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ADC: Doran + 1 Pot vs. Long Sword + 3 pots

RGG Habibi·4/15/2015, 1:47:59 PM·1 votes·3,022 views

For a while I've been wondering, why are the ADC starting items ALWAYS Dorans Blade and 1 pot? Recently in the LCS playoffs I saw P1noy playing Urgot ADC and he started Long Sword and 3 pots, which made me think, "can't other ADC's as well start Long Sword?". Well, I think if you do ever start Long Sword on an ADC, it has to be an ADC that uses Long Sword as a component for their first item, so starting Long Sword has to be on any of these champions:

( KogMaw with item 3078 ) (Corki with item 3078 ) (Ezreal with item 3078 ) (Vayne with item 3153) (Twitch with item 3153 ) ( although this is somewhat debatable Kalista with item 3072 )

Now, the reason Doran's Blade is better is because it gives 70 more health and 3% lifesteal. 1 Potion gives 150 health.

item 1055 + 1 item 2003 = 7 AD, 220 health, and 3% lifesteal (The lifesteal is a problem in debating which one is better because it gives more health the longer you stay in lane) item 1036 + 3 item 2003 = 10 AD, 450 health, and no lifesteal.

Now the lifesteal is the main part that makes it debatable which gives more health, which simply depends on how much time to stay in lane. For a while, the 3 health potions will give you more health than the life steal, but it all depends on how much time you stay in lane. After doing some college level math (AKA Arithmetic) I've found (sort of) that the lifesteal will give you more health if you stay in lane until about 5 minutes depending on how often you attacking something. I can't really get an exact number since it has a lot of different factors that change depending on stuff likes runes, masteries, and the champion you're playing.

Now I'm about to give you the main reason why Long Sword might be a better start, the fact that it builds into your first item. It helps buy that Tri Force or BORK earlier than usual. If you and the enemy ADC both are pretty equal in lane, chances are you'll hit the first item earlier, but you wont hit it that much faster, only about a minute or so.

This post was horribly put together, I mainly just wanted to give my reasons and see what other people wanted to say about this build. If you read all of it, thank you for taking the time.

8 Comments

M Schumacher4/15/2015, 1:53:13 PM1 votes

Dorans is better for sustaining to get your BF Sword. It also gives you health to survive early game skirmishes and 3% lifesteal does add up since you will be autoing the entire time.

Raja Chachki4/15/2015, 1:56:55 PM1 votes

I'd say I guess that would work, but for those champions who start Infinity Edge, they really need the sustain from Doran's to farm up the large amount of gold for BF Sword.

Drunk Rummate4/15/2015, 2:15:55 PM1 votes

3% life steal on 80-100 AD is about 3 hp per auto (rounded up). Health potion gives 150 HP

By going Dorans you're giving up 2 health potions, so 300 HP. That's the equivalent of 100 auto attacks on minions.

So if you're playing a really crappy matchup and you can't afford to auto the minion wave, longsword is going to be the better option. Especially if you're rushing a vamp scepter. Otherwise it's almost always better to go Dorans because 100 autos isn't all that difficult to reach and it gives you some flat health for survivability. Also keep in mind that the lifesteal scales as you get more AD. Once you have IE and about 180 AD you're getting a lot more hp back per auto plus extra if you crit.

Azlagor4/15/2015, 2:18:59 PM1 votes

for laneing, a longsword is better in most cases, but dorans gives you a better midgame with the lifesteal.

GiveMeTalonPlz4/15/2015, 2:58:53 PM1 votes

The only issue that I have with the way you broke the numbers down is that in a level 2 all in or something like that, the immediate HP bonus from dorans is better than having pots IMO.

FarRockBF4/15/2015, 3:02:02 PM1 votes

You are making a calculation error sir. The fact that Long Sword builds into something else is BAD, since it's advantage disappears. If you manage to stay in lane to buy the other thing outright you still have the advantages of the doran + the new item.