I'm not a heavy AP player nor mid player nor good player, nor good smelling player, but I noticed something while playing ARAM.
The enemy team rushed Ludens on their AP mages and visibly did significantly more damage in terms of burst compared to our own AP mages who did not build Ludens.
Which has led me to wonder....
Is Ludens the #1 go to AP item for first build now? Should you always be building that if you're an AP damage mage? :o
it's a huge power spike in terms of burst because it offers 100 flat damage, which is huge early.
however, aram has free mana regen, rushing ludens isn't optimal on summoner's rift for ap champs that use mana
if you don't get it first it's not really worth
Yeah, it's pretty rad on ARAM.
On ARAM is okay first item, as mentioned, it gives you huge power spike, but on rift you can go as 2nd item or 3rd depending on champion you play, because you will probably need some mana reg (if you play Kata and you’re winning lane you can rush it as first item)
Seen champions like Nami and Janna build it first because early game it hurts like a bitch, which is bad for the enemy team. Not to mention that if you're in one of those games where a team is under tower, having luden's proc is a good way to make them panic.
It's a strong early game item because of the flat 100 damage. 100 damage in not much later on thought, and the item tend to fall off. Definitely not something you wanna buy last.
The only champions i use it on are 
when I finish my Athenes/Morello. (RARELY use it on 
support if I'm snowballing hardcore.) Most of the time my build goes like
-> 
-> 
-> 
-> 
-> 
but could definitely switch luden for a 
for more late game power or 
for pen and defense.
Pro Tip: Luden's is amazing...Disclaimer: Never, and I repeat NEVER buy it when behind.
Its a Power Spike item. Getting it while you are ahead is a really powerful option as the extra damage will often rip through MR at the time.
Personally I rush Ludens then a Void staff for Maximum power spike.snowball effect. Followed by Rabadons. If I am behind though I'll get a Rod or Abysal first.
Luden's is really OP especially if you started with a 
and used it as your MP5 and didn't build any more MP5 since that's probably all you need in ARAM. This is really strong on ARAM since you can get 2 uses of and one of just by landing a snowball.
