Talk:Spirit Stone/@comment-4046013-20140117082807/@comment-4046013-20140118045641

My problem is with the claustrophobic build paths. A year ago, there was all this talk about Spirit of the Ancient Golem was cool and all, but how are they going to stop it from being an item that's just plain good on everyone? Their answer is to pigeonhole the entire branch into a role-specific niche. It used to be that Spectral Wraith was a Spellvamp alternative for single-AP teams that also helped with objective steals, and now it's just part of the jungler item ghetto. Blue Ezreal was a thing for a while, and now Elder Lizard is also useless for non-junglers.

I liked having always-on sustain. In my preliminary tests, it didn't really seem like the new Spirit Stone was any sustainier overall. It just compressed all of the sustain into little bursts, and then you get screwed if the late-game teamfights don't give you time to access the jungle for your sustain.

Late game ADCs, on the other hand, have at least a vamp scepter and can sustain by pushing lanes.