Why do mages have the lowest mana pool out of all classes at level 18?

Probably because half the mage items give 500+ mana.

Because they spec into mana heavily. Same with tanks; they have low base defensive stats because they grab items and have abilities that usually amp said stats.

Because they actually build mana. Take an example of champions with a revive mechanic, they have a lower health pool because of it ( and not sure about that guy )

It balances out becuz they have to build mana and others dont have to build mana so they get bigger mana pools.

It's kinda the same logic on why Lissandra has a Q costs 80 mana rank 1. Because her passive gives a free spell so it balances out. (in other words, she has NOT a passive at all)

Anything besides a mage building mana is a waste of a stat, so give them the mana they need from the start. It's rito logic.

it feels unfair but since idk anything about balance i'll have to trust it is in fact balanced

Because riot is very bad at balancing.

Tell me about it, Vlad has zero mana all game.

"Mages need mana to do their job effectively, so in order to balance them, they need to have their mana gated!"

Mages having mana at all is already a gate.

By that logic all of Riven's non-ult abilities should have 30-second cooldowns.

[zombie-brand-mindblown]

Because they wanted mages out of the game for good. Riot got their wish as mages are literally trash-tier.

That'show it is supposed to be. Mages have to build their mana. AD carries have the lowest base AD lvl 18. Assassins/Carries have the highest base health/armor in the game because they shouldn't be building resistances.

Its exactly as it should be.

Because they supplement it with bonus mana from runes/items anyways.

Champions are designed inversely where they need to build more of their needed stats to be more effective rather than building more for the already high base stats.

This is seen in all classes.

Tanks have higher base AD and growth than Assassins and Marksmen Assassins, Mages, and Marksmen have higher base health than Tanks Supports and Mages have higher base stats and state scaling on their abilities

This way champions with high base mana can cast rotations without stalling their need output damage or heals/shields, champions who need to tank don't stall out their damage.

It serves additionally as staling for off-meta builds. As there will be significant fall off in utility, damage, and ability scaling if built to supplement bases rather than needs.

A tank Lucian will have higher defensive stats than a tank Sion, but unlike Sion, will have ZERO abilties or basic attacks scale with his bonus health or armor, rendering his kit to be massively subpar compared to Sion who will gain shield potency and damage potency on his E. And since Sion's base attack damage and growth his higher, the rest of his kit will still deal a fair amount of damage without have to sacrifice his 'survive-ability.'

I think a few people have touched on the reasoning, but there's also another one: . we've seen what champions can do with basically unlimited mana and AP scaling OFF mana ( ), riot have made sure this doesn't happen across the board on an item that is probably the most popular mage item in the game.

tryndamere and mastery yi got huge lvl 1 and 18 hp and they got skimpy clothes while nautilous that is in a full armor got low hp

So they get punished for greedy full AP/HP builds with no mana in them.

Because spells being their best tools and attacks, mana is meant to allow limitations to that. Mages need to be gated in mana to be balanced.

Because they are designed to be dependant of their items for every mana, utility or damage centered issues. Problem is that those items are utter sh!t and almost looks like they were voluntarily designed to be the worst items in the whole roster

Because logic.

Contrary to what most people are saying AD champs tend to have a higher base ad /ad per level and tanks tend to have higher Armor or HP.

It is only the mages who got screwed in mana.