Has anyone thought of buying Thornmail?
I've only see it on 
most of the time becasue of his passive. But after watching a few eSports games no one buys them. Even in rank it's uncommon.
28 Comments
Post its nerfs it's a garbage situational item. You only build it on 
Gotta worship dem adc overlords
I've only see it on
thornmail has been crap for a long time, the armor is nice, the passive damage is crap. And due to it not having Hp its just meh.
There are only a few times its any good.
Unless you are getting magic pen don't bother. That really limits who has the option of picking it up.
It's not so much that it is bad, it's that there are better options most of the time. It's a niche item. Tank items are normally all about surviving as long as possible. There are a few that also do damage: IBG, Sunfire, Deadman's and Thornamil.
If you're after tankiness, Randuins, Tabi and Frozen Heart are all multiplicative so they are often superior. Thorn mail often also raises armour well above the optimal armour/hp level. For those 2 reasons it's a niche pickup from the defensive perspective.
IF you're after tanky damage, you normally go Sunfire for more immediate damage. If you're after another offensive-tank item, you usually still want to view it from the prism of defence. i.e., if Thornmail is still going to raise your armour above a threshold where HP is more effective, it's probably better to go for Deadmans Plate and have the combination of armour, HP and damage.
There is a 3rd reason. Perception. I'm not going to go into this, but a huge number of people think it's too weak because ADC's don't kill themselves from the item (why they don't expect this from Sunfire, I honestly do not know).
Heard that it's kind of weak right now, but I don't know quite why. Maybe it's because it only gives one stat, while other armor items bring more to the table.
It's sort of an awkward item to build really, considering that beyond the passive it's just flat armour. Remember that you've only got 6 slots, and even then only 5-3 are really open depending on your role.
It's pretty good on champions who can consistently heal themselves with no ties to HP (Galio and WW probably) as it makes their healing more effective.
On a Mundo, Gragas or any champion whose heal scales with HP it is sub par due to not increasing their hp.
No, you are literally the first and only person to ever think about it.
If I have enough hp, and their adc is going off, or when I dive the ADC he always live with like 10-15% hp thats the best time to buy thornmail. Cause he wont lifesteal off you anymore but instead take damage. Trust me the next time you dive him and he hits you, whoever champion you play, the adc will die. UNLESS you engage at the wrong time and get peeled by everyone and their mom WITHOUT your team to back you up.
Buy it on a tank that already does damage with his abilites, and plus thornmail, they wont be able to 1v1 you if you land your abilities.
Thornmail is the kind of item I buy if most of the enemy team (Support doesn't count) is AD. Because since I only need armor to defend myself, then might as well get thornmail to add a mess to their mistakes.