Why Essence Reaver is a GOOD item and should be taken over BT on many champions

IonCannonKarthus·Jul 18, 2014·30 votes·7,554 views

Alright, I've been seeing a lot of hate against Essence Reaver, most people are saying that it's passive is intended for early game when mana is an issue. I have to ask those people, how often have you been on a mana hungry champion late game and gone OOM and lost a fight because of it? Don't expect me to believe that you will have blue buff late game and to "manage your mana" Managing your mana is for laning phase and split pushing. There is no "mana conservation" going on in team fights or skirmishes, you want to deal as much damage as you possible can in as little time as you can throughout the entire game and you STILL want to be able to participate in longer engages and fights that happen before you can recall. What item solves this for ADs? Essence Reaver.

One of the arguments that I've seen against current Essence Reaver is that since you already bought the item, you are going to want to spam your abilities and not auto attack. This is entirely untrue for most cases and I'll go through a lot of them.

Is a prime example of a champion who will want to use Essence Reaver because he is very mana hungry and spam happy. What does Jayce usually build? and . Jayce Is not just an ability spammer, he is also an avid auto attacker, just look at his W if you think I'm wrong, the man is literally forced to auto attack for optimal DPS and wants as much CDR as he can muster all game long, Essence Reaver fixes this for him.

Is another who is like this. What does he need to be effective? CDR and immediate Mana back because even though his E has no mana cost, we all know how spam happy current Lucian is and his Q and W's mana costs WILL add up over longer engages. Plus, his passive allows him to get even more mana back because it hits twice.

Now you can tell me that this crab never auto attacks in fights, but then you'd also be admitting to me that you haven't played him since Riot nerfed him oh so long ago. I shouldn't have to go into detail on him.

If you think Ezreal doesn't auto attack enough to make use of the passive, you are a terrible Ezreal and you never utilize your passive. If you need further evidence that Ezreal makes good use of Essence Reaver, remember that his Q procs the mana return.

He's a Trinity Force user, he fires an ability and auto attacks over and over for sheen procs and optimal DPS. What does Essence Reaver do for the people who need to constantly use their sheen procs? It helps them keep spamming abilities by giving them more mana. Go ahead, go play Bloodthirster Corki on live at the moment and then go play Essence Reaver Corki and compare the two.

Alas, poor Yorick. If you don't think he auto attacks, remind me why Trinity Force or Frozen Fist are staple items on him?

Overall the Essence Reaver has the same AD as Bloodthirster and apart from their passives, the only real difference is that Bloodthirster has 10% more lifesteal while Essence Reaver has 10% more CDR. Which stat do you think Talon would actually prefer since he already has his Hydra's 12% lifesteal. Did I mention that Essence Reaver is 100 gold cheaper?

If you EVER built Bloodthirster on him for whatever reason compared to other, better items, then you will most likely understand that maybe Essence Reaver is a better item on him. I wouldn't personally build either item on him myself, but personal preference.

He's a pirate, any item except Hurricane is viable on him, ANY ITEM, even Ohmwrecker and Ardent Censer.

I've seen it used to great effect on these champions, mostly because Varus is half caster and MF can put out some serious damage with her Q. Just saying what I've seen since the last patch, don't build it myself but it's viable. Comes down to shield and more ls vs mana and CDR.

AD TF is still a thing, don't hate on TF players who try to keep up their tradition.

This chicks mana costs, oh dear lord. I'd gladly take Essence Reaver over Bloodthirster on her any day.

Whatever world you live in where you can successfully get a blood thirster on these guys you can definitely use an Essence Reaver because oh dear lord are they spam happy or mana hungry.

"lol w0t, graves?!" Have you ever wanted to be as mobile as the current Lucian without having to worry about mana costs all while having a shotgun AND Tenacity? Look no further, mobility Graves is here for you! Trust me, this works, sacrifice your crit to be a god. If you are feeling extra special, trade out for or even ,, . Don't knock it till you try it.

Things to take away from this. Essence Reaver has the same AD as a Bloodthirster with only 10% LS instead of 20% and 10% CDR in exchange. Bloodthirster has the shield which is great on champions who are fully focused on auto attacking, like Draven, Vayne, Tristana and Kog'maw. But for champions who need to use their abilities to increase their DPS to be optimal will find that Essence Reaver is a better choice, and its 100 gold cheaper.

