Item Preview – Tons of Mana, just one Tear

Posted on at 2:48 PM by Moobeat
Xypherous strikes again with more previews from the upcoming itemization update!
Continue reading for a lengthy post detailing the changes to Tear of the Goddess, Archangel's Staff, and a new item, Seraph's Embrace, as well as several relevant red posts.

Here is Xypherous's initial post.
"Hey there Summoners. After my first post about the upcoming preseason itemization changes, which you can find here, I’d like to talk about an item path that both demonstrates some of the updates we’re making to item tooltips and previews an upcoming item.

One of our primary goals in League of Legends is to facilitate “clarity of design,” ensuring that things work exactly how you expect them to work – and then some. With the preseason update, we’ve gone back and retuned a lot of our existing items to fit under this new paradigm and to basically re-tool some of our lesser used items into items that can fit into a wider variety of player builds. Let’s go into today’s preview item and its upgrades:
Quote:
Tear of the Goddess

  • +250 Mana
  • +7 Mana Regen per 5 seconds
  • UNIQUE Passive – Mana Charge: Each time you spend Mana, your maximum Mana increases by 4 (3 second cooldown).
  • Bonus Mana: 0/750
It’s pretty much the Tear of the Goddess you’ve all known and loved for quite some time. You cast spells, you gain maximum mana. It does give a bit less total mana than it did before, but it’s also cheaper at a new cost of 700 Gold.

The passive is mostly the same, with one key difference: Tear of the Goddess used to trigger on spellcasts; now it triggers when you spend Mana, including through the use of channeled effects. While these two effects are one and the same for most characters, any character that has a channeled effect that costs mana will now be able to use Tears to greater effect. Characters like Anivia and Karthus who were already excellent with Tear of the Goddess now have additional ways to trigger it, while some characters like Singed and Ashe will have a newfound ability to trigger Tear of the Goddess from their toggled abilities, opening up new item paths for those characters.

You may have noticed the new words ‘Mana Charge’ – this is part of our new item tooltip terminology. Unique Passives that are shared across items now have a unique name and indicator to call them out. Unique Passives with the same name don’t stack. This mechanic is something you’re already familiar with on existing items; we’ve merely called it out explicitly with new terminology in an effort to clarify our item tooltips.
Quote:
Archangel’s Staff

  • +250 Mana
  • +60 Ability Power
  • +10 Mana Regen per 5 seconds
  • UNIQUE Passive – Insight: +(3% of Maximum Mana) Ability Power
  • UNIQUE Passive – Mana Charge: Each time you spend Mana, you gain 5 maximum Mana (3 second cooldown).
  • Bonus Mana: 0/750
  • Transforms into Seraph’s Embrace at 750 Bonus Mana
Archangel’s staff has been similarly changed in line with the new wording and functionality, and has undergone similar cost / mana and trigger recalculations so it will fit better into our new item pricing paradigm.

Archangel’s staff also has the Mana Charge passive to indicate that this passive doesn’t stack if you build a new Tear of the Goddess. However, with the Staff you gain Five mana whenever you spend mana, rather than Four mana. Upgrading to Archangel’s staff will thus increase your rate of gain on the Mana Charge.

You may also have noticed that there’s one curious line at the end of the tooltip.

If you think about it there’s no real reason why gold has to be the only way to upgrade an item. In the case of Archangel’s Staff we wanted to create an upgrade that flowed naturally from the usage and theme of the item. But if you already have 1000 Mana and 10 Mana Regen per 5, what possible upgrade could you want from Archangel’s Staff? Just what are you going to do with all that mana anyway when you’ve charged this item for 25 minutes of the game?
Quote:
Seraph’s Embrace

  • (Upgraded from Archangel’s Staff when fully charged)
  • +1000 Mana
  • +60 Ability Power
  • +10 Mana Regen per 5 seconds
  • UNIQUE Passive – Insight: +(3% of Maximum Mana) Ability Power
  • UNIQUE Active: Drains 25% of your current mana to shield yourself for an equal amount for 2.5 seconds - 120 second cooldown.
-Xypherous"

Here are some of the more interesting points that came up in the post comments. All of the answers are from Xypherous.
[ Can I fill up multiple tears for massive mana boost? ]: "You'll be able to fill up another Tears of the Goddess after AAA transforms - but since the AAA passive is now Unique, stacking them won't be as good.

