TheItemGuru, here:

Just like every champion, every item has its own place in the League of Legends. Each item functions uniquely, an the difference between a good item choice and a bad one can make all the difference for how a match turns out. For your champion has 5 abilities (one passive) that are set in stone for that champion forever, but no matter who you picked the items you purchase are entirely up to you--you could pack an Liandry's Torment on Katarina just as easily as you could buy an Iceborn Gauntlet for her (they are the same price).

Of course, just because they cost the same doesn't make them the same, especially on a champion like Katarina. As such, great care should go into what item you should purchase, who you should buy it for, and when it needs to be bought. That is what this guide is for--examining each item for its role in the game. Let's get started, shall we?

talisman of ascension

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The item in question for today's guide is the Runaan's Hurricane, an offensive item that is uncommon in many AD Carry builds.

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However, just because it is uncommon doesn't make it a "worthless" item that nobody should build on any Champion they own, or even for any AD Carry they own. Mercurial Scimitar is an uncommon item too, but that doesn't mean you should never build it, especially against foes like Veigar and Jinx. You can throw a game surprisingly easily by building the wrong item, or even buying one at the wrong time.

Gold Advantage is important, and gold earned from being ahead in the game shouldn't be wasted (nor should gold be wasted when you are behind). Every fight is different and just because you got First Blood doesn't guarantee a victory against your opponent next time. They may have learned from their mistakes, purchased a counter-item, or bought a much-needed core item in their build. Don't waste time and money on the wrong items! In a game where everyone is constantly improving their stats and attacks, items can be just as important as maintaining your level with everyone else.

That in mind, let's examine the basics behind the Runaan's Hurricane as well as find out where its place in LoL really is.

Runaan's Hurricane is good in some areas and not-so-good in others:

Pros

+ Unrivaled Attack Speed + Powerful Unique Passive + Useful in Teamfights + Makes Farming and Lane-Pushing Lightning Fast

Runaan's Hurricane, for all the hate it receives, has some pretty useful abilities. It bests all other Attack Speed items by a minimum of 20%. It also has a very powerful Unique Passive, rewarding Ranged Units with potentially doubled Damage output (100% regular attack and two 50% bolts). This effect carries over all On-Hit effects, meaning Champions can affect multiple foes with ease with their abilities, as well as increasing Lifesteal substantially.

Cons

+ Gives Only One Stat + Offers little Damage + Unsynergetic with Most Other Items + Fails to Compete with Other Attack Speed Items

Unfortunately this item isn't without flaws. Runaan's Hurricane only gives Attack Speed, whereas other Attack Speed Items give Crit Chance, Damage, Lifesteal, Etc. This makes building up other stats (especially Crit) more difficult, and leaves little room for the Hurricane in most AD Carry builds, who are already short on space between their other Core Items. Because of this, the Hurricane is considered a weak choice in most serious builds.

General Stats:

Runaan's Hurricane is primarily an offensive item. It grants massive Attack Speed. At 70%, this means that your Champion will have ridiculous Attack Speed right off the bat, nearly 100% with the common AD Carry boots, Berserker's Greaves. Unfortunately this is the only stat the Runaan's Hurricane offers, so this section is very brief.

Cost and Recipe:

This item costs 2400 Gold to buy. Pretty cheap, given the 70% Attack Speed. It builds from two Daggers and a Recurve Bow, and takes 700 Gold to finish. This is a pretty basic build, slowly amounting to the Attack Speed you're after and never taking too long to complete. I maintain the opinion that the most convenient items cost barely anything to complete after the recipe items are purchased, and this one is no exception. Building is simple and easy. There are far worse builds out there. So long as you have the Recurve Bow, you'll be mostly satisfied.

Additional Attributes:

Now for the Unique Passive: Runaan's Hurricane grants the user the ability to Auto Attack up to Three different targets for 10 (+50% of AD). This is unbelievably useful under the right circumstances, able to make an AD Carry's presence triple in a close-quarters teamfight. This does stack on-hit effects such as Frost Shot, Toxic Shot, and even Flay's Passive Damage. This is obviously more useful to some Carries than others, and it can play an important part in determining the proper role for this item. Just remember: THIS ONLY APPLIES TO RANGED CHAMPIONS! DO NOT BUY IT ON MELEE CHAMPIONS EVER!

As for cost, Early-Game AD Carries will typically want to pursue other items like the B. F. Sword and the Bilgewater Cutlass before they try to build this item. Still, it is certainly cheap enough to consider netting early on, making Runaan's Hurricane either a late Early-Game or an early Mid-Game item. Just be careful not to get outperformed by the other Carry because of buying this item first.

