PSA : Lifeline and Rage Passives
So I have seen so many people bring this up that I felt I need to point it out. Most people will avoid buying Sterak's Gage and Maw of Malmortius together, or buying The Black Cleaver and Trinity Force together, because they share a single passive (Lifeline and Rage, respectively). The thing that people seem to not understand, though, is that those passives are the ONLY thing that are affected when you buy those items together. This means that you can still buy the two items together, but you will only get the unique passive from one item. The rest of the passives and stats from each item are unaffected, so there REALLY ISN'T MUCH HARM in buying those pairs of items together. They might not be the best items to get together in every situation because they are expensive items, but if you find yourself in a situation where you want both items for more than just their shared passives then you can get them together.
Sterak's Gage +450 Health UNIQUE Passive - Giant Strength: Gain 50% of your Base Attack Damage as Bonus Attack Damage UNIQUE Passive - Lifeline: Upon taking at least 400 to 1800 damage (based on level) within 5 seconds, gain a shield for 75% of your bonus Health. After 0.75 seconds, the shield decays over 3 seconds (60 second cooldown). Sterak's Fury: When Lifeline triggers, grow in size and strength, gaining +30% Tenacity for 8 seconds.
Maw of Malmortius +50 Attack Damage +50 Magic Resist +10% Cooldown Reduction UNIQUE Passive - Lifeline: Upon taking magic damage that would reduce Health below 30%, grants a shield that absorbs up to 350 magic damage within 5 seconds (90 second cooldown). Lifegrip: When Lifeline triggers, gain +20 Attack Damage, +10% Spell Vamp and +10% Life Steal until out of combat.
If you buy these two items together you only get one shield, but the item base stats, increased size and strength, tenacity, bonus AD, spell vamp, and life steal are all going to be the same. You still also have both shields available, but you only get the one that proc's first. So if the Sterak's Lifeline passive proc's first you get that shield for that one single proc, and then BOTH ITEMS GO ON THE 60 SECOND COOLDOWN, which means you are actually getting a straight up buff to the Lifegrip passive from Maw. Then you could proc Maw's Lifeline first the next time and get its shield instead, but still get all of the other passives (but you'd just be nerfing Sterak's Fury's cool down).
The Black Cleaver +400 Health +40 Attack Damage +20% Cooldown Reduction UNIQUE Passive: Dealing physical damage to an enemy champion Cleaves them, reducing their Armor by 4% for 6 seconds (stacks up to 6 times, up to 24%). UNIQUE Passive - Rage: Dealing physical damage grants 20 movement speed for 2 seconds. Assists on Cleaved enemy champions or kills on any unit grant 60 movement speed for 2 seconds instead. This Movement Speed is halved for ranged champions.
Trinity Force +250 Health +250 Mana +25 Attack Damage +40% Attack Speed +20% Cooldown Reduction +5% Movement Speed UNIQUE Passive - Rage: Basic attacks grant 20 Movement Speed for 2 seconds. Kills grant 60 Movement Speed instead. This Movement Speed bonus is halved for ranged champions. UNIQUE Passive - Spellblade: After using an ability, the next basic attack deals bonus physical damage equal to 200% of base Attack Damage on hit (1.5 second cooldown).
If you buy these two items together you only get one bonus movement speed passive, but THEY ARE BOTH SO SIMILAR TO EACH OTHER THAT IT PRETTY MUCH DOESN'T MATTER. The only issue is that the hammer shares the passive, so buying it when you already have one of them makes it almost useless. I would be fine with getting all of the stats and other passives from both items if it meant I only get one bonus movement speed passive out of the two. What's more, you would get the passive from Cleaver because it is the exact same as Tri's, but with an extra way to proc it.
So just remember that it's really not a big deal if you or someone else buys one of these pairs of items together. Now if you bought all 4 together that wouldn't even be a big deal either because the only issue would be going over the 40% CDR limit (which isn't even a problem if you take Transcendence). Although good luck getting the gold to buy all 4 of them.