Talk:Snowball/@comment-69.26.207.104-20120304203236/@comment-89.75.167.175-20120714132530

I believe a snowball effect is something that gets out of control/asburdly strong if not stopped early or if given the chance (by FB, early kills, excepional farm, etc.).

Items like Occult can be called snowball items, because if their user gets a few kills and doesn't die, they become absurdly cost-effective, waaaay more so than any other item. And if that person gets 20 stacks, they grant the person another absurd boost, making the item worth five times its cost when compared to other items.

Champions can be snowballing as well, particularly the more mobile bruisers and assassins like Jax, Panth or Akali. If they get fed early, they can dash to a key enemy in a fight and burst him down so fast that it's almost impossible to stop - granting them ANOTHER kill and instantly making it a 5v4, putting the enemy team at a great disadvantage, forcing retreat and most likely not letting the enemy punish the killer, who just got even MORE fed and will be even MORE impossible to stop.

Another type of snowball champions are those that have uncapped permabuff abilities, like Nasus, Veigar, Sion. If any of them are allowed to freely farm early game (or, in case of Veig, if he gets enough kills/assists later as well), they can become impossible to stop, simply because they can grow beyond the regular limit of 6 items and 18 levels. For example, Veigar's AP can grow forever and has the potential to eventually overcome any sensibly-attainable levels of magic resistance that would be enough against other AP carries.

On the other hand, items like Manamune/Archangel Staff, Warmogs or Bloodthirster are NOT snowball in my opinion. They do get stronger over time, but their strength is limited and when the limit is reached, the overall effect can hardly be called "absurdly strong", as is the case with occult, leviathan, mejai. Those are items meant to mature over time, they are expected to mature over time and are balanced for the endgame in such state.