Team Guide by Gramps Tewks

Where Are You Taking This... Thing?

This is less of a build guide than an ode to Tear of the Goddess and the dudes who use it ;)
These are the general Mastery, Rune, and Item choices that I use.
Every game, every player, and every opponent is different~ nothing is set in stone!

Let's Talk Tear

This is my favorite item in all of League of Legends! The Mana-Pool generally serves as a severe limitation on the power level of most champions... not so with Tear of the Goddess.

Why doesn't everyone rush it, then?
People like Graves, Ezreal, and Anivia would love the near-infinite spam, but the item almost always irreparably delays the development of their unique power-role.


Q: What do these six have in common?
A: They share either 1) a potent early-game that is better amplified by volume of spells than combat stats, and/or 2) long-range spells on hilariously low cooldowns!

DiffTheEnder has a great Theorycraft on Tear of the Goddess, Manamune, and Archangel's Staff.

The Wrestle Between Burst and Damage-per-Second

The current set of affairs (an ever-elusive METAGAME!) is such that beefy/tanky characters own the spotlight. With enough defenses, teams can simply ignore any non-fed burst caster! In this situation, any form of sustained damage (AoE, low-cooldown abilities, auto-attacks, etc.) will defeat the periodic explosions originating from paper-thin gunslingers.

Burst-casters are by no means obsolete! They merely occupy a volatile, specialized niche.
Where does Tear of the Goddess factor into all of this?

By easing mana restrictions, it transforms a select few casters into sustained damage-dealers!

This has created an extremely exclusive club.
The members of said society are listed below:

Rogue Mage

Ryze is the poster-boy for Tear of the Goddess. He spams skills like a boss and the bulk of his damage ( Overload + Rune Prison) scales from Mana (!!!) :O

The craziest thing about Ryze is that he can build Tear of the Goddess + Glacial Shroud + Banshee's Veil and still perform both a burst and sustained-damage role!

Gravedigger

Yorick is very close to my heart. The moment I laid eyes on Manamune, I thought to myself, "Self! Find someone who can actually use that junk!" Yorick abuses it.

This guy's sustain is ABSURD because of Omen of Famine; not only is the initial magic amage increased by the Attack Damage from Manamune, the ghoul attacks for a percentage of Yorick's AD and heals for the entire amount of damage dealt!

Deathsinger

Not just a Requiem.
The humongous range and nonexistent cooldown of Lay Waste makes Karthus a Tear of the Goddess-charging machine! He's a hyper-powerful team-fighter and unstoppable farmer.

Defile's Mana-pool requirement is single-handedly solved by the one item :D

Tear of the Goddess + Hextech Revolver feels like nothing so much as the insane Life steal that AD carries such as Caitlyn naturally receive when farming! It's great.

Odd Ones Who Also Benefit

Sona may indeed be the quickest Tear-charger in the game when played as an AP carry~ yeah, she's better as a true support, but where's the fun in that?! XD

Urgot is a harass-monster with Acid Hunter! He's a fringe pick, but can be devastating.
Cassiopeia is a true spammer, and can make excellent use of the extended casting provided by Tear!

Statistics & Sources

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DiffTheEnder's Efficiency Theorycraft Vogie's Metagolem article Karthus? Ryze? Yorick? LoL Discussion: Who Should Get a Tear?

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Final Stuff

When I realized that my main champions ALL used Tear of the Goddess, this article seemed like a natural reaction. Something about the item screams, "I'm WAY over the top!!"

These three champions are so consistent and powerful when equipped with it.


Please write a quick post below if you agree, disagree, or could care less!
Thanks for listening to an old guy's ramblin' :)

~Gramps Tewks