League of Legends XXXVIII: Featuring Mumble, The Giant Halibut

[ex cathedra]

You might have noticed that my posts tend to include a bit of hyperbole.

Grail is a really pitiful (read: strong but unappetizing due to the stiff competition it faces from other AP items) midgame item for most burst mages, though, especially those whose burst is a volatile as Lux's. I mean, you're spending 3100 gold on 90 AP worth of damage. That's not great. I feel like Athene's is a super strong item on paper but in actual in-game context it's often awkward to build around.

If I had to choose between some combination of Sorc boots, Deathcap, Void Staff, DFG, and Athene's in order to allocate my first 7-or-so thousand gold of the game, I can't say that I think Athene's would be a proper choice in most (or nearly any) situations.