Linken's... what, again?

I've been thinking about Linken's Sphere. I feel like the item is slowly becoming more and more irrelevant as each patch comes out: it was given the ability to be used on other people, its cost has shrunk significantly over the past few patches (the recipe getting reduced to 1K gold flat in 6.87!) and it's cooldown is 13! Down from 20 back in the day. And yet...

Who... buys this item? Does anyone?

The natural heroes that come to wind are Medusa, Morphling, and Weaver, yet it's becoming far more common to skip this item in favor of other things: Medusa and Morphling get much more out of an Eye of Skadi, and Weaver... well, I'm a Phase/Deso guy on Weaver, but that's another thread entirely.

It straddles this odd line of not knowing what type of item it wants to be. The fact that you can transfer the spellblock makes it seem like a support item, but at almost 5K gold and having two 1K+ costing components, it's difficult for a four or five position to get this item unless you're ahead: and if you're ahead, why do you need a Linken's? Your carry clearly isn't having issues with being controlled and focused down.

Alternatively, it could be considered a carry item: on heroes like Storm Spirit or Slark... or Weaver again, I suppose, the item gives you a margin of error on using your escapes, but at the cost of being a really sub-par item for increasing your damage output. 30 damage total for whoever picks it up and a half-decent increase in stats make it... ok, I guess, but it always feels like you're forced into getting a Linken's rather than wanting one: an item you get while you're on the backfoot that, because of it's sub-par returns, might not get you back in the game.

Adding to all of that, there's the complication of Linken's sphere being very easily countered by items that are half its price: any support on the enemy team can pick up a Force Staff or Eul's Scepter of Divinity and pop the spell-block instantly, allowing the actual abilities you need to land to go through. Coordinated teams can time their abilities so well that the Linken's carrier can barely have time to react. And adding to THAT, buying these items isn't even always necessary: if there's enough targeted spells on the enemy team, one player can easily waste a Track or a Crypt Swarm to get rid of the fragile shell and get at the meaty player underneath.

It feels very underwhelming, and there are few situations I can think of where Black King Bar isn't the superior defensive item: it's cheaper, gives almost the same amount of damage (even more to Strength heroes), and can block everything, targeted or AOE, for a set amount of time.

It seems like it needs to go one way or the other, and become either a full-fledged carry item or a full-fledged support item. And I have a suggested new buildup for both ways.

1) Support buildup:

Point Booster + Perseverance + 1000 gold recipe: 3,900 gold total.

Provides:

- +200 Health
- +200 Mana
- +150% Mana Regen
- +6 Health Regeneration
- Spellblock on a 15 second cooldown.
- Transfer Spellblock active that can be cast on allied heroes, lasting for 8 seconds.

This build up means the most expensive component of the item is a Point Booster, and this item becomes a support survivability item that can also be used to protect cores when sieging highground. Because of its simpler and cheaper build-up, I've increased the cooldown of the spellblock and also made it so that allied heroes can not use it with 100% uptime: allowing it to be counterplayed by providing a seven second window where the enemy team can jump on you when they see the Linken's active expire.

Alternatively, we can shift this item into a 'core's only' one:

2) Carry Buildup

Blade Mail + Ultimate Orb + Perseverance + 800 gold recipe = 6800 gold total

Provides:

- +40 Attack Damage
- +20 Intelligence
- +15 Strength
- +15 Agility
- +12 Armor
- +8 Health Regeneration
- +150% Mana Regeneration
- No active to transfer spellblock.

Passive: Lesser Return: Reflects 15% of damage taken back to the unit that dealt the damage. (Same rules as Blade Mail.)
Passive: Spellblock: Blocks a targeted spell once every 10 seconds. Starts with 10 charges. A charge is used each time spellblock is popped: charges may be replenished by purchasing the recipe again.

A charge-based spellblocking item that provides a solid chunk of damage, slightly improved stats as well as a good chunk of armor, and a miniature Dispersion. This also opens up the possiblity of getting an early Blademail on heroes who normally wcan't justify buying it: it's no longer a wasted item slot if you can upgrade it.


Anyways, let me know what you guys think, yeah? Is Linken's Sphere good the way it is as an extremely niche item? Do you perhaps disagree that it's as niche as I make it out to be? And are my reworks sensible or completely bonkers? Lemme know lemme know lemme know.