1681

Fucking riot.

So we were playing a game, and lazy was karthus, and it bugged the fuck out and he was invulnerable. Like, chill in their fountain invulnerable. Tried rejoining, that didn’t fix it.

1682

This sounds like a recipe for hilarity.

Also idrisz, would be interested to hear how you build Sona? I’ve been playing around with a few different AP builds but haven’t found one I’m completely besotted with yet.

1683

Man I hate you guys.

1684

Sona - Mana manipulator -> locket(first trip back if possible, if not get basic boots).

I get swiftness over sorcerer, since I want to move fast, I get it after I finish locket.

then after that I pick up a mejai soulstealer cause I’m awesome, I either get kill or get alot of assist, after mejai I get lichbane then I get zhonya… I haven’t had a game last more than zhonya yet.

so

manipulator -> locket
swiftness boots
mejai
lichbane
zhonya
void staff <- good last item for tank killing.

you should have over 700 ap with fully stack mejai, your move faster than most character’s ghost, your Q will hit for like 600-700 and your auto attack will makes carry cry.

I power chord ezrael with lichbane buff on, I almost 1 shot him.

1685

Garen and Karthus are two heroes that destroy me playing Trist. Karthus in particular. I can kill the guy, but doing so usually results in me dying to his ultimate shortly after. A Karthus last night was getting double kills all over the show from that trick!

As for Garen, just too quick and too much burst to sto, I find!

Might be time to try a new hero soon. I enjoy nutting them out a lot.

1686

my sona build is similar and so far is mostly undefeated in both ranked and normal.

I tend to start with boots and 2 hp and 1 mp pot. (running magic pen and full ap for this one)

I get locket first with boots of swiftness, then spirit shroud or soulstealer depending on how generous our opponents are.

After SS I get Rylais’s then Zhonya’s and haven’t had a game not over at that point. I would probably get GA if it went any further, esp if I had soulstealer. Typically once you have SS, boots, locket and either Soulstealer or scepter, you completely control the game.

edit: I tend to avoid lichbane since when I am playing Sona well I dont’ autoattack much at all. (also for the record, Garen is one of the few stupidly overpowered champs remaining)

1687

early game Sona is all about auto attack with power chord, that’s how I drop some one from half to dead is by Q-> Power Chord -> R -> Q.

lichbane makes your damage output goes through the roof, not mentioning you are faster due to 8% movement speed as well 80 ability as well magic resist.

I think lichbane is a good buy on any characters that are stacking AP because you are even more burst than ever.

1688

early game, her power chord does good damage, but it’s a stretch to say she’s all about auto attack. You only need to attack once with power chord and that’s it. Lichbane isn’t as good in the spot as either Rylai’s or Zhonya’s and I’m quite frankly never sitting still long enough to even use power chord once I’m past level 10.

Ranked or normal, my key to kicking ass with Sona is to never stop moving mid to late game. Since she can heal and nuke without stopping I keep going. Attacking requires stopping. ( but then again, I build Taric as straight AD/crit so what do I know ;) )

1689

here is the issue with sona late game, you only have 1 reliable damage skill, sure you can move back and forth and spam q w e, but in team fight you might be able to get off maybe 2 Q

But with lichbane you Q -> auto attack -> e -> w -> auto attack -> Q is far superior than just Q and W and then move back and forth doing nothing at all.

you stop for less than 1/4 a second to unload a 600 damage nuke every 3 seconds is just superior than just moving back and forth.

I test out rylai but since Q count as aoe, you only get a 15% slow compare to the normal 35% slow, but rylai proc off power chord as well, so you can get 35% slow if you actually use power chord.

1690

I am starting got think that my Trist build is unrealistic in terms of cost to build and justhoe glass canony it is. I can’t exactly fix the glass canon issue much, but perhaps I could drop one of the items (eg, occult blade, tho it is cheap and fun) and get some armor pen. I am thinking more armor penetration would ensure a favorable gank outcome more often. Trist is able to unload and kill most casters, but against tanks it can be 50/50 unless things are right. More armor pen might help.

