When learning to play a new game, more often than not the biggest stumbling block is the controls. However in MOBA games this is not the case, due to the origin of MOBA being a common RTS called Warcraft III the controls feel very familiar for many. The real stumbling block for most is the item store; this intimidating little set of menus is what allows you to choose how you want to play the game.

I’m sure that most people who are trying to introduce their friends to league have been probed about the best items to buy, because for the most part it is not a very self-explanatory part of the game. What I aim to do with this article is to explain some basic build theory and how your first few items can define your role for the remainder of the game for each of the “positions” within the game. I won’t be talking about mid lane or top lane because most of those builds are very specific to the champion and not the role and would basically merit its own article.

SUPPORTS

Support doesn’t have a ton of gold revenue to use on items so it is the most crucial that the first few buys be made with care. There are 3 main paths that supports can choose to take in terms of major itemization (this is of course omitting that all supports should buy a sight stone).

Firstly is the Relic Shield item path, this path is mostly for tanks who want to have nice defensive stats (Leona, Thresh, and Alistar for example) and also have a way to use their tanky stats to shield their teammates. This item path really is the pinnacle of all tanky support items.

Secondly is the Spellthief’s Edge item path, this path is devoted to all of the AP based magic damage dealers (Karma, Zyra, and Morgana for example). This item gives you gold for harassing in lane and in the late game gives you a nice mini slow ability to help control your opponents and set up for more of a late game damage (or even utility) role.

Finally is the ugly duckling of all of the support items, the ancient coin path. Until somewhat recently this item didn’t really have a place but now it’s had its own made for it with its recent addition of flat movement speed as a stat. Supports that want to make constant plays in lane and roam around the map with the bonus movement speed it provides. The late game of this item allows you to become a true initiator (and even disengager) for your team no matter what champion you are playing by simply allowing your team to turn on a dime and pounce on or run away from the other team.

Despite the roles that these support items will allow you to fill, it is important to remember to pick which one works the best for your champion in lane. For example taking relic shield on thresh is great if you wish to be a tanky disruptor, but if you struggle to last hit minions in order to utilize its passive it may not the best choice for you. On the other hand taking Spellthief’s Edge on Janna may not be the most useful pickup because of Janna’s very low damage values and poor damage scaling.

AD CARRY

With the new itemization for AD Carry champions the item store has become a scary place for most players. This section will be a little different because of the immense diversity of builds paths so I will just look at the first couple item pairings that are common for the major styles of AD Carry and then address the more bizarre builds separately.

Firstly is the flavor of the month build of Youmuu’s Ghostblade and Blade of the Ruined King combo. These items both have actives and therefore allow for amazing pick potential and damage spikes for brief periods of time. If you want to dominate the game and make your mark after only two items then this is the path for you to choose.

Next is the Infinity Edge rush, this build requires you to use the Lifesteal on Doran’s blade to stay alive long enough to buy the most expensive item in the game (no, not mercurial scimitar) right away. If you want to feel like a late game AD Carry as quick as possible then this is what you want to be doing.

It is also quite important to understand that these two builds are oriented to very popular champions that are able to use them effectively. For example Lucian and Twitch both use the Youmuu’s Blade of the Ruined King combo very effectively; however someone like Caitlyn would not. On the other hand, Caitlyn could use the Infinity Edge rush path very effectively.

The last type of build is the more obscure builds. These include the Vayne builds that involve stacking as much attack speed as early as possible (think Blade of the Ruined King into Phantom Dancer). This build is so specific to Vayne because the more attack speed you build the better you can take down tanks. Another niche build is Tristana and her early Static Shiv build, this build only exists to allow Tristana to get through the beginning of the game without having to be scared of dying in lane. Both of these builds are weird but keep in mind they exist and are 100% champion specific. Despite these bizarre builds existing it is extremely important to realize that they only exist to further solidify a champion’s role as a damage dealer based on their kit and not any other factors.

