League of Legends

[McKnight]

What do you mean learn?! Have you ever tried last hitting with two extra minions through you off? :) Learning to last hit with two turrets firing randomly is a whole new skill in itself.

But if those two “minions” kill something YOU get the gold, not the same thing at all ;)

[Sir_Digby]

Yeah, that should show them Heimer players… and turn Heimer into a character which used to have a strong lane presence into a minor character with weak attack skills… right…

I’m not saying he is unplayable but I used to be able to carry my team with him due to a strong early farming, now it’s neigh impossible since his turrets suck and he can barely hold a solo lane. Compare to Ashe or any other ranged who can solo just fine and late game become great damage dealers.

[McKnight]

Yeah, that should show them Heimer players… and turn Heimer into a character which used to have a strong lane presence into a minor character with weak attack skills… right…

I’m not saying he is unplayable but I used to be able to carry my team with him due to a strong early farming, now it’s neigh impossible since his turrets suck and he can barely hold a solo lane. Compare to Ashe or any other ranged who can solo just fine and late game become great damage dealers.

I disagree, he still has a very strong lane presence. I think the fact you can lay two turrets down at once helps him a lot more then it hinders him.

Also he’s an AP character, you shouldn’t compare him to characters like Ashe.

[Enidigm]

So, i’ve played this for the first time in the last couple of days and have some questions on characters for you hardcore types!

Since i’m new, and it’s my playstyle, i tend to like “multiclass” units with decent all around ability (for example, the Paladin of Warcraft 3 was by far my favorite hero with his armor buff aura and Invuln shield that could last 45s and be down only about 20s afterwords. Some sort of self-buff, shield or heal, is something i look for. I prefer ranged units, generally. I generally dislike paper thin units or tanks that are meant for pure damage output.

I liked Ashe, for ex., but she seems very straightforward and perhaps a bit boring.

[wisefool]

Taric is a paladin with a health Q (target) and a health R (self). Also has a stun and armor buff aura.

[McKnight]

Taric is a paladin with a health Q (target) and a health R (self). Also has a stun and armor buff aura.

And he’s free this week to boot :)

[skyride]

I prefer ranged units, generally. I generally dislike paper thin units or tanks that are meant for pure damage output.

I liked Ashe, for ex., but she seems very straightforward and perhaps a bit boring.

Ashe is paper thin btw. Also, I don’t really understand why Ashe gets recommended to beginners. She is pretty hard to play well. The skills might seem straightforward but it takes a while to master kiting with slow, timing the crit, aiming the ult arrow and effectively scouting with the eagle.

[Hanacker]

I think at lower levels it’s not uncommon to see a character with good CC rack up kills like that. Lower level players haven’t gotten used to dealing with CC. I’m not sure why other people were surprised Tom had a good kill score with Shen. I haven’t looked at his itemization - maybe he built shen to do damage and not tanky enough - but even tanky CC can wreck a lowbie game in a unique way.

One of my first games with Shen I led our team with 10 kills building pure tank (in a loss). He does pretty good early-game damage, ganks well, chases pretty well, and if you get tanky items early enough he’ll get kills just through being the last man standing. He’s not a character you want getting all the kills but in some games it just happens that way.

[Kirian]

I dunno, I feel like I can be effective early with few items on sivir; more effective than Trist. Certainly I can farm better, which means I can potentially be more effective in early skirmishes with enemy champs.

I’m not saying Sivir isn’t item dependant; she clearly is. But she gets a better damage boost from BB than Trist does from anything IMO. A 2 point BB can really make someone’s life miserable. That’s level 3. Trist just can’t do that.

I think at lower levels it’s not uncommon to see a character with good CC rack up kills like that. Lower level players haven’t gotten used to dealing with CC. I’m not sure why other people were surprised Tom had a good kill score with Shen. I haven’t looked at his itemization - maybe he built shen to do damage and not tanky enough - but even tanky CC can wreck a lowbie game in a unique way.

Note that I don’t include Rammus in the “good CC” category, because his CC is in a class of its own.

Gangplank - someone talk to me about Gangplank builds. Besides IE and maybe a Phantom Dancer late game. And building Avarace blades early to mid as filler. Should I use some crit chance runes? Am I going to have to start speccing more for offense (I’ve been running 1/18/11 because I got tired of changing masteries. But I’m not as enamored with the +health from defense as I used to be so I may be rearranging again).