1691

In the vein of clef mnemonics:

Every Good Carry Requires Frozen Mallet.

Why? Well that big chunk of health married to some damage and an orb. An orb that makes kiting and team-tagging easy and worthwhile.

Obvious exception being Ashe who has to get her health another way. Maybe Yi. Another thing worth mentioning is that Stark’s Fervour is one of the most cost-effective items in the game, and vies for ‘best item’ with Aegis of the Legion.

Stacking items normally are too risky to pick up. The only ones I can agree with are things like Mejai’s on Taric. Stacking items make you a priority target and if you’re already squishy that’s a bad idea as a good team will keep you below the “Worth it” level.

Normally a carry will need a survivability item, sometimes additional to the Frozen Mallet (depending on how the game is going). If you don’t pick up FM, then you must pick up Banshee’s Veil.

I’m not sure about 'zerker greaves being bad either. I’ve seen a lot of streams where good players use them, and they were even picked up in the NA WGC finals, I believe. It allows you to delay your AS item a bit, and the only boots with unique properties are the Merc. Treads and, I guess, Mobility Boots. All the other ones have stuff that can be picked up another way. Riot are talking about adding an alternative boot to 'zerker greaves.

Oh, that Karthus bug they’re “working on”. Apparently it just suddenly appeared as they were asking for detailed reproduction steps. It didn’t happen to me last night when I played him for the first time. Disappointingly.

One last thing: pure caster Gragas can burst for ~1k damage with his ult if well-farmed/fed. In an area. I should have tried it sooner. That’s not even the best part. The best part is that he’s damn near unkillable for a caster.

1692

The only time berserker greaves are acceptable is if:

a) there isn’t much CC
b) the AS is important to your champ
c) you don’t need more speed

Certainly not on Tristana, Ashe or Miss Fortune, you are better off with speed boots or merc treads.

1693

Thanks for the itemization thoughts, I will go back to my tiny post-it notes now and craggy around with some build orders etc.

Frozen Mallet might work quite nicely. I am thinking you are right inthat the survivability and kiting potential more than makes up for the mild reduction in killing.

I won be straying from +damage up-front though - makes farming very quick and it keeps other heroes away when you can spike them to half health in the early game without even using your ultimate.

1694

Yeah, I forgot that sometimes I get Frozen Mallet on Trist. But if I can reliably get the red buff, I usually prefer Banshee’s Veil.

And yeah, as any carry you usually want your first big purchase (after initial item and maybe boots) to be +damage (long sword building to brutalizer, Pickaxe building to Bloodrazor or whatever else it builds to, or BF sword). The exception is building madred’s razor first on a jungling guy.

1695

Anyone EU guys wanna play some ranked games tonight?

Hit me up on mumble.

Edit : I just got my free 1k IP! :)

1696

zerker greaves are fine on Ashe – or any champion – if you’re playing organized games and can use the attack speed. The NEVER BUY BERSERKER GREAVES mantra is oft heard on forums and written in leaguecraft guides but if you watch high Elo matches they are not as rare as these mid Elo players would have you think. They have their place.

Having said that, I do opt for merc treads in PUGs because I can’t count on team support (taunts, heals, knockbacks, etc). If you’re really good at positioning then they might be decent regardless but I’m nowhere near confident enough with my Ashe to risk it. Then again, if I get stunned out of position on Ashe it really doesn’t matter what boots I’m wearing.

1697

Anyone able to recommend a quick and deadly melée hero? I am thinking of buying one and would love the melée equivalent of Trist, hehe!

1698

there isn’t one, melee carries suck vs range.

1699

I like Olaf a lot. Sion is pretty good too. But of course, most are viable in their own way.

True, although some are better than others. And if the ranged relies on physical damage, exhaust can help you close the distance without hassle. Twitch, for example, goes from someone who’ll kill you before you reach them to someone who falls quickly under a couple hits without you taking any damage.

1700

exhaust beat all physical carries, doesn’t matter if they are range or melee.