eternal Zero

All three of these can be dealt with by anyone competent. Heimer turrets are expensive, slow to replenish, and easy to kill. Don't let them build up and you're fine. Sivir doesn't have the mana base to keep up a push unless you're dumb enough to throw slow easy to absorb spells at her. Master Yi is made of paper and doesn't do to well against any defender which is why you see him side push all day long.

Their explanation is bullshit. This game is full of guys who like to get kills and like to think they're capable of carrying. They want to be able to put heroes at a full 975/6300 price point and have as many people buy them as possible. This is also the reason they don't make any good changes when balancing. They're too focused on keeping their revenue up instead of developing the game. Yes, it's a totally valid reason from a business standpoint but at least treat your community like they're intelligent and say so. Don't try to cover it up with bullshit like "there's only one support on the team therefore we can make zero changes to the metagame and we can't add any more of them to the game." Not to mention that if they want their current stint in the eSports community to remain the way it is then they better fucking start thinking about balancing a proper competitive game cause DotA 2 is coming and what kept DotA from remaining at the top were that LoL and HoN had reconnect features, didn't work off of old architecture, and had better spectator modes. Those advantages won't remain for long. Ahri was supposed to be my cool support hero. I love her character and design to death but where is the support to make up for it? Seriously how many more "get in and do damage and then get out" or derivative 4 nuke + 1 CC casters are we going to get? Why can't you make some solid push/support champions? Why can't I have my push team metagame? Why can't I have more characters that can fit any role well? Where is my Slither? Where is my Krobelus? Where is my Enchantress? Oh right. You're too busy releasing Akali version 2.0 with Generic Caster X with new small body model! Oh so Victor was supposed to be interesting? Then give him the numbers to make him viable cause otherwise he is complete ass. Man it probably has a lot to do with the fact that I did nothing but study today and am tired but fuck Riot, seriously. S2 had issues porting the right heroes into the game and making solid balance decisions and Riot isn't much better but at least the base game isn't as awful. Just appoint someone as design director and fucking do something interesting. Why does DotA keep having cool things after all these years? Cause a single person is running the show and doesn't have bullshit to go through. Heaven's Halberd? An item for supports that can disarm the enemy carry with its activate? FUCKING AWESOME. Could we see that in LoL? Probably not. If only they'd follow the only patch every few months model I might be less angry. OH BUT WAIT. That'd ruin their revenue stream so fuck if that'll ever happen. Only small derivative changes where "significant nerfs" to champions are miniscule and changes that add up to making heroes useless are forgotten because there are too many to keep track of. /rant

No he gets it. I said it quite plainly: last hitting is an inherent part of this game. Whether or not you like it is up to you but it defines the genre. Like footsies to Street Fighter. You want to remove it and replace it? Like having push blocking with a hyper aggressive game? You get a different game. You get Marvel. You don't like footsies but still want to play Street Fighter? You don't hear players clamoring for removal of footsies and a shift from links to target combos because they don't like them. You just see them play Marvel. In this cause you don't play LoL, you play another MOBA (still fucking hate that term btw) instead. Once you're entering a set game-space you either accept the created rules as they are or you leave. You can change the minor things sure. Give a hero a crippling .1 ratio reduction. But like you're saying, they won't remove flash cause a third of the heroes are balanced around it. They won't remove last hitting because the entire game at its core is based around it. Also I do share Tensei's sentiment. Riot won't do anything to rock the boat. They're too scared to make any big changes because of how tried and true the current formula is. They're too scared to do a lot of things. Stealth rework? Nope we gotta use our resources to keep pumping out new (arguably) derivative heroes every two weeks so we don't have time to fix heroes like Evelynn or Twitch making them largely unplayable in most situations. Our resources are all about making heroes that "can get in, do some damage, and then get out."

