Giant Slayer
With the nerf on the base critical damage stat, the strongest physical damage item, Infinity Edge, has significantly weakened in patch 11.12 without support items. Therefore, Teamfight Tactics players have to look for other items that provide damage more steadily and effectively than Infinity Edge when using physical carries. Among them, Giant Slayer is an extremely powerful item that players can build around champions like Draven and Aphelios…
The strength of Giant Slayer is that it always grants you 10% increased damage output, regardless of whether the damage is from basic attacks or abilities. As the game progresses to the late stages, this item becomes even stronger as opponents upgrade their team compositions, and you can continuously activate the effect that adds 80% damage from Giant Slayer. It can be said that this is a very comprehensive damage-increasing item, so you can equip it to most carries, even those dealing magic damage.
Staff of the Ascended (both regular and Dark versions)
In patch 11.12, Riot Games has buffed the Staff of the Ascended significantly for both the regular and Dark versions. Therefore, players have thought of using both versions of the Staff of the Ascended on the champion Vladimir, allowing this unit to have a massive amount of ability damage and health whenever using skills. Combining it with a hyper-roll strategy to upgrade Vladimir to 3 stars, this piece can single-handedly take down the enemy team composition early in the game.
Not only Vladimir, but champions who can cast spells continuously like Karma and Brand can also utilize the Staff of the Ascended well. You can even use the Staff of the Ascended to replace the Jewel Gauntlet in cases where this item cannot be built. If Riot Games continues to buff the Staff of the Ascended (both versions) in the future, it is highly likely that more champions will use it as a “core item” instead of just Vladimir as it is now.
Rabadon’s Deathcap
Although not buffed as strongly as the Staff of the Ascended, Rabadon’s Deathcap has also become significantly stronger in patch 11.12. Specifically, according to statistics from Metatft.com, Rabadon’s Deathcap currently has a 16.2% win rate and an average placement of 3.96 when equipped. These are all impressive figures for an item that purely increases ability damage like Rabadon’s Deathcap.
When the base critical damage is nerfed, the damage provided by the Jewel Gauntlet is no longer as explosive as before. Therefore, to ensure damage output, players are forced to build 2 Jewel Gauntlets (both regular and Dark versions). If multiple Jewel Gauntlets cannot be built, the optimal solution is to have as much ability damage as possible. This has led to Rabadon’s Deathcap being used more frequently as it consistently ensures high damage output for carries.