60 Comments

5G8Nri0B54Jul 18, 20145 votes

Here is the thing you don't understand about Essence Reaver. The champion who buys this item is a champion who has mana problem late game. Except NO AD champions have mana problems late game if you're playing them right. Not even Jinx or Ezreal.

As for Jayce Jayce , people got a Muramana item 3042 on him not because it's particularly good on him, but because he has severe mana problems in lane, hence why Tear is gotten sometimes. Essence Reaver on the other hand is gotten LONG past the laning phase.

In short. Late game item. Early game problem.

You could argue that Essence Reaver is more attractive than BT in some instances, but the problem would lie moreso in BT's design flaw rather than Reaver being any useful.

IonCannonKarthusJul 18, 20144 votes

Or the champion who buys this item is also a champion who values 10% CDR and 10% LS more than 20% LS.

OrinneJul 18, 201411 votes

The mana return on Essence Reaver should be considered a bonus effect, and not the main reason you're getting this item, especially now that it has the standard top-tier 80 AD value. The item also doesn't have a bad or awkward path, sporting the same recipe as Bloodthirster item 3072 .

I think the main thing that people don't notice is how significant 10% CDR actually is, especially since cooldown is a awkward stat to build towards if you're anyone that isn't a mage or a support. Remember when Blue Ezreal was popular? Part of the reason was because his general build let him hit 30-40% CDR easily which gave his mystic shot an effective 1.4 second cooldown.

The 10% lifesteal loss isn't that consequential because lifesteal isn't as strong in a teamfight. I find it's more useful when sustaining between fights off minions.

Put simply, while BT is a better buy at a glance, Essence Reaver still has its own strengths against it.

kylerayner8Jul 18, 20142 votes

In my mind, this is the key. Now that it competes with BT for total AD, it's a more nuanced choice than it has been previously. It's not an item for everyone. It's not even an item for most people. Jayce is a good example of someone who might want it though. CDR helps out his spells. The mana return is probably just enough to make siegeing without a tear manageable, and the flat AD makes his spellcasts hurt. Plus, it lets you build a vamp scepter for laning sustain, but doesn't lock you in to a BT/BoRK.

On the other hand, BT's shield would be helpful if you're planning to dive in a little earlier after charging it up.

I think for right now, Essence Reaver is positioned as an item that will be picked up depending on play-style, not because it's a generally strong item.

OrinneJul 18, 20144 votes

Exactly, and these are the kind of items League needs; niche items that aren't so niche that general buys like Bloodthrister and Infinity Edge are better in 95% of all cases.

Viro MelchiorJul 19, 20141 votes

In my mind, this is the key. Now that it competes with BT for total AD, it's a more nuanced choice than it has been previously. It's not an item for everyone. It's not even an item for most people. Jayce is a good example of someone who might want it though. CDR helps out his spells. The mana return is probably just enough to make siegeing without a tear manageable, and the flat AD makes his spellcasts hurt. Plus, it lets you build a vamp scepter for laning sustain, but doesn't lock you in to a BT/BoRK.

On the other hand, BT's shield would be helpful if you're planning to dive in a little earlier after charging it up.

I think for right now, Essence Reaver is positioned as an item that will be picked up depending on play-style, not because it's a generally strong item.

Personally, I like the synergy between item 3508 and item 3042 for non-ADC champions (such as Talon , Jayce , and burst-focused versions of Ezreal or Lucian (usually in the mid lane).

They're both strong AD items (80 and 65+). 65 minimum based on Ezreal with only Muramana built. Essence Reaver includes lifesteal, allowing you to delay any other desired lifesteal items til mid/late game. Essence Reaver heals more mana the lower you go, and Muramana eats through your mana fast, in order to do more damage. Both have good gold:rawAD ratios: item 1036 36:1 item 1037 35:1 item 1038 31:1 item 3508 37:1 (removed 10 AD, and 800g since that's a vamp scepter, would be 42:1 otherwise) item 3042 34:1 (counted all the mana stats as "wasted" gold, so this value is literally JUST the attack damage, and the true passive (not the toggle).

Short of stacking item 1038 s, you can't get more AD for your gold.

