Reign of Gaming

Mana Regen Changes for Junglers and Solo Lanes

The Fiendish Codex change and other mana regen changes look simple, but it was in many ways a stat overhaul. Some types of champions benefitted from the changes, and others did not.

Less affected are champions that depend on Tear, Catalyst, or Flask, as those items didn’t change. Spirit of the Spectral Wraith and Spirit Stone users have it better.  However, if you use Fiendish Codex, which is in Nashor’s, Athene’s, or Morellonomicon, the story is different. An immediate look first:

Athene’s Champions

The biggest problem is for Athene’s Champions, who now must deal with the lack of a second fairie charm while on the way to Athene’s. This lack of two charms means that if you do buy two of them you must either sell one or build it into an item that doesn’t build into Athene’s. At any rate, if you’re an Athene’s champ you’ll have to make do with a different start, or accept that this start is weaker.

Chalice of Harmony is still great, but you don’t get a charm to hold on to until Athene’s is finished. Curiously, Athene’s gives the same mana regen on completion, and costs less overall. This means that Athene’s champion have a better mid and late game due to a lower cost for the same stats. But for early game, you will need to be more conservative with mana, and farming will be more difficult.

Morellonomicon  

This item isn’t very desirable to begin with, as Pick builds into Twin Shadows and Will of the Ancients. But now, you don’t get to have mana regen on the way there. You have to have 3 small items for this, and most will not rush it, but simply get it later, and have to get the charm as part of the recipe at the same time. Furthermore, a simple numbers comparison shows that Athene’s is much, much stronger. Unless you’re facing a Mundo/Vlad/Soraka team, you’d not even think about the item.

An irrelevant, rarely-purchased item made even more so. Amazing.

Nashor’s Tooth

Nashor’s Tooth was highly niche and mainly good on Kayle, who would use the mana regen to spam Q’s and make cover the cost of constantly activated her E. Now there is absolutely no mana on the item, narrowing its use even further. 

Early game, Kayle usually built Flask. Mid and late game, she relied on the mana from Codex to supply her with siege power in the form of heals and constant poke and harass. If it’s jungle Kayle, she can rely on Spirit Stone for mana regen. But AP Mid Kayle is out of luck, making ad and on-hit/hybrid Kayle better in comparison.

Still, Liandry’s/Nashor’s Kayle is still going to be a huge pain, it just won’t be as lazy. AP Kayles will actually have to manage mana, but the good ones will still be good.  

230 less gold for 10 less mp/5 is much less cost efficient. The lower cost is moot. You could use it for a flask or some mana pots if you’re having mana troubles, or make sure to hold on to blue, but any rate, if you were lazy and relied on the abundant regen from Tooth, you’ll have to get some regen or learn to play conservatively.

Mana Regen Itemization With No Codex

Charm only builds directly into the following items: Philosopher’s Stone, Chalice of Harmony, Spirit Stone, Tear of the Goddess, Mana Manipulator, and the third ingredient for Morellonomicon. The common thoughts on MP5 items:

• Philosopher’s Stone is good on supports, but is not considered strong elsewhere. Eleisa’s Miracle is awful.
• Mana Manipulator only goes on Shard of True Ice.
• Chalice is great, but it’s for Athene’s. Athene’s isn’t a very strong AP item and you want it to be your only regen item. See Athene’s section.
• Spirit Stone is for junglers.
• Morellnomicon: see above.
• Tear of the Goddess is a niche item and the decision to buy it is made for you by what champion you pick.

What options are there?

Catalyst. Catalyst is cheaper now and Rod of Ages is even more cost-efficient than ever. Plus, at the end, you get some good health, mana, and AP that can be used as end-game stats. At an IEM a Zyra bought 3 Rod of Ages to prevent being squishy, and a Ryze bought a second one. In the health-stacking meta, Rod of Ages is awesome, cheap, and helps you both early and late.

Crystalline Flask. I don’t think this is a mana solution item as it’s wasteful to use it when your health is full. Plus it only gives you three stacks of 60 mana. This is an item that you’d get if you were taking a lot of harass anyway, so if you’re having mana issues, don’t go this route.

Doran’s Ring. An unpopular item due to its low sellback cost and due to the fact it isn’t flask, Doran’s Ring is very generous to those who have issues with managing their mana. There are 12 minions per minutes, and if you get each one, that’s 60 mana. That’s the equivalent of another 5 mp/5. If you are bad, and only get half, that’s still another 30, for another 2.5 mp/5. Furthermore, you can hang onto this for a while and it won’t be horrible because hey, 80 health and 15 AP.

Mana regen runes. These are not as cost-efficient as armor and MR runes, but if you know you’re going to buy a cloth for Armguard or mantle for Chalice early, you can mix yellows and blues to get yourself 2-4 MP/5, and this will I use this on my GP mid build and it works pretty well. If you’re a Chalice, farm, or spam champ, you’ll generally stay in the back and have little use for resistance in the late game anyway.

Buy the extra charm anyway. A charm costs 180 and sells for 126, so you lose 54 gold for selling it. That’s about 1.5 pots, or 150 mana. If it’s 3 mana per 5 seconds, that means if it regens for you for 250 seconds, or over 4 minutes, it’ll have paid for itself. Plus, you get the regen immediately after one spell is cast. You don’t have to burn over 100 + 3 x your mp/5 to use a pot or over 60 + 2.4 x your mp/5 to use a flask charge, either.

Spirit Stone. If you’re a farming AP mid, a Spirit Stone can help you be a Wraith Farmer. The HP/5 will cover the damage you take. It costs 700, it sells for 560. That’s 140 gold lost for Spirit Stone stats. Also great for grabbing your own blues, bursting down Dragon, etc. Philosopher’s Stone sells back for 280, gives you 2 more mp/5, and 7 less hp/5, and no passive. It takes 14 minutes of holding on to it to get the 420 gold to pay itself off. 9 minutes and 20 seconds to pay itself equal to Spirit Stone.

Keep note that Spirit of the Spectral Wraith is a much cheaper way to get 20% Spell Vamp. For 2000 gold, with Stone on the route to it, you get the 20% Spell Vamp, 50 AP, 10 mp/5, 10% CDR, and the buff.

WoTA is 550 more gold (minus Pick gold) for 30 more AP, but no mp/5 or CDR. Plus, a buff. But what if your jungler and top are both physical damage?

It really isn’t so bad, especially against poke, spam, and non-burst, non-all-in, non-DFG mids.  With Mana regen, health regen, and spell vamp combined, this item is huge for wraith-farming and sustain. Too bad burst and all-in champs are very popular and in right now.

Clarity. Just kidding. Don't go Clarity. 

Or, you can just go manaless, which got rebuffed due to Codex being added as an option, or learn to go to blue when it’s your turn to get it, and not lose it.

As annoying as it is, you should be fine, and you should really look at Spirit of the Spectral Wraith again for AP solos and junglers.

Best,

Old Man Eyebrows 

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