When people buy Sunfire Cape as the legitimate answer to "Buy Armor". There is a TL;DR
I really do.
Let's take this instance, Maoki vs Tryndamere
->
ROA first? No prob bro, just remember to go tanky!
->
Protobelt second? Ah, we have time, it's k.
->
Please, leave.
-> 2700 gold
-> 2900 gold
-> 2900 gold
Assuming Maoki has no HP Runes, let's go with the build thus far and regular +1 armor seals. Let's say lv 15. (Fully stacked ROA = 500 HP + Protobelt = 300 HP + Lv 15 Maoki = 1800 HP) = 2600 HP, pretty decent HP for a tank at level 15. And around 83 armor from scaling and 9 from runes.
So now you've decided to build armor, about time.
- You've built a Sunfire cape.
(
= 300 Gold + 
= (500g) 800 Gold)
+
(
= 400 Gold + 
(700g) 1100 Gold)
= (1000g) 2900 Gold
You've spent 2900 gold on a 425 HP item with 60 Armor which deals 26 magic damage per second at lv 15. Putting your HP at 3025 and your armor at around 152.
- You've built a Randuin's Omen
( x 2 = 600 Gold) +
(400g) 1100 Gold)
( x 2 = 800 Gold)
= (1100g) 2900 Gold
You've spent 2900 gold on a 350 HP item with 60 Armor which reduces attack speed by 15% for 1 second off basic attacks and reduces critical strike damage from basic attacks by 20%. Putting your HP at 2950 and your armor at 152.
- You've built a Frozen Heart
( x 2 = 600 Gold) + (400g) 1100 Gold)
( = 300 Gold + 
350 Gold) + 
(350g) 1000 Gold
= (700g) 2700 Gold
You've spent 2700 gold on a 90 Armor, 400 Mana, 20% CDR which reduces nearby enemies' attack speed by 15%. Leaving your HP at 2600 HP, armor at 182.
And you sit there, and you tell yourself, Sunfire is the best option. You went and built for 2900 gold but you just look like a damn spark plug, scaring the minions.
However, if you had built Frozen Heart or Randuins, you'd be set. Tryndamere and champions such as him, (
) utilizes or depends on one of few things. Attack speed, Damage, Crit. But you're a spark plug, instead of buying proper armor items that also reduces their attack speed or reduces their crit damage. Randuins, the same amount of gold as Sunfire and much more efficient. You built Sunfire vs Trynda, his attack speed, crit, and damage will not be deterred as much as it would be had you bought a Randuins or Frozen Heart.
TL;DR : Know which items to buy.
