Luden's Echo vs Stormsurge: Which First Item?

Patch 26.19

How fast you kill decides it. Aurora, LeBlanc, Lux and Xerath take long enough over a kill that Luden's echo fires twice, and Luden's Echo is their better first item. Syndra and Zoe kill quickly enough that Stormsurge wins from the start, while Orianna and Vex come out even. Buy it second or third and Stormsurge is ahead for nearly all of them.

What each item gives you on Patch 26.19

Luden's costs 2750 gold and Stormsurge 2800. On a single target the six echoes add up to two full ones, so the passive hits for 150 magic damage plus 10% of your ability power, once every 12 seconds. Squall carries the same 10% ratio on a smaller 125 base. It needs you to deal 25% of the target's maximum health inside 2.5 seconds, lands 2 seconds after that and won't come back for 30.

So the echo hits harder and comes back sooner. Stormsurge answers with 15 magic penetration on every spell you cast (its 6% move speed helps you catch people, which two champions trading on the spot can't show). The fights here don't run anyone out of mana, so Luden's mana doesn't show up in these numbers.

Slow kills want Luden's

Champion	Median kill first item	First item level 9	Second item level 11	Third item level 13
Aurora	18.2s	Luden's +6.4% Luden's wins 121 of 171	Luden's +1.4% Luden's wins 62 of 171	Stormsurge +1.2% Luden's wins 61 of 171
LeBlanc	16.2s	Luden's +4.0% Luden's wins 104 of 171	Even Luden's wins 73 of 171	Even Luden's wins 36 of 171
Lux	13.9s	Luden's +1.4% Luden's wins 87 of 171	Stormsurge +3.9% Luden's wins 22 of 171	Stormsurge +5.4% Luden's wins 12 of 171
Xerath	12.0s	Luden's +1.8% Luden's wins 92 of 171	Stormsurge +1.0% Luden's wins 49 of 171	Stormsurge +2.2% Luden's wins 38 of 171
Vex	10.9s	Even Luden's wins 85 of 171	Stormsurge +2.7% Luden's wins 27 of 171	Stormsurge +2.1% Luden's wins 31 of 171
Syndra	10.3s	Stormsurge +2.1% Luden's wins 42 of 171	Stormsurge +4.1% Luden's wins 17 of 171	Stormsurge +2.9% Luden's wins 18 of 171
Orianna	10.2s	Even Luden's wins 62 of 171	Stormsurge +2.5% Luden's wins 18 of 171	Stormsurge +2.9% Luden's wins 17 of 171
Zoe	8.2s	Stormsurge +2.2% Luden's wins 17 of 171	Stormsurge +2.6% Luden's wins 16 of 171	Stormsurge +2.9% Luden's wins 42 of 171

The table runs from the slowest kill to the fastest, and the verdict runs with it. Aurora, LeBlanc, Lux and Xerath need a median of 12 to 18 seconds to kill a champion at the first item, and all four do more damage with Luden's. The other four need 8 to 11. Zoe is the quickest and the clearest case for Stormsurge: Luden's beats it for her against only 17 of the 171 champions. Syndra is the other one Stormsurge wins outright (both of their standard builds open with Luden's, and these fights disagree).

Buy either one second or third and it tips toward Stormsurge. At the second item six of the eight do more damage with it on average, Aurora still leans Luden's and LeBlanc sits within a point of even. By the third, LeBlanc is the only one not behind with Luden's, and she's even. Every item before it makes each spell hit harder and the magic penetration applies to all of them. Xerath's echo, for one, comes to 171 damage per fight at the first item and 166 at the third.

The 12 second line

Luden's cooldown is 12 seconds (Squall's is 30), and 98% of these fights end before a second Squall could ever land. A kill that runs past 12 seconds gets two echoes against one Squall. A quicker kill gets one of each. Then the magic penetration decides it.

Tanks are the long fights. At the first item Syndra's median kill on a tank took 16 seconds against 9 for everyone else, and Luden's wins most tank fights for every champion here except Zoe (10 of 46 for her). Against marksmen it doesn't come out ahead for any of the eight.

