League of Legends

[Raven]

At least in normal drafts, Kassadin's almost always banned. I think I had a couple where he wasn't, but he's banned more than he's not. I don't know my normal MMR but I'm almost always queued up with other Silvers.

[Shahrivar]

if you ever venture into bronzodia kassadin is pretty much a global ban

He seems to be banned in most bronze and silver games, but rarely in plat or diamond - even without a ban, he's rarely played here.

[Groyer]

He seems to be banned in most bronze and silver games, but rarely in plat or diamond - even without a ban, he's rarely played here.

Unless you're xPeke. Then Kass is banned 24/7/365.

[Shahrivar]

I'm not sure if I've met him, but most pros were rather disappointing. Rarely entirely bad (although I don't want to have Wickd and Ocelote in my team) but they're not that exceptional in solo play (well, for them it's about teamplay and you rarely see that in solo queue).

Although I have to admit, Diamondprox and Edward/Gosu Pepper are amazing. You'll never see such proficient flamers again.

Edited February 5, 2014 by Assurhaddon

[Xander]

I'm not sure if I've met him, but most pros were rather disappointing. Rarely entirely bad (although I don't want to have Wickd and Ocelote in my team) but they're not that exceptional in solo play (well, for them it's about teamplay and you rarely see that in solo queue).

Although I have to admit, Diamondprox and Edward/Gosu Pepper are amazing. You'll never see such proficient flamers again.

Have you played against Alexich? Are there any pros you would consider toxic in solo q?

[Shahrivar]

Not against, but I got him in my team at least twice. One of the few pros I adore, he's friendly, has a good attitude and is a great player (M5 consisted of good solo players unlike many other teams).

He's actually one of the best players I've seen although Gambit/m5 as a team is pretty inconsistent.

Edit: Gosu Pepper/Edward and Diamond Prox were the worst offenders (Gosu Pepper was funny at least, Diamond seems to hate everyone). Wickd has a pretty bad attitude (I've met him before season 1 mostly, he spammed Kata ~) aswell, same for TheRainMan (is he still a pro? no idea what he was doing in the last year).

I've met most member of TSM (when they smurfed on EU-W in s2), Fnatic, CLG EU and m5; the worst offenders were Gosu Pepper/Edward and Diamond Prox (Gosu Pepper was funny at least, Diamond seems to hate everyone). Wickd has a pretty bad attitude (I've met him before season 1 mostly, he spammed Kata ~) aswell, same for TheRainMan (no idea if the latter still plays).

TSM was fine, nRated was quite toxic aswell (the only (former) Fnatic member I remember).

No idea about "new" pros, I played less in s3 because I disliked a lot of changes and it just gets worse - that's why I don't know which teams are good at the moment or not :3

But you should avoid Diamond, Edward, TRM and Wickd.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Assurhaddon

[Psych]

Typically, Kass is banned, because even if you shut him down and trash him, he can still come back. I believe my first game on him, I did so trash in lane against a Zed, like 0/6 at twenty minutes. They were in our base and we were defending inhibs or something, and I still got a triple kill with like just a RoA.

So no matter how much you trash him, he can come back if you give him enough time. Guess what Bronzies and Silvers are notoriously bad at? Closing games. 80% of my games in the past week have been 30-45 minutes long. I don't want to have played a game for 40 minutes, then suddenly a Kass comes back in the game, jumps onto our carry, blows him up and we lose the resulting team fight and the game. That's just not fun for anyone.

Another thing I'm getting tired of is Ziggs and Gragas. They're so annoying and it seems like their skills hitboxes are so wide. It's basically impossible to shove them under tower and poke them down and if you even try to roam your tower is gone in seconds. It's hard for me to play my favorite mids like Karma, Zyra, Morgana, since they wave clear a lot slower and a lot more mana intensively. I've begun playing a lot more Lissandra and it usually turns out well, so I'll see how she goes more.

So if I don't play mid, and I know top is my worst and I should stay far away from there, I usually go bot since Jungle is just boring to me lately. That means I'm up against Annie/Thresh/Leona. Which is really annoying because it means even if we're zoning them and winning lane, if they get one good engage the whole thing could go to shit. Or I can get to late game team fights and face an indestructable Mundo/Shyvana/Renekton/Olaf.

This meta is really unfun for someone who likes to ADC and to play a more supportive mage role, since basically everything can and will kill you, and you can't really build defensively.

I really hope the meta ends up moving to favor more traditional supports like Nami, Sona, or at least Zyra again, because I really like playing them, but it doesn't seem like it will any time soon, since Riot doesn't want to buff them. I'd also like to play a carry other than Jinx or Ezreal, since Miss Fortune and Ashe are probably my next favorites after Jinx, but they just lack the mobility or damage to get a Mundo off of them, which is really a shame since I like them so much otherwise.

