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Game Content Creation #1: League of Legends Item Design

       Overview: I design a new defensive item for League of Legends named "Shepard's Staff." This item fills the niche of anti-mage items that also act as disablers. I analyze the gold effeciency of this item in different scenarios and suggest champions that Shepard's Staff would most greatly affect.

Item Name: Shepard's Staff

Item Cost: 3050g

Item Stats:

        -650 Health

        -60 Magic Resistance

          Unique Passive:  

                (AOE +5% Increased Enemy Cooldown) Range = 700

Build Path:

        -Spectre's Cowl (1400g)

        -Giants Belt (1000g)

        -Combine Cost (650g)

 

Visualized via In-Game Store
Shepard's Staff Build Path. I do not own any of the above art content, Riot Games Inc. is the rightful owner.

       For all intents and purposes, a better name would for Shepard's Staff would be "Frozen Tome." This name is similar to Frozen Heart, as is its unique passive effect.

 

       With Season 4 just around the corner, I feel that there are a number of changes to the meta and the game that warrant the need for Shepard's Staff. First, the cooldown reduction (to be referred to as CDR) of the buff from the  Ancient Golem has been reduced to 10% from 20%. By removing a key source of CDR from most mid lane champions, Athene's Unholy Grail has become more popular for the CDR and mana regeneration that if offers. These mid lane champions can then wave clear and harass very safely, and even more so with the Ancient Golem buff. There is no clear counter to this low risk, high reward playstyle. Shepard's Staff will greatly reward those tanky champions that would like to disrupt an enemy's teamfight, or simply make for a stronger gank. Much like Frozen Heart is considered a counter to Attack Speed/Damage focused teams, Shepard's Staff can be considered a counter to Ability Power casting focused teams.

 

Caveats to Shepard's Staff (added as need be):

-Enemy's CDR cannot go lower than 0%.

-CDR increase will be taken into account when an ability's channel begins, NOT when the ability itself goes on cooldown.

 

       Here are a few examples of the champion interaction I would expect:

Shepard's Staff is strong when built on: Garen, Dr. Mundo, Amumu, Maokai

Shepard's Staff is strong to build against: Orianna, Ryze, Vladimir, Ziggs

 

Cost Efficiency Analysis:

Total Item Cost: 3050g

Health Value: 1716g

Magic Resistance Value: 1200g

Total Gold Value: 2916

       The following table calculates the gold efficiency of Shepard's Staff depending on the number of enemies affected by its passive.

Shepard's Staff Gold Efficiency Table
Shepard's Staff Gold Efficiency Table

       As can be seen above, Shepard's Staff is gold effiecient with just 1 nearby enemy champion. However, I would expect this item shine when used by melee tanks in teamfights rather than in solo lanes or the jungle.

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