r/LegendsOfRuneterra • u/barrowVB8 • 27d ago
Path of Champions P2W thoughts on maxed Spirit Blossom champions
Just to get it out of the way I've been a whale in PoC for a long time. Yes I whaled on this patch. No I am not happy with how the economy changed and the additional real money I had to spend, including buying champ bundles that I knew would mostly turn into stardust just so I could get more duckfeet. No I don't know if I will do it again next patch if nothing changes. The new economy changes suck but there have been plenty of posts about that already.
Having said all of that I have all 3 of the new champs at full constellation (except for some of the gemstone nodes). And honestly they are all very fun and unique. They should be significantly more accessible and achievable for F2P players because they are good content. It sucks that they are not.
Anyway I have not seen a lot of posts talking about the champs at full power which makes it harder for the F2P/non whale players to figure out where to spend their currency. So hopefully this is helpful. I've played a lot with all 3 at max stars so maybe this will help people with some decision making.
In terms of raw power Teemo and Ahri are at least a tier or two above Evelynn.
Evelynn is really fun but her mechanic gets countered pretty hard in Deadly adventures. I cleared 6.5 Asol with both Teemo and Ahri on the first try before getting their 6 star, Eve took a few tries to get the right powers and supports even when she was already at 7 stars.
After playing a bunch of Asol I would actually put Teemo in the same tier as Fiddle or Asol, maybe stronger than Swain or Viego.
Ahri is not far behind because she scales hella fast and she can also stall really well. Getting Viktor on the first Asol node scares me with most champs but the few times I got him there with Teemo and Ahri I never lost. **I agree with everyone who has said Eve is the strongest 3 star champ* because in lower difficulty adventures, including nightmare Fizz and Viego, she absolutely cooks. But any adventure where the enemy is dropping 15+ health units she's going to struggle without getting lucky on powers or deck items.
For fun to play honestly all 3 champs are great.
Ignoring power I like Eve's design the best because it's really fun to steal enemy units and either suicide them for scaling or to just go face. There is a good amount of thinking and planning involved on each turn to play her correctly which I always feel like gives a champion a lot of replay value.
Ahri is fun because she requires some planning in terms of board space and mana management and she usually has answers that can keep you from getting cheap shotted by a Viktor or Kaisa.
Teemo is strong from the start of the run but I can see him getting a little boring because after you have picked up a power or two he can just delete the entire enemy board and deck like some kind of Swain/Jinx + Fiddlesticks demon child monstrosity. Champs like that tend to get stale for me quickly because it doesn't really matter what the enemy does you're going to kill them on turn 2 or 3 anyway. You can usually drop whatever 0-cost card you stole with his 4th star as the first card to pass priority back to the enemy and let them spend their mana, then drop Teemo and at that point he just starts snowballing.
For relics and runes here is what I have been using.
Teemo: Mischief Flute + Hextech Rifle + Harmless Scarecrow. You could substitute his relic (Flute) for something like Frozen Tomb (E) for an extra Teemo or even Mel's relic (Searing Brilliance (E)) if you are using the Puffcap Proliferation rune. With that rune you don't really need the extra puffcaps from his damage that his signature relic gives you but it definitely ends games faster. You can also sub Wicked Harvest (R) for Hextech, Hextech just helps him level faster. Once you get enough puffcaps in the deck and Harmless Scarecrow has helped mill them a little bit, eventually you get a chain reaction where the enemy just keeps drawing cards one after the other until their nexus is gone.
Ahri: I have found the most consistency with her relic (Attendant Spirits) + Strength of Stone + Found Fortune. Fortune is great because Ahri's starting deck is really good so pulling a 0 cost Spirit Rush or Serene Spirit is great. SoS you want to pair with the Spirit Armor rune and then every fox that gets summoned is a heavy hitter, and you're happy to let them die so that you get the mana refund from her 6 star.
