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Why is Liandry's Designed the way it is?

Kyoshirin·Apr 16, 2017·7 votes·912 views

Liandry's fills a role, right? It's the item you should build to help deal with tanks due to it's % current hp damage.

So why is it a flat magic penetration item? Flat penetration really helps with killing squishies but doesn't do a whole lot against the magic resist stacking tanks, which is the primary reason you should be buying this item. This puts the item in a weird spot where it's never the wrong decision to purchase regardless of situation.

Facing Tanks? Build Liandry's for the % hp burn Facing Squishies? Build Liandry's for the flat penetration Need health? Build Liandry's for the defensive stats

It's a rather cheap ap item that does a little bit of everything well, and is cost efficient even without it's burn passive.

I understand that it's buildpath is in a pretty good spot, upgrading out of haunting guise. I guess I just don't see the purpose behind having an ap bruiser item that is just always good in spite of the situation it's being built in.

Any thoughts?

10 Comments

LyingOnLineApr 16, 20173 votes

It was introduced as an upgrade for Haunting Guise, which already existed as a standalone item that a few champions (most notably Rumble) built.

It was also supposed to counter the idea of tanks who would stack HP for resists that were agnostic to damage type, such as was exemplified by the infamous League of Warmog's. BotRK was also released for a similar reason around the same timeframe.

fuffychanApr 16, 20172 votes

Because Riot hates AP and gives them terrible items.

xNejiixApr 16, 20171 votes

Like Morellos and Zhonyas? Or Voidstaff?

Lol.

Viktor Von LazerApr 16, 20172 votes

item 3136 is a good overall items with nice stats that's all. Some pen, some HP, some AP. and the Liandry's is a good upgrade for late game. Not every item has to good for just a particular situation. Some items can just be well rounded. It doesn't have the burst of item 3285 or the tankiness or item 3027 . Sometimes you just want a good middle ground between offense and defense and that's what the item provides.

Asayake 5150glowApr 16, 20171 votes

{quoted}

is a good overall items with nice stats that's all. Some pen, some HP, some AP. and the Liandry's is a good upgrade for late game. Not every item has to good for just a particular situation. Some items can just be well rounded. It doesn't have the burst of or the tankiness or . Sometimes you just want a good middle ground between offense and defense and that's what the item provides.

Isn't RoA the middle ground though? It's users aren't exactly that weak early, and it scales to 100 AP.

Viktor Von LazerApr 16, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Cant Hold Me Now,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=twOFFg61,comment-id=00030000,timestamp=2017-04-16T13:50:57.655+0000)

Isn't RoA the middle ground though? It's users aren't exactly that weak early, and it scales to 100 AP.

Not really... item 3157 item 3001 item 3116 are all more or less a mages defensive items even though they do damage. The amount of AP iisn't much and waiting for RoA to stack in games that just don't last as long any more makes RoA more along the lines of a defensive item in my opinion, similar to Rylais. items like item 3165 item 3285 and the obvious item 3135 item 3089 are more what you look to for damage But if you want a nice middle ground between the BURST of echo and the safety of RoA go item 3136 into item 3151

I frequently do this when playing Karthus. Instead of going item 3070 into item 3027 , or cheesy suicide karthus that uses item 3165 , I'll go into item 3136 and get item 3020 essentially doing true damage with ult by lvl 11 with the 30 total magic pen while getting some tank stats. You're not as slow as RoA in damage AND you're not as AP heavy with no defense as going Morellos first items. You're just right for the current game environment. From there just get item 3116 into item 3151 and the game is probably over by lvl 16 as you already counter HP and some MR stacking. Just an example of how it really differs from a slow RoA - which in theory is in the middle but in practice is not because it's so slow.

Asayake 5150glowApr 16, 20171 votes

{quoted}

Not really... are all more or less a mages defensive items even though they do damage. The amount of AP iisn't much and waiting for RoA to stack in games that just don't last as long any more makes RoA more along the lines of a defensive item in my opinion, similar to Rylais. items like and the obvious are more what you look to for damage But if you want a nice middle ground between the BURST of echo and the safety of RoA go into

I frequently do this when playing Karthus. Instead of going into , or cheesy suicide karthus that uses , I'll go into and get essentially doing true damage with ult by lvl 11 with the 30 total magic pen while getting some tank stats. You're not as slow as RoA in damage AND you're not as AP heavy with no defense as going Morellos first items. You're just right for the current game environment. From there just get into and the game is probably over by lvl 16 as you already counter HP and some MR stacking. Just an example of how it really differs from a slow RoA - which in theory is in the middle but in practice is not because it's so slow.

Meh, Ryze Swain Cassiopeia and a few other RoA users don't really feel weak when they go RoA early, they feel normal.

Viktor Von LazerApr 16, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Cant Hold Me Now,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=twOFFg61,comment-id=0003000000000000,timestamp=2017-04-16T16:39:59.186+0000)

Meh, and a few other RoA users don't really feel weak when they go RoA early, they feel normal.

well that's cause they're sustained DPS. That only really need a mana pool and a bit of AP the start dealing tons of damage. And let's not forget ryze passive. Can you imagine Lux Orianna Syndra etc building that item first? You do less damage and your spell rotations would take way too long come come mid game compared to your opponents. RoA being good on RoA users is pretty much expected, there's no reason they would feel weak with it. But for mages in general it's too delayed in power. Most go Morellos first unless they plan on just scaling and waveclearing to prevent the enemy from roaming eg Anivia Ziggs

But to return to the main point I just feel the item is in a pretty good spot Where you can opt to either go for higher burst like with item 3285 after morellos, that also helps with waveclear, OR just more consistent damage while gaining some defensive stats, a middle ground in my opinion. Perhaps you might see it as being too good for a middle ground item, perhaps above average i think it's just right is all

ChaddyFantomeApr 16, 20171 votes

the reason it has pen is because of the way Damage mitigation is calculated for DoTs. Because it is small amounts of damage over time instead of flat damage, it is actually mitigated more by resist since the resist applies to every instance of damage. The Pen is to compensate for this.

YagoApr 16, 20178 votes

{quoted}

the reason it has pen is because of the way Damage mitigation is calculated for DoTs. Because it is small amounts of damage over time instead of flat damage, it is actually mitigated more by resist since the resist applies to every instance of damage. The Pen is to compensate for this.

This is so factually wrong.

Magic Resistance reduces damage by a percentage.

Here's an example: Let's compare the effects of 100 magic damage against a target with 100 Magic Resistance (50% damage reduction), versus 10 magic damage dealt 10 times.

What is 50% of 100? 50. So the first example would deal 50 damage in total.

What's 50% of 10? 5. And this hits 10 times. 5 x 10 is...50 damage in total.

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