The Math Behind Tear of the Goddess and it's upgrades: Seraph's Embrace and Muramana

What are you really getting out of the stacking items that build from Tear of the Goddess? Well let us take a look into the wonderful world of mana.

Tear of the Goddess

Tear of the Goddes, or TotG for short, builds from a Mana Crystal [400G] + a Faerie Charm [180G] + 140G for a total cost of 720G. The base stats of TotG give us +250 mana, +25% base mana regen (BMR for short), and a unique passive called Mana Charge. Mana Charge gives +4 mana on spell cast or mana use (Which means on abilities that cost mana and are a toggle will stack as often as it uses mana such as Singed's Poison Trail) up to 2 times per 8 seconds, it also passively gives +1 Mana every 8 seconds even without spending mana or casting spells, and maxing at +750 Stacks. When fully stacked this item gives +1000 Mana.

Archangel's Staff and Seraph's Embrace

The AP (Ability Power) upgrade from TotG is called Archangel's Staff (Seraph's Embrace When fully stacked) and is made from TotG [720G] + Blasting Wand [860G] + and 1120G for a total cost of 2700G. The base stats of Archangel's are +60 AP, +250 Mana, +50% BMR, a unique passive called Insight which gives AP equal to 3% of the champions max mana (please note that when you first buy this item that it comes with +250 mana, this mana combined with Insight gives this item an extra 7.5 AP without any stacks. For every about every 33 stacks from Mana Charge you gain through this item you gain about +1 AP), and another similar unique passive of TotG and is still called Mana Charge which gives +8 mana for each spell cast and mana use up to 2 times per 8 seconds.

When Archangel's gets the maximum stacks of 750 it changes into Seraph's Embrace with out having to buy or go back to the shop. Seraph's Embrace no longer has Mana Charge but gives +1000 total mana (+250 mana from Archangel's base stats and +750 from stacks) and instead gives a new unique active called Mana Shield. Mana Shield uses 20% of your current mana to give you a shield for 3 seconds that is equal to 150 + the amount of mana used, this active has a 120 second cooldown. Once you have Seraph's Embrace you gain 30 AP from the Mana to AP conversion from Insight (Of course none of this is including your champions base stats). This item is great for most AP casters who are in constant need of mana or mass amounts of AP in the late game, you would see this item on Karthus, Singed, Ryze, and Nidalee.

Manamune and Muramana

The AD (Attack Damage) upgrade from TotG is called Manamune (Muramana when fully stacked) and is made from TotG [720G] + A Pickaxe [875G] + 625G for a total cost of 2200G. The base stats are +250 mana, +25 AD, +25% BMR, a unique passive called Awe which gives AD that is equal to 2% of your champions total mana (This is +1 AD per 50 Mana), and another unique passive called Mana Charge which gives +4 mana per: Basic Attack (Auto Attack), Spell Cast, or Mana Use up to 2 times per 8 seconds. Mana Charge caps at 750 stacks and then transforms into Muramana. When Manamune transforms into Muramana the Mana charge passive turns into just the base mana for the item and gives you a new Active Toggle (Toggles are similar to a normal active ability except you turn it on and off instead of it being single use and then going on cooldown) [This active does not have a name].

When this toggle is turned on it uses 3% of your current mana to deal bonus physical damage (AD is your total Attack Damage and Physical Damage is the damage that is dealt to the enemy unit) that is equal to twice the amount of mana used, this only deals damage and uses when you use a single target spell or basic attack. For example: Let's say you have 2000 max mana and 1500 current mana. Muramana will give 25 AD (base) + 40 AD (From Awe) + Champion Base Stats (CBS for short) = 65 + CBS AD. When you turn the toggle on you will consume 3% of the 1500 Current Mana when you use a single target spell or basic attack, this will use 45 mana and deal an extra 90 physical damage plus the damage from the abilty or basic attack.

Since the toggle used 45 mana you would then have 1455 current mana and would then deal a little less on the next use of the Toggle. Be careful when using this toggle as you can run out of mana fast if you do not pay attention, a good item to counter this effect is Essence Reaver (There is a Mini Guide of this item at the bottom of this article). This item goes great on basic attack oriented people who are also casters (use abilities a lot), you see this item mostly on Ezreal, Yorick, Urgot and Jayce.

Draw-backs

There are a few draw-backs to these items though. It takes a while for you to fully stack a lot of these and get their full benifits. So don't forget that sometimes other items are important to buy for you get the upgrade from TotG. If you feel confident enough in your early game to pick these items up then feel free too, but if you're worried that you don't have the time/patience then you can go for other mana items depending on the game. Always remember that time is key with stacking items and eventually you will outscale most other champions into the late game with these items. Don't get discuraged if you fall behind in the early game, just keep farming and making sure you are playing safe until you are really ready to fight.

Mini Guide on Essence Reaver

Essence Reaver (ER for short) is an underrated item that you do not see very often. ER builds from a B. F. Sword [1550G], a Vampiric Scepter [800G] ([440G]+ Long Sword [360G]) and 850G for a total cost of 3200G. The base stats for ER are +80 AD, +10% Life Steal, +10% Cooldown Reduction (CDR for short), and has a Unique passive that when you land a Basic Attack you regain between 2% and 8% of the physical damage that you dealt based on your missing mana. ER is a great item to pair with Manamune/Muramana and anyone who has a lot of ability spam that combines with your basic attacks, examples of this would be Gangplank, Ezreal, Draven, and Jayce. The passive of ER is also used on abilities that apply on-hit effects such as Gangplank's Parrrlay and Ezreal's Mystic Shot.

As always have fun out there on the Rift!