Haunting Guise - a very situational item

[quote=Yagamoth]Greetings, looking only at the damage output - I just finished a small spreadsheet that tells me, how much AP is required to be more worthwhile than a Haunting Guise (only considering the Resist-Reduction of HG). In conclusion I would say: HG is too situational to be really used effectively. Let me show you why: To find out, how much AP is required to be better than HG, you need to consider the following variables: - Spell Base Damage (The higher, the better HG is) - Spell AP Ratio (The lower, the better HG is) - Current AP (The higher, the better HG is) - Enemy Magic resistance (The lower, the better HG is - but if he has less than 20 already through e.g. Sorcerer Boots, it's value is diminished greatly) This ignores that: - It's only ONE enemy (Consider the Resist on your primary targets) - It's only ONE ability (Consider how much you use which abilities and take the avg. of those AP ratios) - It's a very specific time in the game (The earlier the better for HG) Sidenote: What many people don't know/don't care about: Sorcerer Boots kind of suffer from the same issue, since they give the same bonus. But: They are fairly cheap and give the vital walkspeed boost. Now, how do you decide whether you get a Haunting Guise or not? I tried to figure out some rule of thumbs. Mindset: You want to deal as much magical Damage as possible, ignoring all other things: Get it: - Before the enemies have Megatron Cloaks+ - Before ~15-20mins - Directly after Rabadons (unless you have poor AP ratios such as Maokai, the simply after Sorcerer Boots) Thoughts? ------- Actually, HG seems to be a perfect midgame item, where the enemy Damage Dealer (Magical or physical) don't have a lot of Resist yet, but actually a little (like Mercury Treads or another item involving a Null-Magic Mantel). It's like the Dorans items, it gives you a decent temporary boost you would sell later. But, it's too expensive to really handle it that way.[/quote]

[quote=caucheka]if you're playing a mage with low ratios it tends to be better to get pen over ap.[/quote]

[quote=Searz]People often fail to realize that most "low" ratios actually aren't low. Ratios are low if they have less than about 0.24 per 100 base damage. Haunting guise is a very lacking item. You have to PAY for all the aspects of it. You hardly get any stats for free. Most other items give free stats when completed. HG doesn't. That sucks.[/quote]

[quote=caucheka]ok.. so would you give an example of a 'low' ratio?[/quote]

[quote=Searz][[Pyroclasm]].[/quote]

[quote=caucheka]Ratios are low if they have less than about 0.24 per 100 base damage. ok well pyroclasm has 50% ratio on 350 base damage.. well fuck thats only 14.2something% so basically.. a low ratio would be less than 24% ratio for each 100 base damage? ie 100 base is 24% 200 base is 48% 300 base is 72% 400 base is 96% 500 base is 120% ok now thats starting to sound ridiculous.[/quote]

[quote=Searz]Yea, it's around 22% to 24% I draw the line.[/quote]

[quote=PotatisFarfar]Isn't the problem with HG that it is not a very cost effective item?[/quote]

[quote=caucheka]so basically if the ratio is less than a quarter of the base damage then its a low ratio. huh. and yeah for the recipe cost of 575, you get 20 health, 5 ap, and 20 magic pen.[/quote]

[quote=Searz]You basically pay about 430g for the 20MrP. Often now worth it compared to other items.[/quote]