League of Legends - F2P MOBA (like DOTA) part 2

[crownjules]

Here are the latest PBE patch notes which include the first major preseason patch which is for itemization as p0nd mentioned.

Very Important: our PBE post is up, which includes all items, prices, runes and more! Make sure to check it out for a lot more information than what's in this post.

    We’re closing in on the first patch of the preseason, which will bring some sweeping changes aimed at shaking up the metagame and adding even more strategic diversity to League of Legends. These changes are now on PBE, and we can’t wait to hear your feedback before the updates go live. 

    The Design team’s been discussing these changes on the forums, so head to these threads to learn more and share your thoughts:

    Morello Introduces Preseason Updates
    Preseason Itemization Preview
    Statikk Discusses Preseason Jungle Changes
    FeralPony and Roku Discuss Preseason Changes (Masteries & Summoner Spells)

    We’ll continue incorporating your feedback throughout the preseason, so stay tuned to the forums.

    Items

        General
            Basic Stat Valuations have Changed - This means that the amount of statistics you get per point of gold has shifted.
                Attack Damage is generally cheaper from 5 to 10% across all items.
                Attack Speed is generally around 10 to 20% more expensive than before.
                Armor and Magic Resistance is generally around 10 to 20% more expensive than before
                Many items have had their statistics slightly adjusted around this fact.
            In general, high-end item premiums have been reduced across the board. This means that items are generally more expensive or provide less statistics the higher tier they are.
            Offensive Auras
                Range increased to 700 from 600 - Abyssal Scepter, Frozen Heart.
            Defensive Aurask
                Ranges are now consistent at 1100 - Aegis of the Legion, etc.
            Penetration
                Flat Penetration items have had their values reduced.
                Percent Penetration items have had their values reduced.
            Slowing Effects
                Global Slow particle now appears faster
                Slow effects on Phage / Trinity Force now have reduced effect when used by ranged characters.
                Slow durations on Phage / Trinity Force / Frozen Mallet reduced slightly.


        General (Boots)
            Movement Speed
                Boots give 25 less movement speed across the board.
                All champions have had their base movement speed increased by 25.
            Tier 2 boots can be enchanted, upgrading them to a Tier 3 boot for some gold.
                Homeguard: Provides powerful regeneration and movement speed at fountain.
                Furor: Increased movement speed in combat.
                Captain: Increases movement speed of allies moving toward you.
                Distortion: Decreases cooldown of Ghost, Teleport and Flash.
                Alacrity: Grants a small additional base movement speed bonus.


        Removed
            The following items are no longer available and items that built out of them have had their recipes changed:
                Meki Pendant, Regrowth Pendant, Force of Nature, Ionic Spark, Moonflair Spellblade, Cloak and Dagger, Elixir of Agility, Leviathan.
            The following items are no longer available on Summoner's Rift and items that built out of them have had their recipes changed:
                Heart of Gold


        Reworked
            Doran's Items
                Doran's items have slightly less statistics but each has gained an additional passive
                Doran's Blade
                    Has 0% Life Steal
                        Passive: Recovers a small amount of life on hit
                    Doran's Ring
                        Lost a little bit of regeneration.
                        Passive: Gain a small amount of mana on kill.
                    Doran's Shield
                        Lost some health regeneration and armor.
                        Unique Passive: Blocks a small amount of damage from champion basic attacks.
            Giant's Belt
                Slightly cheaper but grants less health.
            Rageblade
                Reworked to have a powerful attack speed, spell vamp and life steal boost when you are low on life.
            Aegis of the Legion
                Lost attack damage, gained health regeneration
                Builds out of Emblem of Valor instead of Ruby Crystal.
            Lich Bane
                No longer grants magic resistance.
                Now deals magic damage equal to a base damage plus a percentage of your AP ratio.
            Vamp Scepter
                Now builds out of a long sword and grants attack damage.
                All items that build out of Vamp Scepter now grants attack damage.
            Zeke's Herald
                No longer grants attack speed or builds out of a dagger.
            Avarice Blade
                Gives less critical strike
                Grants an additional 2 gold per kill.
            Hextech Gunblade
                Active has had its base damage reduced and now has an AP ratio.
                Single target attacks and spells versus champions reduce the cooldown of the active by 3 seconds.
            Phantom Dancer
                Grants less move speed and less attack speed.
                Grants 'Ignore Unit Collision' passively.
            Shurelya's Reverie
                Grants far less regeneration statistics total.
            Eleisa's Miracle
                Does not grant Tenacity
                Lowers Heal, Clairvoyance and Revive cooldowns by 20%
                Gaining 3 levels with the item gives you the stats and passive permanently and the item disappears from your inventory.
            Black Cleaver
                Remade
                Builds out of Brutalizer + other items
                Dealing Physical damage reduces a % of the target's armor.
            Youmu's Ghostblade
                Active simplified - 6 for melee, 4 for ranged.
                Active cooldown reduced to 45 from 60.
            Warmog's Armor
                Stacking passive removed.
                Now regenerates 1.5% of your maximum health every 5 seconds.
            Deathfire's Grasp
                Remade
                Now builds out of Needlessly Large Rod and an Amplifying Tome.\
                Grants large amounts of AP and CDR%.
                Unique Active: Deals 15% of the target's maximum health and amplifies magic damage done to the target by 20% for 4 seconds.
            Warden's Mail
                Recipe: Cloth Armor + Cloth Armor
                Passive no longer random - but the effects are reduced.
                No longer grants regeneration.
                Warden's mail only reduces attack speed.
                Builds into Frozen Heart.
            Randuin's Omen
                Passive no longer random - but the effects are reduced.
                Randuin's Omen will reduce attack speed and movement speed.
                Base duration on active increased to 2 seconds from 1.
            Tears of the Goddess
                Slightly cheaper
                Now triggers when you spend mana as well as spellcasts.
            Archangel's Staff
                Upgrades into Seraph's Embrace when the Tears of the Goddess passive is fully charge.
            Seraph's Embrace
                Activate to shield yourself for 25% of your current mana for 2.5 seconds.
            Manamune
                Upgrades into Muramana when the Tears of the Goddess passive is fully charged.
            Muramana
                Toggle to deal a % of your current mana in magic damage on basic attacks and spells.
            Tiamat
                Melee only
                Now a Unique Passive with a larger splash radius and damage falloff near the edge.
                Now has an active: Activate to cleave in a large area around your target.
            Consumables
                Oracle Elixir
                    Duration capped at 5 minutes.
                Elixir of Strength
                    Duration reduced to 3 minutes
                    Slightly stronger effect at early levels.
                Elixir of Brilliance
                    Duration reduced to 3 minutes.
                    Slightly stronger effect at early levels.


