Why does Maw of Malmortius have armor pen??

Chuck Charles·Jan 4, 2016·7 votes·1,322 views

This makes it pretty much the ideal item to rush vs mages for AD assassins in mid lane. Not only can they rush the hexdrinker half, but they aren't punished for that anymore. they just get some armor pen still and they get an even bigger shield with maw as a rush. it is both offensive for assassins and an insanely good defensive item.

Maw feels way too good right now and its solely because of the armor pen. I'm ok with it having any other stat but pen. CDR? sure. life steal? why not. but pen? it is simpy too strong.

11 Comments

KONO RUBICK DAJan 4, 20165 votes

because else, item 1316 alone would invalide assassins because of the new last whisper. you have with runes 70-80 base armor at lvl 18, with ninja tabi it would make around 100 and reduces physical damage by 50% increasing your hp by 2 against assassins

Best KhaZix VoidJan 4, 20163 votes

because there aren't any other armor pen options. Maw deserves to be good for once, esp if you have bullshit like zhonyas still being a good rush item against AD

all the flat armor pen in the world doesn't matter once you get one armor item over 40.

Chuck CharlesJan 4, 20163 votes

[{quoted}](name=Best KhaZix Void,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=EN8msBK5,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2016-01-04T06:53:10.751+0000)

because there aren't any other armor pen options. Maw deserves to be good for once, esp if you have bullshit like zhonyas still being a good rush item.

as I said before, the item being strong is fine, but the armor pen allows it to be a RUSH item on assassins in mid, which is simply oppressive. Zhonyas was nerfed to have a really high gold cost and just feel inefficient to build. if you rush, your DPS is significantly lower than it would be and you make a sacrifice for that active. maw feels like it has no downside on mid lane ad assassins right now.

Best KhaZix VoidJan 4, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=C9 TOXlC MID,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=EN8msBK5,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2016-01-04T06:54:48.382+0000)

as I said before, the item being strong is fine, but the armor pen allows it to be a RUSH item on assassins in mid, which is simply oppressive. Zhonyas was nerfed to have a really high gold cost and just feel inefficient to build. if you rush, your DPS is significantly lower than it would be and you make a sacrifice for that active. maw feels like it has no downside on mid lane ad assassins right now.

that's because precision got overbuffed. they're nerfing it back down and any problem you have with pen will vanish, you're complaining about the wrong things here.

LordGeovanniJan 4, 20161 votes

you shouldnt get armor pen and spell sheild on the same item thats thats just jamming too much stuff in. talking about item being good it was already good and got more so when it got rageblades passive with the lifesteal and spellvamp

CrettJan 4, 20161 votes

Also gives you Attack Speed, Lifesteal and Spellvamp

EDIT: You already said that. Well. Well well well. Welly well well. Well well welly well.

LordGeovanniJan 4, 20161 votes

item 3071 item 3036 item 3142 .

IcyPepperJan 4, 20162 votes

A lot of core AP items give good stats for survival (armor, health, even a little MR), but... and, I mean AD assassins like armor pen like mages like AP... and...

Blegh. We know the real issue here is that the two passives are ideal for surviving an all-in, and the item itself has the perfect stats. It'd be like if RoA came fully stacked and had item 3116 's passive. It's just too good.

Death by GlamourJan 4, 20161 votes

So zed and talon no longer need to lube up

Pierce The VealJan 4, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=C9 TOXlC MID,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=EN8msBK5,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-01-04T06:34:26.318+0000)

This makes it pretty much the ideal item to rush vs mages for AD assassins in mid lane. Not only can they rush the hexdrinker half, but they aren't punished for that anymore. they just get some armor pen still and they get an even bigger shield with maw as a rush. it is both offensive for assassins and an insanely good defensive item.

Maw feels way too good right now and its solely because of the armor pen. I'm ok with it having any other stat but pen. CDR? sure. life steal? why not. but pen? it is simpy too strong.

I don't know man, losing out on sustain unless you drop really low, and losing out on 15-25 AD because of its mere 50 AD seem like pretty big drawbacks to the item.

CrazedPorcupineJan 4, 20161 votes

It was meant to be the Defensive Counterpart to Yamouu's Ghostblade. Gives enough offensive stats that assassins could still attempt to do their job, but do so without getting blasted to hell while trying it.

It's like Grail for Mages vs Nomicon. Nomicon offers better offensive capabilities in higher AP, and the grievous wounds passive, but Grail offers better defensive abilities in more Mana regen, and some MR at the cost of 20 less AP.