I had never doubted Runeglaive until recently, but I have started building Lich Bane instead of Runeglaive and the difference is staggering.... Lich Bane is far superior across the board , even accounting for the extra gold investment, as an immediate jump in power and a better scaling item, it just destroys Runeglaive.
I now realize I was wrong every time I defended Runeglaive. It really does need a buff.... gg.
Kouga1 votesRG is really just a route for junglers to get a similar item with a similar effect, in the same way that CInderhulk is a jungler's route to a Sunfire effect. Both have different effects; RG gives a jungler better clear & mana sustain, where Cinderhulk synergizes better with bonus HP builds. But because they have other stats and effects they are never really meant to surpass or trump their lane-item counterparts.
RG was briefly stronger for certain champions (namely, Ezreal) when it was first released because it let Ezreal proc spell-effects in his Q which let him stack items like Luden's proc on top of his Q's existing effects.
So LB is better than RG in terms of its Spellblade proc. RG is just more convenient for junglers to build and lets them get a slightly less effect sooner.
Dominick Destine1 votesRG gives a jungler better clear & mana sustain
By the time you can afford it, you don't need help with clear or mana sustain. Naysayers were right.
Sire Hippington1 voteswell, every ap jungler dropped by atleast 2% winrate with the preseason, not a single runglaive user is above 50% right now. I think it's save to say that the item needs buffs, mpst likely a cost reduction, though there isn't much room as the combinecosts are already only 140g most ap junglers just need to long to gain their needed mana sustain now, while also loosing out on damage compared to befor.