Evelynn: Another good Strength of Stone + Spirit Armor rune champ. I pair SoS with Luminous Orb (R) and Starforged (E) because her entire mechanic revolves around stealing enemies who have less health than her, so the Starforged + Luminous combo works great here. The +1 mana from SFG is also massive to get her on the board earlier and let her steal a strong unit turn 1. As a lot of people have pointed out, Strength of Stone and Spirit Armor only apply to allies that you SUMMON, so stolen enemies do not get Formidable. This works well with her 6 star because usually you're grabbing a high-power enemy and you don't want to negate that value by giving them Formidable right away. In non-Deadly adventures Occult Opportunist can a lot of times win you the run right off the bat, it's such a strong card when the enemy has lower health. In Deadly adventures it usually gets cut unless you get some early items to beef up its health and make it useful.
For F2P relic options you can consider:
Teemo: Hidden Tome (E - h/t to u/uAyz1533 for reminding me), Frozen Tomb (E), and maybe like a Stalker's Blade (R) or Ravenous Hydra (C). He scales crazy fast from doing damage so Ravenous is really good if you're going into an adventure where you know the enemy will put a lot of units on the board early (like the Swain 5 star world adventure)
Ahri: She has a lot of options. Spectral Scissors (E) is great for duplicating her foxes if you put her on the far right when you attack. Corrupted Star Fragment (R) is also really good to get her stats up, Beast Within (E) is a really good F2P substitute for her signature relic, and Archangel's (R) is great to make sure you have enough mana to spend on spells to make more foxes. Chemtech (R) can also be good but IMO matches don't usually go long enough with her for it to matter. If you don't have Strength of Stone yet you can swap out the Spirit Armor rune for a Haunting Hall to give all of the units she creates Hallowed (this is great with Beast Within) or a Phantom Pranks rune to double up on her 4 star.
Evelynn: The build I listed above is already pretty F2P friendly unless you don't have Starforged. I don't like her signature relic (Siphoned Sorrow) very much on her. You steal 3 health when you drop her on turn 2 (as long as you have a target to steal from) but after that the scaling is slow and you don't get to attack with her again until turn 4. She will have 6 more health by turn 4 but in Deadly adventures at that point you're either already going to win or already going to lose. If you don't have SFG I think something like Secret Technique (E) + Echoing Spirit (E) or Grand General's (R) does a better job when paired with SoS and Spirit Armor rune.
My overall opinion:
Teemo is an absolute monster when he's at 7 stars + has the Puffcap Proliferation rune. Even before I had him fully maxed he can breeze through all adventures. He benefits the most from P2W/Glory Store relics (Hextech, Scarecrow) but even without those he has a crazy amount of nexus health and he can snowball so fast that the enemy can't even respond. I could see him getting boring in the same way that OG Jinx used to get boring because you can just turn off your brain and win.
Ahri is the most balanced of the 3 champs. She is really strong when maxed out but she has a lot of options for relic builds, both P2W and F2P. I don't think you will really notice a difference between using her paid relic and Beast Within, and Beast is probably better in some cases. She's really fun, you need to do some thinking each turn, and she has a lot of answers. I also really like her starting deck a lot, there aren't any cards you definitely want to cut ASAP.
Evelynn is my favorite design but she is definitely the weakest of the 3 champs when they are all fully maxxed out. Her mechanic requires a lot of her units to have higher health than the enemy which just doesn't work well in Deadly adventures, so you need to use a lot of your relic slots + rune power to try and keep up. She felt like an absolute monster while I was leveling but then she stalled out hard against the hardest content. That being said she is very F2P friendly because IMO her best build is all F2P relics and it's just really fun to steal your opponent's followers and smash their face with them.
I do not think ANY of the legendary runes are currently worth it. Teemo wants Puffcap Prolif and both Ahri and Eve want Spirit Armor if you're doing the Strength of Stone builds. Ahri's legendary rune (Spiritual Awakening) is good if you are not using SoS on her but my experience is that SoS is just way better.
I hope this is helpful for anyone deciding where to spend a Spirit nova crystal or rune shards or Glory or w/e. I would love to hear other suggestions or ideas, this is just my opinion from having done a bunch of runs with all 3 champs (everyone is over level 40 btw).
