During the EULCS a few days ago, Riot’s eSports department made a 42 second video with this as a caption:
“It was close, but @Jesizlol won the ‘Ardent Censer Race’ against @G2mithy in last week’s match between @FNATIC and @G2esports!”
This can be interpreted as sarcastic because Riot has already addressed Ardent Censer as a problem on the PBE. The current effect is as follows; 60 bonus ap, 50% bonus mana regen, 10% cdr, 10% bonus healing/shielding power, 8% bonus movement speed, and heals/shields on other allied champions make their basic attacks stronger. Based on your level, heals and shields grant 20-35% attack speed and 20-35 draining damage on-hit for 6 seconds.
The nerfed effect flattens the attack speed and draining damage to 25% and 25, respectively. They do not increase or decrease based on your level. This makes the early game slightly better, and the late game quite worse. The original nerfs on the PBE were to Janna specifically, as she is the biggest offender when it comes to building Censer. However, the LCS has seen aggressive supports, such as Karma, building Ardent Censer for the ADC buffs alone.
Unicorns of Love made a tweet a few weeks ago involving Ardent Censer, which looked like this:
The combo is an application of Ardent Censer through the mastery Stoneborn Pact. If you use your pillar (E) or chomp (Q), you apply a slow. If an ally attacks the enemy while they are slowed, Stoneborn will heal them and apply the effect of Ardent Censer. You can also use Face of the Mountain, Locket of the Iron Solari, and Redemption to apply the same effect in different ways.
