The first LoL Math question! Coming from Satella:



Satella wrote:

Given the following available items, calculate the build which would yield the highest expected autoattack DPS value for the AD carry Kog'Maw when attacking a hypothetical target with 4000 HP and 200 armor/100 MR. Assume Bio-Arcane Barrage is permanently on, no other buffs/debuffs are applied to the ADC by other champions, and that Trinity Force will be procced at the maximum rate of once every two seconds.

Disregard ability damage. Assume 21/9/0 masteries specced in the physical damage branch. Calculate values for both armor penetration marks and hybrid penetration marks if possible. Assume Black Cleaver is fully stacked on the target.

Restrictions: Final build must provide Kog'Maw with >390 MS.













Don't do this if it's too much work, I just want to prove to people that Runaan's/Zephyr/Triforce/Cleaver are ****ty ADC items, especially on Kog.




A rather cool question. Obviously, I won't be calculating the DPS for EVERYSINGLE possible build that can be made with all those items because that would take like, 20 hours lol. I will do some comparisons between certain items and I will try to point out the strengths and weaknesses of the most popular builds.


So Kog'Maw's base statistics at level 18 with 9 x Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage , a max rank Caustic Spittle and 21/x/x masteries are:

AD = 115
Attack Speed: 0.665 + 79.05%
Crit damage = 205%
Armor Penetration = 8% + 6 + (11.52 or 8.1 depending on Marks)
Magic Damage done with Bio-Arcane Barrage = 6% (+1% per 100 AP) of enemy's max HP
Magic Resist Penetration = (0 or 5.49 depending on Marks)

The enemy target's stats are:

Maximum Health = 4000
Armor = 200
Magic Resist = 100

So since most people will build at least one defensive item and Berserker's Greaves on Kog'Maw, that leaves us with 4 items to get the best damage possible.

Right off the bat, if you're thinking about not getting a Defensive item AND not getting boots, you should probably use this build:



This build allows you to get 6 damage items while still giving you 396 movement speed and Blade of the Ruined King's active to run away. 396 really is a small amount so you'd need your team to stay around you to protect you. With this build you'd do this amount of DPS against our poor hated target:

Maths

So overall, If you attack an enemy with 4k HP, 200 Armor and 100 MR (and NO ONE BUT YOU does damage to that target) with this build for around ~3.2597 seconds, it does an average of 1277 Damage per second.

If you attack an enemy with 1941 HP, 200 Armor and 100 MR (and NO ONE BUT YOU does damage to that target) with this build for around ~1.63 seconds, it does an average of 1190.67 Damage per second.

Notice how when the enemy has less HP, the build has less average DPS.

If your teammates helped you to kill the target, the build has less average DPS overall because botrk does % current of HP damage.


Now, just for fun, let's see what happens if the build is:



Just to see if Bloodthirster woulda done a better job. Bloodthirster gives more lifesteal and slightly more spell damage BUT, will not give any Slow active that does 15% of the enemy's HP.

Moar maths

Total DPS = 1170.142
*Notice how freaking simple the maths are when Blade of the Ruined King isn't in the mix >____>'' lol*

If the enemy has 4000 HP:
Bloodthirster build does 1170 DPS
Blade of the Ruined King build does an average of 1227 DPS

If the enemy has 1941 HP (around half):
Bloodthirster build does 1170 DPS
Blade of the Ruined King build does an average of 1190 DPS

Well, it seems Botrk gives slightly more damage in general. BT will give more damage on your spells so if you're Graves you might wanna take it to be able to burst down squishies or to do more AoE damage. BT is worse against tanky enemies AND does not offer any kind of slow :T. It does offer quite a lot more lifesteal though (since Blade of the Ruined King's passive will not work with lifesteal AND Botrk only gives 15% lifesteal instead of 18%)

I think it's safe to say Blade of the Ruined King is a slightly better late game item than Bloodthirster for Kog'Maw because even though it heals you less, it gives you a little bit more damage per second in general and a powerful Active that slows and deals damage.


