May 07, 2016

Bloodforge Changes

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Bloodforge  |  3.8
So, I'm excited for the Bloodforge rework in the pipeline, as it's becoming a crazy luxury item for kill-happy people who've already stacked their Hide of the Urchin. On otherwise squishy solo laners like Bakasura (who's currently my favorite solo laner, barely ahead of Bellona and Tyr) a much more viable and dangerous teamfight presence.

So, just in case the item reworks haven't been seen on the site, here's what it looks like now:

Bloodforge


Cost: 2850
+75 Physical Power
+15% Physical Lifesteal
PASSIVE: Killing an enemy god forges a shield from their blood with health equal to 200 + 10 per Player Level for 20s. While the Blood Shield is active you gain +20% movement speed.

Now, here's the best part of this: The Assassin, specifically the basic-attack based assassin, is now a viable solo lane choice. While they were comfort picks for many players in solo lanes and counter-picks as well, the changes to Bloodforge mean that solo lane picks like Bakasura or Kali (to a lesser extent, thanks to Destruction) or any other squishy-ish physical character is no longer quite such a single-target teamfighter the way Loki has always been considered, but they can stay around thanks to the 400 health from a kill. For someone as squishy as a Bakasura (even a Baka who's built Bulwark of Hope and Midgardian Mail), the 400 extra health--that resets on every kill--is a real bonus.

Now, what that means for characters like Bastet and Mercury, who often suffer from a lack of survivability in teamfights, is that after they get a kill, they're able to reset and charge right back in. (In Mercury's case, the extra passive from the Blood Shield is even more power.) And while I don't think by any means that this change will spell the end of the warrior's solo lane dominance, I think that we'll see many of the more inventive solo laners (like Xaliea on PDG or last season's CycloneSpin) will definitely be experimenting with this new item.