Once you come up with a better alternative than last hitting then I'll be okay with getting rid of it. Until then I'll keep my archaic mechanic. Granted this is because I've been playing DotA for so very long that I've seen most of these suggestions tried before and none have ever stuck. Getting rid of the strategic depth to last hitting (range to creep, range to enemy, danger of gank) is like getting rid of frame data pertaining to footsies in a fighting game. You need to come up with something that works. UMVC3 did it with push blocking.

Thanks for doing the math. You know I just play this game by intuition so I knew that my build gave more utility but I just never took the time to prove it mathematically. In a higher level play utility means a lot more than raw damage. Also whether or not you sell Doran's before you're forced to depends on you! Need the health? Keep them as long as possible. Need the damage faster or have 200 less gold than you need? Sell 'em. In general I prefer to keep them as long as possible. Tryndamere is a gamble. He either does really well or gets zoned out so hard before level 6 that he's gimped for the rest of the game. Don't forget what I said earlier: utility > raw damage. Ryze belongs mid. I mean he could run top but in the end he's not going to harass someone like Shyvanna or Wukong out of lane so they'll end up unhindered in their farming. The key to Gankplank is to decide what you want: aggression or farm. You can't have both, in my opinion. Every parley needs to be for killing creep or harassing. Having a jungler give you blue isn't so bad either. Plank is squishier than most of the tops and isn't truly ranged so you'll need to make sure you're safely warded up and I think a lot of it has to do with build. I personally prefer Atmog's because being squishy coming out of top lane in general is a poor choice. TriForce is fine for later in the game. IE is pretty solid after Atmog's which should be after a Wriggles in most cases. Edit: Also first trial run of solo bot Ezreal lost to Sona/Graves pretty badly. More testing required but I'm not too optimistic which saddens me. Main thing I forgot was that Kennen's spells without AP still do solid damage. Ezreal doesn't output too much damage without someone else backing him up.

Don't forget that there are diminishing returns for stacking percentages onto each other so it's not amazing but it is pretty darn good on Kog'Maw. The biggest issue is the overlap with Wriggles in terms of utility and the sheer cost of it. So. Malady. I like this on guys that prefer to do damage and have another spell that the MR shred will help. Best examples are like Teemo (only in shroom field), Kog'Maw (that ult, that puke), and Twitch. Some melee users could benefit like Shyvanna but they prefer Wit's End because their first intermediate ASPD item should confer some form of survivability. Wit's End: Best used for those that get in and do some damage while wanting to be tanky to spellcasters. This is Irelia, Shyvanna, Volibear, etc. I wouldn't call it a Hexdrinker replacement. Hexdrinker is only really used on those that only want AD and don't really care too much about their ASPD. Best example is Riven. It gives her an additional shield as well as powering all of her abilities. Ionic Spark: I like this jokingly on someone like Volibear but you sacrifice too much HP but I really like this on Shyvanna. Your dragon form will give you the necessary armor and MR, you're in the midst of the fight so you're going to proc onto multiple targets (at which point it becomes more cost efficient than Wit's End). Straight HP boost albeit small is better in general but you're giving up a lot of ramping MR. So now to the hero specifics: Irelia benefits more from Phage and on hit slow into Wit's End into things that make her harder to kill. I don't see her as an attack speed carry. She's a tanky dps that has a focus on APSD as opposed to say Nasus or Wukong who have a more burst focus. Teemo: Wriggles into Phage into Wit's End into Frozen Mallet into Randuin's/FoN into lategame Madred's. Be that annoying tanky DPS with the global "FUCK YOU TEEMO YOU PIECE OF SHIT" taunt. Kogmaw: I've already mentioned my ideal Kog'Maw build but I will say my previous Kog'Maw build (and what's still my solo-mid build cause I haven't playtested another in a while) is Malady->Madred's Bloodrazor->Banshee's/Quicksilver/GA. It's more of a ganking build than a carrying build though. Jax needs to build tankier now. You still get a couple damage items (Hextech revolver and rageblade) but with the change to his spells I think a tankier Jax is more of a credit to the team. Kayle...meh. I'd go a similar build to Teemo. I really hate Nashor's Tooth and I think it's an awful item but if forced to play Kayle I'd go for Tanky DPS with the ability to support. Guinsoo's and Hextech just take too much farm that isn't easy to obtain and ultimately aren't that much better than the much easier to build Wriggles into Phage into Wit's End into Frozen Mallet into Randuin's/FoN into lategame Madred's. That's because Guinsoo's and Hextech don't give you any survivability outside of your ult and Kayle kind of needs that. Shaco wants to be able to solo Baron using his clone tactics. This means Wriggles into Madreds into GA as core with interspersed Phantom Dancer, Bloodthirster, etc. No matter what you'll be squishy so focus more on your damage and mobility. On-hit/ASPD Twitch is pretty gimmicky because once you burn your Expunge you're either dead or won't get a chance to use another safely. If you must just get an early Malady after Wriggles but then continue onto a typical AD build. There are other heroes and items but I'll stick to just talking about what's been brought up to save thinking and time on my end. Edit: Right. Shyvanna (and to a lesser extent Volibear). She's a special case. She loves having all of these items and greatly benefits form being able to have essential triple strikes (attack xx twin dragon strike). In general I like any of the mentioned items on her so just build to the situation but she's the only hero I'd seriously consider using an Ionic Spark on at the moment and she benefits from Bloodrazor a lot more than most because of her awesome triple strike. Also as a side note I think that Shyvanna, Wukong, Teemo, Gankplank, and Singed are the best solo tops in the game in that order. But this is most definitely personal preference as these are my go-to solo top characters and is up for debate.

