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.

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. 

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

AD's State of the Game - Ft. Chaox of TSM

Whether its just due to player preference, or in-game tweaks and balances, the meta-game is constantly changing in League of Legends. You remember when everyone was playing Urgot? How about when people were running Soraka / Karthus. or the roaming Alistar? Today we're gonna be discussing the top tier meta-game that's going on in bottom lane. Is one AD considered the best while some are considered the worst? We'll find out.

The Key Players: With the recent change by Riot to somewhat balance all the ranged ADs, it seems like more or less, all of them are viable. However, just like it was before, some heroes are just better cut out for the job than others. Chaox takes the time to discuss some of the reasoning behind this.

xcyteZ: So what AD's are more or less viable in the current state of the game?

Chaox: Heroes like Sivir, Graves, Vayne, Corki, Cait are definitely more viable in solo que but Kog'Maw and Ezreal also have their place in competitive matches.

xcyteZ: Why are AD's such as Ezreal, Urgot, or Tristana less popular? Is it because they are just flat out worse than the others? Or is it because they have a much smaller niche in which they were effective? 

Chaox: I don't feel like they're necessarily worse than the more popular ADs. Like you mentioned, those heroes are definitely more team comp oriented. Ezreal fits well into a poke comp while Urgot is a good pick against a heavily AD stacked team due to Frozen Heart.

xcyteZ: If you had to pick, would you say there's currently an AD that's just flat out better than the rest right now?

Chaox: Yea most definitely. Graves is all around the best AD right now. He's got a good laning phase, good single target and AoE damage for team fights.

Twitch, The Plague Rat: No love for you? Apparently not. I'm sure in solo que he is viable...to a certain extent. But against the likes of a top-tier AD player coupled with a strong AD. There's just no way that Twitch would ever stand a chance in the laning phase. Why? Well it's quite obvious once you take a couple minutes to think about it but I'll quickly explain the biggest reason why.

• His Burst: Twitch's burst potential is great. However, unlike most of the champions, he takes so much longer to do it. In order for twitch to really punish you, he'll have to attack you, then slow you, then attack you a few more times, then expunge. This is like a 4-5 second process. If you get stunned or silenced during this you're pretty much screwed. Not to mention even if you do get the whole combo off, you've just used close to half your mana.

In no way shape of form can Twitch effectively trade vs. any of the top-tier AD's because their DPS is just far greater. Sadly, if it wasn't for his weak laning phase, I could most definitely see more teams using Twitch as their AD carry as his skill set outside of lane is rather strong in a 5v5 scenario.

The Reality: Ever since high level League of Legends has turned the bottom lane into a duel of Support + AD vs. Support + AD, it's really just been the same few heroes that have been on a revolving door. Even though teams like "Rock Solid" aka: "Dignitas" have experimented with some interesting support picks, heroes like Janna, Taric, Sona, and Soraka have been the only ones to truly withstand the test of time. Likewise, it seems like the AD picks are pretty much being cycled through in accordance with the in-game tweaks and balances that Riot implements. Have the players just run out of creative steam? Or have we just found the best of the best? Hopefully it's not the latter.

COME BACK TOMORROW FOR A FIRST IMPRESSION ANALYSIS OF VIKTOR

Viktor, The Machine Herald 1st Impressions

Hey guys I feel kinda dumb for posting the sneak preview only a couple hours before the champion spotlight came out but...a sneak preview is a sneak preview right? :P Anyways, now that the hero is actually out I'm gonna talk about how he actually plays out in a game. Watching the spotlight and reading the article should give you a pretty decent feel for the champion. Is this hero a 6300 Dump? Or is he the up and coming flavor of the month?

Background: So it's 4AM, and was doing some 1v1's against a few friends. I click on the store to see how I can spend my Riot points. Sure enough I notice Viktor in the store. Being as tired as I was, I just bought him without even watching the Summoner Spotlight like a boss. Let me warn you that this 1st impressions will be done in a very blunt and unprofessional manner.

With that being said, wow what a terrible investment. If hero purchases came with receipts, I'd return the shit out of this guy.

Skill Coverage: 

• Power Transfer: Viktor blasts an enemy unit for magic damage, returning 40% of the damage dealt before reduction as a shield for 3 seconds.

