Tuesday, January 24, 2012
It's been a While :(
So here's the deal, no bullshit. When I started this blog I was very ambitious. A bit too ambitious. Fact of the matter is that the more and more I put into the blog, the more annoyed I became at myself for being unable to create this blog in the way I saw fit. Due to my shitty computer, I can't stream, record videos, or do anything of the sort. As you can tell it's been a couple weeks since my last post and until I can deliver to you guys a product that I'm 100% satisfied with, I'll be putting this on hold. Thanks to those who truly enjoyed reading the material I posted previously and I hope to be back and better than ever soon. Best of luck to all of you in your games. Remember, ez game.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Feeling Confident? Time to Change the Meta
So you're the best huh? Up until roughly the 1900 Elo range, you can pretty much play anything and expect some success as long as it's played competently. What's the best way to have some fun? Play something crazy in the jungle. We've all seen "Dyrus" and "TheOddOne" run jungle Singed, or we've seen "SaintVicious" playing Jungle Alistar. I mean in comparison to the solo que favorites like Lee Sin, Skarner, or Shaco, these jungles are just not as strong. Yet, we see them making it work. Today I'll be giving you a short analysis of a few champions that are relatively fresh and viable in terms of the ranked scene. (The term viable is being used VERY loosely).
The Unsual Suspects: All of these heroes are purely meant for fun, they work, but they're not competitive at high levels. This post is just to help encourage raising the bar. LoL is a game that can grow stale without player innovation, this blog post will help you become the innovator.
Miss Fortune: AD Carry gone jungle. Her DPS and speed in the jungle is actually very good. Her gank is ok with "Make it Rain" but it gives vision in brushes when used and it's a slow. Coupled with "Miss Fortune's" passive movement speed bonus, her ganks can be pretty strong if done correctly.
Starting Buy: Cloth Armor & 5x Health Pots
Starting Skill: Impure Shots (W)
Starting Path: Wolves -> Blue Golem -> etc.
Master Yi: People have been jungling Master Yi for ages, but will you do it in ranked? I dare you. His potential proc on "Alpha Strike" is insanely strong if you get lucky. Easily one of the fastest jungle clears in the game with very strong damage even in the early game due to his "Wuju Style". His gank is relatively strong because his Alpha Strike allows him to gap close very easily. With red buff, it will force a summoner 100% of the time.
Starting Buy: Cloth Armor & 5x Health Pots OR Vampiric Scepter
Starting Skill: Alpha Strike (Q)
Starting Path: Wolves -> Blue Golem -> etc.
Heimerdinger: This jungle choice is definitely more troll than the other two I've listed but the result is hilarious. There's nothing scarier than a double-buffed heimerdinger running into the lane. His jungling ability is very newb friendly because you're success comes from the tankability of your turrets and his passive HP/5 regen. Also, due to red buff now being able to be triggered off him spells, starting the gank off with "Hextech Micro-Rockets" isn't a bad choice. If you want to push the jungle meta with this hero, prepare to see some "zzzz"s.
Starting Buy: Cloth Armor & 5x Health Pots (Safe) OR Regrowth Pendant & Health Pot OR Amplifying Tome & Health Pot
Starting Skill: H-28G Evolution Turret (Q)
Starting Path: Wolves (If side-lanes help DPS them) -> Blue Golem -> etc.
Cho'Gath: Stun, Slow, Silence, Massive Nuke. How could this possibly go wrong? His "Vorpal Spikes" ability makes his jungling speed pretty quick. Add this skill on top of his 2 CC's and a blue buff, you got someone who's jungle speed is only limited by your CDR. His passive "Carnivore" makes it very easily to sustain while jungling, even if you are starting with less traditional buys such as "Regrowth Pendant". His gank is quite litterally hit or miss unless you have someone that can initiate for you in the lane. However, if his "Rupture" hits it's mark, its usually lights out for that person.
Starting Buy: Regrowth Pendant (Rush to Philosophers Stone)
Starting Skill: Vorpal Spikes (E)
Starting Path: Wolves -> Blue Golem -> etc.
If you want to be the cutting edge of tomorrow's meta-game, you have to be prepared for a rigorous period of trial of error. Sometimes your ideas on paper won't translate well into the game. But without ever trying it, you won't know. At the same time, you have to remain open minded, and don't fall into the trap of just playing whats already been discovered. Try different item builds, different champions, different masteries and never be afraid to push the boundaries that have been set before you.
The Unsual Suspects: All of these heroes are purely meant for fun, they work, but they're not competitive at high levels. This post is just to help encourage raising the bar. LoL is a game that can grow stale without player innovation, this blog post will help you become the innovator.
Miss Fortune: AD Carry gone jungle. Her DPS and speed in the jungle is actually very good. Her gank is ok with "Make it Rain" but it gives vision in brushes when used and it's a slow. Coupled with "Miss Fortune's" passive movement speed bonus, her ganks can be pretty strong if done correctly.
Starting Buy: Cloth Armor & 5x Health Pots
Starting Skill: Impure Shots (W)
Starting Path: Wolves -> Blue Golem -> etc.
Master Yi: People have been jungling Master Yi for ages, but will you do it in ranked? I dare you. His potential proc on "Alpha Strike" is insanely strong if you get lucky. Easily one of the fastest jungle clears in the game with very strong damage even in the early game due to his "Wuju Style". His gank is relatively strong because his Alpha Strike allows him to gap close very easily. With red buff, it will force a summoner 100% of the time.
