Are Penetration runes generally worth it?

Oddnerd·1/4/2015, 3:54:30 AM·1 votes·606 views

I started playing again after about half a year or so and want to get serious about playing ranked. I used to run a small repetoire of rune sets with either magic or armour penetration runes and the remainder geared towards armour or magic resist. I have been looking at builds online and most people don't maximize their penetration runes, but instead go for flat AP/AD and often get health runes or attack speed. I always assumed that because few items had penetration, taking them on runes was a good idea - you can get up to ~20 of either one right off the bat.

Could someone more experienced than me explain why flat AD/AP/AS/Health tends to be more common in well-rated champion guides?

3 Comments

UberAffe1/4/2015, 5:08:38 AM1 votes

Penetration in general is very effective late game but not very effective early game. Where as flat damage is very effective early and less so late game. In general it is easier to win a game off of an early lead instead of a late come back, so people prefer the rune sets that give the best early advantage.

Personally I enjoy the late game oriented pages but thats just me.

EndlessSorcerer1/4/2015, 5:16:58 AM1 votes

I believe that AD and AP are more common in runes because you are itemizing for the early game and they help players last-hit minions. Armor and Magic Penetration are good for fighting champions and scale better as the game progresses, but last-hitting early game is pretty important. In addition, ability power may be preferred because it can have affects other the damage, such as healing or shielding more damage. Since most people don't want to have a large number of rune pages which are similar, they usually choose AP as a good compromise. Also, penetration benefits from base damages which aren't very high in the early levels, so AP can occasionally be stronger for trading.

Attack Speed is much more situational and is usually taken because the champions scales very well with it (Irelia, ADCs, Udyr) or to let them attack faster for last-hitting minions under tower (sometimes it can help to be able to hit a minion twice between tower shots).

Health is generally picked to give additional durability in case of an early all-in fight.

tld;dr Penetration doesn't really help against monsters or minions, so it can make pushing and last-hitting minions more difficult. Flat damage (AD or AP) can help with killing minions early in the game and give similar damage against champions.