Locket of the Iron Solari is getting a new active

Locket of the Iron Solari is a pretty strong item, and has been for years. Decent defensive stats and an instant shield for your entire team tends to be pretty gold efficient. Well, it got somewhat of a face lift during the latest PBE update. Gone is the old instant shield, replaced with a new active.

After a brief delay, creates a protective field at your location for 8 seconds. Allied champions within the field are dealt 35% less damage (90 second cooldown).

There are a few important things to understand when looking at that new active. The brief delay doesn’t stop movement, so players can keep rolling forward while they wait for their shield to drop. But the shield isn’t actually a shield either. Instead, it simply reduces damage entirely. This is weaker against burst but much, much more powerful against sustained damage.

The really interesting thing here is that this bubble lasts for a full eight seconds. If that doesn’t sound like a lot to you, walk into mid lane next time you play a League game, stop, and count to eight. The chances of a teamfight staying so stationary as to allow for everyone to stand inside of this bubble for the full duration is slim to none. However, consider how someone like Caitlyn or Tristana could use this bubble to fire from.

Locket was already a powerful support item. While it may be losing some of that instant power, it could be gaining something completely new and even more interesting. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out once these changes hit live.