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So, I'm very particular about my assassin-style characters. Kassadin seemed interesting to me but was too much about trickery than about doing insane damage; Kat was hardly an assassin, but her damage output was rad; Akali sounds perfect but she rarely goes free and I'm saving IP for Christmas runes; Nocturne is on sale this week and I'm seriously considering buying him, as I have the RP for it and he seems right up my alley. I have a few questions about him before I drop the cash though: is he viable to play without jungling? Can he drop all his moves very quickly as a viable strategy to deal insane damage (I loving love playing Brand, and Jax is my go-to right now)? Is he really as good of a ganker as his skill set would suggest, or is that just due to his status as a jungler?
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| # ¿ Oct 26, 2011 07:58 |
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| # ¿ May 25, 2013 01:37 |
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The Mattybee posted:What "The Mattybee"' posted:I guess he could do a solo lane but he's much better as a jungler. If you want someone whose goal is to COMPLETELY INSTAGIB someone you want LeBlanc, though.
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| # ¿ Oct 26, 2011 08:43 |
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Kassadin's R-Q-E onto someone can blow someone up with a good chunk of AP, and he's a really strong laner too!
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Well, I skipped on Nocturne and decided I'd drop some IP on Akali, and it's been a fantastic decision. Shadow Dance gives her the chasing ability I want, Lich Bane + Rabadon's makes me hit like a loving truck, and she has more tricks up her sleeve than straight damage (which is what bores me about Talon - not that I've played him, but he seems too straightforward). Thanks for the advice RE: Nocturne, it helped me save some cash that I'll be putting toward Vandal Jax whenever it goes on sale.
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| # ¿ Oct 28, 2011 06:10 |
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Ledneh posted:Speaking of the dogpile, for characters where you have to weave in autoattacks (Riven, etc?), how the HELL do you tell that you've autoattacked? I can't see anything in those messes. Most of the time characters like these are using up temporary buffs when they autoattack; look for the particular icon representing whatever buff (the Dancing Blades thing for Riven, I take it) disappearing before its timer is up, and you'll know that it's been used on a hit.
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| # ¿ Oct 31, 2011 05:57 |
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So, I tried out Fiddlesticks, as he's free this week, and SWEET MOTHER OF CHRIST is he fun. However, I also know he's also a pretty drat good jungler; is he considered as great in-lane, or have I just gotten really lucky in my experiences? He certainly seems fit for both, as his E is incredible harass and if you get behind anyone for a gank his W pretty much breaks face, but will there be a dropoff in his lane usability at a certain skill level? I'm fine with dropping into the jungle and grabbing buffs/nabbing dragon mid- and late-game, but the jungling early game just bores the poo poo out of me.
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| # ¿ Nov 9, 2011 08:02 |
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Is there anything special I should know about building Leona before I go in, or is a standard AP tank build with an emphasis on auras (Sunfire, Frozen Heart) the way to go? I know she's essentially supposed to jump right in the middle of things with her shield up and asplode while denying bitches with her stun (a strategy that worked well when I played her when she was free), but is there anything special in the metagame going on for her that would push me one way or another?
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| # ¿ Nov 17, 2011 09:26 |
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Weinertron posted:I am 30 and have been a while, though! 240 wins 150 losses. I keep freaking out about my ratio being all out of whack and wondering how screwed I am once I stop dominating people as Singed and Nasus. I don't feel like I'm good at this game at all, but I usually carry teams and and end up with the most gold in the end 8 games out of 10. Have you been denying your opponents CS or generally getting a lot for yourself when everyone else has been ignoring it? Singed and Nasus get Monsanto levels of farm for incredibly little effort, and if you're raking in the gold when your enemies forget to, I can see being at an incredible advantage.
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| # ¿ Nov 21, 2011 01:24 |
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Elos posted:I'm don't usually link stats and whatnot but I just bought Rammus and ended up with this: I think the best part about this is that (barring incredible coincidence) judging by their usernames, Yi and Talon queued together. League of Legends makes all your friends hate you.
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| # ¿ Dec 2, 2011 07:55 |
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Man, you think Urgot's animation is bad? Try Zilean. He's pretty supporty so it's not really like it matters entirely too much, but good lord the old man is slow as poo poo when it comes to throwing those plinky little clocks.
