-It's cheap
-Gives CDR
-Gives Mana
-Gives mana on kills and assists
-Shuts down healing
Literally, the perfect starting item is this. Even if you are a champion that requires 
it is better because you can build it second and get even higher ratios on the thing.
Astôlfo8 votesSome like Tear (cough Cass infinite E). Some needed old Rylai's ASAP.
dunder kill6 votesIf you dont have mana lol
Abyssphere5 votesWhy is it a problem if Morellonomicon is the dominant starting item for mages? It's clearly because of a lack of other options - it's the only item for APCs that offers both CDR and mana sustain. Morello would still be the dominant starting item if it was brought back to its pre-update status because the defining trait in its popularity is the absence of Athene's Unholy Grail in the mid lane.
The reason Morello is even so strong right now is because Riot knew it would be the only option for most mages after the MYMU and they wanted mages to feel good about an item they had basically no choice about buying. In addition, it's a crutch for AP item totals because they took a ton off of Hourglass and Abyssal. Morello is perfectly fine right now when you consider the environment that it's in, and I don't expect Riot to take a look at it until they make an alternative to it.
LankPants2 votesThey should have done to Morello's the same thing they did to Phantom Dancer. Its statline is too good to ever give up, that's obvious, what would you give Morello's up for? Something with the same or a similar stat line with a different effect. Riot had this with the BMB Morello clones, they probably wouldn't port 1:1 into the game, but the effects are a good starting point for what Morello's like items could look like.
Sire Hippington2 votesWell, It's also pretty overtuned. Even if we revert Athene's to S5 status, morellos would still be the go to because 100ap+20%cdr on it's own are already massive for that cost, getting sufficient mana for most mages on top of that just makes it rather stupid. However, it's ok to have that 1 overtuned item as a go to, it allows mages to be somewhat gated in lane and then transition fast into midgame, and it somewhat makes up for most other ap-items beeing a bit on the weakside atm.
Abyssphere1 votesIt is overtuned, I admit that in my post. My points are that a) it would also be dominant if it wasn't overtuned (see all of season 5 + first half of season 6, when even a stupidly over the top Rod of Ages played second fiddle) and that b) it is intended for it to be overtuned right now as it is such an essential item to the class it serves.
S5 Athene's would lose to Morello in S6 but it also lost to Morello in S5, as did every other mana item. When I say Grail's absence from the mid lane causes Morello's dominance, I don't just mean post-MYMU. Pre-MYMU Grail was really unpopular and very much a "buy it if you have to" item for a few reasons, and Morello was very dominant back then too. If Grail was brought back to mid as a more attractive item than it was in its final pre-rework iteration then there would be competition, and if there wasn't then Riot could nerf Morello to induce competition. But Grail in S5 was a poor item, and of course it couldn't compete with a purposefully over the top one like S6 Morellonomicon.
By the way, 100 AP + 20% CDR isn't that crazy in terms of gold efficiency. 100 AP is worth 2175g, then 20% CDR is 600g. So without the mana it would be an almost efficient item with two... fairly decent passives and kind of amazing/kind of meh slot efficiency. Not objectively terrible without the mana for sure, which is crazy but there you go.
Re: other AP items being on the weak side, that's both a reason why it's as strong as it is and a reason why it can't really be nerfed. When MYMU went on PBE, AP item totals were too low because of Abyss and Hourglass. Riot put +20 AP on Morello to fix the issue and that was that. Riot chose to put a strangely high amount of AP on Morello because it was the only way they could justify their nerfs to the AP on other items. It creates a strange issue where in a 6 item mage build, certain items are pulling much more weight than the others (and the Rylai's nerf will make this issue even worse) and Morello is one of the items putting in too much work because other items aren't.
To be frank it is a really stupid situation but as long as Riot are going with their "utility AP items have to be slot-inefficient and contribute no damage!" thing then Morello will have to be over the top, and that's especially true while there's no Mana + CDR alternative for mages.
Eedat1 votesIt kind of fills the 'stat stick' role for mages. Junglers get warriors, AD champs had 
except it got nerfed hard, and mages get Morello
L0ve Is Blue4 votes
/
For my bae 
dakota saturn3 votesNo resistances.
