Looking for ways to improve my DPS Tristana build

[quote=nand]Hello. Before I start off, I should note that I'm a very avid Tristana player and mathcrafter. I love her to death, and I've been spending months trying to perfect my strategies, builds, counter-builds and gameplay. I've made literally dozens of Excel spreadsheets comparing different items, figuring out DPS with Rapid Fire enabled (it does change item builds significantly at level 5), calculating effectiveness vs different armor values, HP values, crit vs ArP, etc. etc. That being said, however, I must admit that I have no exhaustively tested all build possibilities, only a select few of my own creation that tended to work best ingame. I have not finished writing my battle simulator yet, so I cannot brute-force every item combination in the game. Therefore, I ask you to suggest possible improvements on my item build, considering both early, mid but most importantly late game. Link: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/maximum-glass-cannon-tristana-47245 I would love to improve and I am open to feedback and criticism.[/quote]

[quote=Jebus McAzn]Are you absolutely sure on rushing Infinity Edge before Zerk Greaves? I see that you mention that there is no better way to spend 4k gold - that Greaves will not be needed until later. I'm just concerned on how you'll do without the extra movement speed - are you able to gank or escape ganks as effectively? Clearly your score speaks for itself, but I'm just more used to seeing Greaves before IE. I haven't tested this, so I won't challenge it. Other than that, the item build looks quite good. I would recommend Youmuu's Ghostblade over Phantom Dancer as your armor penetration is rather mediocre otherwise. Either that or consider Last Whisper over a Bloodthirster. The active on Youmuu's makes your damage spike up to insane levels though, and the CDR helps quite a bit. Regarding the guide itself, I suggest you put more of a description into it. Describe Tristana's playstyles, her combos, when to use her ultimate, when to use her other skills, how to use her Rocket Jump (fleeing, initiating?), her role/placement in team fights, etc. Clearly, as an avid Tristana player, you should probably put the knowledge you have into this guide, as right now, it's a little lacking in terms of detail. I look forward to any response or changes you may make.[/quote]

