User blog comment:Shinen-san/Shinen's thoughts on AP itemization/@comment-24420226-20151119212439

I disagree with the ascertion that AP itemization has poor diversity. Champions looking to scale with AP have a huge number of options to consider, and how they actually pick and choose their depends on three things.

1 - Do I need mana sustain (some champions don't even use mana)?

2 - How do my abilities scale (base damages v.s. ratios)?

3 - How do I counter build my opponents ?

The third point is a part that I feel a lot of players overlook in deciding their build path. Most AP items are great in that they all have forms of utility or protection built into them, allowing the item slot to provide both the function of damage and defensive (Zhonya's being the penultimate example). Mages have a much better time than ADC's with items because ADCs are pigeonholed into aiming for the maximum amount of DPS possible. Their builds then boil down to less about counter-building and more of a math equation. There was a time when Bloodthirster+LW was an ideal build path, because it gave ADCs with strong ratios an increidble midgame power spike. With mages, they actually scale more strongly with levels than actual items. This gave them the freedom to counter-build early in the game, even going as far as rushing first-item Hourglass against Zed. AP carries don't require the kind of intense synergy you see in AD items, and this gives them a lot of freedom to reactively build (of which there are huge options). Do you need lots of kiting? Rylais. Expecting to trade blows in close proximity? Abyssal Sceptre. Are you just hoping to survive the laning phase until you really start rolling? RoA. Are you playing Kayle? Buy new Guinsoo's Rageblade.

An additional factor to consider when 'stale' item builds occur is that the meta often favours particular kinds of champions. And is it not logical that similar champions would have similar item builds? Sometimes it is a particular item that the meta favours so strongly, that it then becomes a matter of which champions can best use that item. If have no doubt that the same thing will occur with the new ADC rework - one particular item is going to emerge as a very strong choice and then builds and champ picks are likely to revolve around that item for a while. I can already tell that Essence Reaver, while much more usable in it's current form, has the same problem as IE where it isn't really a worthy purchase until you have other crit sources. This makes it more viable as a second or third buy (i think champions that usually rush trinity force are probably going to opt into Essence reaver as their second buy). But this also makes it hard to get other AD stats like lifesteal into your build early.

In short, though the item proposals look neat (QSS for mages sounds fun), l feel the premise used to propose the items is incorrect.