Just sent it off to you.

Yeah I know Ive posted a lot of random info in a lot of random Sivir threads. Im glad it helped someone!

Im more glad that that someone made a good guide out of it and saved me the trouble!

Aura Sivirs Unite!

You know that Ricochet drains mana by the shot, right? Assuming that Armor Pen and Attackspeed gave roughly the same DPS (which is wrong, Armor Pen will always give more) and thus kill all of the creeps in roughly the same amount of time, Armor Pen will do it using less mana, as you will attack fewer times (for more) in that period. Attack speed gives you more attacks that deal less, and thus drains more mana. Additionally, you are already stacking all kinds of Attackspeed, between possibly 'Zerk greaves, Stark's Fervor, and potentially Last Whisper (one of the best tower-killing items, so definitely not out of place on Sivir). Attackspeed essentially has diminishing returns. At low levels, 40% attackspeed gives you basically a 40% increase to your DPS. But the second 40% only gives ~25% increase in DPS.


As for masteries, the defense tree is honestly pretty terrible on Sivir, IMHO. 9/0/21 or 17/0/13 are the ways to go. The effects it gives, besides Scars, are incredibly minor. 4% Mitigation might seem like a lot when you look at the raw damage numbers, but raw damage numbers mean bunk. Most of the time, if you die, you are overkilled, and by much more than 4%. I would say maybe once in five to ten games I barely miss escaping, where 4% reduction might have saved me. And it seems likely in those scenarios that if I was missing my 3% run speed I wouldn't have even gotten that far.

Also, in regards to the mana from Utility, I've run with flat MP/5 seals, 1 Quint, and 2 mp/5@18 Glyphs, and I do grab Chalice right away. One game, I forgot to switch my masteries back from the previous game where I played a mana-less champ, and I really felt it. With my set-up, you can spam BB every time it is up (and I run 15% base CDR between glyphs and masteries, so that's a lot) while leaving Ricochet on most of the time and still having mana for SS/On the Hunt. And you honestly need all this to be effective. I get 7.5 from chalice, ~5 from runes, and we'll call it 2.5 naturally at early levels. This means cutting out Meditation loses you a quarter of your total MP regen. That's significant, especially as Chalice affects all your MP regen.

Yes I know it drains mana by the shot. I misunderstood what you were saying. I was saying that having attack speed does not make ricochet cost MORE then not having attack speed.

Ill tell you what, Ill give them another try and see if they make a difference.

However, attack speed does indeed increase the early game last hitting more then armor pen. After a few games with Sivir (as most champs) you get a feel for the last hitting. Sivirs is pretty easy. We also have BB which will do mass damage to the creep wave. I find early game that the very large boost to attack speed I get from runes and masteries is the difference between getting most or all of the last hits. Because were doing damage across the entire wave, and our wave is doing so as well, I find getting the next attack out faster gives me a better chance to last hit more creeps. Armor Pen would make me do a tiny little bit more damage (we arent working with huge numbers at this point) but I find I need to throw the extra blades around because there are quite a few enemy creeps to last hit in a short period of time. Its this, I find, that makes the difference between getting chalice and scepter on first blue pill or getting chalice scepter AND boots.

Your also missing out on 2% dodge and 10% MS from dodge. Of course you dont run dodge seals so this may just be why. I find stacking dodge on her makes a HUGE difference for escaping and that 10% MS buff happens nearly every time I run. I wouldnt even dream of not taking those 2 from the defense tree.

As to the mitigation, your right, 4% isnt going to save you from a bursted overkill. However, it does make a VERY large difference early on when combined with the other defensive masteries. The lot of them together make dealing with your early health regen a lot easier (and this will be doubly important as soon as they hack off 50 range from her as you will be even closer to the enemy) and plays a HUGE role in getting early kills.

I find my early kills as Sivir usually come from my oponent misjudging if they can kill me. Its a combination of the suprising burst of BB, increased atack speed, Rally and my defensive masteries. I take these masteries as I find them to give the largest boost to Sivirs early game. As we all know a good early game leads to a great late game (or mid game in Sivirs case) and I just wouldnt give up that advantage. Its also worth mentioning that 4 (and 4%) less damage per creep attack, when your battling it out against another player in the midst of a creep wave has you taking a LOT less damage then they are. This can be another HUGE factor in the mid battle.

I play Sivir with the early starks strat foremost in mind as I believe it to be the strongest strat in the game. My mastery choices are based on making it as succesful as possible. In order to insure that happens, you MUST win the battle for mid. I find no other setup gives me a better chance then my 9/21/0.

It does need to be said again though that you use a different rune setup. Perhaps with your, your mastery setup works better. I do know though that mine, with the attack speed stacking gives phenominal results.

I run a full page of Clarity glyphs. Between that and chalice, I have absolutely no problems with mana. So much so that if the game isnt won by the strat at around level 14, I will sell chalice and subsists, quite perfectly I might add) with just my clarity glyphs, spellshield and natural regen. I really dont think, if your buying a chalice and running mana regen runes, that you need any more mana regen. I spam my abilities heavily and never have a problem with mana regen. Perhaps your leaving ricochet on to much? There are actually only a very few times to put it on:

Teamfight! (Duh)
3 or more creeps (any less and its just not worth having ricochet on if your tight on mana)
Attacking a tower and first creep of incomming wave shows itself.