So on paper this skill sounds great right? Deals damage and I get a shield? Awesome. Nope! Turns out the range on this thing is pretty small, any half-decent player will be able to move back to avoid getting harassed with this. It's easily telegraphed in the sense that people will most definitely see it coming when Viktor is moving straight towards you past his creep set. "Hmm, I wonder what he wants to do?"

Not to mention the fact that even if it does land, it doesn't trade well against the other nukes that other AP's bring to the table. The reason being that the shield just comes up too late. Most of the time the damage is done to you before the spell bounces off your opponent to shield you. Pretty worthless.

• Gravity Field: Viktor conjures a gravitational imprisonment device in an area near him, slowing all enemies that pass above it. Whilst under its effect, enemies generate stacks every 0.5 seconds; at 3 stacks the target will be stunned for 1.5 seconds.

This is Viktor's only saving grace in my eyes, this stun, if placed correctly is really amazing. However, without augmenting it, the range on this spell is also very short making it difficult to cast safely in team fights and making it too easy to avoid in the laning phase.

• Death Ray: Viktor uses his robotic arm to fire a chaos beam that sweeps across the field in a chosen path, dealing magic damage to every enemy it hits.

The damage on this is pretty good, and even better when augmented. However it's not very user friendly. Think of the aiming mechanic on this skill to be like Rumble's ultimate. Also, like his other two spells, the range on it is fairly short so before you get used to it, you'll find yourself wanting to cast it slightly further than it can go. I can see how Riot wanted you to use this in succession with "Gravity Field" as a full combo. But in lane, its rather awkward to use the first few times.

• Chaos Storm: Viktor conjures a chaos storm at the target location, dealing magic damage and silencing enemies in the area for 0.5 seconds. As it churns, the storm deals magic damage every second to nearby enemies for 7 seconds. Activating this ability again while the singularity is active will redirect it. The storm moves faster the closer it is to Viktor.

So the idea behind this is really cool. It definitely fit's inside Riot's plan of making Viktor a more sustained damage mage as opposed to the generic burst style that's been popular. However, to really make this skill viable, I feel as though you are somewhat forced to augment his "Power Transfer" to get movement speed increases so that you can keep the cloud moving at a decent pace. Casting this at long range makes it fairly easy to walk out of until you get Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

• Evolving Technology (Passive): Viktor starts with an item that takes up one of his item slots, the Hex Core ,that provides him with stats and can be upgraded in the store to augment one of his abilities and improve its stats. The Hex Core can only be upgraded once, for 1200 gold, and cannot be sold back to the store.

At max level, this provides you with a different variety of stats. In terms of cost efficiency I'd say it's definitely worth investing 1200. However, it does take up a spot in your inventory only allowing you to purchase 5 items as opposed to 6. Also, it's only strong throughout the mid-game. It's clearly not stronger than a big AP item. To have the item last you, I'd say his Death Ray: Augment will definitely carry you the longest. The concept behind this is really cool but feels like Viktor really does need the augmented extras to his skill set. Without it he'd obviously be even weaker than what I see him as right now.

Wheres his Place in the Meta? Can he Jungle? Can he mid? Can he go top? At this moment in time Viktor is having a hard time finding his niche. In mid he will be out laned due his lack of sustain, poor trading capabilities, and lack of burst to really pose a threat against the high tier APs.

At top, he may have SOME success, but ultimately he'll have the same problems as a Viktor going mid just in a different form. Most heroes will be too tanky for him to burst down and his lack of sustain is once again going to be a problem. Top laners usually have gap closers and theres no way that Viktor can fight hand to hand against a majority of the champions you will see in top lane. He'll pretty much be forced to "Gravity Field" any time a champion gets on top of him.

As for the jungle, this is something I'm going to have to try...actually I'm gonna try it right after this post and give you guys some more insight. However, off the top of my head, it doesn't seem it it'd be that bad. His jungle clear time may be rather slow in comparison to the more pronounced junglers, but his skill set can definitely be dangerous when ganking.

UPDATE: Tried jungling, his shield doesn't prevent enough damage and you're just too weak. Also, like I predicted, his clear time is very slow. Only good for trolling lol.

