Talk:Rakan/@comment-26203093-20170523004724/@comment-24496127-20170523063952

For some, it's because great game knowledge and mechanics doesn't exactly mean they have great awareness of what items are optimal per champion, but rather the situation in which you would typically buy whichever item.

For most, it's because support income sucks. Redemption and sightstone are all but mandatory early, his ultimate requires you to run at people,  and his mana costs are punishing enough that it's really really hard to make him work if you don't invest in some good mana regen items. So he needs to be at least decently tanky to really be effective against an organized team.

Given his scalings, building AP seems obvious, but you're trading consistency for some really high highs and some painfully low lows. That's just not what high level looks for.

If it makes you feel any better, spellthief's does seem to be the better performing starter item.