Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

To understand why buying AD is better than attack speed early on, here's a quick analysis:


Cost analysis:

Let's call the base AD k and attack speed s. The DPS of a champion through autoattacks is therefore ks. (hue)
Let's call bonus AD and bonus attack speed (%) r.

(k+d)s = k(1+0.01r)s


Small items:
Dagger: 12% attack speed for 400g
Attack speed unit cost = 400g/12% = 33.3 g/%
Long sword: 10 AD for 360g
AD unit cost = 360g/10 AD = 36 g/AD

Caitlyn has 50-101 base AD. Factoring in runes/masteries that brings it to about 65-130.
Her base attack speed is around 0.63-1.1.

Level 1:
(65+d)0.63 = 65(1+0.01r)0.63
d = 0.65r
AD is more efficient.

Level 9ish:
(100+d)0.85 = 100(1+0.01r)0.85
d = r
Both are equal now.

Level 18:
(130+d)1.1 = 130(1+0.01r)1.1
d = 1.3r
Attack speed is more efficient.


For bigger items:
Zeal: 18% attack speed for 1175g (equivalent to 23% after accounting for crit chance)
Attack speed unit cost = 1175g/23% = 51 g/%
Long sword: 45 AD for 1550g
AD unit cost = 360g/10 AD = 34 g/AD

Clearly, since attack speed got less efficient and AD got more efficient, AD is better. Since attack speed bonuses are calculated additively, it is less efficient as bonus attack speed increases.

1 attack speed (0.5 with 100% bonus) + 100% bonus = 1.5 attack speed (0.5 with 200% bonus)
1 attack speed (no bonus) + 100% bonus = 2 attack speed (1 with 100% bonus)

Therefore, the gold cost of attack speed items are not justified until there is enough AD to counter the cost.

Level 9ish with BF sword already:
(145+d)0.85 = 145(1+0.01r)0.85
d = 1.45r
Attack speed is extremely efficient.

Level 9ish with Zeal already:
(100+d)1.08 = 100(1+0.23+0.01r)0.85
d = 0.79r - 3.19
AD is more efficient.


So basically it's almost always better to buy AD first. Almost.


Mechanics analysis:

Back there we only factored in the damage and costs if two champions were to simply autoattack each other. However, most AD champions have AD ratios on their skills, which makes AD even better.

Even if some champions do have skills that scale with attack speed, skills which scale with AD have another advantage: poke. When a champion has something that scales with attack speed, they must autoattack constantly in order to make use of that. When you're chasing opponents, that attack speed won't be put to use, because there is a small delay between autoattacks where the champion stops moving, making it harder to catch up and keep optimal attack speed. AD skills, however, simply need to hit once, and the champion can then reposition as needed. Not only does this work for the skills, but autoattacks as well. Unless there is a significant difference in attack speed and/or movespeed, ranged AD champions typically can trade one autoattack each before backing up.

In the cost analysis above, I factored in crit chance equivalent to its cost and damage increase. However, when trading autoattack for autoattack, early on it is much more likely that you will not crit, which means you lose out on the crit chance you paid for. In the event you do crit, however, dealing extra damage equivalent to one autoattack doesn't mean much. Compare level 9-ish BF sword vs. crit: 2*100 - 145 = 55 extra damage. At 4% lifesteal, you can heal that up with about 10 autos on minions. It's not worth all of the extra benefits you get from buying AD first.

On top of all that, finishing large AD items gives you even more benefit, such as cost efficient damage (BT/IE), harder scaling (IE), lifesteal (BT), armor pen (LW), etc.

And hi19hi19 reminded me of another point I somehow missed:
So that's even more incentive to get more AD first.

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

Flat AD first also makes for more reliable last hitting. Never hurts to have.

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

fizz is fuckin BULLSHIT i love it

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

fuck these scaling ap skill shot mids get rekt by a 30/0/0 fish lil *****

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

lol maximumsblack getting carried by a diamond 1 elo booster playing on a silver account

"im not a booster, its a smurf"

100 games played ok

lost respect cya

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

Razor and I are making a team. Gold+ Only plz. We are both P2-P3.

Let us know.

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

yeah, just hit us up in game

looking for top, jungle and mid..

and have a flexible schedule plz

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

im still salty about Riot trying to shift Victorious ranked rewards to ranked 3s and 5s because bronze/silver shitters can't obtain them in solo queue

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

man all the requests for NA showmatches in the wake of the ogn ones make me realize how dull and devoid of personality the na scene is

seriously zuna fat jokes are basically the height of na competitive culture

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

lul my smurf is already in its gold promotionals and one of the wins i played veigar vs a leblanc

hilarious to watch dis low gold try to combo chains and crap meanwhile all i had to smash was dfg and R

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

ill play mid for you guys. id love to get back in the swing of things

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

people should play ranked with me before i actually get placed lul

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

because NA players are all conceited meta sheep that don't understand the game and are too lazy to put intellectual effort into a video game

at least EU has a little bit of creativity here and there

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

Vophie
Lvl:20
I suck ass

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

lomo

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

played Ashe with da team, stomped Cait/Leona lane ezpz

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

it sux because i have to wait for kr translations of theorycraft, or just watch replays, since /r/lolmeta is so shit compared to cn/kr

on my smurf, i luckily ran into this chick who moved from china who was doing her provisionals and though she didn't have the best mechanics she had insanely good awareness (which imo is the hardest part to teach)

would duo again/10

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

Nope, no solid opinion on this here joke yet.

Re: League of Legends [v2]
 

oh my god this game mode is so fun lol