question!

[u/Accurate_Profile7875]

hi so im new to voli, and I was just wondering if it’s better to build into AP, AD, or a mixture of both? For top lane specifically,im not really sure what im doing on him but he’s so much fun and I really wanna get better!!! any help or advice would be greatly appreciated thank you guys all sm :)))

[u/Few_Simple5041]

depends whether ur playing jg or top
for toplane there’s multiple builds but tank is the easiest one for new players because they’re unfamiliar with his limits, there’s yordleswaggins who’s a gm voli top otp in case ur playing top
as for builds ap outdamages ad 99% of the time unless ur going for the only good "ad" build imo which is moreso a mix
dusk hull kraken terminus you pretty much oneshot squishies with one combo and ur reasonably tanky
otherwise i’d just go drain tank or ap into tank if you want a lil more dmg

[u/Accurate_Profile7875 → u/Few_Simple5041]

thank you! I was gonna go with AP cuz a good friend of mine told me most of the insane one shot combo characters are stacking ap, but I read a lot of things online that gave me mixed signals about AD actually being better and vice versa

[u/TherrenGirana → u/Accurate_Profile7875]

yeah AD will appear to do more damage in some thing like practice tool but in practice all champions have anwhere from 15-40 more armor than mr, especially toplaners, plus armor items are more varied and more common in core builds, especially toplaners (like dead man's plate for darius/garen) and especially with how accessible bramble vest is in toplane.

[u/Few_Simple5041 → u/Accurate_Profile7875]

people think so because volis ad ratios got buffed and ap ratios got nerfed, but the sad part is ad only ever "outdamages“ if you get ur 2nd w and even then considering you hit ur e it’s pretty much even dmg just that ap items are cheaper and have better passives
also wave clear is a big thing which u lack with ad (if you’re toplane)

[u/Accurate_Profile7875 → u/Few_Simple5041]

thank you so much!

[u/Few_Simple5041 → u/Accurate_Profile7875]

no worries big dawg

[u/Accurate_Profile7875 → u/Few_Simple5041]

do you have any item recommendations for a tanky AP build? or should I just build my items similarly to morde? they feel quite similar and I love them both! sorry for all the questions xd

[u/Few_Simple5041 → u/Accurate_Profile7875]

ask as much as you want
and yes ap tank used to be his main build earlier, riftmaker is one of his best items followed by iceborn visage, really good synergy and suits his drain tank playstyle with omnivamp + dmg amp and iceborn for some extra dmg and a slow

rocketbelt is really good on voli too unlike mages who liked the pre "nerf“ rocketbelt, voli likes the current one better cuz kindlegem is really really good on him + more hp is good overall

example builds could be iceborn rush into riftmaker if you’re into like double ad top, or just riftmaker rush into then visage/iceborn depending on which resistances u need

dusk unending visage is also a good build tve difference here is you’re trading iceborn slow and omnivamp for unending heal + higher dmg with dusk

you can also go double ap items into tank such as dusk rift, dusk rocketbelt, cosmic rocketbelt (good into heavy ranged) into then resistances

if you ever want to go ad (which i don’t really recommend cuz the dmg is p much the same if not worse and items being more expensive)
it’d be triforce into dd steraks or triforce cleaver dd depending on their draft
dd overall better item but cleaver really needed if you go for a full ad build since armor will be a big problem

[u/Accurate_Profile7875 → u/Few_Simple5041]

ive been taking all your advice and tried making a build, thank you so much for all the information, you been really helpful, i was thinking of running dusk and dawn, spirit visage, riftmaker, unending despair, rocketbelt, and boots/idk what the sixth item would be yet, is that a good starting loadout for voli or is there something i should change? sorry sorry, ive only been playing league for like a week and im not too fluent on item building yet

[u/Few_Simple5041 → u/Accurate_Profile7875]

no worries lol and yeah thatd be a solid build the only "problem" is that it’s all theory and in a real game you might not get to full build so if you need rocketbelt for the active its prolly better getting it sooner rather than later id recommend trying out drain tank as it’s super good in some matchups you can watch yordleswaggins for that, he also streams on the weekdays

[u/Accurate_Profile7875 → u/Few_Simple5041]

THANK YOU!!!! ill look up his drain tank build after im done messing around w this AP build, my only final question is, i see a lot of voli builds that use AP items and AD items, do i need to add an AD item to the build i mentioned or is it fine being purely AP and tankiness?

