When we said "anyone", we thought that excluded Amumu. We'll be more specific next time.
Love,
Your team
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Dear Party at Wraiths
I see all four of you at Wraith camp while I ward baron and discover the enemy team; sharing is caring, and since you've all been spreading the love with CAPS LOCK, it's nice to see a change of pace and priorities. Oh, and by the way, the enemy team has Baron.
Just thought you should know,
Support
Just thought you should know,
Support
Dear Jungle
Thanks for the creep gank; those caster minons are pretty OP. I know I pinged you four minutes ago, but I understand that Wraiths are important. We're cool.
Love,
Solo Top
Love,
Solo Top
Dear Pathfinder
How did you know that I wanted to take the scenic route through the entire enemy team? This is perfect! Now I have all the time in the world to finish taking that sip of water. Oh? Don't worry about the Oracles, it wasn't that expensive.
Love,
Multitasker
Love,
Multitasker
Dear Ashe
Yes, rushing Zeal was a great idea - what? You got two?! Fabulous. Now you can crit for 80 dmg twice as fast!
We're sure to win.
Love,
Soraka
Saturday, July 2, 2011
AD Carry
Morning Summoners!
In this post, I wanted to address a few tips, tricks, and other comments concerning the beloved AD Ranged Carry: Ashe, Miss Fortune, Corki, Caitlynn, Teemo, Twisted Fate, ect...
Now, it's controversial at the moment that Ashe may be considered over-powered. This is of course in response to her numerous appearances at Dreamhack and the results that came with them compared to other AD carries. My personal belief on this is that everyone is crazy and Ashe is fine, especially when compared to Corki.
Although, I'm no expert.
I just notice that anyone with a stick-flash ability (Xin, Ireila, Kassadin, Le Blanc, Renekton, Malphite, Corki, ect...) is going to RAPE Ashe - at least - if both players are of equal skill level. And since Tanky DPS seems to rule the game with CC, Ashe is the least of peoples problems. IMO.
As far as her performance over other carries picked? There were some Corki bans that prevented him from appearing in Dreamhack fully, and it could be speculated that since Ashe has been around longer than most other carries (save Corki) that most players would be better on her.
It makes sense to me that the longer you have with a champion, the better you do with them. Or - even simpler - the better players were playing Ashe. Dreamhack might not have said anything concerning the champion, but just the players that were on her. Certainly, NA players hold a specialty on AD Ranged Carries over EU - I'd say they're more practiced with AP Carries - so is it any surprise that when NA picked up Ashe versus the EU's Caitlynn that she did better?
Food for thought.
Moving off the dead horse that is the ban wagon, I've recently been dabbling in AD Ranged and have some tricks and tips to pass along to other dabblers.
Coming almost exclusively from a Support/Tank background with mains like Janna, Alistar, and Nidalee, I feel I have a slight advantage over other players moving straight onto an AD Carry in the sense of positioning. As a Support player, I understand the impact of correct positioning, map control (warding), and knowing how the battle works.
For some reason, when playing Support, teamfights seem to break down differently in my eyes. I feel much more informed, reactive, and aware of my surroundings and teammates surroundings- and I feel this transferred over well when I finally decided to pick up an AD carry.
Tip 1. Don't die.
Obvious? Simple? It should be, but the number one failure of the carry is that they die too soon, too much, and at all. Dying on the Ranged Carry is directly related to positioning. If you die, no matter what, it was because you were out of position.
I don't care if Irelia jumped past all your tanks in front of you and onto your face. If that's a problem, you should be staying out of sight until Irelia has stuck to a different target. I learned from Dyrus that the number one thing an AD Ranged Carry is responsible for is damage:
Tip 2. Do as much damage as possible without dying.
He made it extremely clear that attacking the Tank is okay. Let me rephrase, if the Tank is your only viable target without dying, you must attack the Tank. Attacking the Tank is stupid when you choose that target over another viable (without dying) target.
