EUPiLoL#14 - Supersonic Zilean (Cappin' and shit) DOMINION

Zilean as a capper is hilariously amazing and annoying as fuck for your opponents. While he lacks any sort of offensive capabilities whatsoever, his consistent speed is rivaled by none (774 without movement quints). Zilean works best as a capper if your team is strong enough to not need what Teemo and Janna might offer otherwise. He does have some support capabilities with his ult and slow, although he is usually better off capping, and I find that his ult doesn't see much use (Although it's still extremely useful to have in your kit. Let's put his main strengths and weaknesses into a list.

Strength

He isn't mana intensive. - This is what stopped Zilean from speeding all around summoner's rift, but I find myself rarely if ever running out of mana.

- Fastest constant speed as a capper.

- Some support capabilities

Weaknesses

Zero combative capabilities - You won't even leveling your bomb until last. That is how little he can do.

Rewind brings you "into combat", thus halting the rank 5 movement on Boots of Mobility - It doesn't matter much because you are still fast as fuck.

People  will rage at you. - I find my teammates rage at me more than if I played Teemo because they don't expect me to be capping. Make sure they know that you are doing this in the pregame screen.

Itemizing

Obviously we are going to start with Boots of Swiftness or Boots of Mobility (this is your decision. If you want consistent speed, get boots of swiftness. If you want a mixture of slower speed with very fast speed, get boots of mobility. It's preferential). and a rejuvenation bead. Turn that bead into a Priscilla's Blessing when you get the chance and follow up with a Shurelia's Reverie (Kindlegem first, duh). Past that, it's situational.

TL;DR

Boots of Swiftness or Boots of Mobility + Rejuvenation Bead
Priscilla's blessing
Shurelia's Reverie (Kindlegem first)

Past your Core:

Aegis of the Legion - Cost effective defense and useful for helping your teammates

Force of Nature - A great item if you are facing an AP / magic intensive team

Phantom Dancers - For more mobility

Odyn's Veil - I don't really care for this item, but I've seen some people get it so I felt that I should mention it. I personally feel like there are stronger options.

Randuin's Omen - A decent item to get if you are having trouble with gap closers.

 Frozen heart - An amazing  item to get if you are having issues with melee. The CDR is extremely helpful and will allow you to keep your speed boost up 100% of the time.

  

Spells

I originally thought I would need clarity for Zilean, but it turns out that he really doesn't need it. Ghost/Flash are what I use, but clairvoyance, exhaust, and even garrison are good options. Definitely take ghost, though, as it aids in your ability to cap.

Masteries

As long as you have 21 in utility, you're fine. I go 8/1/21 (1 point in MR or armor) due to the fact that you don't need the magic penetration anyway. 

Runes 

Movement speed quints are nice. So is CDR. So are general defensive runes but it is mostly user preference. Use what you feel you need or what you have on hand. 

Skill Order

Time Warp -> rewind -> Time Bomb

Gameplan 

Here's the route that I generally take for the first couple of points (as there will probably be a tiny bit of confusion and I figured I would clear it up).

Your mid tower -> Race to their mid bush and wait for the fight at top to begin and take their mid tower. -> Go bot or top depending on which one you think you can take.

General Tips

Rewind on every cooldown and time warp on every cooldown

Always avoid fighting if you can. If you get into a fight, ult a teammate before you die because the ult is pointless on you.

Capping points > Fighting enemies

EUPiLoL#13 - Janna in Dominion (Capping+Defensive style)

 

Jannna is another character who excels in the art of capping. The thing that she has over Teemo is that her ultimate goal when split capping isn't to get the point for her team (although that is always nice). Her ultimate goal is to be a distraction. Her kit is entirely based upon stalling the enemy and you would be surprised at how far people will go to kill you. Every second that you have 1-3 people chasing you is crucial to your team pushing other points, and if you play your cards right, you can get away most of the time. The thing that differentiates Janna from Teemo is that she's still Janna. She has all the move speed that he does (Excluding the active of his move quick), with all of her support abilities. This makes her an excellent defender and supporter so she can actually do something useful if capping a point isn't the best option at that particular point in time. When looking at her strength and weaknesses, we'll compare her to Teemo.

