Talk:Viktor/@comment-4167645-20120106033628

What I don't like is the concept where you have to pay to activate a passive, something that should be free. Someone like Shyvana already has her passive grant each of her abilities additional power. Renekton too has a passive that grants an ability of his choosing 50% more effectiveness by choosing which spell to expand fury on.

What you're paying for on a hex core is the ability upgrade, not the stats it provides, that is paid for by the permanent loss of an item slot as is typical of normal items(you get stats, you lose an inventory slot to house those stats). When these 2 come hand in hand, it makes for tough choices. I like the stats on Augment:Gravity if I were to treat it like an item, but I'd much rather get the ability upgrade for Q or E which his kit won't allow. So if I want to Augment my Death ray, I end up carrying around a blasting wand equivalent for the entire game. Who would willingly never upgrade their blasting wand?

The passive forces the player to make two sacrfices. Lose a passive slot, and lose an item slot. If its not free its not a passive, you pay money = its an item. Does Renekton HAVE to buy spirit visage if he likes using a fury empowered Q a lot? Or is he forced to buy a brutalizer if he likes empowering his slice and dice?

Im pretty sure they made the base damage and scaling on Death ray lower than most spells on purpose in anticipation of players choosing the Death Augment.