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TopTeamComps - Strong/Fun Team Champion Picks for 5 Man Teams

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Hey guys, just noticed that the Top Team Comp section is starting to get a bulky, so rather than making you guys scroll through all the pages to get to the one you want, I spent some time creating this index page instead!

I'll also start updating a page with "ideal" blind pick team comps for you tryhards that want to stomp some other premade 5s teams.

If you prefer the old way of browsing the team comps, it's still available at this location.

Top Team Comps Index
Season 4 Team Comps
#35: Ideal Preseason 4 Blind Pick 5 Man Team (Dec 1, 2013):Shyvana, Swain, Jarvan IV, Sivir, Taric
#34: Flashy Big Play Comp (Nov 29, 2013): Riven, Ahri, Lee Sin, Ezreal, Leona
#33: Invisible Explosion Comp (Nov 19, 2013): Jarvan IV, Orianna, Shaco, Sivir, Lulu

Season 3 Team Comps
#32: Dive Comp Version 2.0 (Sep 25, 2013):Aatrox, Ahri, Zac, Tristana, Leona
#31: Turnaround Comp (Aug 3, 2013): Fiora, Cassiopeia, Fiddlesticks, Varus, Sona
#30: Balanced Poke/Initiation Comp (Jun 24, 2013): Jayce, Kassadin, Nautilus, Ezreal Janna
#29: A Song of Fire and Ice (May 16, 2013): Wukong, Zyra, Sejuani, Ezreal, Sona
#28: Undead Zombie Comp (Apr 16, 2013): Yorick, Karthus, Zac, Kog'Maw, Zyra
#27: Hidden ADC Snowball Comp (Feb 16, 2013): Jax, Katarina, Nocturne, Twitch, Sona
#26: League of Bearded Men (Jan 20, 2012): Olaf, Gragas, Maokai, Graves, Gangplank
#25: Balanced Kite and Engagement Comp (Jan 12, 2013): Singed, Lux, Amumu, Ashe, Janna
#24: I Get the Reset?! (Dec 31, 2012): Darius, Katarina, Kha'Zix, Tristana, Alistar
#23: Gotta Go Fast! (Dec 30, 2012): Jayce, Orianna, Hecarim, Sivir, Nunu
#22: Chokepoint Comp (Dec 25, 2012): Jarvan IV, Lux, Cho'Gath, Ezreal, Leona
#21: CC Lock Comp (Dec 22, 2012): Malphite, Zyra, Amumu, Ashe, Leona
#20: The Unstoppable Team (Dec 19, 2012): Yorick, Mordekaiser, Olaf, Sivir, Alistar
#19: Black Cleaver Comp (Dec 14, 2012): Riven, Talon, Pantheon, Corki, Taric
#18: Geometrical Limiting Displacement Comp (Dec 7, 2012): Karthus, Anivia, Trundle, Ezreal, Jarvan
#17: You've Actived My Trap Card! (Dec 5, 2012): Teemo, Nidalee, Shaco, Caitlyn, Zyra
#16: Tower Diving Man-Mode Comp (Dec 3, 2012): Pantheon, Diana, Shyvana, Tristana, Blitzcrank
#15: Hot Potato Comp (Nov 29, 2012): Singed, Gragas, Vayne,. Alistar, Volibear
#14 Invisible Nonsense Comp (Nov 28, 2012): Rengar, Akali, Twitch, Alistar, Evelynn
#13: Sniper Comp (Nov 27, 2012): Jayce, Lux, Caitlyn, Taric, Lee Sin
#12: Split Push Comp (Nov 26, 2012): Nidalee, Twisted Fate, Graves, Soraka, Shen
#11: The Dunking Comp (Nov 23, 2012): Darius, Master Yi, Alistar, Blitzcrank, Jarvan IV

Season 2 Team Comps
#10: The Shield Comp (Oct 27, 2012): Riven, Orianna, Lee Sin, Janna, Sivir
#9: The ASPD Debuff Comp (Aug 28, 2012): Malphite, Gragas, Lee Sin, Nunu, Ezreal
#8: The Support Comp (Aug 13, 2012): Soraka, Janna, Alistar, Blitzcrank, Lulu
#7: The Chase Comp July 24, 2012: Riven, Kassadin, Lee Sin, Blitzcrank, Ezreal
#6: Alternative AOE Comp (July 22, 2012): Jarvan, Galio, Malphite, Nunu, Graves
#5: The Vayne Comp (July 19, 2012): Yorick, Zilean, Nunu, Janna, Vayne
#4: The Global Comp (July 18, 2012):Shen, Twisted Fate, Nocturne, Janna, Ashe
#3: Poke Comp (Jul 17, 2012):Karthus, Nidalee, Malphite, Kog'maw, Soraka
#2: 20 Minute Win or Bust (Jan 25, 2012):Leblanc, Pantheon, Leona, Jarvan, Shaco
#1: Balanced AOE Comp (Jan 18/12): Morgana, Gangplank, Sivir, Sona, Malphite

Top Team Comps #35: Ideal Preseason 4 Blind Pick 5 Man Team

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While it might not be the most interesting title I've ever made, this team composition will be fairly straightforward. Basically, it's a team composition that has extremely good group synergy, strong lane presence, and will likely do well against any team that isn't trying as hard as you guys. 

SUGGESTED LINEUP
Top: Shyvana
Mid: Swain
Jungle: Jarvan IV
AD Carry: Sivir
Support: Taric

ADVANTAGES:
- Strong AOE damage
- Strong 1v1 burst damage
- High CC potential
- Extremely tanky
- Strong engagement
- Good Arpen synergy
DISADVANTAGES:
- AD Heavy
- Low AP Burst damage
- Low poke ability



Overall Strength: Very strong
Difficulty to Counter: Hard
Difficulty to Execute: Medium
Fear Potential: Very Scary
STRATEGY:
1. Focus on Bot/Mid Lane
In this case, Shyvana will likely be able to outpush and outduel any top laner even if she falls slightly behind early. This means that Jarvan should focus on bot lane and mid lane, which both have strong CCs to assist on ganks.

