[2021] PowerOfEvil Viktor Build Analysis

Hello,

TL;DR: PowerOfEvil is almost certainly correct in upgrading to Rabadon's rather than upgrading to Seraph's.

Today, in TSM's game vs EG, a major point of contention on LS's stream was whether or not PowerOfEvil was correct in upgrading to Rabadon's directly after Luden's rather than upgrading his tear to Seraph's. With simple math, we can come to a sound conclusion regarding which item is better.

Assuming Viktor has one adaptive force rune, one proc of gathering storm, and fully stacked mana from manaflow band and biscuit delivery, Seraph's Embrace costs 1350 gold to upgrade from tear+NLR, and yields 57.8 AP (alongside some more mana). Rabadon's Deathcap, on the other hand, costs 2350 gold to upgrade from NLR, and yields 139.45 AP.

Therefore, upgrading to Seraph's Embrace gives about 0.0428 AP/gold, while upgrading to Rabadon's Deathcap gives about 0.0593 AP/gold. Therefore, at the expense of a potentially worse build path, one is getting 0.0593/0.0428=1.3855 i.e. 38.55% more AP/gold from Rabadon's Deathcap than Seraph's Embrace.