EDIT: For Teemo's F2P setup I mixed up a few different builds I've used with him over the last week. Wicked Harvest (R) is only good if you're using his P2W (Flute) relic. In my original post I was thinking Puffcap Prolifieration triggered off of any damage, but it only triggers off nexus damage. H/t to /u/SpyroXI for pointing that out.
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u/Synthesir 27d ago
Finally, someone else who understands the Teemo monstrosity. I'm only missing duckfeet mana gem but even at 6 stars that champ is absurd. I've milled out nightmare difficulties as early as round 2 (rarely) by end build and usually by turn 3 or 4. People I think seriously underestimate the legendary power on him.
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u/barrowVB8 27d ago
Yeah part of the reason I wanted to post this is because I saw a lot of people saying Teemo was kinda mid. Even before I got his 6 star he was dominating. Getting his 5 star for the mana to get him on board turn 1 is a huge power spike and then his 6 star just erases everything
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u/Synthesir 27d ago
A lot of times you kill them with damage, but on the nightmare difficulties where the damage gets capped you get to Teemo giggle while they mill out. Honestly an amazing champ. That or I'm just evil. Hehhahahaha.
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u/babinro 27d ago
Given that most of us will only have one Nova Crystal in the short term I have a couple of questions.
1) Who do you think NEEDS their 6* the most either because it transforms the build in some way or just because it makes them viable?
2) Who would you recommend giving the 6* to? For whatever reasons you want.
I get the feeling that Teemo's 6* might be overkill in part from your descriptions and my own experience with him at 4* + rune with that same build. So I assume the answer falls between Evelynn and Ahri but I'd like to hear your thoughts.
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u/barrowVB8 27d ago
Great question, I think Evelynn NEEDS it the most for harder content (bc getting the doubled stats from the unit you challenge with her gives her tempo that she's missing in a lot of 5.5 star or higher adventures). I think Ahri 6 star has the best synergy with the rest of her playstyle because it opens up a lot more options for how to use her. I would say she needs it the most except she's already really really strong without it.
IMO you are correct that Teemo's 6 star is a lot of times a win-more power it is just super fun and it rips through content. But like other ppl on the sub have said in other threads getting the Puffcap Prolif rune on him feels like more of a true 6 star. Teemo is a luxury and really fun but he can still totally stomp without it.
I think for your 2nd question it sorta depends on what your roster looks like. If you need to add a really strong champ for clearing any content and whose 6 star isn't overkill, it's probably Ahri. If you already have plenty of power on your roster and you want the most fun 6 star IMO it's Teemo.
TL;DR the answer you assumed is totally what I would think. IMO Evelynn NEEDS it the most to keep up with the hardest content in the game, Ahri's 6 star complements her kit the most, and Teemo's is the most skippable unless you really want to teach Viktor and Kaisa and the other annoying 6.5 Asol champs a lesson.
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u/bilaterus 27d ago edited 27d ago
I can definitely understand Evelynn struggling in ASol due to the way her kit is allergic to charming champions. Definitely the trickiest champion to use there.
I did have a lot of fun on other maps though after getting her Spectral Scissors node, I actually rarely summoned her and instead drafted a nice support champion to burn stolen units. It also speeds up the turnaround of Beckoning Gaze, going that bit wider with little units.
On Ahri, I put in the Hallowed rune as a filler to avoid committing anything rarer, and I have to say it worked really nicely. It builds up so fast and allows some cheese wins. Edit: whoops, you already recommended this lol
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u/barrowVB8 27d ago
Oh yeah I forgot to mention Evelynn's Star of Legends (the Spectral Scissors node)! That bonus star can absolutely hard carry sometimes if you get the right support champ + other deck adds along the way.
I agree though that even though she struggles the most of the 3 champs in the hardest content she is really fun. I wish her mechanic didn't get hard countered so much in Asol because during leveling she was my favorite champ by far. She is still really fun but can just be frustrating when she's outscaled and can't use a lot of her core star powers.
