The stopwatch will be edited

Ever since the Recombination Gem appeared in League of Legends last November, one pick has completely overwhelmed the meta. Nearly all champions, regardless of position, use this gem, which is Perfect Timing, which grants the user an item called Stopwatch.

The Perfect Timing Gem grants its selector a free Stopwatch, which is now an item that combines Zhonya Hourglass, angel armor, and Armor Stone Beast. Activating this item puts the user in a state of invulnerability, and once used, the player can either leave it and upgrade to a complete large item or sell it.

The stopwatch is used as a joke on the NA LCS analysis table

Whatever you’re going to do, there’s a good chance you’ll pick this rune regardless of the position you play, because having the free 2.5s of invulnerability is very useful. It allows you to turret early in the game, helps you survive enemy turrets, and is the ultimate tool for “lugging” the enemy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wG4ETRQJfk

If you’re hating this rune, there’s currently the first changes to Perfect Time on the PBE League of Legends server. The current change is that this rune selection will be in the same row as Miracle Footsteps. That means players will now only be able to choose 1 of these 2 gems. But if you think about it, this shouldn’t stop most players from prioritizing a stopwatch over a free pair of shoes. In terms of value only, Stopwatch for 600 gold is already double the base shoe, and given that you won’t build an item with a clock as an ingredient, you can still sell it.

And this “hourglass” rune is still many times more useful than the free-for-shoe gem because of its durability and usability in a variety of situations, to the point of being able to reverse a teamfight, start snowballing the advantage, and from there go to easy victory. That much is worth more than 600 gold, compared to a pair of shoes 300 gold.

It’s hard to find another rune that has as big of an impact on the League of Legends meta as this pick, and for that reason, it will take more than just shifting runes to solve all of the problems.

The Stopwatch’s invulnerability period needs to be shortened, or the waiting time to be able to use it longer, in order to bring Perfect Time to the same power threshold as other peer-to-peer alternatives.