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League of Legends |OT4| No Country for Old Karma

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LogicStep

Member
Jungle is my favorite, anyone got tips or links to videos on how to improve? I think I play fine but sometimes I spend too much time in the jungle, don't go for enough ganks or ganks fail sometimes. I ask because it isn't uncommon for someone to be asking me when I'm going to their lane for a gank. Sometimes I don't even bother going to a lane if I see the lane really pushed. My reasoning is what's the point, if they are under the tower I won't be able to do much. I'm talking mostly early to mid game. Currently running Udyr.
 

Yami

Member
Figured this would be the best place to share. Multiplay throw some huge LAN parties in the UK, and the latest, i49, is going down tomorrow. There's also a £12k LoL tournament going on, with tons of teams competing like Dignitas and LowLandLions.

Strangely of all people, RedBull.com have got a livestream going up tomorrow. More deets here.
 

Ashkeloth

Member
Well, it's a few weeks overdue, but I finally willed up the confidence to play some games against bots with other, real people.

I've been mainly playing Leona as support and Pantheon as Top lane fighter with a little Taric when I get bored of playing as Leona for too long(more on this below).

Best match I've done so far is 11/0/18

Initial impressions and a couple more impressions below:

Everyone wants to be a hero - I am (or at least think I am) a pretty nice guy. Generally when it's time to pick a champ, I'll wait and see how the rest of the team picks, and pick whatever compliments that lineup the best. Unfortunately, this facet of my personality means that I now play support 9.5 times out of 10 because ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE picks ADC characters. I assume all of this gets sorted out pre-game in PvP, and it usually doesn't matter because the bots are such pushovers, but come on, people. There have been 2 games out of around 14 where I have actually played Pantheon, and even then, it was because I was stubborn and decided pre-round that I would just pick him regardless. Luckily, for me that's fine because...

Leona is awesome - I initially followed the advice given to me a few weeks back in this thread and started off on Taric because he had the recommended tag and was apparently easy to play. I think the main issue I have with Taric is that in the early game I keep running out of mana, even after buying the initial mana regen item (whose name escapes me at the minute). I can see his strengths with his sustain from Q and the fact that his stun is a projectile rather than Leona's Q which is a melee shield bash, but the kicker for me is Leona's E - Zenith Blade, coupled with her ult. The ability to warp straight into your enemies face, stun them, and then even if your lane partner doesn't finish them off, you can drop a sunbeam on them to stop them, again. Simply amazing.
Additionally, the fact that her W - Eclipse, increases her armor is more logical to me, Taric essentially having to dump some armor from him and nearby allies in order to deal decent damage doesn't make much sense.

The community isn't as bad as people say - Maybe it's that I'm in EUW, or maybe since I've only played against bots where everyone knows they'll win, there's less pressure so everyone is nicer, but apart from a couple of people, everyone I've met has been nice or, at the very least, silent.
First bad guy I met was an ADC marksman that told me to go away when I was Leona and he was the only non-melee ADC. I did what he said because I wasn't looking to infringe on his "mad KDR skills" and partnered up with a nearby Garen. That is the only game against bots I have ever seen lost.
Second was a guy that was an ass to another player post-match. I'll admit he was really good at the game and basically carried us, but it's just easy bots. He got a big head and wasn't very nice about it, so I have no respect for him.

Better than DOTA 2 - for me - In my journey to learn as much about MOBAs before actually jumping into a match, I downloaded and tried some DOTA 2. It has a better F2P model than LoL and looks great, but most of the character design being tied to Warcraft 3 really hurts that game for me. I also dislike that characterization and voice acting on most of the characters. LoL can be more diverse because the fact it has no roots. More importantly though, is that when you take a quite complex game and add things such as recipes, denies and other such extra layers, it becomes more novice-unfriendly, which turned me off it almost immediately.

---

Anyway, enough blog-style rambling. I've got a few more questions (Assuming a real, PvP game scenario and not bot matches):

When should I hop into PvP? I feel like I should wait until at least summoner level 12 since that's when I get access to the almighty flash spell that seems to play a large part in the meta.

