Runes are one of the most fun aspects of League of Legends. You can choose from a large variety of runes, each performing a different function. These runes provide you with power that you otherwise would not be able to achieve.
Gathering Storm is one of the best scaling runes in the game that should be taken on champions that benefit from great AD/AP ratios. The rune is generally good but gives the best value when taken in games that last longer than 20-30 minutes.
Gathering Storm is one of those runes and it is a fairly popular one. When it comes to high elo, Scorch and Gathering Storm contest heavily with each other. Most people pick one of them and run it every single game without a second thought. We will take a look at this rune and when it should be taken.
What Is Gathering Storm?
The rune actually keeps scaling as long as the game does not end. There is no cap for the amount of AD/AP it will provide. It will grank increasing AD or AP every 10 minutes theoretically but practically, most games do not last past 40 or 50 minutes. The formula used for calculating the AD/AP provided is:
- For AD: 2.4x(x-1), where x=1+(1 per every 10 minutes interval that has passed)
- For AP: 4x(x-1), where x=1+(1 per every 10 minutes interval that has passed)
On Howling Abyss, the increase in AD/AP is granted every 6 minutes instead of every 10 minutes.
Gathering Storm is a rune in League of Legends that belongs to the sorcery tree. Each tree contains one main rune called the ‘Keystone’, this is your main source of power and significantly alters how your champion operates. Below the keystone are three rows of smaller runes. One of these runes is Gathering Storm.
Slot
Gathering Storm can be found in the Sorcery Rune Tree, also known as the Blue Tree. Once you click a keystone, the three rows of runes will open up. In the third row, present at the very bottom, are three runes. The third rune in that row (far right) is Gathering Storm.
Stats
Gathering Storm is a rune that provides damage by granting you Attack Damage or Ability Power based on the amount of time that has passed in the game. The stat that you are granted depends on which stat you already have the most bonuses for. If you do not have any bonus adaptive force, it defaults to Attack Damage.
The stats provided by the rune are as follows:
| Time Passed | Attack Damage | Ability Power |
| 0 Minutes | 0 | 0 |
| 10 Minutes | 4.8 | 8 |
| 20 Minutes | 14.4 | 24 |
| 30 Minutes | 28.8 | 48 |
| 40 Minutes | 48 | 80 |
Scaling And Formula
Gold Value
The AD or AP provided by Gathering Storm can be judged for its worth by calculating the gold value that either stat provides you at any given interval in the game. We will list the gold value of Gathering Storm up to 40 minutes for the same reason listed above.
| Time Passed | Attack Damage | Ability Power |
| 0 Minutes | 0 | 0 |
| 10 Minutes | 168 | 174 |
| 20 Minutes | 504 | 522 |
| 30 Minutes | 1008 | 1044 |
| 40 Minutes | 1680 | 1740 |
Gold Value Per Stat Provided:
- 35G Per AD
- 75G per AP
Best Champions For Gathering Storm
Since Gathering Storm can provide either AD or AP depending on the type of champion you are playing (and the way you are building), it can be used by a majority of champions in the game. However, it is definitely suited more towards champions that rely on high Attack Damage or Ability Power stat to deal damage.
A champion like Ornn would not benefit much from gaining Attack Damage for his Q as he would by just having health and resistances to perform his task better. Let us take a look at some examples of champions that benefit the most from Attack Damage or Ability Power provided by Gathering Storm:
Attack Damage
- Aphelios
- Caitlyn
- Corki
- Ezreal
- Fiora
- Gangplank
- Graves
- Jayce
- Jhin
- Kha’Zix
- Kindred
- Master Yi
- Miss Fortune
- Pantheon
- Qiyana
- Rengar
- Senna
- Varus
- Zed
Ability Power
- Annie
- Azir
- Cassiopeia
- Evelynn
- Fiddlesticks
- Kennen
- LeBlanc
- Malphite
- Nidalee
- Orianna
- Rumble
- Sylas
- Syndra
- Veigar
- Viktor
- Vladimir
- Xerath
- Ziggs
- Zoe
When To Take Gathering Storm?
If You Are Unsure
It is important to be aware of when Gathering Storm is worth taking and when it is better to simply opt for Scorch. A general rule of thumb is: If you don’t know which one to take, you should take Gathering Storm. This is because Scorch requires you to constantly proc it whenever it comes off cooldown. You must also use the slight damage from Scorch to push your advantage by winning trades and pushing the opponent out of the lane.
If you are unaware of which rune to take on your champion into any given matchup, chances are you won’t be able to utilize scorch to its full potential. So that takes us back to our original question: So when is Gathering Storm worth taking? Well, Always.
Early vs Late Value
Gathering Storm provides an unbelievable amount of Gold Value through the AD or AP that you get. Most games tend to last longer than 20 minutes, with some games lasting over 30 minutes quite often. This means that you will get a large amount of AD or AP for simply existing in the game and it will continue to add up.
The rune is balanced around the fact that for the first ten minutes in the game, you receive absolutely no value from it at all. This is a very insignificant cost to pay for what you get later in the game. Between minutes 10 and 20, the Adaptive force provided is valued fairly low. However, anything past 20 minutes is absolutely worth it.
Judging Game Length
A good way to decide if Gathering Storm is worth taking over Scorch or even runes from other trees, is by judging how long a certain game is going to last. This sounds obvious but certain champions plan to completely sack the early game to gain a large amount of power in the mid to late game.
If you are playing one of those champions, it might be worth going for Gathering Storm and playing extremely safe to scale for the late game. This puts your early game at risk which brings us to our next point:
Coming Online
It is your job to judge when your champion needs to come online. While it is always nice to have guaranteed late game power, sometimes you simply can not afford that. In games where early tempo would matter a lot. In these games, you fear that your lack of power will lose you the game before you can even get to your late game spike. In such cases, Gathering Storm can be replaced by runes that provide value early game.
Conclusion
Rune choice is very important and must be done by taking into consideration the champion you are playing and which part of the game your power must come online. Gathering Storm is one of the best scaling runes in the game and should be taken when you don’t fear early game failure.
(5 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)
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