User blog comment:NicknameMy/My suggested changes to Essence Reaver/@comment-1330314-20141022084355

I definitely agree that Essence Reaver needs to start from a smaller item that provides the mana restoration passive. Mana-hungry AD champions want mana sustain especially in lane and the early to mid game, which ER's high price makes hard to acquire at that stage. I also agree that Essence Reaver in its current state is not a good late-game item, since it basically becomes an inferior Bloodthirster with a bit of mana sustain. However, I don't think it needs armor penetration: Essence Reaver is mainly about health and mana sustain, and while armor pen makes it more desirable on all AD casters it also detracts from that sustain, particularly since the AD and CDR are already meant to be good bonuses.

I think the better option here would be to omit the Brutalizer and instead introduce a new 15 AD + 10% CDR item that comes cheaper but without the penetration, which would then build into the Brutalizer and other AD + CDR items. Instead of giving Essence Reaver armor penetration, you could instead remove the lifesteal and give the item a unique passive that allows the user to heal for 10% of all physical damage dealt (which would invalidate the need for lifesteal, since it'd already be covered in the unique passive). The PBE's Elixir of Wrath has a similar passive with the same healing values, so I think it might be balanced, and it would reinforce Essence Reaver's role as a sustain item for casters, alongside the Bloodthirster's autoattack-focused sustain.