The magical AP item changes with the Unicorns of Love

Riot·Jul 19, 2015·2 votes·51,534 views

Patch 5.13 has hit Summoner's Rift, and the world of magic has changed. AP items have seen huge shifts across the board, with everything from Liandry's Torment to Rabadon's Deathcap seeing huge reworks. With stats swapping around, new powerful passives, and intriguing build paths, it can all be a bit overwhelming.

Thankfully, we've got a pair of experts in the way of magic to help us out: Unicorns of Love top laner Tamas "Vizicsacsi" Kiss and mid laner Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage.

Keeping current

To understand the power of the polished up AP items, it's helpful to take a look at champions that are already powerful in the meta and what they'll gain from the patch.

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When asked about just that, PowerOfEvil wasted no time in talking about one of his favorite mid lane champions. "Kog'Maw is getting a huge buff from the new Liandry's [Torment]. It has more AP, which is really a passive buff for him. Most of the time, you were building it anyway. And more damage is always good," he laughs.

But the biggest buff comes from Rylai's Crystal Scepter. According to POE, it turns Kog'Maw from an immobile artillery champion to a mobile artillery champion that can also make picks happen. "Rylai's giving him more slows on his ultimate is really strong. With all that slow, you hit one ultimate, and you can consistently ultimate targets. You can slow them for your team, or even kill them alone."

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Vizicsacsi however pointed towards a certain Rogue Mage as his favorite buff recipient. "The Luden's change that gives more movement speed but less AP, is pretty good when you want to kite around. Let's say I'm playing Ryze top lane. I just want to kite [the enemy team] around. New Luden's is perfect for that."

Going more general about the AP changes, he says "The Rabadon's buff just buffs AP champions in general. I think it benefits mostly for top lane champions like Rumble or Ryze, maybe Lulu... Vladimir, even."

Under control

But what about new champions coming into the meta? Vizicsacsi believes that the biggest benefactors of 5.13 will be control mages, like Orianna. "In the next two to three weeks, I can imagine that it will change from poke mages to more control mages," he says.

As if to prove his teammate's point, PowerOfEvil pulled out the Lady of Clockwork during UoL's Week 8 match against Gambit Gaming. The power of the new Liandry's and Nashor's Tooth, combined with the strength of Runeglaive, provided him with enough damage and slows to dance around Gambit on his way to a pentakill and a victory.

If there's one item combination that UOL (and everyone else) seems to be talking about though, it's Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Liandry's Torment. With just the Liandry's under a champion's belt, any damage-over-time effects deal their normal damage plus 2% of a target's current health per second. But when that target is under a movement-impairing effect, that damage is doubled. Can you guess what grants all area of effect spells the ability to impair movement? That's right, Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

The combination of the two is downright brutal on just about any mage with big AOE spells that happen to apply a DoT. Vizicsacsi expects that the pair of items will cause us to see some old school mages the to make their appearances, like Brand or Anivia. Fire or ice -- make your choice.

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With a slight nervous laugh, he tacks on one last champion, as if he's unsure that he wants to let the cat out of the bag. "I would consider maybe a Swain," says Vizicsacsi. "I haven't tried it yet, but I will definitely look towards it. The champion, if you build a Rylai's on him, can stand in the middle of the enemy team and slow everyone insanely well. In theory, it sounds really good."

New paths to victory

The Unicorns were careful to point out that you can't boil down the entirety of the patch to a just the power levels of a few items -- it's much bigger than that.

"The biggest change isn't one item specifically," clarifies PowerOfEvil. "It's that you can nearly build everything [with smaller items] and have a lot of diversity with build paths."

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Referring back to Kog'maw, he says, "A big weakness for him is if he got behind in the early game, it was really hard to get to the 1600 gold for a Needlessly Large Rod, which is a really important item for Luden's Echo. Now, you can base earlier and get it for 1250 gold."

With the price cuts for Needlessly Large Rod and Blasting Wand, combined with the reworked build paths of the vast majority of items, there are simply more options for AP players to build their basic items into. It makes adapting on the fly and getting their build exactly right much easier to accomplish.

