Talk:List of runes/@comment-192.223.163.6-20120328205832/@comment-77.249.233.124-20120330122305

OP I agree with you, flat AP quints are awful for most champs. That said I do think flat AP quints are better than per level ones. I mean runes and masteries generally only make a big difference early game, so you're probably better off going for early dmg. Also a general rule of thumb is that if per level runes don't equal or surpass their flat counterparts by level 6-8 the flats are better.

Anyway I did some simple math on mpen quints vs flat AP quints and to me it just seems like mpen wins. I mean reducing someone's effective HP by 1,89% is a lot more than 3-4 extra dmg on your spells. For example 1,89% of 300 effective hp is ~5-6 dmg and against more mres (and thus effective hp) that percentage only becomes more effective, while AP just stays at the same flat value (even if you get a rabadon's it'll barely matter). Personally I'm kinda getting convinced that CDR and Mpen are actually the most important stats for a mage, at least early game.

Note that mpen can't go below 0 though, so if you get mpen boots quints really aren't that useful since most mid champs only have 30 mres (which is probably the reason why AP quints are usually taken over mpen quints, CDR has a similar issue in that blue buff usually takes care of that).