What Items are Changing In Season 3?

Season Three is finally here and changes are going to be made in the next few weeks. Riot staff have been very active in the forums this week outlining some of their plans with a large focus on items.

To help keep all the changes in what's looking to be an incredibly significant patch check out some of the announcements made thus far. Keep in mind that these changes are likely not set in stone and subject to change depending on Riot's final word.

A lot of the following changes are geared at increasing the variation of itemization options for champions. Anyone that's played or viewed professional play has seen that some roles are trapped into certain item builds and almost all roles focus on a boots/3 pot start. These changes are by no means minor and while the effect on the game will have to be seen once the new patch goes live one thing is for certain: Everyone is going to learn new ways to play their favorite champions.

Ryze is going to be one happy camper when one of the following new items is released. An active shield based on %mana? Read on!

Item Additions

With a new season comes a bevy of new items for champions. As stated above Riot has said in the past that they are attempting to make new items that prompt a more varied itemization and some of the changes so far seem to work towards that general idea. The first two items below aren't new but they feature some changes and a new mechanic: upon reaching max charge the Archangel's Staff will transform into a new item entirely.

• Tear of the Goddess

- 250 Mana

- 7 Mana Regen per 5 seconds

- UNIQUE Passive – Mana Charge: Each time you spend Mana, your maximum Mana increases by 4 (3 second cooldown).

- Bonus Mana: 0/750

• Archangel’s Staff

- 250 Mana

- 60 Ability Power

- 10 Mana Regen per 5 seconds

- UNIQUE Passive – Insight: +(3% of Maximum Mana) Ability Power

- UNIQUE Passive – Mana Charge: Each time you spend Mana, you gain 5 maximum Mana (3 second cooldown).

- Bonus Mana: 0/750

- Transforms into Seraph’s Embrace at 750 Bonus Mana

• Seraph’s Embrace(Upgraded from Archangel’s Staff when fully charged)

- 1000 Mana

- 60 Ability Power

- 10 Mana Regen per 5 seconds

- UNIQUE Passive – Insight: +(3% of Maximum Mana) Ability Power

- UNIQUE Active: Drains 25% of your current mana to shield yourself for an equal amount for 2.5 seconds - 120 second cooldown.

• Sightstone (650 Gold)

- 125 Health

- Unique Passive - Refresh (Ward) : Starts with 4 charges and refills each time you stop by your shop.

- Unique Active - Ghost Ward: Consumes a charge to place an invisible ward that reveals the surrounding area for 3 minutes. You may have a maximum of 2 wards from this item at once.

- Associate Technical Designer Xypherous alluded that this item would also transform into a new one but did not disclose any further information.

• Hunter's Machete

- Associate Game Designer Statikk said that there was no firm stats for the item but that it would "instead increases your damage dealt to jungle monsters by a % and also adds bonus true damage to your basic attacks against jungle monsters."

- Statikk also said the item would build into Madred's Razor and a new item called Spirit Stone that will cost 800 gold.

• Statikk Shiv

- No information but Xypherous said it would be a replacement for Ionic Spark and it was confirmed elsewhere it would have a lightning element.

Fans of the new Twisted Treeline will also recognize the Blade of the Ruined King and the Wicked Hatchet, both of which are planned to make their way to Summoner's Rift next season. The former is meant to replace Madred's Bloodrazer and the latter specializes in cutting the sustain of regen-heavy champs like Dr. Mundo and Vladimir.

Champions such as Singed are surely going to mourn the loss of some Season 2 favorites. Read on and discover what's getting removed from the game.

Item Removals

Removing items tend to be a lot less popular with players but Riot has done a fine job of explaining their reasoning for each instance. The list is below and you can check here.

• Meki Pendant

• Rejuvenation Bead

• Madred's Bloodrazer

• Force of Nature

• Ionic Spark

• Elixir of Agility

• Heart of Gold

While some of those items weren't terribly popular there is likely going to be a bit of resentment for the removal of items like Force of Nature and Heart of Gold. It will be interesting to see if anything else hits the chopping block this season.

Item Changes

Because of both item removals and the interest of varied gameplay Riot has announced various changes to items. Two changes were noted above with the Tear of the Goddess and the Archangel's Staff but there are a number of other changes as well.

• Locket of the Iron Solari

- Cooldown reduction and additional HP as well as a new build path due to the loss of Heart of Gold.

• Phantom Dancer

- New passive to avoid unit collision at the cost of reduced move speed and attack speed.

• The Black Cleaver

- 45 Attack Damage

- 10% Cooldown Reduction

- 10 Armor Penetration

- Passive: Dealing physical damage to an enemy reduces their Armor by 5% for 6 seconds. This effect stacks up to 5 times on the same target.

• Eleisa's Miracle (1175 Gold)

- 10 Health per 5 seconds

- 15 Mana per 5 seconds

- Removed Tenacity

- Unique Passive - Aid: Your Heal, Clairvoyance and Revive cooldowns are reduced by 20%

- Unique Passive: If you gain 3 levels while holding Eleisa's Miracle, you gain 10 HP/5, 15 MP/5 and the Aid Passive permanently and the item disappears from your inventory.

There are other listed changes as well including Brutalizer having more upgrade paths, Tiamat getting a wave-clearing rework and a buff to Spirit Visage and a new upgrade path for Sheen.

With all the changes Season Three may seem a bit unfamiliar but with time hopefully a new host of builds and strategies develop. Diversity helps keep a game fresh, especially in the case of eSports where small changes can have huge shifts on the meta. Consider that these item changes don't even address the upcoming jungle and mastery changes planned in the new season as well.