First item	Tanks	Bruisers	Assassins	Mages	Marksmen	Supports
Aurora	Luden's +12.6% 45 of 46	Luden's +10.4% 30 of 34	Luden's +3.0% 10 of 14	Luden's +2.5% 20 of 33	Even 7 of 29	Luden's +2.3% 9 of 15
LeBlanc	Luden's +9.7% 44 of 46	Luden's +6.9% 26 of 34	Luden's +1.9% 6 of 13	Even 14 of 34	Even 9 of 29	Even 5 of 15
Lux	Luden's +6.3% 43 of 46	Luden's +2.6% 21 of 34	Even 5 of 14	Stormsurge +1.2% 9 of 33	Stormsurge +2.4% 6 of 29	Stormsurge +1.8% 3 of 15
Xerath	Luden's +6.0% 40 of 46	Luden's +2.4% 20 of 34	Even 8 of 14	Even 12 of 33	Stormsurge +1.4% 8 of 29	Even 4 of 15
Vex	Luden's +5.1% 41 of 46	Luden's +1.8% 25 of 34	Stormsurge +1.3% 5 of 14	Stormsurge +1.9% 6 of 33	Stormsurge +3.0% 3 of 29	Even 5 of 15
Syndra	Luden's +1.8% 28 of 46	Stormsurge +1.4% 12 of 34	Stormsurge +4.1% 1 of 14	Stormsurge +3.1% 1 of 33	Stormsurge +5.8% 0 of 29	Stormsurge +4.7% 0 of 15
Orianna	Luden's +2.9% 31 of 46	Even 11 of 34	Stormsurge +1.2% 5 of 14	Stormsurge +1.1% 7 of 33	Stormsurge +2.1% 1 of 29	Even 7 of 15
Zoe	Stormsurge +1.2% 10 of 46	Stormsurge +2.1% 3 of 34	Stormsurge +2.3% 0 of 14	Stormsurge +2.4% 4 of 33	Stormsurge +3.1% 0 of 29	Stormsurge +3.3% 0 of 15

Second by second

First item	1s	2s	3s	4s	5s	6s	8s	10s	12s	14s	16s
Aurora	L +7	L +8	L +6	L +4	L +3	L +2	L +2	L +3	Even	L +4	L +4
LeBlanc	L +7	L +11	L +3	L +7	Even	L +4	L +3	L +4	L +2	L +7	L +4
Lux	L +5	L +5	Even	S +2	S +3	S +4	Even	S +2	Even	L +1	L +2
Xerath	L +7	L +6	L +4	Even	L +3	Even	S +2	Even	Even	Even	L +2
Vex	L +6	L +6	L +6	L +2	Even	Even	Even	Even	Even	L +2	L +1
Syndra	L +3	L +4	S +3	S +5	S +3	S +5	S +3	S +1	S +1	Even	L +1
Orianna	L +5	L +5	L +3	Even	Even	Even	L +1	Even	Even	Even	Even
Zoe	L +7	L +11	L +3	L +5	L +2	Even	S +2	Even	Even	Even	Even

The echo goes off with the first spell that connects, so Luden's is ahead after one second and after two for all eight. Squall has to wait for the threshold and then its delay. By the fifth second that early lead is at least halved for every one of them.

Syndra falls behind at the third second and stays there through the twelfth. She takes 56% of a champion's health in the first second of a fight (the most any of the others manage is 36%), so she's past Stormraider's threshold almost at once. With that much magic damage up front, 15 magic penetration beats one echo.

Lux shows the other half of it. She loses the lead at the third second and gets it back at the twelfth, when her second echo lands.

What surprised me was how little Squall itself adds. The echo out-damages it for every champion at every item slot here (for Aurora at the first item, 234 damage per fight against 94), so when Stormsurge wins, the penetration is what wins it.

Pick your champion

How these were worked out

Every item and champion number comes from the Patch 26.19 game files, including the damage from Lux's, Orianna's, Zoe's, Vex's and Aurora's innate passives. Each matchup is a fight played out a fiftieth of a second at a time, with the enemy hitting back and healing. It's run from eight starting points, averaged, and scored on how much of the enemy's health each build removes over the same stretch. Builds are the standard builds this site uses everywhere.

Some of it isn't in the fights. Mages here attack only 20% as often as their attack speed allows, which keeps Orianna's and Zoe's attack passives small. Vex only marks her target with Looming Darkness [E] (nobody dashes in these fights), and the fear from Doom 'n Gloom [Passive] doesn't stop anyone hitting back. Aurora's spirits don't heal her, and Zoe's empowered attack gets five seconds after a cast, a window the game files don't carry.