Strengths

Amazing support potential. In summoner's rift, Janna excels at supporting in little skirmishes, and this makes her all the more powerful in a game mode where most of the fights consist of these little brawls.

Kiting potential - While Teemo can lead someone into a group of shrooms, Janna has her tornado, zephyr, and her ultimate to do this. It could be argued that she can out kite him depending on the situation. She can also bullshit her enemies much harder, where as all Teemo can really do is kite the enemy into his shrooms. Janna excels at running in circles and keeping the enemy a couple steps behind, ultimately wasting a large portion of their time.

Combative capabilities - At the end of the day, all Teemo can do is kite. Janna is quite annoying to fight against if she has a teammate with her, which makes her multi-dimensional in her capabilities. Her kit also allows for her to defend quite well, or at least stall someone long enough for her team to get there. She has difficulty finishing the deal due to her lack of damage.

 

Weaknesses

- Slightly slower overall (The active of move quick)

- Using her slow makes her even slower

- Lacks the map control that shrooms provide.

So as you can see, Teemo is a bit faster and has better map control, but Janna is more versatile of a capper. Keep that in mind when deciding which one you should play.

Itemizing

I start with Boots of Mobility and Rejuvenation Bead. Due to her speed, Janna is a prime candidate for taking your team's mid tower and then rushing to aid them at top or taking the opponent's mid. After that, I obviously opt for Priscilla's Blessing. After that, Shurelia's Reverie is a pretty good choice because of it's active and it gives you a bit of needed mana regeneration (Janna can be a bit mana intensive, even in dominion. Reverie fixes that. IMPORTANT. REMEMBER THIS.  The movement buff of Reverie and Priscilla's don't stack. This means that if you use them simultaneously, you don't get a 70% increase. Use them one after the other to utilize them to the fullest extent. I find myself really needing Tenacity on Janna, so I opt for a Moonflair Spellblade (first time I've ever actually bought this item for a champion). Past that it is pretty situational, but here are a couple of options that sound nice to me.

TL;DR

Boots of Mobility + Rejuvenation Bead

Priscilla's Blessing

Shurelia Reverie (Kindlegem first)

Moonflair Spell Blade

Aegis of the Legion - Cost effective defense and useful for helping your teammates

Force of Nature - A great item if you are facing an AP / magic intensive team

Phantom Dancers - For more mobility

Odyn's Veil - I don't really care for this item, but I've seen some Janna's get it so I felt that I should mention it. I personally feel like there are stronger options.

Randuin's Omen - A decent item to get if you are having trouble with gap closers so you don't have to sacrifice your zephyr in order to keep them at bay.

 Frozen heart - A decent item to get if you are having issues with melee. The CDR is also nice.

Spells

This is really personal preference. I prefer Ghost / Flash, but Garrison is really nice on her and so is exhaust. I would definitely recommend that you at least get Ghost. Clairvoyance can also be nice for revealing the area near your point you are capping so you know when to run, but I usually get away even if I don't have it. I really like flash because you can use it to position yourself for an offensive ult.

Masteries

9/0/21 if you want CDR or 0/9/21 if you want improved armor and magic resistances. Again, up to you.

Runes

Movement Speed quints are nice. So is full bown AP if you want early potency. The thing about runes is that they are early game centric, and the early game is so fast in Dominion that they don't matter as much. CDR is also good, as are general defensive runes, but it's not that big of a deal for Janna in Dominion. 

Skill Order

In Summoner's Rift, every good Janna will max out her shield first, but her skilling order is a bit more situational. Your main focus is to cap points, so maxing out zephyr is a pretty good idea, in my opinion. At the start, I put 2 points into zephyr and 1 into gale. I max out the middle point, and by the time I reach top I've hit level 4 and I take my point in shield. You can max out shield first, but I feel like it hurts your ability to cap points. 

General tips

- Capping points is more important than killing someone.

- Janna is ultimately better off side-capping than defending. Don't make it your personal job to stop every enemy capper unless you are in the area. 

- In a fight, shield whoever is going to auto attack most / whoever has the highest attack speed unless someone desperately needs the actual shield. 

- In certain cases, Janna can win a fight if you use hit and run tactics. Keep that in mind. 

- Your tornado is a source of CC, not a source of damage. Don't bother letting it wind up unless you are waiting for someone to enter it's range.

