So, when and why would I ever want to buy thornmail?

Pierce The Veal·Jul 28, 2016·6 votes·1,634 views

When I'm not Rammus, that is. Seriously, why would I ever buy it? I used to grab it as a dueling item a long time ago, but now it's become more or less obsolete.

26 Comments

ghood4lifeJul 28, 20162 votes

Buy it against fed auto attackers whenever you are playing a bruiser/tank. Especially against MasterYi and champions like him, he can't physically build enough lifesteal to do more damage to you than you do to him. If they aren't building any MR it shreds them.

Pierce The VealJul 28, 20163 votes

{quoted}

Buy it against fed auto attackers whenever you are playing a bruiser/tank. Especially against and champions like him, he can't physically build enough lifesteal to do more damage to you than you do to him. If they aren't building any MR it shreds them.

Eh, even then it's not the best. It just cancels out their sustain, it doesn't outright kill them.

Photos of GhostsJul 28, 20164 votes

Well, that's kinda the point. It cancels their sustain. Then you can kill them with your base d'maaajes.

Pierce The VealJul 28, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Photos of Ghosts,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=yfBAG15o,comment-id=000200000000,timestamp=2016-07-28T13:31:29.001+0000)

Well, that's kinda the point. It cancels their sustain. Then you can kill them with your base d'maaajes.

Ahahaha lol.

Still, the thing is more often than not, it's actually not strong enough to completely cancel their sustain.

zlumpyJul 28, 20162 votes

Good buy based on enemy builds. If they neglect lifesteal early and you are someone like Taric you can actually dish a good deal of damage to enemy. Especially if you are do8ng well enough to buy an IBG.

Just because an item isn't a must buy every game doesn't mean it doesnt have its uses.

Pierce The VealJul 28, 20162 votes

{quoted}

Good buy based on enemy builds. If they neglect lifesteal early and you are someone like Taric you can actually dish a good deal of damage to enemy. Especially if you are do8ng well enough to buy an IBG.

Makes sense

MunchCrunchLunchJul 29, 20162 votes

when you're stupid

Dominick DestineJul 28, 20161 votes

I tend to agree. I would rather get Randuins now even against AD heavy teams, especially against AD heavy teams.

Pierce The VealJul 28, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dominick Destine,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=yfBAG15o,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-07-28T07:34:16.072+0000)

I tend to agree. I would rather get Randuins now even against AD heavy teams, especially against AD heavy teams.

Exactly! Even deadman's plate is a better anti AD item than thornmail.

ReikkenJul 28, 20161 votes

on Annie against Ezreal, after buying Rylai's and Liandry's and maxing Molten Shield, so that he takes more damage than you do when he hits you with Q

Pierce The VealJul 28, 20161 votes

{quoted}

on Annie against Ezreal, after buying Rylai's and Liandry's and maxing Molten Shield, so that he takes more damage than you do when he hits you with Q

Lol,

Nothing is funnier than Ezreal killing himself on a thornmail.

LBB412Jul 28, 20161 votes

When playing a full tank like Malphite or Sion (Malphite because of his % bonus Armor and Sion because of his potentially infinite health)

Dominick DestineJul 28, 20161 votes

{quoted}

When playing a full tank like Malphite or Sion (Malphite because of his % bonus Armor and Sion because of his potentially infinite health)

Malphite and Rammus are the only characters that can really make good use of Thornmail.

SpoofghoulJul 28, 20161 votes

i use it on tank shaco

item 1419 item 3068 item 3075

its funny becaus you sent your clone after their adc the on hit damage + sunfire + the annoying blocking is just enough to make sure you cant ignore it and attacking it wont help either

Pierce The VealJul 28, 20161 votes

{quoted}

i use it on tank shaco

its funny becaus you sent your clone after their adc the on hit damage + sunfire + the annoying blocking is just enough to make sure you cant ignore it and attacking it wont help either

Actually sounds not too bad. Cancerous, in fact.

Wonder if shaco's clone titanic hydra's on hit? That would make it just that much more annoying.

SpoofghoulJul 28, 20161 votes

it does although i dont have spare room for it in my build

i find having both you and the cloning proccing the bllodrazor sunfire and thornmail is often enough to 1v1 anyone especially with redmsite and redbuff if you have them

you can basically just double dip in on hit or damage aura's with shaco

nobody really does it which is kind of dumb since its actually much stronger then assassin or ap shaco

kasfasJul 28, 20161 votes

I get it as a second or third item against Lucian, and sometimes kogmaw when I play Sion.

Pierce The VealJul 28, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I get it as a second or third item against Lucian, and sometimes kogmaw when I play Sion.

But Koggles specializes in on h- Wait, the % armor damage, I seeeeee

kasfasJul 28, 20161 votes

That's why you stack armour against kog, Fiora, and vayne. Percent armour damage and reduced total max hp means they hurt themselves a lot more and hurt you a lot less.

Don't get it as a first item though. Get health first then thornmail.

Swiftstrike4Jul 28, 20161 votes

Almost every armor item in the game is better than item 3075 at the moment.

item 3143 item 3110 item 3025 item 3742 and item 3068 are all better due to their cost, passive, active, or because they provide health AND armor.

Thornmail is situational to specific champions AND for all AD comps.

Pierce The VealJul 28, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Almost every armor item in the game is better than at the moment.

and are all better due to their cost, passive, active, or because they provide health AND armor.

Thornmail is situational to specific champions AND for all AD comps.

Even against full AD comps, someof the items you listed are better.

CerealBoxOfDoomJul 28, 20161 votes

when 2 or more of your team has it

Captain AishiJul 28, 20161 votes

the new thornmail design made it an excellent counter to sated devourer... which is no longer in the game, so thornmail doesn't really have much usefulness left in it since sadly

Harvey RabbitJul 28, 20161 votes

If you are against 80%+ AD team and building tank, get it late after you have a ton of armor already and in team fights they can just kill themselves when they try to blitz you. I've had teams do like 5 v 1 me in ARAM, they think its sheep to the slaughter but three of them die really fast and the rest don't have much left. Easy for the rest of your team to follow up on that. It's great item for true tanks, which don't seem to be much of a thing in this game, but.....

Darkslayer85Jul 29, 20161 votes

The issue with this item is that ADCs can easily outlifesteal the damage.

I think it should apply Grievous Wounds to combat this issue.

Pierce The VealJul 29, 20161 votes

{quoted}

The issue with this item is that ADCs can easily outlifesteal the damage.

I think it should apply Grievous Wounds to combat this issue.

Perhaps. What I think could be done is make tt so thornmail automatically reduces the sustain gotten from attacking the champion who owns it. So it might not outright be dealing more damage, but sustain building champs are actually going to feel the oomph