If you haven’t been able to check out the PBE notes for the League of Legends testing grounds, there’s a new item coming to the game that may cause trouble for ADCs and other life-stealing champions.
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The new item is called Bramble Vest, and though it sounds uncomfortable to wear, it’s even more unpleasant for enemies who go up against it. The prickly chestpiece comes with a unique passive called Thorns, a passive that triggers when the wearer is hit by a basic attack. Twenty magic damage is reflected immediately to the attacker, but the real kicker comes from the fact that this item will also inflict Grievous Wounds on the attacker for 1 second. Players will recall that this debuff, usually seen with the mage item Morellonomicon, cuts all healing by 40 percent. Bramble Vest gives players 35 armor and builds out of two Cloth Armors for a pretty cheap price of 900 gold.
If you think that this item sounds a lot like Thornmail, you’re correct, because it now builds into Thornmail in the PBE. Thornmail now gives buyers 250 health, 75 armor, and also comes with the Cold Steel debuff that reduces the attacker’s attack speed by 15 percent for 1 second. The Thorns passive evolves from it’s Bramble Vest form to return magic damage to auto attackers equal to 10 percent of your bonus armor plus 25 damage. With the total armor reduced and health added to the item, the new Thornmail will build out of Bramble Vest, a Ruby Crystal, and Warden’s Mail for a total of 2,900 gold as opposed to the current version’s 2,350 gold.
What’s unique about the Bramble Vest and the new Thornmail is that these items are the first defensive items that will inflict Grievous Wounds on enemies. Currently, the only items with the debuff are Morellonomicon, Executioner’s Calling, and Mortal Reminder. With tanky supports back in the meta, Bramble Vest’s cheap price and easy build path could cause trouble for ADCs who opt for the popular Blade of the Ruined King, and other lifesteal-based champs will face a new issue as well — imagine an Aatrox trying to make it in the top lane now if he couldn’t before.
The item is still in the PBE for now, so final numbers and build paths could still be changed before the item goes live.
