my issue with the rod is that i think the cap is too low. you may as well replace it with the much cheaper needlessly large rod. yeah the bonus health and mana are good but those can be added in with other more usefull items. for mana get an archies. youll get bonus mana and if you by more than 1 they bothe produce about 100 ap. for health rylais is always there and there are other health/ap items. to make it worth buying it needs a buff on the ap.