Tip 3. Learn to CS.
CS stands for Creep Shot and is the flash of gold when you last hit a minon. There's an average of 120 gold every minon wave, every third minon wave (with the tank) has an average of 150. Almost flawless CS will put you around 100 minons at 12 minutes. With these numbers you can quickly calculate how many waves it'll take to get your build up, and help determine when you should be farming, and when you should be digging for a kill.
Those are the best three tips I've ever received. Master those, and you'll see a significant increase in your AD Ranged Carry abilities. Other - more character specific - tips include:
Only shoot point blank/chasing arrows.
Why? Well, Ashe doesn't have that great an escape mechanism early game outside the giant arrow of ice. Blowing it on an across map wiff because of too many variables means that that twenty seconds later when that Yi dives you, you're SOL.
Or, when you're jungle shows up for the perfect gank, you can't contribute fully. Basically it comes down to: shoot only what you know you'll hit.
Great way to hit arrows is to wait for your target to last hit. When you see them step forward to kill the creep, they'll stand perfectly still for the attack animation, try timing the arrow with that.
Caitlynn. Her early game damage is mostly based off her Q, so it can be advantageous to build armor penetration (via Last Whisper) first on her to max out your damage on multiple targets. Then rush your BF Sword.
Miss Fortune. Fortune is a great harass early game. Her double-up procs hard off back caster minons and scales great into late game. The tip for her is to rush Lifesteal like the BloodThirster. Because she doesn't have a built in passive for the iEdge (like Ashe), the BT will do more damage for a couple of reasons:
1. Fortune's ult is garbage before level 16, but is an excellent farming tool to help keep pressure and pushes off towers, or grab quick waves while exchanging lanes. Because of this, an early BT can fill up fast.
2. The Lifesteal return off a double-up is gross. And paired with her attack speed bonus on W, she'll Lifesteal faster and more efficiently than any other ranged carry.
After that, it's a viable option to hit a Trinity for added sustainability through phage, and a wicked proc off Q with sheen. Trinity > Frozen Mallet. IMO.
In this post, I wanted to address a few tips, tricks, and other comments concerning the beloved AD Ranged Carry: Ashe, Miss Fortune, Corki, Caitlynn, Teemo, Twisted Fate, ect...
Now, it's controversial at the moment that Ashe may be considered over-powered. This is of course in response to her numerous appearances at Dreamhack and the results that came with them compared to other AD carries. My personal belief on this is that everyone is crazy and Ashe is fine, especially when compared to Corki.
Although, I'm no expert.
I just notice that anyone with a stick-flash ability (Xin, Ireila, Kassadin, Le Blanc, Renekton, Malphite, Corki, ect...) is going to RAPE Ashe - at least - if both players are of equal skill level. And since Tanky DPS seems to rule the game with CC, Ashe is the least of peoples problems. IMO.
As far as her performance over other carries picked? There were some Corki bans that prevented him from appearing in Dreamhack fully, and it could be speculated that since Ashe has been around longer than most other carries (save Corki) that most players would be better on her.
It makes sense to me that the longer you have with a champion, the better you do with them. Or - even simpler - the better players were playing Ashe. Dreamhack might not have said anything concerning the champion, but just the players that were on her. Certainly, NA players hold a specialty on AD Ranged Carries over EU - I'd say they're more practiced with AP Carries - so is it any surprise that when NA picked up Ashe versus the EU's Caitlynn that she did better?
Food for thought.
Moving off the dead horse that is the ban wagon, I've recently been dabbling in AD Ranged and have some tricks and tips to pass along to other dabblers.
Coming almost exclusively from a Support/Tank background with mains like Janna, Alistar, and Nidalee, I feel I have a slight advantage over other players moving straight onto an AD Carry in the sense of positioning. As a Support player, I understand the impact of correct positioning, map control (warding), and knowing how the battle works.