2. Keep Top Lane Pushed
The key here is to force the enemy jungler to assist top lane, while Jarvan pummels the crap out of bot and mid. Eventually, once Taric gets enough assists he'll be able to 1v2 all their squishies while the rest of your team does their duty. (Gotta love pre-season balance changes on supports)

COUNTER-STRATEGY
In order to easily beat this team, it's really a matter of keeping Shyvana in check. (Even though this plays straight into their strategy.) You can't leave Shyvana free farming top, since she'll if she gets any opening, she can take down a turret with ease.

Here's a sample team that would do well:

Top: Olaf - To beat Shyvana you need someone who can out-tank, outsustain,  perma CC, and out-duel her. As of this point, Olaf is your best bet.
Mid: Galio - Although he's not an ideal pick against so much AD damage since he scales majorly with magic resist, he's still a very good pick here as he's one of the few champions that has the ability to keep up with Swain in lane, and his ultimate is no joke. He'll also be excellent for keeping Shyvana off your carries.
Jungle: Amumu - I'm still a huge fan of Amumu. Since the composition focuses heavily on chaining CCs together, the harder you can hit them with your own CCs, the more your allies can get away to safety.
AD Carry: Twitch - As Twitch does a lot of magic damage, he'll be able to pump a lot more through Taric's armor aura than other AD carries. he also does decently against Sivir. Also, with Gallio + Amumu's lockdown, he'll get to maximize his ultimate.
Support: Leona - Just as Taric does well against Leona, Leona does well against Taric.

Overall, this team will have less damage, but higher CC potential, which can also be very fun.

Got more ideas for team compositions? Ways to improve on this one or counter it? Post them below in the comment section!

Click here for more team comps!

Things Yasuo's Windwall (W) Can Block

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With the impending release of Yasuo, summoners are probably curious about what his (W) Windwall can block:

W: Wind Wall

  • Passive: Dashing replenishes Yasuo's Flow faster.
  • Active: Yasuo creates a wall of wind that slowly drifts forward for a few seconds. The wall blocks all enemy projectiles.







In that case, check out this Korean video below by Ynouk LoL that goes through all the champions in LoL that try their hand at piercing the wind wall!


For more information on Yasuo's skills, click here!

Easy...

Playing Similar Roles to Maximize Win Percentage

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Earlier today my friend and I discussed Season 4 strategies for gaining Elo. Personally, I think I'll be maining support, specifically Taric until they nerf him.

My friend on the other hand, said he'll main jungle and ad carry (marksmen).

When I heard this I actually became very confused and asked why? Jungle and AD Carry are polar opposites when it comes to the skills necessary to play either one...

Obviously you won't always be able to get the role that you want in solo queue, so being able to play more than one will increase your chances of winning.

This got me to thinking, which two combinations of "roles" will optimize one's performance? It's obvious that to get better at the game, we as players need to improve our skills necessary to perform each role, and the fewer roles we play, the faster we'll improve and climb the ladder! 

Let's check out what I came up with:

Roles that go well together: 
  • Support/AP Mid
  • Marksman/Bruiser Top
  • Bruiser Top/Jungle
  • Support/Jungle
  • Jungle/Assassin Mid
Roles that don't really mesh:
  • Jungle + AD Carry
  • Support + Top Bruiser
Role Combination 1: Support/AP Mid
Overlapping Skills: Spell Combos, Skillshots, Burst Knowledge, Fast reflexes, Positioning for Survivability, Similar champions

I feel like this first role combination is ideal, since a lot of popular supports today such as Annie, Zyra, Thresh, Blitzcrank, etc. all involve the skills above. Not only that, but some supports like Annie or Zyra are actually the exact same champions that head mid as well.

For those of you that want some professional proof, just ask Reginald how often Xpecial beats him mid.

Pew pew spells!

Role Combination 2: Marksmen/Bruiser Top
Overlapping Skills: (Lots of) Farming, Poking, Animation Cancelling

I think this combination also works well, especially if you're playing a champion top like Jax, Tryndamere, Riven, or Nasus. 

The reason for this is that since these champions are very auto attack reliant, so having the ability to attack + move is extremely important. Also, squishier champions like Riven and Tryndamere have always been an extreme favorite of AD carry mains simply because they're all squishy and are reliant on outplaying the enemy opponents.

Role Combination 3: Jungle/Bruiser Top
Overlapping Skills: Peeling/Carry killing/Dive initiating decision skills, Similar champions

These two roles are very similar as well, such as when you're playing Jarvan IV, Malphite, or Lee Sin. These champions tend to make judgement calls based on how tanky they think they are and what their team needs them to do for maximum success. As a result, I think these two go hand in hand when developing the skills necessary for both.

Sometimes, being too afraid to dive an enemy team can be just as disastrous as a failed dive attempt. As a result, other roles may not have the same type of game knowledge that comes with playing countless games in this niche job. 

Role Combination 4: Support/Jungle
Overlapping Skills: Map control, Map awareness, Play-making

There's a reason most of the plays on a pro team are made by the support or jungle, mainly because they don't have to concentrate on last hitting minions while simultaneously being on the constant lookout of the enemy team suddenly engaging. 

As a result of this, they're responsible for watching the map and understanding the flow of the game. Because of this, not only is their map awareness generally better, it HAS to be better in order to make a significant impact from this role. They understand when a lane looks vulnerable to a gank, and also know ideal warding locations and areas a jungler could sneak through.

Be ready for anything...

Role Combination 5: Jungle/Assassin Mid
Overlapping Skills: Burst knowledge, target priority, combo ability

When I think of this role I think of champions like Shaco, Evelynn, and Talon. While these specific champions won't be good in both roles, players who use these champs know when ideal moments to attack appear and ideal gank angles to take down squishy high priority targets.

They also understand when they're in danger and how to get out of danger appropriately. In addition, they also have a much stronger sense of when it's appropriate to sacrifice oneself to take down a super fed enemy, something marksmen don't have the luxury of doing since ad carries usually don't have that level of burst/mobility, and ARE the high priority targets most of the time.

Role Combination 6: Jungle/Marksmen
I don't think these mesh.