Aside from that, ricochet should be toggled off.

I just really cant see going for more mana regen. I even sell the chalice if it gets to late game!

Anyways just seems like small variances for the same build. Both are likely perfectly viable. I just prefer attack speed stacking and the....longevity I get from defense masteries.

good guide, just a couple of item questions/thoughts i had:
i too usually get chalice on sivir, but i'm wondering- why not get mana manipulator 1st, eventually build it into a soul shroud? it's a good aura, although idk if it gives enough mana regen. i think this would be especially good if you are not solo laning (not ideal, but sometimes ashe-holes want mid ).
if you're really dominating/they aren't focusing you, why not get a black cleaver? (this is after your aura items are done) the -AR should help your carries out a bunch (unless they already have 1), help you down a tower faster, all sorts of good stuff.

Good guide, although it's worth reminding people that the movement speed buff from OtH was nerfed to 25%, not 35% as the guide states.

Regarding starting items, I haven't tried the Meki + 2 pots yet, but it sounds good. I had been starting with vamp, BPing once I get enough for chalice (which is almost exactly the point that I start having mana problems), tp back, and then I'm pretty much good until teleport is up again.

The vamp was giving me a few problems, though. The lifesteal really didn't seem to be enough early game to keep me full. If I got outharassed by Zilean or someone, then it was difficult to come back to attack creeps to get more health. That usually snowballed and led to a mediocre game.

I tried switching to a regrowth pendant, however, and noticed that those early problems are gone. This delays my stark's slightly, but I feel a lot more comfortable in the early game. Even if I do flub something and get outharrassed, I can just dance for thirty seconds behind my creeps and I'm good to go again.

I'm still a pretty low level, though (I just hit 14), so maybe this will change when I get better runes and masteries.

Updated: Now with extra QUICKSLIDE!

You're right. I hadn't noticed the nerf. That's too bad, but it doesn't hinder this strategy much.

A few reasons why I wouldn't recommend it:
- Mana Manipulator costs 475, so you're either getting no potions or less mana regen to start out with. The MM aura won't be helping anyone unless you're not mid.
- The Soul Shroud aura won't be nearly as effective in teamfights as Stark's or Aegis. It also won't help push.

This is an extremely tight build -- you want to get your auras ASAP and knock down an inhib. The longer you delay that, the stronger the enemy team becomes.

Im sure Blood Thirster was mentioned. The build for this is:

Chalice, Boots, Starks, Aegis, Blood Thirster, Guardian Angel.

LW would be a good choice is if there was room. The pen does count on ricochet bounces and it also affects towers.

The reason its not included in this build is very simple though. The game usually ends when you have chalice, boots starks and agies. If it goes longer you either need the damage (blood thirster) or in a tight game against good oponents who focus you first to get rid of your auras, you need guardian angel.

Last Whisper is a GREAT item. We dont have it in this build because of how the build progresses in the game. A little more damage is always good, but nothing replaces a GA when the enemy team focuses you first every fight. People arent stupid, they will see what you give the team and they will take you out. again, they WILL take you out. Even if it costs them all 5 champs. Packing a GA lets you Res (and your auras stay active while you res, incredibly important!) on thespot so your team doesnt lose you auras. More importantly, you will lose the enemy teams focus fire when this happens (or at least a good portion of it) and this is where bloodthirster and starks lifesteal really shines. Before the enemy realises your back from the dead, you will have healed up from throwing just a couple blades. At this point in the teamfight, your enemies have probably had the snot beaten out of them by your aura enhanced team and they just wont have the numbers left to get you down again. I dont think there has been a single time that I have resed from a GA and NOT immediately won the game right after. Sivir with this build, some creeps and one teamate can down both Nexus turrets AND the nexus in less time then it will take the enemy team to respawn at the fountain. Its the perfect end to a great strategy.

Why not Mana Manipulator first: It leaves you with no money for potions, hurting your sustainability in lane. It also doesn't build into chalice, meaning if you want chalice you have to spend an extra 390 on it, which probably stops you from getting boots or vamp in the same buying trip. Late-game, when Chalice isn't as necessary, you can sell it and get a Soul Shroud for some more survivability and another aura, but early on it hurts you too much.

Black Cleaver gives much less damage output than Infinity Edge or Bloodthirster does. It only triggers on your primary attack, which it is often difficult to hit people with (I find myself in teamfights often autoing nearby creeps in hopes that the ricochets hit their team). Additionally it does not affect towers, which are immune to debuffs, and it has anti-synergy with one of the better non-aura items on Sivir (last whisper).

There is one major reason why you generally dont get the Soul Shroud Aura on Sivir:

Starks, Aegis and On The Hunt all buff the physical aspects of champions. Sivir is alsi a primarily physical damage champion. Due to this, you synergize better with other physical damage champions.

Soul Shroud however works better the more magic damage champions you have and as a general rule, you want more physical attackers then nukers on a team with Sivir.

I also fully believe that for the cost, it is the worst of the aura items. That even includes Locket with its terrible build up and rediculous price.

Aside from that, wildfire hit it dead on.