For some reason, when playing Support, teamfights seem to break down differently in my eyes. I feel much more informed, reactive, and aware of my surroundings and teammates surroundings- and I feel this transferred over well when I finally decided to pick up an AD carry.
Tip 1. Don't die.
Obvious? Simple? It should be, but the number one failure of the carry is that they die too soon, too much, and at all. Dying on the Ranged Carry is directly related to positioning. If you die, no matter what, it was because you were out of position.
I don't care if Irelia jumped past all your tanks in front of you and onto your face. If that's a problem, you should be staying out of sight until Irelia has stuck to a different target. I learned from Dyrus that the number one thing an AD Ranged Carry is responsible for is damage:
Tip 2. Do as much damage as possible without dying.
He made it extremely clear that attacking the Tank is okay. Let me rephrase, if the Tank is your only viable target without dying, you must attack the Tank. Attacking the Tank is stupid when you choose that target over another viable (without dying) target.
Tip 3. Learn to CS.
CS stands for Creep Shot and is the flash of gold when you last hit a minon. There's an average of 120 gold every minon wave, every third minon wave (with the tank) has an average of 150. Almost flawless CS will put you around 100 minons at 12 minutes. With these numbers you can quickly calculate how many waves it'll take to get your build up, and help determine when you should be farming, and when you should be digging for a kill.
Those are the best three tips I've ever received. Master those, and you'll see a significant increase in your AD Ranged Carry abilities. Other - more character specific - tips include:
Only shoot point blank/chasing arrows.
Why? Well, Ashe doesn't have that great an escape mechanism early game outside the giant arrow of ice. Blowing it on an across map wiff because of too many variables means that that twenty seconds later when that Yi dives you, you're SOL.
Or, when you're jungle shows up for the perfect gank, you can't contribute fully. Basically it comes down to: shoot only what you know you'll hit.
Great way to hit arrows is to wait for your target to last hit. When you see them step forward to kill the creep, they'll stand perfectly still for the attack animation, try timing the arrow with that.
Caitlynn. Her early game damage is mostly based off her Q, so it can be advantageous to build armor penetration (via Last Whisper) first on her to max out your damage on multiple targets. Then rush your BF Sword.
Miss Fortune. Fortune is a great harass early game. Her double-up procs hard off back caster minons and scales great into late game. The tip for her is to rush Lifesteal like the BloodThirster. Because she doesn't have a built in passive for the iEdge (like Ashe), the BT will do more damage for a couple of reasons:
1. Fortune's ult is garbage before level 16, but is an excellent farming tool to help keep pressure and pushes off towers, or grab quick waves while exchanging lanes. Because of this, an early BT can fill up fast.
2. The Lifesteal return off a double-up is gross. And paired with her attack speed bonus on W, she'll Lifesteal faster and more efficiently than any other ranged carry.
After that, it's a viable option to hit a Trinity for added sustainability through phage, and a wicked proc off Q with sheen. Trinity > Frozen Mallet. IMO.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The Eve Syndrome
Before I head off to work (the lovely life of minimum wage retail!), I wanted to cover a quick – although extremely important – topic of, what I like to call, The Eve Syndrome.
For those newer to the game, Evelynn is that slut of a purple-people eater that uses the highly “controversial” stealth mechanic. Since the latest patch, Eve has been stripped of her stun – and most would say her viability – but before she was a deadly machine typically perma-banned in ranked matches at the 1200 – 1400 ELO range and beyond.
My belief is because at these levels people don’t know what vision wards, oracles, or overextending means, which leads to a fed Eve, which then leads to massive QQ. Broken or not, that’s not the purpose of this post, the purpose is to discuss a phenomenon throughout the League Forums and populace that new champions released are immediately judged as “OP” (over powered) or “UP” (under powered); typically within the first three hours of initial release.
