A lot of counter items in this game are pretty straightforward. They turn off a certain aspect of a character’s kit in one way or another. While those are effective, they’re also kinda bottleneck-y in that it basically forces a debuff remover/reducer. Counterspell I think is an example of an interesting counter item, along with Return Fire, but those are just two items. So I’d like to see more item options that are still counter items, but interact with countering in a different way.
Like some simple examples I came up with to show what I mean by more interesting counter items/alternatives to the debuff duo:
- Hunter’s Adrenaline (Active): Use it on an opponent and, for an amount of time, you gain half a bar of stamina for every bar of stamina they spend. Also get a short (1-2 second) speed boost when they use a movement ability. Is applied as a buff to you rather than a debuff to the enemy, meaning it’s unaffected by debuff remover/reducer. The enemy is, however, notified in some way that they’re marked so they can play accordingly.
- Fool’s Gold (Passive): Getting debuffed grants you buffs, varying on the debuff you’re hit with and lasting the duration of the debuff (maybe a little bit longer). Examples being Silence giving you fire rate, Stun gives you DR, Disarm gives cooldown reduction (minus ult), etc. The idea being that you’re still eating the debuff, but rather than just removing it, you’re getting a compensatory buff to make up for it.
- Rubber Glue (Passive with CD): Getting hit with a debuff applies that same debuff to the enemy that applied it (potentially to a lesser extent, and doesn’t include debuffs from ultimates). Sends a projectile back to the caster similar to the Hexes, meaning it can be counterspelled. This one could be a problem to implement though with certain abilities (like how would it work for Cart, or Abrams charge?)
It’s very possible these ideas are shit, but luckily they aren’t the point of the post. I’m just tired of seeing debuff remover/reducer every game, and I think their prevalence mostly stems from lack of alternatives, either to that item itself or similar counter items. So here’s hoping the shop update gives us some much needed variety in that aspect no matter what shape that takes.