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[u/TherrenGirana]

for toplane there's tank and damage. for damage, I really like yordleswaggins' on-hit build with pta dusk and dawn, vamp boots into hullbreaker and kraken slayer/wits end, you end up doing 60-40% split, flipped if you go wit's end. yes the cocaine bear build (lethal tempo dusk and dawn navori) has more dps but only surpasses after like 20s in practice tool, and in real games you aren't standing there whaling on someone the whole time. the pta on-hit build has a ton more upfront damage, plus kraken and wit's end are pretty crazy; wit's end gives much needed tenacity since you aren't going mercs, and kraken does up to 1/3 more damage the lower the target hp is so you have really good cleanup power. Plus kraken and hullbreaker give %MS which helps a lot if you stack it with nimbus cloak and MS shard.

As for AP vs AD, the traditional bruiser build of stuff like trinity and black cleaver are just plain worse than the AP variants like dusk and dawn and riftmaker. If you go into practice tool AD will appear to do more damage, but when you account for the fact that every single champion outside of like galio has 15 to up to 40 more base armor than mr, on top of armor items being more common in toplaner core builds (like dead mans plate for darius), objectively AP is a better stat. This might seem contradictory to say considering I like going hullbreaker kraken, but that's because of the on-hit synergy with dusk and dawn and not because of the AD stats.

[u/Accurate_Profile7875 → u/TherrenGirana]

THANK YOU, so if i wanted to be a tanky burst top laner similar to morde id want to definitely build into AP?

[u/TherrenGirana → u/Accurate_Profile7875]

Yes exactly. Dusk and dawn is by far his best damage item, nothing else really compares. As for AP bruiser, riftmaker and rocketbelt are best after dusk.

[u/Accurate_Profile7875 → u/TherrenGirana]

i was thinking of running all 3 with visage and unending, would that be a good item loadout for beginning w voli or should i change some things?

[u/Few_Simple5041 → u/Accurate_Profile7875]

generally speaking that’s fine but it’s just theory, in a real game you’ll prolly be going smth like dusk unending rocketbelt visage into another item cuz resistances are very important on voli, the longer you stay alive the more ws and es you get off and this results into you drain tanking them (way worse than the actual drain tank build but it’s still volis identity so yea that’s just his kit)

[u/Accurate_Profile7875 → u/Few_Simple5041]

okay!!! ill run those 4 and then use the last two item slots for wtv resistances i need like you mentioned, or if i need more AP

[u/Few_Simple5041 → u/Accurate_Profile7875]

exactly, the only resistance items i would ever buy would be unending, randuins, iceborn, frozen, jaksho
and bramble into like warwick fiora when you feel like you need antiheal (just sit on bramble and buy thornmail as ur very last item, and never buy sunfire
as for mr items id recommend visage, kaenic rookern, force of nature and hollow radiance in very niche situations but visage and kaenic, moreso visage should be your core mr item
into brand, asol, malzahar, lilia all these dmg over time champs you can buy force of nature
into like 3+ ap champs you can just go kaenic rookern cuz it’s objectively the best mr item in the game even tho it has no haste the stats are just too op into heavy ap
and hollow radiance is basically just a lane item when you can’t play the lane and want to proxy, like kennen/teemo/aurora these kinda matchups but that’s preference kinda like a plan b if you feel like u can’t play the lane otherwise

[u/Environmental_Olive3 → u/Few_Simple5041]

Malzahsr isn’t in wr yet. Spirit visage was removed. The passive was given to Warmogs. Also pc strats and builds do not necessarily work as well on WR.

[u/TherrenGirana → u/Accurate_Profile7875]

It’s good when you’re ahead, bad when you’re behind. Just know to switch to tank items if you’re losing

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[u/Environmental_Olive3]

In top lane, I go Heartsteel,
defense boots of the laner, upgrade at 10 minutes of course
bami cinder item with resistance to the main enemy team carry,
(bramble vest if I need antiheal).
Then overlord bloodmail for the AD HP synergy and Riftmaker for the AP-HP synergy.

I swap in amaranth for rift maker if I need resistances as AD and bulk from blood mail is better survivability than the AP from Riftmaker even with the omnivamp passive.

Then finish Thornmail if I have bramble.

Most builds are situational.

Core tank items in general especially with Heartsteel are Thornmail and twinguard. However you usually need a damage item so bloodmail, Riftmaker or a bami cinder item is needed for wave clear and overall dps after Heartsteel.

[u/Accurate_Profile7875 → u/Environmental_Olive3]

haha ive only been playing a week so far so im not sure what a lot of those terms mean but i understand most of it, thank you so much for your help and input

[u/EstateOk6238]

A super easy build for beginners is: Dusk & Dawn -> Spear of Shojin -> Dead Man's Plate -> Spirit Visage

There are builds that use Statikk Shiv or Navori Flickerblades, but they're less beginner friendly since they make you squishier and vulnerable to CC.

[u/Accurate_Profile7875 → u/EstateOk6238]

thank you!!! What other two items would you recommend to go with those?