The Mathematical Case for Horizon Focus (and why BFT is a bait item)
TL;DR: Blackfire torch build paths are objectively worse than Horizon into Seraphs in almost every way as core items. Rushing Rocketbelt -> Horizon Focus (Mana-less/Sorcery) or sitting on Tear into Horizon Focus -> Seraph's (Mana) maximizes early base-damage amplification, stat optimization and forces a massive mid-game item-tempo advantage.
Early to mid-game (Levels 6–11), your damage is heavily carried by your kit's base values, not your AP ratios. Standard BFT rushes only scale your ratios with it's item passive. Horizon Focus’s 10% damage amp applies to both.
The 1v1 Single-Rotation Baseline Assume an isolated Level 9 fight using a standard rotation of 750 Base Damage and a 2.6 Cumulative AP Ratio (plus standard +40 AP from runes/shards/Doran's).
The Horizon Focus Route (2,700g | 115 Total AP): Your opening spell triggers Hypershot, applying a flat 10% multiplier to the entire combo. [750 + (115 * 2.6)] * 1.10 = 1,153.9 Instant Damage
The Blackfire Torch Route (2,800g | 124.8 Total AP with 1-stack passive): You get a 4% AP increase from hitting one target, plus the 3-second flat burn. 750 + (124.8 * 2.6) + 56 (Burn) = 1,130.7 Total Delayed Damage
The 1v1 Verdict: Horizon Focus deals 79 more damage instantly, and still wins by 23 total damage even if you let BFT's entire 3-second burn tick out PLUS you have more ability haste.
Well wouldnt BFT deal more dmg in a teamfight?
Well not necessarily because Horizon Focus's passive applies damage amp to everyone revealed.
The Horizon Focus Zero-Setup Math vs BFT % AP increase passive
Horizon Focus doesn't care how many people you hit. You choose a priority target and proc Hypershot giving you amped damage to EVERYBODY revealed.
Not to mention the vision utility is insane especially vs assassins, champs like fiddlesticks.
Viktor/Veigar/Hwei/Orianna (mana control mages): Horizon -> Seraph’s
If you sit on an early Tear of the Goddess and rush Horizon Focus instead of BFT, your 2-item spike is objectively superior in effective damage, ability haste, and effective HP (EHP).
The Seraph's Synergy: Completing Archangel's first feels terrible because Tear isn't stacked. By going Horizon first, you spike on the damage amp and vision utility. By the time you finish Seraph's second, your Tear is fully stacked.
The EHP Diff: You get a higher functional DPS/CDR ceiling than BFT routes, but you add a 250–500+ Lifeline shield. In pro play, that shield completely flips skirmishes and allows mages to step up and choke out space safely.
Unmatched AH at midgame and guarantee's late game scaling:
The Haste Baseline: Horizon (25 AH) + Seraph's (25 AH) + Lucidity Boots (15 AH) + Haste Shard (8 AH) = 73 AH (~42% CDR) at just two items.
And for late game, most mages are forced to build Cryptbloom over Void Staff because they desperately need its 15 Ability Haste to keep spell rotations fluid. The Horizon -> Seraph's build completely breaks this restriction.
The Void Staff Pivot: Because your cooldowns are already functionally maxed out, you can completely ignore Cryptbloom and opt into Void Staff’s 40% Magic Pen (instead of Cryptbloom's 30%).
Anyways I'm sure i could get even more deep into the builds but i just wanted to put this out there for you guys to try. For what its worth I'm a masters mage player than has been playing for a very long time, and after running some numbers and testing these builds in reality i can confidently say it feels 200% better on every champ I've tried it on. In high Elo especially!