Talk:Abyssal Scepter/@comment-24055932-20160104092231/@comment-27406906-20160116222950

Disagreements and so-forth incoming, don't take as a personal assault.

I'm unclear as to where the 2nd edge of the double-edged sword is.

When you say Abyssal forces AP champs to fear tanks, to a degree I agree. But that's akin to saying that buying Armor forces you to fear AP champions. Imo, items don't force the buyer to do anything - if a champion finds themselves in a predicament because of their itemization, they itemized incorrectly.

Situational itemization can make Abyssal Scepter either the right choice or the wrong choice, but comparing it to Void Staff vs. Spirit Visage is just one of a thousand specific examples that fall in the "wrong choice" category.

Abyssal has many "right choice" situations, but they are based on all of its attributes and not just the magic resistance reduction.

SV and Banshee's Veil have been around forever and are something any AP top laner should assume most tanky opponents are going to build first. Sorc shoes alone take away 21.4% of what SV gives the enemy, with MPen marks and haunting guise, 54% of those item's MR is gone. Tanks get tanky, and the percent MPen of Void Staff and percent damage of Liandry's are going to win out over Abyssal vs. a tank, for sure. But the overall situation for abyssal, or AP top laners in general, isn't bad at all - I just don't think the two of these go hand-in-hand in any but the rarest of situations.

There are combination defense + offense items for everything, all of them offer a kicker. Abyssal is just AP/MR with a MR-Redux kicker. I don't think the power spike offered by this item is anything more to write home about than Maw of Malthorius or Titanic Hydra or even Void Staff vs. tanky.

I agree that MR items are in a better place than they used to be, but Magic penetration items are still in the very good place they've always been, and Armor Penetration items are in a terrible place. Itemizing vs. MR as an AP champion is, imo, leaps and bounds easier than itemizing vs. Armor as an AD Champion. Against anyone but tanks, flat's where it's at, and there is a downright dearth of flat armor penetration items around. AP champions get (what I feel is) a good choice at which route they're going to take. AD champions, vs non-tanks, get Marks, Serrated Dirk, Youmuu's - and that's it. The rest is percentage and that 80 Armor squishy isn't going to notice the difference if you have BC/LW or not.

Okay I've droned on long enough (had time to kill on my non-gaming PC). Happy January, wikifolks.