Ability Maximiser (range + duration upgrade)

[paulby]

Currently range and duration are both a bit too slot inefficient. And often want to both be taken together, making this even worse.
Compared to superior cooldown, both items work with far less abilities, and far less other items, while often being semi niche even when they do help (do you really need more range on torment pulse for example)

greater expansion is almost never seen, its a bit expensive for what it is


The proposal, drop greater expansion to tier 2, make it give less range (30% for example)

and make Greater expansion an Superior duration build into a new item. Ability Maximiser, a tier 4 which gives 35% ability range, 35% duration, (and maybe some other stat, possibly 15% cast time reduction)

 

[Rosgath]

That's an incredibly easy build path into a T4 item. Far easier than any other, actually (the single largest purchase in this build path is 1600 Souls for picking up Improved Duration and the actual combining of the items) and that might make the item a touch too accessible. T4 is supposed to be difficult to get, and this one is very easy.

Other than that, I don't really have an issue with something that combines duration and range. I've always felt that T4 lacked a truly defining item that fulfills that build aspect, but it also might not be something that Valve wants (being the ability to invest that much into Range and Duration in 1 slot).

 

[nathanieljbrill]

That's an incredibly easy build path into a T4 item. Far easier than any other, actually (the single largest purchase in this build path is 1600 Souls for picking up Improved Duration and the actual combining of the items) and that might make the item a touch too accessible. T4 is supposed to be difficult to get, and this one is very easy.

Other than that, I don't really have an issue with something that combines duration and range. I've always felt that T4 lacked a truly defining item that fulfills that build aspect, but it also might not be something that Valve wants (being the ability to invest that much into Range and Duration in 1 slot).

it could combine the tier 2s instead of the tier 3s. It's an awful lot like arcane surge that way though.

 

[Rosgath]

it could combine the tier 2s instead of the tier 3s. It's an awful lot like arcane surge that way though.

Honestly, Arcane Surge has to be one of my favorite Items specifically because it's so easy to build and is often just as effective as having both Expansion and Superior Duration in 1 item, especially early on (Many strategies rely heavily on having extra Range/Duration for 1 ability in particular).

That said, It's not nearly as powerful as the item OP is suggesting. Arcane Surge is nice, but not build defining. This item would be core on a lot of hero builds (Specifically, you would see it on Dynamo and any Paradox Bomb build. Probably most Spirit Ivy builds and Kelvin Beam builds too). The fact that it's a T4 item also means that it gives a lot of Spirit Power for such an easy to build item.

While the ease of building a T4 like this is a lesser issue, I think Valve doesn't want a dedicated Item that provides huge bonuses to Range and Duration in the T4 category. If they did, I think we would have seen something like this in the new shop right away as it would have been relatively easy to code in comparison to some other things like Witchmail, Spellbreaker, and Cheat Death. I remember that when I started playing, Duration and Range didn't have diminishing returns from multiple sources and it cause a lot of issues for certain builds (Particularly Dynamo builds that could lock down absolutely massive areas for like, 11s at a time). That's probably why they are trigger shy on adding a T4 item that offers Duration or Range as their primary offering.

To be clear, I know that there are some T4 items that offer increased duration or Range (such as Magic Carpet and Diviner's Kevlar) but those are kickers added that are nice to have. Those items have other primary reasons you get them.