Aww thanks, Gol. I'm pretty much the definition of a "play to win" person in almost everything I do. But yeah you're pretty darn good at this game, too, so keep at it. I love competition. And sorry I haven't made many moves today. School is getting a lot more hectic and I had to work in the clinic tonight.

Okay. Here comes my brain. I'm bound to miss something so just ask if you have any issues/concerns/questions. I believe this to be the best way to do it regardless of how well/poor you're doing. Also remember this is from my mindset: I think I'm really good at this genre. If you've played with me you can be the judge. So like Garian was mentioning. Yes, this build works really well for me. Will it necessarily work for everyone? Maybe? I think the sign of a solid and efficient build that it can really up the game of anyone trying it out so I make mine as such. Runes: Mana-based (ie: spamming all game is important) Caitlyn, Corki, Ezreal, Graves, Miss Fortune, Sivir, Urgot Honorable Mention: Sona Note: Sona is a joke because I do this to good effect and a power chord into a TF powered blue power chord is a TON of damage and is just fun. AD Quints ArPen Reds - The whole 6ArPen 3AD reds is for jungling. You're gimping your mid/late game by not having full ArPen. Mana Regen/lvl Yellows Cooldown/lvl Blues Non-mana (ie: farm farm farm maybecastaspellforthekill farm farm) Ashe (protip: max Hawkshot first. No point in levelling volley cause it won't do shit anyway. Farm for the late game), Kog'Maw, Teemo, Tristana, Twitch, Vayne Note: If you think all ADs belong in the other category you lack discipline. Technically I believe that every carry except for Corki, Ezreal, Urgot, and MAYBE Sivir can (and should) run this version. This also goes for anyone who thinks Clarity is a good summoner spell. Also note: Teemo really belongs solo top as a tanky dps but he can potentially carry in this style. AD Quints ArPen Reds Armor Yellows (win against enemy AD, tank creep when going for kills, etc) MR/level Blues Masteries: 21-9-0 or 21-0-9. 21-9-0 (non-mana) 3 Brute Force 1 Butcher 4 Alacrity 1 Weapon Expertise 4 Deadliness 1 Lethality 3 Havoc 3 Vampirism 1 Executioner - 3 Hardiness 1 Resistance 4 Durability 1 Veteran's Scars 21-0-9 (mana-based) 3 Brute Force 1 Butcher 4 Alacrity 1 Weapon Expertise 4 Deadliness 1 Lethality 3 Havoc 3 Vampirism 1 Executioner - 3 Good hands 3 Expanded Mind 3 Meditation Potentially replacing Havoc with Sunder is up to you. I don't think it's necessary and Havoc will also aid in any spells you're using which even the non-spammers benefit from greatly. Build and laning assumes you have a competent lanemate (or general support that will come to lane just to ward then go back to wander) that will supply 1 ward in your bottom bush as well as 1 ward in the general dragon area. Best place is in tri-bush on Blue side or river bush on purple side but if you're running a solo-bot Kennen or something it's unreasonable to have the support run so far down river by themselves so general dragon area will do just fine. General build: Start: Depends on your lanemate. Absolutely no sustain against an aggressive opposing lane? Get boots and pots.. Running solo bot Kennen? Get boots. Otherwise: The blade. 3x Health Pot + Boots OR Doran's Blade Core: Order you get this is up to you. I prefer normal boots by at least the first time you go back. Then get the 3x blades. Then get Madred's Razor if you can afford it straight up (1k gold) otherwise get Cloth Armor->Vampiric Scepter for lane sustain. 3x Doran's Blade Berserker's Greaves Wriggle's Lantern (damage, armor, lifesteal, free ward, better objective taking) I don't care what you think this item is one of the absolute best in the game and it will win you games. Note: Part of efficiency is using every item slot available to you. This is not the main reason to do this build but it definitely makes me feel like it's close to the very best. You're not wasting item slots and as was pointed out in buying and selling a Doran's Blade you only lose roughly 240 gold which is a wave and a half, or less than a kill. Now this is where we branch off depending on the hero. Ashe, Caitlyn, Graves, Miss Fortune, Sivir, Tristana, Twitch, Vayne: IE->Phantom Dancer For Kog'Maw, Kennen, and Teemo (or anyone on a team focused on winning