Hi MobaFire, I'm Throatslasher, a (currently) 1948 elo player that mains all mid lane champions, typically casters. A recent trend has really started interesting me lately, and that is the concept of gp10 mid. I've tried it on a multitude of champions and noticed varying effects. I think that gp10 stacking is a very viable approach to the mid meta-game, and even with the recent nerfs to gp10, still find it completely viable, and often optimal. So, kick back, and grab a bag of popcorn like Mike here and enjoy the read.

jhoi

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jhoi

But wait... you don't trust me? Look at this game. As you see, I outearned everyone in the game, but how so? Our Irelia had 1 more kill than me and 20 more cs. Ezreal had comparable farm, but he had 5 kills more than I did. What happened here? Well, since I built three gp10 items and held them for 20 minutes, it catapulted my earned gold. jhoi jhoi ---Special Thanks--- - Sverd, for being my counterpart in being an early force in driving gp10 mid. He was all about presenting the math flawlessly, and I was all about actually playtesting. - Jhoijhoi for a ****-tonne of coding, writing, editing, publishing and great suggestions.

philosopher's stone kage's lucky pick

What is gp10 mid? "GP10 mid" is a term referring to an ap mid champion that stacks gp10 items such as philosopher's stone, kage's lucky pick and Heart of Gold. Mages do not buy Avarice Blade for obvious reasons. jhoi jhoi What is so good about it? I personally thought it was terrible until I tried it. Once you see the gold start rolling in, it starts to make sense. Getting a 20 minute Rabadon's Deathcap consistently all while having a full inventory of gold making machines is powerful stuff. Typically, people only built gp10 when they were having difficulties in their lane. Since they were being denied farm, going gp10 items allowed them to attempt to keep up in gold somewhat. The theory is, if you build gp10 items and go even in your lane or even win it, you'll have built a huge gold advantage over your opponent. jhoi jhoi Can anyone do it? Somewhat. Anyone can do it, but not everyone can excel at it. The concept behind it is as follows: if an ap mid has fantastic base values and can farm and push effectively without items, why not stack gp10 early game to snowball? Some champs cannot afford to go gp10 items due to many restrictions, some of which I'll illustrate later. jhoi jhoi Who's the best gp10 AP mid? This is debatable. I believe I've narrowed it down to 3 candidates: Morgana, Orianna, and Malzahar. These champions have mechanisms that allow them to either sustain, clear waves, and/or kill with minimal items. However, this guide can work for other AP Champions mid lane. jhoi jhoi Will this work in high elo? Definitely. As a matter of fact, I run gp10 mid every chance I get in ranked. Please do note, however, that GP 10 recently got nerfed. Heart of Gold was reduced to 200 hp, and the hp regen on philosopher's stone was reduced slightly. I still believe that gp10 stacking is very viable on many mages mid.

kage's lucky pick philosopher's stone

General rules of thumb for gp10 stacking If you decide to go a gp10 route, there are some issues you will need to compensate for. The most glaring issue that arises is a drop in your early-mid game damage output. This will take some getting used to. The way to run a successful gp10 lane boils down to to 3 things:

jhoi

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jhoi

1. DON'T DIE! If you die during the laning phase, it's unfortunate. Going gp10 and playing safe will allow you to slowly outearn your opponent. If you die, you give them the gold lead and the experience lead, negating the effects of gp10'ing. Sometimes this is hard to avoid, but you should try to air on the side of caution in lane. Don't push up too far if you are not aware of where their jungler is. Be aware if they have junglers that can't gank until 6, like Malphite and Warwick because that means you can be a bit more ballsy in lane until you know they've hit 6.

jhoi

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jhoi

2. Secure 85+% of CS A wave spawns every 30 seconds. Every third wave, a cannon minion spawns. A typical farming standard would be 100 cs every 10 minutes, but that is shooting for the moon. It's borderline impossible to hit that mark, but it's advantagous to get as close as possible. Getting 80+ cs every 10 minutes is a good farming mark. An exception to this is if the particular game you're in has a lot of action, in which case you should switch to participating in fights over "afk farming" mid. You should always be aware of which fights you can actually contribute to. There's nothing worse than giving up 2 or 3 waves of creeps to go to a fight only to show up 10 seconds too late.