As a support, once laning phase is over, how much should I roam? Do I run around the map dumping wards for vision on all lanes? Do I go and support the lane that a majority of my team is pushing, do I go and support a guy holding another lane solo to balance things out, or do I stick to bottom until it's as pushed as it can be before moving elsewhere?

I know what jungling is, along with the various types of jungling you can participate in, but know nothing of optimal routes. Additionally, towards the end of the match, even if my champion (Pantheon, for example) isn't built for jungling, should I go and grab the buffs and try to kill the dragon, or will I still get wrecked?

Are any of these champs that I plan to buy as I build up IP just not worth it due to being drastically underpowered or dramatically difficult to play?
-Blitzcrank
-Vi
-Aatrox
-Xin Zhao
-Talon
-Quinn
-Varus
-Viktor

Also, if possible, could someone arrange them in terms of ease of use or offer potential alternatives to some? I've picked champs that I like aesthetically that I think will fit my gameplay styles for each role, but if I've picked some weird, niche character, I'd like to know. I don't want to waste any IP for now since I have a very limited pool of champions to play.

Sorry again. This is my third wall of text dump in this thread, but I do thoroughly read all replies and try to improve based upon them.

Thanks in advance for the advice.
 

garath

Member
today's lp gain

8, 8, 5. I need 5 more to go to promo..i wonder if they'll give me 4 or something ;(

Oh no! you're going to beat me to gold! :) (seriously, awesome you're so close.. you can do it!)

I better step it up tomorrow. Wish I got more than a few days a week to play. Friday night is really my only night for more than a couple games with the wife at work.

I'm sitting on 13lp right now.
 

Boken

Banned
you guise leave australia alone
they never gave up

Jungle is my favorite, anyone got tips or links to videos on how to improve? I think I play fine but sometimes I spend too much time in the jungle, don't go for enough ganks or ganks fail sometimes. I ask because it isn't uncommon for someone to be asking me when I'm going to their lane for a gank. Sometimes I don't even bother going to a lane if I see the lane really pushed. My reasoning is what's the point, if they are under the tower I won't be able to do much. I'm talking mostly early to mid game. Currently running Udyr.
theres saintvicious' junglelogy series, meteos streams often recently. the riot korea summer lesson on jungle was decent too.

other than that, you could ask around, there are some plat or above junglers in here
Hrm, Lucian does way less damage than he did when I played him on PBE.

Feels a little bit weak on that front, except for his ult.

Also he's so mana hungry.
hes mana hungry for the same reason corki's Q stills costs a shit tonne. its pretty hard to dodge the Q of a lucian who knows what hes doing unless you use a quick movement skill


Well, it's a few weeks overdue, but I finally willed up the confidence to play some games against bots with other, real people.

I've been mainly playing Leona as support and Pantheon as Top lane fighter with a little Taric when I get bored of playing as Leona for too long(more on this below).

Best match I've done so far is 11/0/18

Initial impressions and a couple more impressions below:

Everyone wants to be a hero - I am (or at least think I am) a pretty nice guy. Generally when it's time to pick a champ, I'll wait and see how the rest of the team picks, and pick whatever compliments that lineup the best. Unfortunately, this facet of my personality means that I now play support 9.5 times out of 10 because ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE picks ADC characters. I assume all of this gets sorted out pre-game in PvP, and it usually doesn't matter because the bots are such pushovers, but come on, people. There have been 2 games out of around 14 where I have actually played Pantheon, and even then, it was because I was stubborn and decided pre-round that I would just pick him regardless. Luckily, for me that's fine because...

Leona is awesome - I initially followed the advice given to me a few weeks back in this thread and started off on Taric because he had the recommended tag and was apparently easy to play. I think the main issue I have with Taric is that in the early game I keep running out of mana, even after buying the initial mana regen item (whose name escapes me at the minute). I can see his strengths with his sustain from Q and the fact that his stun is a projectile rather than Leona's Q which is a melee shield bash, but the kicker for me is Leona's E - Zenith Blade, coupled with her ult. The ability to warp straight into your enemies face, stun them, and then even if your lane partner doesn't finish them off, you can drop a sunbeam on them to stop them, again. Simply amazing.
Additionally, the fact that her W - Eclipse, increases her armor is more logical to me, Taric essentially having to dump some armor from him and nearby allies in order to deal decent damage doesn't make much sense.

