Power vs Protections (Which is better)

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A YouTuber by the name of Glorious Smite released a video and it has a interesting concept, can you do just as much work with having more protections on something that traditionally haves all power items. Have a look at the video and post if you agree or disagree with him.

Things wrong that I noticed immediately:

1) "Chang'e has fairly average scaling." NO. No. Her scaling is far below average, it's only decent if you build high cooldowns, but even then it's still low. She's strong because she has guaranteed damage, not high scaling.

2) "This is how most people would build her." No penetration on Chang'e is how most people would build her? You have to be ****ing kidding, of course this build has no dps, he built straight power. In his defense build he put two pen items and is hitting the other Chang'e for almost true damage since he built only flat penetration.

3) Looking at it in the context of a 1v1, protections are of course more valuable. Chang'e's role in a fight isn't to just tank though. Tanks ie: warriors and guardians can build high defense because they bring a lot of utility to a fight and have high base damages. A Chang'e that builds defense brings almost nothing. The enemy team will just ignore her, what's she going to do about it? Do a tiny bit of damage here and there and ult occasionally? Compared to a warrior or guardian that are constantly CCing them, focusing squishies, absorbing a ton of damage... if a Chang'e isn't doing decent damage by late game, there's not a whole lot she's bringing to the table.

4) Didn't account for Sovereignty or Heartward Amulet. These items are essential support items late game, and Chang'e will most often have these 20 additional mixed protections, you can't just discount them.

5) Moving on to Kukulkan, things remain the same. No penetration on the "classic build", etc. SWK he tried to maximize physical ability damage using power rather than penetration, a beginner mistake (see any Loki guide ever). Comparing mage scaling to physical scaling is again moronic because magical power items give more than twice as much power on average (hence why you see Kukulkan often sitting at 800 power with a full build Loki sitting at 240).

Finally, yes Titan's Bane is a better pen item than Brawler's Beat Stick as a sole pen item, that's a true fact, but I think it's the only decent point he made the whole video. Also that Ullr build is *** in any competitive sense, he could have made it work if he swapped Runeforged Hammer for Soul Eater but in a match against decent people a hunter with no lifesteal is a super easy target.

Overall, do I agree with any specific examples this video gives? No, all of its examples are completely unrealistic and/or unrepresentative of what a real situation should look like. Do I think building protections is bad? No, it depends on context. On Kukulkan you don't want protections because you want to be able to nuke the enemy, it's defense through offense, same goes for any hunter. Mages like this rely on their teammates to defend them, and then put out the work by providing immense power. Some mages like Hel and Chang'e do want some protections because they lack range and thus safety, but grabbing 4 defense items is entirely overkill, grab 2 + 1 health/power item at most. Assassins do want to grab some defense (hence why grabbing Mail of Renewal and/or Hide of the Urchin as items is very popular), but you still want to be threatening with your burst damage, especially early game, so getting some power/penetration is key. Finally, of course guardians and warriors build a lot of defense, but they're designed to with high base damages, low scaling and great disruption/CC.

Stuke considering you play a ton of warriors/Hel I can see why this video appeals to you, but please never build Chang'e like this in a game with me, I'll tear your throat out.

Zilby has no chill lol.
I appreciate his video, but if what Zilby says is true then I dont know what to say then. Ive been looking for a protections, penetration and power guide so I came in here.
His accent did make it kinda hard to grasp :{
Nonetheless I appreciate anyones time and efforts to help.

Damn Zilbs.

Sounded okish until you said you would rip out Stukes throat. Bit overkill dont u think.

Yeah it's hard to understand him the first couple of times you watch him, with that thick Scottish accent, but after awhile you'll know what he's saying.

I'm tempted Zilbs, I really am.

So with Zilby saying what he said about all his info and builds being wrong. Especially since Chang'e built no penetration, is the video still relevant?
I believe in his Chang'e statement he was questioning the damage vs defense theory but forgot penetration. Which can change that argument quite a bit right?
If that same damage Chang'e built like Spear of Magus then damage Chang'e would be the better Chang'e correct?

I have no chill in regards to Chang'e, don't mess with my bae.


_{The throat tearing was clearly a reference to Monty Python's 'beast', duh :P}


@Reaux, his comparison was on a strict 1v1 comparison. In terms of who would do more damage to the other if one Chang'e built no defense and went straight power + spear and the other built almost all defense and penetration (at least Shoes of the Magi and Void Stone, it's quite possible that the defense chang'e would still do more damage specifically to the full power Chang'e. Of course, games aren't played in a strict 1v1 context outside of ranked joust, and even there you run into issues. Some include:

1) Damage to targets that build any defense: Power chang'e can shred through a fair amount of defense with Spear of the Magus with its flat penetration, and flat & % protections reduction against any given target. Defense chang'e can shred through exactly 25 protections, making it very effective against mages with their constant 30 magical protections and vastly more ineffective against any targets that build even a single magical defense item, or that have an aura such as Sovereignty giving them defense. This gives power chang'e an edge in every situation outside of a 1v1 against a squishy mage in terms of penetration.

2) Lane push/minion clear. Defense Chang'e will take many more hits to clear a wave and will shred towers at half the speed of a Power Chang'e. If in solo lane or 1v1 joust, this allows the enemy to push and use minions (especially early game) to damage their opponent mercilessly.

3) Overall usefulness to the team. Every player has a role to perform. Chang'e's role is to be in the thick of the fight dealing constant damage to enemies, reducing their healing all while healing her allies (assuming she's being played as a solo laner. As a mid laner, she's expected to have more power and burst at the expense of being as independent). Reducing her power both reduces her healing and her ability to deal damage to the enemy team, although it gives her more survivability. The problem is: Chang'e already has a TON of survivability. With a self heal, CC/damage immunity and an instant long ranged stun, she has all the tools to make it out of a fight alive. Building 1 or 2 defense items can allow her to stay in a fight for much longer, but building 4 is simply preventing her from performing her main role as effectively anymore.

Maybe I'll add a more in depth penetrations/protections section to my items guide, since this seems to be a problem area for players.

if I look at zilby's comment the damage vs protections part of this guy is flat out wrong

If you go full AD or AP then normally there is still a pen item included as otherwise a glass canon build like that won't work because enemy protection's