Stack items

[nightmare 101]

So my playing style is very aggressive early game, I usually get a few kills before the 10 minute mark. When this happens, I pretty much always buy a stack item, but what i find strange is that people who do that well in the beginning don't usually go stack. With the reduced gold on repeated kills, stack items give a huge advantage in strength.

What got this on my mind, is that I was playing panth and I started buying both SotO and leviathan. Each game, they end up surrendering at 20 minutes because they are unable to kill me - and I have 20 stacks on 2 items. I would venture to say they aren't really fair in certain situations because the person stacking will basically become a god.

But that's just my 2 cents, if anyone else has input on the eligibility of stack items, i'd like to hear it!

[Avvatar]

I'm not sure if I've ever finished a game as carry Janna. The other team always surrenders. Before I can get any really fun items. Does that mean everyone should do it? Nah.

[nightmare 101]

I never think everyone should do it, but I do think that some people that consistently do well early game should consider picking up one of these items. If you're killing people in one rotation, then i think it's a great investment.

[NightFantom]

getting a snowball item means you paint a big bull's-eye on your forehead
i don't see snowball items being useful on anything that dies semi-fast, though it is certainly a decent tactic on beefy champs, assuming you can handle 3, 4 or even 5 of the enemy team at the same time

[nightmare 101]

getting a snowball item means you paint a big bull's-eye on your forehead
i don't see snowball items being useful on anything that dies semi-fast, though it is certainly a decent tactic on beefy champs, assuming you can handle 3, 4 or even 5 of the enemy team at the same time

I can agree that on squishy champs it can be a very dangerous situation, but on a champ that has good kill-ability and probably a stun, you can usually control a fight and get them running in 1 rotation. I'm thinking largely of pantheon, since his AOE + stun can tip the tides of a 2 v 1 with no trouble at all, especially with a stack item. I have had good results getting leviathan on him so far, giving me the ability to turret dive without a hitch.

[NightFantom]

my biggest problem with them, however, is that they only give one stat (or 2 at 20 stacks), while many other items give you a good mix of important stats like CDR, AS, regens/vampirisms, armor/mr, ...

if you can kill them in one rotation, CDR is probably wasted on you and more AD is only a bigger guaranteed kill, and panth doesn't really need any AS since he's more of an AD-based caster than an auto-attacker

as for defensive stats health is always important, but some armor/mr goes a long way
having a lot of health may discourage an enemy from engaging you, but if it drops with thousands at a time it just encourages them (many mundos, olafs and cho'gaths have felt this pain)
i'd encourage an atma's and/or that new hexdrinker upgrade for maximum unstoppability

so in short, on some champs they can be good, but most need the varies stats they can only get from non-snowball items

also by the numbers, the leviathan is by far the worst snowball item, unless you get it to 20 stacks reliably, consider getting frozen mallet or warmog's (also a kind of snowball item ) instead

[nightmare 101]

also by the numbers, the leviathan is by far the worst snowball item, unless you get it to 20 stacks reliably, consider getting frozen mallet or warmog's (also a kind of snowball item ) instead

That's for sure. It's only extremely effective at 20 stacks. I could imagine someone with full leviathan and ninja tabi could be unstoppable to an AD carry.

[bh :)]

snowball items are all about high risk high return- if i have an easy lane, and i get fed. a snowball item is my choice... but the problem is can you trust your teammates to be competent enough to not feed the enemy, and to know how to teamfight? dying 2-3 times is all it takes for a snowball item to diminish beyond being cost efficient compared to regular items.

if you have a competent team, snowball items excel, if you don't. you might be regretting the purchase

[NightFantom]

if you're against a competent team, a snowball item makes you a liability, which isn't too good either

[Rapscal Lion]

It's the only way to make LeBlanc relevant late game... by her snowballing so hard that they surrender at 20 and you have no late game.

[Platty]

LeBlanc relevant in the late game at ALL? I have yet to see this.

[NightFantom]

or just finish early

[BalthazarMcLovin]

what. Leblanc doesn't have the worst late game, she just works in the way that you fucking burst down their ad carry, Leblanc still has utility with her silence and ethereal chain, just because she can't 100 - 0 guaranteed like during mid game doesn't mean that she's horrible late game, her single target damage is still fucking incredible; especially with dfg. I don't understand why everyone says her late game is the shittiest thing ever, it really isn't. She's an assassin, sure she isn't as effective as an Akali, Kassadin or a Veigar late game, but she isn't shit.

[Platty]

I have seen a game go 20 minutes and an LB go 5-1-4... 10 minutes later, their ad carry was fed enough to kill her and she ended 7-9-13. She went from being a bursty mage, to a support.

I suppose support LB isnt bad, but she doesn't pack enough punch late game to do anything too much for her team. Sure she's able to pick a few people off here and there, but she's not a threat past 25 minutes.

[bh :)]

because LB doesnt have significant aoe she doesn't really classify at all as a good ap caster, balthazar had it right, she's meant to assassinate, it's just that assassins don't do much late game compared to an actual ap burst like ahri who can absolute dominate the enemy team with her high amounts of mobility, aoe, and utility.

not to say her position isnt bad, it's just that most assassins aren't very good late game unless they get fed (which they sure as hell better, considering that's their fucking job)