Serpent’s Fang is now a perfect choice against champions with shielding abilities.
Serpent’s Fang is an item that has long been ignored due to its ineffective and less impact in-game compared to its fellow Lethality items. This item has been added to the roster during the Preseason patch 10.23 and was evaluated as a powerful item by Riot, but it did not perform well as it should be.
Previously, Serpent’s Fang passive, Shield Reaver, offers an additional 40% bonus AD to basic attacks and abilities against shielded units. Its passive has been considered to be ineffective due to being too reliant on certain matchups and situations. However, Riot had made tweaks on Serpent’s Fang to be easier to use as the new passive also has effects like Grievous Wound for shielding abilities and a few other benefits.
Champions such as Zed, Talon, or other AD assassins can abuse this item to deal with lineups that have strong shield buff and protection abilities. The new passive can now affect directly abilities that create shields, as well as reduces shields the enemy champions can get.
With this change, Serpent’s Fang will now be more effective in team fights, especially when facing teams with the capability of creating shields. Assassins can now consider this item as an essential item after acquiring their first Mythic item in certain matchups.