If you are losing lane and dying over and over, morello's wont help you.
Subject 51 votes[{quoted}](name=dakota saturn,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=GtGaKgwl,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-12-01T20:27:15.377+0000)
No resistances.
If you are losing lane and dying over and over, morello's wont help you.
So if you are expecting to lose build:
If you are expecting to win build:
khorney2 votes100 ap 20%cdr how would that not help u
deadeye19991 votesbecause if your opponent has a lead over you you don't want to fight, you want to cs. If you build / against an AP opponent or against an AD opponent you can survive longer as well as have some sort of defense against an all in.
Quepha2 votesYou want to start stacking a RoA or Tear. The Lost Chapter passive is more useful to you than gaining mana on kills/assists. You want defensive stats. You don't have any mana problems.
SwiftKitten881 votes
, 
, 
(if he can mid now)
and that's about it...
Escheton7 votesSwiftKitten881 votes"as a mage"
What is this? Has Wizard Garen started a mageguild?
... well when u face or ... you rush 
into ... not ...
you would get 2nd
Z Statistic2 votesBut then you buy
You just buy it second [slayer-jinx-wink]
SwiftKitten882 votes[{quoted}](name=Z Statistic,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=GtGaKgwl,comment-id=0007000000000000,timestamp=2016-12-01T20:43:13.118+0000)
But then you buy
You just buy it second [slayer-jinx-wink]
well yeah, of course XD. and you pray that they aren't 5/0 by the time you complete it
Off Meta Evan1 votesor you could just not... and you know... outplay the opponent like you're actually worth something.
GULAG 4 U1 votesAP Zed, Yasuo and Talon OP lul
SwiftKitten882 votesAP Zed, Yasuo and Talon OP lul
how stupid are you... obviously i meant when FACING them, NOT "playing" them...
Purpl3Jungl31 votesI'm a 
main, I tend to buy 
However Diana is a Diver and RoA is Effective on her. So if I'm having a hard lane & I know I won't be able to one-shot someone, I'll build 
Also, if there are too many tanks on their team My build goes 
SlashStriker1 votesYou wont always need Morello
I play AP Shaco and my mana item is either this or this
I also got mana regen runes so i am kinda fine on mana side
this also gives decent mana regen along with health regen
without these items 
Shaco cannot farm
SwiftKitten881 votesYou wont always need Morello I play AP Shaco and my mana item is either this
I also got mana regen runes so i am kinda fine on mana side
isn't a mage he is an assassin.
just because you use AP doesn't make u a "mage"
is an assasin
is a diver
i don't even know what she is but i woudln't call her a mage
and then we have 
who is a "support" not a "mage"
SlashStriker1 votesShaco is not a mage but when i build him i build AP items
barely any Janna players build AP or at least in very small amount
CerealBoxOfDoom1 votestime constraints, you only have so long to get what you need and morellonomnomcon doesn't give everything. if the game was 1v1 it might be more practical
WalkingInACircle1 votesThe only thing I feel competes with it is Ludens, which is of course burstier and helps you roam faster.
catastrophicSkil1 votesEarly defensive items are generally stronger than a full offensive item like morello. In losing AP vs AP matchups is super important or at least the 
is. is really nice to slow + HP + AP honestly i know people are crying about its rework but champs like eve and viktor and others who have Dots/ Spammable abilities are going to LOVE this item. Its cheaper meaning earlier power spikes still gives some AP and HP yes obviously late game its going to be weaker but that is the trade off
Swiftstrike41 votesI play 
in the mid lane and I build really late. It doesn't really help me too much since brand actually doesn't need too much ability power to do damage. He actually needs some tankiness.
I build first item, then and . I will sometimes build 
early but delay its completion until the end of the game.
My final builds look like this: 
or or instead of .
I almost never build unless I am crazy ahead. Brand really doesn't need it.
Scoroct1 votesBecause Hex-cores are better than books :p 
Unlucky471 votesIt's really good on azir. I used to main him before the gutting and I'd build stinger (back when it still had 50% AS) and then rush morello so I could freely spam my abilities in lane. It really is a good item.