When you think about it, one is a tanky bruiser that never CSes and exists to soak damage and CC, and one is a squishy champion whose primary purpose is to CS, generally lacks CC, and focuses down any target they can find.

I could be a marksman if I tried...

Role Combination 7: Support/Top Bruiser
I don't think these mesh.

Other than Taric/Leona, who generally do the same job as a bruiser in a teamfight, common supports like Janna and Sona shouldn't be played anything like Bruisers and focus on poke/hit-and-run strategies. As a result, they tend to rely on a completely different skillset/playstyle and have drastically different roles in the game.

Conclusions:
Even though you might be good at some strange combination of roles, maining those two roles might not be the best choice if you want to gain MMR fast.

While it's true that by maining two completely different roles you'll become a more versatile and well-rounded player, it also means that it will take someone of a similar skill level far less time to achieve the same win rate if they specialize in one or two similar roles and hone their skills in those areas to perfection.

Agree? Disagree? Think other combinations are better? Comment below!

1v1 and 2v2 Maps Next Game Mode

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Riot's got the scoop on the next featured game mode now that one-for-all mode is down, it's a fight club style 1v1 or 2v2 game!

It seems like the game will end once a turret falls or one side reaches 100 cs.

Prepare for the Showdown

BY BRACKHAR
You’ve shot off five Final Sparks and achieved immortality through constant Chrono Shifts, but now it’s time for a Showdown.
For the next Featured Gameplay Mode, you’ll be able to duel it out with friends and foes alike on an icy battlefield that promises contests of epic proportions.
With three paths to an honorable victory, will you go full ham and draw first blood, waveclear your way to 100 CS or channel your inner Ziggs and demolish the turret before your opponent?
If you queue up with a buddy for the beatdowns, you’ll notice that you need two kills to earn the dubya, or the two of you can combine to hit that century CS mark.
Sharpen your swords and ready your hextech revolvers. The Showdown approaches this Snowdown.

Training School

Funny League Articles

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League's a game, and games are supposed to be fun. Take a break from your grinding and check out some of these funny posts below! Some must sees are TheOddOne's original viral comments on Ezreal and videos of Saintvicious making his way through Elo Hell.

All-Time Favorites

Year End Layout Update!

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Good afternoon everyone, hope you're all having a great weekend.

You may have noticed a *slight* change to the layout recently, check out the features:
  • New Mobile template (works on both cell phones and tablets)
  • New Site Map
  • New Popular Posts feature
  • New Google Search function embedded into webpage
  • Advanced Categories for Humor and Strategy
  • A few more things that you'll discover on your own
Let me know if you have any suggestions or spot any broken links!

Desktop Screenshot

Mobile Screenshot

Earlier Renditions:

Check out some screenshots of the previous versions of Nerfplz as well!

Nerfplz 2013

Nerfplz 2012

What do you think of the new layout? Comment below!


Winter Wonder Lulu, Snow Day Singed, Snowstorm Sivir Skin Splashes Released!

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The PBE just updated a short while ago with some new splashes for Snowdown 2013! Check out the splashes below (Click for an enlarged version). I realize I need to update the wallpaper section, it's next on the to-do list :)

Winter Wonder Lulu


Winter Wonder Lulu Video Preview

Snow Day Singed


Snow Day Singed Video Preview


Snowstorm Sivir

Snowstorm Sivir Video Preview

Video previews created by SkinSpotlights

Phreak Explains How Armor/Magic Penetration Work

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Earlier today RiotPhreak gave a brief recap on how penetration currently works. Since it seems like a lot of people are still a little confused on how the current calculations work, let's take a look!

Note that they may change this some time in the future, but as far as Season 4 goes, no plans as far as I know.

Penetration Summary
  • Percentage based penetration always factors in before flat penetration;
  • Flat reduction is calculated before Percentage reduction;
  • Reduction is calculated before penetration
  • "Penetration" cannot drop resist/armor below 0;
  • "Reduction" can drop resist/armor below 0;
  • Dropping below 0 is rare, as that means you have more reduction than they have resists not including penetration.
Magic Penetration Calculation Order
  1. Flat Magic Reduction (Abyssal Scepter, Fiddlesticks Passive)
  2. Percentage Magic Reduction (Karthus Wall of Pain)
  3. Percentage Magic Penetration (Void Staff, Xerath's Locus of Power)
  4. Flat Magic Penetration (Haunting Guise, Sorcerer's Shoes)
Armor Penetration Calculation Order
  1. Flat Armor Reduction (Nasus Spirit Fire)
  2. Armor Reduction Percentage (Black Cleaver, Jarvan's Dragon Strike)
  3. Armor Penetration Percentage (Last Whisper)
  4. Flat Armor Penetration (Brutalizer)
Here's Phreak'sexplanation on it, which includes some number examples:

First, % penetration works first. So if I have a Void Staff/Last Whisper, I pretend your MR/Armor is only 65% of what it really is. Then I factor in things like Brutalizer/Sorc Shoes/Haunting Guise. Those things work additively. So for example, if you had 200 MR and I had Void/Sorc/Haunting, Void reduces 200 to 130, then Sorc/Haunting reduce that 130 to 100.

So instead of dealing 1/3 damage (fighting 200 MR) you deal 1/2 damage (fighting 100 MR). Thus, the passives result in you dealing 50% more damage than before.

Note that penetration can only go so far. What I mean is that, if you have exactly 100 flat magic pen, it will only give you at most 100% bonus damage (your opponent has 100 MR). If your opponents have any more or less than 100 magic resist, you will get slightly lower returns.

Example: You have 100 MR, so I deal half damage. With 100 magic pen, I deal full damage, aka double what I would have before. If you have 200 MR, I deal 1/3 damage. I reduce that with my 100 magic pen to 100 MR, and I now deal 1/2 damage, so 50% more than before. If you have 50 MR, I deal 2/3 damage. With 100 magic pen, I deal full damage, or 50% more than before.

I hope those all made sense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tesla23 View Post
they work like this:


tank spends +10k on tanky stats.

squishy gets a single 3k item.

