Why You Should Love Magic Resist Glyphs in S3

There was a time in Season 2 when flat magic resist runes were so strong that Riot Games felt it necessary to nerf them and buff magic penetration runes. Many players still continued to use magic resist glyphs on their mid-lane champions, but others - maybe you? - did not. Recently, the pre-Season 3 patch introduced several changes that made early magic resist more appealing. If you already use the glyphs, then you probably don't need to read this article beyond a need to satisfy your curiosity (or maybe you just like numbers, like me). However, if you are not the MR-loving type, then maybe I can convince you of becoming one.

I think we all already know of the benefits of MR: it mitigates magic damage. Flat magic resist is often useful in the mid-lane because your opponent will typically be an AP carry (though AD champions are rising in popularity there, but that's another subject you can read about here). However, I am not going to be writing this article about why MR runes are good in and of themselves - rather, I will explain why they are better than they were in Season 2, which might encourage you to pick them up if you thought they weren't quite worth it before.

Magic Resist Runes Were Left Untouched

The first thing to note is that while magic resist and magic penetration stats were both nerfed across the board, magic resist runes are unique in that they were left untouched. This means that although the enemy AP laner now starts with only 8% + 7.83 magic penetration, which is less than the old 10% + 8.55, you can still start with the same 42 magic resist as before. The preseason patch also changed the way magic penetration is calculated as to make it more beneficial (percentage before flat), but because MR values in the early game are relatively low, this is not enough to compensate for the nerfs. So even if you start with the same MR as before, that MR has gotten relatively better than it used to be.

Let's use some numbers to illustrate: In Season 2, starting with 42 MR gave you an effective 30 MR against somebody with magic penetration marks and the 10% mastery (which was essentially every AP carry). In Season 3, starting with 42 MR will give you an effective 31 MR against somebody with the same setup. For now, this is just 1 bonus MR - not much, but it does show the glyphs are on their way to being better than they used to be before (and they were already pretty damned good). If you think that's disappointing, don't worry, as there is much more to it than that.

Sorcerer's Shoes Were Nerfed

Sorcerer's Shoes only grants 15 magic penetration now, as opposed to the old 20. This means that when you had only 12 effective MR in Season 2 after the enemy laner bought his tier 2 boots, you now have 16 effective MR instead. That bonus 1 MR has now increased to 4 MR, though this has more to do with magic penetration nerfs than the glyphs themselves. And there remains other and and even reasons you should consider the glyphs.

Scaling Ability Power Was Nerfed

Scaling ability power glyphs are the typical alternative for those of you who wish not to pick up magic resist (assuming you are also playing an AP champion). These glyphs are designed for maximizing lategame AP power - yet because of the nerf to Rabadon's Deathcap, scaling AP glyphs have also lost a bit of their strength, dropping ever slightly from 36.4 to 35 effective AP. Not a lot, but it adds up. And remember that this just shows how flat MR is stronger than it was in Season 2 - it would still be good even with no changes at all.

Consumables Are Insane

Finally, the main reason you should be using MR glyphs in Season 3 turns out to have very little to do with magic resist or even magic penetration changes, and everything to do with consumables. Season 3 introduced the Crystalline Flask and changes to movement speed, resulting in very sustain-oriented starts that go well beyond the traditional boots and 3 potions we saw in every Season 2 match. Consumables are essentially extra HP, which is further boosted by resistances.

In Season 2, a standard start offered you an extra 450 HP from health potions, which meant that with 42 MR, an opponent needed to do 554 damage to burn through all of your health (calculations not including Sorcerer's Shoes, as those would not be present on 1st buy). That was a bonus of 104 effective sustain from the consumables, granted by the MR.

In Season 3, although there is no "standard" start just yet, 1st buys tend to vary between Flask and 2 potions, or Flask and 3 potions (no more Flask + 5 potions after the nerf, unfortunately), along with other potential items/consumables. That's a bonus of 600 - 750 HP from consumables, which means that your opponents needs to do 742 - 927 damage to counter it after magic pen/resist calculations are considered. That's a bonus of 142 - 177 effective sustain thanks to the MR glyphs. If you start with 9 potions and 2 wards, you get a 1350 bonus HP from the pots and an extra 318 from the MR.

Conclusion

In short, with MR glyphs you will have:

• 1 more MR than in S2 against a standard mid-laner
• 4 more MR than in S2 against a standard mid-laner w/ Sorc Shoes
• 38 - 214 more effective HP than in S2 based on consumables

And this is all on top of the extra mitigation that they already provide on your base HP. Simply put, get magic resist!

(If you want to see all of the numbers above in a spreadsheet, here you go).