While items in League of Legends aren’t entirely restricted to any specific class of champions, over the past several years, both marksmen and top lane fighters have shared similar build paths—which appears to be evolving even further in the upcoming preseason.
A new developer blog overviewing all of the changes coming to League at the beginning of 2024 has provided players with a look at a number of new and reworked items, many of which are aimed at benefiting the item diversity between marksmen and fighters. Yet in doing so, Riot Games has also specified that popular existing items like Goredrinker, Divine Sunderer, Silvermere Dawn, Ironspike Whip, Rageknife, and Galeforce are being phased out, which is likely to completely change how players control certain champions.
Most notably, almost every single item being changed or welcomed into League for these classes no longer grants champions any bonus healing, focusing instead on damage with additional base health granted upon the item’s completion. While champions like Aatrox and Dr. Mundo will still thrive with the self-healing innately in their kits, this change encourages other champions to play more carefully and itemize effectively.
Among the new items being introduced to these classes is Sundered Sky, an item primarily focused on sustain with immediate burst damage thanks to an initial critical strike and healing when damaging a champion for the first time. Nitro Hexaegis encourages players to cast their ultimates as casting the ability will grant players a massive burst of attack and movement speed over seven seconds—a great tool for initiating and escaping. The new component item, Tunneler, is required to build both of these new items.
A new marksmen-centric item known as Terminus brings about a new mechanic to the game, where every attack switches between a Light and Dark form with different effects. Light attacks provide champions with bonus armor and magic resist for five seconds, while Dark attacks grant them additional armor and magic penetration. Despite its steep cost of 3,200 gold, this is likely to be an item that many champions capitalize on to not only deal more significant damage but keep themselves alive without too much external assistance.
While Tiamat and Ravenous Hydra are regaining their passives, the splitpushing item Hullbreaker is having its identity changed completely. The item will no longer provide champions with bonuses for pathing alone, rather it grants stacks for each basic attack up to five that can be unleashed on an enemy champion, epic monster, or structure for bonus damage. But the item’s passive of granting cannon and super minions bonus defenses remains.
Meanwhile, Spear of Shojin is losing its bonus movement speed in favor of additional damage through stacks, and a handful of other items—including Stridebreaker and Witt’s End—are having their costs reduced. Guardian Angel’s build path has also been slightly tweaked due to the removal of Stopwatch from the game, though its revive effect remains intact.
Since these item changes have the capability of completely rewriting the way players go about League, there is a possibility they will be altered before their release on the live servers during this extended PBE testing duration. Should players want to get their hands on all of the changes associated with the upcoming preseason, as well as the newest addition to the roster, Hwei, they can participate in the testing starting today.
