Looking to buy mage based runes

EvilRabbitt·Feb 15, 2016·1 votes·231 views

Finally. I got lots of ad stuff. But here's a math question- if I want better early pressure do i go scaling ap, flat ap, or ap pen? (I go full damage runes because its so much more fun to me)

2 Comments

M0b1usFeb 15, 20162 votes

If you want early pressure, then scaling runes are usually not ideal. Though that depends on what you would call "early". Most scaling runes are about equal to the flat runes around level 10 or so. Some runes hit the equal point earlier, some later, it all depends.

For an AP caster, what you are looking for is the flat AP or magic pen for early pressure. However, some mages might not benefit from early AP/mpen as much as others. If you are playing someone like Kat, Ahri, or Syndra, then flat AP/mpen would be ideal. If you are playing a mage who auto's a lot for pressure early on like Ori or Kayle, then pure AP/mpen might not be the smartest idea.

As for which one gives a bigger advantage, well that is where things get complicated. The damage your spells do is based on 5 things. The scaling of your spells, the base damage of the spells, the amount of AP you have, the amount of magic pen you have, and the armor/mr of your opponent. Of all those things, you control only 2 of 5 different factors. From this, it is really difficult to give a solid argument on which would give you the most early game pressure. Usually a combination of both is desired because it is the most well balanced.

A Vel usually benefits more from mpen than AP because his base damage is very high, but his AP scaling is on the lower end for AP mages. This means that Vel typically benefits less from AP than someone with higher AP ratios.

Example, look at Vel and Ahri's AP ratios. (Max AP ratios, spells in order) Vel: .6 + .625 + .5 + .6 = 2.325 Ahri: .7 + .64 + .5 + .9 = 2.74

If both had equal AP, Ahri's spell damage purely from her AP ratios would be greater than Vel's spell damge from his AP ratios. So items like deathcap increase Ahri's damage more than Vel's damage. It all just depends on who you are playing and what your opponent is running. Same scenario applies for AD casters.

EvilRabbittFeb 15, 20161 votes

I've been sticking to ad for a bit, so I'm only familiar with Ahri, Evelynn and Katarina's playstyle. What kinda rune page would I go for them to get the best level 6 all in? Which kinda ap champion would succeed with tons of magic pen/flat ap?