Sooiga IboogieJul 18, 20142 votes

With the most recent patch, I agree that Essence Reaver is now a very good item. The original 60 AD was a bit weird; it made it a niche item. Now that it's comparable to BT in its AD stat, it's certainly not a bad thing to get on anybody anymore, assuming you thought that BT was worth getting to begin with. But it's silly to say that BT's bad.

The CDR really is the determining factor in getting Essence Reaver over BT, in my opinion. The champions who make a very good amount of use with it are casters, and obviously CDR on casters is great. The mana eating part? Eh. It's great too. You really should just build it on people who need CDR though. The mana-stealing part is just a plus, and it makes the item even more delectable.

BT should be for the losers who think they're going to die (or people who don't really benefit from Essence Reaver), and Essence Reaver should be for the cool, quick kids.

12talesJul 18, 20142 votes

Essence Reaver is not a good item for maximizing your damage output - pretty much regardless of the circumstances, another item is going to do that better. There are some champs like Corki that don't suffer too much from building it now that it's been buffed, but it's important to understand that its utility is what makes it good. If you just want CDR, Lifesteal and a bit of AD, go for a BotRK Ghostblade build and call it a day.

Cloud PotatoJul 18, 20142 votes

I agree with you that it's a situational LS item that competes with BT. BT is now a very defensive item whereas ER is an all-in-one sustain item. While I don't agree with all your champions you suggest, it's not terrible on a single one, since, hey, 80 AD and 10% CDR is a pretty good combo. Plus, that Graves build is awesome. One champion that isn't on your list that loves the item is Sivir. You can spam Q and W a lot more and become less reliant on using E to solve your mana issues.

To speak more broadly, I agree with the general sentiment that not a lot of champions have mana issues when you can complete it, but you can say goodbye to mana management if you buy it, which is a pretty nice thing. There are plenty of champions who get a lot more freedom with their ability use, and unlike, say, Athenes, you aren't paying damage output for that luxury. The build path is terrible, but so is BT's. Overall I think it's a good item that does what it says well, and it makes 40% CDR easier to reach, which i always appreciate.

MrBuffingtonJul 18, 20141 votes

I rather enjoyed ER on Sivir. Her mana costs are so high right now that laning can be difficult if you don't block some spells with E, but once you get ER you can WQ waveclear all day no problem.

MercyzJul 18, 20142 votes

There is not much credibility for this post from you, You are silver and rarely play competetively(Ranked) Furthur more it isnt that fair to compair a ad items that gives mana to a ad item that gives lifesteal, They are both in different ball parks pertaining to different champion pools

SilverclawJul 19, 20142 votes

Both are AD items that give lifeteal.

Rukimedes ShodaiJul 19, 20142 votes

The beauty of item 3508 the way I see it is not in it's passive, sure it is unique in it's own right and is great on specific champions but the beauty is in the cool down reduction it provides. I personally do not value the shield of item 3072 highly and cool down reduction is invaluable to most of the champions that CAN use this item and use it well.

12talesJul 18, 20141 votes

Runaan's Hurricane without any on hit effects seems odd to me. I guess having your dash more often than not is nice, but it seems like BotRK would be too good to pass up on that build. The active also makes you even more mobile.

Also, what build order are you using? None of those items are amazingly good rushes.

(essence reaver is really bad on ADC Lucian, btw. Viable on Mid Lucian, but you're giving up way too much damage by building it for it to be a viable ADC item.)

IonCannonKarthusJul 18, 20141 votes

Essence Reaver into Hurricane and then decide to get Zephyr or LW. Hurricane or Zephyr can be swapped around easily though. Always rush Essence Reaver, it IS your blood thirster and you want to make use of the passive as soon as possible.

I personally would rather take BT over Bork because of the 30% Lifesteal on all 3 procs would have an easy time of over healing in a fight and if you add BorK to it, your E will put you over the AS cap and I personally don't like paying for excessive stats. Plus, it's Graves, you still want your abilities to hurt and the 55 more AD will go towards that.

12talesJul 18, 20143 votes

Yeah, ran the numbers - that build is significantly worse than the standard Blade Ghostblade, even if you're landing every single one of your Runaan's procs on priority targets. It's definitely more mobile, but - understand that you're giving up a lot of damage if you go that route. Like, against an enemy ADC, you're going to be operating at around 75-80% of the double Blade build's DPS/Gold spent, and about 55% of the double Blade build's burst damage (again, this is with every single Runaan's proc landing on an enemy champion). Against tanks, you're somewhat better off, with about 95% as much DPS/GP and about 70% as much burst/GP, but still - you're gimping yourself really, really hard by building that way.

