Talk:VPBE/@comment-26177661-20180721133447/@comment-25075290-20180724182812

It's not really the farm. An APC does make an ADC lose a lot of farm but it's offset by the fact that, having low base AD and AS, it will lose the same amount of farm as well.

The problem is that bot lane Mages powerspike much sooner: either they can afford to get Rabadon (which is arguably their IE) as a second item (while ADCs get IE as a third item) or their 3-item powerspike is cheaper than that of ADCs, so they reach it much sooner.

My guess is that they expected Mages to get Luden > Spellbinder / Zhonya > Rabadon, which has around the same cost of Stormrazor / BotRK / Reaver > Zeal upgrade > Infinity Edge while serving similar purpose (Luden and SR / BotRK / ER as the first powerspike, Spellbinder or Zhonya and Zeal upgrades for general utility + important damage boost, Rabadon and IE as the damage multipliers). However, the fact is that Mages have much more flexible builds, and all of them have a more effective one than the aforementioned trio.

The fact that using Utility as a secondary tree lets Mages build Zhonya with just 2300g isn't to overlook either, especially when ADCs build their Guardian Angel as a fourth or last item. Mages don't need to worry about lifesteal too.