To all that care does it not feel like ap based teams have an edge right now with current state of magic resistance. spirit visage at a whopping 50 gives about about as much mr as a atmas gives armor but that is a tanky damage item. it currentlt feels like tanks have no real tank item when it comes to building magic resist. Armor is the opposite and saying that i thought season 3 was to supposed to bring more item options for all roles but the anti-ap role feels very lacking any body agree.

Runic Bulwark offers 60 magic resistance, which is only 16 less than Force of Nature. Unlike Force of Nature, it offers Magic Resistance to all your teammates as well in an aura. Considering Frozen Heart was infinity better than Thornmail on tanks due to the aura, burst AP will try to be bursting everyone besides the tank, most AP champions with noteworthy damage deal a considerable amount of it in an area-of-effect, and Runic Bulwark offers things like health and armor that Force of Nature never did, problems concerning itemizing against magic damage after the removal of Force of Nature are mostly a figment of your imagination. Spirit Visage's 50 on top of that ain't bad, especially with a Warmogs - which will see even more health regeneration due to the healing effects passive on Spirit Visage.

Outside of actual tanks noboy likes getting an item that deters them from their build, so Bruisers, Carries, Mages, and Supports will tend to gravitate to items that offer things that help them fullfill their roll in addition to provided some extra protection, rather than just providing protection. For bruisers and Carries you have Maw of Malmortis, Wit's End, and Mercurial Scimitar, and for Mages and Supports you have the options of Mekail's Crucible, Twin Shadows, Athene's Unholy Grail, and Abyssal Scepter. Anyone who isn't a pure tank likes Season 3 more due to more options - and you can throw a Guardian Angel and pair of Mercury Treads in and you've got at least 5 end-game items that offer magic resistance in a build.

ah..runic ill have to try and run that more i see were my problem is now. its just negatron is the go to item for early fed ap. i like all your last game items but any suggestions for an early game combination when u dont want to go negatron for a full tank. and thank u for the feedback.

still what would a full tank build against a team consisting of 5 aps mr is hard to stackin that regard still
ad is so easy thorn and frozen heart 200 armor
mr not so easy

Counter-building an entire team with 5 members that operate the same way is considerably easier than counter-building a team with 5 members that operate on different mechanics - you get close to 100% efficiency in your items that way, rather than 0% efficiency against some players. The only real down-side of facing an AP team is that you're defensive items won't be as potent against turrets, monsters, and minions.

The other early-game option is Giant's Belt and any of it's upgrades, as HP really does help against burst. It also helps against the aforementioned minions, monsters, and turrets.

Don't forget about items like GA or Banshee's, which can drastically lower the effectiveness of AP combos without having to stack excessive MR (Banshee's Veil vs. Leblanc is devastating).

Keep in mind, AP heavy teams have a hard time pushing down turrets, giving your AD based champions more time to capitalize on farming.

Still, though, Void Staff + Liandry's Torment can easily take out 15% of a tank's life with a decent harass attack, with little to counter it. I'm thinking spell penetration needs a nerf when I can nuke half of a carry's life and a fifth of a tank's with the same spell.

Anytime someone tells you that something is "a figment of your imagination", you should disregard everything they've said to you.
Above all else, Trust yourself and your instincts. If your gut tells you something is wrong, believe it!

I like the OP's post for stating, once again, what numerous players have stated since Riot regurgitated their "Pre-Season Patch." The Pre-season patch was supposed to "bring more item options for all roles", it didn't. It took many options away from certain roles, leaving them with little to no choice but to use certain items. Witness everyone's shock and surprise to see Shen with a Spirit Visage. The Pre-Season patch also instituted Role-Restricted Items, thus further limiting build options.

To anyone who complains about the lack of viable MR items to counter AP damage, the resident Forum-Know-it-Alls always respond by suggesting "Runic Bulwark." However, when presented with a well reasoned, mathematical demonstration of why Runic Bulwark is a piece of ****, those same Forum-Know-It-Alls become a vicious pack of dogs, whose only response are childish insults.

Trust yourself.
The current roster of MR items are all ****.
The Season 3 patches are about weakening champs and taking away choice.

...
Runic Bulwark offers ~3200 gold worth of stats to yourself for the price of ~3100 gold, and those stats consist of 400 health, 10 regeneration per 5 , 30 armor , and 60 magic resistance. It also offers ~1100 gold worth of stats to nearby allies, granting 10 health regeneration per 5, 10 armor, and 30 magic resistance. Even with resistances being less useful, health and armor and health and magic resistance stack multiplicativly with each other, so the more attributes you have on an item the more effective you tend to be. The way it works out with 2 attributes you only need ~42% and ~42% of 2 attributes to equal the same effect of 100% of one attribute. Runic Bulwark isn't just cost-effective on the champion bearing it as well, you can cover a ~1100 gold disadvantage for your team for every additional member of your team you hit with it.

If you're going to complain about an item being bad because of math you should actually show math, otherwise you'll make people think you only make decisions based off of emotion. Using childish insults generally only serves to further that perception as well, so I'd advise refraining from doing so in the future if you want anyone to take you seriously.

That didn't take long did it?
perhaps you should take a look at the thread of mine in which I DID show the math. Which was promptly and completely ignored. And, instead of reading that post, which mathematically demonstrates that Runic Bulwark is overpriced, and not worth it, those posters responsed with a stream of vicious and nasty insults.

also, if you are going to alter a quote, you should alert the reader. I never said; "Runic Bulwark is Bad." I said: "Runic Bulwark is a piece of ****." (for unknown reasons Riot won't allow the "C" word to be displayed.)

I love the runic bulwark, mostly because of the lack of expensive items in its build. A support that has to make more trips home than they would like can build it piece by piece, almot always grabbing part of it on their way out. I think it's a very nice item because a lot of the AP is aoe-ish in nature, and it helps your whole team. It's a pretty nice item.

That being said, there is nothing else in the area of tank/support MR that you'd really get. Why buy a GA if you aren't the focus fire? Why buy QSS if you aren't being CC"d, why buy Banshee's viel... at all?

Looking over at the armor side of things, there's tons of variety from auras that mitigate dmg through -% AS (frozen heart, omen), movement speed modifications(omen), auras of dmg (sunfire cape), and even damage reflection (thorns). MR has bulwark, an aura of some MR.... exciting and versitile it isn't

I made a suggestion of a new stat http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/....php?t=3097981
for negative CDR, and that's just one type of aura riot could place on an MR item that a tank would find appealing because they don't have to be the FF for the team to get the benefit. I'm sure there's others, Riot is a creative company, they just need to focus on this.

Reducing the price of the current MR items (besides bulwark, i guess they figure that price is just fine) is no solution either, because all the other MR items are very situational. Example, Abysal scepter with the Spell Pen aura. Situational for if your team has an AP that's going to benefit from it, and even then, it won't be your first choice because you probably need the 800g more than the blasting wand. Most likely the person who want's more spell pen (like Kat) is going to buy themselves an Abyssal, not the tank/support.