Tank now has no stats
Mathematically this isn't true; they roughly equal out. If you had 80 base armor and bought Thornmail, and I bought Last Whisper, your armor went from 80 to 180, then I reduced it to 117. Obviously we each got some extra stats (damage return, 40 AD), but it's pretty easy to see that while % pen is useful, it does not completely devastate tank items.

Defense reductions come first. They affect the base armor/mr value Source

If you have more questions, feel free to post in the comment section below!



New Yasuo Promo Site Launched

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Check out the new mini-site Riot just launched promoting Yasuo, complete with sketches and more depth on his lore! Be sure to scroll to the bottom for a slick animation ~

New Snowdown 2013 Snowdown Icons On PBE!

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Check out the new 2013 Snowdown Summoner Icons now available on the PBE! No word yet on how to get the icons themselves when the live server hits, but I'll keep you guys updated =]



Meanwhile, you can check out how the 2012 Icons were earned out last year!

Riot Launches Official League of Legends API

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Less than 24 hours ago, Riot's launched their official developer API (Application programming interface) available at http://developer.riotgames.com/. For those of you who aren't familiar with what an API is, it basically allows you to create programs on web pages and on mobile devices that access Riot's official databases of statistics and any files that they would like us to be able to use.

I'm pretty stoked for this! Maybe I'll try my hand at making some LoL apps myself...

Let's Talk Talon

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In the latest rendition of the solo queue tier list, I've placed Talon as god tier. Naturally, I've gotten my share of questioning stares, as it seems Talon isn't particularly loved by the League community...

Exhibit 1: Haters


"Frankly He Blows"
What? LOL...if I was one of those professional YouTube stars this would be where I embed a video stringing together 5 Talon 1v5 pentakills together with some sick action music. But since I'm not, here are some more pictures and words.

Exhibit 2: Win Rates

If you look at anywhere between Bronze and Platinum, you'll notice that Talon sadly enough doesn't appear in the top champions...however, if you take a peek at diamond and...peekaboo! Check out who makes his way to the top.


Seems to me that there's a level of knowledge that needs to be high enough to use him correctly, but also highly rewards people that learn it.

Talon Pros and Cons

Pros
  • High AOE damage; 
  • Great synergy with popular champions that shred armor like Jarvan, Taric, and Wukong (especially if Talon builds black cleaver); 
  • Strong poke;
  • INSANE waveclear;
  • Great roaming potential
Cons
  • Squishy champion;
  • No true escapes;
  • Can be countered by Zhonyas.

Why Talon is Good

Talon is a champion touted as offering "no counterplay". This means that it's kill or be killed once he silences you. If he can burst you down, then naturally, you instantly die. As a result of this silence, he's an excellent anti-mage and counters a lot of common champions mid like Lux, Nidalee, and Kassadin. 

However, a lot of people mistakenly think that this means that they can go head-to-head with these champions at any point in the game, which simply isn't true. In order to beat them, it requires strong knowledge of when to poke and when to go all in with Talon.

He's better when his food is seen more often on the rift. Talon's a prime example of a "cycle" champion. Since most assassins have been nerfed, this means that poke heavy, skillshot oriented squishy mages are back on the field...Talon's ultimate prey. While he doesn't do as well against tanky champions, his ability to burst down an enemy's back line is still one of the best in the game.

As long as he has enough damage to one shot his primary targets with his combo, he's good. If he doesn't, he's bad. Long story short, with the new masteries and the current set of popular champions (aka targets), he does.

How to Play Talon

1. Talon is an assassin with no true escapes

Compare this with champions like Zed, Fizz, Kassadin, and even Katarina, who have the ability to jump in and out of a battle.
This means he's much more unforgiving in a failed all-in.
As a result, a lot of summoners confuse lack of knowledge with playing a bad champ (and also explains his win rate at higher rankings versus average rankings). For example, you almost never want to engage on a squishy against an Amumu or near a Leona before they use a few of their CCs (and especially their ultimates). Although Talon can instantly kill a lot of squishies, a lot of squishies can also instantly kill Talon, especially if their butch friend is holding him down.

Just remember you need to play like a sneaky assassin, not like some broken fish who apparently can dodge bullets and ancient magic using a metal stick.

2. Talon is a champion that scales VERY nicely with armor penetration, and doesn't lose anything by building it early. 

  • Your first two "damage" items should be Black Cleaver and Last Whisper; 
  • This prevents you from snowballing, then doing 0 damage when their entire team builds armor and instagimps you using their base damage.
  • He should still aiming for squishies, not tanks, despite building so much armor shred. He's not an AD carry, and excels at hitting the back line.

3. Talon is a roamer with a super lower cooldown on his ultimate and insanely good waveclear


Check out this win rate with boots of mobility. You'll almost always want to roam bot. Top is where the bruisers will wreck your day, sometimes even 2v1. On the other hand, if you go bot, you can easily chunk 2/3 of both of their health bars by yourself, and naturally 2 kills and dragon is better than being shown on reddit as part of of a video titled
"SICK RIVEN 1v2 OUTPLAY"

How to Counter Talon

Don't die (heh). Basically, once he gets his armor penetration items, your squishies will be easy targets if your team is low on CC. However, if your team is high on CC, make sure someone's carrying a pink ward or sweeper (I prefer pink ward) so that you can blast him down when he engages, although good Talons will avoid any major AOE CCs, so you'll have to watch specifically for him.

Always keep your river warded as well, since Talon's favorite hobby is roaming and insta-gimping. Don't rely on your mid-laner to call MIAs, since his wave clear is so insane that he can MIA every 3 seconds and be down in the river in 6 seconds.

On squishy AP mid laners be sure to get Zhonyas Hourglass, which will give you enough time to prevent his second part of his ultimate from hitting you, and also give some much needed armor. Seeker's armguard is also excellent for surviving early.

Unfortunately as most of you will probably find out, if he's already fed that's not going to help you since he can still easily burst down a squishy during the duration of his one second silence. He can also simply roam bottom and take down the champions without the extra armor.

Conclusions

While Talon might not be the insane faceroll champion he was during the League of Cleavers, he's definitely one of the stronger champions on the field of justice right now. Instead of asking for buffs, you should be asking yourself...why am I not spamming Talon games???

