Mid Lane Itemization Analysis Part 2: AD Assassins

Sometimes, all you want to do is kill things fast. Specifically, you want to kill squishy carries fast. If that's your goal, then you may want to look into picking an AD assassin the next time you visit the mid lane. Assassins excel at explosive burst and misdirection, blinking into the backline to pop a carry before disappearing into a bush or proccing a reset to destroy the rest of the team. If this sounds like something you want to do, lock in a Zed or Talon the next time your in champ select.

"But Nova, what do I build on AD assassins? I only know how to play mages!"  Don't worry, I've got you covered. 

This article will focus on the more conventional, more popular picks for AD assassins, though I'm sure if you really wanted to walk that path, six Bloodthirsters could be an effective build. 

Foreword: The following items and their stats are specifically the versions found on Summoner's Rift. On other maps such as the Crystal Scar or Twisted Treeline, some items may have different names and stats.

 

Doran's Blade: 

The most basic starting item for anyone interested in attack damage, the Doran's Blade is an extremely cost efficient and effective little dagger for a first buy and in the early game in general. Netting you 70HP, 7AD and 3% lifesteal, Doran's Blade is particularly strong for mitigating early harass. The health makes you a bit more resilient and your auto attacks will give you a bit back through the lifesteal. In raw stats, you will be stronger with a Doran's Blade than an opponent will be without one when laning is just starting. Not much else to say about this one. If you value early game stats, pick it up. If not, maybe try a Long Sword and 3 pots for sustain and a progressable item slot.

 

Blade of the Ruined King:

As an assassin, raw damage is your main export. The obvious, most efficient way for an enemy to survive your damage is to simply not take it. That means running away from you any chance they get. That's where the BotRK can help you out. Blade of the Ruined King has one of the strongest actives in the game for AD Assassins.

The active states that it drains target champion, dealing 10% of the target's maximum health in physical damage (min. 100) and healing you for the damage dealt. Additionally you steal 25% of their movement speed for 3 seconds - 90 second cooldown. This active is effective at 450 range. This means that as long as you can get within range to activate it, all of a sudden your enemy is slower, you're faster and they've already lost 10% of their health with you barely making an effort. Plus, the BotRK has a unique passive as well!

Your auto attacks will deal 8% of the targets current health in physical damage, perfect if you find all the carries dead at your feet and you've set your sights on a bruiser. Add in 25 AD, 10% lifesteal and 40% attack speed and you've got the perfect storm for that clean penta you've always wanted. Have I sold you on the blade yet? Pick one up! 

 

Youmuu's Ghostblade:

A lot can be said for the Ghostblade. One of the major factors that will affect your buy patterns is how much gold you return to base with when you back. The Ghostblade is generally a very clean buy because it's made up of affordable items. You can almost always afford a piece of the Ghsotblade when you back.

With 360g for a Long Sword, 800g for an Avarice Blade and 1337g for The Brutalizer, you can back early and often or save your cash for one big spike. Once you've acquired your Avarice and Brutalizer and you've reached the magic number of 563g, you can combine them into Youmuu's to save you some slots and acquire a new passive and active ability. The passive is the incredibly sought after stat for any physical damage dealing champion, +20 armor penetration.

The active states you gain +40% attack speed and +20% movement speed for 6 seconds on a 45 second cooldown. A sudden burst of speed to catch up to a squishy and the AS to shred them into yordle-sized pieces. Along with 30 AD, 15% crit chance and 10% CDR, the Ghostblade is a relatively efficient answer to your damage dealing needs. And it triggers the "enhanced movespeed" animation for newer champions, which is always cool. 

 

Statikk Shiv: 

Affordable components, affordable combine cost and 102.3% efficient without the passive, Statikk Shiv is a great purchase on any champion with low wave clear or who values attack speed and crit. 40% attack speed, 20% crit and 6% movement speed make up the stats of the Shiv but, like so many items on this list, the meat of this item is in its passive.

Statikk Shiv's unique passive states that "Moving and attacking builds Static Charges. At 100 charges, your next attack expends the charges to deal 100 magic damage to up to 4 targets. This damage can critically strike." This is an extremely efficient way to clear a minion wave with nothing but auto attacks and it becomes increasingly deadly when you get a few other items with crit chance. The movement speed is also nice, granting you that edge in a chase against a champion with a similar base speed. The lowest base speed in the game is 325 and at that speed, Shiv gives you 20 bonus MS.

An autoattack with this item provides you with 10 charges and moving by any means provides 5 charges for every 100 in-game units you travel. This means you can walk, dash, blink, flash, recall or even get knocked back to charge up your Shiv. Definitely pick this item up on a champion like Yasuo who is constantly in motion. The more you move, the more you proc Shiv. Fun fact: Yasuo's passive shield works off the same movement mechanic. That means that if you have a Shiv on Yasuo, you have 200% more reason to run around like a maniac than any other champion! Awesome. 

 

Infinity Edge:

Holding the record for the most bad-ass sounding weapon and tying the record for the most expensive item in the game is the Infinity Edge. At a whopping 3800 gold, the Infinity Edge is the penultimate item for auto-attack based champions and any champion that relies on critical strike damage. The IE nets you 80 AD and 25% crit chance. It also grants you (and I'm sure you're sensing a theme here) an awesome passive. The passive states that you get +50% critical strike damage. That means that any time you critically strike a champion, you deal 50% more damage then you normally would.

A crit normally does 200% (180% on Yasuo*) base damage, but with the IE in your back pocket you'll be dealing 250% (225% on Yasuo*). The components of the Infinity Edge (B.F. Sword, Pickaxe, Cloak of Agility) aren't exactly cheap so you might struggle with finding your damage spikes while you're in the process of building it, but rest assured the raw damage output is worth the trade off when you finally finish the recipe. 

*Yasuo first passive, Intent, doubles Yasuo's critical strike chance, but it also reduces the damage dealt by his critical strikes by 10% on autos and 25% on his Q, Steel Tempest. The only other champion with a crit damage modifier is Shaco. His Q, Deceive, guarantee's his next basic attack will critically strike but modifies the damage to 140/160/180/200/220% based on how many points are in the ability. 

 

Last Whisper: 

Since we've already covered the concept of running away and how to prevent it, another way your enemies can try to weather your damage is through purchasing armor. Armor is a stat shared by every unit in the game and works basically like this: Every point of armor requires a unit to take 1% more of its maximum health in physical damage to be killed. There are no diminishing returns on armor because it determines your effective health whether you have 10 armor or 10 thousand. As a physical damage dealing assassin, armor is your worst enemy.

Thankfully, you have the Last Whisper to help you shred through that pesky armor and deal your damage to the squishy healthbars beneath it. Building out of a Pickaxe and a Long Sword and costing 2300g, the Last Whisper gives you a simple 40% attack damage and a unique passive: 35% armor penetration. Armor penetration is the key to dealing with armored enemies. For example: 20% armor reduction multiplies the target's armor to 80%, so a target with 30 armor will be reduced to 24 armor (30 × 0.8 = 24). Percentage armor reduction makes a bigger difference on targets with higher armor.

For instance, with 40% armor reduction, a target with 200 armor will lose 80 while a target with only 50 armor will lose 20. Flat armor pen is more effective against lower amouns of armor. This means that when your enemy starts stacking armor, Last Whisper becomes invaluable, but when you're dealing with base armor the cheaper, more accessible Brutalizer's +10 armor penetration is enough to see you through. 

 

That's it from me this time. If you have any questions about item viability or anything else  you can reach me at @xNovacursed on Twitter.

Thanks for reading and good luck, Summoners.