tarics W doesnt remove his armor aura actually. his strength is actually in lowering the armor of his victim (and his partner is a carry, so increasing damage). using his heal often will make him run out of mana

The community isn't as bad as people say - Maybe it's that I'm in EUW, or maybe since I've only played against bots where everyone knows they'll win, there's less pressure so everyone is nicer, but apart from a couple of people, everyone I've met has been nice or, at the very least, silent.
First bad guy I met was an ADC marksman that told me to go away when I was Leona and he was the only non-melee ADC. I did what he said because I wasn't looking to infringe on his "mad KDR skills" and partnered up with a nearby Garen. That is the only game against bots I have ever seen lost.
Second was a guy that was an ass to another player post-match. I'll admit he was really good at the game and basically carried us, but it's just easy bots. He got a big head and wasn't very nice about it, so I have no respect for him.

people tend to exaggerate how bad the community to prepare newcomers of what could happen. but yeah, i assume people might be worse in pvp because they care more

Better than DOTA 2 - for me - In my journey to learn as much about MOBAs before actually jumping into a match, I downloaded and tried some DOTA 2. It has a better F2P model than LoL and looks great, but most of the character design being tied to Warcraft 3 really hurts that game for me. I also dislike that characterization and voice acting on most of the characters. LoL can be more diverse because the fact it has no roots. More importantly though, is that when you take a quite complex game and add things such as recipes, denies and other such extra layers, it becomes more novice-unfriendly, which turned me off it almost immediately.

---

Anyway, enough blog-style rambling. I've got a few more questions (Assuming a real, PvP game scenario and not bot matches):

When should I hop into PvP? I feel like I should wait until at least summoner level 12 since that's when I get access to the almighty flash spell that seems to play a large part in the meta.

dooo it. if youre level 7-8, i think you should, just to get accustomed to how people react

As a support, once laning phase is over, how much should I roam? Do I run around the map dumping wards for vision on all lanes? Do I go and support the lane that a majority of my team is pushing, do I go and support a guy holding another lane solo to balance things out, or do I stick to bottom until it's as pushed as it can be before moving elsewhere?

the simplest advice is to match the opponent. if your carry is farming 1v2 and the enemy duo is pushing him to tower, you should probably be there. once laning is over, you should maintain objective vision control at the least (dragon) but there is the possibility of offensive or defensive wards, depending on what your team is doing.

I know what jungling is, along with the various types of jungling you can participate in, but know nothing of optimal routes. Additionally, towards the end of the match, even if my champion (Pantheon, for example) isn't built for jungling, should I go and grab the buffs and try to kill the dragon, or will I still get wrecked?

late game, most damage classes can kill the dragon and all of them can kill jungle minions from mid game. jungling is pretty complex, but at low levels it depends a lot on runes. you will have to get tier 1 armor yellows and quints. otherwise, theres always nunu or warwick

Are any of these champs that I plan to buy as I build up IP just not worth it due to being drastically underpowered or dramatically difficult to play?
-Blitzcrank
-Vi
-Aatrox
-Xin Zhao
-Talon
-Quinn
-Varus
-Viktor

Also, if possible, could someone arrange them in terms of ease of use or offer potential alternatives to some? I've picked champs that I like aesthetically that I think will fit my gameplay styles for each role, but if I've picked some weird, niche character, I'd like to know. I don't want to waste any IP for now since I have a very limited pool of champions to play.

in order of strength and ease of playing
-Varus - powerful and not hugely mechanically demanding
-Vi - very straightforward and fun
-xin zhao - straight forward but not that amazing, using his ult effectively takes some skill
-blitz - high potential but you MUST hit that hook
- talon - straight forward, requires snowball to be effective
-quinn - straight foward, using her ult has strange decision making though.
-viktor - mostly regulated to anti melee role, has a very hard aiming mechanic on his poke
-aatrox - pretty niche, rquires snowball to be effective




Sorry again. This is my third wall of text dump in this thread, but I do thoroughly read all replies and try to improve based upon them.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

congrats on finally playing with people!
 