Overall Usefulness:

So from this we can conclude that Runaan's Hurricane is an Early-to-Mid-Game item for Attack Speed and a useful Unique Passive. It is best saved for Mid-Game, after more essential items are completed, but it makes itself known through its incredible basic stats and near-doubling the effectiveness of an AD Carry's Basic Attacks. Although the stats are nice, Runaan's Hurricane already takes up too much space to ever consider building Multiples.

Most people probably wouldn't have learned anything new about Runaan's Hurricane by this point, as the basics are, well, merely basic. Despite its apparent simplicity, however, this item has several key elements that are what make it so useful as well as situational. This is the Advanced Uses Section.

Now we get to the real Meat of this guide: Runaan's Hurricane is considered a bad item. Sure, it gives a lot of Attack Speed. But what it doesn't give is Crit Chance--a must have on any AD Carry Attack Speed Item (aka Phantom Dancer and Statikk Shiv). Runaan's Hurricane performs poorly while laning against other Champions, and usually results in an AD Carry performing poorly overall. So where does Runaan's Hurricane belong?

The true answer comes in the form of a game mode, to be honest. First discovered in ARAM, quite by accident (as you'd expect from ARAM). Runaan's Hurricane, despite being an apparent Early-to-Mid-Game item given the cost, is best saved for Late-Game during teamfights. Most Carries don't often build much for Late-Game because Bot Lane is so delicate early on and Early-Game Items are imperative to rush. It's not that the Runaan's Hurricane doesn't belong on AD Carries; no, it just doesn't belong in the Laning Phase. This item is best saved for the good old fashioned 5v5.

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The Runaan's Hurricane reigns supreme when combined with powerful On-Hit Effects and Lifesteal. With it they can become a plague to their enemies in a teamfight, able to apply Deadly Venom and Impure Shots to multiple foes, all while obtaining twice the Healing in return. During teamfights, a Carry can contribute twice as much with the proper use of this item. So long as they aren't Deleted in a single hit, they can continuously Auto Attack their way back up to full Health.

This is of course best in a 5v5, where an AD Carry's targets are plentiful and clustered, or even in a smaller skirmish if enemy Minions are present. The more the merrier! This is best used when combined with powerful AD Lifesteal Items like the Bloodthirster and Essence Reaver, as well as Crit Chance Items like the Phantom Dancer and Infinity Edge. It also works nicely with other On-Hit Effect Items such as the Blade of the Ruined King and Black Cleaver.

The keys to this strategy is an unusual focus on the Late-Game AD Carry. Going with the Runaan's Hurricane means that backing up its weaker points means losing out on certain survivability items like the Guardian Angel. Suppose we make a build for the Runaan's Hurricane, focusing on making it still hurt like hell with each Auto Attack:



The problem with Runaan's Hurricane isn't that it's really bad, per say. It's just that AD Carries often need all the space they can get in their builds. They need Damage, Attack Speed, Crit Chance, Armor Pen, Lifesteal, and often a single Defensive Item and a pair of Boots. There's not much room in there for an item that only gives one stat, even if it is a lot. Perhaps you could sacrifice the Phantom Dancer and switch out Black Cleaver for a Youmuu's Ghostblade for the extra Crit, but the more you mess with the Core Items, the more your performance may suffer. As such, Runaan's Hurricane can be incredibly useful, but it also comes at quite a cost. Is it worth it? It can be sometimes, but more often than not you can bet most players are going to stick to what they know and play it safe.

However, risk can be well worth the reward. Successfully running a Runaan's Hurricane in a teamfight can be devastating, and it does allow for an AD Carry to have much more presence in a fight. This item can certainly be used correctly, but it requires careful timing and circumstances to be in your favor. A foolish player gives this item a bad name, but a player who employs it properly will get many a Double and Triple kill in only a few Auto Attacks before the game is through. Build it wisely!

Runaan's Hurricane works best when used with Champions and Tactics that compliment its greatest strengths:

Teamfights!
How many times will I have to say it? Runaan's Hurricane is great in the middle of a 5v5! AD Carries' greatest strength is often the power of their Auto Attacks, so that on three enemy Champions instead of one can be incredibly useful. This item may be sub-par normally, but I assure you it is a must-have on any AD Carry on ARAM!

