Sterak’s Gage, a popular item for champions that build the Trinity Force, is undergoing a change in the latest PBE update. Riot wants to make it more accessible for fighters and bruisers.
If the current change goes through testing without further alteration, the item will lose its base health boost. Instead, you’ll receive a boost to bonus attack damage equal to 50% of your base attack damage.
This means you’ll still have the same maximum AD, but it won’t boost the Spellblade damage from Sheen or Trinity Force. However, many bruiser and fighter champions like Riven, Vi, Jarvan, Gnar, and Urgot have abilities that scale with bonus AD, so this change will benefit them significantly.
While this change opens up a great item option for weaker champions in the current meta, it also results in a decrease in power for strong champions like Camille, Fiora, Irelia, and Jax. Sterak’s is a powerful choice for them, providing tankiness and synergy with the Trinity Force.
Overall, this change is positive. The champions that currently rely on Sterak’s to synergize with the Trinity Force should still remain strong without it, and they can choose to build the new Sterak’s or other tanky items like the Black Cleaver and Titanic Hydra. On the other hand, many champions will benefit from this change, outweighing any potential downside.
Since Sterak’s synergy with the Trinity Force is prevalent in both pro play and solo queue, this change will have widespread implications on the meta.
The change to Sterak’s is expected to arrive in approximately two weeks with Patch 8.12.