User blog comment:Zilverdael/Seperate itemsets and why they are good/@comment-1330314-20140617111554/@comment-6281696-20140619145720

I don't build Mikaels on a tank obviously given my issues with the item ^^

They don't need to be on the exact same level as items without any utility, but it'd be nice if they were at least decent. Banshees veil vs Spirit visage vs Locket is the only example that does that well. Statwise they don't differ too much, but Locket definitly is more supportive than the others. But there is a reason to get Locket apart from its utility. By comparison Sighstone you literally ONLY take because of its utility, not because you're lacking health and want to fill some utility while you're at it. The same with the gold items. If supports somehow got gold those items would pretty much dissapear from games overnight. And this goes for a rather large amount of dedicated support items, they only are relevant because of impressive utility not because of them being good items that give utility.

Rylai's and frozen gauntlet are actually examples of items that actually have decent stats, but also add to your utility. Hence they are often picked by supports if they can manage to afford them.

As for generalisation vs specialisation, because of the focus of these items bringing some form of utility it often feels as if you ARE generalizing your build in order to just have as much utility available as opposed to focussing on improving (specialising) your existing skills. Take for example that new item, Ardent censer. On Janna, it makes perfect sense, giving her iconic shield a nice boost with relevant (though again, needlessly low, I'm not saying give it 120 AP, but 30 is the other extreme) stats. But it'l most likely become increadibly popular on thresh too. Why? Because he can now give multiple people in his team a AS boost. However, the stats on it are rather awefull for him and unlike supports that focus on shielding/healing like Janna (who I presume this item is intended for) his main purpose isn't to shield, making the mechanic illogical and sub-part even if he has an AoE shield. Hell the main purpose of his shield isn't even to shield but to allow allies to make large jumps. Yet it will be popular because it provides extra supporting power.

As a consequence I don't think supports have a healthy power expression, instead relying on either handicapping themself in exchange for utility or gathering money to use the more expensive items intended for other classes, in which case they more often than not end up with a awkward build that mimics a tank or magebuild but with large gaps because of the useless stuff that is basicly mandatory like the gold items & sighstone. As said, AP support probably has the best itemisation at the moment among the supports, it's especially the tank-supports that suffer from this. And to be honest I'm against them releasing Ardent censer at this stage as it is yet another AP-support item while tank-supports still have close to nothing that really makes sense and is actually intended for them.