jhoi

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jhoi

3. Don't be afraid to play aggressive or passive As with all mid matchups, you need to understand when you are stronger or weaker than your lane opponent and adjust your play accordingly. For instance, if your opponent LeBlanc hits level 6, you need to play passive. It might even be a be a good time to go pick up that Heart of Gold and a Null-Magic Mantle. If you're Morgana, and you hit 6 before your lane opponent Ahri, it would be a good time to zone her from creeps with the threat of your ultimate. These subtle plays and maneuvers are hard to explain, but they come with experience. If you're uncertain of how to play at a certain point, always play cautious. As long as NEITHER of you are getting kills, you are outearning your lane opponent and you will be more effective in later teamfights.

+ v catalyst the protector v + v

It's hard to explain how or why this is so effective. I really just want this guide to be a big sign that says GO TRY IT! But I can't do that, so here goes. First, lets talk about the typical mage builds displayed either side of this text. These are 2 pretty standard mage builds. One forgoes tankyness for damage, and vice versa. Let's break down some items/numbers, shall we? VERSUS philosopher's stone = 1425 gold, 240 hp, 15 mrp5, 45 ap philosopher's stone = 1625 gold, 250 hp, 15hp/5, 8mp/5 Catalyst the protector is less expensive than Doran's Rings, but all it gives us besides health is sustain and base mana we don't typically need on the specific mages I have in mind. The effective health from 18hp/5 and the sustain from blue buffs is all you need IF you appropriately conserve mana. Additionally, the hp from Heart of Gold is a passable amount. jhoi jhoi So, what does that tell us? For 200 more gold, you can build 2 gp10 items. You gain 15hp/5 (not a small amount) at the cost of 10mp/5 and 45 ap. When you have both gp10 items completed, you will passively gain 60 extra gold a minute. While 600 gold every 10 minutes may not seem like much, the value of it becomes apparent when you realize that the mages in question don't really NEED the standard beginning mage items. While they don't turn into any item specifically, they will certainly make you a tanky and formidable opponent early game. jhoi jhoi What should you go after gp10? For most mages, you want to rush a Rabadon's Deathcap immediately after finishing your 2 or 3 gp10 items (if you choose to go kage's lucky pick). For certain mages that have other core items (like Rod of Ages or Zhonya's Hourglass), you should rush that after gp10.

+ v + v + v

S T A N D A R D

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C A S T E R

This is a typical caster/mage rune set-up. The flat AP Quints and scaling AP Glyphs ensure that you start with a moderate amount of damage, as well as an ability to scale in AP whilst you grab your gp10s. The flat Armour Seals will help negate damage from minions if you play a champion who may activate minion aggro, as well as lessening the damage taken from champion auto-attacks. Alternatively, 9x greater seal of replenishment is acceptable on mana-hungry champions or HP/lvl on squishy casters. Glyphs can be offensive (AP/lvl) or defensive (Magic Resist/lvl).

jhoi

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jhoijhoi

Standard Caster/Mage This tree focuses mainly on offensive upgrades. In the Offense Tree the only interchangable specifications are with Butcher , Brute Force , Mental Force and Havoc . In the Utility Tree, Runic Affinity is taken for extended buff duration, and the mana regen/mana per level arc is appreciated on most casters. Alternatively, some points can be allocated into the Defense Tree if against a known hard opponent.