*Take note that I won't be calculating any average DPS again for any build that includes Blade of the Ruined King in this blog post. It takes way too long. I will be using BT instead*





Now I'll be looking at a Phantom Dancer vs Statikk Shiv build.

Let's say the first build is this:

+

(Bloodthirster to make it simple)

Even moar maths :O

Total DPS = 692.172

Wtf. Such low damage compared to the previous 6 damage item build xD.

Now with:

+

(Bloodthirster to make it simple)

So much maths omg

Total DPS = 632.734 + 25.1882 = 657.922

Conclusions:

The Phantom Dancer build gives around 34 more single target DPS and allows you to go through units
The Statikk Shiv gives less single target damage and makes you gain less HP from lifesteal. However, it does more AoE damage (around 76 AoE damage per second instead of zero) and it's 100 gold less expensive.

Which one is better? In my opinion Phantom Dancer wins. I think 34 extra single target DPS is better than having 76 AoE damage (who really wants AoE damage on AD carries). I also think that being able to walk through units is pretty important even though it costs an extra 100 gold. Some people say they want to be able to push more so I guess they could take Statikk Shiv instead. It isn't a terrible idea at all.

Finally with:

+

(Bloodthirster to make it simple)

math overdose incoming

Total DPS = 641.78

Pros of Trinity Force instead of Phantom Dancer: Gives 3% more movement speed, 250 Health and an unreliable 20% slow.
Cons of Trinity Force instead of Phantom Dancer: Costs 1000+ more gold. Requires you to cast a spell every 2 seconds to be effective. Even if you do it still does less damage per second than a Phantom Dancer.

Reader: ''Well DarkPercy, it's normal that Trinity Force sucks in this case! The build contains next to no Attack Speed and Kog'Maw scales so well with that stat!''

Okokokok. Let's try it with Trinity Force instead of Infinity Edge then.

+

(Bloodthirster to make it simple)

my head is getting dizzy

Total DPS = 642.562

Conclusions: Okay so this is clearly much better than the Infinity Edge + Trinity Force combo. You get just as much DPS for 1000 less gold AND you also get more movement speed AND the ability to go though units.

Pros of Trinity Force instead of Infinity Edge: Gives 13% movement speed bonus in total (8% more than a Infinity Edge + Phantom Dancer combo), an unreliable 20% slow, 250 Health, allows you to go through units
Cons of Trinity Force instead of Infinity Edge: Requires you to use spells every 2 seconds to be effective, gives around ~50 less damage per second than a Infinity Edge + Phantom Dancer combo

So, is it worth it? I'm tempted to say no because you are forced to cast spells every 2 seconds or else you will lose even more than 50 damage per second. However, it is an interesting pickup if your team has no way of giving you a movement speed buff (and you greatly need it). You give up 50+ DPS for the ability to kite better. Interesting. This build would probably also make more sense with a Blade of the Ruined King since it has pretty high attack speed and BotrK goes well with the whole ''kiting '' idea.


For teh lulz:

+

(Bloodthirster to make it simple)

pls

Total DPS = 694.346

Conclusions: Black Cleaver isn't too bad of a choice on Kog'Maw because he isn't reliant on Armor Pen (since he does so much Magic damage). We assumed that the enemy had full Black Cleaver stacks on him at all times but this is obviously not going to happen in a real game situation so in fact the DPS coming out of this build should be slightly lower. Also, Black Cleaver is 565 gold more expensive than Last Whisper even though it gives less damage.

