They were bought because they were borderline necessary for the majority of situations. Many champion skill shots required that additional movement speed to even dodge in time, and it also gave you more offensive power by being able to move into an offensive position quicker and chase/combo. You're right, they weren't bought because they were the best offensive option, they were bought because they were necessary and were the best option in general (balance of defense and offense), in addition to the pots.

You can live through your lane and farm without armor+pots. You are a ranged character, and he is (usually) a melee. If someone like Pantheon/Talon is mid, you guys are on equal footing... there really is no difference. He has an ability combo that could deal great damage, and you have an ability combo that could deal great damage. If you're playing a mage that deals less damage, you need to (carefully) wear him down first, abusing your range and auto attacks. If they are melee, you have an advantage you need to abuse (they can't farm without melee range).

If it's someone like Garen, same deal, except there's nothing he could do at range. You can poke at him all you want and wear him down, the only problem being he is less squishy, hence needing more damage to keep him respecting you.

You CAN farm and offense at the same time, regardless of who is mid. An AD mid isn't some mystical overpowered thing compared to you... if it's an AD caster, it's just a different damage type. If it's a bruiser, they simply live longer and have a harder time farming (you are ranged, you can harass them if they try). I don't believe there's any type of AD character that can go mid and outright shutdown your ability to farm and fight back, unless you're being outplayed (which is a problem with your skill level versus his, not his champion selection). I think building offensively continues to be necessary even if it is a bruiser, so that you have enough damage to kill them (whether it be the burst to finish them off or enough sustained damage to keep their regen/shields down and still have enough mana to go for a kill).

People seem to forget the core reasons why an AP/caster character was the best option for mid in the first place.

Yes, being able to grab cloth armor and have it mean something later on is very useful, and the main positive benefit I see in the item. The problem is that it takes up a lot of inventory space to carry 2 cloth armors, and you need to finish that item sooner rather than later (which means more investment into it compared to other, perhaps more important things). This is in addition to the fact that unless you build it ASAP, the growth mechanic on the item will limit its effectiveness to counter the AD in the laning phase.

I fixed an error in my iteration of the item. I went over a few different designs and cost/AP balances and had the scaling wrong. Had too much AP. :P

the passive is lost when upgraded to zhonja

but its less useless than chainvest

More AP, less armor. More expensive.

I have to agree that with the item cost hovering at that amount I do not think it is any better against AD than simply buying a chain vest. When thinking about an Armor+AP item I was thinking more around the "hexdrinker" type for AP champions since hexdrinker is the best mid tier item I can think of for many champs who are physical damage and need magic resist. It doesn't have a shield but it has to be fairly effective vs Physical damage champs in more ways than just "more armor" which will probably be shredded.

Not to mention that with total stacks the item gives 45 armor and 40 AP, add that with a large rod at 80 and you get 0 AP from upgrading and 5 armor. Compared to how it is now where it gives 20 AP and 10 Armor. The new version has higher AP stats, but is loses a bit of the usefulness by not giving any good amount of bonus stats upon upgrade. If it kept the stacking passive that would be a different story.

bump

bump

Does it build into anything? Otherwise it's gonna have the same problem haunting guise and brutalizer had for the longest time...

edit: It builds into zhonyas. nvm.

In replacement of Chain Vest, that being my big complaint. :\ If it didn't build into Zhonya's I would just ignore it.

1160 gold

for

30 armor + 15 (45 armor)

25 AP + 15 (40 AP)

for a counter to AD mids... early game

If anything its too cheap.

Also the fact you can go cloth + 5 pots red or blue is a great advantage