Overall, Vizicsacsi is a huge fan of Patch 5.13. As our conversation drew to a close, he stated, "Whichever angle I look at it, it seems really strong right now."

What sort of impact will the new AP items have on the meta as Patch 5.13 takes hold? Keep your eye on Lolesports to find out.

122 Comments

jumpjumpmanJul 20, 201594 votes

S.H.U.R.F. = Super Hexakill Ultra Rapid Fire

klicer2764Jul 20, 20159 votes

please riot

GoterJul 20, 20158 votes

Give this man a raise!!

Awaki SakumeJul 21, 20155 votes

Heimerdinger Raise your what?

Bobomb73Jul 21, 20151 votes

ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ raise your dongers ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ

wrRyZZq863Jul 20, 20158 votes

OMG YES

ape manJul 20, 20155 votes

Logged in just to up-vote this! item 3110

KronicSlaughterJul 20, 20159 votes

Logged in to up vote and comment. Well played sir, well played

pnesJul 20, 20154 votes

HOLY MOLY RIOT PLS WE'RE ALREADY THANKFUL FOR EVERYTHING GIVE THIS IN LIKE NEXT NEXT YRS APRIL FOOLS WHEN,(HOPEFULLY NOT), LEAGUE'S POPULARITY BEGINS TO DECLINE!

ReaganRaptor343Jul 20, 201510 votes

Gump, you are a god damn genius

ShiverMeTimbsJul 20, 20154 votes

that sounds like so much fun

BlackOwlJul 20, 20154 votes

You sir....are demonic. I approve Teemo

ILikeSpicyRamenJul 20, 201536 votes

A.F.O.H.U.R.F =All For One Hexakill Ultra Rapid Fire

Karthus this will be fun

SpooplyJul 21, 20155 votes

true xD 6 blitz pull pull pull pull pull pull pull stay with us guys :D Enemy Team item 3070

Toxic Solo CarryJul 21, 201511 votes

D.B.A.F.O.H.U.R.F = Doom Bots All For One Ultra Rapid Fire hello????

Full Metal PonyJul 21, 20159 votes

Calm down Satan

Dark Pit BotJul 21, 20154 votes

Its Satine actually

NaphuJul 22, 20152 votes

What about H? D.B.A.F.O.H.U.R.F The H is left out

B U G S P L Á TJul 21, 20155 votes

what about "Super Doom Bots against U.R.F" = S.D.B. vs. U.R.F

Bloodfued469Jul 20, 20157 votes

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY

kerkliiJul 20, 20153 votes

YES that sounds rad

AxolottJul 21, 20155 votes

I vote for S.H.U.R.F !!!! #Global.Ult.OP

UndeadYoshiJul 21, 20153 votes

A.S.T.R.O.T.U.R.F. + All Super Turbo Random Overkill Title Ultra Rapid Fire

SwearingDogJul 21, 20151 votes

I can feel the lag already....

GłacıesJul 19, 20155 votes

Runeglaive Orianna- "Prepare your solo q for that one," lol.

RottedApplesJul 20, 20154 votes

i half-expect brand to show up. he is the epitome of rylais/liandries mages.

also swain is fun, tear+roa is nice since they got a ton of extra damage, but you aren't ryze so you don't get damage from mana and may not get away with no damage for that long. still a fun champ though and i think he should go top lane imo.

Raise The GnarJul 20, 20157 votes

Correction: Rumble is the epitome of Liandry's/Rylai's mages good sir.

RottedApplesJul 20, 20151 votes

i guess that is technically true. when i think of mages i assume they are ranged though.

Raise The GnarJul 21, 20151 votes

No you were right. Brand is the epitome of item 3151 / item 3116 Mages Rumble is the epitome of / Fighters

8 bit planetJul 20, 20151 votes

as a rumble main: i appreciate the correction as a clg fan: thats an awesome name

Raise The GnarJul 21, 20151 votes

Yea actually i guess I was wrong. Rumble isn't a mage he's a fighter* XD and as for the name I saw a piece of art Matt did and decided I was gonna change my name to it. My name before was Digidude a name i've used for the past 4 years. :) Digimon FTW

ProNunuJul 20, 20154 votes

Brand shows up everyday for me :D

xSeanofsmegxJul 19, 20153 votes

Mid lane should be more fun!! Mass slow/tank swain... hmmm.... I like this idea lol!

