Poke Support - Sorcerer's Shoes

Borscht Brandon·12/9/2019, 4:56:44 PM·1 votes·2,026 views

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to league compared to most players. Started playing Season 8 and I've finished Season 9 Gold IV Support, maining Zyra. I'm still learning all of the time and know I have lots to learn to master my role.

One thing I've always struggled with is knowing when to buy Sorcerer's Shoes as a poke support. I'm struggling to understand the value of 18 magic pen early game vs. building AP first.

I see a lot of builds recommend Sorcerer Shoes before building Liandry's but I'm struggling to understand why. I assume that it can be situational depending on who you are against in your lane but I still don't understand the value of early game magic pen.

Sorry if I'm not explaining this well but ultimately I would love if someone could explain the value of early magic pen and why it might be better to build Sorcerer's Shoes first over building an AP item first.

Thanks!

8 Comments

Skia Asteri12/9/2019, 5:28:19 PM3 votes

So there are two ways you could go about finding the answer.

One way is to do the math on how much damage you do with various items / levels. For this the wiki is your friend.

Second is go to a stats site with reasonably good information about item build. Such as lolalytics. Lolalytics has a number of things to look at for very early purchases. For instance, it specifically has a list on items commonly purchased before 10 minutes, and lists how common it is and what percentage of games are won with such a purchase.

It also lists information for what the average purchase time for first item and the average time for buying upgraded boots. Looking at "Actually Built Sets" set to "Pair" on the second row (first is without boots, second row is with boots) you can see how often boots are build before another item.

That site also lets you set the Rank to view. Specifically for Zyra, the average purchase time for item 3020 goes down at higher ranks. Which means players at higher ranks prioritize getting them more.

Do keep in mind when recalling you want the most power from inventory that your gold allows, so depending on what you got from previous recalls / gold you recall with the answer to what is best may change.

LightswornLance12/9/2019, 6:42:14 PM2 votes

Zyra relies a lot on base damage not AP scalings ( thats why she wants liandries ) so magic penetration is really good on her. Plus it's hard for ADC's and support's to build magic resist early for the 2v2 because they have to deal with the ADC's damage too. I would rush magic penetration every game tbh.

Freewalker12/9/2019, 5:16:21 PM1 votes

I would estimate that the 18 magic penetration is worth around 10% mitigation loss to the opponent, so a item 3151 is definitely better to build first if you are a support imo. The only benefit I see is getting the penetration earlier with the boots, but there's item 3136 to build on the way to a Liandry's. Unless the build professionals recommend the instant penetration, whereas Liandry's boosts your damage gradually.

Der Lindwurm12/9/2019, 6:01:40 PM1 votes

Get them early because you need the movepseed. The magic penetration isn't worth much early but it will be later. Also nothing wrong with doing mobility or swiftness if you think they're better for the situation.

Zeppelins circus12/10/2019, 4:51:20 AM1 votes

I recommend getting lost chapter then sorc boots.

Cind3rkick12/9/2019, 5:57:47 PM1 votes

Since most champions have around 40mr by the time you would get sorc boots.

40mr is about 30% reduction.

After sorc boots,

The reduction goes down to around 17%

This may seems kinda small but it means you do nearly 20% more damage. Compared to 50ap giving you an extra 60 base damage at most.

And then you have extra movespeed added on top

xelaker12/9/2019, 5:52:55 PM1 votes

pen is always a plus and don't underestimate movespeed.