AP Assassins and their itemization vs AD Assassins and their Itemization (long post)

I have wanted to have a good open discussion about this for a while. I have done some comparisons and took a look at items and assassins and I just really see no dedicated AP assassin Items at all.

First lets list the assassins for both AP and AD If you have any other suggestions for these champs let me know but I am starting off with the following.

AP: Akali Ekko Evelynn Fizz Kassadin Katrina Leblanc Nidalee (if you would like to include her) AD: Kayn Kha'zix Nocturne Rengar Shaco Talon Zed

Second lets Look at some items that I believe could be dedicated to these classes

"AP Assassin" Items - Rabadon's Deathcap, Lich Bane, Luden's Echo, Banshee's Veil, Morellonomicon, Zhonya's Hourglass, Void Staff, Sorcerers Shoes "Possible AP Assassin Items" - Spellbinder Hextech Gunblade Seraphs Embrace, Mejais Hextex Gunblade is included because its core for both Akali and Katarina "AD Assassin" Items - Death's Dance Maw of Malmortius Edge of Night, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Duskblade of Draktharr, Last Whisper upgrades, Guardian Angel "Possible AD Assassin Items" - Trinity Force, The Black Cleaver, Ravenous Hydra

Les look at some standard builds for these champs AP Assassins: Akali - 1 Hextech Gunblade 95.1% 2 Zhonya's Hourglass 46.1% 3 Morellonomicon36.2% 4 Void Staff 12.8% 5 Rabadon's Deathcap 9.8% 6 Lich Bane 6.3% Ekko - 1 Hextech Protobelt-01 92.8% 2 Lich Bane 77.8% 3 Zhonya's Hourglass 38.6% 4 Corrupting Potion 37.9% 5 Rabadon's Deathcap 17.6% 6 Enchantment: Runic Echoes 12.1% Evelyn - 1 Enchantment: Runic Echoes 96.1% 2 Morellonomicon 42.2% 3 Spellbinder 31.6% 4 Void Staff 27.4% 5 Hextech Protobelt-0118.4% 6 Rabadon's Deathcap 16.6% Fizz - 1 Lich Bane 69.5% 2 Zhonya's Hourglass 65.3% 3 Hextech Protobelt-01 55.1% 4 Corrupting Potion 52.4% 5 Rabadon's Deathcap 6 Void Staff 15.6% Kassadin - 1 Rod of Ages 68.1% 2 Seraph's Embrace 48% 3 Zhonya's Hourglass 39.3% 4 Lich Bane 26.6% 5 Corrupting Potion 21.4% 6Archangel's Staff 18.8% Katarina - 1 Hextech Gunblade 96% 2 Zhonya's Hourglass 60% 3 Void Staff 28% 4 Morellonomicon 24% 5 Rabadon's Deathcap 5.6% 6 Rylai's Crystal Scepter 5.6% Leblanc - 1 Luden's Echo 94.9% 2 Corrupting Potion 58.9% 3 Morellonomicon 57.9% 4 Void Staff 26.5% 5 Rabadon's Deathcap 21.5% 6 Mejai's Soulstealer 14.4%

AD Assassins Kayn - 1 The Black Cleaver 62.1% 2 Enchantment: Warrior 56.1% 3 Enchantment: Warrior 37.9% 4 Duskblade of Draktharr 25.8% 5 Youmuu's Ghostblade 19.7% 6 Guardian Angel 12.1% Kha'zix - 1 Duskblade of Draktharr 80% 2 Enchantment: Warrior 77.9% 3 Youmuu's Ghostblade 36.8% 4 Enchantment: Warrior22.1% 5 Guardian Angel 16.8% 6 The Black Cleaver 12.6% Nocturne - 1 Enchantment: Warrior 91.6% 2 Duskblade of Draktharr77.8% 3 Guardian Angel 39.9%4 Youmuu's Ghostblade 18.7% 5 The Black Cleaver 15.3% 6 Edge of Night 8.9% Rengar - 1 Enchantment: Warrior 54.3% 2 Duskblade of Draktharr 48.1% 3 The Black Cleaver 29.6% 4 Youmuu's Ghostblade 21% 5 Edge of Night 17.3% 6 Guardian Angel 17.3% Shaco -1 Duskblade of Draktharr 100% 2 Trinity Force 50% 3 Enchantment: Warrior 50% 4 Ravenous Hydra 25% 5 Youmuu's Ghostblade 25% Talon -1 Duskblade of Draktharr 88.2% 2 Youmuu's Ghostblade 77.6% 3 Corrupting Potion 28% 4 Guardian Angel 1 8.6% 5 The Black Cleaver 16.1% 6 Edge of Night 13.7% Zed - 1 Youmuu's Ghostblade 86.4% 2 Duskblade of Draktharr 83.3% 3 The Black Cleaver 40.7% 4 Guardian Angel 13 % 5 Edge of Night 11.1% 6 Lord Dominik's Regards 9.9%

You can see the pattern by now. There is not 1 Item that is shared between all AP assassins and the only 2 that comes close is Zhonya's and Rabadons. AD Assassins however share 2 for every champion almost 4. Duskblade and Youmuu's are listed on every single champion, Black cleaver and Guardian Angel are listed on all but Shaco (although trinity force kind of replaces Black Cleaver here). so with these 4 Items every single one of these champs get 400 Health, 40% CD, 195 AD, 42 Lethality and insane Passives and active abilities.