You can very well go for BT first without going for LW right after, if you want to play the poke game go play Varus or something, you're on the wrong champion.

BT is probably better for lanes where the sustain becomes necessary though there always is the vamp scepter + IE build, to some extent it might depend on the scenario in terms of piltover peacemakers but you certainly don't want to itemize under the assumption you're only going to be launching Qs.

Shiv is better for wave clear and is stronger poke when the amount of auto attacks you get is a flat number and the proc of shiv becomes very relevant.

BT does indeed let you clear faster through your piltover peacemakers but I don't think that defines your build, it's simply a good reason to build BT when you need fast waveclear whereas if you plan to teamfight early, IE is a better choice.

It's just as viable on to go a "Legolas" build on Caitlyn as it is on Varus, and I would actually argue a bit more so, as her ult has a lower cooldown and can build used to help poke as well as using her better range to get autos in too. Going something like BT, Shiv is fine, but that's a build more intended for waveclear and seiging, which you'd want a team comp around as Caitlyn can seige well, but not 100% by her self.

Someone like Graves, or Jinx don't really need Shiv when they have rockets and high scaling skills, but again it's personal preference.

Again, I'd argue it'd make more sense to rush BT if you do intend on team fighting early, as you'd likely intend to shove bot and take tower quickly and rotate to dragon and mid. IE implies you're likely focusing on fights but don't really care about ending laning quickly and you'd really just want to farm up a Zeal and IE to take advantage of autos in your fight.

Almost every time I'm ADC, it's almost always BT first, usually followed by either SS/PD, or IE/LW if I'm Jinx. I don't think early AS on Jinx is worth it since her AS scaling is so shit.

It really isn't, and I basically always go IE first on Jinx as her AoE crits in fights are really good, and landing on on the Support and Carry in bot lane gives you control for a good minute or two while you zone them and poke with Zap!. My Jinx build is basically always Zerker's Greeves with Furor, IE, Shiv, BoRK, LW and a defensive item. The order I get them depends on the amount of money I get after backing, but I'll usually pick up IE, boots, and then a vamp scepter.

While it gets a lot of speed, Jinx's poor mobility before a kill doesn't lend itself to kiting well, so I make sure to rush Furor. The BoRK lets me just stand and shred a tank too with my massive attack speed, so I think it's better for her. BT would be good if you maxed Zap first and went with a poke build but I honestly think Q is too good to max it anything but first.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Psych

[Shahrivar]

The worst thing about Gragas is - they even reduced the skill requirement - I never understood why, but the E damage split mechanic was unique and needed.

Ziggs just got several buffs in a row, Riot just overdid it.

[Psych]

They buffed the Body Slam damage and tried to justify it by raising the cooldown yet having it lower if you hit a target. So in essence it would have the same CD if you hit something with it as before, but not if you use it to escape a gank or something.

Which means they buffed his damage without actually nerfing his mobility, letting him win all-ins harder especially with that AD buff. The amounts of 100-0's I see in the LCS with Gragas is frankly boring and disgusting, because you can just Body Slam in with his damage reduction, and then Q into an ult and if you don't have Ignite for the kill, you at least made them back.

If you're going to give a mage great wave clear, great poke and burst, an escape, and a damage reduction, something needs fixed. I think if they took away the damage reduction from W and the AD bonus, and in return increased the Mana regained, it would make him into a more sustained, waveclear, seige type mage and I likely would be happier with him

For both Gragas and Ziggs though, I think my problem with them is their AoE clear skill. If you compare it to Lux, they can both instantly detonate it before it lands, making the damage basically unavoidable. Lux has to wait a few fractions of a second after Lucent Singularity lands. If they made the skills more like Lux, it would at least give you a lot more breathing room against the two of them.

[Interest]

Today I learned about the power of Support Teemo in low level matches.

It was fun - so much damage...

[Shahrivar]

If you're going to give a mage great wave clear, great poke and burst, an escape, and a damage reduction, something needs fixed. I think if they took away the damage reduction from W and the AD bonus, and in return increased the Mana regained, it would make him into a more sustained, waveclear, seige type mage and I likely would be happier with him

For both Gragas and Ziggs though, I think my problem with them is their AoE clear skill. If you compare it to Lux, they can both instantly detonate it before it lands, making the damage basically unavoidable. Lux has to wait a few fractions of a second after Lucent Singularity lands. If they made the skills more like Lux, it would at least give you a lot more breathing room against the two of them.

Don't forget, in addition to wave clear, poke etc, he got sustain - HP AND mana. Having everything is just ridiculous.

Ziggs doesn't only have good wave clear, his E lasts forever and his Q doesn't cost much mana, in addition to an incredible passive and escape - aoe clear is often fine (look at Lux), but if you don't get yourself into danger while clearing, you shouldn't have grat escape abilities and/or low mana costs.

