When is it appropriate to use RoA over Rylai's?

D2Vincent·Feb 15, 2015·1 votes·968 views

As a Karthus main, I've always had the dilemma of picking certain items over others. Example: Getting a abyssal scepter over void staff only when the enemy is stacking AP items. (or if there's a katarina around.) However, the one early choice I have to make is whether to get a RoA over a Rylai's. Now, I've been getting Rylai's in place of RoA for a while, and it's worked pretty well, but on a few matches, this isn't the case. In most cases, the slow provided doesn't help against characters with a gap closer/ escape option. (Yasuo, Zed, Katarina, etc) It's these times I question whether I should have gotten a RoA instead. So the question is, How do I know that the match requires a RoA over a Rylai's?

4 Comments

DarkwindFeb 15, 20152 votes

You said it yourself. If theyre too mobile, rylai doesn't help. gotta make that determination.

insaiyanbaccaFeb 15, 20151 votes

well i dont play karthus much but i dont see when i shouldnt get either i tend to get both sometimes sometimes i get roa and not rulei's sometimes i get rylei's and not roa it usually depends on what i think i need more

DisasterSolaFeb 15, 20151 votes

In my opinion; Raylais for stick RoA for tank

When you build the item, youre essentially choosing whether or not you want to be tankier, or more of a debuffer.

If you build RoA, you should definitely build a seraphs embrace too. Or a manamune.

If you build raylais, then it takes the place of your defensive item.

Abaddon ViteriFeb 15, 20151 votes

Rod of Ages is typically used when a champion has sustain issues in a lane and expends a large portion of their mana to harass or farm, or if they can expect to lose a lot of their health to poke early. Rylai's is used as a HP/AP option that also keeps enemies in close range, but also since it's one of the highest AP items in the game it has good slot efficiency.

On Karthus in particular, Rylai's synergizes with Liandry's Torment, and magic penetration is a little stronger on Karthus's Requiem early on since lanes that aren't fighting him probably didn't build magic resist. If Karthus goes the Rylai's route, though, he'll have to be careful with his mana, or pick up a Tear and delay the build.

If you're doing a late game build, Rod of Ages will provide 95.5 AP if you have Seraph's Embrace, so Rod of Ages and Rylai's are about the same closing the game.