TRINITY FORCE

This item is bizarre to say the least, so bizarre in fact it gets its own section. This item gives so many stats that it seems like a jack of all trades master of none type of item. In reality this item has a relatively specific group of champions that buy it and these champions will always buy it…no matter what, this list includes the likes of Irelia and Jax as well as many AD Carry champion like Ezreal and Corki. This item doesn’t really define a role for your champion in any way but what it does is highlight your champion’s strengths if they mesh well with the hodge-podge collection of stats and passives that Trinity Force boasts. The key factor to look for when choosing whether or not to pick up Trinity Force is first and foremost a low Cooldown/auto attack resetting ability (such as Jax’s Empower (W) ) or an on hit effect applying skill (like Ezreal’s Mystic Shot (Q) ).

JUNGLERS

Hurray, another group with items they have to buy based on their role. Junglers have their choice of 4 items, each of these items are very specifically designed for certain roles.

First up is Wriggles Lantern, this item is for junglers that want to solo carry and benefit from attack speed (Master Yi Rengar Nocturne for example) these junglers will likely opt to not gank as much as their counterparts in order to get enough damage to reliably duel solo laners. If you want to be greedy and try and carry from the jungle without stepping foot on a lane then this is for you.

Next is Spirit of the Spectral Wraith. This item is for AP junglers. If you build AP and are a jungler then buy this item because…well just trust me you want this one. The only exception I can think of is Evelynn but she is just weird like that so don’t worry about it.

Spirit of the Ancient Golem has been reworked to be much stronger and is essentially your only choice if you are a tanky low damage jungler. This is because it allows you to clear the jungle faster by tanking damage while also coming with a handy dandy ward. If you want to gank lanes a ton with tanky junglers without having to worry about jungle clearing speed suffering then grab this item.

Last of is Spirit of the Elder Lizard, this item is great for any jungler than can use the AD on this item as well as our friend Evelynn. This item solidifies an early advantage while also providing a scaling true damage burn to keep the item relevant as you scale throughout the game. This item is the go to for most aggressive early junglers and allows for domination throughout the midgame because of its very high synergy with ad casters.

THE ESSENCE REAVER DILEMMA

Well this article may have seemed like a “buy this item if” type of guide what I really want to do is go beyond just the core stats of the item and describe what role the item fills for each position. For example, many people want to buy an item for the stats it gives and not its passive.

There is no better an example for this phenomenon than what I like to call “The Essence Reaver Dilemma”. On the surface Essence Reaver seems like a great item: with 80 AD, 10% CDR, 10% Lifesteal and a way to gain Mana back this item seems like a no brainer. The unfortunate oversight most players make is seeing the great raw stats and ignoring the items lack of damage amplification passive or real combat assisting passive.

For example, Infinity Edge has the same AD but instead of the other stat types it has Critical Hit Chance and it’s passive amplifies critical strike damage. This is where the problem for Essence Reaver becomes abundantly clear, the damage that Infinity Edge gives goes beyond the item itself because the more Critical Hit Chance you buy the more useful the passive becomes whereas Essence Reaver is locked in at its face value stats.

Even Bloodthirster has bonus Lifesteal greater than any item as well as a shield for sieging that is very strong on long range AD Carries. This makes Bloodthirster another better alternative to Essence Reaver as a singular item (especially when rushed). On top of the stats and passives that Bloodthirster give it is also key to note that Bloodthirster fits into builds as a more defensive item that also provides offensive stats.

As for Items defining the role you intend to play Essence Reaver is an item that carves out a very weird space for itself, its only real purpose is to allow champions with Mana problems (such as Jayce and Ezreal) who scale with AD to harass and siege a little bit better. Ultimately this role is a role that is not conducive to winning games since if more damage were taken it would increase the efficiency of each Mana point spent on a skill or just require less Mana points be spend in taking down the other team.

FINAL REMARKS

While I don’t intend on having everyone build the same items every single game I just wanted to spread some understanding as to why certain build paths are taken consistently across multiple games. Building common items should not be done because they are commonly built within the role but because they work for the specific champion being played. In an ideal world all the players in the community would really think about what they built before they built it but sadly some players are just far too intimidated or just don’t have the time to theory craft, but to those players I implore you to take a second to really think about your common purchases and I’m sure you will find more success.