Those that have been following along with the upcoming League of Legends Runes Reforged changes know that Riot currently does not have a plan to replace Deathfire Touch, a keystone that has been the golden standard for several champions – mostly AP ones – since its debut. Despite there being new alternative keystones coming once the competitive season ends, a direct replacement for DFT is not being implemented, something Riot Games’ Meddler discussed in a recent post over on the League of Legends forums.
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“We looked at various options for something that filled the same niche, but didn’t find something we felt was both helpful when it comes to balancing champs and had at least some gameplay to it,” Meddler said. “What we’ll be doing as a result is looking at current DFT users and seeing how they perform once the system goes out.”
Unfortunately, this does little to help the players whose champions are getting left out in the cold once the new rune system arrives. While Deathfire Touch-using champions like Rumble have several options available, those that play champions like Malzahar, Brand, or Swain may be struggling to find their place in a new rune system that doesn’t include DFT. With that said, we take a look at some of the keystones arriving next month in order to inform players on which keystone may work best on their DFT-less champion of choice.
- Electrocute – Hitting a Champion with 3 unique attacks or abilities in 2 seconds deal bonus magic damage.
Electrocute – formerly known as Thunderlord’s Decree – is a good option for AP champions that have abilities that can be used in quick succession. As such, a champions like Malzahar, who tends to want all of his abilities going at once when bursting down an enemy champion with his ultimate, would do well to pick up Electrocute. On the flipside of this, champions like Brand and Veigar – whose kits each have multiple skillshot abilities – will find that they will have a hard time getting Electrocute to proc without throwing in an auto attack.
- Predator – Add an active effect to your boots that grant a large boost of movement speed and cause your next attack or spell to deal bonus damage.
On the surface level, Predator appears to be an excellent option for junglers and hard initiators. Admittedly, it absolutely is, though the added active effect on an AP champion’s boots will also function as a ‘get out of jail free’ card for the more immobile AP champions, such as Anivia, Ryze, Syndra, Vel’Koz, and Veigar. Predator’s versatility should not be underestimated. AP champions that like to get into fights quickly and use their ultimates, such as Kennen, Morgana, and Viktor, will also find Predator’s boost of movement speed extremely useful.
- Arcane Comet – Hitting a champion with a spell hurls a damaging comet at them.
Arcane Comet will hands down work best on AP champions that have CC, as the comet has a brief travel time to it. A few good examples of this would be Veigar and Karthus, who each like to CC their opponents before laying down some hurt with their damaging abilities. Champions without native hard CC options, such as Kassadin and Katarina, would be better off going with Electrocute.
- Phase Rush – Hitting an enemy champion with 3 unique attacks or abilities grants a burst of Movement Speed.
Phase Rush is similar to Electrocute, though champions that proc it are given a burst of Movement Speed, rather than deal bonus magic damage against their opponent. As such, there are a few mages that would benefit from Phase Rush, though most of these champions do not typically use Deathfire Touch. These champions include Katarina, Diana, Akali, Kassadin, and Twisted Fate. As with Electrocute, though, champions that may have trouble coming up with 3 unique kinds of attacks or abilities would be better off going with Arcane Comet.