The math if you want to see for yourself

IonCannonKarthusJul 18, 20141 votes

The build was only really designed to be a safer, more mobile build than the double blades while still achieving more overall DPS than the standard IE/BT/PD/Zerks build, and it achieves that. It is also "safer" than the double blades because it has more MS along with higher total lifesteal per second when hitting at least 2 targets.

Also, you "may" be giving the 20 flat armor penetration on Youmu's a higher damage increase than warranted, especially against front liners like Renekton, and Shyvana who will, in most cases be running 230 armor minimum at full build(Sunfire and Randuins with 21 points in defense and armor seals). I say this because flat armor pen has a significant value drop off that is mostly due to armor's own defensive value drop off after 100 armor is attained.

12talesJul 18, 20141 votes

Sure, sure. Just understand that your damage output is pretty bad.

And I'm not. The math's right there if you want to check. 'Enemy Armor' is one of the statistics used to determine how much damage armor pen is giving you.

KingSmizzyJul 20, 20141 votes

Hurricane on graves is a disgustingly wrong choice, graves is an AD burster and if youre going to build AS at all it should either be item 3087 or item 3153 . Building excessive AS is one of the follies of the newbie ADC players, especially since graves already has AS buffs in his kit.

IonCannonKarthusJul 20, 20141 votes

The entire point of the hurricane is for 3 seconds off your E CD every auto attack instead of 1.

SilverclawJul 18, 20141 votes

As a Graves main, I personally think the best Graves build is item 3508 item 3006 item 3087 item 3031 item 3035 item 3072 , as Graves scales VERY WELL with AD, you'll have over 400 AD when all is said and done.

Can you say burst, everyone? Also, Wukong doesn't like bloodthirster - he gets off very few autos in a fight, so Essence Reaver doesn't really work for him.

IonCannonKarthusJul 18, 20141 votes

The Graves build in the post was mostly for the novelty of spamming your E every 2 seconds.

I think Wukong would appreciate the CDR on Essence Reaver more than the mana passive and that's why he would get it over BT, if he ever had a reason to.

SilverclawJul 18, 20141 votes

But you can get CDR from Black Cleaver (and it's better on him than Essence Reaver in every aspect) - in fact, going BC, Elder Lizard, Ionian, 5% elsewher gives you max.

IonCannonKarthusJul 18, 20141 votes

I meant like, a top lane Wukong that previously would've built a bloodthirster ;~;

SilverclawJul 18, 20141 votes

BT over Hydra? Never.

titillating kiwiJul 18, 20141 votes

Even though Essense Reaver did get buffed with more damage, BT did get buffed as well as a nerfed shield amount: LIFE STEAL 15% ⇒ 20% <------- 2x the amount of Essesnce Reaver newUNIQUENESS Life Steal is now UNIQUE BLOODY SHIELD 50 - 440 ⇒ 50 - 350 <------- Lower amount TIME BEFORE SHIELD DECAYS 15 seconds ⇒ 25 seconds <------- Longer to decay

Essence Reaver does help with mana, although for the adc champions that are not too mana hungry should stick with BT as a priority over ER.

IonCannonKarthusJul 18, 20141 votes

Agreed, but I'm pretty sure that was intended to give ADCs better itemization options and Essence Reaver solves this by being a replacement for bloodthirster for some champions.

titillating kiwiJul 18, 20141 votes

Yea, I mean for the adc champions that do not rely too much on abilties. Twitch is an example.

IonCannonKarthusJul 18, 20141 votes

Mhm, that's why I didn't mention it for him, because its not designed for him. The point was to show people that there are quite a few champions that are good with it, rather than just the standard "Jayce/Ez/Urgot/Lucian" comments

titillating kiwiJul 18, 20141 votes

Aight ya. I was getting caught up with just BT versus ER. :P

CheeseskyJul 18, 20141 votes

Isn't kog a spam happy adc? why didn't you include him here?

ShenronJul 18, 20141 votes

From what I've seen most Kogs don't usually incorporate BT into their builds, instead opting for BorK and IE, could be why the OP forgot about him.

