League of Legends can be a tricky game to play for a lot of reasons, but shopping for items seems to be a real challenge with some people. That’s what this guide is for — to suggest to you several hand-selected item purchases in-game that will make your gameplay that much better.
5. Sunfire Cape
Cost: 2650 gold total
It’s almost heresy to speak against the Sunfire Cape, a perennial favorite amongst summoners all around. You’d be hard-pressed to find a 5v5 without one, and there’s a good reason for that. Sunfire Cape not only adds +450 HP and +45 armor, but it deals passive magic damage per second to all nearby enemies. The amount of damage per second can range from 25 to 43, depending on your level.
The Recommendation: Pick up ASAP, and convince your team to do so as well since the AoE damage of every Sunfire Cape stacks on enemies — a full team of 5 Sunfire Capes at level 18 passively dishes out 215 magic damage per second, or 3225 damage after 15 seconds, to all enemies in range.
4. Rabadon’s Deathcap
Cost: 3300 gold total
Rabadon’s Deathcap is considered by most to be the must-have item for AP champs, and it’s not hard to see why. It grants the wearer +120 AP right off the bat, but it doesn’t stop there; the cap’s unique passive boosts your AP by +30%. That means if you have an AP-heavy item or two already, Rabadon’s can easily push you over 400 AP, and that makes any AP champ very deadly.
If you can afford it at a hefty 3300g total for the entire build, that is. Rabadon’s is not only notoriously powerful, but notoriously expensive, as well. This makes blitzes for early game Rabadon’s very rare, though most pub late games will see at the very least one cap in use. Beware of Magic Resist! The MR stat is a pure counter to Rabadon’s, dampening its entire usefulness in one fell swoop.
The Recommendation: A late game must-buy for AP champs, turning any AP-blast move into a devastating weapon.
3. Trinity Force
Cost: 3703 gold total
Say hello to the mother of all attack items: the Trinity Force. It’s a hybrid weapon designed to turn any champion into a fighter instantly. The pure state boots alone add AP, AD, attack speed, crit chance, HP, mana, and movement speed, which is the result of a merging three already advanced items.
If the long list of pure stat boosts doesn’t get your attention, then the two unique passives will. The first ability is Rage, which boosts movement speed for a very short period after landing a basic attack or enemy unit kill — as if you need it on top of boots and the built-in 8% boost already on Trinity Force. The second is Spellblade, which triples the damage done by a basic attack after using an ability with just a 2 second CD.
The Recommendation: If you’ve got a lot of gold to blow, Trinity Force will not disappoint. Some champs will not find this item useful, i.e. the very focused champs, but I’ve noticed my Jax shreds opponents with Spellblade without breaking a sweat thanks to boosted states all around.
2. Randuin’s Omen
Cost: 3000 gold total
A straight 3k gold will net you a Randuin’s Omen, one of the best items for staying alive. A +500 HP boost on top of +70 in armor makes taking down champs who sport Randuin’s a difficult task indeed. Both the passive and active will slow down your enemies, so this item can be useful for hard chasers who just can’t give the kill up.
The Recommendation: Do not get if you already have Sunfire Cape, as the cape will do well enough to bolster your armor and health and still allow you to deal damage passively. Randuin’s is all about stopping runners and pummeling them.
1. Frozen Heart
Cost: 2900 gold total
Frozen Heart is a lovely little piece that will bolster most builds quite well, adding a whopping +95 to armor, +400 to mana, and +20% to cooldown reduction. The stats alone are enough to convince me that this item is a terrific buy for just 2900g, but it gets even better with a unique passive that reduced the attack speed of nearby enemies by 20%.
Frozen Heart will add some durability to your champion, and keep mana reserves steady in fights so that the dreaded ‘OOM’ doesn’t have to stop you. Squishies might not find it quite as interesting (though I certainly do), but tanks will make the best use of this item.
The Recommendation: Frozen Heart will bolster anybody, but tanks will reap the most benefits. It’s a great investment against heavy hitting AD types.
