With 107 different items you can pick for Summoner’s Rift, there are many ways to cater to your team’s needs, as well as methods for adapting to your enemies. Fun fact, League of Legends Wiki states that there are at least 2,392,407,864 item combinations in the game. With all these choices, there will obviously be combinations that are incredibly strong, as well as the ones that should never see the light of day. With that, let’s get into my top 5 item combos that should be used for your consideration.

5. Zhonya’s Hourglass/Athene’s Unholy Grail/Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

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TeamSoloMid's Reginald displays why everyone should use Zhonya's.

Okay, this combination is shameless self promotion of an item build I’ve become really fond of using. I feel this is the perfect opening combo on any bulky mage that will be on the frontline. The defensive stats are very well rounded, giving you a total of 500 health, 50 armor, and 36 magic resist for dealing with a wide variety of threats.

Each item gives you a great quality of life improvement as well, with Zhonya’s giving you a strong defensive cooldown, AUG giving you all the mana you will ever need, and Rylai’s giving you valuable utility with it’s slow capability. Even with all the defensive capacity of these items, you still gain a respectable amount of ability power and cooldown reduction as well, making sure you do not hit like a wet noodle.

The main weakness of this item build is going to be the cost, coming out to a total of 9155 gold to have all these items in your lineup. However, the item component allows you to build according to what the most immediate threat is. Tough AP Mid champion? Start with your AUG, via Chalice of Harmony for an early magic resist lead. Worried about a fed AD Carry in the works? Lead your Zhonya’s. Champions that benefit from this build include Swain, Annie, and Ahri. Substitute Abyssal Scepter in place of Athene’s Unholy Grail, and it can be viable for manaless champions, such as Rumble and Kennen.

4. Wriggle’s Lantern/ Wit’s End/ Frozen Mallet

TurboPasta makes an argument that disagrees with a Wriggle's on Skarner.

This is the AD equivalent of the above set, with some slight differences in stats and utility. Your defensive totals come out to 700 health, 30 armor, and 30(+20 from Wit’s End stacks) magic resist. You also gain some respectable offensive stats, with Frozen Mallet and Wriggle’s chipping in together to give you 43 attack damage, along with the 40% attack speed increase from Wit’s End.

The Wriggles will also give you some always useful lifesteal to give you a fair amount of sustain throughout the game. The item effects also give you some unique utility for certain situations. Wriggle’s proc is always sought after for faster clearing of major objectives on the map, along with a free ward every 3 minutes. Wit’s End proc serves as just more damage, but it is magic damage, meaning if someone is stacking armor against you, you’ll be very glad to have this. Then the always useful Frozen Mallet, allowing you to stick to targets like jelly.

Probably the main weakness of these items, sans the Frozen Mallet, is that they are not the best endgame choices. If you go with this build, you’re going to want to try to finish early, or else you’ll have to inevitably sell one of the items for a better choice, like Bloodthirster for Wriggle’s or Maw of Malmortius for Wit’s End.

However, it won’t be the worst loss in the world if you are forced down this route, as this build is very cost efficient, totaling in at a modest 7000 gold, with Frozen Mallet being almost half of the cost by itself. This build is most effective for top lane champions, such as Teemo, Udyr, and Irelia, but also has great use for some junglers, like Shyvana and Jarvan IV.

3. Warmog’s Armor OR Frozen Mallet/Atma’s Impaler

Renekton knows what's up.

A classic setup that still endures the test of time, although it is not as prevalent as it was when the Atma’s bonus attack damage was 2% rather than the current 1.5%. It is still a very good pair of items that serve to complement each other very well in both offensive and defensive regards. Often referred to either Atmog or Atmallet, the aim of this set is to acquire a large amount of health, while still gaining a fair amount of attack damage to make sure you are still a threat.

The main debate of this item comes from choosing either the Frozen Mallet or Warmog’s Armor. Warmog will give you the maximum amount of health, while providing a fair amount of health regeneration, all while costing 250 less gold than Frozen Mallet. However, Frozen Mallet enthusiasts would argue that the utility of the slow is worth the loss in raw stats. Regardless of which you choose first, more often than not, following up with the opposite item will be a good choice to increase your benefit from Atma’s. Most champions that build this route will also build a Force of Nature as well, rounding out your defense with a large magic resist bonus and powerful health per second regen due to the sheer amount of health you will have.

There’s a fairly large number of champions that can utilize an Atma’s based build, with Lee Sin, Gangplank, and Dr. Mundo to name a few. However, it can be viable with basically any bruiser that benefits from attack damage, from Renekton, Wukong, and even Nidalee.

2. Frozen Heart/Abyssal Scepter

Well, Cass is the best right now...

Another fantasic item combo that has been around over time, but probably not as popular as Atmog’s. It was showcased recently at MLG Anaheim by Counter Logic Gaming’s top lane substitute xHazzard on Malphite. This setup gives you a healthy defensive boost, granting 99 armor and 57 magic resist. It also gives a very fair offensive boost, with 70 ability power, 20% cooldown reduction, and 500 mana for maximum skill spamming.

The real value of these items, however, come from the powerful area of effect debuff auras, weakening the enemies ability to deal physical damage and receive magic damage. As mentioned, it can be used quite effectively by a top lane Malphite, but can also be useful on tanky, magic based champions such as Galio, Amumu, and, if you have the gold, even Taric.

1. Infinity Edge/Phantom Dancer

Amidoinitrite?

If there’s a dominant pair of items that have always been excellent, it’s these two. You’ll occasionally see an AD Carry opt for a Bloodthirster, or perhaps a Corki or Ezreal go for a Trinity Force instead, but generally it’s going to be these two most games. The focus of these items are going to be all out damage, with a touch of movement speed thrown in for additional chase/escape power. The critical strike damage buff from Infinity Edge, along with the flat critical chance increase from both IE and PD make this one of the best recipes for damage you can have for an attack damage champion.

Probably the biggest question when it comes to IE/PD for an AD Carry is what the build order will consist of. Most champions will want to stay in lane till they can afford the BF Sword component of IE, and rush straight for it, such as Tristana or Caitlyn. However, some champions, such as Vayne and Kog Maw, benefit a bit more from the attack speed off of an early Zeal, and will go that route. Regardless of the path taken, these two items are inevitably to end up in any AD Carry’s lineup, and it will most likely remain that way for patches to come.

That’s my top 5 this week. Come on over next time, where I will discuss the top 5 game changing ultimates. Thanks for reading!
-Emperata