Theory: How to Build Defensively

At some point we're all faced with a game where the threat of being instantaneously eliminated by a burst assassin is high. They may not be in your lane, but sooner or later you're going to teamfight and they'll be coming for you. Death seems inevitable.

In Season 2 the answer to this problem was Guardian Angel. Its strong defenses and incredibly useful passive made it ideal for surviving burst or protracted fights. In Season 3 it is no longer a complete solution. The combination of nerfs to the item itself and buffs to assassins, bruisers, and their itemization has made Guardian Angel ineffective on its own.

To survive now requires more thought, care, and attention paid to the circumstances of the game. Before I regale you with math, here are three simple rules for survival:

• Health is the most effective defense in the early-game.
• Armor/Magic Resistance are best when you already have a lot of Health or very significant sustain.
• If you can only afford to build one defensive item, it should be Warmog's Armor.

To understand the first rule let's examine a fairly simple scenario. You are level 9 with 1100 Health and 47 Magic Resistance, facing a threatening LeBlanc. You also have 1000 gold. To calculate the raw damage your opponent needs to kill you (Effective Health) we use the following equation:

Effective Health = Health * (1 + (Magic Resistance or Armor)/100)

To defend against LeBlanc there are three potential options: Giant's Belt, Negatron Cloak, or Null-Magic Mantle + Ruby Crystal. In our given scenario these work out like so:


(1100 + 400 [Giant's Belt]) * (1 + 47 / 100) = 2205 Effective Health
1100 * (1 + (47 + 45 [Negatron]) / 100) = 2112 Effective Health
(1100 + 180 [Ruby Crystal]) * (1 + 47 + 20 [Null-Magic Mantle] / 100) = 2138 Effective Health

The values are close, but Giant's Belt has the edge. It's slightly less cost-efficient than Negatron Cloak in this case, but at the same time it provides survivability against both physical and magic damage. Unless the only threat to you is that LeBlanc, Giant's Belt is the more versatile, sound purchase.

The second rule comes into effect as the health gains from leveling (or purchases) skew the math more toward Armor/Magic Resistance. Consider a level 16 champion with 1700 Health:

(1700 + 400 [Giant's Belt]) * (1 + 47 / 100) = 3087 Effective Health
1700 * (1 + (47 + 45 [Negatron]) / 100) = 3264 Effective Health
(1700 + 180 [Ruby Crystal]) * (1 + 47 + 20 [Null-Magic Mantle] / 100) = 3140 Effective Health

Because another 600 Health was gained through leveling Magic Resistance became a much stronger defensive option. Health still defends against all damage types, but if you're only worried about one type then the Negatron Cloak is definitively better.

You can think about sustain in a similar fashion. In a protracted laning situation sustain is equivalent to Health, save when you're at full Health. Armor/Magic Resistance will thus scale the value of your sustain just as they would Health. High sustain champions are therefore better off with Armor/Magic Resistance, provided they can survive the burst and hang around to heal back up.

Regarding the third rule, it's generally best to have at least two defensive items. Health and Armor/Magic Resistance increase each other's effectiveness the more of each you have, but it's difficult to get significant amounts of each from a single item. Two items can easily double your survivability or more.

However, when you can't afford the item slots Warmog's Armor is the single simplest and most effective option. It grants 1000 Health in addition to significant Health Regeneration, and while your opponents can cut into Armor and Magic Resistance with Penetration, they can't reduce your Maximum Health. Combined with runes, masteries, defensive steroids, and aura items on allies, Warmog's is the best one stop shop for survivability.

Season 3 and all its changes are still causing huge ripples, but one of the persistent waves is a much greater emphasis on champions who can afford to build tankier. Tank Katarina is seeing play, Warmog's and Frozen Mallet are appearing on AD carries, and even assassins are buying defense. The days of pure glass cannon builds are quite possibly over.

Season 3: Defense Masteries

After a brief interruption due to a national holiday involving the mass consumption of plump fowl, the examination of Season 3 masteries continues. Today we'll look at the new Defense masteries.

Again, you can follow along using these mastery calculators:

Season 2: http://leaguecraft.com/masteries
Season 3: http://www.finalesfunkeln.com/s3/

It should be immediately apparent that the Defense masteries have changed fairly dramatically. While a few of the old favorites remain untouched, almost everything has been at least moved, if not replaced entirely.

The Armor and Magic Resistance masteries are conspicuously missing from the first tier, replaced by the Health Regen and Health per Level masteries. The former of these two has undergone a large revision, increasing the amount of Health Regen granted based on how much Health you're missing. Summoner's Resolve and Tough Skin are notable in that they are two of the only masteries in the entire Defense tree which have not been moved or altered in any way.

The second tier features the Armor and Magic Resistance masteries that were missing from the first. Moving them down a tier makes them slightly less accessible, a necessary change given their ubiquitous use at the end of Season 2. Bladed Armor is also now in this tier, meaning all the essential jungle masteries can be obtained with only seven or eight points invested.

In the third tier is Veteran's Scars, the only remaining Defense mastery which has not been altered or moved. Indomitable has been renamed Unyielding, and now only reduces damage from champions. Two new masteries also appear in this tier. Relentless decreases the effectiveness of slows (e.g. a 40% slow becomes a 34% slow), and Safeguard reduces damage incurred by turrets. While the Defense tree is useful to any champion, these and other specialized masteries make it clear that this tree is primarily aimed at helping bruisers and tanks.

All of the previous fourth tier Defense masteries have been removed, leaving the tree completely without Movement Speed or Cooldown Reduction. The new fourth tier is populated by Tenacious and Juggernaut, two masteries which split the crowd control reduction and % Maximum Health once given by Season 2's final Defense mastery. There is also Block, a mastery which reduces damage from champion auto-attacks. This tier is one of the strongest in the Defense tree due to the power of crowd control reduction and the direct effective health benefits of % Maximum Health.

The Defense tree's penultimate tier is also completely different. Defender is an incredibly strong mastery in a team fight, granting up to five Armor and Magic Resistance with a single point. Legendary Armor isn't quite so amazing, but if you're a champion with a strong defensive steroid or defense itemization heavy on Armor and Magic Resistance it can be potent. Good Hands has moved here from Utility, and now only costs one point for the full effect. Finally, Reinforced Armor serves to help protect a tank or bruiser from the crit happy end-game of enemy AD carries. Because both this tier and the previous tier have so many compelling masteries, putting more than 21 points into Defense may be common.

Honor Guard is now the final Defense mastery, and costs only one point for 3% damage reduction. In Season 2 it cost three points for half the effect, making Honor Guard the recipient of one of the largest buffs any mastery has ever seen. If you're going to go deep into Defense, this is a must-have mastery.

Overall, the Defense tree is much, much stronger in Season 3. In Season 2 most everything past the third tier had little to do with actually tanking, or was a very marginal increase in durability. The new masteries are quite the opposite, very few masteries do not relate directly to taking less damage, and almost all have value to one champion or another. Even though the masteries are aimed toward bruisers and tanks, even carries and supports may well be inclined to invest heavily in this tree.