League of Legends: I finally updated the player list in the OP!

[prophetik music]

Sometimes I'm just dumbfounded at how bad people are. I just played a bot game - at level 20 mind you - and we got completely stomped. WTF. I didn't trash talk anyone in game of course, I just sat there in stunned silence.

i saw a l30 the other day with 70 wins.

[Tensei]

I play a shitton of custom games with bots to optimize my jungling routes, and also to get a feeling for a heroes skills if I haven't played them before. At least the experience from that does translate to 'real' games though.

[Tensei]

Prophet, this isn't meant as criticism or anything, but I really disagree with you on the idea that Rammus isn't an initiator. I've been playing him a lot recently, and I've pretty much singlehandedly won teamfights with powerball+ flash into their carry, then taunting them and popping shield. That's about 4 seconds worth of disables on their carry, and if your team knows what's up that's almost a guaranteed win.

Most enemy teams will focus you, but your shield will be up so you should survive, and if not, they will have wasted a shitton of spells on you. I might have a few replays that I could post of it if LoLrecorder didn't mess up.

In other news, just played Vladimir for the first time in a real game, and he kicks huge amounts of ass. He plays very similarly to Soul Reaper in HoN, but has way better sustainability on account of being a manaless caster. The trade-off is that he doesn't have the kind of burst SR gets on his ult, but his passive makes him naturally tanky (you get bonus HP based on the amount of AP you build and vice versa), so he can outlast a lot of things.

Edited August 6, 2011 by Tensei

[Dexie]

I grinned. You guys remember Rebecca Black, right? :U

[prophetik music]

Prophet, this isn't meant as criticism or anything, but I really disagree with you on the idea that Rammus isn't an initiator. I've been playing him a lot recently, and I've pretty much singlehandedly won teamfights with powerball+ flash into their carry, then taunting them and popping shield. That's about 4 seconds worth of disables on their carry, and if your team knows what's up that's almost a guaranteed win.

Most enemy teams will focus you, but your shield will be up so you should survive, and if not, they will have wasted a shitton of spells on you. I might have a few replays that I could post of it if LoLrecorder didn't mess up.

In other news, just played Vladimir for the first time in a real game, and he kicks huge amounts of ass. He plays very similarly to Soul Reaper in HoN, but has way better sustainability on account of being a manaless caster. The trade-off is that he doesn't have the kind of burst SR gets on his ult, but his passive makes him naturally tanky (you get bonus HP based on the amount of AP you build and vice versa), so he can outlast a lot of things.

it's cool. we've got really different playstyles, so i'm sure that plays into it. i still taunt their carry and shield up, but i primary try to use rammus to extend fights and keep people around when they try to leave while dealing AoE with tremors and sunfire cape as opposed to powerballing in and trying to initiate. i am not very good at surviving when i do that, shield or not, so i've found that i'm better at roaming and chasing than starting said fights.

edit: also, don't forget that you jungle rammus, while i lane him. jungling rammus gets him way, way more cash early than laning does, simply because he's usually getting zoned hard, and lets him stay ahead in levels compared to laning him. that extra cash - which is a pretty significant amount, really - is what makes mid fights more survivable.

/edit

and i still think that that warwick was terrible

also, vlad is up there among my most hated characters to play against. i've never played with him on my team, which is unfortunate. i see him as being freaking awesome, since his bloodpool would be an ult on other characters, and way, way difficult to lane against.

Edited August 7, 2011 by prophetik music

[Bleck]

In other news, just played Vladimir for the first time in a real game, and he kicks huge amounts of ass.

they recently nerfed vlad pretty hard and he's still one of the best mages in the game

[The Derrit]

I grinned. You guys remember Rebecca Black, right? :U

this is bad and you are bad for liking it

[Dexie]

this is bad and you are bad for liking it

I think the idea is it's supposed to be terrible. Y'know, like Friday.

[Tensei]

Looks like Fiddles is getting hit by the nerfstick.

