AP Kog

Doran's Ring is fake. We don't need the AP, get better HP from the extra pots, and have enough mana pre-6 already. Better to get our items faster.

The idea for Sapphire Crystal is to crash wave 3 in a winning matchup and recall for early tear.

Otherwise we go Chalice of Harmony first and delay it for Boots of Speed if we need more speed to dodge or space something.

Ruby Crystal + Giant's Belt are usually good to buy before completing any items, as they enable us to survive burst and retaliate and chase with our high dps while their skills are down. Again, we don't need AP.

However we do need magic pen. Make sure our opponent is sitting on more than 40 MR so we get value out of it, because Haunting Guise + Sorcerer's Shoes + Runes + Masteries = 8% + 39 pen.

If the lane is a low threat poke war, we should skip Giant's Belt and complete Shushei's Mana Jug then Liandry's Torment, and win the war of attrition through our range advantage.

Muramana gives slightly more damage per gold on Living Artillery (R) than Seraph's Embrace does. The toggle essentially gives 120 AD to our basic attacks on full mana, 60 AD at half, and 30 AD at a quarter: save it for when we need it.

Shushei's Mana Jug is the best mana restore item in the game in combination with Tear of the Goddess, plus we can use that CDR to fire faster consecutive Living Artillery (R) shots, giving us more time to reposition after a round of bombardment.

Liandry's Torment's burn is the largest damage boost to Living Artillery (R) from any item, plus the 15 magic pen which is our best stat since it amplifies our base damage.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter doubles the Liandry burn and enables chaining our Living Artillery (R) shots: using the slow from each one to land the next one, which is possible starting from rank 2.

If our priority targets will soon have more than 70 MR (don't worry about the tanks), Void Staff does the best damage per gold so it is frequently a shoe-in for our 4th or 5th item.

1. Quicksilver Sash,

2. Guardian Angel,

3. Shushei's Mana Jug,

4. Abyssal Scepter,

5. Mercury's Treads + a teammate's Aegis of the Legion,

6. MR Glyphs + a teammate's Runic Bulwark

all get them above 70 MR.

Do not sell Sorcerer's Shoes. They are critical to maintain our speed edge, and the flat pen is still serviceable in the late game.

If you have the spare gold on last item, Seraph's Embrace is a better buy than Muramana. Just don't buy it for the shield, we should not be in range of any engages in the late game. If there's any danger, position a half-screen behind our team and have them make space for us to poke.

If we REALLY need to scale, get Seraph's Embrace 4th and Rabadon's Deathcap last.

However most of the time, we are better suited to rely on our base damage and closing out the game with a cheap utility item: Banner of Command to help us siege; Mikael's Crucible to save our adc; or Twin Shadows to shut down champs who just run us down like Rammus and Singed, or to setup our Living Artillery (R) chains if our teammates can't help us with that.

In a NARAM or a Baron dance situation, Morellonomicon can make our poke stick through lifesteal or a healing support. Liandry's Torment extends its duration to 7 seconds which is the same time it takes for our Living Artillery (R) to reset its cost and land another round of bombardment. However, this only works if we can get them below 40% in the first place, so it will not stop them from topping off if our poke game is weak.

Role Trouble

Old league has a much bigger gray area around what it means to support. Support items are not only made for "support", as in the designated babysitter (position 5 in Dota terminology). If we think about a team as having 2 primary carries who get the most resources, 2 off-carry or mixed players who are in the middle, and 1 pure support who gets no resources, then those middle 2 are the ones who actually should buy the most "support" items like Soul Shroud or Runic Bulwark. Even the 2nd primary carry can sometimes find a little room for supporting like we do with our last item.

We can take Annie as an example of a champ that could be played as a mid lane assassin for the first 3 items. But she falls off later in the game, and can easily transition into a more supportive role by grouping with the adc and passing off her inheritance rather than sitting in the side lane pretending to be young still. How many games have we all lost because the top laner still wanted to be him long after his time was up? We might even say: one is not born, but rather becomes a support.

Back to AP Kog

So that being said, we want to encourage our teammates to support us when it's our time to shine in the mid-late game (approaching level 16).

The Mana Manipulator passive has a different name on all 3 versions so they can stack all 3 of them.

I just noticed what Eleisa's Miracle does. Wow this item should actually be purchased by us if we are going full scaling. Buy this instead of the Chalice of Harmony and then get Chalice later. Even without Clarity it's good, just for getting the extra item slot.