With current team comps will armor usualy be prioritized?

Question

I'm still learning LoL, though not a completely newb at this point. I play only support, mostly squishy ones, sorraka being the biggest one currently. Many guides will suggest "use these items for AD comps" and "use these items for AP comps"

However, it seems like when I tally up the champions AD champs usually out number AP champs. On bot you have an AD carry and a champ that us usually, but not always, AP; but who never scales in damage nearly as much as the carry. In jungle it seems tanky AD champs are common. Mid is usually AP, but then again top is often AD.

So it seems like most 'standard' team comps will have 3 AD (carry, jungle, and top) and only two AP (support and mid). And the carry's damage will likely be a greater risk then the support by mid to late game; I don't get to worry about rather to focus armor or MR until mid game, I have specific items like sightstone, boots and my money generator items to rush before that.

There are lots of really cool magic resist items, in fact It seems like the MR items all have cooler actives and just seem more fun; yet it seems like I'm going to often be focusing on armor with standard team comps.

I have therefor three questions. First, am I missing something in my calculations or undervaluing magic resist in these team comps?

second, how much magic resist is still worth building in a team comp like above? I shouldn't prioritize only armor and never get any MR, even if the team has more AD then AP, I assume?

Finally, how much should I prioritize scary ults into these calculations? It seems like some of the most devastating ults are AOE magic things. If a team is mostly AD, but they have a fiddlesticks and ammumu as their magic users (for some reason?) how much should I be prioritizing MR against the scary ult duo they can put out, vs worrying about the higher overall AD?

Answer 1

Experience, that's really the only way you will learn. What I will say though is that you should really not underestimate the damage just one AP mid laner can put out. Brand, Malzahar, Cassiopea, Ahri...they are all capable of destroying one target or even half your team very rapidly. Once that one target has been removed the rest can win a 5v4 team fight.

In the specific example you give of Amumu+Fiddlesticks then as a support you should build Locket of the Iron Solari. It will give your entire team magic resist and a team-wide shield that may well make the difference when that scary AoE damage hits.

Answer 2

Unfortunately this question is way to broad.

The answer depends on many things, including the champion you play, the enemy team setup and your positioning in fights. Damage type alone is not enough to determine itemization.

For example, if their only AP is LeBlanc you might want to get some MR otherwise she'll pick you off before a hard engage. If, on the other hand, their only AP is Twisted Fate and you are playing safe on the back line, you'll be fine with no MR items.

AoE AP champions usually are best dealt with using Locket since it protects both you and your team (it is less effective against single target AP casters though).

The above of course are valid if your positioning is good (e.g. not getting a full amumu combo on you), which shouldn't be hard assuming good warding.

Another factor is your setup. If you can kite them easily and they would need to invest a lot to get to the backline (e.g. they don't have too many gap-closers or assassins) you could even get away with a tiny amount of tanky items. If they do have lots of assassins, then you might need more tanky items.

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So the general rule here is:
Do you expect to get lots of damage from the enemy AP carry? If so, you will need MR as well. Otherwise, you will be fine only with armor and health items (stacking only armor without health doesn't increase your survivability that much).

Answer 3

It's really up to who is the most fat guy. Enemy vladimir's 6/0? Rush MR, take locket, banshee's etc. Enemy Yi's getting free kills off your jungler? Rush armour, frozen heart, Randuin's etc. Enemy ADC getting out of control? Rush Randuin's or Thornmail. Your team is doing fairly well and none of the enemy is fat? You can concentrate on providing more utility for your team, and if you are those tanky supports (Leona, Thresh, etc.) you should be ideally taking armour after your sightstone and gold item, unless enemy AP jungle or AP mid is camping your lane then you might want to take aegis instead. If you are AP support (Lux, Karma) then you should rush sightstone then throw away your gold item (it's not worth it usually to keep it) then go straight AP from there. If you are utility support (Janna etc.) then get some utility based items like Twin Shadows (for scouting and chasing) Locket (for the shield) Michael's (for the free QSS) Banner etc.

In conclusion it's really situational.

Answer 4

Depends of some factors, but they main one here is the current "meta" actually the meta is populated by:

• Top: Tank (Maokai, Gnar)
• Jungle: Tank (Shyvana, Hecarim)
• Mid: carry, AD(Zed) or AP(Ahri) but carry 99% of times, can be support (like Lulu)
• Support: Support is support doesn't change too much, but now here use to have either one with a high stun (Annie) or tank (Nautilus, Thresh, Alistar) if you look at the previous seasons you could see Kayle as support....
• Adc: The main carry, the pool here doesn't change too much, but with reworks, etc the situation changes, actually Sivir is one of the best, and Lucian "is out of meta" but 6 months ago (season 4) Lucian was the best one.

The value of this meta can change with each update from Riot, but usually changes during the change of the season.

Now is the season 5, for example, in the last season all teams tried to invade the enemy´s jungle, but now, we should start by the frog or our golems (sometiemes botlane take the golems, or toplane the wolves) .

Now, why they pick armor instead of weapons, the reason is simple the tanks are "the frontlane" which has to receive all impacts from the enemy's carries, then you have (for the teamplay) to build armor, and the carries only build offensive item (or one defensive).

Also there are some champs (Shyvana, Jax, Irelia, Hecarim) that if you build Randuin's Omen as second item (if the match is balanced) you "can't" die.

But this is the theory and how the pro players play, the situation in Solo Queue is different.