[The Derrit]

Looks like Fiddles is getting hit by the nerfstick.

slight numbers modifications doesn't necessarily mean super bad, with good lasthitting he's a beast even early to midgame so its not such a bad thing

also i'm back to playing this now its TheDerrit someone come please play with me

[TheKrow]

Finally some Nasus buffs, I can't wait to start using one of my favorite champs again.

[Bleck]

hahaha they're buffing leona for some reason

[prophetik music]

Looks like Fiddles is getting hit by the nerfstick.

not sure how that'll affect jungling with him. not excited either way.

[Tensei]

Too funny to not post.

Also, from the sounds of it they'll mostly be nerfing Fiddlesticks AP ratios ("slightly lowering the numbers"), so his early game should be pretty much unaffected.

I've been going back to Heroes of Newerth again recently, and we actually did get a pretty noob-friendly group last time so if anyone wants to try it out now that it's F2P, I'm totally up for that. Ingame name is Tensei.

[prophetik music]

GOSH WAY TO HIJACK THE THREAD TENSAI

we had a few good games last night with bardic, zircon, and my buddies wynks and bragon. still can't believe we won the game that they doubled us in kills =)

[prophetik music]

made a rune worksheet. you'll need excel 2007.

basically, you put in what your build needs (only supports 9/9/9/3 runesets, not mixes), your level, and how many of each rune you've got, and it spits out the cost of the new build both at your level, and a total cost of the build at level 30. relatively simple to use - input into green boxes, answers come from yellow boxes.

let me know if you find errors. i'll fix them right away.

edit: just so you know, bardic, this is way beyond that skeleton i sent you earlier.

[Capa Langley]

You guys should go sign up for Wanfest.

http://wanfest.newegg.com/?page=tournament&tournamentid=3046

[Tensei]

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=1070629

Huge Morgana buffs.

Also, I think people need to get their decisionmaking/priorities on a macro-level straightened out. "I just went there cause everyone else did" is a really annoying excuse, especially when it pertains to losing a tower to a split push because the entire team felt it was necessary to gank a solo Xin (and then fail because he has wards up).

The same thing about lane pushing in HoN applies to LoL; Don't AoE down creep waves unless you're deliberately pushing down a tower, or if your own shit is getting pushed in. Creeps clashing near your tower is a good thing at almost any point in the game, as it gives you safe, free farm. Similarly, if a carry is farming a lane in midgame, supports just need to go do something else (farm neutral creeps, defend another lane, ward, gank etc.) instead of hanging around like a pocket medic in TF2, or worse, AoEing the creeps.

After winning a teamfight or getting a succesful gank, taking a tower is *always* a bigger priority than taking Baron or Dragon. Enemy losing towers = More map control for you, which in turn gives you the opportunity to take Baron or Dragon without even needing to win a teamfight prior.

And again, Teleport is just a crutch to cover up for poor sense of timing/map awareness on 90% of the champions. The other 10% are gimmicky sidepushers like Yi, where it actually is justified. By picking Teleport you are either giving up your imbalanced panic button escape spell (Flash), or just severely gimping your ganks/lane power by not picking Ignite/Exhaust. Sure, you can justify teleport by saying that if you get low you can just go back to base and teleport back instantly, but by doing that you're already assuming that you're going to lose the lane and will have to go back to base early. Alternatively you can just WIN the lane by killing the shit out of your enemies and THEN backing to buy your 10 minute BF Sword because you had such great farm and got fed.

Also, on Gold vs. Sustainability/Wards. Consider that every ward/potion you buy will pay for itself at least twofold. 3 Health Potions= 600 Health = 105 Gold = ~5 creeps = roughly one creep wave. In early through midgame, if you lose 600 health you will generally have to go back to base which causes you to miss out on way more than a single creep wave, even with Teleport up. Similarly, a single mana potion will give you the ability to cast at least two more spells, which is often enough to get a succesful gank going, so it will often pay for itself through assist/kill gold. Finally, a SINGLE ward gives you the ability to push out quite a bit farther because of the vision, which in turn translates into more creeps you can safely farm. If you're able to get three creeps because of the ward, it has already paid for itself.