        New Items
            Kage's Last Breath
                Supportive Peel/Initiation Item
                    Recipe: Kage's Lucky Pick, Mana Manipulator
                    Keeps G/10 Passive.
                    Active: Target ally gets a 30% slow aura for 3 seconds - 60 second cooldown.
                Liandry's Lament
                    Controlled Burn Mage Item
                    Recipe*:* Haunting Guise, Amplifying Tome
                    Passive: Dealing spell damage burns enemies for a % of their current life over 3 seconds. This effect deals double damage if the target's movement is impaired.
                Statikk Shiv
                    High Speed / Burst Damage Item
                    Recipe*:* Zeal, Avarice Blade
                    Passive: Moving or Attacking builds static charges. At 100 charges, your next attack unleashes all charges to deal 100 magic to up to 4 targets. This effect benefits from critical strikes.
                Frozen Fist
                    Resistance oriented version of Sheen
                    Recipe: Sheen + Glacial Shroud
                    Passive: After using an ability, your next attack deals physical damage equal to 125% of your base attack damage to surrounding enemies. This leaves an icy field that slows enemy movement speed by X% for Y seconds.
                Bloody Hydra
                    High End Attack Damage / Area of Effect Item
                    Recipe: Tiamat + Vamp Scepter
                    Passive: Tiamat's active and passive now benefits from a percentage of your life steal.
                Mercurial Scimitar
                    High End Magic Resistance / Attack Damage Item
                    Recipe: Quicksilver Sash + B.F. Sword
                    Active: Cleanses all debuffs from your character. If your character is melee, he gains 100% movement speed for 1 second.
                Ohmwrecker
                    High End Siege Item
                    Recipe:Catalyst + Chain Vest
                    Active: Disables nearby enemy towers for 2.5 seconds, preventing them from attacking.
                Wraith Collar
                    Supportive Scouting Item
                    Recipe: Kage's Pick + Null Magic Mantle
                    Active: Summons 2 wraiths for 6 seconds that seek the nearest enemy champions. If they reach an enemy champion, they slow him and reveal him for 2.5 seconds.
                Hurricane
                    Ranged-Only Area of Effect Item
                    Recipe: Dagger + Recurve Bow + Dagger
                    Passive: Your shots fire two secondary ghostly bolts that deal X + 50% of your attack damage to nearby targets. These cannot critically strike but apply on-hit effects.
                Zephyr
                    High End Speed Item
                    Recipe*:* Stinger + Long Sword
                    Grants Attack Speed, Cooldown Reduction, Movement Speed, Attack Speed and Tenacity.
                Banner of Command
                    Siege Mage Item
                    Recipe: Blasting Wand + Emblem of Valor
                    Unique Aura: Grants health regeneration to nearby allies
                    Unique Aura: Grants % damage to nearby minions.
                    Active: Promotes a nearby siege minion to a super minion. You get all the gold from this minion's kills - 120 second cooldown.
                Sword of the Divine
                    Rapid Burst Attack Damage Item
                    Recipe: Recurve Bow + Dagger
                    Active: You gain 100% attack speed and 100% critical strike for 4 seconds or 3 critical strikes - 25 second cooldown. This item gives no attack speed while on cooldown.
                    Passive: Kills and assists halve this item's cooldown.
                Mikael's Crucible
                    High Tier Supportive Item
                    Recipe: Chalice + Sapphire Crystal
                    Passive: Increases mana regeneration based on missing mana.
                    Active: Removes stuns, roots, silences, slows, fears and taunts from an ally and then heals them for X + Y% of their missing health - 3 minute cooldown.
                Consumables
                    Sight Stone
                        Supportive Ward Item
                        +X Health
                        Passive: Starts with 4 charges, charges refill when you go back to fountain.
                        Active: Consumes a charge to place a sight ward that lasts 3 minutes. You may have a maximum of 2 wards from the item at once
                    Ruby Sight Stone
                        Supportive Ward Item
                        Recipe*: Sight Stone* + Ruby Crystal
                        Passive: Starts with 5 charges, charges refill when you go back to fountain.
                        Active: Consumes a charge to place a sight ward that lasts 3 minutes. You may have a maximum of 3 wards from the item at once
                    Leaden Crystal Flask
                        Supportive Regeneration Item
                        Passive: Starts with 3 charges, charges refill when you go back to fountain.
                        Active: Consume a charge to regenerate 100 health and 40 mana over 10 seconds.