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| # ¿ Jan 5, 2012 12:12 |
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animaCartographer posted:So guys, I've been playing LoL for a good while now, and I am having major trouble figuring out how to best build Ezreal, I hear a lot of people say hes AD, and a few here and there say hes AP, and honestly, I think he doesnt become better by picking one over the other, but Im having a hard time picking items that will benefit a hybrid build for him. Please don't touch AP with Ezreal. E and W are there for utility (blinks and steroids/debuffs) and the damage they deal is beyond pitiful even with AP. Q is your main damage skill and R is for finishing people off/helping out a teamfight when you're far off (and can aim). Build him like your standard AD carry (Infinity Edge, Phantom Dancer, Bloodthirster) and use Q as an extra kick of damage, especially people going around corners to escape your autoattack range. DPS people down from afar, use Q to get stragglers or to just poo poo more damage, W your teammates/the enemy carry, and E to get away or finish someone off (don't use it for damage unless it absolutely secures a kill and be very careful when going into neutral creep territory because it'll aim for them too). R is just rad as hell, use it when you see fit. Whenever I see an Ezreal go AP I just want to slam my head into the wall because it's just so bad.  e: I think this is a good time to mention two things: one, never ever ever use guides on Mobafire. Just don't, they're misleading, they're bad, don't don't don't. Use Solomid instead, and even then try for a featured guide, and if there aren't any that fit your criteria for what you're looking for, approved work. Secondly, when you're on the fence about a champ, it sometimes helps to look at their passive, since those are always designed to synergize or otherwise complement the champ's skills. Ezreals involves an attack speed steroid for landing spells, so generally you'll want AD to back that up so you're not just plinking away harmlessly. Ryze's passive makes every spell he has cool down faster if he casts more spells, so naturally you'll want to cast as many spells as possible, have the sustainability to do so, and the damage to make it worthwhile. Sometimes it can be misleading (Xerath getting armor doesn't mean he's hella tanky – the opposite, really), confusing (Nocturne getting AoE attacks is good in the jungle, which takes a bit of experience to know), or just nonhelpful (Jax getting health from both AP and AD doesn't help you decide between the two and just encourages hybridization (which really isn't a bad idea on Jax because he has equal ratios but at least he's mildly competent as either straight AD or AP rather than straight awful)), but for the most part it should at least give you a general idea of what they're about. Heavy Lobster fucked around with this message at Jan 9, 2012 around 12:53 |
| # ¿ Jan 9, 2012 12:38 |
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Quick question beforehand so it doesn't get lost in the wall of text: whatever happened to Fizz being SO OP NERF PLZ? For the first two weeks I heard nothing but endless bitching, never played a game without him, so on so forth, and then I suddenly go a day without seeing him once and it's like he never existed. Don't see too many streamers playing him, don't hear the complaints from randoms. Voli, Ahri, nor Viktor caused much of a stir so I don't see why he would've been forgotten, but it's like he just kind of got lost, which is a shame because he was a great asset to most teams and at least was pretty interesting to fight against.Siets posted:Actually, AP Ezreal is quite awesome if you play him right. His Essence Flux goes over creeps, so it's way way way easier to harass with than Mystic Shot. After you get Lichbane, Mystic Shot gets back up to doing awesome damage as well. If you your team has even a slight amount of CC, an AP Ezreal should be able to land his full R->W->Q->E->Ignite combo on someone and just explode them from 100% outright. For me it just comes down to playing to strengths. While Ez definitely has the ratios to run AP, his kit on the whole just doesn't play to it when you compare it to any other AP-oriented champ. In teamfights, using E for consistent damage is nigh impossible in regards to hitting who you want to hit, let alone getting destroyed as you'd likely be out of position to do so, not taking into account its high CD or greater utility as an escape or finisher; W gets across creeps but uses so much mana early on that it isn't as viable for harass as it could be - this is without taking into account the tricky positioning required to get the most out of its slow/speed to benefit your own carry and cripple theirs; Q with lichbane is pretty dangerous but unless you rush deathcap>lichbane, it won't be doing that scary damage anytime early on, whereas AD Ez' Q would scale consistently better (its .2 AP ratio is mostly trivial) while still being able to autoattack his target in the meantime, and still be open to Sheen/Triforce procs that make it even scarier. Additionally, everything except his E is a skillshot - when his skills are his main form of damage via AP, landing them becomes immensely important or else he does nothing, whereas with AD they're a nice boost but aren't his only way of securing a kill. Taking a meta approach: - As an AD Carry, Ez has an AS steroid, a low-cooldown nuke, a potentially multi-target AS debuff (or buff for allies), and