Theoretically, you could do an really inefficient late game build with AAA / Manamune and a Tears and be able to fully charge tears 3 times - but at a certain point, buying Rod of Ages or Frozen Heart might be better for this case."

[ What is the point of Rod of Ages now that we have this fancy new item? ]: "Rod of Ages has a very clear purpose: It builds out of Catalyst and is best when rushed early as it gives you a huge mid-game boost and solid survivability statistics. The other part of this is that Seraph's embrace potentially gives you a 600 to 1k health shield for 2.5 seconds. Rod of Ages just gives you 600 health all the time.

They accomplish similar things but Seraph's allows you to go far more glass - and the two items also have a pretty decent synergy with each *other* as Catalyst -> Tears -> RoA -> AAA will create a very strong durable tank mage. So one is Mana + Spike Survivability and one is Mana + Passive Survivability and when combined together they give you a decent mix of passive survivability, spiked survivability and raw ability power that makes you a fairly well-rounded mage."
 He also gave us a small peek at what Manamune has in store for us over on the EU forums, saying:
"Just going to leave this here... and let you wonder where it might go...

Unique Toggle: Your basic attacks and single target spells drain an additional X% of your current mana and deal twice that amount in bonus magic damage over 2 seconds.

Edit: Also, don't worry about Nidalee. Just an oversight on the preview. Tears will still proc off everything it has ever proc'ed before (including Pounce) but in addition, it will now proc off things channeled/toggled effects that drain Mana."

As with yesterday's post, I'll be sure to keep you updated by editing in any additional posts relative to the S3 item update!

Miss out on some of Xypherous' earlier posts about the S3 updates to itemization? Check 'em out:

73 comments

  1. Replies
    1. when is the madness going to end?

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    2. It will end when you people will start ignoring the people that say that.

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    3. no one cares about your irritating presence...

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  2. Replies
    1. I's 25% of your current mana, it might be good, but depending on the situation you are, it isnt.

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    2. I was talking about the rate of mana gain, but the shield is pretty nice also.

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    3. Indirect blitzcrank buff. Double mana shield OP.

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    4. Indirect blitzcrank buff. Double mana shield OP.

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    5. Mana regen is going to be +10. It used to be (/currently is) +25. How the hell is that a buff?

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  3. Oh my god..... Seraphs embrace. Love it. Stack mana on singed anyone?

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    Replies
    1. Normally i always did archangels for him, solotop singed with archangels is not even funny... you just must be a bit pantient and it worth a lot.

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  4. I really like this one, and hope they do something similar for other items that stack up (BT, Manamune, Mejai's). It would even be cool if they added other ways to upgrade different items.

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    Replies
    1. Imagine RoA transforming into something else when its fully charged

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  5. OH LORD, DAT SINGED WITH A SHIELD RUNNING AROUND THE BATTLEFIELD, HAVE MERCY

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    Replies
    1. The shield lasts 2.5 seconds. I hardly think that qualifies for "all day erry day".

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  6. This is an insane buff for singed

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    Replies
    1. not really now that fon is gone it just fills the gap

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  7. Cant say I love something that just upgrades itself with time. An upgrade should have some cost. I think it would be better if when the item were stacked an option came up that made you choose. upgrade to a item with the active but at the cost of some of the stats, or keep it as is

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  8. I'm scared of playing against Singed in S3.

    D:

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  9. Massive buff for singed and ryze!

    But a massive nerf for AA Stacking Karthus :(

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    Replies
    1. if i read it correctly AA don't stack any more
      UNIQUE Passive – Insight

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    2. Hence the "massive nerf" :)

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    3. thats why its a nerf............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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    4. Its a huge buff If you have AA and SE, but eventualy the seccond AA will turn into an SE and stop working :/

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    5. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Mana Battery passive not change? As in, wasn't it unique in this season? If so, then the extra percentage buff has been replaced with a higher mana cap for Seraph stackers. It probably won't give as much AP as it used to, but the bonus is still there. I need to do the math for this, but regardless, AA stack Karthus wasn't that great anyways.

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    6. Just did the math, AA Stacking now provides 195 less Ability Power. Definitely a noticeable change, but you also have to take into account the 1500 HP temporary shield.

