User blog comment:Zilverdael/Seperate itemsets and why they are good/@comment-4068613-20140615123959/@comment-5331854-20140615132644

Truer words have been told seldomly.

When an item gets buffed or nerfed, then it's not because of the item itself, but because of certain interactions with certain champions. Only where the relationship between items and champions are really screwed up (in OP-ness like old!Yi's case or weirdness like Sion's case) is a rework of the champion necessary.

Items do not exist in isolation, nor are they at fault when a small pool of champions is highly OP with them. Making them fit only certain archetypes won't help to make the game better, because with or without limitations, a support would never take an Infinity Edge, nor do most brawlers, tanks, mages and assassins. Unless they're crit-reliant, of course, but then they still would be different archetypes who can't have access to Infinity Edge (despite needing it as Core or regular Offense) just because it's been made with regards for marksmen.

Also, several champions have been proven to be pretty nice in having more than 2 roles. Ashe, for example, works everywhere but early jungle thanks to her soft CC, global ult and farm+vision-tool, so she can be a marksman, a mage-y assassin in mid, a ranged brawler and even a support. Having these experiments is part of the fun in a casual MOBA-match and should not be detrimed by artificial limitations.