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jhoi

S U M M O N E R

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S P E L L S

It is imperative to grab Flash on most mid lane champions. As mid lane is commonly ganked by the enemy jungler, Flash is often used defensively. Alternatively it can be used to close the gap between yourself and a fleeing enemy to land an Ignite. Ignite is another common pick on carries; it lessens healing and also deals ticks of damage. With Summoner's Wrath , you are also rewarded with AP and AD whilst it is on cooldown. Teleport is a pick most seen on champions who aren't as mobile, such as Karthus and Galio; the increased map control can help with fights in top or bottom lane. Exhaust is a less common pick, as in Ghost, but both Summoner Spells can be used to great effect on champions such as Vladimir or Rumble.

I have seen people experiment with all sorts of champions that typically don't go for gp10. Some champions seem to have a knack for functioning early-mid game with gp10 items, while others do not. I'll outline the problems/advantages with gp10'ing these champs.

Gp10 candidates that work quite well:
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+ Morgana is the most effective champ for building gp10. + She has excellent pushing abilities, and she can sustain her health + Philosopher's stone and one Doran's Ring should sustain her mana + She has great base damage on her spells + TIP: You must go Zhonya's Hourglass after your gp10 items, with rare exception. - She has no cons. I have recently played a lot of gp10 Morgana in ranked, and found that there is no downside at all to building gp10 on Morgana.

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philosopher's stone

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+ With a few levels, she can push a wave easily + Decent base damage on her spells + Doran's Ring and philosopher's stone is enough to sustain her mana - Heavily reliant on Mantra charges - She lends no cc to jungle ganks - Squishy, with poor escape - Going gp10 will hurt her damage. It's also hard to deny that her kit is somewhat underwhelming right now. Play her in ranked at your own risk. Skill order: depends on the matchup. Some games you want max Soul Shield, sometimes you want max Heavenly Wave. Regardless, take Spirit Bond at level 4.

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philosopher's stone

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+ Can push easily, regardless of items. Level 4-5 Death's Caress OP + Good escape ( Cryptic Gaze) + Philo/dorans ring enough sustain + With Mobility Boots can shove the wave and function as a second ganker + Free health means you can build big AP items and be moderately tanky - You are not getting any ap early, which will hinder his mid game. If you can still secure kills in this time while holding 2-3 gp10 items, prepare to snowball - With 2 offensive spells, Sion's kit is again underwhelming. Once you finish Deathfire Grasp and Rabadon's Deathcap OR Lich Bane and Rabadon's Deathcap, THEN you will see your damage increase ten-fold.

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philosopher's stone kage's lucky pick

jhoi

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+ Malzahar is an amazing candidate for gp10 mid. His ability to push the lane leaves him liable to ganks, but Flash should keep you safe. - Delays instant damage via standard rush of Rabadon's Deathcap.

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philosopher's stone

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+ Fanatastic push and base values on dissonance. + Slightly tanky with command: protect. + Great poke, low mana costs. + Game changing ult, items or no items - She's squishy and has no hard escapes. - Falls apart to silence/focus - Heavily dependent on blue buff

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philosopher's stone kage's lucky pick

jhoi

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jhoi
Gp10 candidates that are decent:
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+ He's melee, so it's hard to farm early levels with your auto attack. + Galio He doesn't have much of a chance to get flat health early, so Heart of Gold is very helpful for him. + His spells' base stats are not strong enough to insta-gib a whole wave until after level 9, where as Morgana can clear the caster minions with level 3 Tormented Shadow - Galio uses way more mana than philosopher's stone can provide. You need Chalice of Harmony, philo stone, and Heart of Gold, and that's a lot of money for early game items.

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philosopher's stone

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+ Huh? Wha? Vlad? Yes, Vlad can stack gp10 items in the form of Heart of Gold and kage's lucky pick. It's an interesting theory. Kage's will give you health, and HoG will give you a slight amount of AP. + The stats benefit vlad, and they will make you an early game off tank. - This might not be better than Hextech Revolver rush. - You delay your Hextech by 1600 gold. - Have I mentioned that Hextech is really good on Vlad?