    Jungle

        General
            Leashing has been changed
                Jungle monsters now attack the closest hostile target rather than chasing their original target until reaching their range limit
                Whenever jungle monsters switch targets it counts as a “leash” - the maximum amount of leashes after which jungle monsters will reset has been increased
                Jungle monsters now deal bonus damage to summoned minions
            Initial difficulty of all jungle camps has been increased
                Overall camp Health has been increased
            Camp difficulty and rewards have been re-distributed more into the large monster in each camp
                The largest monsters at each camp are generally more resilient but also hold most of the rewards
            Scaling difficulty and rewards of the primary jungle camps has been significantly increased
                Health and Attack Damage growth per minute significantly increased
                Gold and Experience growth per minute significantly increased
            Overall rewards have been re-distributed between the 3 primary jungle camps (Wolves, Wraiths, Golems) to better match their difficulty and convenience
                Wraiths are the fastest-respawning, most convenient camp and have the lowest rewards
                Golems and Wolves are more difficult and are worth more
            New jungle items have been added to the store and old jungle items have been adjusted
                Hunter’s Machete - new jungle starting item that builds into Madred’s Razors and Spirit Stone
                Spirit Stone - jungle item geared towards casters and tanks that has 3 upgrade paths
                Madred’s Razors and Wriggle’s Lantern have been modified to build out of Hunter’s Machete
            The “Banking” system that caused jungle monsters that have stayed alive for a long duration to have slightly increased rewards has been removed
        Wolves
            Critical Strike damage bonus reduced to better normalize damage output
            Movement Speed slightly reduced
        Wraiths
            Reduced their vulnerability from enemies that engage them from outside of the camp
                Camp has been repositioned
                Big Wraith’s Attack Range has been reduced
        Golems
            Movement Speed and Attack Range increased to reduce vulnerability from kiting
            Magic Resist reduced to negative values



    Summoner Spells

        Newly available
            Barrier is now available on all maps to give players a selfish defensive option
            Values rebalanced accordingly
                Cooldown increased
                Duration and damage absorbed reduced
        Modified
            Exhaust's values have been modified to reduce its impact on melee champs and increase its visibility
                Physical damage reduction reduced, but now also reduces attack speed
            Clairvoyance has been modified to focus more on hitting clairvoyance on players rather than zoning them out of an area
                Improved clairvoyance now reveals champions hit by clairvoyance for the duration even if they walk out of the circle
                Radius, duration, and cooldown modified as well
            Clarity has been modified to restore mana based on mana pool rather than a flat value
            Heal has been tuned to be a team supporting defensive option
                Allies are now healed for the same amount as the caster
                Health values and cooldown have been retuned accordingly
            Flash, Ignite, and Revive have also had minor changes
        Removed
            Surge and Promote have been removed



    Masteries

        Masteries have been rebalanced
        There are new additional mastery choices in all trees
        Each Mastery Tree is now more accessible to all character types
        Utility Tree has been improved



    Summoner's Rift Map Layout

        Removed the terrain blocking the ramps leading into the river near Dragon from the jungle for blue team and leading into the river near Baron Nashor's pit for purple team.

 

[zebano]

yeah massive massive changes. It's too early to make any judgements IMO but I think there's a chance for melee AD carries to be useful again between the jungle, the new SotD and the AD upgrade for QSS. It's still probably going to be easier to play a ranged carry but wow... anyway the one thing I really like is the abundance of actives on the items.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Nice. Tons of new items and lots of different effects, Exactly what LOL needed.

 

[crownjules]

And here's a dump of the new masteries.

Give me some biscuits!

== OFFENSE TREE ==
Summoner's Wrath (1) [Offense 1-1] / Improves the following Summoner Spells: / Exhaust: Reduces target's Magic Resist and Armor by 10 / Ignite: Increases Ability Power and Attack Damage by 5 while on cooldown / Ghost: Increases Movement Speed bonus to 35% / Garrison: Allied Garrisoned turrets deal 50% splash damage
Fury (4) [Offense 1-2] / +1%/+2%/+3%/+4% Attack Speed
Sorcery (4) [Offense 1-3] / +1%/+2%/+3%/+4% Cooldown Reduction
Butcher (2) [Offense 1-4] / Basic attacks deal 2/4 bonus damage to minions and monsters
Deadliness (4) [Offense 2-2] / +3/+6/+9/+12 Attack Damage at level 18 (0.17/0.33/0.5/0.67 Attack Damage per level)
Blast (4) [Offense 2-3] / +4.5/+9/+13.5/+18 Ability Power at level 18 (0.25/0.5/0.75/1 Ability Power per level)
Destruction (2) [Offense 2-4] / Increases damage to turrets by 2.5%/5%
Havoc (3) [Offense 3-1] / Increases damage by 0.67%/1.33%/2.00%
Weapon Expertise (1) [Offense 3-2] / Requires Deadliness IV / +8% Armor Penetration
Arcane Knowledge (1) [Offense 3-3] / Requires Blast IV / +8% Magic Penetration
Lethality (2) [Offense 4-1] / +2.5%/+5% Critical Strike Damage (+5%/+10% for melee champions)
Brute Force (2) [Offense 4-2] / +1.5/+3 Attack Damage
Mental Force (4) [Offense 4-3] / +1.5/+3/+4.5/+6 Ability Power
Spellsword (1) [Offense 4-4] / Deals 5% of your Ability Power in magic damage to the target on each basic attack
Frenzy (1) [Offense 5-1] / Requires Lethality II / Grants 10% Attack Speed for 2 seconds after landing a critical hit
Sunder (3) [Offense 5-2] / +2/+3.5/+5 Armor Penetration
Archmage (4) [Offense 5-3] / Increases Ability Power by 1.25%/2.5%/3.75%/5%
Executioner (1) [Offense 6-2] / Increases damage dealt by 5% to targets below 50% Health



