Stephen “Mortdog” Mortimer, the lead game designer of Teamfight Tactics, provided fans with a math lesson today to try to determine which item is better: Infinity Edge or Last Whisper.
Itemization plays a huge role in getting players to finish within the top four, especially when it comes to items like Infinity Edge and Last Whisper. It’s important to critically think about which champion an item is being placed on, as well as what comps the opponents are playing. Vanguards are back in the TFT meta, leading many players to wonder if Last Whisper or Infinity Edge is enough to beat them.
Does this mean you auto win vs. Vanguards though? Nope. If you pay attention to the actual damage, you'll notice with LW you're doing:
VS. 2 Vg = 189dps
VS. 4 Vg = 144dps
VS. 6 Vg = 74dps
Compared to IE
VS. 2 Vg = 149dps
VS. 4 Vg = 89dps
VS. 6 Vg = 34dps
IE grants 15 percent attack damage and 100 percent crit chance. It also grants a 20 percent bonus for critical strike damage. On champions like Xayah and Jhin, IE is a powerful item that increases their damage output.
With some nice math, we can figure out that Infinity Edge is approximately a 93% damage increase on a champ like Xayah. The item is REALLY good on her since all of her damage comes from Auto Attacks.
This is true no matter what the enemy armor is. pic.twitter.com/OZriN8Qm1c
— Riot Mort (@Mortdog) July 24, 2020Last Whisper is an item that increases attack speed (not damage), crit chance by 20 percent, and its critical strike reduces a target’s armor by 75 percent for three seconds. LW is effective against comps that have an increase of armor, such as Vanguard.
Once Vanguard kicks in though, that's where the item begins to shine.
165 Armor (2vn + 40 Base) LW is now a 144% increase
340 Armor (4vn + 40 Base) LW is now a 209% increase
1040 Armor (6vn + 40 Base) LW is QUADRUPLE the damage. (312% increase) pic.twitter.com/1gVTSgo09e
But despite the effectiveness of LW against comps like Vanguard, it’s not enough to completely obliterate them. Six Vanguard has an increase of 1,000 armor, meaning that even when facing units with LW on them, the Vanguard champions still have 200 armor, which is hardly a number to easily dismiss.
Last Whisper does cause more damage than IE against Vanguards, according to Mortdog. But it’s not an auto-win. Knowing the math behind items and how they play a role against other comps can elevate a player’s gameplay, however, and help produce consistent results while grinding up the ladder.
ncG1vNJzZmicn6mytLzOq6usZpOkunDAxa1mp52nqHyuu9Gtm6ifXZe%2Fpq3KrGSdp6ejerW0xGabmqWRnLJuutSmmZ6qo2KzsL6MoqWfoZ6ewbp5xJ2enmWRo7FuuMCsq2avmJ7AsbHRZqCnZaSbwQ%3D%3D