What are your thoughts on Talon? Comment below!


Data and Statistics from LoLking.net

Yasuo Champion Spotlight Released!

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The official Riot Champion Spotlight on Yasuo is out!



Meanwhile, check out this link for a video on everything Yasuo's Wind Wall can block!


Let's Talk Rammus...Why Is He OP?

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I'd like for you all to meet Rammus. He's a ninja of few words, and his favorite movie is The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. (R.I.P. Paul Walker). He has the HIGHEST win rate of all junglers on the rift, but for some reason people still haven't accepted the fact that he's insanely good...

Let's Talk Rammus

Advantages to Rammus
  • Super fast moving ganks; 
  • High mobility means more ganks faster; 
  • Strong single target CC; 
  • High base damage mitigation on skills;
  • Damage scales with tankiness; 
  • Natural tank, especially against AD carries; 
Disadvantages to Rammus
  • "Low" late game damage; 
  • No AOE CC; 
  • Gap closer can be stopped by creeps; 
  • Slow jungle clear speed; 

Rammus' Strengths In the Current Meta

In a meta where even mid laners want to be marksmen and champions like Riven, Nasus, and Jax reign supreme, this heavily armored armadillo can stack full armor and HP. This means that his passive and defensive ball curl bonuses are maximized higher than ever before

Not only that, but here are some more points to consider:
  1. Champions like Kha'zix, Ahri, Graves, Zed, and Jayce have been nerfed out of popularity; this means he forces flashes with ease against popular champions with low or no escapes; 
  2. The current state of homeguard and powerball give him a HUGE amount of ganking and jungling uptime, higher than any jungler. Even if he's unsuccessful and loses a lot of health on a failed gank he doesn't fall behind; and
  3. People are trying harder to take down early turrets, but aren't warding to compensate...Rammus excels at taking down overextended targets. Even an ultra-fed marksmen will go down when he's CC'ed for 3 seconds straight.

Common Complaints About Rammus

1. "No Pros Play Rammus"
2. "Rammus is Easily Counter Jungled"
3. "Rammus is Weak Late Game"

1. No Pros Play Rammus 

2. Rammus is Easily Counter Jungled

Riot gave everyone in the game a free ward, combine that with a real ward, and your team will be in for an early first blood and a free enemy blue buff. If not, you're down 75 gold...not a big deal. He doesn't have a difficult time staying alive in camps anyway, unless you decided to start with powerball lvl 1 and get taunt level 2 for some obscure reason.

For those of you that say solo queue players probably won't help you, realize this: they probably won't help you ward, but if they see an idiot Lee Sin standing in a warded bush lvl 2 with a blue buff, there's no AP mid who's not willing to leave his lane to get it.

Look at this idiot...

3. Rammus is Weak Late Game

Believe it or not, some junglers aren't meant for dealing damage late game, and are instead used to soak damage and to peel for carries. Luckily, Rammus fits both these roles perfectly. While he might not have the damage to take down a tank by himself, he can easily smash a squishy or catch an enemy off-guard late game with his insane movespeed.

This means that when the 60 second death timers roll around, the first person Rammus catches with his homeguard + boots of mobility combo is going to be the target of a lot of rage. Combined with the fact that his combo is one of the fastest engages from the longest range in the game (okay Nocturne you win this time), the chances of someone getting caught out are pretty darn high.

Possible Future Threats to His OP Status

  • Nerfs to any of his abilities or stats; 
  • Nerf to homeguard; 
  • Shift to higher mobility champions; 
  • Double AP meta shift; 
  • Higher ward coverage; 
  • Stronger counterjunglers; 
  • Changes in minion aggro AI;

Conclusions

Just look at this win rate, higher than Taric? Something definitely extraordinary about this champion...

Ocelote Squares Off Against Fed Rengar

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With Rengar being a highly contested pick in high level competitive play, it's no surprise that a lot of you are clamoring for him to be lifted from the balanced group to Tier 1, some saying he's even god tier worthy.

While I'm still a little hesitant to say he's deserving of that title, he definitely snowballs HARD as you can see from this clip below in which Ocelote discovers that hybrid Rengar is more than he seems (especially so when you're 15-2).

Check it out:

Video uploaded by 0Cereal0

For those of you that are curious, here's a picture of the end game score with builds:



As you can tell, the majority of the enemy team didn't build much damage mitigation to begin with, but do have a locket on board. Whether Rengar is OP or not is still up in the air, but this video sure was entertaining!

Official Patch 3.15 Notes Released!

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Quick Nerfplz Summary:
Buffs: Ahri, Janna, Lulu, Soraka,
Nerfs: Lee Sin, Lucian, Rammus, Sivir, Taric
Tweaks: Fiddlesticks
Official Post: 

Patch 3.15 Notes

BY RIOT PWYFF


Introduction


"Hey Summoners,

Welcome to patch 3.15, the first patch of preseason (not counting that hotfix we deployed during 3.14)! We're generally happy with how things are going, so our goals today aren't to introduce a lot of new changes. Instead, we're hitting the scallywags that are skewing the game one way or the other so that we can really see what's going on.

We'll be keeping a close eye on the state of the game – supports in particular – and we hope you're enjoying the preseason. On to the patch notes!"






Matchmaking


"Back in Patch 3.13, we made some changes to let us more dynamically turn on "Loss Prevented" mode for servers with hardware/connection issues. Unfortunately, there was a bug where "prevented" games showed up as losses. Turning on Loss Prevented mode is a manual process that we're improving on (including the potential to automate) in the future. Sorry for the inconvenience!"
  • Fixed a bug where Loss Prevented was showing up as Defeat in the post-game lobby and in Match History. Games in your Match History that were listed as Defeat but actually Loss Prevented, will be changed to Loss Prevented.

