Needlessly Large Rod

Needlessly Large Rod is the big Ability Power component in League of Legends, the mage equivalent of a B. F. Sword: 65 Ability Power for 1,200 gold in patch 26.21, with no passive and no recipe of its own. Only four items build out of it, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Zhonya’s Hourglass, Shadowflame and Banshee’s Veil, but those four are the core of most mage builds from the second item on.

What does the Rod do?

It adds 65 Ability Power in one slot. That is more than three Amplifying Tomes, and the largest single AP jump you can buy short of a finished item.

The question with the Rod is never whether it is good; it is whether you can afford to walk back to lane with nothing else. At 1,200 gold it eats a whole early recall, so a mage who buys it at minute six gives up boots, a potion and a ward for the privilege, and against a roaming jungler that can go badly (the Rod does a lot of damage and exactly zero escaping). Later in the game the maths changes. By the second or third item you recall with 1,500 gold or more, and the Rod is the natural first piece of a Deathcap or a Zhonya’s.

Is it worth the gold?

Yes, better than even: 108%. At the reference rate of 20 gold per point of Ability Power, set by Amplifying Tome, 65 AP is worth 1,300 gold and the Rod costs 1,200 gold.

So there is a 100 gold discount for buying in bulk, the same way B. F. Sword is cheaper per point than Long Sword. Honestly, that discount is why Rabadon’s Deathcap can afford its passive: the finished item inherits cheap AP from the Rod and spends its own combine on the multiplier. The sell value is 840 gold. For a smaller step at the standard rate, Blasting Wand gives 45 Ability Power for 850 gold.

What does Needlessly Large Rod build into?

Four items, every one of them a late-game mage staple:

• Rabadon’s Deathcap, the AP multiplier.
• Zhonya’s Hourglass, the stasis active with Armor.
• Shadowflame, the crit-on-low-Health burst item.
• Banshee’s Veil, the spell shield with Magic Resist.

Thing is, none of those is usually a first item. Why do mages wait? Because they open with a Lost Chapter item or a Blackfire Torch and come to the Rod for item two or three, which is why the Rod is rarely seen before the ten minute mark outside of a few assassins like Akali or LeBlanc who skip Mana items entirely. The LoL items database tracks the prices of those four as they change.

Who buys it?

Every mage, eventually. Burst mages and AP assassins reach it earliest, since Shadowflame and Deathcap are their damage spikes; control mages and battlemages come to it later through Zhonya’s or a late Deathcap; and AP junglers and top laners buy it for the same reasons at the same point in their builds. Marksmen, tanks and AD champions never do (in practice there is one exception): on-hit hybrids like Kai'Sa or Kog'Maw occasionally buy a Rod for a Rabadon’s in an AP build, and that is about it.

How has Needlessly Large Rod changed over the patches?

Three times, and the first was the big one:

• Patch 5.13: cost 1,600 → 1,250, Ability Power 80 → 60.
• Patch 14.1: Ability Power 60 → 70.
• Patch 14.19: cost trimmed to the current 1,200 gold, Ability Power 70 → 65.

Put simply, the 2015 version was a much larger, much more expensive item, and everything since has been small tuning around the cheaper shape. The table above has each entry.

When should you buy it?

When you recall with 1,200 gold or more and your next item is one of the four above. If you are a few hundred short, buy a Blasting Wand and finish the Rod later rather than waiting in lane with unspent gold, since the finished items use either piece. Is a first-recall Rod ever right? Rarely, and only for a manaless assassin who is already winning and wants to end the lane. For a sense of which positions build Ability Power this way, our guide to LoL roles covers mid lane and the AP side of top and jungle, and Needlessly Large Rod sits in the middle of all those builds.

FAQ

How much does Needlessly Large Rod cost?

1,200 gold in patch 26.21. It sells for 840 gold.

What stat does it give?

65 Ability Power.

Does it have a passive?

No. It is the largest flat Ability Power component and nothing more.

What does it build into?

Rabadon’s Deathcap, Zhonya’s Hourglass, Shadowflame and Banshee’s Veil.

Rod or Blasting Wand?

The Rod if you can afford it and your next item needs one; the Wand if you have less gold or your item builds from a Wand. Both are efficient, so the recipe decides.