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This post is a follow up post to a recent discussion about the new support item Ixtali Seedjar where we can talk about the other new support item Hextech Megadrive. Hopefully others have had a chance to try out the new item for themselves and I encourage those who have to share your thoughts. If you’d like to share your thoughts on Ixtali Seedjar that post can be found at the following link…
https://reddit.com/r/wildrift/comments/ruw61u/the_problems_with_ixtali_seedjaris_it_the_worst/
As previously mentioned, I’ll preface this post by saying these two item’s (along with an increased passive gold accumulation for the lowest gold earning player on the team) were described as being an attempt to offer some much needed attention to support mains. As a support main myself with almost 4,600 games (!) in wild rift I was so glad to see some much needed attention given, even though I was somewhat disappointed with what was offered.
Hextech Megadrive was described as being an “item for supports who love using their active items! Hextech Megadrive allows you to reduce your active item cooldowns through the use of your heals, shields, and when you immobilize your opponents.”
Total cost: 2700g Build from Lost Chapter (1050g) + Giants Belt (1000g) + 650g
Stats: 300 Health 200 Mana 35 Ability Power 15 Ability Haste
Unique Passive: Tinker - Reduces the cooldown of your active items (aka your tier 3 boots item) by 10% (5 second cooldown) when healing and shielding your allies, and by 15% (no cooldown) when immobilizing your enemies.
I’ll start off with some thoughts about what I like about Hextech Megadrive…
I like that if Ixtali Seedjar was a support item intended for tanks with it’s AR/MR stats, then this item is intended for enchanters and damage supports with it’s Health/Mana/AP stats. There’s something for everyone!
Similar too Ixtali Seedjar, this item created a fun new mechanic. I see it being similar to Awakened Soulstealer and Staff of Flowing Waters, where those items are haste items geared towards your abilities, this one is geared towards your boots.
I like that it recognized the importance of boots items for support mains. Unlike other roles, we often rush boots items because of the utility they provide to our team. More often than not, we don’t upgrade too Stasis/Hourglass Enchant/Protobelt/etc. Our choices are usually Locket/Redemption/Gargoyle because of the team advantages they provide. That is unless Stasis is a part of our identity like with Morgana/Brand or an assassin is targeting us.
I like that it’s a no frills item that’s easy to use and adapt into my arsenal. There’s no gimmicks, bells, or whistles. I easily know what it does and how to use it.
Now onto the problems with Hextech Megadrive…
If this is a cooldown reduction item, why is it’s passive so weak compared to other cooldown reduction items? Supports often rush boots items so that they are available in time for the first objective (dragon/rift herald). Good supports know that Redemption will not only heal allies for 25-375, enemies take 10% of their max health as true damage and minions/monsters take 250 damage. So if everyone is in the dragon pit fighting, a well placed redemption can ensure/steal a dragon while turning the fight in your favour. It has a 60s CD. Locket will shield yourself and all nearby allies from 70-420 dmg for 2.5 seconds and also has a 60s CD. The BIGGEST ISSUE with Hextech Megadrive is that because these items have a 60s cooldown, they can only be used once per team battle because rarely does a team battle last long. So if this item is to be useful for me as a support, I want to be able to use my active item at least twice in one team battle from all the healing/shielding/immobilizing I’m doing. BUT, I’ve found that the cooldown reduction doesn’t provide this. Yes, my active item is available sooner, but by the time it’s up again I’ve already recalled or died. I’ve tried this out several times and have always come to the same conclusion.
The strength of cooldown reduction items depend on the importance of the thing they are cooling down. So if this item is competing for a slot with Awakened Soulstealer and/or Staff of Flowing waters, they would cool down something as important as champion Ultimates and Abilities, but that’s obviously not true. An Ultimate is far more important than an active boots item and Staff of Flowing Waters grants you AND your ally 20 Haste to all your abilities and 20-40 AP for 4 seconds. How is a cooldown on my active item that I can’t even use twice in one battle as powerful?
It’s too expensive. If you agree with my above point, then the value of it’s passive is not worth investing 2700g. Us broke ass supports need to manage our funds VERY frugally. We often can’t afford things like Rabadon’s Deathcap at 3500g so sometimes we rush Rod of Ages at 2800g to provide a similar amount of AP over time (PS that Rod of Ages nerf really hurt a lot of scaling enchanter/damage supports). I just don’t see this item being worth the gold. Especially if I’ve rushed boots first, my next item needs to carry some weight because of the time constraints.
The stats aren’t good enough. Because the passive is so weak in it’s current state, I would expect it to come with some great stats. I can see an argument for 300 Health and 200 Mana being good. However, if the item’s identity is about cooldown reduction, I want other stats that will also be related to cooldown reduction and 15 ability haste is not good enough. The reason it isn’t good enough is because it’s competitors Staff of Flowing Waters and Awakened Soulstealer provide 20 and 25 ability haste respectively. Finally, 35 ability power is ridiculous. SOFW provides 65 and AS provides 70. In fact, for an item that I see more geared towards and more useful for enchanter supports, Hextech Megadrive provides the LOWEST amount of AP of ANY item.
It’s identity is unclear and confusing. It has some cooldown, some health, some mana, some AP, and some ability haste. It’s the compost bin of items. A little bit of everything thrown in. It’s listed under defensive items but then why does it have AP? I think it’s unclear who should be building this item. Cooldown reduction is primarily for those that want to spam abilities. Tanks aren’t looking to spam abilities, enchanters/dmg supports are. As stated above, I understood Ixtali Seedjar as being the new support item geared towards Tanks and Hextech Megadrive as being geared towards enchanters/damage supports, but perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps, BOTH items were intended for Tanks and every other support was left in the dust.
So what would I do to improve Hextech Megadrive…
Build it’s identity around cooldown reduction just like it’s passive, but differentiate it from Awakened Soulstealer and Staff of Flowing Waters. That way your build path could include more than one of these items and they wouldn’t all be doing the same thing. Increase the Ability Haste to 20, Increase the Ability Power to 85, Increase the mana to 300, and get rid of the health. That way we have a cooldown reduction/Ability Power item geared towards enchanter supports that is similar to what Luden’s Echo does for damage supports.
Increase the passive cooldown reduction of it’s passive so that I am able to use my active item (Redemption/Locket) TWICE in one team battle. Obviously, I don’t know what those numbers/percentages would look like but as they are now doesn’t seem to work for me. Similar to using their ultimate, a good support times their active item usage for the most opportune time in order to turn the tides of good fortune. A bad support will spam their active item and hope for the best.
I think that the above changes might come with a price increase, but as a support it would be worth it. This item would compete for a slot in my build.
Anyway, I want to reiterate that like my other post about Ixtali Seedjar, this one isn’t intended to flame or trash the item, but rather to offer some constructive criticism and suggestions. I love Wild Rift and still believe it’s the greatest MOBA out there. It’s my favourite game and I want the best for it.
Cheers and remember to treat your supports like the kings and queens they are!
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