item questions...

aLawfulFalafel·12/26/2014, 3:19:44 PM·2 votes·686 views

how come there are AP pen boots but no ad pen boots sure i can run faster and attack faster as an ADC but what if id like to run faster and hit harder also? imo there should be ad pen boots

also, how come last whisper ignores 35% armor while void staff ignores 30% MR? seeing as most tanks build more armor than MR 35% becomes significantly more than the 30% offered by void staff (not at all saying void staff is too weak)

also, how come there isnt an MR version of thornmail? high MR stats from a single item with a portion of the dmg returned to sender

also, how come the abyssal scepter looks so weak compared to a zhonyas? zhonyas has good armor, an awesome active, and a whopping 40 ap more where the abyssal has no active, less ap and its passive doesnt make up for the active AND loss of ap, one or the other sure, but not both. and please dont say its because one is cheaper than the other cuz thats my next question

just because abyssal is cheaper does that make it ok to be weaker? shouldnt they both be priced/have more comparable stats?

if the answer is super obvious to you then please just explain and not be troll, the knowledge will also help others im sure and we could end up on your team at any time so the more we understand items and their reasons for being (not just that they are) the more we can take advantage of our builds and our enemies builds

thank you

3 Comments

GundayMonday12/26/2014, 5:58:40 PM2 votes

The last whisper differences might be due to buildings, that need to be auto attacked (speeds up the destroying process). Otherwise, not sure why the items aren't normalized.

Magic thornmail would be interesting. Maybe something that stores damage (with a cap) instead of taking it, and letting you return a portion of it with an active?

Abyssal Scepter and Zhonyas do different jobs and are priced accordingly. Abyssal is honestly a very strong item on certain champs like Amumu Sejuani Katarina Fiddlesticks Swain that want to get in the middle of the fight and do area of effect damage. I'll often buy it on an ap tank out of the jungle to make my mid laner stronger. Combo works really well with champs like Xerath Azir Ziggs that like to poke from the backline with item 3135 item 3020 for pen in their build and item 3001 for pen in my build. Also, realize that abyssal has an aoe aura that removes other champion stats. So if you're in the middle of 5 enemies, it's worth A LOT more as an item than if you're laning with it. Zhonyas on the other hand is usually built for defensive reasons (sure you get a bit of AP, but you're building this for the active and armor). Like if you're against a Zed and want to not get popped by his ultimate, or if you're playing champs like Lissandra Katarina Diana and need to buy some time for your cooldowns to come back up for escapes/executes.

Anyway, abyssal is for aoe offense (sometimes by proxy), zhonyas more for single player defense. Hope that helps!