is the only carry with a true blink. His skills are standard stand-back-and-shoot-people, but he brings utility to fights with his W and is harder to pin down with his E. - As an AP caster, his main source of damage is tied to the cooldown on a skillshot, a decent CD skillshot nuke, and (most importantly for me) must use his main form of escape to complete a burst combo. As a burst caster he has no way to escape, and as a sustained damage caster he has no snares, slows, or literally any way to keep his target within range aside from Rylai's or blowing his escape ability to keep up - all things that other APs have down pat. While relying on your team for CC is par for the course for the majority of champs, he exists in a sort of limbo where he's either blowing up a fool or is an immense liability. Again, the same could be said of a lot of AP champs, but a good number of them bring something to the table when they're not blowing up fools (Veigar's ragecage, Tibbers sticking around being an rear end in a top hat, Anivia's wall, etc, all of which can also aid them in said blowing up). A bit part of my argument hinges on using E either as an escape or for damage, which is flawed in that AD Ez can use it as a really nice gap closer too, and for both styles it can be a great ganking tool and can take a lot of people by surprise. The difference I see is that as AP Ez, the shot it fires off has to hit the target to be effective for damage, and once he lands his W and Q he just has to waddle around harmlessly until his Q is back up. With AD Ez, whether the shot lands is inconsequential, he loses out on W damage, but he lands his Q and immediately starts pounding on the guy. Is AP Ezreal serviceable? Yeah, undeniably so. He has nice ratios and can deal some really swell burst damage, as well as nice nukes with his Q if he can keep up and land them, and can overall be a lot of fun. A lot of champs are serviceable in a lot of roles though, and AP Ezreal just gets outclassed by virtually every other AP champ out there in terms of anything outside of damage, while as an AD champ he manages to be a huge pain all game with much more consistent damage all-around. If you have fun playing him AP and can do it right, it's certainly not badwrongfun, but his reliance on teammates, positioning, and landing every skillshot isn't something I'd suggest to someone just learning how the character feels who I don't know the general skill level of. Sorry if that got rambly, neither this nor my original post was intended to be some hate-filled tirade against AP Ez, I just think there are so many better AP characters out there with a lot more fun stuff up their sleeves for both you and your team than Ezreal, and I didn't mean to seem like I was just railing on about it without even considering the other side of it. v  v
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| # ¿ Jan 12, 2012 11:12 |
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mushi posted:I don't know how much those champs cost, but you might consider saving your IP for tier 3 runes that get unlocked at level 20. I did mostly the same thing, except I waited until level 30 so I would just be able to fill out a whole page and I regret it immensely. Runes are nice, but unless you're actively tracking the differences that you get between games when you use different rune pages (or jungling), it's hard to tell what's working out for you. There are so many inconsistencies in anyone's play until they've been sitting at 30 for half as long as it took to get there that runes aren't going to make as big of a difference as actually playing characters you enjoy. I'm not saying go buy every champion your heart desires (I still only buy 6300IP champs when they're on sale for RP (except for Wukong because I missed his sale and he's baller as gently caress Wukong Too Strong)), because having a basic set of runes (HP Regen/5 quints make solotop easy as hell, and AD/Arpen marks will up your last hitting game, armor yellows and scaling/mr blues are also okay) is admittedly a pretty nice thing to have going for you, but if you hit 30 and have full runepages for tons of different champs but own none of them, it's a quick way to take the wind out of your sails.
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| # ¿ Jan 24, 2012 03:20 |
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unSavory posted:The hell is wrong with HoN people, when everyone on LoL can be so nice and helpful? ahahahaha no. While LoL has a better community than HoN, you either have to dig deep (or just come here) to get it. There are more newbies in LoL than in HoN because HoN used to be pay-to-play and LoL has always been free, but get a few levels and soon the "FUKC U FEEDER NOOB UNINSTALL FUK" will be back full force. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't play though, because you really should, and goons are good people to play with!
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| # ¿ Jan 27, 2012 07:11 |
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DreadCthulhu posted:How reasonable are the recommended items for each hero? Do they tend to be off? VC is right about them being serviceable for the most part, but dropping by solomid.net and taking a peek at a featured guide before a match doesn't hurt either. Also, do NOT get green boots/boots 3/clown shoes/whatever you wanna call them. The speed boost is itty bitty compared to any other next-tier boots, and you don't get the very considerable benefits of whatever they'll give you.
