I feel like tanky support doesn't have much to build now.

It feels like I'm pigeon holed into buying 5 items now.

I need boots.
I need a philo stone.
I need a sightstone
I need a second g/10 (only option is lucky pick)
I need a slot dedicated to wards

I would even argue that your 6th slot is taken too, because buying an Aegis is pretty much your only best option...

So my inventory is filled by 20 minutes with 2 g/10 a sightstone a ward slot and my first component of Aegis...

That makes upgrading tedious because its like 1500g to upgrade an emblem of valor to Aegis and then another 1000 to upgrade Aegis to Bulwark and similarly its like 1400g to upgrade a philo stone into a reverie.

You've got very few small upgrades to do...you can pick up 200hp for 600g with a ruby sight stone...or you can not carry extra wards for a short period holding a component in the extra ward slot...but gaining gold on support is tough...being in melee and being gimped on stats is dangerous...and that's not a good combination...

I say all this only to say that I wish there was something tanky supports could build that would give defensive stats and gold/5. With the heart of gold missing and nothing of value building out of lucky pick, I feel like the pick needs another build route...

A tanky one...

why do you need a second GP5 item? You used to need a second GP5 cause you had to buy wards, so why do you need one now?

Also, why upgrade to bulwark right away? Aegis is nice without upgrading. I'd get something else and come back to bulwark later.

You should probably skip the second GP 10, the ambient gold was buffed from 13 to 16 per 10, and like Jeanschyso said - having free wards sort of defeats the purpose of having GP 10 to purchase wards. Sight Stone really does completely replace Heart of Gold for what you're getting out of it as a support, or at the very least the 2 GP 10 you're missing out on after the ambient gold boost.

Beyond that the new support items (Twin Shadows, Mikael's Crucible, Ohmwrecker, Banner of Command, Shard of True Ice) leave some room for variation - which freeing up a GP 10 slot will help make happen.

Locket's pretty boss, especially for the tanky melee supports you describe. Anything that's built out of a kindlegem is pretty boss, actually.

Also, you don't need boots as early.

My builds tend to be something like:
Flask + wards + pots opening
Sightstone
Ruby crystal / Philo stone (in no particular order - how well im doing in lane/how much HP i feel i need matters here.)
Items I want late game (boots, ruby sightstone, Aura and Activation items)

Late game item slot usage:
Boots
Ruby Sightstone
Pink Wards
3 slots for aura/activate items.

I get what you mean... My builds used to consist of Philo's stone, HoG, later upgrading to sherelias and either the locket or randuins, then i usually went aegis, frozen heart etc... Leaving me with a support who could safely ward and roam to help team. I understand why they removed HoG, but it was still a huge nerf to tankier support such as taric who often transitioned into their teams tank once laning was over.

I seldomly see tanky supports building Bulwark anymore because of the fact that a lot of popular jungles are taking Bulwark now, instead they take Locket.

Doesn't Ohmwrecker fit the bill for tanky support item? Pretty sure it gives both health and armor.

Ohmwrecker is a gimmick item...shouldn't be built at all tbh.

You pay so much for a weak active that is very very situational and useless late game since tower damage scaling is bad late game.

Plus towers can easily be juggled by going in and out of range and using skills/items that make you invulnerable/untargetable.

The locket is ok...but I hate that it scales off level. The support is usually the lowest level champion on the team. So your shield is pretty gimpy (base is only 50 too). It does have some of that old HoG feel to it though providing both hp and armor, but it lost the hp regen aura too which was great for non-healing supports.

So I'm kind of in the air about the locket.

2k is a pretty huge investment for such a small amount of support...Especially when compared to Crucible which costs a similar amount but has an active that scales way better into late game (150 base heal +15% of missing hp + cleanse).

Get Locket.

I mean for real they buffed the **** out of it, 225 gold off total cost, 10% CDR and 125 more health.

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