Crossed wires here. The hardness of a carry is their potential, when itemised, to take over games and their ability to carry their team to victory.

That’s why idrisz said Malz is the hardest AP carry. He thinks+ Malz carries better than any other AP carry, not that Malz is harder to play than any other AP carry.

Of course Shen can do well in a low-level game where people don’t deal with CC properly. That doesn’t mean he’s a good or reliable carry. He’s terrible. He has some burst but nowhere near enough. I may have a difference perspective on things, being a tank/support player , but I know Shen.

Hardest to play, carry-wise, is an interesting one. I would probably go with Corki and someone to be determined, but even Ashe is hard to master.

+In the same way that everything I’ve written is my experience talking through opinion.

[peacedog]

Crossed wires here. The hardness of a carry is their potential, when itemised, to take over games and their ability to carry their team to victory.

I guess I tended to view it as “character who has high(est) potential, but who starts out as nothing but potential”. I don’t think “difficulty to play” has anything to do with it.

[idrisz]

That’s why idrisz said Malz is the hardest AP carry. He thinks+ Malz carries better than any other AP carry, not that Malz is harder to play than any other AP carry.

Yeah malz is probably on same difficulty level as anivia maybe a bit easier, since he got 2 skills shot and 2 auto targets.

His pool just does so much damage at high level especially in team fight where enemies are all crowded together.

I’m sad with the game last night, 4vs5 and we almost won…

[Kirian]

Harder carries tend to be those that need to farm more and get the big items (see Tryndamere).

Sivir’s still a harder carry than Tristana because Ricochet has much, much more potential to take over in terms of damage than the single-target damage of Tristana. Sivir just has an ability that means she doesn’t have the typically weak early game of most carries if she’s played well.

However a good opponent will probably nullify much of your BB damage with good dodging, proper positioning (behind as many creeps as possible) and counter-harass. It doesn’t matter how well you curl the blade, or if you waste Flash on a curl, some people are impossible to hit.

[Hanacker]

I think it should be highest potential, regardless of initial strength. Theoretically the characters with the highest potential should be balanced by a poor early game so it should be a moot point, but maybe it isn’t.

[Kirian]

I guess I tended to view it as “character who has high(est) potential, but who starts out as nothing but potential”. I don’t think “difficulty to play” has anything to do with it.

So what was all that about Boomerang Blade and it making Sivir a softer carry than Tristana? That sounded a lot like a difficulty issue.

[talsworthy]

I found Corki very hard to play, mainly because his machine gun is skill based - really not keen on skill based shots. Ashe on the over hand I view as quite easy - but he dies quickly. You do need a good map awareness - but that’s his great ability. Crystal Arrow - love it :)

[idrisz]

I like ashe more than corki for team fight, simply because hawk shot is great for scouting and crystal arrow is a great initiation skill.

[McKnight]

Harder carries tend to be those that need to farm more and get the big items (see Tryndamere).

Sivir’s still a harder carry than Tristana because Ricochet has much, much more potential to take over in terms of damage than the single-target damage of Tristana. Sivir just has an ability that means she doesn’t have the typically weak early game of most carries if she’s played well.

However a good opponent will probably nullify much of your BB damage with good dodging, proper positioning (behind as many creeps as possible) and counter-harass. It doesn’t matter how well you curl the blade, or if you waste Flash on a curl, some people are impossible to hit.

Getting a kill through flash curling is possibly one of the most “YES! I AM THE BOSS!!!” moments this game has :)

And I love the fact that Ashe is still a guy in tals’ mind :)

[bluemax]

On the subject of mana poor champs, I’ve noticed that most high Elo players will go either just Sapphire and then into Sheen or build a Catalyst and consider that all the mana regen they need early game.

Not sure if its a runes thing or a play style thing.

[Pogo]

Well, one thing I’ve learned from WoW is that increasing the size of a mana pool makes any regeneration you have more effective. In terms of efficiency, meki pendant beats a sapphire in the span of 140 seconds (28 ticks of meki = 200 mana, 5 seconds per tick, etc etc).

[Hanacker]

On the subject of mana poor champs, I’ve noticed that most high Elo players will go either just Sapphire and then into Sheen or build a Catalyst and consider that all the mana regen they need early game.

Not sure if its a runes thing or a play style thing.

I think high Elo players are way more conservative about spamming abilities but I haven’t watched that many streams.