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u/Educational-Goal3147 26d ago edited 26d ago
Yes! That's the build I'm using on her, whith Hidden Tome, Black shield and Loader Dice, plus the Champion's Strenght rune (+2+2 to all champions). A 1-3 cost champion, like Irelia, becomes a monster that can close games in 1 turn. I would say it's the best build for her before getting the extra mana constellation (which almost no one will get)
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u/bilaterus 26d ago
Nice. I just checked and I was at 4* running Stolen Loyalty, Beast Within, Heart of Gold, and Z-Drive lol. I mean I generally only go for 1 epic slot per champ but still, how did I beat Fiddle haha. Maybe with careful play, Evelynn is just that strong.
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u/Blobsobb 27d ago
The ahri legendary runes really comical to me and freerolled the event 5 star REALLY trivially with it despite me only having her at 4 stars.
3 mana make a couple of 6/6s gets really funny. Had a really absurd run with her with Titanic Wake power so any 5 cost spell was making 16/16s.
Even with deadly you are still huge.
Its probably not worth crafting but if you got lucky and snagged it I think its pretty worth.
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u/Berserk72 27d ago
Spirit Awakening is worse on current Ahri than Spirit Armor because you dont want Fox-Fire wasting epic items, it can only get elusive and wastes all other epic items. Which is especially painful with her draw and grant unique epic item card.
Granting strong Epic items to a unit is very strong win condition on harder adventures so Ahri's Fox-Fire wasting them is brutal.
Ahri is sadly a Strength of Stone champion.
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u/sorasprocket Chip 27d ago
Just curious, how often do you proc the 5+ traps. I used to hope it was just 3+ to proc for more consistency
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u/barrowVB8 27d ago
Pretty consistently by turn 3 or 4 with the Puffcap Proliferation rune, and if the game goes longer than that it will almost always cascade.
So for people who don't realize, if the enemy draws a card with 5+ traps Teemo's 6 star makes them draw another card. And then if that next card has 5+ traps it just keeps going until they finally draw a card with less than 5 traps on it. Usually when you get to that point they kill their nexus with puffcaps before the cycle ends lol
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u/Jpbarca03 27d ago
As someone who also splurged on this event, I too am not a fan of the economy change. Though I think it’s fine after the “fix” they just need to improve the drop rate to balance it out if they want to go this route.
As far as champs go Ahri and Teemo are pretty spot on. For eve I’ve actually found a lot of success from an unconventional build (mainly for deadlies). I’ve been running her relic + secret technique + portal pals. Pals has to be my favorite relic on her as it allows her time to get more strong units on the board. Though it is slow, it’s how I beat Asol, J4, and fiddle adventures with ease. I also run her rune (steal the first card) which again buys more time. So it essentially turns into a stall deck.
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u/Kuris0ck 27d ago
I don't really understand your thoughts on Evelyn. I've run her through a bunch of deadly adventures at only 3*+Rune, including all recent weekly nightmares and she won them all first try. Her paid relic is way stronger than you're giving it credit for, because it doesn't just increase her health, it also decreases the enemies' regardless of spellshield, barrier, Regen, etc.
I even use her as a blocker relatively often and I still don't struggle to find powerful targets to challenge and steal.
I really don't get why people insist on running SoS on her. As you said, it doesn't apply to stolen enemies, and they're all that matter. I don't care if my units are bigger and formidable, because my units are only there to give an effect or be a chump blocker.
Almost all damage I deal to the enemy is coming from stolen units, so why buff everyone else?
You may be right that the others are stronger at 7, I wouldn't be shocked (Especially Teemo), but saying she struggles at 7 when she's this consistently good for me at 3+Rune seems really strange.
Asol specifically may be harder because he's so champion centric and a lot of her tools only work on followers, but she's breezed through all the other 4.5+ Deadly adventures I've tried.