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  10. Unique Passives that are shared across items now have a unique name and indicator to call them out.

    You mean orb effects?

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    Replies
    1. sort off but not really
      in dota orb effects were across all items "orb effects don't stack"
      here same name orb effects don't stack
      it really is just an easy way of distinguished items passives
      s2 ex. (does not stack with tear of the goddess or manamune)
      s3 ex. insight
      also more cool names are always welcomed

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  11. From what I have seen most games end before you get full 1k bonus mana so I dont see why time is a big deal.

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    Replies
    1. yes but there are those games that drag on (last longer)
      and now kart e will trigger it and anivia ult also
      so it will be faster (cap is also 25% lower 1000-750 and aa has a 25% increase in mana gain 4-5)

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    2. not if your karthus and can spam Q for daysssssss

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    3. If only it lacked the 3 second cooldown. It takes 450 seconds to fully charge one of these, 2250 secs to charge 5. Bleh. 37.5 minutes to fully charge 5 of the suckers.

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  12. Blitz with this item Double passive

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  13. Hello Blitz with mega-shield (Passive+Seraph’s Embrace)

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  14. 75% Blitzcrank mana barrier, with my runes I reach 5000 now if we add this item...behold the power of my shield.

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  15. Is no one else thinking of how crazy good this is going to be when combined with Athenes Unholy Grail?

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  16. Everyone keeps saying they'll ban Ryze and Singed.
    I thought those two were already banned. *rimshot*

    But seriously, has NOONE considered BLITZCRANK!?!!

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    Replies
    1. In order for Blitz to get that item he has to spam, I don't see Blitz as a spamming champ, most likely he wont reach that bonus mana during the match.

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    2. It's a pretty short cooldown on his e though, reckon you could just keep hitting that button while walking from place to place. :D

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  17. Blitzcrank shields, Blitzcrank shields everywhere

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  18. they forgot to mention they will remove blitzcrank's passive!!!

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  19. imagine blitzcrank with this, plus passive plus barrier summoner inc

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  20. It means that Nidalee will now not trigger it in cougar form?

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  21. Fix the damm EU website Riot don't care about items -.-

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  22. This is interesting, but it's kinda pointless. They're making an item that you can only get when you max out the previous one, thats just kinda dumb.

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    Replies
    1. Except you'll be maxing it out anyways, so...

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  23. sooo..... should i build a P stone, heart of gold , this item then a next P stone?

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  24. No more AA stacks is stupid. Now noone apart from Veigar can top 1000 ap.

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    Replies
    1. I've hit 1k AP before with Mejai's. It happens a lot more often than you'd think. Besides, passing 1k is his thing. Without that much AP he really isn't too good.

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  25. Don't forget that there are plenty of other items to come out that may balance these items out (i.e. a mana drain/attack speed item).

    Tl;dr

    Other new items > these new items?

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    Replies
    1. Edit: Actually I think it would facilitate a lot of clutch decision-making in-game if they added an item that drains *%%*mana and deals part of that drained amount as dmg to enemy target.
      For example:
      Item drains 4% *CURRENT* mana on hit and then deals 25% of that as magic damage. Singed has 4,000 mana. Attacking him at full mana means that you'd drain 160 mana and deal an additional 40dmg on the first hit. However, as singed spends mana and you attack, the drain/dmg amount drops drastically.
      Just an idea. Numbers are unimportant in the example.

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    2. It'd be pointless to use that against champs that don't use mana, then, like Vlad, Akali, Shen, Zed, Kennen, Garen, etc.

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    3. well its an item with an targeting active, who would target a manaless champion with an item that drains mana?

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  26. Seraph's embrace op on blitz....

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  27. What about Gragas? Hiw w will not proc tear anymore?

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  28. You guys forgot Evelynn... 2k shields incoming...

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  29. Blitz shield, plus this, plus summoner spell barrier, thats not including any shield that another champ could put on him. That seems fair.

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  30. lets all forget the nigh impenetrable lux shield that scales rediculously with AP (which this item gives) she gets the shield twice and then another one based on mana and they're adding barrier to SR... Who needs to play hide the lux when you just cant kill the bitch anymore

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  31. Frost Shots(Ashe) + New Manamune + Runaan's Hurricane = ?

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