For many players who enjoy slowing their enemies, the Keystone Iceborn Gauntlet is quite familiar. As for the power of this Keystone for those who are not clear, slowing enemies with activated items will create a 60% slow area for 5 seconds. When enemies are controlled like this, your team can easily chase or retreat.
First, let’s talk about the most suitable items for the Keystone Iceborn Gauntlet: When playing mid lane mages, many often choose Luden’s Echo or Rod of Ages for the ability power (AP) as well as the massive mana it provides. However, when opting for the Iceborn Gauntlet Keystone, mages will build Hextech Gunblade – an item that provides slightly less AP but is 400 gold cheaper, plus it grants the ability to slow enemies, making it easier to land skill combos. Not to mention that Twin Shadows also has great team fight initiation and vision checking capabilities.
Here are some champions that see their power exponentially increase when using Iceborn Gauntlet:
Veigar
As one of the few champions capable of infinitely scaling power in the game, Veigar remains one of the scariest late-game champions in League of Legends.
In the laning phase, with just one activation of Hextech Gunblade + Event Horizon (E), enemies without Flash or mobility skills like Zed, Kassadin, Lissandra,… have almost no escape if Veigar calls for a jungle gank. Moreover, the meager AP of Hextech Gunblade will be compensated by Veigar’s passive, so you don’t need to worry about damage.
When it reaches the late game stage, Veigar plays an extremely important role in team fights. At this point, Veigar’s AP is very high, allowing him to burst down enemies in just one combo, as well as providing wide area crowd control and initiating fights from afar with Hextech Gunblade and Twin Shadows.
Ahri
While laning, Ahri often outplays opponents with E + Flash (or Flash + E). However, when enemies are slowed by Hextech Gunblade, even if you walk up to Charm (E), it becomes very difficult for them to dodge. Especially if roaming with the jungle, simply activating Hextech Gunblade can sometimes secure you a kill.
In team fights, Ahri can use her ultimate Spirit Rush to approach enemies, unleash a combo of Hextech Gunblade + Charm to root enemies, then retreat. Your teammates will follow up and easily take down the enemies. Because in crucial team fights, just one enemy team member being rooted can decide the outcome of the entire match.
Syndra
When the enemy team is slowed, Syndra has even more chances to stun the enemy team’s damage dealer, bursting them down in an instant.
In the laning phase, enemies are often quite wary of the “orbs” on the ground because if they are careless, they can be stunned and sent back to the fountain in an instant. But when building Hextech Gunblade and activating it directly on the enemy, with just 2 Dark Spheres, Syndra can easily stun enemies without needing much calculation, then simply burst down the damage for a kill.
In team fights, Syndra can lead the charge, ready to slow and stun anyone within range. This combo is especially strong when combined with team fight champions like Ornn, Sett, and Wukong. When enemies are so heavily controlled, Syndra’s damage and that of the ADC will help your team sweep through for a relatively easy victory.
Vel’Koz
Hextech Gunblade is particularly effective when combined with Vel’Koz, as it helps Vel’Koz’s skills land more easily, meaning activating the passive Organic Deconstruction will deal true damage to enemies. Additionally, when enemies are heavily slowed, Vel’Koz can use his ultimate Life Form Disintegration Ray to hit everyone without worrying about enemies escaping the skill range.
In team fights, Vel’Koz only needs to slow enemies with Hextech Gunblade, then knock them up with Tectonic Disruption (E) to gain a significant advantage, allowing teammates to rush in so Vel’Koz can focus on dealing damage with his ultimate to finish off targets easily.