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Rabaddon's Deathcap - ap vs ad disparity

TheSeltzerBaron·11/18/2014, 1:04:50 AM·1 votes·1,103 views

It occurred to me more than once that there's an item like item 3089 which gives a 30% bonus to total AP, there is item 3135 which gives a % reduction of enemy MR and finally item 3035 which does the same thing only to enemy armor. Why is there no AD equivalent to item 3089 ? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there should or there shouldn't be I am simply curious as to why there isn't one.

I'm not a hardcore player and I don't understand enough of champions or aspects of game mechanics that can explain why a 30% boost to AP is acceptable and not considered unbalanced but 30% to AD would be. I've had just short of 800AP on Cass in ARAM and over 800AP on Veigar so other people must have done it too yet it seems like more people complain about the ADC champs and tanks.

I guess one of the other reasons I wonder about this is that I have a really hard time playing ADC either ranged or melee. Even if there were perfectly equivalent items I can't build them exactly the same because the playstyle and champ skills are different. Everyone who knows what they're doing seems to steamroll with melee champs but I'm usually last or 2nd last in damage to champs if I have a decent team. It seems like I just lack the damage but if I build AD and sacrifice armor or MR I get crushed. Whatever, there's a reason I don't play ranked.

10 Comments

7ha7guy77711/18/2014, 1:21:40 AM3 votes

well, item 3031 is arguably the AD equivalent of Death cap. (not for AD casters though) All champions have base AD, no champions have base AP most AP champions don't have much damage outside of their spell rotation while champions that auto attack can still do significant damage while their spells are on cool down if there's anything i missed, please feel free to add on

DrCyanide11/18/2014, 1:15:38 AM3 votes

item 3031 is your AD Equivalent of item 3089 :

  • Both give maximum offensive stats in their tech tree
  • Both make your offensive items even more potent

There's no chance for a "Critical Spell", which is why Deathcap gives you 30% bonus damage instead.

While we're at it...

item 3139 is your AD Equivalent of item 3157 :

  • Both give maximum offensive stats in their tech tree
  • Both give defensive stats against the other type of tech tree
  • Both have an active that helps you escape troublesome situations/ults
Guerrilla God11/18/2014, 1:20:21 AM2 votes

not to mention Abyssal Scepter item 3001 It reduces the MR of nearby enemies by 20 pretty much item 3001 item 3135 item 3089 will let any APC through The reason for this is:

  1. AP builds are annoying to build. The lowest AP item that builds to common endgame AP items is item 1052 . Blasting wand and Needlessly Large Rod are both worth a lot for early game.
  2. Imagine a full build adc, with an item that grants +30% AD. Imagine Draven with item 3087 item 3031 item 3046 item 3035 item 3078 plus an AD version of item 3089 . You'd be two shotting squishies. and 4-10 shotting any other champs with some sort of tankiness League doesn't need that. At all.
Lightningfst11/18/2014, 1:24:37 AM2 votes

There are different roles for AD. You have the fighers that mix tank stats and damage (so they can stay on the front lines and fight while getting hurt), the assassins which are more positional glass cannons whose goal is to erase an opponent before getting erased, and then the ADC which is a glass cannon that relies on positioning throughout the team fights to avoid the enemy fighters, assassins and mages while unloading their damage.

If you build pure AD on an ADC without attack speed, you will probably only get a few shots off before getting steam rolled. Items like item 3087 and item 3153 can really help an ADC with attack speed, movement speed and utility after you get a core damage item, or at least a item 1038 unless you are playing Vayne .

As a Figher, you are dependent on your ability to farm well in lane to do well mid-late game. You will need typically 1 damage item, maybe 2, and 1-2 tank items. For instance, getting item 3074 can be good for damage, wave clear and sustain. Then getting say item 3143 works well for the mid/late game as you get good tank stats and an active AoE slow. Getting a item 3134 early can also help if you are playing an AD mage/assassin type of champion.

Jungle Lux God11/18/2014, 3:44:33 AM2 votes

The champs that normally buy Rabadon's Deathcap are normally mid-long range mages, short range burst mages, and AP assassins. To take the rough equivalent of these champs from the AD perspective, we have ADC's, who get the same type of multipliers that Rabadon's gives in the form of critical strikes, and we have AD assassins, who are given either relatively high AD ratios to account for the lack of damage multipliers or are given some sort of abilities that can critically strike themselves. I think Zed is the only real exception to this, and that is because of the passive of his W, which gives % bonus AD.

Rebonack11/18/2014, 1:14:33 AM1 votes

It would force Riot to do things that would be good for the game, like balance crazy bonus AD ratios and make Rangers something other than insane.

Too much work, won't happen.

Marthian11/18/2014, 5:46:36 PM1 votes

Infinity Edge is the AP equivalent. It offers a really nice dps increase to auto attacks and then scales multiplicatively with more attack speed and critical hit chance.

Also would be a massive buff to AD assassins (that shouldn't happen.)