RisenDarkKnight1 votesIf you don't need the mana there are better options. Like Abyssal/Zhonyas to give you the resists against your lane opponent, or Luden's if you want waveclear/more damage.
I agree Morellonomicon is too general right now, but you don't have to build it everygame. Also, people who build Rod of Ages will just get that instead, since they don't want to delay the 10 mins of stacking and there are better options for 2nd items.
Just Blame Jenny1 votesOther possible starters:
against burst mages.
for tankiness and mana. (Synergizes well with against matchups like .)
for tankiness, lockdown and kiting.
for early burst and waveclear, roaming and snowball potential.
for mana efficiency.
Most mages will still want the eventually, of course; they do need the mana. However, some may opt for or instead.
Divewing1 votesWhen you don't have mana
Welcome to Mage item diversity ladies and gentlemen, ADCs can deal all the damage they like with no trade off, but god fobid a Mage has the same
deadeye19991 votesThe trade off is that an ADC deals sustained damage but not much burst (With a few exceptions like 
and 
but they do have a trade off. needs to catch his axes to keep it up, has slow attack speed, has skill shots for attacks, and needs to reload. 
also has high burst but has the trade off that he needs to wait till hos 4th attack and needs to reload) till late game where as a mage can delete an ADC and will usually have more cc. The first part of this changes late game but by that point mana is not as big a deal any more even for the mages unless they plan on fighting multiple team fights w/o backing.
EROTIC RAID BOSS1 votesMost mages it comes down to do you want CDR or HP (Morello's or RoA).
that's not that weird though, most adcs pick between IE or ER basically.
Catastrop1 votesBecause some prefer like my darling .
Sire Hippington1 voteswell, some champs prefer the tankiness from + + either If they don't need much mana, or if they do.
But yea, for anyone that can afford going glasscannon(or wants to risk it anyway), morellos is a no brainer as first item.
LankPants1 votesMorello's has to be the perfect item right now because of the abysmal state of the majority of other AP items. Past Morello's, Void and Rylai's AP items are super niche, inefficient or just straight up bad.
Off Meta Evan1 votes
you have no idea how much i wish i could.
Seenan1 votesDon't need it on, let's say, Annie, imo.
agbudar1 votesdepends if im on 
an early rod gives me much needed HP to deal with constant poke also after its fully stacked gives 100 ap and is 200 gold cheaper then
Ackelope1 votesI think there is at least one special case here, that being AP 
. I did a small bit of calculation assuming Ezreal is level 9 and has maxed Q and has 2 points in W, with a small poke combo of Q + W. I didn't account for AP from runes and masteries, but if I did, it would just make the difference between Lich Bane's damage and Morello's greater, because while they'd get the same amount of proportional damage increase from that added AP, Lich Bane benefits more from it due to the Spellblade passive scaling with AP as well. I didn't see the need to calculate that since Lich Bane already outdamages Morello in a small burst scenario. If you gave enough time, only using these two items, Morello would eventually reach a higher DPS since it has a higher amount of CDR given, though I believe it would take a good bit of time for that to occur, because the sheer amount of dmg that Lich Bane's Spellblade passive gives is so massive.
:
Q = 115 + 1.1(71.9) + .4(100) = 119.09
W = 115 + .8(100) = 195
Q + W = 314.09
:
Q = 115 + 1.1(71.9) + .4(80) = 111.09
W = 115 + .8(80) = 179
Spellblade = .75(71.9) + .5(80) = 93.925
Q + W + Spellblade = 384.015
After doing this, I think it is still more beneficial to get Lich Bane first on as well as any champions that can easily apply Lich Bane and excel in smaller trades and poke combos, like a 
or something else similar, since they flat out get more damage from the item when used correctly, it would be better to build Morello after Lich if you're just talking about dmg efficienty. Meanwhile, DPS mages that cast frequently and often don't include auto attacks in combos would probably benefit more from Morello first.
tl;dr It's still a debatable thing, really, just pay attention to who you're playing and try to identify your strengths/trading style.
PS: I didn't think this would format as large as it did, my bad for not using the preview function to make this a little easier on the eyes...
Sagan Forever1 votesUm if you don't have mana, because then it is highly inefficient, because otherwise I get it first.
Fairyfleur1 votes
(AP Ezreal)
