User blog comment:Lukeatlook/Pyro's Item Overhaul 11 - The Mage Project/@comment-6071253-20150122195619

Chillwind Crown is just a terrible idea. What you're saying is, no matter how much damage I'm dealing to my enemy, for 0.5 seconds they're invulnerable because I tried to kill them. That's an incredibly frustrating path to take. It's not just about whether the item feels satsifying to have and benefit from, it's about what it feels like to play against. It's not just Zed that gets mad about this, it's every assassin with a burst pattern. It completely changes the math I have to use to get someone dead'd. If this was going to exist, it would have to be a component with a unique named passive of Zhonya's so that I didn't have to deal with someone's Chillwind proccing, then flashing for th 0.5second they're invulnerable to time a Zhonya's when I throw my only spell at them. There are champions who can troll me with dodged or ignored damage - Zed, Fiora, Master Yi, Fizz, Vladimir, Tryndamere- but that's special to them and has built in requirements and tradeoffs (cooldowns, valid targets, mana, etc.)

Breathstealer is similarly complicated. What happens when I buy it as a top lane AP tank facing a Trundle? Trundle Ults me and I... throw his ult back at him? So I start healing for 10% of my maximum health and gain half my resistances back? That's pretty whack.

I like some of the changes you made. I don't think pen is in as bad a place as you think it is. While it's rough on AP burst mages and assassins against squishies, that's also their job, and I think the removal of DFG in 5.2 goes a longer way to solving that frustrating (as does damage amp applied to Fizz and reinvigorating Ahri's playful kiting pattern as opposed to focusing on a "kiss of death" pattern).

I think you did some really good work in here - Sheen Upgrades rework is fantastic (Lich Bane gives me 50% AP on crit? That's cool. Stattik Shiv / Lich Bane feels like a really good place to live initially on Diana, especially with Magus enchant. On the other hand, it would really hurt Fizz's Urchin Strike, which applies 100% Total AD and on-hit effects, but cannot critically strike. Same is true for Viktor's Q and Kassadin W).

Mages need more clicky actives. Supports are overloaded with actives, but it rarely feels bad to me as a support - I'm happy about all the extra buttons I'm pressing and my mastery tree's focus on that specific kind of situational power (Mikael's, Spooky Ghosts, Locket/Banner of Command, Wards, All three Gp/5 Upgrades), but Mages feel less magey when they're casting fewer spells. I like the idea of Magma Chamber - being able to cast a ground-targeted effect is cool, but I feel like in general the concept of mage mastery is most defined by their ability to precisely hit key skillshots. Brand's entire game lives and dies on his ability to hit his Q. Annie's contribution to a game is largely about whether or not Tibbers appears in the right place, and Anivia's wall placement and Q detonation are crucial decision points that make or break the bird. Even Diana, who is largely an asssassin and fighter, gets the most bang for her buck from hitting her Q. So, to push mage itemization in the direction that makes it more magey and not just smoother, I'd want to see Mages get more skillshot actives - ground targeted, linear colliding, linear non-colliding, something crazy, I don't care.