Dis spooky-ass sickle
So there's a new item that builds from vamp scepter, a long awaited dps mana item that isn't sheen or muramana
finally mana hungry AD users can have something to play around with so they can spam to their heart's content
however, this got me thinking to who would use it in place of another item, to what cost would the space in the bag be for something that offers useful stats, but not a super chunky amount of any one stat. not to mention for it to be realistically useful, it has to be someone who auto-attacks fairly often to benefit from its lifesteal.
Ashe
hey, now ashe can literally permaslow for all of eternity. this item seems to have really great synergy with her, obviously, and I think she'd be the first character anyone would associate with this item.
Crab Man
urgot is another character that comes to mind when I hear the phrase "AD-spammer." now he can shoot his load with no consequences
Pink Scorpion
skarner is another character who needs to auto-attack as well as button-smash. now his Q is mana-safe to mash your heart out.
There are undoubtedly more characters that run their resources dry that would fit this bill, I'm just listing these few as an example
important question: should most players really sacrifice their lifesteal item spot for something they should be fulfilling by basic caution in expending resources? i.e. why buy it if you can just spam carefully
because this item is certainly not going to be a first pick for most of these roles, I found myself wondering whether it would be needed in a practical manner, because urgot and jayce are the only characters who build ad that function as their team's main pokers. even on ashe, I have to wonder that unless your team is having trouble zoning and needs that slow up constantly, couldn't basic reservation of mana, or the buying of 1 or 2 mana potions fulfill this need? hard to say, situationally.
[my main point of discussion]-[how this item's utility comes into focus]
for the most part what I can imagine the purpose behind Riot's introduction of this item into the game, because most AD champs could manage their mana fairly efficiently with some caution, is to balance out the item I mentioned earlier as the ONLY item to grant both mana and AD (besides T-forz)... MANAMUNE
The Funnybone
this item is generally only purchased by hybrid or ad champions who need heavy amounts of mana regen early game, and is in most cases avoided in a build in favor of other items who take much less time to build and much fewer coorelating items to rely on for its efficacy.
before, you would maybe see Manamune on Udyr, maybe see it on skarner, maybe maybe maybe see it on an AD evelyn. also possibly ashe/urgot. other similarly mana hungry champs. however it only provides decent damage upon purchase, and doesn't scale well with other items.
once charged however, its toggle is a moderate boost to anyone's damage. the extra pow pow that comes with the mana consumption is quite nice, but again doesn't synergize with ats/crit/ad items. the synergy is with your mana, and the price of that extra damage is a HEFTY mana cost
here's where the brand spankin new Essence Reaver comes in.
in combination with some other mana items to buff the damage from your % mana consumed from the upgraded Muramana, the reaver could regen a significant amount of your mana while also granting health via its lifesteal. toggling on a muramana would become much more of a window of opportunity versus a mana sink that cost too much. the extra damage from the toggle would feed more mana back to you and more life back to you from the reaver. you could not only spam your skills willy nilly but drain your mana with no worries of repercussion because you have 2 very strong regen items.
with a frozen heart or an iceborn gauntlet, I'd imagine the gain of this pairing would be a significant temporary dmg buff what I'm curious is whether it would yield more output, or maybe more lane security, or whether the ability to spam, and to buff your spams, with being able to keep up the muramana passive. hard to say. would be an interesting thing to test the numbers of
Thoughts/comments?