USC OptimalJul 21, 20153 votes

Brand does more damage with a Rabadon's build than a Liandry's/Rylai's build.

Raise The GnarJul 21, 20151 votes

I would assume he would throw a DCap in there at some point and the synergy his passive has with Liandrys does a little bit more dmg than just a DCap. plus with Liandrys Rylais that burn dmg is doubled.

furoxisJul 19, 20152 votes

maybe i'm wrong, but if AP champ are buffs, they could kill tanks easier than before. Tank get a lot of item for armor, but what about mr? 55 is the max rm for one item, so i think riot could create new rm item. (Force of Nature come back pls!... ok maybe a little too OP :P ) Or, adjust the rm on the others items (I think 65-70 is good) Pls give me your opinion :)

ProNunuJul 20, 20158 votes

55 max mr? sir you have forgotten about item 3512 which gives 60 of both mr and armor, but really with item 3065 and tanks should be good with mr. and if their team needs more they can always just get a item 3105 , although i do agree that its a bit odd that there is a 100 armor item and not a 100 mr item.

furoxisJul 20, 20154 votes

Yeah, for example thornmail is really specialised against AD champ with huge stats and a big passiv and this don't cost too much, because it's againt AD only but you could come back into the game if ennemis are too focused on AD, so i think this is good for the game in general. So i think it could be good if we can get a thornmail like for ap champ. :)

MoosimoJul 20, 20152 votes

ap people are typically too squishy. Ex. if there was an ap thronamail, ekko would be dead within a second of trying to kill sion.

MegaRedGyaradosJul 20, 20153 votes

maybe not a set % damage taken refunded as damage but mabey like a sunfire dot that activates and debuffs any single opponent when they damage you with magic or something. Like it puts a slow or extra dot on your AoE cinder effect but only against people who deal some sort of magic damage against you first and the effect dissipates when that person stops dealing magic damage for so many seconds. Plus, a item 3751 MR item would be cool i think.

RysophageJul 21, 20152 votes

Galio This is why there isn't 100 MR items.

MegaRedGyaradosJul 20, 20152 votes

New meta = Build 4 item 1052

It works if you go item 3165 or item 3174 then item 3089 then item 3135 cookie cutter ap spec

Gives you a good gradual ap boost. 4 item 1052 = (Old 80 ap) item 1058

costs roughly 1800 for them but i find its worth just for the fact they all build into the 1st 3 items.

also gives you plenty of room to buy t1 boots and wards and pots and even a item 1058 if you have the gold for it as you lvl.

SwiftStriker00Jul 20, 20152 votes

Having a lot of AP items build out of item 1052 makes it easier to start building something and switch if the game dictates it, but I wouldn't just go buying 4 of them, you'd lose out on mid game power spikes by not completing items.

One Extra StepJul 21, 20152 votes

it's hard for an adc who's behind to get 1550 gold for a BF sword too. Lower the price for it too?

Raise The GnarJul 21, 20152 votes

This is a long post about Devourer Elise and why she's so strong. This is only possible due to the changes Riot made to her in 5.12 and the Devourer, and AP Item changes they made in 5.13.

If you haven't seen it yet, item 3931 Elise is pretty damn strong. You go > item 3020 > item 3115 > item 3089 > item 3157 > item 3285 / item 3135 / item 3116 and you basically destroy everyone if they dont burn the majority of their hard CC on you.

The reason this works is because of the changes to Elise's E, in Spider Form, and Passive in 5.12. Let's start with her Passive, Spider Queen. So basically they took the healing from her W and smacked it onto her passive, healing her for 4/6/8/10 (+10% of AP) on each basic attack. Alongside that her passive also deals 10/20/30/40 (+30% of AP) on each basic attack. You might think, "Those numbers are so low tho, how can it possibly do meaningful damage."

