that in later episodes. Another example of a tank-oriented team utility item:

PRAISE THE HELIX

+250 mana, +30 armor, +30 magic resistance, +8 mana regeneration

Passive – Mana Charge: Grants +4 maximum Mana (max +750 Mana) for each spell cast and Mana expenditure (occurs up to 2 times every 8 seconds). Additionally, you passively increase your maximum mana by 1 every 5 seconds.

Transforms into Innervating Locket at +750 mana.

Toggle: Channel for up to 10 seconds to recover 4% of your missing health per second at the cost of 25 mana per second. 20 second cooldown once the channel ends.

Innervating Locket

+1000 mana, +30 armor, +30 magic resistance, +8 mana regeneration

Toggle: Channel for up to 10 seconds to heal nearby allies for 4% of your health at the cost of 50 mana per second. 20 second cooldown once the channel ends.

So this item is meant for mana-hungry tanks like Malphite and Maokai, but can be picked up by other champions, like Cho'Gath or Swain - or even by supports. Generally it comboes well with items like Frozen Heart and Rod of Ages, but requires a filled Tear to gain team-wide utility, so it might be a better idea to get it on a solo laner than a support. It scales with health, mostly, so its primary purpose is tanks, but it's not that hard to stack heaps of HP on some mages either. I'm not entirely sure about this item's effectiveness, this would probably require lots of testing.

The item is channeled, which means you can toggle if off to avert spending too much mana - and that your enemies can stop you with CC from using it in the middle of a fight. I think one of the most impactful uses of this item would be healing the enemy poke (because screw Nidalee that's why).

Another potentially gamebreaking item is this pretty one slot wonder:

+250 health, +10 mana regeneration, +20% cooldown reduction

Passive: Increases the maximum Cooldown Reduction to 50%.

This again sits a little bit outside the support pricing, but is absurdly powerful on CDR-reliant champions such as Sona. Rank 3 Crescendo has a 100 second cooldown, which means 40% CDR brings it down to 60 seconds - with this item, it could become as short as 50 seconds. It's still difficult to assess the potential abuse cases, but it should be a good 3rd/4th item pickup.

Broadening Diversity

Last, but not least, there's a very important part of support builds that sees zero variance - and that is Sightstone. Increasing the health chunk granted by the item by 250 is nice, but it's the perfect place to introduce some niche builds that could utilize underused summoner spells. Take an example:

Sapphire Sightstone

Recipe: Sightstone Sapphire Crystal

+200 health, +200 mana

Passive - Ward Refresh: Holds 5 charges and refills upon visiting the shop.

Active - Ghost Ward: Consumes a charge to place a Stealth Ward that reveals the surrounding area for 3 minutes. A player may only have 3 Stealth Wards on the map at one time.

Passive - Insight: Your summoner spells Clarity Clairvoyance

In this shape, this Sightstone upgrade behaves very similar to the Distortion boots enchantment. It might bring back the underpowered summoner spells or just open up other possibilities for support builds.

Emerald Sightstone

Recipe: Sightstone Rejuvenation Bead

+200 health, +10 health regeneration, +5% cooldown reduction

Passive - Ward Refresh: Holds 5 charges and refills upon visiting the shop.

Active - Ghost Ward: Consumes a charge to place a Stealth Ward that reveals the surrounding area for 3 minutes. A player may only have 3 Stealth Wards on the map at one time.

Passive - Resolve: Your summoner spells Heal Revive

Similar, but different effect: other summoner spells, health regeneration and a tiny bit of cooldown reduction - for those situations where 5% is all that's needed to reach the CDR cap. A similar 5% CDR buff could become a boot enchantment.

Ruby Sightstone could be altered in a similar way to synergise with summoner spells Ignite and Exhaust, but I feel like it's completely fine in its current state - and those two spells aren't particularly underused.

Summary

Coming Up

+5 mana regeneration

Passive: Nearby enemy spell casts reduce the cooldown of Mana Warp by 2 seconds.

Active - Mana Warp: Restore 10% of your maximum mana to target ally. 60 second cooldown.

This little concept is something I've been thinking about. One of the first drafts involved stealing the mana away from target, but I figured that would be too frustrating to play against. I'm still not sure about the potential upgrade to this item.

Feel free to comment on this concept and help me design the aupport-mage upgrade to this item. I'll include the result in the next episode, which will revolve around mage items such as Morellonomicon, Twin Shadows, Ohmwrecker, Banner of Command and Will of the Ancients.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to join me in theorycrafting!