So you pay more and get less damage... Pretty bad. HOWEVER, the item gives 200 HP and 10% cooldown reduction so it kiiiiiinda makes up for it (well, these aren't really stats you are looking for and an ADC build is already expensive enough as it is so forget this item). Black Cleaver isn't a really good pick for Kog'Maw but it isn't OMG LOL TERRIBLE, because he does so much magic damage. Meh~ If you want CDR, get it I guess.


and for a beautiful ending:

+

Since this would take literally more than 4 hours to calculate how good this is (because of the darn Blade of the Ruined King), I am going to do a short version of this one.

maths again :D

Total DPS = 683.73

WOAH! That's a big number we have there (surprisingly!). It is very interesting. Keep in mind that the number was an approximation (and sorry I will not going the full math to find out the true DPS because that really truly would take 4 hours). I'm probably going to try this in a normal game. You should also note that this build is 1150 gold less expensive than the Infinity Edge + Phantom Dancer combo that gave around 692 DPS.

An interesting item to get instead of Guardian Angel on that build would be Frozen Mallet.

The pros of this build: The approximation (which could only be like 50 DPS too big or too small) makes this build look like it does a **** ton of single target damage. Almost more than the IE + PD combo. This build also gives INSANELY good AoE damage because of Runaan's Hurricane, Statikk Shiv and Blade of the Ruined King + Bio-Arcane Barrage applying on all three targets of Runaan's Hurricane everytime. The build is 1150 less expensive than a typical IE, PD, LW, GA, BT, Boots build.

Cons of this build:

-It has so much attack speed it requires you to almost stand still to make sure you don't waste any time not autoattacking. (or you have to be a pro clicker really)

-The damage done from Statikk Shiv was calculated under this situation: you are perfectly moving as much as possible between each attack and you are using your autoattack at the exact time it's up, everytime. You are constantly hitting 3 people with your Runaan's Hurricane. So in fact, Statikk Shiv probably does a bit less damage (like, ~5-10 less DPS) than I calculated.

-Slightly less Living Artillery damage because of such low AD


THERE WE GO. IT'S DONE. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED. I'M SORRY I DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO CALCULATE IF HYBRID PEN MARKS WERE WORTH IT. THE PROBABLY ARE ON THE LAST BUILD BECAUSE IT DOES SO MUCH MAGIC DAMAGE. I HAVEN'T GONE THROUGH ALL THE POSSIBLE BUILDS AND I WON'T BUT IF YOU THINK THERE'S ONE THAT WOULD BE REALLY INTERESTING TO DO, TELL ME IN ...*breathes* the comments and I will surely add it :)


Too long. Didn't bother reading:

FOR Kog'Maw:

-Having this final build: will give you in general TWO TIMES more damage than most 4 damage items + 1 defense item + boots build.
- Blade of the Ruined King offers more damage than Bloodthirster late game and also offers a slow BUT will heal you less than a Bloodthirster.
-The OR is in general the most solid end-game build as it provides very good defense and the most single-target DPS for a 4 damage items build.
- Statikk Shiv gives around 34 less single target DPS than Phantom Dancer, will give you less HP back from lifesteal and will not allow you to go through units. However, it will give you around 76 AoE damage per second (instead of 0), it costs 100 less gold and gives 1% extra movespeed. (In my opinion Phantom Dancer wins)
-This build is a pretty bad idea as it is way too expensive and gives pretty weak damage
- This build is an interesting idea. It gives +13% movespeed and slow so you can kite pretty freaking well. However, it will give 50+ less DPS than the popular IE, PD, LW, BT, GA, boots build. Maybe try it once for lolz.
-Getting Black Cleaver instead of Last Whisper isn't a ******ed idea. You pay more money (565) and get slightly less DPS, BUT you get 200 extra HP and 10% CDR instead. In general, getting Last Whisper is better.
-This build really needs testing: it is 1150 gold cheaper and does almost just as much single target DPS as the IE PD LW BT GA boots build. The AoE damage it can offer is absolutely insane. Overall the normal build seems more reliable but this weird build can also work and looks like it's got a lot to offer. It's basically the new ''on-hit'' build :P

EDIT: First game with the new ''on-hit'' build :'3. IT IS INCREDIBLY EPIC. I used it mid and it worked extremely well. Super fun and powerful.



~DarkPercy