EUPiLoL#12 - "Fast Mover" Teemo in Dominion (Open ended Theory Crafing Discussion)

This is an open ended discussion about the possibility of a completely roaming-centric Teemo in Dominion. You can take part in this discussion at < click here >


I haven't done much testing of Teemo in Dominion (Only a couple of games at that), but I see a lot of potential for a completely mobility focused capper. After looking extensively at the champion list, he seems to be the best hero for the job for multiple reasons.

- Shrooms
                   I think shrooms are very important here for a few reasons. Firstly, they offer an escape route for Teemo. The way that Dominion is built allows for long consecutive shroom lines and if you place them so you can cap a point and then retreat into them, you are not only making sure you are safe, you are quite possibly wasting a lot of the enemies time if they try to chase you. Ontop of this, the map awareness that Shrooms offer allows you to plan your capping a bit safely, and allows you to hamper the opponent in some way so your team isn't at a complete disadvantage due to your play style. I've heard of Teemo's placing them on the health power ups as well.

- Passive speed
                   Teemo is the only character in the game who has a passive speed boost (excluding Sona and Janna, I think?). In summoner's rift, you max this out second (After your poison), but perhaps we could even take it one step further and max it out first? This definitely hampers your offensive capabilities, but it improves your capping capabilities by quite a bit, which is your sole objective to begin with. 

Items/Runes/Masteries

The following build is sort of something I've thought up on the fly. I don't know how good it will be, but it is something to think about.

Starting items
Boots of Mobility + Rejuvenation Bead


Core (In this order)
Priscilla's Blessing
Kindlegem
Shurelia's Reverie

Past that, I am rather unsure of what to get. There are a lot of possible options, though. Some people say Zeals, although I am not sure I'm a fan of that. I've considered going the AP route (Deathcap/Rylais for the added shroom / Blinding Dart slow into Lich Bane?), or perhaps Randuin's for an AoE slow in case you're getting chased down?

One instinct I had was to finish up CDR. I'm not sure if there is a CDR buff in Dominion or not (There might be. I think I remember someone saying that there was), but with cooldown glyphs + 1 seal you can have 6% CDR. + 9 from Masteries (Assuming you go 21 into utility, which you should be doing in the first place for the bonus movement speed) and +15 from your Reverie will net you 30. Picking up another Kindlegem would bring your to 40, thus netting you the maximum amount of shrooms and speed boosts.

Rune-wise, I suppose movement speed quints would be useful here, and I have no idea (Besides defensive runes) what could be useful for the seals and marks.

Spells

Ghost is an obvious choice for Fast Mover Teemo. I can see use in Clairvoyance as well, and obviously flash. I'm not sure how I feel about the new dominion spells.

EUPiLoL#11 - Lux in Dominion

Let me start off by saying that Dominion is very young and that strategies and play styles are bound to change on whim, so what is considered viable today might not be considered viable tomorrow until things cool down. Let me also say that I've only played around five games of Lux so far and this is less of a full blown guide and more of speculations. That being said, I really like Lux in Dominion. It caters to her play style amazingly as a cap defender. She can halt a cap from a long distance and the way the map is built caters to her positioning-centric play style very well. The general lack of many creeps in many areas of the map also allows for her snare to have free reign over her enemies, and her kit is very useful in the skirmishing based combat that goes on in Dominion. I'm not entirely certain of her main weaknesses yet (It is slightly hard to tell because I haven't played many games, and most of them have been as Lux), but I'll name a couple of things that I think she is very good at.

- Early top fighting. Lux is a prime candidate for going top with two others and securing the middle cap point.
- Cap defending.
- Ulting fleeing opponents.
- Amazing combative capabilities through kiting and general burst. In Summoner's Rift, Lux seemed to fall a bit short due to the team fighting nature and the general structure of the map. In Dominion, there are so many winding paths that you can position yourself in a way that keeps you safe whilst doing maximum damage. On top of that, she excels in skirmish based combat, and there is plenty of that in Dominion.

Itemizing

In Summoner's Rift, what is considered most viable is a glass cannon sort of build with the use of the blue buff. There isn't a blue buff in Dominion, so our main focuses will be in...