LogicStep

Member
theres saintvicious' junglelogy series, meteos streams often recently. the riot korea summer lesson on jungle was decent too.

other than that, you could ask around, there are some plat or above junglers in here

I see, thanks for the recommendations. I will check those out. So what tips do the pro junglers have for me? I just recently hit 30, not going to do ranked for a while, my friends aren't 30 yet.
 

Dobkeratops

OT Hard Carry
The community isn't as bad as people say - Maybe it's that I'm in EUW, or maybe since I've only played against bots where everyone knows they'll win, there's less pressure so everyone is nicer, but apart from a couple of people, everyone I've met has been nice or, at the very least, silent.

Join the EUW neogaf chatroom, we can fix that

When should I hop into PvP? I feel like I should wait until at least summoner level 12 since that's when I get access to the almighty flash spell that seems to play a large part in the meta.

Right now. You're gonna want to get some real practice on real matches to get a progressive feel on when to go in, when to play defensive, which bushes are most likely to be warded and where you should ward and what kind of dumb mistakes people on both teams are capable of committing (the answer is all of them).

Additionally, towards the end of the match, even if my champion (Pantheon, for example) isn't built for jungling, should I go and grab the buffs and try to kill the dragon, or will I still get wrecked?

Control the buffs all the time with ward placements, try to get/give them as soon as possible (try to have vision from where the enemy team might come to contest them). Get the dragon everytime there's a chance. Baron is important too but sometimes you're better off simply denying the other team a chance to take it (or using it to ambush/force a fight) .

As for champs, some random thoughts on the ones I played :

-Blitzcrank: If you play him you need to learn how to land them grabs and get a feel of how squishy he actually can be. A good pull combined with the CC he has can pretty much win a game.
-Vi: Super fun to use in the jungle, can single out and nuke a target and then you realize the rest of the team didn't follow and you die. Fun fun fun.
-Xin Zhao: Probably the easiest champion to use. You throw yourself to an enemy, faceroll all of the keys and either get a kill or die. On low levels you could carry pretty hard if you get fed. you can accidentally save the enemy team with the ult tho.
-Quinn: You are a bird that does backflips and stuns people. She's stupidly entertaining and i wonder why I haven't bought her yet.
-Viktor: Unique skillshot that allows for varied laser shots, AoE slow+stun, a shielding Q that harasses good and an AoE chasing silencing ultimate. The passive could use a rework but damn I love his kit

None of the listed champions is bad, so pick whatever you feel. I'd say Vi and Xin are easier to get into, Blitz and Viktor will require hours of practice.


Arcade Pony so good.

Carried Dobcocopops hard.

I don't think that word means what you think it means

Especially after your performance with Obama the previous game hueuhe
 

rakhir

Member
Leona is awesome
(...)
Are any of these champs that I plan to buy as I build up IP just not worth it due to being drastically underpowered or dramatically difficult to play?
-Blitzcrank
-Vi
-Aatrox
-Xin Zhao
-Talon
-Quinn
-Varus
-Viktor.
Leona is my go-to support and Vi is one of my favourite top/jungle fighters, so i'm sure you'll like her too (but i'm a bit bias, since she's in my avatar, you know :p)
She has a charging dash that does the same as Leona's E - makes you go straight to the enemies face and beat him with your gauntlets, and her ulti dunks opponents and stuns them. She's not complex, but she's very fun character.

I would stay away from Viktor, on the other hand. He's one of the most complicated to play well characters.
 

Einbroch

Banned
Awesome. Already getting a bunch of "kill the n*****" and "got you n*****" when playing Lucian.

I'm seriously upset at the racism of people.
 

garath

Member
Awesome. Already getting a bunch of "kill the n*****" and "got you n*****" when playing Lucian.

I'm seriously upset at the racism of people.

Seeing people say things like "Hit by a Drive By" when he ults. It's pretty bad.