Starting Buy: Cloth Armor & 5x Health Pots OR Vampiric Scepter
Starting Skill: Alpha Strike (Q)
Starting Path: Wolves -> Blue Golem -> etc.
Heimerdinger: This jungle choice is definitely more troll than the other two I've listed but the result is hilarious. There's nothing scarier than a double-buffed heimerdinger running into the lane. His jungling ability is very newb friendly because you're success comes from the tankability of your turrets and his passive HP/5 regen. Also, due to red buff now being able to be triggered off him spells, starting the gank off with "Hextech Micro-Rockets" isn't a bad choice. If you want to push the jungle meta with this hero, prepare to see some "zzzz"s.
Starting Buy: Cloth Armor & 5x Health Pots (Safe) OR Regrowth Pendant & Health Pot OR Amplifying Tome & Health Pot
Starting Skill: H-28G Evolution Turret (Q)
Starting Path: Wolves (If side-lanes help DPS them) -> Blue Golem -> etc.
Cho'Gath: Stun, Slow, Silence, Massive Nuke. How could this possibly go wrong? His "Vorpal Spikes" ability makes his jungling speed pretty quick. Add this skill on top of his 2 CC's and a blue buff, you got someone who's jungle speed is only limited by your CDR. His passive "Carnivore" makes it very easily to sustain while jungling, even if you are starting with less traditional buys such as "Regrowth Pendant". His gank is quite litterally hit or miss unless you have someone that can initiate for you in the lane. However, if his "Rupture" hits it's mark, its usually lights out for that person.
Starting Buy: Regrowth Pendant (Rush to Philosophers Stone)
Starting Skill: Vorpal Spikes (E)
Starting Path: Wolves -> Blue Golem -> etc.
If you want to be the cutting edge of tomorrow's meta-game, you have to be prepared for a rigorous period of trial of error. Sometimes your ideas on paper won't translate well into the game. But without ever trying it, you won't know. At the same time, you have to remain open minded, and don't fall into the trap of just playing whats already been discovered. Try different item builds, different champions, different masteries and never be afraid to push the boundaries that have been set before you.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
New Years Resolution: Smart Cast
Happy New Years everyone, I know it's been a couple days since my last post but due to the celebrations that go along with the occasion, most of my free time has been taken up by sippin champagne and fuckin with groupie hoes. I'm sure a few of you are wondering whether or not that's a joke or not but I'll leave the ambiguity intact. Anyways, moving on to today's post about Smart Cast. What is it? How do I use it? Why should I use it?
What is it? Smart cast is an in-game feature that ultimately removes all targeting functionality from your skills. Don't freak out and think this means you can't aim any of your spells. It just means that when you press a skill that's a skill shot, or a skill that requires you to click on a target, instead of you having to click again to fire it, it automatically shoots the skill in the direction of where your cursor is hovering over.
How do I use it? Enabling smart cast is fairly simple. All you need to do is bring up your in-game menu, go to key bindings, and scroll down a bit until you find this section:
As you can see, my smart cast key bindings have already been changed to replace the default keys which are usually [Shift][Q], [Shift][W], [Shift][E], [Shift][R]. At first using smart cast is going to really mess with you, especially if you've been using regular style casting for the majority of your LoL experience. However, I promise that it's for the best in the long term.
Why should I use it? By removing the 2nd click necessary to cast target requiring spells such as Morgana's "Dark Binding" or Brand's "Conflagration", the time it take for you to chain actions becomes greatly reduced. This means you're playing the game faster than someone who isn't using smart cast. In clutch situations, every split second counts. Once you reach a level of skill that allows you to process these decisions as quickly as they come, you're going to need the reaction speed and execution speed that goes along with it.
I started using smart cast a couple weeks ago and I think finally I've gotten used to it. At the end of the day it really is preference and certain skills are just more user friendly if not smart casted. However, 9 times out of 10, smart cast will really improve the speed at which you play the game. I would most certainly recommend it to anyone trying to improve their play
What is it? Smart cast is an in-game feature that ultimately removes all targeting functionality from your skills. Don't freak out and think this means you can't aim any of your spells. It just means that when you press a skill that's a skill shot, or a skill that requires you to click on a target, instead of you having to click again to fire it, it automatically shoots the skill in the direction of where your cursor is hovering over.
How do I use it? Enabling smart cast is fairly simple. All you need to do is bring up your in-game menu, go to key bindings, and scroll down a bit until you find this section:
As you can see, my smart cast key bindings have already been changed to replace the default keys which are usually [Shift][Q], [Shift][W], [Shift][E], [Shift][R]. At first using smart cast is going to really mess with you, especially if you've been using regular style casting for the majority of your LoL experience. However, I promise that it's for the best in the long term.
Why should I use it? By removing the 2nd click necessary to cast target requiring spells such as Morgana's "Dark Binding" or Brand's "Conflagration", the time it take for you to chain actions becomes greatly reduced. This means you're playing the game faster than someone who isn't using smart cast. In clutch situations, every split second counts. Once you reach a level of skill that allows you to process these decisions as quickly as they come, you're going to need the reaction speed and execution speed that goes along with it.
I started using smart cast a couple weeks ago and I think finally I've gotten used to it. At the end of the day it really is preference and certain skills are just more user friendly if not smart casted. However, 9 times out of 10, smart cast will really improve the speed at which you play the game. I would most certainly recommend it to anyone trying to improve their play
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