What's up guys? This post will include maths to find out which item is best to get first on AP Tristana. Is it Deathfire Grasp or Rabadon's Deathcap ?


Only one item build: Rabadon's Deathcap vs Deathfire Grasp

AP Tristana at level 9 with Deathfire Grasp and two Doran's Rings will have

(9*2.53 + 30 + 120 + 2) + 5% = 183.51 AP

With that amount of AP, your spells all used together to burst will do 740 + (330% of AP) which means 1345.58 damage
Then there's Deathfire Grasp's active that will increase by 20% the damage done by W, R and 3 ticks of E, so that's 0.2*(664 + 532.18) = 239.24

So that's 1584.82 damage in total from spells

and finally there's the active from DFG which will do 15% of an enemy's maximum HP. Let's say the enemy has 1000 HP at level 9, it will do 150 damage.

TOTAL BURST DAMAGE = 1734.82 DAMAGE


In terms of harassing, your E will do 373.51 damage and you can cast it every 14.24 seconds, which means 26.23 DPS if you use it everytime it's up.

HARASS DAMAGE = 26.23 DPS




AP Tristana at level 9 with Rabadon's Deathcap and two Doran's Rings will have

(9*2.53 + 30 + 120 + 2) + 35% = 235.94 AP

With that amount of AP, your spell will do 740 + (330% of AP) which means 1518.6 damage

TOTAL BURST DAMAGE = 1518.6 DAMAGE

To harass, your E does 425.94 damage and it has a 15.84 sec CD. It does 26.89 DPS

HARASS DAMAGE = 26.89 DPS


Okay... so Rabadon's Deathcap is better for consistent damage but Deathfire Grasp does a better job at bursting if you wait for the active (60 seconds)






AP Tristana with two items
Deathfire Grasp + Zhonya's Hourglass
vs
Rabadon's Deathcap + Zhonya's Hourglass


First, let's do the Deathfire Grasp + Zhonya's Hourglass:

AP Tristana at level 13 with Deathfire Grasp, two Doran's Rings and Zhonya's Hourglass will have

(13*2.53 + 30 + 120 + 120 + 2) + 5% = 320.14 AP

With that amount of AP, your spells all used together to burst will do 920 + (330% of AP) which means 1976.46 damage
Then there's Deathfire Grasp's active that will increase by 20% the damage done by W, R and 3 ticks of E, so that's 0.2*(812 + 928.41) = 348.08

So that's 2324.54 damage in total from spells

and finally there's the active from DFG which will do 15% of an enemy's maximum HP. Let's say the enemy has 1600 HP at level 13, it will do 240 damage.

TOTAL BURST DAMAGE = 2564.54 DAMAGE

Without your Buster Shot or Deathfire Grasp active, your spells will do
Explosive Shot: 270 + 320.14 = 590.14 damage. 14.24 seconds cooldown so 41.44 DPS
Rocket Jump: 250 + 0.8*320.14 = 506.112 damage. 12.46 seconds cooldown so 40.62 DPS

W and E = 82.06 DPS



AP Tristana at level 13 with Rabadon's Deathcap, two Doran's Rings and Zhonya's Hourglass will have

(13*2.53 + 30 + 120 + 120 + 2) + 35% = 411.6 AP

With that amount of AP, your spell will do 920 + (330% of AP) which means 2278.3 damage

TOTAL BURST DAMAGE = 2278.3 DAMAGE

Without your Buster Shot or Deathfire Grasp active, your spells will do
Explosive Shot: 270 + 411.6 = 681.6 damage. 15.84 seconds cooldown so 43.03 DPS
Rocket Jump: 250 + 0.8*411.64 = 579.31 damage. 13.86 seconds cooldown so 41.8 DPS

W and E = 84.83 DPS






CONCLUSIONS: When your Deathfire Grasp active is up (60 seconds cooldown), Getting DFG first instead of Rabadon's will give you significantly more burst but less sustained damage.

So yeah, Rabadon's Deathcap gives more sustained damage and is more reliable (you don't need to wait after DFG's active to come off cooldown) but DFG does actually give more burst.

GG Throatslasher you were right f**k you :D