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| # ¿ Jan 28, 2012 10:55 |
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Heavy neutrino posted:If you watch high elo streams, you'll notice that the people saying this are full of poo poo. 130-160 is a better benchmark for how much CS a good AD will usually have at around 20 minutes. 200 might be adequate if you're playing solo or against bots, I guess, but in actual games, where the other team is trying to prevent you from farming and you're doing the same? Bullshit. Take this to heart, and keep in mind that by 10 minutes, 100 minions will have passed through your lane, so check around then as a benchmark and just try to consistently improve. Don't get too down on yourself if you're not doing well, either, but just keep in mind the various factors involved. Did you get a kill? That's worth a decent amount of CS in itself, even better if you got it and plenty of last hits. Were you under constant harass? You're definitely going to take a hit, but on the other hand the other guy probably will too. Did you die? You probably missed a wave or two due to time spent dead and travel time back to lane. And, of course, sometimes you might just miss last hits until you get into a groove. I know I've completely botched a wave (like 0/6 botched) and then just turned around and gotten 60+ around the ten-minute mark. It's all a matter of practice. Another thing to keep in mind is that the nature of play differs vastly at all skill levels, and that a whole lot of higher-ranked people have bought into laning being a boring as poo poo farmfest because it's the most economical thing to do. The vast majority of LoL players don't realize that or don't care, and the laning phase can as a result lead to some really intense, drawn-out duels. There just often isn't the level of coordination in lower-level play that leads to the enemy jungler showing up the instant you step an inch past midlane to put you back in your place, and as a result, a lot of ridiculous, aggressive, and unpredictable poo poo happens that you just have to adjust to. How you respond to that poo poo is also a part of becoming a better player, but that's another rant.
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| # ¿ Feb 14, 2012 09:30 |
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Nurge posted:Ah I see, not very useful then since I do all that stuff manually anyway. Thank you for the clarification though. Much appreciated. If you're chasing someone into/expecting an enemy around the corner of the bush with the intent to kill it's possibly one of the most useful things you can do, actually. You can get a shot off without playing guess-the-juke, and the psychological value of just getting immediately jumped when they thought they were in relative safety because of the bush is also pretty good. It's startling and causes some people to get nervous and make mistakes.
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| # ¿ Feb 19, 2012 20:35 |
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NTT posted:gently caress his recommended build, go top lane with a doran's ring, rush Glacial shroud, frozen heart, spirit visage. And then you become a god. Basically this. Warwick jungling is a pretty bad idea now, and he recently received a set of minor buffs that really helped out his ability to just completely outsustain almost anyone he lanes against while still punishing them if they try to cage the wolf. It's not really that Warwick is a terrible jungler, he's just from a different era. Back when he was king, the jungle had no built-in sustain, so his lifesteal let him (and continues to let him) sit around farming creeps all day long, and there were few pre-6 ganks that were really worth it. Now that practically anyone can start cloth5 and get at least something out of the jungle, it's hard to justify how slow he clears it and how non-threatening he is compared to a lot of people who can just jump on top of you in an instant (Lee Sin, Nocturne, Udyr, Skarner) at practically any level, and do more damage at that.
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| # ¿ Feb 22, 2012 06:23 |
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Android Blues posted:His clear isn't top-tier fast but it's pretty close with his new magic damage passive. Start with a longsword and you deal 79 damage per hit at level one, plus the attack speed from W. Get Madred's and boots on first back, proceed to success. Really? Color me surprised. I haven't noticed any difference since the buff with any 'Wicks I've played with or against, but I guess that's just the people I end up with at my rank. I'd still say that he's great brute brute top lane, but good to know that taking him to the jungle is no longer at Fiddlesticks levels of being left behind due to the changes.
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| # ¿ Feb 22, 2012 08:55 |
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When I bought runes, I decided to go for AD reds, flat armor yellows, flat MR blues, and flat HP/5 runes. It's generic that it covers pretty much any role I need - armor for top, bottom and jungle, flat MR for mid, HP/5 for top (but really for any lane), and AD for any AD character but also everyone ever because last hitting is great. Honestly, once you get some general-purpose runes you'll be able to do every lane at least slightly better than if you had none, and while the others might be "sub-optimal," all free stat bonuses early game are good. Just focus on buying champs you enjoy and play them well - impulse buys of cheap champs are never bad.
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| # ¿ Feb 28, 2012 02:34 |
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| # ¿ May 25, 2013 01:37 |
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Traitorous Leopard posted:Also, Riven is hella fun. Tough to decide between her and Irelia when I need to play bruiser I'm admittedly very biased, but I'd say Riven. She's admittedly a lot squishier than Irelia (honestly, Irelia errs on the side of tanky dps more than she does bruiser), but she's just got a much more engaging move set, a very unique build, doesn't have to worry about mana, and even with just a little farm can snowball way out of control, as opposed to Irelia, who's highly dependent on getting as much gold as she can. Not to say Irelia isn't great, because she turns into a creep lawnmower mid-late game, but you just aren't going to play any other champ out there right now like Riven.
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| # ¿ Feb 29, 2012 08:19 |
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