In their wildrift video, they stated that they are removing Hextech gunblade from Wildrift because its not living up to their expectations! However, Gwen builds wildrift in PC and whats funny is that they decided to add Riftmaker when Gwen was added to wildrift…
External link →We wanted to release it at the same time as, or before Gwen. But we have been wanting to remove Gunblade for a while, and replace it with Riftmaker.
Why remove items at all?
The Short answer, is that it makes room for new items.
Each item we add makes navigating the shop more complex. If we have 50 AP items, that is a lot of scrolling to find the one you are looking for.
We don't feel that having 2 magic vamp items is healthy for the game, in a world where Gunblade wasn't bad, seeing Akali with Gunblade and Riftmaker is a lot of healing for any champion.
As for Gunblade itself, we have wanted to remove it for a while. It has never been worth buying because its gameplay isn't particularly healthy either, easy burst+slow isn't great. Even if it was healthy, its duel AD+AP also gave it a VERY small champion pool.
Gunblade was not worth buying because its core stats were bad, on PC it was 80ap and 40ad, it was a good item stat wise, buff to gunblade stats would make it a good purchase.
Maybe it is nice to have items that fit more champions, but at the same time it is a bit sad that wild rift goes the same route as pc in the fact that it removes all the hybrid items completely. I think hybrid items that give AD and AP would be awesome for hybrid champs, but we have none. For example a hybrid pen item with the same passive as void and LW would be awesome.
Buffs to Gunblade would have made it a good purchase on a few champions, unless we went over the top. We can buff anything into being strong, the issue is that is it healthy for the game? And we don't think a strong Gunblade is particularly good to have. But even if the item itself was in a spot where we liked it the system can't support multiple magic vamp items because they can be stacked.
When you think about this as an isolated item then I think you have somewhat of a point. But the issue is that this is part of a larger system and in that system you run into issues where someone could get both this hybrid pen item and VS/LW or Gunblade and Riftmaker.
It is something we could choose to support, but it seems unlikely given the small champion pool, the fact that these champions still play the same as if they went full AP/AD, we create abuse cases for dipping into both the hybrid+focused stat item systems, and it would greatly increase the size of the item shop. This means that it is a lot of work, with some significant costs with no clear gains.
When I suggested a hybrid pen item I meant an item that shares the unique passive of LW and Void, so that they don't stack, like the rage passive that both Trinity and BC share. Gunblade and Riftmaker could share the same unique passive vamp as well so that they don't stack.
That is an option, but it does add complexity to the system (knowing that these don't stack or not letting players buy both, confusion with the shop and being locked into mid tier items). And even ignoring that it ignores all the other points I brought up, for unclear gains.
I guess let's start with why is hybrid attractive in the first place? What does a hybrid build meaningfully differently?
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