With the version 0.18 and the 6 items patch a lot of changes have been made. We are going to cover the main changes regarding items so you will be ready when the patch drop. We are going to focus on the tier 3 items and we will not cover the stat change since almost every single item received them. Here we are focusing on the passives and how they have changed.
One thing that is worth mentioning however when it comes to stats is Tier 3 crest from the same branch tree have gotten their stats aligned so you should only care about the active when you select which evolution you want now.
As usual you have the video format or the text format, choose the one you prefer.
To make it easier to navigate I have gather the change by categories, simply click on the icon to jump directly to the ones that interest you. Each category is split between new item, rework, simplification, and removed. Simplification are for item that simply got a passive removed while the rest remained the same.
Carry
New Item
- An item with both Physical and Magical Power which can be interesting for character that benefit from both scaling like Grim.
- You also get a lot of Critical Chance but it needs to be ramped up and it only works on heroes so you better be accurate with those basic.
- A new item for the Crit path that offers you bonus true damage every time you crit and also a shield when you go below 40% health.
- The bonus damage of 6% is computed pre-mitigation which makes it useful against tanky target but it is only the critical part of the damage that is used. Which means only you basic attack damage is considered not all the additional on-hit effect.
- Another item for the Crit path but also character that loves ability damage since at full Crit Chance you gain a hefty 20% ability damage increase which is quite a lot.
Rework
- Exit the 4 basic hit chain now we have momentum stacks that you generate by basic attacking or moving.
- When at a 100 you get the bonus effect that remained the same.
- Every basic generate 15 momentum stacks affected by on-hit efficiency but the proc in itself is not affected by on-hit efficiency anymore.
- Ability with on-hit effect does not generate momentum stack but can proc the effect when at max stack.
- Another thing to note is movement ability generate momentum stack, for instance a max range blink gives you 23 stacks, might be useful to get the flashy play to get an empowered basic with blink + pacifier and boom?
- Lightning Hawk works the same way as Storm Breaker now with the momentum stacks.
- Bonus damage has been changed to Magical.
- Those rework allow you to have a very strong basic when you engage since you can control when to spend it.
- Lost the mana restore on hit but is now a stacking item evolving from Soul Chalice.
- No more on hit heal but a new very powerful passive, you gain increased damage the more you are hitting a target with basic attack.
- The bonus damage is based on your Total Attack Speed, so an item for the on-hit path probably.
- It can stack indefinitely and the stacks saved are per target but keep in mind that you have to land a basic every 2.5s to keep it up.
- It works on everything so great tool to DPS objectives.
Simplification
- As with Lightning Hawk and Storm Breaker exit the 4 shots chain and we simply keep the simple on-hit passive.
- The minimum part of the damage is pre-mitigation which means it is only relevant when hitting target below 300 health so don’t think too much about it.
- No more complex stacking value, just a flat reduction that can be doubled on crit.
Removed
Viper
Breach
MAGE
New Item
- A new item for backline artillery mage.
- You deal additional damage if you target enemy that are over 1500 unit from you. A range basic attack is 1300 unit to give you an idea.
- Be careful the bonus damage is based on the amount of damage that the ability does when it procs, so it’s better to use high damage single hit to trigger it.
- For instance with Howitzer you can trigger it with all his abilities but it’s better to do it with his Missile. Same thing for Gadget, Sticky Mine is perfect, Seek and Destroy less so.
- The damage is computed pre-mitigation so it is a good solution to poke out tank if your character allows it.
- Also everytime you trigger it you gain 1 magical power for free for the rest of the match.
- A new item for burst combo mage since if you chain 2 damage abilities you will deal a good bonus damage.
- It is based on the target’s maximum health so it’s good as a poke or as a finisher.
- Note that while on cooldown you cannot mark the target, which means you have to fully wait for the passive to be up before you throw your combo.
Rework
- Now works with stack of focus that are very similar to momentum stack from carry.
- You generate them by moving, movement abilities included, but the difference is that you gain 20 per ability cast instead of basic attack.
- At max stack you gain an empowered basic attack that deal more damage and also shred the magical armor of the target.
- Gained a new passive that offers you a shield based on your max mana when going low on health.
- Goal here is to have better incentive of completing the Alchemical Rod that was many time just bought and never upgraded to T3.
- No more limitation to one cooldown reduction by damage source which means combustion is now amazing with tick damage ability since you can refund the passive super fast.
- Does not provide anymore mana regen…
- …but offer more damage against target that build magical armor.
- Now have additional damage against shield so magical damage dealer have their own option to deal with.
- However the fact that the damage cannot exceed the shield means it is only valuable when your normal damage would not have destroyed the shield and so it is probably only good against stacking shield or very big one which feels like a very niche use case.
- New passive that grants more magical power and magical lifesteal as your health get lower.
Simplification
- No more Ability Haste and Mana per level.
- No more triggering passive, a simple increase of magical power.
- No more bonus of attack speed based on your ability haste.
- No more the passive that gives you bonus movement speed on ability damage…
- …but now provide 5% movement speed as a stat so you don’t lose that much in mobility.
Support
New Item
- New physical defense option for support that comes with a damage reduce effect that can ramp up to 10% damage reduced.
