Discussion: Combination of items

Due to sent question, two of the members of Troll Patrol sat down and answered sent question.

Owen: The question I've been sent goes: "Can we combine Last Whisper + Ghostblade? Can we combine Trinity Force + Frozen Mallet? What are your thoughts on that? I saw players combining the two, but furthermore I've seen supporters collecting Lucky Pick, Hart of Gold and items with similar passive ability. I have also seen people getting two Heart of Golds. Can it be done? Thanks in advance!"

NJ: Hmmm... Those are very interesting questions.

Owen: Yes, it is, and opinions on it can differ.

NJ: Personally, I have seen many fullish things built up to 1600 elo approximately. This is really good question and it really needs to be explained properly. I don't know about your experience with it, but as I recall we have seen in our ranked team games that few people combined same gold items, haven't we?

Owen: Yeah, I recall one time when I was playing solo top against Trydamere when he got two Avarice Blades. In my opinion, that was not so bad. For 1500 gold he had gain about 25% of critical strike. That combined with his abilities and runes gave him domination over me.

NJ: Yes, I remember it. But you can recall as well that in the end he ended up being burden to his team. With that power he could only be pushy which gave our junglerer secured kills. Later on, he was failing because he was unfed. He sold both of the items so in the end it turned out to be that he wasted 1500 gold and thanks to it gain about 1000. Those items are only good if you are going to combine them, if not, they are waste of money.

Owen: Haha, that's true. There was Soraka with two Kage's Lucky Picks and failed game. Do you think it was because she played middle with Soraka?

NJ: No, that's not why. The player failed because it was unskilled and yet he wasted money on those items.

Owen: So, what you are saying is that buying two passively gold giving items is bad?

NJ: Not necessarily. Some of them like example mentioned before can give big dominance with certain type of character but it will make big disadvantage to player who did that in late game.

Owen: So, the final conclusion is, it's not good to buy two of the same gold accumulating items because it will give you great disadvantage later on? What's more only one of them give you passive ability. Second doesn't.

NJ: Yes. But on the other hand buying two different can be good, but again not necessarily good.

Owen: Lol. I remember time when you were support-tanking with Leona. You not only bought Heart of Gold but you bought Philosopher's Stone as well. That's rarity for you. To go for Shurelya's Reverie.

NJ: At that time we needed that item as no one else could buy it. I used Heart of Gold to make Randui's Omen and used Philosopher's Stone to get Shurelya. That way having two of different items is good, I mean if you plan on merging both into another items. If you are just going to sell one of them, like some people do, you are gravely mistaken because you'd lose more money than gain.

Owen: Yes, but important thing saying is what is actually purpose of those items. You actually spend (taking example of HoG) 850 gold on it. You usually accumulate up to 400 gold before you merge it with something. Selling it, as you said, will be big waste of money, so merging is the best solution. But that gold should be used to buy wards and stuff that will help your teammates. This way you can leave minions to your allies.

NJ: That's absolutely correct. So to conclude on that topic: buying two of the different gold accumulating items is good only if you are going to merge them. If you don't plan on merging any and you are not support, don't think of buying them.

Owen: So, now what's left to explain is Last Whisper, Ghostblade combo and Trinity Force, Frozen Mallet combo. What do you have to say about that.

NJ: As many people are going to criticize me, but Last Whisper, Ghostblade combination is not bad at all. That's the combination you can use on some specific types of characters. Those are my primarily items on Regnar and Kha'zix. It can boost their powers beyond limits. You can kill enemy's carry with just four - five strikes and having only 150 damage (I am relating to early game). Buying Bloodthirster on that combo will just give you more power. With about 220 - 230 damage you can kill enemy carry with two blows. It can be really insane power combining those two items, but they should only be combined on melee bruising characters.

Owen: In the end you are saying that that is not such a bad combo?

NJ: If applied on right type of characters, definitely it isn't.

Owen: Thank you about that, but would you explain things about Trinity Force, Frozen Mallet combination?

NJ: That one is rather interesting question that's why we left it for the end, didn't we?

Owen: Hahaha, yes, I thought it would be best for the end. So what are the opinions on it?

NJ: There are different opinions on this one. In my opinion it is not good to combine them if you are playing ranked games because you spend too much money on basically nothing. You should either chose whether you would like to get constant slows with Frozen Mallet or getting great additional damage with Trinity Force. If you are playing normal games, you can combine them, but they cost too much money. If you are trying to get offensive tank build with lots of health points go for Trinity Force, Warmog's and instead of +700hp given by Frozen Mallet go for Zeek's Herald, RoA, Ryle's Crystal Scepter and similar items, depending on what type of character you are playing.

Owen: So basically you are saying that combining those to is not pretty much good?

NJ: That's my exact opinion, though I don't say you cannot try doing that.

Owen: Aren't you just saying that so you don't get in conflict with others who are saying that those two can be combined?

NJ: You saw right through me, lol.

Owen: Well, that's good to know. So, guys, you have seen what's our professional opinions on this. We will be back with more discussions and next time probably with someone else from the team. Have fun playing and good luck on fields of justice!

Troll Patrol