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

Page 74 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Chiropteran

Diamond Member
Nov 14, 2003
9,811
110
106
I'm not sure if you're runed for it, but I've seen a couple of jungle twitches in the past month. The most successful of them started at red with a decent leash, immediately hit level 2 and ganked mid hard with stealth + expunge. At low elo a jungler more focused on ganks than on jungling can be devastating.

I tried that style last season, but it kinda felt like going all-in. If you missed those early ganks you really fell behind due to lost xp and gold. It can work, but I feel like starting out in lane is a safer strategy. Twitch is very strong late game if farmed, and you don't even need ganks to get farmed if you can last hit and side-push, so I prefer to play it safe.

That said, if I see a soft enemy champion without any useful escape summoner spells, I'll go for an early gank... but there isn't much risk of failure in that case.
 

Malak

Lifer
Dec 4, 2004
14,696
2
0
Solo queue ranked has been a crapshoot for me. I try to stick to playing Teemo, and I do amazing with him. But my teams are always stupid. Surprisingly won game where our Brand was full retard and jungled. But the rest of the games have been sucky. 2 for 4 with Teemo, and I have done nothing but good every game.

My averages are 11.3/5.3/7.8, which is pretty good to me.
 

Chiropteran

Diamond Member
Nov 14, 2003
9,811
110
106
Solo queue ranked has been a crapshoot for me. I try to stick to playing Teemo, and I do amazing with him. But my teams are always stupid. Surprisingly won game where our Brand was full retard and jungled. But the rest of the games have been sucky. 2 for 4 with Teemo, and I have done nothing but good every game.

My averages are 11.3/5.3/7.8, which is pretty good to me.

I think you just need to play more games. While I am 7 out of 10 wins as twitch, those 3 losses all occurred in a row. It was a horrible streak of trolls and feeders, but I just kept playing and things turned around. If you continue to play your best you should eventually get out of the nasty losing streaks.

Of course, it also helps a lot to duo queue.

WTB duo queue partner who likes to play AP or Tanky champions.
 

Firsttime

Platinum Member
Mar 31, 2005
2,517
0
71
Just finished my Dodge Yellows, holy frig that shit took forever haha. That was my first 820 rune set, probably took me a good 3 weeks.

As a side note been playing Irelia a bit lately to prepare for the inevitable Lee Sin nerfs. Really liking her, she farms top like a boss then wins games. I like it haha.
 

Malak

Lifer
Dec 4, 2004
14,696
2
0
I think you just need to play more games. While I am 7 out of 10 wins as twitch, those 3 losses all occurred in a row. It was a horrible streak of trolls and feeders, but I just kept playing and things turned around. If you continue to play your best you should eventually get out of the nasty losing streaks.

Of course, it also helps a lot to duo queue.

WTB duo queue partner who likes to play AP or Tanky champions.

Yeah I just won 2 more. I think the problem is I don't like to queue dodge, and there are a lot of times it is obvious I should. Like when someone says, "I've never done it but I can try to jungle." Ranked isn't for trying. Just won a game with someone that said it was their first ranked game, thought for sure that was going to be a loss but I carried that game all the way to victory. Seems like as long as Singed gets banned, I don't have to worry about much.


Just finished my Dodge Yellows, holy frig that shit took forever haha. That was my first 820 rune set, probably took me a good 3 weeks.

As a side note been playing Irelia a bit lately to prepare for the inevitable Lee Sin nerfs. Really liking her, she farms top like a boss then wins games. I like it haha.

Yeah dodge yellows was my first set, still haven't gotten any other yellows. Figured dodge is good no matter who I play. Blue CDR runes was next, and no need to ever change those. Red is what I'm buying different sets of.
 

crownjules

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2005
4,858
0
76
Yeah dodge yellows was my first set, still haven't gotten any other yellows. Figured dodge is good no matter who I play. Blue CDR runes was next, and no need to ever change those. Red is what I'm buying different sets of.

Get MP5 for casters and Armor for junglers. That covers the basics for yellows. Outside of those and you're getting highly specialized for certain champs.
 

HumblePie

Lifer
Oct 30, 2000
14,665
440
126
Just finished my Dodge Yellows, holy frig that shit took forever haha. That was my first 820 rune set, probably took me a good 3 weeks.