[quote=nand][quote=Jebus McAzn] Are you absolutely sure on rushing Infinity Edge before Zerk Greaves? I see that you mention that there is no better way to spend 4k gold - that Greaves will not be needed until later. I'm just concerned on how you'll do without the extra movement speed - are you able to gank or escape ganks as effectively? Clearly your score speaks for itself, but I'm just more used to seeing Greaves before IE. I haven't tested this, so I won't challenge it. Other than that, the item build looks quite good. I would recommend Youmuu's Ghostblade over Phantom Dancer as your armor penetration is rather mediocre otherwise. Either that or consider Last Whisper over a Bloodthirster. The active on Youmuu's makes your damage spike up to insane levels though, and the CDR helps quite a bit. Regarding the guide itself, I suggest you put more of a description into it. Describe Tristana's playstyles, her combos, when to use her ultimate, when to use her other skills, how to use her Rocket Jump (fleeing, initiating?), her role/placement in team fights, etc. Clearly, as an avid Tristana player, you should probably put the knowledge you have into this guide, as right now, it's a little lacking in terms of detail. I look forward to any response or changes you may make. [/quote] Thanks for your reply. I am very comfortable with not buying boots until absolutely needed. The only time I get boots faster than normal is if I'm laning against Karthus, to dodge his bombs better. Berserker's Greaves as mentioned are a waste of money in my opinion since you hit the attack speed cap with just Rapid Fire and two items, so I'd much rather have the Mercury's Treads for stun/slow reduction. Berserker's Greaves are a very solid item for other DPS carries, but Tristana gets *more* than enough attack speed from her Rapid Fire to make up for it. At level 1, her skill actually gives her 5% more than Greaves would, and by the time major team-fights start you should have it nearly maxed out. (In slow paced games, I usually wait until it's level 3 or so before making my move on the enemy mid champion) I don't have any problems escaping buffs since Rocket Jump + Buster Shot is a ridiculously good "escape everything" combo. I can be pushing a tower, see two champions coming in behind me, and still jump over their heads + shoot them in the opposite direction in time. That's why boots I feel are not as important as more damage on Tristana. I get them mainly for the movement speed so I won't fall behind my team during mid-game. I'll consider your suggestion about Youmuu's Ghostblade, but I have enough ArP with runes + masteries + Sword of the Divine active to *nearly* completely negate the armor of a standard level 18 carry, and I still do more DPS overall against targets with ~100 armor. Plus, Phantom Dancer doesn't leave me as useless once my actives expire. It's still worth a re-calculation however which I will be looking forward to. I've also examined Bloodthirster/Bloodthirster vs Bloodthirster/Last Whisper, and the former does significantly more damage against every enemy with less than ~140 or so armor. I do pick Last Whisper for this reason if I'm facing a team with at least two armor-stacking tanks, but for every other game I'd rather drop the carries one auto-hit sooner than deal more damage to the tank, which I shouldn't be focusing first either way. (Here's a chart comparing the two) [img]http://ompldr.org/vNndtZw/arpvsadslim.png[/img] Another thing to consider: If the enemy tank has a Thornmail, I'd gladly deal *less* damage to him, since that way I can keep myself full with life-steal, instead of dealing massive damage to him with Last Whisper and ending up nuking myself in the process. On the subject of my guide's rather sparse length, I must add that I didn't intend for it to be a complete guide at this point. I am certainly thinking of and eager to write a complete guide but it isn't a number one priority for me at this moment. I simply wanted to get my item build out there. You've inspired me to put some thought into writing an actual full-length guide, however. Edit/Update: I ran the numbers with Youmuu's Ghostblade vs Phantom Dancer [img]http://ompldr.org/vNndtbg/ygvspd.png[/img] The results are quite unsurprising. Ghostblade does a tiny bit more damage vs somebody with ~100 armor and only when all three actives (Youmuu's Ghostblade, Sword of the Divine and Rapid Fire) are enabled. In the vast majority of other situations, Phantom Dancer pulls ahead, often significantly. What surprised me most however was that Phantom Dancer actually does *more* damage than Ghostblade vs tanks, since the 20 Armor Penetration apparently equates to fluff damage when the target has so much of it.[/quote]

[quote=nand]Just posting here to inform you that I've written out a rough first draft of a full guide and am awaiting further criticism.[/quote]

[quote=nand]Just posting here to inform you that I've expanded my guide by adding a lengthy section for strategies versus specific champions, and a bold red header emphasizing the fact that this build is not a universal win-every-game build but a situational "maximum DPS" build. Eagerly awaiting further criticism, especially on the champion strategies sections.[/quote]

[quote=hypershatter]i can see you are an avid Tristana player. I am similar to you, instead my passion is for Anivia. though i cannot give you any advice on how to play Tristana, I speak from my past experience to recommend you to keep everything you know on the sidelines for a while, seek/learn/copy from the pros, then come back to what you know. Then, you will be able to make the best guide there is. that's what i did with my guides. i am only saying this because i respect your passion and i hope you do well![/quote]

[quote=nand][quote=hypershatter] i can see you are an avid Tristana player. I am similar to you, instead my passion is for Anivia. though i cannot give you any advice on how to play Tristana, I speak from my past experience to recommend you to keep everything you know on the sidelines for a while, seek/learn/copy from the pros, then come back to what you know. Then, you will be able to make the best guide there is. that's what i did with my guides. i am only saying this because i respect your passion and i hope you do well! [/quote] Thanks for your advice, but I made the personal decision to write a guide at this point because I feel more than confident enough with my choices and experience to release it to the general public. I've been playing for a while, and when I haven't been playing I've often been watching high elo streams, recordings of past championships and so forth. The build itself is mathematically determined and not a subject of experience or copying. Besides that, I do not intend to let this guide rest - if I feel like I can expand or improve on something, I will do so. It's not set in stone - so if I come back to it later with more wisdom and experience, I can modify it. I appreciate your warning, but maybe I could learn more from it if you told me what could happen specifically so I can decide for myself. Why do you say "out of past experiences"?[/quote]