What happened to the role of the mage?

[quote=BucklesSupreme]I have been playing a lot of League lately while playing some Dota 2 since I got my beta invite. I noticed that in League mages have been backed into a brick wall with meta game shifting as it is. I noticed this was even more noticeable when I compared the way mages are in Dota 2. Basically my question for you guys to help me answer is: [b][h1]What role can the mage really play anymore?[/h1][/b] I would like you guys to hear me out before you comment to my little article explaining my point of view and how I perceive what is happening in the game. So this means: [h2]Please read the whole article before you make a comment below.[/h2] I will start by confirming that I will list the reasons I don't think the mage plays a very effective role in most teams or at least can't perform as effective a job that they used to be able to. [b]1.Rise of the Bulky DPS[/b] Now a lot of you that play League know that lately the game has really been shifting in this direction with the meta-game being in favor of bulky melee fighters and the infamous Warmogs/Atmas combo that not only makes them incredibly bulky but incredibly efficient fighters as well. With almost half the champs being able to use this combo efficiently and mages only being able to use their combo once until they have to wait until their abilities come off of cooldown most of the time can't kill these really buff champions without help from the rest of their team and that really shouldn't be happening to a mage he is essentially supposed to be able to NUKE anyone that they can use their abilities against. Mages do have Deathfire Grasp but that is only ONE ITEM that even helps to counter the bulky while AD have Crits and Armor Pen that let them get around bulk a lot easier than AP ever could. [b]2.No Mage Escape[/b] The second reason that mages are at extreme disadvantages in the metagame right now is because most mages have no escape mechanism or anyway to be able to escape their opponents effectively and also because the fact that they are so squishy that if they are caught, which happens a lot, they get beat down the fastest of any other role in the game. Basically, they just can't face opponents as well as they used to be able to. Also with most AD carries being around their same bulk but having the benefit of lifesteal and movement boosts from Phantom Dancer and other items but mages dont have really any items that increase movement speed except Lich Bane and that is only 7% movement speed which won't save you from most faster moving AD carries and DPSers. [b]3.Life Steal > Spell Vamp[/b] Now I know that Spell Vamp is one way to help balance the common mages horrible health but it just doesn't work as well as Life Steal that the aforementioned bulky DPS and the AD Carry has. Spell Vamp is just Life Steal with abilities right? I should work just as well! Well because of the fact that the thing your using to do damage and gain life are abilities and most take while to use again and they aren't auto attacks as in automatically doing damage every second, this just isn't efficient way of gaining health on a character that has the health of a thin sheet of construction paper. There is also that there are 2 ITEMS that use spell vamp which are Will of the Ancients and Hextech Gunblade the latter which almost no mage ever uses so effectively we only have one item that gives mages an form of recovery by itself while AD characters have sooo many life steal item options. [b]4.No True Way to Capitalize on Auto Attacks[/b] This is one way that I saw that Dota makes Mages still a ridiculous force of nature to be reckoned with. When you hit someone with all your abilities and they have about less than 100 health left most of the time in League you have to wait for an ability to come off of cooldown while in Dota 2 you can just use a single auto attack and kill them. The reason this is so major is that late game no mage really has use for their auto attacks and don't try to use them and because of them having to wait for another ability, the DPS or AD carry they just finished bursting down will most likely turn around and gain health of the squishy mage while also killing you before you can truly react. I would love to see a mage that can capitalize off their auto attacks WITHOUT USING LICH BANE!! [b]5.CC Hurts... A LOT!!![/b] Now I know what most of you are going to say to this, "But CC is supposed to work against everyone and make everyone get killed or lose momentum." Well I am not saying that it doesn't work against everyone else it just works against mages a lot more. I mean with mages probably being as squishy as or squishier than most AD carries and way less bulky than most beefy DPS CC can cause way worse problems, especially if it interrupts a channel to cast spell, which puts it on cooldown again which is like you used it for no damage, while an AD carry can just try to keep auto-attacking or try to escape with their movement speed boost from their normal items while most mages end up just dying because like I said before, most don't have a good form of escape. These are all the points I thought of off the top of my head but I could add more if I see fit. Alright you guys can comment and discuss and whatever I would love to hear you opinions as long as you put thought into it and don't try to troll me. Here is the link on the very active League forum for the same thread in title and topic: [url=http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=1572833&page=4]My Mage Role Discussion[/url][/quote]

[quote=ExamplePrime]True Rise of the warmogs also making auto-attacks and mages less effective meaning they are adding more and more STUPIDLY strong mages :P[/quote]

[quote=Samoh]Agree, they are dying. Riot will probably fix this, just let it happen, let them take a month to realise, and then all will be good![/quote]

[quote=sh0cki]On the other hand there is no dmg return item against mages....[/quote]

[quote=LaronX]True +Rep[/quote]

[quote=ExamplePrime]Most recent mages have been getting movement bonuses and stuns/slows to let them escape easier. See Brand, Xerath, Cass and Orianna[/quote]

[quote=LaronX]Yeah but still a stun every 5 seks vs a movment speed bonus and a dash like Graves or Caitlyns....well do you want to be the one abel to jump over walls and run faster or the one how can hold the enemy down for 1 sek ?[/quote]

[quote=Luther3000]I see where you're coming from with this, but I disagree with a couple of points people have made regarding AD carries and AP. Firstly, AP carries are generally somewhat tankier than AD carries, especially if they build a Rod of Ages. Secondly AP carries will always be needed because they counter the shit out of AD carries (or anyone squishy) by being able to stun them and burst them down to death. They also tend to be the strongest type of champ in lane. Finally last I heard Fnatic are still running a double AP comp and beating the crap out of most other teams. Also, I may be wrong on this but from what I've heard DotA has no Ability Power, meaning mages fall off massively lategame. With AP, their burst remains relevent all game.[/quote]

[quote=Trojan995]Yeah, mages will always be necessary for a few reasons: 1. counter to AD. they can zone or kill AD carries in a team fight, because the second the AD carry steps in range they're dead. 2. Most AoE damage. AD carries can't really provide AoE damage, and even champions like Graves that are focused on AoE damage can't compare to most mages in terms of AoE. Tanky DPS don't usually provide heavy AoE either. 3. Heaviest CC. A lot of tanks have CC, but they don't have damage (and when they do have damage, they generally don't have a lot of CC). Most AD carries have damage, but they don't have CC. Mages provide that middle ground, where you can get CC on your team while still having another source of heavy DPS. 4. Magic damage. You honestly can't get enough magic damage to make the enemy build MRes from any other source. If the enemy doesn't build MRes, you're basically screwed because they'll destroy you with sunfire + thornmail + randuins + whatever other armor items they want.[/quote]

[quote=Luther3000]^ Those are all true as well. :D[/quote]