New phage is pretty awesome. That movespeed bump when you hit something is fantastic for melee. I think it's going to end up core in my Vi build.
 
hes mana hungry for the same reason corki's Q stills costs a shit tonne. its pretty hard to dodge the Q of a lucian who knows what hes doing unless you use a quick movement skill

Have you played him? His Q is more like Caitlyn Q than Corki Q. It's easy enough to dodge due to its cast time, as opposed to Corki's "I pressed Q, you took damage" Phosphorous Bomb. Also you need a target in front of you, you can't just straight cast it.
 

garath

Member
Can Lucian's ult be interrupted? I can see both Vayne and Draven being really bad matchups for him.

Yeah, stuns/silences, etc. All the normal interrupts for a channeled spell. Been watching some streamers play him. Looks a little weak. Fun, but weak. Probably going to be another Quinn.
 
Yeah, stuns/silences, etc. All the normal interrupts for a channeled spell. Been watching some streamers play him. Looks a little weak. Fun, but weak. Probably going to be another Quinn.

Ehhh he's in a different situation to Quinn. He's a traditional style ADC, just a bit undertuned right now I think.
 

drawkcaB

Member
New phage is pretty awesome. That movespeed bump when you hit something is fantastic for melee. I think it's going to end up core in my Vi build.

I'd be interested in trying it out, but on the other hand I don't like Trinity Force on Vi. I feel like I'd have to leave it at Phage and build something else, which is not the worst thing in the world. I can't seem to make the most out of TF's spellblade procs unless I have a champ that has a spammable skill(s) (Skarner Q, Udyr) or an on-hit proc ability (Irelia, GP). Maybe with the proc damage buff it would work out better. I'll have to try. I think I might finally be able to play SR again now that the lil' babe is sleeping well at nights.
 

LogicStep

Member
What's the best for Udyr jungle? AD or AP? AD is fun as hell, shreds through people. AP seems to be awesome as well and with a bit more survivability I think. I could be wrong, been playing him for a few days only.
 

garath

Member
Ehhh he's in a different situation to Quinn. He's a traditional style ADC, just a bit undertuned right now I think.

I'll buy him now and never play him just for the inevitable buff to OP status.
edit: Thanks AMEX!

I'd be interested in trying it out, but on the other hand I don't like Trinity Force on Vi. I can't seem to make the most out of TF's spellblade procs unless I have a champ that has a spammable skill(s) (Skarner Q, Udyr) or an on-hit proc ability (Irelia, GP). Maybe with the proc damage buff it would work out better. I'll have to try. I think I might finally be able to play SR again now that the lil' babe is sleeping well at nights.

You know, I was going to post that I'll build Phage early and just leave it until later and eventually build a Frozen Mallet out of it but I just noticed they changed the Frozen Mallet recipe. So now the only thing you can build out of Phage is freakin Trinity. Ugh. I don't know if I'd like trinity for Vi either. It MIGHT be good on her with the movement speed and the procs (Q->auto->E->auto->auto->E->auto, three procs right there. Extra 300 damage for her normal chain). But I dunno.

I'll probably try it one game but it's pretty costly for her.
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
I ask because it isn't uncommon for someone to be asking me when I'm going to their lane for a gank.
This is the jungling experience. Everyone wants your attention. Usually it's best to make your own calls. I try and identify which players on my team are aggressive, and which lanes have high kill potential if I combine my skillset with the laners against the enemy. If you do not see an opening then it's usually better to just keep farming. If your laners are pushed and you are wanting to force fights consider invading or look for opportunities to tower dive.
When should I hop into PvP? I feel like I should wait until at least summoner level 12 since that's when I get access to the almighty flash spell that seems to play a large part in the meta.
PvP is fun. No need to wait. You'll get matched with people of a similar skill level most likely.
I am warming up to the changes. Right now biggest problem is that people can get away from the ult too easily. Root solves that. Mid lane and shallow lane ganks will be stronger with the slow frontloaded. Lower cooldown on shield will be massively beneficial, and its movespeed bonus is way bigger.
 

Newt

Member
Good if Lucian is banned. Lol
The problem is, is I want to play against a Lucian. Haven't been on league since yesterday, but I can guess Draven is the perfect counter to Lucian.

1. Lucian's passive won't be enough to trade Draven in lane, his AA Q AA probably does less damage than the axes Draven can get in during that time.

2.His MS buff is a lot more constrained, it shouldn't be to hard to chase him down.

