League of Legends Brings Back Twin Shadows, Overhauls AP Items

The AP items in League of Legends are about to get a total overhaul with build paths and stats [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

The AP items in League of Legends are about to get a total overhaul with build paths and stats changing along with the addition of some new and old items

An AP item update has been teased for a while now with Meddler previewing the changes last week and promising that a more comprehensive post would come later. That follow-up post recently came on the League boards with Riot PhRoXzOn posting a full list of the changes that are being tested on the PBE while other Rioters joined the discussion with players to answer questions about the huge AP item changes.

All of the AP item changes seen here are just now making their way to the PBE with the exception of a new item that'll take a bit more time, so there's a chance that the stat values and other traits could change before the overhaul goes live. Check out the list of major every item that's being added or changed below with more details on the changes and new items seen further down.

New AP Item: Spellbound Orb


League of Legends Spellbound Orb
(Photo: Riot Games)

The first thing that players will notice changing on the PBE is the addition of a new AP item, one that's called Spellbound Orb. This item that's seen directly above is an expensive AP option with an active effect that provides a boost of movement speed and AP for a brief duration.

[New] Spellbound Orb

  • 2800 Gold
  • +100 Ability Power
  • +10% Movement Speed
  • UNIQUE Passive – Spellsteal: Nearby allied and enemy spellcasts charge Spellbound Orb up to a cap (200 maximum).
  • UNIQUE Active – Spellburst: Gain up to 50% decaying Movement Speed (+0.25% per charge of Spellbound Orb), and up to 50 Ability Power (+0.25 per charge of Spellbound Orb) for each spellcast stored in Spellbound Orb (8 second duration). (60 second cooldown)
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Huge AP Item Changes

League of Legends Morellos
(Photo: Riot Games)

As for the current items – and one returning item, Twin Shadows, with a name and icon that may change – the Rioter provided a list of other AP item tweaks that'll affect popular items like Lost Chapter and may even make Archangel's Staff a more viable option for AP champions. Each of the items' links show an image of the item's store listing in-game to show exactly what it's stats, icon, and changes will look like.

  • Lost Chapter costs 1100 gold and has additional CDR (to increase the number of failed laning phases).
  • Lost Chapter upgrades into three 20% CDR, Mana, AP items; Hextech GLP (catch), Ludens (poke) and Archangel's Staff (scaling).
  • GLP has a few mechanics changes: Stops on first unit hit, increased range (200), longer slow duration, no cast time.
  • Haunting Guise no longer has Flat Penetration and instead has a passive effect that synergizes with damage over time patterns (this carries over to Liandry's).
  • Morellonomicon has been renamed to Morello's Cursed Tome (AP/HP/Flat Pen/Grievous Wounds), has a mid-tier item Orb of Shadows that is the same as the old Haunting Guise (AP/HP/Flat Pen).
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Twin Shadows Is Back

League of Legends Twin Shadows
(Photo: Riot Games)

A returning item that will happily find a spot in both mid laners' and AP supports' builds, Twin Shadows is back.

The item uses to have an effect that worked just like the active effect of Frost Queen's Claim, an ability that tracked down two nearby enemies and slowed them. This item and the effect is now back with a few adjustments made along with explanations from Riot.

  • With more income from not having to buy Sightstone, we are marketing Twin Shadows as an attractive option for supports looking to hunt down their targets.
  • This item fights against Flat Pen, Liandries, Rylais and other items.
  • Of course, maybe champs that really like roaming and hunting from mid occasionally look at this too, but that's less of a desired goal.
  • We tried a 20% CDR, AP, Mana version of this on mid lane (for quite a while) to fill a roaming niche, but concerns of 6 of these in a game at once from Mid/Jg/Supp on both teams was quite hosing for all the junglers and for certain types of champions (eg. Akali).
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Smaller AP Item Adjustments

League of Legends Zoe

Along with the big adjustments that came for items like Luden's Echo, Archangel's Staff, and Liandry's Torment, three other common AP items also received changes on the PBE.

These items are Void Staff, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, and Rabadon's Deathcap, the last of which was one of the main topics of the AP itemization discussion. When talks of the AP item overhaul first began, Rabadon's was front and center as an item that may not always be worth the gold. With an increased damage percentage, it'll hopefully be a bit more fulfilling as a late-game purchase.

Void Staff

  • 80 AP >>> 70 AP
  • Void staff is just generally too efficient against all targets, rather against the ones stacking MR.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

  • 75 AP >>> 85 AP
  • We nerfed Rylais in previous patches, and left it in a relatively underpowered state since then.
  • Given how much perma slows tend to invalidate melee champions, being careful with this one (but the slow is nowhere as strong as it was before).

Rabadon's Deathcap

  • AP Amp 35% >>> 40%
  • The item was just not living up to its late game fantasy.
  • Maybe some champs consider it 3rd sometimes (or even second), especially when going heavy AP builds.

[New] Spellbound Orb

  • 2800 Gold
  • +100 Ability Power
  • +10% Movement Speed
  • UNIQUE Passive – Spellsteal: Nearby allied and enemy spellcasts charge Spellbound Orb up to a cap (200 maximum).
  • UNIQUE Active – Spellburst: Gain up to 50% decaying Movement Speed (+0.25% per charge of Spellbound Orb), and up to 50 Ability Power (+0.25 per charge of Spellbound Orb) for each spellcast stored in Spellbound Orb (8 second duration). (60 second cooldown)
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