Instead of trying to sound professional and intelligent, consider the fact Black Cleaver is nullifying ap mid, and urging players to go full ad. That's how broken it is, and hotFIXING it ISN'T a problem. It's a SOLUTION.

This is the Dominion sub-forum, feel free to engage in the billion BC threads on GD rather than discuss "AP Mids" here.

1) Sounds good on paper but has nasty effects, i.e. if you were to build both Ghostblade and Black Cleaver you would be at a disadvantage in terms of gold invested. If the goal is to deter people from building both of those upper tier items in the same build (not recommended) this can be ignored.

What can be done instead is make the flat ArP of each of the three items passives unique to each item. That way Brutalizers don't stack, Ghostblades don't stack, and BC's don't stack, but 1 of each of those items can stack just fine. Since typically people would want to build their intermediary items into more powerful versions, people would be deterred from building three Brutalizers for the maximum flat ArP. However if they've already built a Ghostblade they won't be penalized building another Brutalizer to eventually turn into a Black Cleaver.

Another thing to consider is rearranging/solidly defining the stats on each item. It's clear the BC is a bruiser's weapon of choice as it gives them a little bit of everything they need with an emphasis on ArP whereas Ghostblade's emphasis should be slightly shifted from the ArP more towards its crit in order to bolster it's auto-attack steroid.

2) Fine by me. If people want to shred tons of armor they should really be relying on Last Whisper as that is the sole purpose of that item. Black Cleaver on the other hand is the ultimate item for all AD casters and bruisers as it gives them CDR, HP, damage, and ArP all in one; it shouldn't also be the pen-ultimate armor shredding item on top of all that.

3) I actually don't see a problem with this. Early game armor shred with Brutalizer is part of the reason why so many bruisers own early game and snowball into late. A slight nerf to the ArP may tone them down a bit. Notably abilities like Garen's Judgment and Pantheon's Heartseeker Strike are very dangerous even with just one Brutalizer.

Eh, in the meantime just do what I do... report BC stacking players to the tribunal. "Unskilled Player" is a valid reason in the list, after all. Have to do the same thing for BFTeemos.

*rimshot!*

Any updates on what will happen to Black Cleaver? It still seems way too strong for Dominion, even after the aura penetration removal.

It's been nerfed quite a lot Sylian. Nobody is stacking them anymore due to the unique attribute on the armor penn along with general nerfs to it's ability. Do you feel more needs to be done?

IMO the penetration on it shouldn't stack with Brutalizer or ghostblade, but that's me.

Stacking was an issue, but it was not the main issue. The main issue was that the item was too strong, and I feel that it still is too strong.

brutalizer lost 33% of it's penetration =(. Sad day for me!