Basically the title. Why do I see so many people building Locket on something like soraka rather than spending an extra 200 gold and getting the AP and minion buff active?
Locket is awesome on tank supports, but the active really doesn't justify losing so much AP on AP based supports I don't think. :|
Sakura Mirage1 votesBecause the active giving your team a shield is better than a empowered minion.
Deep Terror Nami1 votesLocket's shield doesn't scale with your HP or anything; it's as effective on Soraka as it is on Braum. If you don't need the pushing power of a promoted minion and you wouldn't be building AP otherwise, Locket is usually the superior choice. If you need the AP from Banner and not the active, you may be better off sticking with Aegis or Locket and building a different AP item.
Aeolian Melodies1 votesBecause in 90% of the situations, a shield for your whole team > a buffed minion, whether you're Sona or Leona.
Hiemdol1 votesWell it all depends on why you are buying it. The typical reason one will buy one of the Aegis items is to help the team. If you are buying an item with team stats rather than selfish stats the active on Locket is undeniably better. Doubly so when you consider that many of the kind of AP heavy comps that Aegis items are good against have a good deal of AoE making the economy of the Locket item active even more useful.
Then when you consider the Banner buff is mostly only useful when your team is on the offensive the number of time Banner is totally gold efficient is much lower than the times Locket is totally efficient. This leaves you with times where no matter the preference on AP on supports the Banner has wasted money built into it.
Maximum Zilean1 votesBecause locket is much more useful in teamfights.
And if the tank doesn't get one, someone should. Its one of those items that SOMEONE on your team should always have.
Origami Kaiju1 votesLocket is probably better if the enemy has strong aoe magic damage like Lux, Ziggs, Xerath, or things like Karthus and amumu ultimates. Although the shield isn't huge, it can make a difference by mitigating the last few ticks of of a dot like a teemo shroom or ignite.
If the enemy is lacking in high aoe burst, Banner can be really good for pushing lanes that are opposite to objectives. Forcing an enemy team member to clear a wave is a good time to push for an objective (just be mindful if that enemy is running teleport).