CDR
AP
Mana Regeneration
Mobility

What might be considered viable in Summoner's Rift doesn't hold a candle to Dominion. Our main goal will be to get to 40% CDR as quickly as possible without sacrificing your mobility. Since you start with 1.3k, your first item will be a Fiendish Codex, followed by Boots of Mobility and a Kindlegem. The idea is that you turn your Codex into a Morello's, thus netting you 40% CDR and the mobility required to quickly run to defend a point. This is everything you need to do your job (and do it well if I might add). After that, you will want to get a Deathcap in order to drive your damage home. Let's put it into list form.

Core
Fiendish Codex
Boots of Mobility
Kindlegem
Morello's Evil Tome
Rabadon's Deathcap

Past that, there are a number of things you can do based on what you need. Here are some viable options.

Zhonya's Hourglass

    If you need a bit of armor and find yourself getting focused a lot. It can also be bought if you need a clutch button to dodge an ultimate like veigar or annie's ult.
 

Abyssal Scepter

   A good item to get if your team is heavily AP based or you need some MR

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

   A good item to get if you feel you need the extra slow (Although it isn't very good on Lux) or some extra HP. I wouldn't recommend it, but some people seem to like it on Lux so I felt that I should include it.

Lichbane 

   This is my favorite item to get for her. It gives you a bit more mobility along with a reason to use your passive. Be careful with it, as it's very easy to bait yourself into getting killed. Only go in for an auto attack if you are sure you will be safe.

 

Spells

For spells, you can do a number of combinations. My personal preference is Ignite/Flash, but you can also use Clairvoyance or ghost in place of one of those if you'd like. Ghost can be very potent in Dominion, but I simply prefer ignite flash.

Masteries

I use the generic 9/0/21


Runes

I don't like to tell people which runes to use for non jungle characters as I feel that it's more of a user preference thing, but I like AP runes. Don't get CDR runes because you will already have 40% CDR. I've been told that Movement speed quints work well in Dominion also.

Skill Order

R->E->Q->W

General Tips for Dominion Lux

There's not a whole lot I can say about her in Dominion that isn't also true in Summoner's Rift, but here's a couple of things that I've learned about her.

- She excels at stalling and halting enemies who are capping.
- Her overall effectiveness (Compared to other's around her) increases a lot once she hits 6. I'm not saying that she is ineffective pre-level 6, I am simply pointing out the fact that her ultimate is responsible for a huge portion of what makes her amazing in Dominion.
- Be aware of your positioning at all times. Lux is very positioning focused, and can be easily overrun if you aren't aware of your surroundings. Mobile characters are seem to be the current meta game, so try to be aware of your surroundings at all times.
- It's better to cap a point than to get a kill. If someone is no longer a threat, let them run and take the point instead.

EUPiLoL#10 - Examining our Obession with Mercury Treads

This post is going to be a bit out of the ordinary, but I believe it might be helpful to some of you. I was thinking up a build for a certain character and when thinking about which boots I should buy, the thought popped into my head that no one has actually (to the best of my knowledge) gone through the trouble to examine Tenacity and see if our reliance on it is actually misplaced. No one has put forth the effort to actually get some hard numbers on how much CC reduction we are actually getting. My first instinct was to go through and apply the 35% duration reduction to every form of CC in the game. Obviously this is a terrible idea, so I came up with the much simpler (as well as convenient) idea for starting at .5 and making my way to 3.5. My findings were a bit eye opening.

.5 seconds = .325 seconds (Minus .175 seconds)
.75 seconds = .4875 (Minus .2625 seconds)
1 Second = .65' (Minus .35 seconds)
1.25 Seconds = .8125 (Minus .4375 seconds)
1.50 Seconds =  .975 (Minus .525 seconds)
1.75 Seconds = 1.125 (Minus 0.625 seconds)
2 Seconds = 1.3 (Minus 0.7 seconds)
2.25 Seconds = 1.4625 (Minus 0.7875 seconds)
2.50 Seconds = 1.625 (Minus 0.875 seconds)
2.75 Seconds = 1.7875 (Minus 0.9625 seconds)
3 Seconds = 1.95 (Minus 1.05 seconds)
3.25 Seconds = 2.1125 (Minus 1.1375 Seconds)
3.50 Seconds = 2.275 (Minus 1.225 seconds)

