I don't see any value in Guardian Angel on AD Carries.

ABlueQuaker·Mar 15, 2015·3 votes·990 views

If you die, it's because you're in a bad position. If you're in a bad position when you die, you'll probably still be in a bad position when when you're Revived by its Passive.

I'd much rather get Randuin's Omen or Banshee's Veil if I'm getting dived because then I actually have decent effective HP against Magic/Physical Damage.

With Runes, Randuin's Omen and innate armor I had 190 Armor and roughly 2.7k HP + BT Shield + Sona Shield on Caitlyn against an AD-Heavy team and ended up 12/4/11 as Caitlyn. I mean, they had a 350cs Nasus would could barely harm me and their Varus was getting 3-shot by me while he was taking 10+ to even get me to half HP.

18 Comments

MathbalnaseMar 15, 20153 votes

[{quoted}](name=Red Arrow,realm=OCE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=w6E0XtjV,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-03-15T07:48:18.793+0000) against an AD-Heavy team

Well, yes, dedicated defense items specific to the threat of an enemy team with largely homogeneous damage will typically out-perform a generalist defense item in that narrow circumstance.

Against an enemy team with mixed damage, on the other hand, your dedicated defenses will leave a gaping hole in your survivability, or require another item slot not contributing to your offense.

ABlueQuakerMar 15, 20151 votes

I run Scaling Armor Seals and Flast Armor Glyphs as a general purpose AD Carry page. If I need MR I get Banshee's and I still get ~45 Armor from runes and masteries.

MathbalnaseMar 15, 20153 votes

Burst-based enemies are typically more threatening to an ADC than are DPS-based enemies. Substantial burst is most common in the form of magic damage. General purpose ADC builds (runes&masteries included), then, should dedicate more of their scarce defensive resources to mitigating magic damage than they do for physical damage.

Togekiss24Mar 15, 20152 votes

If you die before the rest of your team, they could peel out for you and you'd get time to escape.

If you are in a GOOD spot and someone's ignite does the final blow, GA saves you and you can walk away without the other team doing shit to you.

There is much more potential the item has than you give it credit for. Heck, by your explanation Zhonya's has the same issue, yet that hasn't stopped people from using it for similar reasons.

ABlueQuakerMar 15, 20151 votes

Zhonya's is on demand though. You can trade with someone unfavorably so that you can pop zhonya's at the last second and have an inbound teammate finish off the kill. Or you can engage into a team, Zhonya's through their initial burst and exit stasis with your next rotation of abilities.

EDIT: I'm a pretty DIY AD Carry. I don't trust my teammates enough to lend shields or heals, or peel for me. At least if I can become a problem to kill I can carry by being a point of focus.

swordkilldragonMar 15, 20151 votes

zhonya's scales ap for mages... GA scales... ah, hm. not AD,

Lost In TimeMar 15, 20152 votes

I very rarely build GA. Only when my team has 2-3 other GAs and it becomes obnoxious, would I build this item.

Zhonya's active is similar and on-demand. Hell, I'd rather build Randuin's on an ADC, if I wanted defense, over GA.

ABlueQuakerMar 15, 20151 votes

My Mind-frame: The best thing to deal with a Bruiser is a Bruiser. Tanks get out-traded due to lack of sustained damage and healing, and squishies get...well...squished. The way I see it, if I want to be able to deal with a Bruiser that's diving me, I should make myself more like a Bruiser hence Randuin's and Banshee's Veil. I also used to be a big fan of Spirit Visage on AD Carries because of both its Passive and it used to grant 20% CDR before it got nerfed.

IcyPepperMar 15, 20151 votes

I always thought of building thornmails... so if the enemy adc and I are just autoattacking each other, and he's got a GA... well, I'd win the trade faster.

Who knows. Could be up for testing.

ABlueQuakerMar 15, 20152 votes

Randuin's grants Armor + HP and also reduces Enemies' Attack Speed when they Auto-Attack you.

IcyPepperMar 15, 20151 votes

Thornmail is cheaper tho.

ABlueQuakerMar 15, 20151 votes

But you'll want the HP it grants because not all incoming damage will be Physical. I justify getting Randuin's or Banshee's because they also grant HP so if I'm not increasing my Effective HP against one Damage type or the other, I'm still at least increasing my HP.

Sightless66Mar 15, 20151 votes

Defensive items are usually late purchases, so slot-efficiency should be a higher priority than overall cost. You can purchase a bit of early armor or a Giant's Belt and just sit on it if you need some early defense, and then build it into the full Randuin's later. Generally a better option than Thornmail.

Remlap1223Mar 15, 20151 votes

Problem being that there's no hybrid itemization item besides Zz'Rot portal that grants both resistances. And yeah, I'm not building Zz'Rot on an ADC. It's THE defense item on the majority of ADCs, with an exception of MissFortune , who I build Wit's End.

ABlueQuakerMar 15, 20151 votes

meh

I just get runes to deal with the most apparent threat early on (i.e. MR-heavy rune page if the enemy team has a bursty mage), then my defensive item will deal with what's left (i.e. Randuin's to deal with physical damage threats).

The only exception being when the enemy team is AD or AP Heavy in which case both my Runes and Defensive Item will be the same.

Xela SyabMar 15, 20151 votes

GA is more for teamfights, enemy team will feel dumb focusing you when you're front line survives and deals damage when you come back up again. Plus it gives some good resistances if you don't know what might kill you. Granted I like Frozen Mallet the kiting is real.

JunkοMar 15, 20151 votes

Or you know, you died to an assassin Zed or LB or whoever else can dive into the back line, kill you and get out. And you still revive in the back line and waste their combo.

Nameless VoiceMar 15, 20151 votes

Guardian Angel is very good against assassins with resets, such as Katarina It prevents them from diving you, killing you quickly, getting their reset, and messing up the rest of your team.