Discussion: Are magic items stronger than physical items?

This is a topic that has been on the back of my mind for quite some time now, so I'm bringing this up for discussion.

So, I've been comparing magical and physical items that have the same (or at least almost the same) purpose, and I can't stop thinking that magical items are usually superior to their physical counterparts.

Some examples:

Boots/Shoes: While physical gods have to choose between power ( Warrior Tabi) or attack speed ( Ninja Tabi), magical gods choose over penetration ( Shoes of the Magi) or CDR ( Shoes of Focus) while both options have the same power.

Lifesteal: Devourer's Gauntlet, Asi and Bloodforge only work on basic attacks and Soul Eater need stacks to provide ability lifesteal. On the other hand, all magic lifesteal options provide ability lifesteal and something else on top of it; Pythagorem's Piece and Soul Gem have CDR, health and good passives, Bancroft's Talon is the most powerful lifesteal item for mages and Polynomicon provides great damage with AA canceling.

Penetration: Physical gods don't have a Spear of the Magus equivalent, the only advantage they have is that Jotunn's Wrath provide more CDR than Spear of Desolation.

Attack Speed: Demonic Grip is better than The Executioner and there isn't an Hastened Ring equivalent for physical gods. At least Qin's Sais doesn't have a magical counterpart.

Protections: Void Shield and Void Stone are similar, Stone is just a little bit weaker after the nerf at the beginning of S6. But while physical gods have items like Runic Shield and Shifter's Shield, magical gods have Celestial Legion Helm and Stone of Binding that are much stronger.

Healing: Physical healers don't have any form to empower their healing abilities, while magical gods have items like Lotus Crown and Rod of Asclepius.

Utility: The closest thing that physical gods have to Gem of Isolation is Frostbound Hammer, but again, only for basic attacks and not for abilities. Ethereal Staff doesn't have a physical counterpart.

Power: While physical gods don't have something like Warlock's Staff, I admit that Transcendence is much stronger than Book of Thoth nowadays. Rod of Tahuti and Shaman's Ring are powerful items that don't have a physical equivalent.

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So, what do you think? Are magical items really stronger than physical ones or am I wrong?

This mostly has to do with the fact that physical items have 100% scaling on basic attacks while mages only 20%.

Making then more ability reliant. That's a reason they have cdr boots and pen is more accentuated. The moment their abilities are down their damage is also gone. Compare that to an assassin who can still hit you for several 100s of basic attack damage.

Yeah, Dev's phys vs. magical basic attack scaling is a huge factor. In almost all cases, physical gods of an equivalent role and build style will outdamage the magical variant with regard to things like towers.

Remember for lifesteal, magical lifesteal is for all damage they do, not just abilities. However, the majority of magical damage is in an AOE form, and that's always subject to the 0.33x coefficient, so physical lifesteal based on basics is typically more powerful.

FYI you said there isn't a physical equivalent for Hastened Ring, but you weren't thinking about Hastened Katana. It was a very good thing they split Fatalis in 2, and limited each to different degrees (melee only for phys, 6s + 25s CD for mag).

The physical variant of Spear of the Magus is probably Stone Cutting Sword.

Qin's sorta doesn't have a magical counterpart, but it sorta does... Soul Reaver. I know they're not the same type, but the concept is there.

Most physical healers are self healers. Cupid doesn't count, and Guan has his own healing stim built into his passive and kit overall. Having an item like Asclep would only be functional for a couple of gods.

One other thing you didn't bring up...magical gods don't have access to crits.

I'd say things are relatively balanced.

Telkhines Ring in terms of damage is sort of like a magical Qin's Sais minus the whole health scaling part.

Magical gods don't have an equivalent to The Crusher either.

I don't think magical items are stronger.
They seem pretty much the same physical items adapated for those gods who uses magical power.