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Hello everyone, I'm Game Xiaodi.

Have you tried the new season's Formless Artifact? So far, many mages and support mages seem to have a good synergy with it, and some junglers, warriors, and tanks can barely manage as well. The only ones who might find it truly "trap-like" are marksmen—this item really isn't worth building for them.

Formless Artifact: Marksmen

Let's first look at its stats: 40 physical attack, 20% attack speed, 20% critical chance, and 15% physical lifesteal. These are indeed stats that marksmen can use, making it similar to competition items like the Endless Edge and the Shadow Blade. But how competitive is it? The Endless Edge is a tank-killing item that is nearly irreplaceable in the current meta, and it also provides lifesteal. As for the Shadow Blade, it offers significantly more attack speed and also includes movement speed. Overall, while not completely uncompetitive, it's far from being a must-have.

Now for the passive effect: using your ultimate grants 25% attack speed and summons 15 flying swords dealing physical damage. The attack speed boost, frankly, comes rather late in the game and doesn't have much impact on marksmen, since by then their attack speed is already high—the effect isn't very noticeable, though it's still better than nothing. As for the flying swords, the practical results are quite questionable: the damage is generally low, the casting range is short, and you cannot lock onto a specific target.

Low damage largely negates the value of this effect, since late-game marksmen already deal high damage—if this damage contribution is too small, it becomes inconsequential. The short range is even more problematic, because marksmen can't fight in the middle of a crowd; they usually deal damage from the edge. A short range means the flying swords may never even hit. As for targeting, it's similar to Zhuge Liang's issue—if they attack the wrong enemy, you might let a killable target escape. I think the effect might need some adjustments for marksmen, especially the damage. But are there any heroes that work well with it? Yes, there are.

Irene can fit it well

Why can Irene fit it? Because these three issues don't affect her much.

Regarding damage: Anyone who has played Irene knows she relies on frequency to boost damage, especially her ultimate, which deals damage in multiple hits. In this case, the flying swords' damage can somewhat compensate for Irene's lower single-hit damage. Moreover, Irene now mainly builds physical attack items, which can increase the flying swords' damage as well.

As for range: In the early game, Irene focuses on kiting and poking, waiting for the right moment to finish with her ultimate. Since her ultimate also has a short range, she often needs to get close to enemies, which aligns well with the flying swords' effect, allowing them to hit more often. After all, the flying swords are triggered by her ultimate anyway.

Regarding targeting: Irene's ultimate prioritizes the lowest-health enemy, which is essentially the same targeting logic as the flying swords. So in this case, both will target the same enemy, causing no major issues. Also, Irene's ultimate cooldown isn't long, but she needs to stack its charges before using it—about 20 seconds on average, which is just enough to reset the item's cooldown for triggering.

Overall, this item is still a bit weak for marksmen and needs adjustments. Of course, the new season has just started, so we can observe it for a while longer.

That's all for today. If you found this helpful, feel free to give a like to support me. If you have anything to say, ask, or want to see, leave a comment below—I'll read them all!

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