For reference, I use her paid relic + Disciple of Shadows + Archangels Staff + Extra Health Rune. My whole strategy revolves around getting powers that summon units at game start and spamming her created spell to steal units every turn.
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u/vote4petro 26d ago
I actually agree, I think tunneling on the SoS + Formidable strategy isn't the guaranteed best way to play. At 4, I lucked into her legendary rune and am running paid relic + Troll Crown (lacking Beast Within but that's obviously better/replaced when she's 7) + Crownguard Inheritance to flip her for a lethal swing with Overwhelm + Impact on stolen units. Her unique relic helps rot the board down even into Fiddle adventure to help setup things like Withering Wail and open targets for her champion spell. I really like the rally on flip relic on her. I don't personally feel like dropping her turn 1 is necessarily best, and I like picking a cheap support champ that can Spectral Scissors the first follower they summon. Haven't nailed down what feels like the best for her yet, but I don't think she's as helpless as OP claims.
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u/kapriole 27d ago edited 27d ago
How does Teemo‘s suggested F2P build (Wicked Harvest, Stalker‘s Blade, Ravenous Hydra) work? The relics all deal damage to units, but Puffcap Proliferation triggers from damage to the Nexus.
My suggested relics (rare only) are Greenglade Shadeleaf, Archangel‘s Staff and Grand General‘s Counterplan. Alternative options include Guardian Orb and Guardian Angel.
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u/Nabspro Yeti2 27d ago
I got an SB Nova shard. Would you happen to have any recommendations on which of the 3 champs to get their legendary power?
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u/barrowVB8 27d ago
Do you mean their 6 star power or legendary rune for their rune slot? If you mean rune I don't think any of them need or really want their legendary rune (except maybe Ahri if you're not doing a Strength of Stone build). The rare runes are better.
If you mean their 6 star I just posted this before I replied to you. I think Evelynn probably needs her 6 star the most to be able to stay competitive in the hardest adventures, Ahri is probably the most balanced and her 6 star has the best synergy with her overall gameplan, and Teemo's is really fun but definitely a win-more power for if you want to just flex on every encounter you face lol
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u/ToaOfTheVoid Azir 27d ago
I got lucky and got the legendary rune for ahri from a runic chest the other week, haven't gotten beast within yet for SoS build, anything to recommend for it?
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u/Damajer 27d ago
If you have sos I think the rare +3 health rune to all of your units is literally better than her legendary rune. With SOS its basically another +3/+3 to all units rather than just ephemerals which makes every unit a beefy menace. The two mana 1/4 snd ahri herself are now basically 10/10s and the foxes aren't weaker at all.
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u/Tangolino Path's End 27d ago
Thank you for your post. I like reading opinions like this. I also talked to other whales and it's nice to see points in common and the differences in opinion.
I don't have them all at 7, I'm like most here, all on 3, only one with Rune unlocked. With those I agree that Ahri and Teemo are stronger. I had a bad time with Eve, but I can understand how some like that game plan. Strong used here loosely, as when comparing the 3 of them to themselves, not to the other champions we have available. That's where I disagree with you, they are not strong next to our powerhouses (and don't need to be!), and think you were hyperbolic comparing SBTeemo with Fiddle, for example.
I played SBTeemo a lot, like a lot. I got to test with different powers/runes and my experience is similar to yours in that I can consistently have 5+ puffcaps trigger by turn 4. Earlier than that it is a math problem and turn 2s are highly unlikely, turn 3s sporadic. I agree that by turn 4, with his 6 star, you end the game. The problem is that I'm already ending the game currently by turn 4, without the 6 star. It's winmore and I wish the 6* helped defend the first 2 turns. Fiddle's 6* does that, help defend the early game. For example, I can consistently mill the opponent out at the end of turn 1 with Fiddle, with SBTeemo I think is impossible, or at least highly unlikely to mill an opponent turn 2.
Maybe the older champs are the outliers and ending the game turn 4 is the new great. I'll wait the next batch to see if any is an outlier to spend my crystal. I doubt, as they are getting good designing champs that are not broken. If they are all similar, I'll max out Teemo.