- Also the second part of the passive combine well to make applying stack easier. I can imagine a Steel or Riktor getting a CC off to benefit from the bonus attack speed to do 2 quick basic to already almost max out the passive.
- We had Augmention for Fighter, Oathkeeper for mage, Elafrost was added for Tank, now we have our own support options in the form of Crescelia.
- Great options for enchanter support to maximize damage and cooldown.
- Keep in mind that it reduced 15% of the current cooldown so it’s better to land the basic attack immediately after casting the ability for maximum benefit.
- A new heal and shield power option that seems extremely strong.
- It provides damage mitigation and tenacity to target receiving the healing and damage mitigation is a very good combination with healing.
- Most likely a new core item for character like Narbash.
- Lunaria is the new Wellspring where you need to deal damage to “save” a heal for after.
- The 30% damage conversion is after mitigation and the max threshold is +10 per level until 9 then +20 per level.
- You can only charge it by damaging heroes, so no wave or jungle minions.
- Item seems to be a bit too restrictive to work smoothly, Wellspring was broken but this new version does not make me want to play with it.
Rework
- Adding a fancy stat which makes the item good for both physical and magical support.
- Important to note that if your bonus physical power and magical power are equal you gain physical power, which means if it is your first item you will get physical power bonus since both stat will be at 0.
- Quite a drastic shift for Hexbound Bracers from being a mana item with insane ability haste to a tanky support item.
- The new passive protect you from basic attack, I can imagine that being strong during the laning phase but will probably fall off hard in the late, when you take a crit at 500 damage, reducing 22 damage is not really relevant.
Simplification
- No more triggering passive to make the user tankier when they receive damage.
- Only the simple tanky Aura remaining still not working on yourself.
Removed
Wellspring
Requiem
Tank
New Item
- A new tank options that offer some damage with it while also helping with wave clear.
- The 30% damage increase is only for lane minions not jungler monster.
- The empowered basic will not trigger a new cycle of generating stacks, you need another source to keep the chain going.
- The bonus damage and therefore bonus heal scale from your max health.
- A new mobility options for tanks.
- The first passive gives you more mobility if you don’t fight and give a little more strength to your first blow when you decide to engage.
- Don’t get fooled by the +120% scaling since it scales off your base physical power, so buying physical power will not increase that damage.
- The second part increase your jump heights which is not super high. So it is interesting but we need to explore a bit more of where on the map that could be useful and also if you can dodge some ability with like Security Gate from Gadget or the Static Trap of Murdock.
Rework
- No more bonus damage against immobilized target, now simply ramp the damage up if you keep applying the damage to your opponents up to +50%.
- No more regen based on the damage you take but now have an out of combat regen effect.
- So less tanky during fights but much better at recovering health in between fights.
Simplification
- No more stun effect when going below 40% health.
- No more mana regen on empowered basic.
Fighter
New Item
- New fighter crest replacing Fenix that is a good option for sustained fighter.
- It deals some damage in an AOE around you while healing based on the number of hero hit.
- The cooldown is super short, since it is 20 seconds for the first 8 levels and then you reduce it by 1 second per level until it is only 10 seconds at level 18.
- New item to increase the ability damage of sustained fight.
- Despite what the description says only damage from Basic and Abilities only trigger the stacking effect.
- However AOE abilities gain stack on every target. So if you do a Double Pain on the 5 or 4 camps with Grux you will be at max stacks in one ability.
- A New bruiser magical defense item which offers a nice 45 magical armor on the first burst of damage while reduced also the remaining damage by a flat 50.
- Pretty straightforward if you die of magical burst but don’t want to go a tank item this is a good new option.
Simplification
- No more health being stolen, this is a huge shift for the item but he gained more omnivamp to compensate.
- Still no more AOE in teamfight to heal a 1000 health with one ability but that was probably unhealthy.
Removed
Assassin
New Item
- A new blight option for assassin so no excuse for not having anti-heal anymore.
- Works in a similar way of tainted blade, you need first to apply blight for the second part of the passive to work.
- The bonus damage from ability is dealt as True Damage but the percentage is computed from your post mitigation damage.
- The scaling is from your physical penetration.
- A new item for highlight with a simple passive that can allow you to chain kills.
- Feels like a win more item that will make situation where the assassin is stomping even stronger but will not help if you are still struggling in getting the first kill.
Rework
- To trigger cinder you now need 4 stack instead of only 3…
- …but now there is a bonus damage effect based on the amount of armor the target have from equipment.
- Which means you kinda nullify the enemy armor making the item deal similar damage against squishy and tank.
- Simplification of the healing passive to always be 10% without condition.
- Adding a new shield passive on takedown which works well with the identity of a sustain item for assassin.
- BIG NERF but to be fair was needed. Instead of flat cooldown reduction with now have a percent cooldown reduction.
- Keep in mind that percent cooldown reduction is based off the curent cooldown so it’s better to trigger the effect right after you used your abilities for maximum value.
- Another big change, exit the damage amplification for a silence effect on an item.
- The cooldown is fairly substantial with 45s but this item get me scared of going against Kallari and Wraith since you will not be able to react for a full 1.25s when they get the jump on you.
Simplification
- No more stacking for mana, now the item is purely for helping with clear.