This is showing that the items for AD assassins are well more defined than items for AP assassins. The fact that these items are so good for them and provides full 40% CD just off 3 items that all work very well together is very convenient.

Third I would like to do some comparisons on similar items that just do not seem fair when compared side to side as it seems the AD items that are available are much better for the AD assassins then AP items and AP Assassins.

1 Morellonoicon VS Youmuu's/Duskblade/Edge of Night Cost Health AP Morello - 3000 300 80 UNIQUE Passive - Touch of Death: +15 Magic Penetration UNIQUE Passive - Cursed Strike: Magic damage dealt to champions inflicts them with Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds. Cost CDR AD Duskblade - 2900 10% 55 UNIQUE Passive: +21 Lethality UNIQUE Passive - Blackout: When spotted by an enemy ward, reveal traps and disable wards around you for 8 seconds. Melee attacks instantly kill these devices. (90 second cooldown). UNIQUE Passive - Nightstalker: After being unseen for at least 1 second, your next basic attack against an enemy champion deals 30 - 150 bonus physical damage and slows them by 99% for 0.25 seconds. Ranged basic attacks do not apply the slow. (Lasts for 5 seconds after being seen by an enemy champion). Cost CDR AD Youmuu's - 2900 10% 55 UNIQUE Passive: +18 Lethality UNIQUE Passive: +40 Movement Speed out of Combat UNIQUE Active: Grants +20% Movement Speed for 6 seconds (45 second cooldown). Cost Health AD Edge of Night - 3100 250 55 UNIQUE Passive: +18 Lethality UNIQUE Active - Night's Veil: Channel for 1.5 second to grant a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. Lasts for 7 seconds (40 second cooldown).

The reason I compared these Items is Penetration and Lethality. Now Morello is the ONLY AP item excluding sorcerer shoes that has penetration. Duskblade and Youmuu's are literally copy and paste items providing AD, Lethality, and CD. Now this would normally be a bad thing, but they provide different passives and 1 Active. Blackout, Nightslalker, 40 out of combat movement speed and the active ability to gain 20% movement speed. These Items are so good together and they ever even built from the same items and cost the same to combine. Morello costs 100 more (no big deal), but provides no CD and nothing similar to Duskblades passive's. This is the biggest crime I see between AD and AP Assassin items and Duskblade is so much better than any other AP assassin Items.

Zhonya's VS Guardian Angel (not listing passives cause these are well known) Cost AP Arm CD Zhonyas - 2900 75 45 10% Cost AD Arm GA - 2800 45 40

I am just going to say that I believe GA is so much better due to the Passive VS active in this Scenario.

Void Staff VS Last Whisper For this comparison I will mention that why does the Void staff not have the same options to upgrade on it like that Last Whisper upgrades provide. Why is the one passive for Last whipser on the AP item Morello's and with the cost of these items only 150 gold I do not see why the Void staff cost as much as it does. Also Last Whisper is more of an option and not really necessary at all on AD assassins as they can easily stack Lethality and CD on 2 items (lets also not even mention black cleaver which can add 20% more CD and % armor shred) meanwhile the only option for Magic penetration for AP users provide no CD and passives that are not great to rush for early.

The only other items I want to Discuss is the following Lich Bane VS Duskblade - this is the most similar I can think of and while the Lichbane is GREAT it needs a counterpart like Youmuu's and/or Magic Penetration. Maw - There really is no other comparable AP item to this except maybe Banshees which I would take an AP version of Maw any day. Deaths Dance - Can we get an AP version of this for real this is an awesome item I would love to have. Rabadons Deathcap - I really do not like this item overall I mean this just adds AP which I guess is fine, but I do not think this should be a Assassin Item. There is no AD item like this and I would rather have a good passive then just adding 40% more AP.

I will end it here for now, but please lets discuss I would really like to see more dedicated Items for AP Assassins because right now they are lacking due to this. Obviously this doesn't mean that some Champs wont escape nerfs with more dedicated items. Ultimately I want to know what the community thinks on the AD vs AP assassin itemization