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kage's lucky pick

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+ Going gp10 will combo well with his passive + The gp10 items will make him tanky early game - I feel that stacking Doran's Rings is more effective - He's already fantastic at farming, and you should outearn your opponent regardless of your items - Going gp10 will crush your early-mid game damage, which is when Gragas is supposed to shine.

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philosopher's stone

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+ Since gp10 is part of veigar's core build, it's not a stretch + Philosopher's stone will help him farm his q early game - I feel that 1 Doran's Ring and kage's is superior to philo+kage's - Since you turn your kage's into dfg as fast as you can, it won't generate much gold. - It honestly can't hurt you, but it won't be much of a benefit.

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philosopher's stone kage's lucky pick

For all of the following mid champions, I speak from experience. I've literally tried dorans stacking on every mage imaginable. Most champs I am about to list can benefit from a single early gp10 item, typically kage's. Below, I'll be giving reason why certain champions are... AP mids you should NEVER stack (more than 1) gp10 on:

Ahri is just fan-freaking-tastic with 3x Doran's Rings, or 2x Doran's Rings and a kage's lucky pick. It gives her everything she needs, while not slowing down her Rylai's Crystal Scepter or abyssal, whichever you choose to rush. I personally prefer Rylais, as it makes me extremely hard to burst down while providing big utility for my team. It also makes it impossible to miss any part of your combo, as your Fox-Fire will slow them by the full amount, making it easy to follow up with Charm. Ahri is a pure mid game champion. If you can be running around at level 9 with Sorcerer's Shoes and some Doran's rings, you will be about as strong as you can be at that point. Use mid game kills to snowball your big stuff, not gp10. Brand is another champion whose effectiveness with 3x Doran's Rings is staggering. I build him like Ahri, with triple Doran's into Rylai's Crystal Scepter as it gives him big utility and makes combo'ing with him a breeze. I feel he is a very strong mid game champ, and he can't afford to give up his early game damage for passive gold generation. Annie is another example of a mage that can't afford to sacrifice early game damage for gold at a later date. Whether you choose to be tanky with Rod of Ages rush, or a glass cannon with Doran's and dfg/rabadons, gp10 will slow you down far too much, and it might cost you some kills early and mid because you're missing AP. Ryze goes Tear of the Goddess immediately. Then, he rushes catalyst the protector. Then, he goes either RoA, Glacial Shroud, or Negatron Cloak. Ryze's build can't be messed around with. He benefits from mana, and no gp10 items give Ryze what he needs. These champions need spell vamp, abyssal, and big ap items. They can't afford to be messing around delaying these core items by throwing money away on gp10 items that don't help them in the slightest. I play Karthus 2 ways. Tanky Karthus: Boots, catalyst the protector, RoA, Sorcerer's Shoes, Rabadon's Deathcap HUEHUE-LICH KARTHUS: Boots, Tear of the Goddess, Will of the Ancients, Rabadon's Deathcap Either way, gp10 just doesn't fit with Karthus. Build her like Ahri/ Brand. Stack dorans, rush Rylai's Crystal Scepter, profit.

Swain functions in a similar fashion to Ryze, in that base mana functions more as damage and sustain, rather than just ammo for his spells. Rushing RoA is the optimal way to play swain. The more base mana you have, the longer you stay in mutant 'big bird' status. Catalyst the protector will solve all of his early sustain and tankiness issues. Anivia is a bird. Since she is a bird, she is also the word. That being said, Tear of the Goddess and catalyst the protector are among her core items. She is the best farmer in the game, and has no need for gp10 items. Base mana IS damage for Anivia. Leblanc is not a passive farming champion, so she doesn't fit the criterion for optimal gp10 stack. She also has no way to push her lane, which is fine. Her goal is to dominate and bully her lane opponent and function as a second ganker. This is achieved with early Sorcerer's Shoes, dorans stack, and dfg or rabadons, whichever you prefer. You should not be focusing on ricing with LeBlanc, and you certainly should never sacrifice damage for any reason on a ginormous burst assassin. I love Doran's stacking on Lux. She greatly benefits from every stat Doran's Ring gives. She benefits even more from having several. Lux excels in mid game, and cannot afford to sacrifice her mid game damage for gold. She's a decent farmer with ap items, and gp10 items cannot sustain her high mana costs. Every second you delay your Rod of Ages hurts Kassadin. These champions crush their lanes with Doran's Rings. Their early game damage is still crazy, if you don't slow it down with gp10 items.