Basically what I'm saying is; buy wards and potions as long as you have inventory space and gold left.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Tensei

[prophetik music]

they're fixing kayle's passive, finally. maybe she'll be better in-game now.

fiddles adjustments aren't too big, but they'll be noticable. honestly, though, fixing dark wind so it always bounces five times instead of four is enough to balance it, as is making sure it keeps bouncing after you die. i've died in teamfights with dark crow on its way to get a kill several times only to have it disappear when i instadie. i'm more annoyed that they fixed trundle's q so it gets blocked by banshee's and other block-one-spell ablities.

re: teleport on fiddles. one of the things that you have to accept with him is that you're probably going to die a decent amount mid-game because he can get focused down hard during a teamfight, even after all the cc has been used, once you crowstorm in. teleport lets me get back in the fight right away, and get more assists and kills. fiddles walks so slow as it is that any little bit helps. would exhaust or ignite be better? early game, probably, but dark wind's range is better, and the damage is comparable if you bounce it right. not to mention that people shouldn't be running away if i fear them at the right time anyways. so after level five or so it gets useless anyways unless i have the masteries, and i rarely use anything but 9/0/21 with him anyways.

[Tensei]

Teleport shouldn't even really be a consideration on Fiddlesticks since he's one of the most powerful junglers right now ( barely requires specialized jungle runes, capable of soloing Dragon at level 5, can easily gank every time ult is up). Smite/Flash all the way. I don't see how teleport helps you get back into a teamfight after you've died because it's very unlikely that the teamfight will still be going after the ~40 second death timer runs out.

That is a legit strategy in HoN where you can instantly buy back after you die and TP in right away though.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Tensei

[BardicKnowledge]

Crazy amount of Pantheon buffs -- he's going to be extremely dangerous now.

[prophetik music]

made a rune worksheet. you'll need excel 2007.

basically, you put in what your build needs (only supports 9/9/9/3 runesets, not mixes), your level, and how many of each rune you've got, and it spits out the cost of the new build both at your level, and a total cost of the build at level 30. relatively simple to use - input into green boxes, answers come from yellow boxes.

let me know if you find errors. i'll fix them right away.

edit: just so you know, bardic, this is way beyond that skeleton i sent you earlier.

i'm going to quote this so it doesn't get buried. did anyone try it and break it, yet?

i don't use teleport when i'm jungling with fiddles, obviously. i use smite and flash then. i usually use teleport and flash with him when i lane. i've been debating swapping teleport for ghost, but haven't found an instance where teleport isn't more useful yet, since rylai's basically makes the one big use of ghost - catching up with crowstorm when i'm a bit behind them - unneeded.

[BardicKnowledge]

^OMG THE COLORS

Seriously though, good work on the sheet. Seems to work fine, and I'm slowly planning things out.

[Tensei]

i'm going to quote this so it doesn't get buried. did anyone try it and break it, yet?

i don't use teleport when i'm jungling with fiddles, obviously. i use smite and flash then. i usually use teleport and flash with him when i lane. i've been debating swapping teleport for ghost, but haven't found an instance where teleport isn't more useful yet, since rylai's basically makes the one big use of ghost - catching up with crowstorm when i'm a bit behind them - unneeded.

If you're laning with Fiddlesticks for some reason, go with Ignite/Flash. Ignite mastery gives you bonus AP when it's on CD, which is actually quite helpful early on. There are way better AP Carry laners though.

[prophetik music]

If you're laning with Fiddlesticks for some reason, go with Ignite/Flash. Ignite mastery gives you bonus AP when it's on CD, which is actually quite helpful early on.

i lane with fiddles because not every team can do 1/1/2, and he's an awesome mid with tons of sustainability.

bardic, i have used those colors for every worksheet i've made for personal use, so it's a little highlighter-ish but it looks normal to me.