Item Proc:
The Champions best suited to using Runaan's Hurricane are obviously the ones with their own On-Hit Effects. A surprising number of AD Carries have these Abilities, and most of them stack with the Runaan's Hurricane. These include Frost Shot, Toxic Shot, Headshot stacking, Switcheroo! (both), Lightslinger, Deadly Venom, Explosive Shot, Hextech Shrapnel Shells, Quickdraw cooldown, Bio-Arcane Barrage, Impure Shots, Blighted Quiver, Fleet of Foot, Zaun-Touched Bolt Augmenter, amongst other non-Carry Champions.

It is important to know that Vayne's Silver Bolts and Draven's Spinning Axe do not work for the Runaan's Hurricane, making them typically poor choices for the item. It may also be useful to know items that stack with the Runaan's Hurricane Passive, making both items substantially more useful. These include: Blade of the Ruined King, Bloodthirster (shield stacking), Essence Reaver, Feral Flare, Sanguine Blade stacking (very useful combo I might add), Black Cleaver, Frozen Mallet, Entropy, Executioner's Calling, Nashor's Tooth, Wit's End, Frost Queen's Claim series, Phage and Trinity Force Furor bonus, Spirit of the Elder Lizard and Red Buff respectively, as well as several other items. Proper use of these items together can be devastating just working off of their Unique Passives alone.

Proper Protection:
Remember, an AD Carry hitting three enemy Champions in a teamfight will be right there in the thick of it. As such, it's important to make sure you don't just die instantly. Proper protection from things such as the Bloodthirster shield, Heal, Cleanse, Flash, or Barrier Summoner Spells, or protective Supports like Leona or Braum can extend your life dramatically, if you die at all. Having a good amount of Lifesteal can also help keep you alive, healing as you Auto Attack continuously. Sanguine Blade and Blade of the Ruined King make for good compliments to this item, and should be put to good use with your enhanced Auto Attacking. Just don't get Tunnel Vision while standing there are whittling away at your foes--stay alert!

No Lifesteal:
Some AD Carry builds simply don't incorporate Lifesteal, usually focusing more on pure Damage or Crit Chance. These builds do no suit the Runaan's Hurricane much, since one of the item's greatest assets is the enhanced Lifesteal. These Champions are better off with something else. Similarly, AD Carries who don't usually focus much on Attack Speed such as Ezreal will probably find little use for the Runaan's Hurricane. Avoid putting these two together.

One-on-One Fighting:
The Runaan's Hurricane works best in a teamfight, or whenever multiple foes are present to Lifesteal from. As such, don't try to fight other enemies all alone (unless you are very fed or enemy Minions are present). This is especially true for the enemy AD Carry during Early-Game and Mid-Game, who will likely have superior items to you at that stage. A Phantom Dancer will always beat a Runaan's Hurricane early on in a 1v1 fight. Stick to teamfighting whenever possible.

Building it Every Game:
If you build the same six items in the same order every single game, then you are a fool. Adaptability is a must in LoL, because each match can play out differently. Some matches can go without much teamfighting at all, and if your item's greatest strength isn't a factor in a game, don't get the item. You wouldn't build Executioner's Calling or Morellonomicon when the enemy team has no healing, would you? The same rules apply here. If the Unique Passive of the Runaan's Hurricane isn't doing you any good, then ditch it in favor for a better Attack Speed item. Be careful how you build!

This is a powerful tool in any Attack Speed arsenal, second to none in that stat. The Runaan's Hurricane allows the Champion wielding it to do immense amounts of damage incredibly quickly if not stopped. Left unchecked, a proper AD Carry with one of these will make short work of any enemy team. Attack Speed can be an under-appreciated tool, not doing its work with large chunks of Health, but with small, subtle, rapid strikes to whittle an enemy down. With the Runaan's Hurricane in your build, entire groups of foes will be quickly reduced to nothing before they know what is even happening.

Used in the wrong hands, however, the Runaan's Hurricane will make you the laughing stock of the enemy team. This is an item for mowing down groups of enemies and taking their life-force as your own. Using it improperly will make you a weak AD Carry with two even weaker additional attacks. When you choose to use it, mean business with it! Build high Damage, high Armor Pen, and high Lifesteal, and your foes will quickly discover that this item can pack a punch in the right build. So build it wisely!

I hope this guide has opened your eyes to the usefulness of the Runaan's Hurricane, and I hope you will make better use of it in the future (be it by using it properly or not at all!) All feedback is greatly appreciated. Good luck to you!

-TheItemGuru