Well that's where her E, Rappel, comes in. When you cast it on an enemy, i.e. you cast it on them rather than on the ground, then after you descend your Passive Damage and Healing will gain a 40/55/70/85/100% for 5 seconds. But remember that's only when you cast it on an enemy. (Minion, Monster, or Champion)

So let's say you have you're level 16 with 100 AP, just an example, then your passive will deal 70 bonus damage on-hit and heal for 20 hp on each AA. With item 3931 that is all doubled to 140 bonus damage and 40 hp healing.

Basically with Sated Devourer it makes you scale exponentially well as an AP jungler.

Now after a whole bunch of math you guys probably don't want to see, I've calculated with my Runes and Masteries and with this build, I have around 670-800 AP depending on my last item. With 800 AP, my Damage output is insane. I have my passive on-hit damage (280), Nashor's tooth damage (135), sated devourer damage (60), and when I add that all up, it's 475 bonus magic damage on hit and a 90 hp heal, before the Devourer proc AND before the bonus from Rappel.

After Rappel, it buffs my Passive damage to 560 and the healing to 180, re-calculate it and its 755 damage on each AA, which means with Devourer you do 1510 magic damage every other AA and heal for 360 every other AA.

To boost that her W still gives you 140% Attack Speed meaning you can get even more AA's off if you W immediately after coming down from Rappel.

Bottom Line is at full build you do about 2300 damage in 2 AA and heal for 540. :D

Don't forget, you do a lot of damage but you are squishy, so let your team engage from the front while you try to flank. As long as you don't get hit by any SUPER-HARD CC, you should be fine. The healing from your passive will be enough to help you sustain through the fight.

Happy Web-Weaving :D

Also on top your own damage you have your Spider-lings who do damage of their own and when you have 5 of them they do 200 damage by themselves :D

SirLapseJul 22, 20151 votes

I'd agree if item 3931 wasn't directly scaling better with item 3153 . There's also the fact that attack speed on Elise would essentially be gutting every advantage about her (turret dive strategies and generally shutting down an opponent) in exchange for a late game she'd have a hard time getting to. I'd recommend Aatrox over Elise any day for an "experimental" Devourer champion who can be amazingly powerful.

Raise The GnarJul 22, 20151 votes

That's the thing, with the AP item changes, and her passive she does scale better than Bork, and with the on-hit damage and attack speed she has, there isn't any reason to dive just poke em off the turret with your W, in human, then switch to spider and shred the turret. And this isn't experimental. I've done it a lot, and so far it's deceivingly strong. The enemy thinks they can burst me but a well-timed Zhonya's, and as soon as its done I'm able to 1 v 3 pretty easily w/o losing too much hp.

Getting to item 3931 item 3089 item 3157 item 3115 isn't as hard as you think. On avg I manage to get those 4 items + boots all by about 30 minutes. Elise's jungle clear is really quick so you can get ganks off while you wait for the jungle to respawn, and rack up gold pretty fast. If you choose to camp a lane, then you can shut down that person easily. After you clear just go where you're gonna camp and toss out a cocoon, if it lands and your laner(s) follow up, BAM, easy kill, if not guess what, you still probably burned a summoner, and forced the enemy out of lane, giving your lane a CS lead.

You can also start counter-jungling once you've gotten item 3718 and item 3115 . If you run into the enemy jungler, just swap to human, run until Spider Form comes off CD, then turn and go E>Q>W, into spider form, and E>W>Q with as many AA's as possible in between the W>Q of spider form.

Also, remember at full build you do around 2300 flat magic damage in just 2 autos, while the bonus from your E is active. and with all the attack speed you can proc Devourer like 8-10 times in those 5 seconds of your E bonus. you also heal for a flat amount of 540 in that time frame, which ends up being a better heal than the 8% CURRENT HP heal of Bork, as fights drag on.

In 5 seconds, the E Bonus Duration, you can do nearly 15k damage in total and heal for 4k.

Sure Aatrox gets a lot of heals off with Sated Devourer, but item 3931 Elise just does way more damage and can heal just as much as he can.

Radish EarringsJul 21, 20151 votes

yeah this will be really fun

ZahdeJul 22, 20151 votes

um hello has anyone seen how op item 3931 Fizz is!!!! rush devourer and then go for item 3115 and item 3091 then just build ap. with his w urchin strike its insane