For those newer to the game, Evelynn is that slut of a purple-people eater that uses the highly “controversial” stealth mechanic. Since the latest patch, Eve has been stripped of her stun – and most would say her viability – but before she was a deadly machine typically perma-banned in ranked matches at the 1200 – 1400 ELO range and beyond.
My belief is because at these levels people don’t know what vision wards, oracles, or overextending means, which leads to a fed Eve, which then leads to massive QQ. Broken or not, that’s not the purpose of this post, the purpose is to discuss a phenomenon throughout the League Forums and populace that new champions released are immediately judged as “OP” (over powered) or “UP” (under powered); typically within the first three hours of initial release.
How odd, some of you might think, that a game still tweaking balances months out of beta could possibly have any champions so quickly written off into these categories. Or even odder, that there only appears to be two categories – that a champion can never just be… “normal”. How peculiar, you might think, that a range of players between 800 – 1500 ELO have any validity in making such a statement.
If not, allow me to bring up why I call this The Eve Syndrome. For months Evelynn was thought a worthless champion, rage worthy if ever picked in a ranked game. Nothing was changed about her until the day that someone decided that everyone had been playing Eve incorrectly, recorded the “new” playstyle for her, then continued to rofl-stomp players.
Suddenly, Eve was OP, in need of a rework, and perma-banned throughout all ELO levels.
The only thing that had changed were players understandings of how to work a character. No buffs, nerfs, or balance issues had been addressed at this time surrounding the character.
You would think (maybe not?) that after players had written off a character for months, only to have her rape them late-season, that they wouldn’t make the same mistake again: calling a character too early.
Irelia.
Irelia is now often considered extremely strong and OP in some instances but didn’t leave her gate that way. In fact, like Eve, Irelia was thought incredibly under-powered at release, just hours post her patch. And again, like Eve, it was simply a matter of weeks before Irelia began to shine via youtube.
Two champions suffered from The Eve Syndrome, certainly the player base had been humbled by their lack of understanding and would never allow this to happen again. But it did – in the cases of Lee Sin, Rumble, Lux, Karma, and now, Yorick.
I’m not here suggesting that I think Yorick is over-powered, or under-powered for that matter, or even that I have the knowledge and ability to make that call. I’m here suggesting that maybe, the players of League should evaluate their track-record in calling champions, and take longer than two hours before writing up an “analysis” and spamming the forums with it. That maybe, they don’t know as much as they think about the game.
Food for thought.
If not, allow me to bring up why I call this The Eve Syndrome. For months Evelynn was thought a worthless champion, rage worthy if ever picked in a ranked game. Nothing was changed about her until the day that someone decided that everyone had been playing Eve incorrectly, recorded the “new” playstyle for her, then continued to rofl-stomp players.
Suddenly, Eve was OP, in need of a rework, and perma-banned throughout all ELO levels.
The only thing that had changed were players understandings of how to work a character. No buffs, nerfs, or balance issues had been addressed at this time surrounding the character.
You would think (maybe not?) that after players had written off a character for months, only to have her rape them late-season, that they wouldn’t make the same mistake again: calling a character too early.
Irelia.
Irelia is now often considered extremely strong and OP in some instances but didn’t leave her gate that way. In fact, like Eve, Irelia was thought incredibly under-powered at release, just hours post her patch. And again, like Eve, it was simply a matter of weeks before Irelia began to shine via youtube.
Two champions suffered from The Eve Syndrome, certainly the player base had been humbled by their lack of understanding and would never allow this to happen again. But it did – in the cases of Lee Sin, Rumble, Lux, Karma, and now, Yorick.
I’m not here suggesting that I think Yorick is over-powered, or under-powered for that matter, or even that I have the knowledge and ability to make that call. I’m here suggesting that maybe, the players of League should evaluate their track-record in calling champions, and take longer than two hours before writing up an “analysis” and spamming the forums with it. That maybe, they don’t know as much as they think about the game.
Food for thought.
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