"As a new player, it's no fun going through unbalanced games while the system tries to figure out your appropriate skill level. We've done some work here to speed up our ability to identify new players while quickly improving their matchmaking experience."
  • New players will now have their appropriate skill level identified faster in the matchmaking system

"Explanation here: if you've been waiting in the queue for a while, the matchmaker will become less picky about making a perfectly balanced match. That said, there was a rare bug where players who were in the queue for long periods of time would become matchmaking vacuums, where they would instantly suck in all of the more "picky" players who had just queued in the nearby matchmaking vicinity. To the vacuumed player, if a match gets found quickly, that means in our system that the match is guaranteed to be high quality. Occasionally, however, this wasn't the case (due to wider ranges in matchmaking confidence), and can lead to a bad experience – we've since fixed that bug."
  • Fixed a rare bug where the matchmaker would create imbalanced matches when a player had been in the queue for very long periods of time





General


"Long story short, champions with attack speed buffs will now feel the effects quicker."
  • Temporary attack speed buffs now update champion's attack speed immediately, rather than after the first attack

  • Damage amplification abilities no longer work on true damage
    • Abilities affected:
      • Poppy (Diplomatic Immunity)
      • Swain (Torment)
      • Talon (Cutthroat)




Champions


Yasuo
Yasuo the Unforgiven is in this patch, keep your eye out for upcoming details.

Ahri
"Ahri's very early laning experience can be unforgiving if she falls behind. These changes are to give her more breathing room before her first shopping trip or blue buff."
General
  • Base mana increased to 250 (from 230)
  • Base mana regeneration increased to 7 per 5 seconds (from 6.25 per 5 seconds)

Fiddlesticks
Summary: We've reduced the duration of Terrify at later ranks and lowered the mana cost of both Terrify and Crowstorm.
"Terrify is rather… terrifying at later levels, especially with the current pace of the game. That said, we didn't want to straight nerf Fiddle's power without any compensation. Cutting down his mana costs means that Fiddle can stay out in the field a little longer (especially after team fights), while the slight buff to Terrify's rank 1 duration helps his unstable early game."
Q - Terrify
  • Duration reduced at later ranks to 1.25/1.50/1.75/2.00/2.25 seconds (from 1.00/1.50/2.00/2.50/3.00 seconds)
  • Mana cost reduced to 65 at all ranks (from 65/75/85/95/105)
R - Crowstorm
  • Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks (from 150/200/250)

Janna
"Given our recent support changes, Janna could use a mana cost decrease like the other ult cost reductions we've made. We're still keeping an eye on this weather lady, so stay tuned for more change."
R - Monsoon
  • Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks (from 100/150/200)

Lee Sin
Summary: Safeguard no longer shields minions or makes wards invulnerable when Lee Sin dashes to them.
"We like that Lee Sin could make cool plays without relying on teammates to Safeguard to, but felt we could trim some of his extraneous power without removing the real ‘fun' of it."
W - Safeguard
  • Now only shields the target if the ally is a champion

Lucian
Summary: We've lowered the base damage of Piercing Light and shortened its cast range.
"We're culling some of Lucian's lane dominance – especially when he gets early AD purchases (given Piercing Light's high AD ratios). Rather than relentlessly pursuing a reduction on Lucian's damage, we also shaved some range off Piercing Light, as Lucian was able to poke from just outside of auto-attack range before going in for a strong trade with his passive. I'm sure there's another ability pun to be had in here, but I got nothing."
Q - Piercing Light
  • Base damage reduced to 80/110/140/170/200 (from 80/120/160/200/240)
  • Reduced cast range to match Lucian's basic attack range (now 550 from 570)

Lulu
Summary: Pix, Faerie Companion had its base damage increased, Help, Pix!'s base shield strength was increased and Wild Growth's mana cost was lowered.
"Lulu's defensive capabilities were a little low for a traditional support, so we sent her to the gym to get buff. Like most supports, we're keeping an eye on Lulu as the preseason progresses."
Passive - Pix, Faerie Companion
  • Base damage increased to 9/21/33/45/57/69/81/93/105 (from 9/18/27/36/45/54/63/72/81)
E - Help, Pix!
  • Base shield strength increased to 80/120/160/200/240 (from 60/105/150/195/240)
R - Wild Growth
  • Mana Cost reduced to 100 at all ranks (from 150 at all ranks)

Rammus
Summary: We've reduced the duration of Puncturing Taunt at later levels and reduced the mana cost of both Puncturing Taunt and Tremors.
"Similar to Fiddlesticks' Terrify, Puncturing Taunt scales to a frustratingly long duration (according to some, it went on forever, so some subjectivity is expected), especially when Rammus has a strong early game. We didn't want to just lower Taunt's durations, so we've made some mana cost reductions to help Rammus recover in games when he has a rough start."
W – Defensive Ball Curl
  • Can no longer be deactivated. Instead goes on cooldown when used (total cooldown of Defensive Ball Curl remains unchanged, as deactivating the ability previously did not reduce its cooldown)
E - Puncturing Taunt
  • Duration reduced at later ranks to 1.25/1.50/1.75/2.00/2.25 seconds (from 1.00/1.50/2.00/2.50/3.00 seconds)
  • Mana cost reduced to 50 at all ranks (from 50/60/70/80/90)
R - Tremors
  • Mana Cost reduced to 100 at all ranks (from 120 at all ranks)

Sivir
Summary: Fleet of Foot's movement speed bonus now scales up to 50 and Spell Shield has had its duration cut in half. On The Hunt also had its duration reduced and its cooldown increased while the enhanced movement speed boost scales up to 4 seconds with each rank.
"We like the general direction of Sivir and are now in the process of tuning her power. Currently Sivir has access to a lot of raw mobility (especially in the early game), so we're hitting that to reduce some of her early game snowball potential. We also wanted to give Sivir's opponents more windows of opportunity against her."
Passive - Fleet of Foot
  • Movement speed bonus reduced, now scales to 30/35/40/45/50 (at levels 1/6/11/16/18) (from 50 at all ranks)
E - Spell Shield
  • Duration reduced to 1.5 seconds (from 3 seconds)
R - On The Hunt
  • Total duration reduced to 8 seconds (from 10 seconds)
  • Enhanced movement speed duration now scales to 2/3/4 seconds (from 4 seconds at all ranks)
  • Cooldown increased to 120/100/80 seconds (from 120/90/60 seconds)