3. He uses ult, just stand him aside, follow up with your own ult.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Lucian appears to be decent at least, from what I've played with him. His ult deals so much damage.
Soda Cop said it did like 2000 with no items, so I figure he should totally be built like Darius as full tank. Full tank, still deal huge damage, top lane forever, what could go wrong! :D
 

garath

Member
When should I hop into PvP? I feel like I should wait until at least summoner level 12 since that's when I get access to the almighty flash spell that seems to play a large part in the meta.

fwiw, I've never played a bot game. I jumped into PvP at level 1. For the most part I was grouped with other noobs and it was fine. There was a smurf or two and they stomped the game but whatever. It's a learning experience. I found it a pretty natural progression in terms of skill as I leveled up. The opponents got better as I did.
 
This is the jungling experience. Everyone wants your attention. Usually it's best to make your own calls. I try and identify which players on my team are aggressive, and which lanes have high kill potential if I combine my skillset with the laners against the enemy. If you do not see an opening then it's usually better to just keep farming. If your laners are pushed and you are wanting to force fights consider invading or look for opportunities to tower dive.

This is always a really hard call to make for me. It would be easier if I was more confident in my jungle picks.
Or at all.
Are there particular junglers I can play where farming more is good, even ideal?
 

Newt

Member
Soda Cop said it did like 2000 with no items, so I figure he should totally be built like Darius as full tank. Full tank, still deal huge damage, top lane forever, what could go wrong! :D
It does good damage, but it's all single target and all that damage can easily be blocked. He won't be able to just follow up all little bit of CC like MF can, and if he tries that Rammus is gonna stand in front of him and he'll end up killing himself.
 

Boken

Banned
Have you played him? His Q is more like Caitlyn Q than Corki Q. It's easy enough to dodge due to its cast time, as opposed to Corki's "I pressed Q, you took damage" Phosphorous Bomb. Also you need a target in front of you, you can't just straight cast it.
I've only watched streamers play him, but it seemed a lot less dodgeable than cait Q.

Looking at the numbers, it actually costs less mana than cait Q, has an 0.35s windup compared to cait's 1s windup. its actually 33% less mana than corki Q, for a pretty hard to dodge skill.

I think the problem is that his kit encourages him to spam more Q's than cait. so he feels mana hungry. but i think they probably need to gate his ability to dominate lane with mana.
at least his ult is a lot better now.
first pick in ranked
insta-locked lucian
haven't played him yet
haven't watched videos
wish me luck, yolo
dont leave us hanging how did it go??
What are my chances of being able to play ADC in ranked today?
-10%
 

Newt

Member
This is always a really hard call to make for me. It would be easier if I was more confident in my jungle picks.
Or at all.
Are there particular junglers I can play where farming more is good, even ideal?
Maokai and Mundo both have great clears, and both of these champs or pretty solid picks. Shyvanna has the best clear in the game, but she has no CC, so she's an incredibly inconsistant pick especially for solo q.

Forgot about Udyr, his clear is really good too.
 
Maokai and Mundo both have great clears, and both of these champs or pretty solid picks. Shyvanna has the best clear in the game, but she has no CC, so she's an incredibly inconsistant pick especially for solo q.

Forgot about Udyr, his clear is really good too.

Have Mundo and Udyr, guess I need to go back to them if I want to make up for poor gank timing.
 
I've only watched streamers play him, but it seemed a lot less dodgeable than cait Q.

Looking at the numbers, it actually costs less mana than cait Q, has an 0.35s windup compared to cait's 1s windup. its actually 33% less mana than corki Q, for a pretty hard to dodge skill.

I think the problem is that his kit encourages him to spam more Q's than cait. so he feels mana hungry. but i think they probably need to gate his ability to dominate lane with mana.

It costs less mana at higher levels, but costs more at the first 2 ranks, even at rank 3. He also has a lower base mana pool. His early game suck in terms of mana, but I guess he'd be kinda dumb if he could spam non-stop at low levels.

But yes, he's more ability based than someone like Cait.

Also, went BT -> Trinity Force this time instead of Botrk -> BT.

Sooooooooooooo much better. I'd ignore BotRK until late game tbh.

XLbDQct.jpg
 
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