== DEFENSE TREE ==
Summoner's Resolve (1) [Defense 1-1] / Improves the following Summoner Spells: / Cleanse: Increases duration of disable reduction by 1 second / Heal: Passively increases Health by 5 per level / Smite: Grants 10 bonus gold on use / Barrier: Increases shield amount by 20
Perseverance (3) [Defense 1-2] / Grants up to +2/+4/+6 Health Regen per 5 seconds based on missing Health
Durability (4) [Defense 1-3] / +27/+54/+81/+108 Health at level 18 (+1.5/+3/+4.5/+6 Health per level)
Tough Skin (2) [Defense 1-4] / Reduces damage taken from monsters by 1/2
Hardiness (3) [Defense 2-1] / +2/+3.5/+5 Armor
Resistance (3) [Defense 2-2] / +2/+3.5/+5 Magic Resist
Bladed Armor (1) [Defense 2-4] / Requires Tough Skin II / Deals 6 damage to any enemy monster that attacks you
Unyielding (2) [Defense 3-1] / Reduces damage taken from champions by 1/2
Relentless (2) [Defense 3-2] / Reduces the effectiveness of slows by 7.5%/15%
Veteran's Scars (1) [Defense 3-3] / Requires Durability IV / +30 Health
Safeguard (1) [Defense 3-4] / Reduces damage taken from turrets by 5%
Block (1) [Defense 4-1] / Requires Unyielding II / Reduces damage taken from champion basic attacks by 3
Tenacious (3) [Defense 4-2] / Reduces the duration of crowd control effects by 5%/10%/15% (stacks multiplicatively with Tenacity)
Juggernaut (3) [Defense 4-3] / Increases your maximum Health by 1.5%/2.75%/4%
Defender (1) [Defense 5-1] / Grants 1 Armor and Magic Resist for each nearby enemy champion
Legendary Armor (4) [Defense 5-2] / Increases bonus Armor and Magic Resist by 1.25%/2.5%/3.75%/5%
Good Hands (1) [Defense 5-3] / Reduces time spent dead by 10%
Reinforced Armor (2) [Defense 5-4] / Reduces damage taken from critical strikes by 5%/10%
Honor Guard (1) [Defense 6-2] / Reduces damage taken from all sources by 3%



== UTILITY TREE ==
Summoner's Insight (1) [Utility 1-1] / Improves the following Summoner Spells: / Revive: Grants bonus Health for 2 minutes upon reviving / Teleport: Reduces cast time by 0.5 seconds / Flash: Reduces cooldown by 15 seconds / Clarity: Increases Mana restored by 25% / Clairvoyance: Grants additional vision of enemy champions revealed
Wanderer (3) [Utility 1-2] / Grants 0.66%/1.33%/2% increased Movement Speed when out of combat
Meditation (3) [Utility 1-3] / +1/+2/+3 Mana Regen per 5 seconds
Improved Recall (1) [Utility 1-4] / Reduces the cast time of Recall by 1 second and Enhanced Recall by 0.5 seconds
Scout (1) [Utility 2-1] / Wards gain 25% increased vision range for the first 3 seconds after placing them
Mastermind (3) [Utility 2-2] / Reduces the cooldown of Summoner Spells by 4%/7%/10%
Expanded Mind (3) [Utility 2-3] / +72/+126/+180 Mana at level 18 (4/7/10 Mana per level)
Artificer (2) [Utility 2-4] / Reduces the cooldown of activated items by 7.5%/15%
Greed (4) [Utility 3-1] / Grants an additional 0.5/1/1.5/2 gold every 10 seconds
Runic Affinity (1) [Utility 3-2] / Increases the duration of shrine, relic, quest, and neutral monster buffs by 20%
Strength of Spirit (3) [Utility 3-3] / Requires Expanded Mind III / Grants up to +1/+2/+3 Health Regen per 5 seconds for each 400 Mana you possess
Biscuiteer (1) [Utility 3-4] / Start the game with a regenerative biscuit that restores 80 Health and 50 Mana over 10 seconds
Wealth (2) [Utility 4-1] / Requires Greed IV / Increases starting gold by 25/50
Awareness (4) [Utility 4-2] / Increases Experience earned by 1.25%/2.5%/3.75%/5%
Vampirism (3) [Utility 4-3] / +1%/+2%/+3% Lifesteal and Spell Vamp
Explorer (1) [Utility 4-4] / Requires Biscuiteer I / On Summoners Rift, grants a Ward at the start of the game that can be placed to reveal the surrounding area for 60 seconds. On all other maps, grants 25 starting gold.
Pickpocket (1) [Utility 5-1] / Grants 5 gold for melee champions and 3 gold for ranged champions each time you perform a basic attack against an enemy champion (5 second cooldown)
Intelligence (3) [Utility 5-2] / +2%/+4%/+6% Cooldown Reduction
Nimble (1) [Utility 6-2] / Grants 3% increased Movement Speed

 

[ImpulsE69]

There are some really intriguing changes there especially to the items.

