Prospector's Ring - 200 HP, 30 AP, 7 mana / 5. Builds into nothing.

Ruby Crystal + Amp Tome - 180 HP, 20 AP, Builds into Haunting Guise and many other items.


Why don't more players start Crystal and Tome over Ring? It's mildly weaker for the windmill fight, but much stronger once it is turned into an early Haunting Guise. It could also be rushed into a Sweeper.

so much of a dominion game hinges on that early fight that any advantage you can possibly get, people will likely go for it

Prospector's are the most efficient items you can buy until you have to replace it. In most games you never even end up replacing it though.

If you don' t use mana, then ruby + tome is probably better.

You are acting like if 7 mana/5 is nothing important, if that's your case sure. But the fact is that is something very important.

Early advantage > a slightly better advantage later on

I buy the ring always. Why? Because when I need more room for a better item, I can always just sell the ring off.

The ring is one of the few good sources of MP5 in the game.

The extra regen makes a fairly significant difference early-on, and this is coming from someone who drinks mana pots like they're cream soda.