The unspoken rule within the LoL community has usually been that if they have 2+ forms of CC, you opt for Mercury Treads. I was one of those people up until recently when I realized that a lot of the CC in the game doesn't last very long. Because of this, a lot of that CC reduction is modest at best. Before you jump to any conclusions, know that I am a proud supporter of Mercury Treads. I can definitely see and without a doubt acknowledge their usefulness. That being said, allow me to pose a question. How many of you actually notice the difference after getting these Tenacity items? Obviously the difference between a 3.5 Second Ashe ult and a 2.2275 Second Ashe ult is huge, and obviously being able to leave Galio's ult early can do wonders wheni t comes to countering him, but perhaps we are being a bit narrow minded when it comes to our reliance upon Mercury Treads. Perhaps Tenacity boots are a more situational pick that we have grown to become so attached to simply because that's the way it is. I'm not saying that they should only be picked in extreme cases, I am simply pointing out the fact that in certain situations, it might not be the best choice, and the +2 CC rule doesn't apply to every composition.

That being said, tenacity isn't the only attribute that these boots offer. You are getting enough MR to feel somewhat comfortable in the early game, and it is probably the most cost effective choice of boots (excluding Attack speed boots, perhaps).

EUPiLoL#9 - A different way of approaching AP Taric

(I picked that picture because it looked more "AP-like", NOT because of his boots. Just clearing that up.)

Sorry for my lack of posts recently. I lost interest in League of Legends (And blogging about it), although my interest has been peaked slightly and I am back on the horse for the time being. I come to you with a post about AP Taric. AP Taric is nothing new. That being said, with his new changes, I've been looking at him, and I feel like I have a certain approach that some people who play (or want to play) AP Taric might find appealing.To the player who suggested an alternative Taric build, I finally got around to it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

The big issue that I find with AP Tarics is that they forget their role as a support character, and that leads to them building him the same way they would build your common nuker. The thing about Taric, is that 2/3 of his damaging spells are close ranged (dazzle being medium ranged, although you might as well use it as close as possible as well). The point (however obvious it might be) that I'm trying to make is that glass cannon builds  don't work on Taric. He needs survivability in order to be effective. The new changes to dazzle make survivability even more important.

The second issue that I find is that most AP Tarics is that they try to build expensive nuker items on him straight from the get go, despite the fact that he is a side lane babysitter / aggressive support first and a nuker second. He lacks much farming ability, and the idea of having a Taric go mid or top is quite frankly sickening to me. My Taric will focus on gold efficiency and early survivability followed by heavy focus into AP.

Let's look at some of the strengths and weaknesses that AP Taric has compared to your run of the mill support Taric.

Strengths

- Heavily increased late game damage.
- Improved heal (This can lead to the argument that in certain ways, an AP focused Taric out-supports a tankier one)
-  Increased support potential for an AP focused team (Will explain why later)

Weaknesses

- Less survivability (This can be slightly countered by the fact that your heal is much more powerful as AP Taric)

- Slightly more mana intensive

- Somewhat costly in comparison to support Taric

Now... What you've all been waiting for...

Itemizing  

Like I said. I prefer a support Taric that moves into heavy AP after his core is done. Like I also said, this build is costs more than your average taric build. I like to start with Boots of Speed / 3 Pot or a Regrowth Pendant / 1 pot. I would suggest starting with the regrowth pendant because you can turn it into an extremely early philosopher's stone. My core build is as follows (In this order)

Philosopher's Stone

Boots of Speed (Unless you started with them.)

Heart of Gold

Kage's Lucky Pick

Aegis of the Legion

I finish my boots whenever I generally feel the need to, although I try to make it past aegis. You can either go Mercury Treads or Sorcerer Boots. If they have more than 2 stuns, I'd opt for the treads (although you can go sorcerer boots and turn your philosopher stone into a Miracle later on).

As you can see, this is a run of the mill support build. It offers you enough g/5 to fund your AP, as well as the most cost effective survivability item in the game. I know this might seem boring for people who want to jump in and start blasting things, but believe me when I say that all of these items are necessary in order to achieve success as AP Taric.

