Long time no talk!

Hey guys!  Its been a while since my last post, and they have been rather irregular over the past month or so, and its because I have had a lot on my plate and have not had much time to play LoL lately.  As I have been moving, I have no internet at the moment (writing this at work...  ;-)   ) and I am not sure how long before I will get internet again.  As soon as I can, I will be getting back into LoL and will try to update this blog more often.   I will also be trying to put out more YouTube videos.  I have some footage I just need to get around to editing...  (Damn you procrastination!)


Things to look forward to in the near future:
More random writing from your truly.
More YouTube videos (highlights, kill compilations, character/map impressions, ect).
The new map, Dominion.
The end of summer, and all this hot California weather.

Buffs and Nerfs/Hate on Riot

No matter how often Riot buffs and nerfs champions, a good number of people will always be unhappy.  I have just been really disappointed with The League of Legends community as a whole recently because all I ever see is complaints against Riot, and most of it stems from their balancing.


Look at the most recent patch preview (HERE), practically every other comment is "Panth is OP why you buff him???" OR "I am so happy they finally buff Panth!".


Riot cannot make everyone happy, and I personally believe that they actually do an ok job of making the champions balanced.  And even when they fail, we should remember that they are still just puny, pathetic, mistake making humans, and should be treated as such.  Give them a break, they work really hard to give us a balanced, complete game, that we can enjoy.  They do a lot of work to keep releasing new content to keep the game interesting, and balancing the game to keep it fair.  Just ride out the changes, and enjoy your free game.

A Word on Karthus

Karthus is a very unique champion in the fact that really, you WANT to die in the team fight; preferably with the entire enemy team around you.  He is a good farmer with Lay Waste, he has an amazing slow with Wall of Pain, and good AOE damage from Defile.  But Requiem is mainly what I want to talk about.  Karthus’ Ultimate is one of the most annoying in the game.   It has high base damage with a 0.7 AP ratio, and can and will hit every enemy champion in the game no matter where they are or even if Karthus can see them.

Because there is absolutely no targeting involved, some people (me included) refer to Karthus as a faceroll champ (meaning, you could slam your head on your keyboard somewhere around the 1 key, and roll your face across the keyboard to the \ key) and get kills.  I will not deny that playing Karthus affectively excluding his ult does take some skill.  But you could theoretically get to level 6, and then just sit in the fountain spamming the R key and get kills.  (Hmmm... Now I want to try this…)

Getting magic resist with a Karthus on the enemy team is a must, though I would not say that Karthus is OP.  But maybe a small tweak to his Ult would be good.  Really it wouldn’t have to be anything drastic.  Make it so it would only hit champs that Karthus had sight of when it finishes channeling (still ignoring distance) or make it so it deals less damage the further away Karthus is.  And I only say this as a “well that would be nice” scenario, because I do not believe Karthus is over powered.  He is just really annoying.

Knowing how to counter him is really the key though.   It’s a bunch of simple things like:

1.       Don’t bunch up in team fights.  (Why would you do this anyway???)  His dying inside your team will eat your HP for breakfast with Defile.

2.        I don’t care how much damage Karthus can output, DON’T TARGET HIM FIRST!  Once he is dead, he will continue living for 8 seconds (usual length of a teamfight).  Take out someone else, because then it becomes a 4v5 instead of staying a 5v5.  (AND on top of that, Karthus gets to cast at no mana cost once he is dead.)

3.       Some people come with built in spell shields (Morgana, Sivir, Nocturne).  If you are playing one of these champs, you MAY want to save your shield for his ult if you can.

My first League of Legends Youtube post

Learn your Alphabet

Not my work.  But wanted to share.

Akali: The First of Shadow

Story:

There exists an ancient order originating in the Ionian Isles dedicated to the preservation of balance. Order, chaos, light, darkness -- all things must exist in perfect harmony for such is the way of the universe. This order is known as the Kinkou and it employs a triumvirate of shadow warriors to uphold its causes in the world. Akali is one of these shadow warriors, entrusted with the sacred duty of Pruning the Tree - eliminating those who threaten the equilibrium of Valoran.

A prodigal martial artist, Akali began training with her mother as soon as she could make a fist. Her mother's discipline was relentless and unforgiving, but predicated on the fundamental principle: "We do that which must be done." When the Kinkou inducted her into the order at the age of fourteen, she could slice a dangling chain with a chop of her hand. There was no question - she would succeed her mother as the Fist of Shadow. She has had to do much in this role which others might find morally questionable, but to her it is in service of her mother's inviolable doctrine. She now works with her fellows Shen and Kennen to enforce the balance of Valoran. This hallowed pursuit has unsurprisingly led the triumvirate to the Fields of Justice.

"The Fist of Shadow strikes from the cover of death itself. Do not impede the balance."

Akali is a hybrid anti-carry champion with huge burst damage and is a fantastic chaser.  She is probably the best hybrid character in the game with her passive, Twice Disciplines, which adds magic damage to her auto attacks based on her AP and spell vamp based on her AD.  She has Mark of the Assassin for burst damage, Crescent Slash (which deals AD) and AOE damage, Twilight Shroud for defense, and Shadow Dance for chasing and juking.

The biggest drawback for Akali is that she is squishy AND melee.  She alleviates some of this while hiding in her Twilight Shroud, but it has a fairly long cooldown for how often you are going to want to use it.  But the best way to prevent your death is to just do what Akali does best; run in, assassinate someone, and run out (Twilight Shroud/Shadow Dance for safe exits), while your tank takes all the hits.

While there are several champions that can very viably go Hybrid (Shaco, Twisted Fate, Ezreal, Kog’Maw, etc), most of these characters would actually do greater damage by just picking AP OR AD; whereas Akali would be missing out by only picking one.   You are losing either extra spell vamp or extra magic damage, both of which are going to make you far more deadly if you have them.

8 Simple Rules for playing League of Legends

These are some very useful tips for playing well in League of Legends.  These will not make you win every game, it will not make you unkillable, and it will not make you more skilled than you really are.  These are just basic and fairly straight forward things to do to prevent dying a terrible, terrible death at the hands of your enemies.

1.       I have seen this many places, but it requires repeating.  Do not chase Singed!

2.       Last hit, last hit, last hit, last hit.  Quit pushing your lanes all the way up to the enemy tower unless you are in the position to deal a huge chunk of damage to it.

3.       Buy at least 1 ward every time you go back if you can afford it and know where to place them for maximum coverage.

4.       Don’t stay at a tower that you KNOW is going to go down.  You are just going to give the enemy team a tower AND a kill.

5.       Never give up Baron or Dragon for free if you can do anything.  Don’t just give away a kill, but try to stop them.

6.       Unless you are guarding your base, do not just stand around.  Always be doing something.  If you deadlock while trying to push a tower, move on.  You are wasting time by continually trying and failing to push a tower or just standing at a tower.

7.       Going off by yourself after the laning phase is the best way to get yourself jumped on by the entire enemy team and getting killed.

8.       Do not JUST follow someone’s champion build.  Every game, with every team comp (for your team AND theirs), you WILL need to vary your build even if it’s just a little.  There is NO reason to get a Last Whisper if your enemy team has no armor.  Adapt your build to each game.