Doran's Shield: Top Lane Item, or ADC Item?

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Views: 7233 Doran's Shield: Top Lane Item, or ADC Item?

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AD, ADC, armor, bottom lane, carry, doran's, item, shield, Strategy

Hallowvrybuddy, Foo here. Welcome to my first blog post! I am going to be posting strategy threads here and in GD. I will start this blog by posting the few threads I have already posted in GD. After I am done with that, I will post new content here and in GD.

I will also post about other things (i.e. I am currently working on getting plat, and writing a vlad guide).

Enjoy!

With the new changes to , it has become one of my favorite items. Looking at its stats, I started wondering if I could buy it anywhere else than top lane. I thought about trying it on ADC and I realized that it actually fits BETTER on ADCs than on top laners.

Disclaimer:

(Some people were confused about these things when I made a similar thread on solomid and official lol forums)
-I am not talking about starting with a .
-I am talking about getting a single along with a single .

Stat Comparison:

:
80 HP
10 AD
5 HP per basic attack

:
100 HP
10 Armor
5 HP per 5
Unique Passive: Blocks 6 damage from champion basic attacks.

Now let's Compare them:

100 HP vs. 80 HP: Simple choice, 100 is often times greater than 80.
Winner:

5 Armor vs. 10 AD: Very close. Late game, an AD is > an armor, but armor has greater improvements at lower levels of armor. That 5 armor will cancel out a lot of the enemy armor pen. I think the 10 AD is roughly equal to the 5 armor early on.
Winner: =

5 HP5 vs. 5 HP per basic attack: The regen is equal if you attack once every five seconds. However, you can and will attack more often than that.
Winner:

6 less damage from basic attacks vs. NOTHING: The 6 damage reduction is the best part of this item, and the Doran's blade has nothing to compare. Also, bot lane is the place that you will be hit with the most basic attacks. The ADC will do most of their damage from basic attacks, and the support will probably will basic attacking you as well.
Winner: ~~Doran's Blade~~... I mean... Venusnaur.

So, by getting a Doran's Shield we are trading:

1. 10 AD
2. 5 Life Per attack

For

1. 20 HP
2. 5 armor
3. 5 HP per 5
4. 6 damage reduction from champ basic attacks.

So, according to the numbers, I have decided that Doran's shield is MUCH better than a Doran's Blade in lane phase. However, outside of lane phase, Doran's blade is better. Keep in mind that lane phase is the entire POINT of a Doran's item, though.

When to Buy it:

A. Planning on fighting the enemy lane opponent, or you suspect they will try to fight you.[/color]
B. Against heavy poke from the ADC. (i.e. against , or any lane where you are out-ranged significantly)[/color]
C. Especially against a support like and

Who to Buy it on:

A. - She outranges other ADs, so you shouldn't be getting shot too much as her.
B. - Sounds like it would be good on him, but he is so dominant in lane that he doesn't need it. Also, the armor is worth less because of his passive. If you feel you need it, it is still a good buy, but you normally won't.
C. Farm lane: If both lanes are content to sit and farm, there is no need for this item.

With Defense Masteries

If you get the and masteries, you can get up to 11 Flat damage reduction against champion basic attacks. This makes a massive difference early game.

In order to do this, you can go either go 9-21-0,16-14-0 or 14-16-0. I prefer 14-16-0. (h4xdefender pointed out that you can get it with 13 points in defense, but I just don't see anything worth putting into offense without committing more than 17 points into it.

TL;DR

is a very strong item for lane phase. If you plan to go double s, you may as well go for one of those, and a (Unless you are . Also, if you have the right masteries, you can get up to 11 flat damage reduction on champion basic attacks!

Thanks for Reading:

If you liked this strategy guide, please +1 Rep :)
If you disagree with anything, please reply and we can discuss it.

I plan on making a number of similar strategy posts on GD and in my blog. I may also post other things in my blog.

Thanks for reading! :D

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(1495) |

I think you missed my point. I wasn't suggesting building tabi on ADCs. I was offering it as an example why building defensive stats on an ADC is not directly comparable to offensive stats. You cannot simply compare the damage reduction of to the damage potential of mathematically for a DPS. The point of an ADC is to deal a lot of damage while being protected by his or her kit and teammates. Offense is inherently more valuable for this role.

Also, as I said in the first half of my post, people aren't really building double doran's very often anymore. You're not trading off one laning item for another. Building a blade and shield delays your core items.

And as a point of contention, most supports offer ways to protect their ADs and/or disable enemies so their AD can get some free damage off. In lane phase, this is where having damage over durability ends up being far more valuable.

(9) |

Oh, hai! Didn't see the comments for a while xD

As I said in the OP (I think), this is situational. You only get it if you really need it.

And I can say this with certainty, if you are going to fight the enemy lane in a straight up 1v1, is much better in a straight up fight than and can easily make the difference between a won fight and a lost fight.

@Throatslasher You couldn't be more wrong, it is a great lane phase item for everyone against an AD opponent on top lane, or even mid lane (sometimes). The 6 flat damage reduction is huge early on, and the other stats help as well. I play Vlad/Malph/Rumble on top lane, and I grab one every time I am against and AD if I am not totally crushing them. It's a good doran's item, but you can only get one.

@Nighthawk Interesting thought. You would pretty much need to score a kill off it, though. Otherwise that 475 gold will put you in a huge hole early on.

@PsiGuard Ninja Tabi is a bad idea on everyone but (he hasn't been building berserker greaves lately). You only get 10 armor for the upgrade, and you will lose considerable damage late game because ninja tabi aren't that good. It would be much better, but ADCs don't build hardly any health, so resistances don't work so well. If you need armor and don't want a you should just buy a , or two.

Also, the is purely for lane phase. In most cases, the ADC can't kite the other ADC from out of range.

As I said, you only want if you think you will wind up fighting the enemy lane.

(1495) |

I don't like it. Most people don't even bother getting a second anymore. You can just get , and for early game.

Also the damage-to-armor comparison is unrealistic. AD carries don't sit around trading with anyone they meet, they're supposed to use their damage to kite or fight when the enemy is sufficiently CC'd. If armor was as valuable on ADCs as damage is, you would see them building or something.

(684) |

i've never tried dorans shield on supp, but I can say that speccing defense masteries is the equivalent of about 13 armor early game (or 18 with the masteries) which is amazingly good. Buying Doran's shield on a supp like Ali, or Leona might be pretty good against auto attack based champions.

Doran's shield essentially gives you 36 armor at lvl 1. So it's pretty cool.

(531) |

wrote:

dorans shield sucks on everyone

It seems decent sometimes but I'd say it's worse than it was before.

(248) |

dorans shield sucks on everyone

(684) |

Not for ADC's. But for supports, it might be ok.

against someone like Draven or Vayne whose completely auto attacked based...

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