This is where the fun begins. Your next item is Rabadon's Deathcap. The great thing about this build is that it looks like a normal Taric, and then you turn around with the biggest AP item in the game and start bursting like crazy. After getting this item, it's not unheard of that I burst a squishy down to 20-30% life, all the while supporting my team with a seriously powerful heal, damage/AP buffs, and my Aegis aura. This is especially true if you opted for Sorc Boots. 

After that, you can continue going AP to your hearts content, but let's look at some AP options and why we might chose them. The choice I usually go with is Deathfire Grasp. This isn't an item that I normally suggest so early, but it is simply amazing on Taric. The combined mana regeneration from your philosopher's stone and your DFG nets you enough MR to be somewhat comfortable. The cooldown reduction is helpful on Taric because his cooldowns are long enough for CDR to have a substantial impact, but short enough for that impact to matter. The active adds another chunk to the burst potential that caused you to pick AP Taric in the first place. 

Another good option that I enjoy going is Will of the Ancients. This is an especially awesome choice if someone else on your team gets it  (110 AP and 50% Spell Vamp for each of you) due to the fact that the auras combine between the holders. If you want to go crazy, and would like a bit of DPS, and for some reason have the gold for it, you can even get a Gunblade and enjoy 75% Spell Vamp as well as an added slow (Although it does little to help your supportability and is quite expensive.) 

Abyssal Scepter is another good item (albeit situational) that I enjoy getting. It's a good item if you are on an magic focused team and having issues with magic damage as well. That being said, either reason is a good enough reason to get it. If you are getting it simply for the aura, I would get will of the ancients first, unless your team isn't AP focused. 

If you are in desperate need of armor, I wouldn't suggest Zhonya's Hourglass, as the active won't be of much use to someone like Taric. Glacial shroud into (possibly) Frozen Heart is a great choice. Randuin's is good as well if you can make use of the active. 

TL;DR 

Core:

Regrowth Pendant + Potion / Boots of Speed + 3 Potion

Philosopher's Stone

Boots of Speed

Heart of Gold

Kage's Lucky Pick

Aegis of the Imperium

Mercury Treads (If 2+ CC) Sorc Boots

Rabadon's Deathcap

Past Core:

Doing Well - Deathfire Grasp or Will of the Ancients (Works best if someone else gets it as well)

Need MR / Teamwide Magic Penetration - Abyssal Scepter / Banshee's veil

Need Armor  - Frozen Heart (Better CDR, Mana, More armor, Passive Attack speed debuff)
/ Randuins Omen (Active AoE slow, more HP)


-> BUY WARDS!!!!!!!!!!! <-

Approaching Team fights

AP Taric walks the line between Tanky AP and support. His strength lies in his ability to burst someone down and then turn around and heal someone else, all while offering up auras. Because of the fact that 2/3 of your damage is AoE, try to use those two abilities with as many people in them as possible. Also, try to use your ult first, so your following abilities do more damage. On top of that, try to use your ult with as many teammates around as possible, so they benefit as well. You aren't incredibly tanky, but you would be surprised at how often you can heal when you're constantly hitting someone, and you'd also be surprised at how much your heal is actually worth with some AP under your belt. Try to make sure your shatter lands on whoever your carry is targeting so they can benefit from the armor debuff. 

TL;DR

- Try to get as many enemies in your AOEs

- Use your ult first so your abilities benefit from your AD/AP buff.

- Try to get as many allies as possible in your ult

-  Try to get your shatter debuff on whoever needs it to be on them the most

- Make sure you are constantly auto attacking in order to get the most out of your heal.

Runes

I like to use AP runes. That's just me. Cool down runes, magic penetration, and even defensive runes can work very well. It's up to preference at the end of the day

Masteries

There are a couple of different approaches you can do. 9/0/21 for the improved CDR and magic penetration or 0/9/21 for the improved regeneration and MR/Armor. It's up to you. Whatever suits your fancy is fine. 

Spells

Either Clairvoyance/Flash or Exhaust/Flash or Ignite/Flash. Once again, preferential.

Leveling Order

I take Dazzle first, followed by imbue, followed by Shatter. I then Go in the order of Shatter -> Imbue -> Dazzle. I max out Dazzle last because it doesn't really do all that much damage and it's duration is the same throughout all the levels.