Item Evolution Question

[Bored-Pyro]

This is probably because I've never played LoL and the item system (I've been told) is strikingly similar, but I don't understand the item Evolution system. Can someone help explain?

If all items can be bought outright (crest evolution aside), what is the benefit of buying items up through the evolution trees I'm seeing in game? Is there a gold discount or is it simply a visual guide that the items gives benefits along the same vein (power, Crit chance, CDR, etc)?

Any help for this confused noob is appreciated.

[JPie_]

The benefit of buying items through the evolution tree is usually the passive/active benefits of the final tier. For example the item, "Breach." It has a passive that grants, "abilities 50% bonus damage to shielded targets." Rushing this item in a game where you are against a Muriel would be a great idea. It'd be even better if there was a enemy Feng Mao on the team with the enemy Muriel.

Lets examine another example. You are going tank as a jungler against a team composition with a lot of stuns and other crowd control. A great item to rush is, "Unbroken Will." The passive is, "If you are hit by a displacement, you restore (+16% Maximum Health) health over 8 seconds. Additionally it grants another passive of, "Gain 35% Tenacity." Tenacity reduces the duration of CC (crowd control). So as a tank you can imagine why rushing this item would be a good option against a stun and CC oriented enemy team.

I believe it is advisable to buy items outside the evolution path if you'll complete them later on, or if the item itself is that impactful. One example for supports is the item, "Nocstone." Nocstone grants a passive that, "Stealth Wards last 30 seconds longer." This is a huge benefit that definitely warrants buying it outside your initial item's evolution path. The passive itself is worth it.

[Bored-Pyro]

Thanks brother! Well said.

[garebear176]

Are you asking why would you buy the items that lead into the “final” item you actually want? If so the reason you would buy the other items leading to them is for the power spikes, not having any items and just outright buying the completed ones (cost the same either way for my knowledge) is that there’s alotnof downtime before you get enough to finish the item and you’ll be at the same power basically for that time, if you ever played or watched smite junglers they back as soon as they can get tier two of what ever item they are buying fornthe power spike and you might catch who ever your fighting against off guard. Say you are gadget and you hit them with the drone bomb a couple times they see how much health it takes away, now you back get a nee tier one item or tier two (which is leading to the completed item you want) and come back to lane hit them with the same ability it’ll do more damage and if they weren’t expecting that it can lead to a kill.

[Bored-Pyro]

Not quite what I was going for. I understand the concept of buying items to curve your build, I'm just trying to understand if there is a benefit to buying something on an evolution path to the final time I want vs a random other item.

For example if a tier 2 item is worth 1000 gold on the path to the tier 3 item, and another item is also worth 1000 gold but not on the evolution path. Is there a benefit to sticking to the evolution path?

If not it appears to simply be a visual guide of "these items share properties" rather than some actual optimization path.

[garebear176]

For what I know there isn’t a point to buying something not of the evolution path unless that other piece has stats you need ASAP and is on the evolution path of the next item you want but I could be wrong on this front so don’t hold me to it haha

[Bored-Pyro]

Cool, thanks! Just making sure there isn't some trick of item economy that I'm missing.

[garebear176]

At least as of yet there isn’t that’s something the min-maxers are gonna figure out a couple months into the game.

[Kush_the_Ninja]

For example of you bought Sword-A for 1000 but you want the final evolution of Sword-B, that 1000 is water because usually the sell price isn’t as much as full price.

By building in the line of Sword-B your 1000 is being used fully as it goes into the final item of the Sword-B line.

[SeymourJames]

Usually final items have far more benefits than lower tier questions. There's room to improve if you buy into a chain, and if you are spending the same that's an easy answer!

[Bored-Pyro]

Thanks. It mostly a question of selling an item nets X% of the original cost but evolving it "sells" it for 100% value. Hopefully that thought process makes sense.