Eleisa's Miracle Does not grant Tenacity Lowers Heal, Clairvoyance and Revive cooldowns by 20% Gaining 3 levels with the item gives you the stats and passive permanently and the item disappears from your inventory.

(and the Archangel upgrade as well)

Interesting direction. And the Ohmwrecker OMG OP tower dives!

 

[p0nd]

Biscuiteer (1) [Utility 3-4] / Start the game with a regenerative biscuit that restores 80 Health and 50 Mana over 10 seconds

i don't know why but i love everything about this.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

There are some really intriguing changes there especially to the items.

Eleisa's Miracle Does not grant Tenacity Lowers Heal, Clairvoyance and Revive cooldowns by 20% Gaining 3 levels with the item gives you the stats and passive permanently and the item disappears from your inventory.

(and the Archangel upgrade as well)

Interesting direction. And the Ohmwrecker OMG OP tower dives!

Holy fuck at Ohmwrecker. I didn't even see that. I actually kinda like it, but I think more "reduced damage" might work better than outright shutdown.

 

[zebano]

Holy fuck at Ohmwrecker. I didn't even see that. I actually kinda like it, but I think more "reduced damage" might work better than outright shutdown.

IIRC it costs over 3K so it's not exactly an item you'll be seeing early game but it should shut down late game Anivia turtling by CLG.eu.

 

[HumblePie]

IIRC it costs over 3K so it's not exactly an item you'll be seeing early game but it should shut down late game Anivia turtling by CLG.eu.

Perfect for any tankish character with good init and a displacing ability to get some enemy dug out of a tower. Skarner, Singed, Blitz, Shyvanna, and even Xin Zhao could see benefits from it.

 

[nanobreath]

Holy fuck at Ohmwrecker. I didn't even see that. I actually kinda like it, but I think more "reduced damage" might work better than outright shutdown.

I think the shutdown is more powerful, simply because you can take a few shots, and once it starts really hurting, hit the item, which should reset its charges. This would really give you more like 7-10 seconds or so of good tower diving. More than enough for a good team fight.

 

[zebano]

eh I'm a lot more scared by SotD than Ohmwrecker especially in solo queue where the biggest barrier to diving is effectively communicating to your team that you're going to do it so they follow you.

Mercurial Scimitar and the Crucible also look awesome.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

SotD looks freaking insane.

Crucible is a must have for supports

 

[krnmastersgt]

Liandry's is pretty amazing for poke/sustained mages. And the new DFG is going to be amazingly powerful on the instant nuke mages, Veigar should be able to absolutely melt people now.

Buuuut I think all the new mage items are counteracted by the fact that AD items are now cheaper, armor pen calcs are different so heavy ad bruisers are going to be pretty damn strong.

 

[HumblePie]

So I have had 8 games thus far in solo Q ranked since the restart. Here's how they all played out.

7 of 8 games I was stuck playing support. No problem for me as I don't mind playing sona and I think I'm damn good with her. I finished positive with her in both season 1 and season 2 as the champ with the most games played and a better than 50% win ratio.

Right now I'm 3 wins and 4 losses with sona. Every win except 1 was something of a hard win. 2 games were 55+ minutes long and could have gone either way. They were great games that had many small comebacks for either side. I feel I made some instrumental plays in the team fights with my Sona initiations that won both games at the end.

1 win was a pure stomp by my team of the other one. It was a 22 minute surrender by the other team. I wouldn't say any particular person was feeding or losing outright as the entire other team lost every lane at the same time. They all just got stomped in lane completely. Definitely a won sided win for me for one of my sona games.

My one game I didn't play Sona I played Brand mid and was last pick. I ended up dominating that game despite the massive focus fire in team fights on me. I had to get GA because of the focus and even that didn't matter. Even with GA on me, the other team would focus me over any other squishies on me team to pop my GA. At the end of the game they all admitted because I was the one working them over and carried the game for my team. I still ended up 16/13/20 something I think if memory here at work serves me right. I had highest kills and quite a few assists. Still, it was touch and go for a few there. Mainly because I was dominating early while the rest of my team was not doing well. So the other team decided to focus me down and for a few team fights, it was working as the rest of my team were far enough behind they could not clean up after I dished out my damage before dying. Still, managed to drag the game into a long one to allow me team to catch up. Which meant near the end game, while the other team was focusing me, my team was finally about to punish them for continuing that and ignoring everyone else on my team. Which won us the game in the end.

Out of my losses, I can say I was still getting shafted badly. Not a single loss was a game that went longer than 25 minutes or so. 1 game I had a leaver that died top lane 4 times and poofed after throwing out some profanity in another language. Jungle had to cover top and the other team's jungler was able to just start camping mid and bot to crush us while their fed top was crushing our jungler there. It wasn't that the other team was all that good or my team was bad, it just the feeder/leaver screwed us so bad from the start there was no remote chance of winning.

Another game I was doing really well with my bottom ADC partner. The adc had 4 kills and I was the only one to die so I was sitting at 0/1/4. Our ADC had a good 50 or 60 CS lead as well on the other adc. It didn't matter as the other lanes failed hard core along with our jungler. Our team's top, jungle, and mid had 4 deaths each by then. Putting the team score at 4 to 12 by the 10 minute mark or so. Which means the other team's jungler just camp bot with mid coming down a lot making for a ton of 2v4 fights bot. Suffice it to say, I as Sona along with the decent ADC I was with could not carry that game.

The other two games I lost as Sona support I was stuck with the worst ADC partner in lane. They sucked at last hitting, never dodged any harassment, never harassed back, and never responded to any attempted plays I would try. I like playing an aggressive sona and poking early with her. That is her strongest phase in the game is that early game poke harass. With a Q and Power Chord with AD runes she literally melts people at level 1-4 range. Add to that a decent amount of sustain and it's easy to see why she is so popular with high elo players and is played the way I play her. However, you can be literally screwed if you decide to make a poke and your ADC either farms without helping you poke or runs away. The first ADC I had was an Ashe of this type. She couldn't CS and never harassed or did anything. Every time I saw taric make a move towards ashe I would interpose myself to make myself an easier target so I would take the stun to the face. The reason for that is so that SHE could then harass either graves or taric enough to make them back off and not attempt to go for the kill on me. But when Ashe just sits there while I'm stunned and doesn't react while I get pounded, it only makes the enemies go for the kill at that point. First time that happened, I flashed away and ran under tower from middle of the lane while they chased me the whole way. They tower dove AND both were executed by the tower for it. Ashe didn't take a single auto attack shot at the once. Then tried to blame me in chat for feeding. Absolute troll adc in that game.

The other game was almost worse. Had an MF talking smack as soon as the game started. Was doing the EXACT same thing as the ashe had done to me the previous game. Once I noticed the BAD CS, and no attempt to avoid harassment by the other team I decided to play that game safer and just stayed back. So we stayed pushed up at the tower the entire time. Level 6 hits and MF thinks she can kill both a full life graves and taric. Runs up, takes a stun to the face, gets low and uses ult then dies. Then says in chat "WTF? I thought MF ult was suppose to kill you two. That's bullshit." To which I responded that her ult doesn't kill anyone from 100% to 0% ever. She then started massively trolling and feeding after that. Ended up 0/9 or so by running in and feeding with zero items besides boots and pots by the 20 minute mark when we surrendered. What's funny was MF was trying to blame me at first for that, but then the Shyvanna jungler on the team started watching bot and said that it was most certainly all MF's fault and not mine.

Speaking of which, the very next game after that troll MF game I had, I was on the same team again as the Shyvanna I had in the previous game. I didn't get to see whether the person did well or not, but they asked me in champ select if I would like to support him if he went ADC. I said sure and he was a decent ADC. That was a game we won, although it was one of those long close ones.


So what does this mean? Of 8 games, 1 was an "easy" win that the other team had no chance of winning. Not that they were trolling, but they were all just outplayed and of lesser skills than everyone else on my team. 3 other wins were HARD WON wins that were very long grueling games that could have gone either way. Zero trolls/afkers/feeders for either team and they were good games. Of the 4 losses, they were all bullshit losses I never had a chance to win. Every single one was an early surrender due to a troll/feeder/leaver on my team or multiple feeders. None of the losses were good games or losses I was happy about. Mainly because the other team didn't win at all because they were good. They won because they were handed the victory by some asshole(s) on my team. Despite my playing well, there was nothing I could have done to win. Nothing ANYONE could have done. Yay for elo hell.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Mine have been going terrible.

Won 3 of my 5 placement matches, then it went downhill from there. Doesn't matter how well I do, just keep losing. No AFK's/Leavers, but plenty of trolls and people with 0 kills at the end of the game :/ One game I was Lulu and was the only person with a kill until the last 5 minutes of the game it was THAT bad.

The new "meta" thing seems to be trolling char select then not saying a word and not helping team at all during the game, then being a complete troll after the game blaming everyone else for the loss.

So much so I think I was right to just walk away from the game. With all the major changes coming, it just means relearning everything and there are other things I could be doing than relearning a game I barely enjoy playing anymore. You simply cannot play this game all the time by putting everyone on ignore, which seems to be the only way to really enjoy it, but at that point may as well be playing bots.

 

[crownjules]

I was reading a post by a high ELO player who sells his services to raise people's ELO. He says below 1500 ELO, he doesn't bother with the dedicated support champs. You can't carry a game as one and you are completely dependent on your team being competent enough to utilize your utility. Something that you can't be sure of from your teammates.

The support meta that pretty much everyone adheres to (because they run it in the tourneys) is most applicable to the high ELO players. That's where the support champ shines. Players are competent enough that you can dedicate a slot to a role that serves to amplify and protect the other four champs. The TSMs and AZFs and CRSs of the world are skilled enough players that running support bottom and allowing the ADC to take everything is the best way to win.

But on a team where the top lane feeds uncontrollably and/or the ADC doesn't know how to last hit and has 60 CS at 15 minutes into the game? Well that awesome Sona play isn't going to help you much when you can't put out the damage needed to take out the enemy or your teammates lack the awareness/knowledge to jump on the enemy's mistakes.

But of course, you'd be bitched out non-stop and probably reported for not following the meta.

Also, you probably get a fair more amount of trolls in placement matches now because they know everyone is there trying to get through them with the best ELO possible.

 

[EDUSAN]

yes.. support is only IF you know your ADC

if you are a good ADC then maybe make the support confident that you will make good use of it


winning is hard and takes so much time, losing is so easy and fast =S

 

[HumblePie]

If I get a decent ADC and no one lane or two completely fails, then I can make a HUGE difference with my support play. Support players win late games. Period. The Carry may carry with damage output, but it is the support's job late game to make sure everyone is in perfect position or well the best position possible to win team fights. Placing wards right, eating wards, good engagement or disengagement are the tools of the support champs. That makes the biggest single difference in mid to late game than any other role on a team. Early game though, the support is to feed the ADC as best as possible. You aren't making a team contribution per say yet. It's not until late game that the job of a good support can really shine versus other champs. Assuming the game is roughly even.

But I also have the problem with playing ADC and getting a completely clueless support. One that plays passive, doesn't try to take harassment for me, doesn't protect, doesn't peel, doesn't ward, and/or dies stupidly for zero gain. As a support, death means NOTHING if you are getting a net gain for your team. I have zero problem having the most amounts of deaths on the team at the end of the game as long as those deaths lead to net gains for my team which gives us the eventual win. I gladly trade my deaths all day long for that. Most people have a hard time recognizing when to sacrifice yourself as support for the greater good of the team and a win.

I typically run to MORE horrible supports than I run into more horrible ADCs.

I prefer to play top or mid if I can in solo queue ranked, because I do have much more control on the outcome of the game early and mid wise to possibly give sloppy team mates of mine a win, but I rarely get to play those roles. I am either jungle, or support. Jungle is great, but only if people you come into lane to gank for aren't failing horribly as well early on. Jungler ALWAYS gets blamed when ever someone in lane dies. They claim it's because you aren't ganking enough for them as if that was the cause for their death(s). You could be the best jungler in the world and still have that happened. I remember several games where I played an ridiculous awesome early/mid jungle game to lose regardless. I played an alistar and was a ganking machine. I had like 20 CS from the jungle by the end of the game. But my score was like 9/1/20. Didn't matter though because although I gave top 3 early gank kills. They died 5 times in a row the moment I stopped going top to gank other lanes. Then they blamed me for not ganking enough despite starting with a 3/0/0 lead top and end up with 3/5/0 after another 6 minutes later. That is probably the most frustrating aspect of the game when that happens.

I personally prefer top or mid as since I RARELY ever lose my lane solo. I have lost lane, but rarely lose do so regardless of whom I have played against. I also don't get blamed for game losses when they happen when I am winning my lane. Not that there isn't still trolls that still try to foist some sort of blame on me, but it is rarer at least than any other role.

Again, I think that's why everyone wants to play those positions in solo Q all the time. Which is why I end up support or jungle most of the time.

 

[Chiropteran]

I was reading a post by a high ELO player who sells his services to raise people's ELO. He says below 1500 ELO, he doesn't bother with the dedicated support champs. You can't carry a game as one and you are completely dependent on your team being competent enough to utilize your utility. Something that you can't be sure of from your teammates.

The LoL masses are by and large sheep. If the pros do something, it's like a commandment down from god: you must play this way or you are a noob. Doesn't matter if it's a sub-optimal strategy for a random team of 1200 players, it's the way you gotta play or the sheep start crying.

Thing is, following the "standard optimal" strategy shouldn't be the best choice. If the game is deep and interesting enough, there should be something of a paper-scissors-stone aspect, where strategy A beats B beats C beats A, the real trick is just figuring out the strategy that beats the standard support+ad/jungle/mid ap/top bruiser team. I feel like Riot intentionally makes healing overpowered just so that the meta stays consistent as it is, which is annoying to me, but maybe some day someone will discover a working strategy to crush the current meta.

 

[ImpulsE69]

The LoL masses are by and large sheep. If the pros do something, it's like a commandment down from god: you must play this way or you are a noob. Doesn't matter if it's a sub-optimal strategy for a random team of 1200 players, it's the way you gotta play or the sheep start crying.

Thing is, following the "standard optimal" strategy shouldn't be the best choice. If the game is deep and interesting enough, there should be something of a paper-scissors-stone aspect, where strategy A beats B beats C beats A, the real trick is just figuring out the strategy that beats the standard support+ad/jungle/mid ap/top bruiser team. I feel like Riot intentionally makes healing overpowered just so that the meta stays consistent as it is, which is annoying to me, but maybe some day someone will discover a working strategy to crush the current meta.

This plays into what I said a few pages back about a lack of diversity. You are chastised for anything outside of what most people consider normal. If someone goes outside of the normal meta and the team loses, you can almost guarantee the team will blame that person - even if it wasn't anything to do with them.

I've personally seen dual ADC bottom absolutely crush a team (multiple times). Part of it is because if done right it's a lot more damage, and part of it is most teams don't seem to be able to make an adjustment as needed to their play style.

One thing I really can't stand is people losing their lanes who won't change lanes (especially if the opposing team did something a bit different than normal). I've been in positions where (I prefer mid and usually own mid) I can tell I'm going to do badly and asked to change a lane and people just flat out refuse (l2p, noob, blah blah). This is understandable if the change wouldn't benefit or make things worse -- but generally you know which chars can handle things.

Anyway...all that out of the way - I really wish I could play Alistar worth a damn. I've tried multiple times, and I just can't get the hang of him. I hate playing against a team with him so figured I should try to get good with him, but I just really suck with him.