As a side note been playing Irelia a bit lately to prepare for the inevitable Lee Sin nerfs. Really liking her, she farms top like a boss then wins games. I like it haha.

speaking of up coming changes.. Statikk (riot qa?) made the following comments. Going off memory here because I can't view the page at work.

Singed getting some nerfs.

Lee Sin getting some nerfs.

Vlad buff to early game and tweaks to late game.

Poppy same thing as vlad.

Twitch getting remake as well as the whole stealth system getting redone. Nothing talked about with Eve though.

Heimer getting redone. Changing turrets from being permanent things to something that follows him around so they can be better utilized in skirmishes.


changing Veigar and Nasus snowbally-ness. Basically getting less per return for higher base.

Veigar going with some other tweaks for laning phase.

Reworking the jungle entirely.

Supposedly making skarner a better jungler (LOL!!!! who cares about that)

Swain getting nerfed a bit

There was a bunch of other changes they are about to do.

Google Statikk and make sure you search for the past week.

If someone would be so kind as to repost all that here that would be cool.
 
Oct 25, 2006
11,036
11
91
speaking of up coming changes.. Statikk (riot qa?) made the following comments. Going off memory here because I can't view the page at work.

Singed getting some nerfs.

Lee Sin getting some nerfs.

Vlad buff to early game and tweaks to late game.

Poppy same thing as vlad.

Twitch getting remake as well as the whole stealth system getting redone. Nothing talked about with Eve though.

Heimer getting redone. Changing turrets from being permanent things to something that follows him around so they can be better utilized in skirmishes.


changing Veigar and Nasus snowbally-ness. Basically getting less per return for higher base.

Veigar going with some other tweaks for laning phase.

Reworking the jungle entirely.

Supposedly making skarner a better jungler (LOL!!!! who cares about that)

Swain getting nerfed a bit

There was a bunch of other changes they are about to do.

Google Statikk and make sure you search for the past week.

If someone would be so kind as to repost all that here that would be cool.


Singed doesn't need a nerf, he's fine the way he is. Im thinking making his poison trail like Swains ult, uses more mana every second it's on.

Why the hell are they nerfing swain, after the multiple nerf sticks on him, he's already UP.
 

Malak

Lifer
Dec 4, 2004
14,696
2
0
Probably nerfing swain because nobody plays him in normal, but in dominion he is a solid defender. Hard to push him off a point.
 

xSkyDrAx

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2003
7,706
1
0
speaking of up coming changes.. Statikk (riot qa?) made the following comments. Going off memory here because I can't view the page at work.

Singed getting some nerfs.

Lee Sin getting some nerfs.

Vlad buff to early game and tweaks to late game.

Poppy same thing as vlad.

Twitch getting remake as well as the whole stealth system getting redone. Nothing talked about with Eve though.

Heimer getting redone. Changing turrets from being permanent things to something that follows him around so they can be better utilized in skirmishes.


changing Veigar and Nasus snowbally-ness. Basically getting less per return for higher base.

Veigar going with some other tweaks for laning phase.

Reworking the jungle entirely.

Supposedly making skarner a better jungler (LOL!!!! who cares about that)

Swain getting nerfed a bit

There was a bunch of other changes they are about to do.

Google Statikk and make sure you search for the past week.

If someone would be so kind as to repost all that here that would be cool.

I heard about the jungle changes but eff that :\ I'm just starting to have a lot of fun with udyr

:thumbsup: to the vlad buffs though. He's still decent if you play him correctly but any love is great!
 

Malak

Lifer
Dec 4, 2004
14,696
2
0
Someone just told me at champ select that heimer is bad in dominion. LOL. Then I proceded to carry the team and got double their points. Heimer might be defensive, but I kill it offensively. He is just too effective with all his skills. Blind, stun, slow, etc. Constant damage. Pop zhonyas while everyone dies around you.
 

Firsttime

Platinum Member
Mar 31, 2005
2,517
0
71
Probably nerfing swain because nobody plays him in normal, but in dominion he is a solid defender. Hard to push him off a point.

Nah, he's getting nerf'd because of Riot's love/hate relationship with sustain. Any hero with too much of it must be nerf'd, but every hero needs it to be viable. Swain is in a pretty high power spot in high elo, he's similar to Morgana in role, just weaker cause of his lack of spell shield and his skillshot cc, they'll both get nerf'd eventually, Riot just must have a fix ready for Swain.