[BK-201]

It's just as viable on to go a "Legolas" build on Caitlyn as it is on Varus, and I would actually argue a bit more so, as her ult has a lower cooldown and can build used to help poke as well as using her better range to get autos in too. Going something like BT, Shiv is fine, but that's a build more intended for waveclear and seiging, which you'd want a team comp around as Caitlyn can seige well, but not 100% by her self.

Someone like Graves, or Jinx don't really need Shiv when they have rockets and high scaling skills, but again it's personal preference.

Again, I'd argue it'd make more sense to rush BT if you do intend on team fighting early, as you'd likely intend to shove bot and take tower quickly and rotate to dragon and mid. IE implies you're likely focusing on fights but don't really care about ending laning quickly and you'd really just want to farm up a Zeal and IE to take advantage of autos in your fight.

Except that's why going Shiv is probably better, the extra 100 magic damage proc on the auto is great, you're going to need 50 AD (neglecting the fact that the magic damage jumps on multiple targets) on top of the other bonuses on Shiv to break even if you're poking since you don't have a LW at that stage of the game. Shiv gives more MS for map control and mobility and also gives great pushing power. The "Legolas" build on Varus works better because you have 2 skills with AD scaling that aren't your ultimate. I don't get why you recognize that Caitlyn is great at siege and that BT + Shiv does it better than BT + LW but still advocate the latter build. There's no good reason to go LW at that point in the game because there's very little in terms of resistance.

Jinx uses Shiv well for poking since you get the proc up. If you aren't poking Jinx generally goes PD.

BT does not have significantly more pushing power in comparison to the teamfighting power of IE. BT's sustain helps win the long skirmish that is bot lane which consists of poking which is why it's so popular at the moment.

[Raven]

I dislike Gragas. I remember the days when I'd never see him, but now he's all over the place. Fuck his ultimate, for one thing. And his sustain. And his mobility. And his burst. Fuck his everything.

[Interest]

I dislike Gragas. I remember the days when I'd never see him, but now he's all over the place. Fuck his ultimate, for one thing. And his sustain. And his mobility. And his burst. Fuck his everything.

Speaking of that...I kinda wanna know how fed the Gragas at #1 in this was. His "fed" burst does seem over the top though.

[eclipse]

Support Teemo looks irritating, even if that's not the build I think of on support anyone (even Kayle).

[Esau of Isaac]

I lost like three ranked games in a row

this community

why

[Interest]

DerpTrolling decided to have some fun with the servers today. Much LP was lost ;(

...Fortunately it wasn't mine.

Edited February 11, 2014 by Interest

[Zanarkin]

WooT we chose the path of truth :D Fuck that Tryndamere and Riven.

They are both meanie poopoo heads that always shit on my parade when I see them in the loading screen T_T I'm bad

Edited February 12, 2014 by SlayerX

[Interest]

I just wanted Truth because I didn't want Freedom as the path.

[Kiriane]

I just completely ignored picking a side. In other news, they broke Xerath. I am sad.

[CT075]

they broke skarner too (not that i ever played him anyway)

[Zanarkin]

I just completely ignored picking a side. In other news, they broke Xerath. I am sad.

I had a quick go at xerath in bots... he seemed pretty great there [yes i know bots =/= people i'm just saying his abilities worked nicely]. How bad (or good) is he vs people?

Edited February 13, 2014 by SlayerX

[Kiriane]

For PvP, my read is that he's actually stronger than he was before, given the usual caveats of player skill, etc. The problem isn't with his power level. Part of this is because I really loved old Xer, and they certainly kept some parts of the play style intact, but I feel that they didn't successfully hit target on fixing the issues they had perceived with him and in fact added some new issues.

[TheWill]

For PvP, my read is that he's actually stronger than he was before, given the usual caveats of player skill, etc. The problem isn't with his power level. Part of this is because I really loved old Xer, and they certainly kept some parts of the play style intact, but I feel that they didn't successfully hit target on fixing the issues they had perceived with him and in fact added some new issues.

If only the same could be said for Skarner...

Given, I haven't played the new Skarner, but he was definitely going to be (and probably still will be) my next jungler I pick up when I grind the IP.

[Zanarkin]

For PvP, my read is that he's actually stronger than he was before, given the usual caveats of player skill, etc. The problem isn't with his power level. Part of this is because I really loved old Xer, and they certainly kept some parts of the play style intact, but I feel that they didn't successfully hit target on fixing the issues they had perceived with him and in fact added some new issues.

I actually quite enjoy the new xerath. Both Xeraths were great but I personally enjoyed new xerath mostly because of his range. The possibilites man, the possibilities.