FAQs (that may not have been addressed above): Please feel free to ask questions in the comment section. I will do my best to answer them there, and jhoi will update the FAQ with common queries to help other people who may have had the same questions.

Q. How can this be effective?
A. The goal of gp10 is to select champions that benefit heavily from the stats of gp10 items, build them, and then slowly outearn your opponents. It is extremely effective on, say, Morgana, who can farm very efficiently, avoid ganks, stay alive in lane, and do plenty of damage with the base amounts on her skills. She will be difficult to burst down due to the extra health from Heart of Gold and Black Shield. She will be difficult to whittle down due to the sustain on her philosopher's stone and her passive spell vamp. She will outcs most opponents, and outearn all opponents, allowing for a lightning-fast Zhonya's Hourglass.
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Q. How long should I hold the gp10 items?
A. You should hold them as long as you can. Typically, that means you hold your 2 gp10 items until you are ready to buy your 4th item. At that point, you should have:
-- boots2, gp item1, gp item 2, big item 1, big item 2, big item 3.
At that point, you should save up until you have enough gold to buy the next big item all at once, MINUS the sell value of the gp10 item. So, if you want Rabadon's Deathcap, you should go buy it when you have 3600g - ~400g = 3200.

***THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE. IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING IN ONE ASPECT, LIKE A SEVERE LACK OF MAGIC RESIST OR DAMAGE, IT'S OK TO SELL A GP10 ITEM MID GAME TO GET YOU THAT EXTRA STAT THAT YOU NEED ( Negatron Cloak or Needlessly Large Rod). As you can see in that Morgana game at the top, I ended up selling the philosopher's stone for a Giant's Belt because I felt that at that point in the game I desperately needed flat heatlh to survive in upcoming teamfights.***
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Q. How long will it take for gp10 items to be profitable?
A. The formula is as follows:



Once the number of minutes you hold the gp10 item after completing it EXCEEDS X, you have turn a profit. Go math. It's typically around 13-16 minutes.
jhoi

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Q. What about a 3rd gp10 item?
A. I go it occasionally. I will skip the third gp10 item based on a few perameters. I ask myself the following questions:
-- Am I crushing my lane (farmwise, I've killed them, both)? If yes, I'll consider it.
If you're beating your lane up, you'll have extra gold early for a fast 3rd gp10.
-- Do I really need whatever item I'm rushing ASAP? If no, I'll consider it.
That means if I'm Morgana, and I've gotten a couple kills mid, and my team is snowballing, I might go kage's lucky pick before Zhonya's, especially if I don't need Zhonya's Hourglass for upcoming dragon fights or teamfights (they either have no way to knock me away through Black Shield, they straight up can't contest it, or we have a lot of additional cc to combo with my spells).
-- Can I finish it before 11-13 minutes? If yes, then I'll consider it.
I would never ever build a gp10 item after 13 minutes. The amount of time it takes for it to pay off is too long for it to be worth it. If I can finish all 3 gp10 items along with boots 1 before 11 minutes, that's sick, and my power level around 22:30-30:00 should be well over 9000.

Honestly, sometimes I just go by feel and intuition. It also depends on the champion. Morgana and Orianna benefit greatly from 3 gp10, whereas Malzahar needs damage ASAP after 2xgp10 to have a presence midgame.
jhoi

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Q. Lol, who else do you sometimes go 2+ gp10 items on?
A. I've experimented on it with the following champs. The ones with a + next to their name means that it works very well on them, and number signifies how many gp10 items I'll go on them.


jhoi

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jhoi