In what situation would you buy gp10's?

Question

Is there a particularly good time to buy gp10 items?

Is it more useful to buy them early and sell them later for a potential profit, and how long do you need the gp10 to actually make a profit from it? Because it takes awhile for them to be profitable, is buying them later in the game a bad idea?

Answer 1

As mentioned in comments, avarice blade on trynd, GP, Nocturne, or even Garen can work. Other than that, it's quite a niche item and isn't very cost-effective for other champs. They took out HoG, which was the only GP/10 item that worked well on EVERY champ :( . Philo stone works well on most tops that use mana, as well as EVERY support. As mentioned before, if you are planning on upgrading to either morelonomicon or DFG, Kage's lucky pick is worthwhile to get early on your AP Carry. (edit: just noticed it's part of athene's unholy grail while i was playing a match with Galio, good pick up for him, as well.)

Support should ALWAYS have a philo, as later game every support should have shurelya's.

It should be noted that GP/10 isn't common on jungler, with the exception of mana hungry ones, like Amumumu or Maokai, which benefit greatly from Philo, and then even moreso from Shurelya's later game.

SK gaming did a great write up on GP/10s here.

As for specific questions in the OP: Good time is earliest possible, I.E. I rush them before boots when i'm support. Later game they are generally a waste of inventory slot. Selling them isn't as cost effective as upgrading them to something relevant for your champion. Only time i would sell them is if I went something like 2 philo stones, upgrade one to shurelyas, sell the second one to get something else...

Answer 2

Here are some key points to have in mind:

• Things changed a bit in Season 3, especially for supports (see this other question for more details). GP10 is less important, as supporting becomes cheaper, thanks to items like Crystalline Flask (to keep you in shape) or Sightstone (to ward around) which you have to buy only once, instead of during the whole game.

• Remember also that such items take time to pay for themselves. It takes more than 20 minutes for any GP10 item to pay for itself, only after it brings you gold to spend on other items. So get them early.

• GP10 items bring you back only 50% of the cost (as opposed to 70% for other items) when you sell them, so they are not really a good "investment" if you don't plan on keeping them.

• The main rule (in my opinion) is that you should only get GP10 items which influence you directly, and almost only if you can upgrade them into an item which is useful to you.

Answer 3

I love gp10 items. The best 4 situations where you need buy gp10 are:

1. You are a Support. You must let your carry last hit all minions in your lane, and you need the extra income to help support.
2. You are far behind in your lane or in the game. If your lane opponent is denying your farming by zoning you out, you will need some gp10.
3. You are a bad farmer. While you are learning to farm better, stick with gp10!
4. You plan buy an upgrade to a gp10 item later in the game anyway, like Morellonomicon, etc.

Good Luck!