Soraka
"We've got larger plans for Soraka in the long-term but for now, we're giving her some extra survivability and mobility in the laning phase to keep her healthy for the preseason."
General
  • Base armor increased to 13 (from 9.4)
  • Base movement speed increased to 340 (from 335)

Taric
Summary: The armor scaling of Gemcraft has been reduced and Shatter had several changes made to it. Shatter's aura now increases allied champion armor by the correct amount and the armor damage scaling has been reduced. The shred of Shatter has also had its base value and armor scaling reduced.
"We're happy with Taric's kit in the preseason, but his burst damage was just too fabulous, especially when he picks up additional armor items to scale off of. Like other supports, we'll be keeping an eye on Taric as the preseason progresses."
Passive - Gemcraft
  • Armor scaling reduced to 20% (from 30%)
W - Shatter
  • Aura amount bug fixed, will now give correct amount of 12% (from roughly 15%)
  • Armor damage scaling reduced to 20% (from 30%)
  • Shred base values lowered to 5/10/15/20/25 (from 10/15/20/25/30)
  • Shred armor scaling lowered to 5% (from 10%)




Minor Changes & Bug Fixes


Anivia

  • Anivia, Eggnivia, and her skins (aside from Blackfrost Anivia) have received a Texture Update!

Brand
E - Conflagration
  • Fixed a bug where the cast range was longer than intended (625 from 650)

Caitlyn

  • We've improved Caitlyn's running animation!

Cho'Gath
Q – Rupture
"Rupture's slow after the knockup has always been 1.5 seconds – the tooltip was just incorrect."
  • Fixed a line within the tooltip to correctly reflect the duration of the slow (the actual value is 1.5 seconds, where the tooltip previously stated 3 seconds)

Fiora
"If Fiora uses Blade Waltz on a stealth target that's been revealed (through true sight or abilities), she'll now properly deal damage."
R – Blade Waltz
  • Fixed a bug where Blade Waltz was not dealing damage to "revealed" stealth targets

Garen
E - Judgment
  • No longer deals reduced damage to monsters (still reduced vs. minions)
  • Fixed a bug where Judgment was dealing less damage than intended

Lissandra
R - Frozen Tomb
  • Fixed a bug where the slow would sometimes not reapply properly

Maokai
R - Vengeful Maelstrom
  • Added a counter showing how much bonus damage Vengeful Maelstrom is storing

Pantheon
W - Aegis of Zeonia
  • Now can be cast on enemy minions and jungle monsters

Riven

  • We've improved Riven's running animation!

Shyvana
E - Flame Breath
  • Fixed a bug where Flame Breath was shredding armor in Dragon Form

Vayne
E – Condemn
  • Fixed a bug where, if the target was being moved by a spell when Condemn's projectile hit (dash, knockup, knockback, pull, etc.) Condemn would sometimes not stun on collision with terrain.




Items

Vision Items


  • Vision items no longer display their current ward count to your enemies on their tooltip display




Jungle Items


"Bounty Hunter as a passive was a risky purchase for some junglers, as it either amped up the gold gains from successful team fights or punished junglers who couldn't get assists / kills. Rather than being seen as a niche purchase, we want the "Spirit" line of jungle items to be a core build on most junglers, so Conservation as a passive is a stronger fit."
Spirit of the Spectral Wraith
  • Now has Conservation passive (instead of Bounty Hunter passive)
Spirit of the Elder Lizard
  • Now has Conservation passive (instead of Bounty Hunter passive)




Trinkets


"We're looking to enrich the interactions between the three trinkets by highlighting the core strengths of each (yellow's in a good place at the moment). The changes to the blue trinket solidify its role as a scouting tool and in-combat vision trinket. Even if you reveal a champion before they go into stealth, they won't be revealed once stealth takes effect."
Sweeping Lens
  • Cooldown reduced to 120 seconds (from 180 seconds)
Greater Lens
  • Cooldown reduced to 60 seconds (from 90 seconds)
Oracle's Lens
  • Cooldown reduced to 60 seconds (from 90 seconds)
  • True sight duration reduced to 8 seconds (from 10 seconds)
Scrying Orb
  • NEW: Enemy champions hit will be revealed for 5 seconds. This does not affect stealth champions.
  • Cast range increased to 1500 (from 1100)
Greater Orb
  • NEW: Enemy champions hit will be revealed for 5 seconds. This does not affect stealth champions.
  • Cast range increased to 2500 (from 1500)
Farsight Orb
  • NEW: Enemy champions hit will be revealed for 5 seconds. This does not affect stealth champions.
  • Cast range increased to 3000 (from 2500)





Summoner's Rift


The following changes are for Summoner's Rift only




Jungle Monsters


"We've been watching the jungle closely during preseason and while we're happy with the general speed with which champions are making their way through the jungle, we can afford to make it a little less taxing for the first clear."
  • Ancient Golem
    • Damage reduced to 60 (from 65)
  • Lizard Elder
    • Damage reduced to 60 (from 65)
  • Wight
    • Gold increased to 65 (from 60)




Game Flow


"Gold income in the preseason is generally high, which can lead to snowballing situations. In addition to clarifying assist gold, we also wanted to remove some of the "untrackable" gold in the mid to late game."
  • Assist gold rewards no longer scale up with game time (now 50% of kill reward from 50-80% of kill reward depending on game time)
"We want to better reward players for pushing down inhibitors, and felt that super minions should really live up to their name. Now players will need to be extra vigilant about lanes with a downed inhibitor."
  • Super Minions
    • Damage boost to nearby minions increased to 70% (from 40%)
    • Armor/Magic resistance boost to nearby minions increased to 70 (from 40)




Howling Abyss


"WHO NEEDS A TRINKET WHEN YOU CAN FEED A PORO!?"
  • Everyone will spawn with a Poro-Snax item in their trinket slot




Masteries

Offense


  • Martial Mastery
    • Attack damage reduced to +4 (from +5 attack damage)
  • Arcane Mastery
    • Ability power reduced to +6 (from +8 ability power)