Cloud PotatoJul 18, 20142 votes

Kog isn't a bad choice for ER but most of Kog's mana is spent on R spamming for poke, and when he is doing so he won't be able to autoattack very often, and when he does he wants to deal as much damage as possible, and there are better items for autoattack power.

CheeseskyJul 18, 20141 votes

i see. it makes sense. thanks!

GavranJul 18, 20141 votes

I did buy it on Varus vs Doom Bots (tier 2) and carried pretty hard, but I bought it because I had an afk lane partner and I was desperate to sustain and poke against targets that do push a lot but don't dive a lot. Hard to say how well it'd have worked in a real game. I might try it again, but there are a bunch on your list that I totally disagree with too. That is, disagree that they should build it - not necessarily disagree that it's better than BT for them.

March of DimesJul 18, 20141 votes

Comparing the item to Bloodthirster isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.

Sir ArmaMalumJul 18, 20141 votes

Psssst. Udyr loves ER as well. CDR for faster switches and the mana return let's you spam bear stance for faster transit very well.

IonCannonKarthusJul 18, 20141 votes

I was hoping that most Udyr players would just go their standard DPS so I wouldn't have to worry about talking about Glass Udyrs

Jean Never WinsJul 18, 20141 votes

not bad on yi either can really go all out in fights with ult+alpha strike/meditate spam

IonCannonKarthusJul 18, 20143 votes

Yi is one champion where I would NOT reccomend Essence Reaver over Bloodthirster, simply because you WILL be in the shit and you WILL want that 10% more lifesteal and chance of overhealing WAAAAAY more

KingSmizzyJul 20, 20141 votes

I would rather have item 3142 item 3153 on Yi because of the synergy he gets from the AS and the MS as well as the slow. So much chase potential

NebuulJul 18, 20141 votes

Poppy uses item 3153 or item 3146 , never item 3072 . For AD poppy, you are comparing 55 AD + mana leech + 10% CDR to 40% AS + on-hit + active. For AP poppy, you are comparing 35 AD + mana leech + 10% CDR to 65 AP + active + spell vamp.

Both are tough calls. Both the mana leech and the CDR are in fact very nice, but the actives on the current two choices are so good with Poppy's ult that it would be hard to justify giving them up.

IonCannonKarthusJul 18, 20141 votes

It was just comparison vs BT on her. I personally take Gunblade, but that's just me.

Dragon Fang ShotJul 18, 20141 votes

I was a bit worried you would forget about Graves.He's my min ADC, and I find ER is a great buy for him since I always run out of mana on him.

Also, I think the basic gist of what you're saying is "if you'd get them Trinity Force/Iceborn Guantlet, get them an ER as well."

acepil0tJul 18, 20141 votes

I had hoped that the patch to item 3508 would make it an early game item, because that is where its passive is most useful. Maybe still building from vamp scepter and pickaxe but with only 40 AD and a lot less expensive would make this a good early item on many AD casters.

Sire HippingtonJul 18, 20141 votes

pretty true that on many champs them ER is better than BT, but honestly on most of them neither item is a great choice...

bzhen0915Jul 19, 20141 votes

BT is never a good item first buy in patch 4.10 and later. While essence reaver is a great alternative for some champs, IE definitely brings out much more damage on champions like graves and lucian and usually I would rush IE on those adcs, (maybe botrk on lucian other times)

Essence reaver should be taken over BT, but IE should be taking over essence reaver, at least on adcs.

Cloud PotatoJul 19, 20141 votes

IE does more autoattack damage but ER lets you throw out more abilities over time. There isn't really a right choice, although I think you should pretty much always get IE somewhere in a build.

SnupeJul 20, 20141 votes

I agree that there needs to be a smaller item before upgrading to Essence Reaver that has a weaker passive.

KingSmizzyJul 20, 20141 votes

Graves Top Lane item 3508 item 3006 item 3153 item 3072 item 3071 item 3143

Ive won a few games with it but i cant say its because of the build/champ or because of my skill.

Essence reaver has difficulties proving itself as an actual mana regen item because it only restores 2-8% of damage dealt as mana. Meaning if youre auto attacking minions you'll be doing maybe 120 dmg and only regening 4 mana a hit. If you're spamming 100 mana buckshots then 4 mana per auto isnt going to help.