AD/Armor

Uncertainty·Feb 23, 2016·1 votes·275 views

Was just wondering if there was a reason why Riot doesn't introduce an ad item which also gives armor. There is already ad that gives mr so why not one that gives armor?

4 Comments

I am PacmanFeb 23, 20162 votes

Because off the top of my head I think it would be an op or insta buy on most top lane matchups (obviously the ad vs ad ones) quite like hexdrinker is on any ad mid vs a mage.

Items that give both offence and defensive capabilities are top tier in the early game. This is why item 3751 item 3044 item 2033 item 3053 item 3071 item 3748 are all great items top lane. Each gives both of a combination of tankyness, sustain and dmg.

Introducing a new item that gives ad/ar means the next buy would be a item 3751 or item 1011 and that would be the build path for 50% of the top laners from that point on.

Personally I think top lane itemization is in a decent spot right now (with some tank fiora, yi abuse cases as exceptions) and there simply isn't a reason to introduce an item like that.

UncertaintyFeb 23, 20161 votes

Okay! Thanks for helping me understand why :)

coeurloyalFeb 23, 20161 votes

Exactly this. The point of open itemization is to force player to make a choice between 1) Damage (AP/AD) 2) Defense (Armor/ MRes) and 3) Utility. Because the game is technically won by damage overall, you will rarely see both damage and damage reduction on a single item. Most have one or the other plus utility effects. Having more offense + defense options would change the game into a pure stat check, which would be very bad. Items that have both tend to fall into debates on whether they are OP or not.