Defense


  • Perseverance
    • Reduced to restoring 0.7%/1.35%/2% missing health every 5 seconds (from restoring 1/2/3% missing health every 5 seconds)
  • Legendary Guardian (formerly the Tenacious mastery)
    • Fixed a bug where the name had gotten swapped with the Tenacious Mastery
    • Required range to gain bonus armor and magic resistances from enemy champions reduced to 700 (from 900)

How to Get New 2013 Snowdown Icons

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A few days after the Snowdown Icons went live on the PBE, RiotBlueFire released tentative information on how to pick them up. While these methods may change when the live server hits, I'll update this post when it does. Check out the scoop below:
Note: These icons are not active yet as of December 14, 2013

Fastest Method For Earning All Summoner Icons (Nerfplz Style)

  1. Find a friend - :D
  2. Gift each other a Snowdown Skin (Scroll to bottom for list)
    [Santa Gragas Cookie EARNED]
  3. Duo queue Showdown Queue (2v2 map) using Snowdown Skin
    [Slay Belle Surprise EARNED]
  4. ARAM or Showdown duo queue until you win 3 games
    [Bad Gingerbread Veigar, Giftwrapped Poro, Snow Teemo EARNED]
  5. Celebrate!
Note: If you have no friends, you can STILL get the Giftwrapped Poro Icon! Hooray!

Icons Available Without Spending Money

Giftwrapped Poro + Bad Gingerbread Veigar
Play some ARAMs with your friends. After winning 3 you'll have both!

Specific Icon Earning Techniques

Giftwrapped Poro: To earn the Giftwrapped Poro icon, you must win three matchmade games on Howling Abyss. Meaning, you must enter a queue (NOT a custom game), and win three games. For example, you can enter the Showdown queue or the ARAM queue, but you can’t create your own game on Howling Abyss and have it count towards your three wins.

Bad Gingerbread Veigar: To earn this icon, you must win a matchmade game as a premade team during the Snowdown event. For example, you’ll earn the icon if you and four friends queue up in Ranked 5s to do battle and emerge victorious, or if you queue up with a buddy and claim victory in a normal game. The key here is that the games must be matchmade against other players (so Co-op vs AI does not count).


Slay Belle Surprise: Wear a Snowdown skin during the event. Any former skin or any of the three new skins will work. Skins from other holidays, like Kitty Kat Katarina, would not.


Santa Gragas Cookie: You’ll earn this icon by sending any gift during Snowdown using the gifting (including Mystery Gifting) feature in the store.


Snow Teemo: When you unlock all four of the other icons, you’ll earn the Snow Teemo icon. Please be aware it may take up to three days after unlocking the fourth icon for Snow Teemo to show up.

When Will the Icons Show Up?

The Snowdown summoner icons are added by script, so they may not be available on your account immediately after you unlock them. You should receive your icons no later than three days after the event ends.For the PBE please let me know if you do not receive them within 6 hours.

Which skins count towards the Slay Belle Surprise?

Toy Soldier Gangplank • Snowmerdinger • Mistletoe LeBlanc • Festive Maokai • Slay Belle Katarina • Dark Candy Fiddlesticks • Bad Santa Veigar • Snow Day Ziggs • Snow Bunny Nidalee • Workshop Nunu • Happy Elf Teemo • Earnest Elf Tristana • Old Saint Zilean • Re-Gifted Amumu • Santa Gragas • Reindeer Kog’Maw • Candy Cane Miss Fortune • Ragdoll Poppy • Nutcracko • Silent Night Sona • Snowstorm Sivir • Snow Day Singed • Winter Wonder Lulu

Source

QQ Tracker Alert: Kayle, Is She OP?

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In a fierce game between Europe's NIP (Ninjas in Pyjamas) and KMT (Kiedyś Miałem Team), the game finally resolved with Kayle annihilating both Riven and Renekton 1v2.

Naturally, the General discussion exploded with Kayle QQ on how overpowered she is.

Upload by Lol-vids

Kayle been at the top of the food chain for a while, specializing in insanely good kiting abilities and taking down squishy melee champions. She's definitely earned herself an easy Tier 1 spot on the solo queue tier list.

But...is she OP?

Win Rate

Weighing in at a hefty 52.5% in solo queue according to LoLking.net, she's definitely a heavy contender for being an extremely "strong" laner simply on statistics alone. Her most popular build by far is the one pictured in the video, with Nashor's Tooth and Lichbane synergizing VERY well with her kit.

The new preseason masteries have also given her a strong boost since the offense tree benefits hybrid champions almost TOO well (hence the 3.15 nerfs to the offense tree).

Skills in the Current Meta

The versatility of her ultimate will always be helpful against high burst champions as well as low mobility champions "all-in" melee champions. This means that she excels against common picks such as Zed, Olaf, and Garen.

Her splash damage from her E will also greatly benefit from fighting melee heavy, damage heavy compositions. This means that in a Riven dominated metagame, Kayle's potential to counteract her abilities is very high. Although in lane Riven vs Kayle is a very skill-based match-up, late game Kayle definitely becomes a huge issue for Riven's effectiveness.

She also holds up very well against most mid-laners, as she gets a damage spike at lvl 2, whereas most mid-laners get their major damage spike at 3. Her ultimate also does very well against champions with high burst and low CC, such as Zed.

Damage Output

Kayle's damage output is best compared with Nasus. She scales very hard into late game, and will do a surprisingly good chunk of damage if left alone to farm. She's not easy to catch or focus down, but can wreck a team's day by herself. 

In lane her trading ability is very high (even if you grab a point in her heal at level 4), and she definitely has the chance to snowball from some early cheese kills mid lane.

Conclusions

I'm not quite ready to say that Kayle is broken and deserving of nerfs, but she's also not particular FOTM at the moment, with a popularity lower than even Volibear. If she does become a very mainstream pick on the other hand, I could see the general community getting very tired of her very fast. Luckily, her skillset isn't very flashy or fun to play, so I'm not terribly concerned in a play rate spike.

If you're looking to grind up some quick Elo and want a simple champion to practice and master though, I think Kayle is a great pick with high potential that will bring you far.


To the heavens!
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