The day any of the maps other then Summoner's Rift comes into account when Riot makes balance changes is the last day I play LoL.
 

zebano

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2005
4,042
0
0
I heard about the jungle changes but eff that :\ I'm just starting to have a lot of fun with udyr

:thumbsup: to the vlad buffs though. He's still decent if you play him correctly but any love is great!

That's been rumored for some time and Guinsoo has even tweeted about testing it but I wouldn't hold your breath, I doubt we see it any time soon.
 

ImpulsE69

Lifer
Jan 8, 2010
14,946
1,077
126
I hope they don't think they are going to retweak all the characters for the entire game just for Dominion. It will totally fuck the game up. It's already very obvious that the same 5-7 characters are used in Dominion, and not really the same way they are in Summoners rift.

Already I can see:
Invis needs to be eliminated from dominion.
Globals/Semi globals need eliminated as well
 

Malak

Lifer
Dec 4, 2004
14,696
2
0
I'm seriously interested to see how they manage Heimer's turrets. They better not eff him up. His lane control is boss right now.
 

xSkyDrAx

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2003
7,706
1
0
They are probably allowing heimers turrets to move in anticipation for xerath. With that said it will probably make heimer even more annoying than he is now. His free pokes with his missles is crazy annoying when trading pokes before a team fight. Along with his turrets doing damage in a team fight. Usually you can get away from that by moving the team fight away but if they follow him now..blech. Gotta squish him first.
 

Snock514

Golden Member
Jul 20, 2009
1,071
2
81
Feels good man, feels good.
Perfect_cait_game_2_9-28-11.jpg

Perfect_cait_game_9-28-11.jpg
 

sash1

Diamond Member
Jul 20, 2001
8,896
1
0
speaking of up coming changes.. Statikk (riot qa?) made the following comments. Going off memory here because I can't view the page at work.

-snip-

Supposedly making skarner a better jungler (LOL!!!! who cares about that)

-snip-

oh boy! that's the change he needs to be viable! lol

here's the post you're referring to: http://eune.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?p=3887925#post3887925

some of the other changes are lame, but we'll see. i no want lee sin nerfs :< but then again, he's always banned in ranked soo..
 
Last edited:

zebano

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2005
4,042
0
0
I hope they don't think they are going to retweak all the characters for the entire game just for Dominion. It will totally fuck the game up. It's already very obvious that the same 5-7 characters are used in Dominion, and not really the same way they are in Summoners rift.

Already I can see:
Invis needs to be eliminated from dominion.
Globals/Semi globals need eliminated as well

I actually don't have too many problems with the globals. I've been main-ing Pantheon and when I ult it's usually to stop a BD attempt and often one of my teammates gets there nearly as fast as me (any move speed buff + shoes 5 is damn fast).
 

AyashiKaibutsu

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2004
9,306
3
81
I hope they don't think they are going to retweak all the characters for the entire game just for Dominion. It will totally fuck the game up. It's already very obvious that the same 5-7 characters are used in Dominion, and not really the same way they are in Summoners rift.

Already I can see:
Invis needs to be eliminated from dominion.
Globals/Semi globals need eliminated as well

I think they might try making tweaks to champs that only take effect on dominion. The video they put out was saying something about champs having different stats in dominion or something like that.
 

AyashiKaibutsu

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2004
9,306
3
81
Someone just told me at champ select that heimer is bad in dominion. LOL. Then I proceded to carry the team and got double their points. Heimer might be defensive, but I kill it offensively. He is just too effective with all his skills. Blind, stun, slow, etc. Constant damage. Pop zhonyas while everyone dies around you.

If you can't land his grenade though he's much weaker so I can see why people would think he's bad. I'm terrible with him. I always lead skill shots, but his is slow enough that people easily just stop heading in that direction so it looks like I threw it out to no where : (
 

AyashiKaibutsu

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2004
9,306
3
81
Solo queue ranked has been a crapshoot for me. I try to stick to playing Teemo, and I do amazing with him. But my teams are always stupid. Surprisingly won game where our Brand was full retard and jungled. But the rest of the games have been sucky. 2 for 4 with Teemo, and I have done nothing but good every game.

My averages are 11.3/5.3/7.8, which is pretty good to me.