 

[HumblePie]

This plays into what I said a few pages back about a lack of diversity. You are chastised for anything outside of what most people consider normal. If someone goes outside of the normal meta and the team loses, you can almost guarantee the team will blame that person - even if it wasn't anything to do with them.

I've personally seen dual ADC bottom absolutely crush a team (multiple times). Part of it is because if done right it's a lot more damage, and part of it is most teams don't seem to be able to make an adjustment as needed to their play style.

One thing I really can't stand is people losing their lanes who won't change lanes (especially if the opposing team did something a bit different than normal). I've been in positions where (I prefer mid and usually own mid) I can tell I'm going to do badly and asked to change a lane and people just flat out refuse (l2p, noob, blah blah). This is understandable if the change wouldn't benefit or make things worse -- but generally you know which chars can handle things.

Anyway...all that out of the way - I really wish I could play Alistar worth a damn. I've tried multiple times, and I just can't get the hang of him. I hate playing against a team with him so figured I should try to get good with him, but I just really suck with him.

LOL yah, Speaking of which, I had a game just like that. I was with Crownjules (xstrifex) in a game where the damn client bugged up on me and wouldn't let me pick the support champ I wanted. So I got randomed into being Tristana while strife had already picked graves as adc. We had also called bot duo together. No biggie, I figured I'd go AP support trist. I was actually doing pretty well along with strife bottom. We were holding our own, but our top teemo was feeding their jax. BAD. Jax comes down to bot lane at 12 minute mark 7/1/5 already. Literally crushed us. We had a team fight a few minutes later at 15 minute mark and he basically 1v5 us all. Teemo was trying to blame me the entire time that the loss was my fault for not having a "real" support champ. I was like WTF?

 

[ImpulsE69]

I should probably clear the air a bit here.

I've realized that I probably come off as an asshole who hates the game. I really don't. If i didn't like it, I wouldn't play it, and I certainly wouldn't be so vocal about it. I just get really frustrated lol. I hold no illusions that I'm a great player, but one thing that I noticed is that when I play with "you" guys (Strife, Fenix, Zeb, Zirze, Terrible, etc) I usually feel like the weakest player on the team (and rightly so). When I play solo queue, I usually feel like the strongest on the team, which is what is frustrating. Obviously not all the time, but it feels more true than if I play with the regulars.

 

[krnmastersgt]

A 5 bruiser composition is actually very strong against current competitive meta. You're able to put on a tremendous amount of early pressure, and their bruisers can't possibly peel everyone off their carries so they have to just try and nuke down targets 1 by 1 as every champion is a threat. I've seen it used in a few smaller tourneys and it typically does pretty well, problem is you have to be very aggressive for it to work out.

Example comp:
Top: Darius
Mid: Swain, Ryze, Cho, Diana
Jungle: Mao, Hecarim
Bot: Jarvan, Pantheon, Jax, Jayce (pretty much any bruiser with initial or secondary CC works)

Focusing on early/mid-game power you just play super aggressively vs the opposing team and take the outer towers as fast as you can. Once you ball up all 5 in mid, it is nearly impossible for them to combat you without some serious errors on your part as the amount of base damage and CC from a 5 bruiser line-up is tremendous. The initiation can be a little weak depending on the combination you run but it still combats the "standard" meta pretty well, just have to be very aggressive in all lanes and not let them farm out too much.

 

[Chiropteran]

I should probably clear the air a bit here.

I've realized that I probably come off as an asshole who hates the game. I really don't. If i didn't like it, I wouldn't play it, and I certainly wouldn't be so vocal about it. I just get really frustrated lol. I hold no illusions that I'm a great player, but one thing that I noticed is that when I play with "you" guys (Strife, Fenix, Zeb, Zirze, Terrible, etc) I usually feel like the weakest player on the team (and rightly so). When I play solo queue, I usually feel like the strongest on the team, which is what is frustrating. Obviously not all the time, but it feels more true than if I play with the regulars.

You should play with me, then you won't feel like the weak link anymore

Though, I know exactly what you mean. My brother is pretty good at the game, diamond in ranked 3s last season, and when I play with him I always feel like I'm just terrible because I am playing in a much higher elo than I normally do. Then I have another friend who isn't nearly as good, and it's the opposite, where I completely carry the game. Not really sure there is any real "fix" for this sort of issue, unfortunately. I feel in DOTA it is less noticeable, because of the nature of some early game very weak DOTA characters become super hardcarries late game after farming, the game feels less predictable and more random, even if you are in a higher or lower than usual elo.


As an aside, I've been playing a lot of Warwick lately. I think he is my new go-to champion, at least when the team needs a jungler and nobody is jumping at the chance.

 

[p0nd]

I feel in DOTA it is less noticeable, because of the nature of some early game very weak DOTA characters become super hardcarries late game after farming, the game feels less predictable and more random, even if you are in a higher or lower than usual elo.

Yeah for whatever reason dota games feel more volatile than league (though i like league more).

i think part of it is that many dota spells are high cost/risk and high reward, whereas many spells in lol are low risk and spammable - so that 1 spell in dota matters a lot more than 1 spell in league, and thus 'feels' more important if that makes sense. Buyback, limited wards, and tp scroll as well. Itemisation is also more varied (though this will change in s3). not being a dota expert or lol expert for that matter i can't really offer any profound insight here though