User blog comment:Danz The Pure/Item upgrade paths from weakest to greatest/@comment-24706802-20140319123239/@comment-6916359-20140319130624

That's subjective. Intellegence in prioritizing build paths is not only a facet of the game you need to learn to be good, it's also an aspect of balence to some extent. Big item purchases have risk to them because there is a lull in your strength if your lane opponent is buying smaller components, which allows for smart players who are behind to take advantage of this.