How are you playing your teemo? I usually do decently going boots -> malady -> phage -> madrids, but been wonder what might be better.
 

HumblePie

Lifer
Oct 30, 2000
14,665
440
126
Yah lee sin is annoying.

He does massive damage and can be built really tanky. He prevents jukes if he has hit someone recently so they can't run into a bush or the fog of war. He can use wards for free teleports over anything. He has safe long range poke for way more damage than anyone else. Massive life steal and a shield. Then a knock back as a CC as well as a slow. Only thing that would have made more annoying and OP would be an AoE spammable stun. He jungles well, lanes well, tanks, and assassinates well. He's hard to kill, hard to counter jungle and is good at counter jungling himself. His lack of mana and energy use efficiency allows him to spam abilities damn near constantly and ignore having to by certain items other chars are forced to in order to not have to go back earlier to regen at the summoner pad. Basically he has the best of everything and no real down falls as a character.

Need a tank on the team? Lee sin check
Need massive melee dps on a team? Lee sin check
Playing the poke meta game? Lee sin check
Need to chase down runners? Lee sin check
In trouble and team needs to escape? Lee sin check
Need some additional CC? Lee sin check
Need a good jungler? Lee sin check
Need a counter jungler? Lee sin check
Need massive lane presence that can't be moved? Lee sin check
Need additional support to save other chars? Lee sin check


Seriously there isn't a single thing this character can not do and do well. Is *only* possible down fall the fact his Q is a skill shot and timing his abilities to make the most from his passive.
 

crownjules

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2005
4,858
0
76
For those blocked at work:

New Champion Approaches: Xerath, the Magus Ascendant

Lore:

In the ancient civilization of Shurima, the mage called Xerath practiced magic with undying passion. He believed that with enough magical power, he could gaze into the heart of Runeterra to know the secrets of history and the universe beyond. Such magic was beyond the limitations of a mortal body, but Xerath obsessively pursued a path to infinite power nonetheless. With every breakthrough he grew more and more powerful, yet not without consequence. Xerath's increasing arcane abilities wrought havoc on his physical form. Desperate, he undertook a dangerous ritual to transcend his dying body. The outcome would be immortality or self-destruction. Violent magic unleashed during the ritual caused devastation throughout Shurima, but when the dust settled, Xerath emerged as an ascended being of pure arcane energy.

Free of flesh and bone, Xerath held nearly infinite power at his command. However, in the wake of his chaotic ritual, the mages of Shurima feared his careless disregard for life would bring ruin to the kingdom. After a terrible struggle they subdued Xerath, but they could not destroy his ascended form. Instead they trapped him within an enchanted sarcophagus and sealed him in an underground tomb. Eons passed, civilizations rose and fell, and Xerath's imprisonment was lost to memory. For centuries, Xerath's vast power tore away at the sarcophagus and weakened its spell. Finally, he willed forth a burst of magic that shattered his prison, but its core remained, containing Xerath and his power within its broken pieces. Seeking to rid himself of this burden, he was drawn to the magic of Valoran's nexuses and found he could absorb their power. Yet the nexuses had gatekeepers: petty mages known as summoners. Xerath knew his key to true freedom from his prison lay in gaining their trust, and he offered his power to the League of Legends.

"I have no need for vengeance. Time has brought ruin to the mages of Shurima and I alone remain." &#8211; Xerath, the Magus Ascendant


Abilities:

Ascended Form (Passive): Xerath feeds on arcane power, making him increasingly resilient to physical harm. He converts a percentage of his Ability Power into Armor.

Arcanopulse: Fires a long-range beam of energy, dealing magic damage to all targets hit.

Locus of Power: Xerath anchors himself to source of magical power, increasing the range of all spells and granting him bonus &#37; Magic Penetration. Although he is immobilized while Locus of Power is active, his movement speed increases upon disabling the ability.

Mage Chains: Deals magic damage to an enemy and marks them with Unstable Magic. The next spell Xerath strikes this enemy with stuns them.

Arcane Barrage: Calls down a blast of arcane energy, dealing magic damage to all enemies in an area. May be cast up to three times before going on cooldown.

Seems like a cool ability set. Obviously, the amount of time it takes to go in and out of "siege mode" will be a big determinant in how brutal he'll be to play against. And also positioning will play a huge role in his effectiveness.
 
Last edited: