To say the least, the Golden Shovel was one of the “cancer” items in Teamfight Tactics over the past two seasons, as it could elevate a mid-tier unit to an ultra-powerful level if equipped with the right item. Surely we still remember formations like Assassin – Void with Kassadin wielding Youmuu’s Ghostblade or the Blender team from season 2 with Nocturne Blademaster and Azir Blademaster.
Despite being so powerful, in season 3, the Golden Shovel suddenly became much less popular. However, in many people’s minds, at least the Golden Shovel would only lose its hype; instead, it would be used in some specific compositions and not drop to a level that was too weak. However, the reality is completely the opposite, as Riot Mortdog – the lead designer of Teamfight Tactics – revealed surprisingly that the Golden Shovel is the weakest item at the end of the game.
Riot Mortdog: “People keep asking me on stream what the worst item in the game is, and honestly, I didn’t have a proper answer. Finally, I remembered and checked, so here are the items with the lowest win rates based on the game stages:
Stage 2 – Chalice of Favor.
Stage 3 – Spatula.
Stage 4 – Black Heart.
Stage 5 – Warmog’s Armor.
Stage 6 – Golden Shovel (lol).”
Perhaps even Riot Mortdog was surprised by the dismal win rate of the Golden Shovel, which made him burst out laughing. Remember that this statistic is based on the win rates of each item during game stages, not the overall win rate of that item. This shows that the Golden Shovel is the worst item during the most crucial phase of the game, which is the end game.
The main reason the Golden Shovel is so weak is that this item does not provide any stats or combine into a damage or direct defense item at the end of the game. It only serves to add extra combos to your formation, but in this season 3, most level 8 formations are already complete, so there is no need for items from the Golden Shovel.
Furthermore, the champions of this season 3 do not interact much with the items created from the Golden Shovel, which is another reason why gamers are hesitant to use this item. There are only two cases where it is effectively used: Irelia Spy and Kai’Sa Demolitionist; otherwise, other champions do not need items from the Golden Shovel to be strong.
Right from the beginning of season 3, Riot Games had a lengthy post discussing what they learned from season 3, and the biggest thing they understood was the need to reduce the power of the Golden Shovel. And in season 3, this is being executed quite well, as the Golden Shovel has dropped from being a sought-after item in the previous season to a situational item that is better than nothing at this point.