every map objective hence I do this most often with every single ranged AD hero): Phantom Dancer->IE For Corki, Ezreal, Sivir: Sheen->IE->TF Honestly you can probably end most games with what I've just outlined. I rarely get past this point. Now at this point it's totally dependent on how the game is going, what the enemy team is building, and how comfortable you are in your particular game as your team's carry. I'll go over a few of the more popular items and just give a little thought ion each of them. Bloodthirster - I really like this item because I can get it maxed out and keep it there for a long time. At any point after the core you can add an extra Vampiric Scepter and just hold it until you're ready for a thirster. A thirster is not actually that much more efficient than a scepter and BF sword by themselves UNLESS it's maxed out at which point it's very good for cost. Atmas/Warmogs - Meh. This isn't your job. That's for your Melee AD carry to build. Guardian Angel - Can't argue with it. Though if you're feeling like you need this to win you are either not dealing with team fights properly or quite frankly you just need it at your skill level. There is nothing wrong with this but assuming perfect play it shouldn't even be considered. Banshee's - Kind of the same story. It's a great item. I cannot deny this. Your early game survival comes from the Doran's but sometimes a Banshee's is necessary. In almost all cases I prefer to get a Quicksilver Sash - This item is awesome but you need some pretty good reflexes to use it properly. If you feel pressured to get a Banshee's step up your game and save the money buying this instead. Black Cleaver - Good solid item that can be bought in an emergency situation where IE will just take too long and you need more damage than an empty thirster will give you. Hextech Gunblade - Honestly don't bother. Maybe the old one that gave a lot more stats in general but as it stands the extra slow won't help you and the spell vamp is miniscule. Frozen Mallet - Solid survival item as well as a great item to keep pressure on with the slow. I like it but don't see myself buying it ever just because there are better options out there. Madred's Bloodrazor - If you're going to go this item you should replace your IE. It really doesn't synergize all that well with the standard build because all it gives you is attack speed. You already have wriggles for taking objectives and if you really need to deal with high HP then it's more of an issue of your team keeping your targets at the proper range for a longer period of time. I usually only build this on Kog'Maw but even then that's rare because it doesn't help with killing towers at all. This kind of goes for any and all attack speed items in general. Starks? Your support should be getting this for you. Malady? Wit's End? Ionic Spark? You're not the right kind of hero. Last Whisper - Only to be used in super lategame when you're piercing more armor than a full cleaver stack will give you. You're on your own to do the math. I just never buy this item. Now for some theorycrafting. So right now I know am super confident in my solo bot Kennen. I've yet to even come remotely close to failing even against a hyper aggressive support like Sona, Alistar, or Leona. The only other hero that can manage to do this that I've thought of is Ezreal but he has a limitation that Kennen does not: mana. He's got the ranged harass/farm and an even better escape cause he blinks. So far I think it'll only work on the Purple side where you get access to an early blue due to a non-blue dependent jungler. I have yet to test this but the next time I get all the usual Badposters in a game where we end up not only on Purple but where we're half expecting it and I'm playing Ezreal as our AD carry I'll do it. I tend to play the other two solo lanes most often but I'll report back if it ever gets tested. I really want it to work seeing that Pulsefire Ezreal looks AMAZING. Also that was actually kind of fun to type out. I'd be willing to do this kind of post for any of the subtypes but just thinking off the top of my head I think it's really just hero-dependent rather than archetypical except core for every AP mid is 2x Dorans Rings and Boots into main build but I personally go 3x Dorans Rings but that's for another post.

