All goods, you actually reminded me that I should probably put ghostblade in the situational section! Thanks!

WHOOPS! Looked at the AD for ghostblade, and it's actually 65, not 75. Fixing original post soon.

Thanks for the comment! That was some really interest (bronze) thoughts xD. I used to take ghostblade, but I don't really think it is that effective anymore and your q is predictable enough that higher elo players know when to back off. And the fact that ghostblade only provides as as an active means that it really doesn't do as good anymore. After the BotRK nerf, ghostblade isn't that great anymore especially since it doesn't even give crit. Therefore I like to take Essence Reaver. And one more thing, I see some guides telling you to take zeal first. I personally wouldn't do that because I've had much more success with B.F or pickaxe instead of zeal.

Thanks for the comment! ^

This is an interesting build. I started Twitch a couple weeks back and went the Ghostblade-Runaans route, and it was highly effective.

So I did a bit of calculations with them both.

Assuming no actives, same base stats. The lack of attack speed on both the items made this a lot easier.

With Ghostblade Runaans, you get an average of:

75*0.7 + 75*0.3*2 = 97.5 damage.

Others:
10% cdr
20 apen
40% attack speed steroid
- this increases the damage by 1.4x, averaging at 115 damage if just simply multiplied.
- Escape and catch potential from movespeed

With ER Runaans, you get an average of:

65*0.5 + 65*0.5*2 = 97.5 damage.

Others:
30% cdr
- potential better roaming with stealth on 11 second cd
Mana sustain
- can see this as a great way to waveclear and split like mad
30% Crit
- scales better with more crit%

What's funny is that they both add up to the same average AD in the end, one being more consistent than the other, but statistically the same. Now it's time to look at the significance of the passives and actives.

The Ghostblade-Runaans will provide straight-up raw damage. The flat apen helps to assassinate and burst down squishies, and the active takes Twitch from a Rat King to a Sewer (Skewer?) God for 6 seconds. However, the damage is extremely conditional as you have to have ult, ghostblade, and stealth up. You also have to back a lot just to restore mana, losing out on potential objectives and teamfights.

Overall, ER-Runaans provides a lot of utility and sustain: you get to have stealth in around 11 seconds as opposed to 16, and contaminate on a 5.6 cd means you can use it twice before the stacks wear off, and overall be better in extended fights. You can also burst down waves faster since you can use E and W to assist in clearing waves without going oom. This comes at an opportunity cost of burst and temporary mobility provided by Ghostblade.

So far, I've only gone the ghostblade build, and I noticed that I had to back because I was oom after skirmishes, and stealthing at the wrong timing was more punishing since I only had a 10% cdr. I'll try the Essence-Runaans build for a bit and give you my thoughts on it.

#BronzeThoughts