User blog comment:ClariS/Why Not Buff Instead of Nerf?/@comment-3974211-20120901111850/@comment-5303094-20120901201630

@ Emptylord

Can a mage really be viably built as an AD-Carry? IMHO the answer is a resounding NO, and here's my opinion on why :

[1] Most of them are (naturally) outclassed by the ones designed for the role. Mages don't really have the base/scaling stats of an AD-Carry whether it be AD or AS (Makes sense since they're designed to utilize spells instead of autoattacks), or they just don't have a good enough autoattack animation. (Take Soraka's banana projectile as an example)

[2] They can be viably built like that, but building them as AP Carry is more optimal because the spells are just better/have longer range than the AA. (Twisted Fate, Kassadin, Akali are a few examples) Why settle for a sub-optimal ranged AD when you can pick someone else who does the job better?

As for the three examples :

Annie has one of the lowest AS scaling in the game. Getting a Phantom Dancer won't benefit her that much in terms of DPS.

Zilean is simply outclassed in terms of base damage/scaling damage. There is the argument that he has an 'escape mechanism' and he can revive himself, but he is really mana intensive and the ult is on a really high cooldown if you're playing as an AD-carry (maximising use of CDR from Rewind needs a lot of mana)

Malzahar shares the same problems with Annie, but the MAIN problem he's just too mana hungry to be an AD-Carry. His Voidlings, the main selling point of AD Malz are unreliable because for a bunch of reasons. First off, they require a few spellcasts to activate, which means you burn a chunk of mana just to DPS. And the Voidlings DPS isn't all that great when they DO get summoned, they can't crit, they're easily taken off the battlefield (Fairly squishy + affected by smite) and are fairly unpredictable. (As far as I remember, they can't be controlled by Alt + Click unlike the other summons).

PS.

I haven't had an Annie, Zilean, or Malzahar in my games for at least FOUR MONTHS.

Apologies for my terrible grasp of the English language.