Just know: You asked for it.

You're thinking small time, Bardic! Lightbringer will eliminate jukes into the jungle. Think of a Janna tornado that reveals the entire team that you previously wasn't sure were there. I was talking about my hidden ELO rating and kill/death ratio.

So, Garian, are you just raging generally or are you being self reflective, or are you trying to call someone out? Part of being good at this game is knowledge. It's the easiest part to get good at, too. You just read and retain. Especially in this iteration of the genre because most LoL builds are pretty optimized for what's available. Stacking items? Pretty awful. Dorans? Super efficient. Gold gaining items, IE, and Rabaddons? Essential. I mean there are a few gems here and there like Tiamat being amazingly efficient but ultimately hard to place in a build. Or how Ionic Spark is just slightly more efficient than Wit's End but that's only if the chain lightning procs on at least one other unit. But then you're comparing the use of straight health vs a ramping MR. Also since someone mentioned it a while back and I'm talking about efficiency: Black Cleaver is not an efficient item. It is, however, a preferred alternative to Last Whisper due to being able to switch to it from a 'normal' route at a whim (3x dorans, boots, bf sword goes into both IE or Cleaver) and how it works earlier game when overall armor is not so high. I forget the cutoff but at some point Last Whisper ends up penetrating more armor. In the end it should be specific situations that warrant an item's use but this game just isn't there yet. Maybe if we had Lightbringer in Summoner's Rift it would be a different story. I see that item being good on almost any part of your team so it'll create diversity in both team comp as well as strategy and overall team build. Yes, actual mechanics and player skill does mean a lot, but most people are stuck at where they are for various reasons. I think this game has a lot of "you get it or you don't" elements in it and those with the proper intuition thrive and those that do not either stop playing or improve slowly once they hit their burst of improvement from eventually understanding the core mechanics. This genre and design philosophy still revolve around competitive play and winning so get what advantage you can and just build smart. Okay enough of that. So for whatever reason I'm getting a ton of people in normal games asking me my ELO and then getting mad cause they think I'm lying when I say it's less than 1300. I don't like playing ranked in this game so sue me. It's akin to having someone call you out for hacking in an FPS when you're not. Feels good, man. I wish I could check my normal queue ELO and KDR but there's no good site for that.