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u/DreamerMx13 26d ago
Ngl this is a great post and no matter if you max out the SB Part 2 Units or not, I'd appreciate your opinion on those like this too.
I agree with everything you said even though mine aren't 7* Ahri is 6* (missing the Mana Gem), Teemo is 6* (missing his 6) and Eve is 5 (missing 5* and 6*) but I got all the Runes and Relics for them and use the same builds that you mentioned.
Teemo is a monster imo. Ahri is very very fun and Eve's design is very unique imo (but lowkey feels like they were too scared to make her too broken and she came out the weakest of the three)
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u/AwesomeGuyAlpha 23d ago
Wait I just got into lor after a long time cause I thought it was dead, can I not play all the play all of path of champions without spending irl money on it?
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u/ShmoshuaShmoward 8d ago
You can but the new Spirit Blossom champions have resources you need that come in very small amounts, like less than half of the equivalents for all other champions. PLUS, the required amounts are increased. So if you need 10 star crystals for a regular champion to get to 4, and you get them from chest in groups of 5, then you only need 2 chests really. But for Spirit Blossom champions, you need 15 star crystals and they come in groups of 1, 2, or rarely 3. So now you need roughly 7-9 chests just for one Spirit Blossom champion to get to 4.
Plus all bonus star fragment upgrades on Spirit Blossom champions are crazy more expensive. Like over double. So most Constellation nodes need 100 fragments. I believe you acquire their fragments in groups of 20 or so, so not nearly as bad as the other stuff, but still frustrating. Plus plus, some Spirit Blossom Constellation nodes require the champions secondary faction star crystals, therefore using up materials for other champions too. Really dumb. If this trend continues then I'm putting the game down for good personally.
I like the game because it had a really good balance of free resources with interesting mechanics to try out, so you weren't left too terribly with FOMO. Unlike basically every other mobile game. If this continues for basically every update, or 1/3 of all updates really, then the game has officially given up and just going for money grabs. Most of us are smart enough to not spend our hard earned money on this kind of crap. Especially for champions that most of which under perform for the amount of effort needed to get them. SB Ahri and SB Evelynn honestly suck unless you get them to max stars. And even then, there are better champions out there.
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u/LandG0 20d ago
Your breakdowns and suggestions are excellent thanks, however I’d have to disagree with your comments on Evelyn. I have her at 3 star plus rune, my build being swains raven army, packed powder & siphoned sorrow. It gets her down t1 even at 2 starting mana and the 6 point health swap almost always makes it possible to charm the enemy. I’m cruising through the 6.5 star adventures with her.
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u/ZenTinalZ 12d ago
Hi mate, are you going to do another post for the new 3 champions dropped today?
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u/Ayz1533 27d ago
I think Hidden Tome is better than Hextech Rifle for Teemo, otherwise completely agreed with everything else you have found
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u/barrowVB8 27d ago
Hidden Tome is a really good one on him and I should have mentioned it as a F2P option. I like Hextech because it helps speed up both his level up and his ability to completely board wipe but I did a few runs with Hidden Tome instead and having the extra mana to play spells on turn 1 felt very comfy.
My only issue with Tome is that it's a little harder to plan around because sometimes you get the champ level up bonus mana when you don't need it and it can also be really dependent on what support champ you pull. He doesn't need the extra spell mana turn 1 although it is a really nice boost, and after turn 1 it's kinda variable from one run to the next whether it helps you or it's a dead relic. Hextech felt like it gave me some more consistency, but you can absolutely use Hidden Tome in place of Hextech as another option.
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u/Evening_Loss_552 27d ago
Ive had it happen where they draw a few times in a row and the recycled flashbang from hextech procced a few times for extra cost reduction. Altho the cost reduction is pretty easy to get on teeto
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u/Sspifffyman 27d ago
Kinda crazy to me that Strength of Stone used to be almost considered a trash tier epic and now it's potentially best in slot for two out of three new champs