http://music.biggiantcircles.com/album/puzzlejuice-soundtrack

I actually really like Morello's. I only get it on Ahri and Xerath but still. Malady and Cleaver still have their place in a good number of my builds. Just remember that Wriggles used to be stronger. The nerf was pretty bad. The 500 bonus damage used to be physical so you'd heal for massive amounts. As it is though, everyone should still be buying it. At the moment all the best team comps have at least 3 of them. It's all about that little bit of extra armor and the bonus damage to creeps. The damage and lifesteal are just gravy. Edit: Also the problem with a lot of builds in general in LoL is that Doran's items are far too efficient. 3x Doran's Blade/Ring and boots is how I play almost every AP and AD character. It's just too good. It's not like DotA where you have to fear losing gold to buy that big ticket item. You just the most efficient gear, level faster, earn even more gold through kills and easier cs and then afford the big ticket items with little to no detriment to your team. Hell, I'd argue that 3x Dorans and finishing Berserker's/Sorc's is better than having either a BF Sword or a Needlessly Large Rod. It's not just a great safety net if things ever go sour cause but that's also a solid 300HP and AP/AD with mana regen/lifesteal. Though that's just higher level DotA-type gameplay in general: use your item build to survive and use your level advantage to get kills.

It's good isn't it? I love strategy and tactics and the little details about the game that you have to pick up on your own are pretty neat. Also in my opinion if a game makes you feel like you'd rather be playing what the opponent is using then they're doing it right. I've only played the human army once so far and I had a lot more fun than expected. I came up with many more strategies for them just cause their elite unit is so much more versatile. I only really play 4 iOS games: Words with Friends, Tiny Tower, Hero Academy, and Puzzlejuice. I have Shantae cause I never bought a 3DS but it's on the backburner when I have time to actually play a game in non bite-sized chunks.

I'm like 13-1. The only time I lost was against Humans so don't give up just yet.

eternalZero And yeah I recommended it for a reason.

Hero Academy and Puzzlejuice are both pretty good and challenging for iOS games.

Dustforce has a pretty sweet soundtrack.

I think Trundle stands a good chance after his first back. He's a great brawler in the jungle esp if you took the time to come to him. In other news I am really having fun with my Wukong kick right now.

Most damage taken by a long shot. Least amount of deaths. I'm happy Wukong got a new skin or I wouldn't be giving him as much attention as I am. Edit: Also to say how beat a certain team comp we need to know what tools you have at your disposal. What was your team running? Some things just aren't going to be possible for some teams with blind pick depending on who is playing what hero. It can be pretty brutal.

Best quote of my night: Arek: you aren't Zero. Arek: your voice is lighter Zero: new mic? Arek: where's that rape voice I'm used to Bwahaha. The old fire isn't as hot as it used to be but I still got the touch. After that Tide told me off for going for a gank he didn't want I made sure to KS him every chance I got. I probably should have ended that game say maybe 5-1 cause the rest of those kills were surely stolen. I love Zeus.

Bleck is right. Playing ranked means nothing. In LoL all playing ranked means is that you're willing to put up with trolls and idiots who think they're tough shit with improper knowledge of the metagame and speak with the vernacular of a twelve year old boy. Btw in my personal opinion top 3 AP mids in order are Cass, Morg, and Ahri. Biggest part of a strong mid is a consistent disable and these guys make the mark quite easily. Orianna, Brand and Karthus are the next three because they lack a consistent disable. Also as you know I really dislike Brand as a hero so he probably belongs just above Ahri objectively but oh well. LeBlanc and Heimer deserve honorable mentions cause they really dish out solid damage as well but have more specific uses.

Ahri is a blend of Akali and Mirana. I'm in love. I don't care if she's getting nerfed she holds a special place for me cause of the sheer amount of skill shots. Also all of the winter skins this year are awesome. I picked up LeBlanc's and Heimer's.

Ah and there's the love-hate relationship. Still continued to win mid and go at least 3 KDR and do really well but lost all my games tonight. Ugh feeders in this game make me so much sadder than in LoL.

This game loves me. And I love it. I've done nothing but random for the past 10 games and I've had all carries, and have dominated in every game. Hemo can vouch. So gooood.