Final Thoughts: At this current moment in time Viktor is most definitely, DEFINITELY, weaker than he is strong. His skills aren't bad in their own right, but they definitely need a little tweaking. If they increased the range on his spells by a bit, and increased the projectile speed of his shield (or made it instant), I could see him being rather good. To those who have their heart set on trying out the new hero, I'd recommend a tanky build like you would Rumble. Stick true to his sustain damage roots and play him in that style. 

Viktor Sneak Peak via IGN

I realize this is actually my 2nd post today, but I came across a Viktor preview and I wanted to share it with you guys. From what I can tell he seems very Swain-esque AP caster in the sense that hes supposed to get into the fray of the team fight as opposed to standing from a distance and casting. Anyways I wish I could have embedded this video directly into this article but I don't think blogspot allows it. Check it out and let me know what you guys think. Thanks~


Viktor Sneak Peak @ IGN

You'll pretty much find these 2 guys talking about Viktor while Phreak is playing him. To be honest this video might actually be used in his Summoner Spotlight but who knows for sure.

YOU'RE A WIZARD AHRI !!

So I dunno if you guys have been watching any of the higher level streams but I'm sure you've noticed something. That something being, Ahri is either banned, or picked in almost all of them. Is Ahri getting the "new kid" love? Or is it something more substantial? Seems as though Dignitas have already been experimenting with her and her popularity is enormous on the European ladder. Why is she a fucking winner?

I'm Blue Buffed, check out DEEZ NUTS: Congratulations you've managed to play her decently enough that your jungle is willing to give you his blue buff. Now how will you capitalize? Here are a few very strong options you can take.

• I'M GOIN IN: Super aggressive play against your lane opponent. Make them get out of your lane or flat out kill them. Getting blue buff means you will be able to harass non-stop. You made a poor exchange? So be it. Spam some more spells and get your life back, then do it again. 

Playing super aggressively definitely has it's benefits, but it can hurt you if not done properly as well. You run the risk of missing a few creeps and against very bursty AP's, they do have the potential of turning around and shitting on you. When taking this route, make sure you're very aware of the enemy player's skill, as well as their hero's skill set. 

• I'M GOING IN...TO GANK: Ahri's ganking potential increases by a ton once you get blue. Her CDR will usually allow for 2 full set of spells from Ahri where if you didn't have blue, you would probably be able to only do 1, with the risk of going out of mana.

This is another bit of a risk/reward. But, if done correctly, the reward definitely outweighs the risk. Worst case scenario, you miss a few creeps in your mid lane.

• THEY SEE ME FARMING, THEY JELLY: While the creeps are still running to meet each other, line up your "Q" so they hit as many of the enemy minions as possible. This should bring the melee minions to about half, and the kill the ranged minions or bring them very close to death (Result varies depending on your personal rune setup). While you're waiting for your "Q" to come off cooldown, masterfully last hit the melee minions and shoot out another "Q" to finish off the ranged minions.

Farming in this manner is always good. It's safe and well...you're farming. There really isn't much else to it. Unlike the other two options listed above, there isn't much of a risk/reward thing going on. However, it ensures you are making good use of your buff.


Core Aspects that Make her Strong: Like any other hero in the game, Ahri has a certain set of skills that make her unique. What I want to talk about is how her skill set makes her better than most of the heroes in the game.

• Soul Eater (Passive): Ahri gains a charge of Soul Eater whenever one of her spells hits an enemy (max: three charges per spell). Upon reaching nine charges, Ahri's next spell has 35% Spell Vamp.

- Once Ahri gets Blue Buff, her sustain potential is almost limitless. If you are one of those people who like rushing Hextech Revolver, than it should be even more faceroll. This allows for stupidly aggressive play after level 6. If you fuck up, you can just ulti back to safety and spam spells till you are healthy again. (I don't recommend playing like an idiot but shit happens.)

• Charm (E): Ahri blows a kiss that damages and charms an enemy it encounters, causing them to walk harmlessly towards her.

- Are you serious? Unless you have Cleanse or QSS, consider getting hit with this death. On the opposite spectrum of things, if you land this on a worthwhile target, you just secured a tower, dragon, or baron. Charm is essentially a more spammable Blitzcrank grab. CON: It doesn't bring the hero to point blank range. PRO: You don't have to be playing Blitzcrank to do it. Seriously though, if you land this on the enemy AD or AP Carry, they're fucking toast. CY@ LATER!

• Spirit Rush (R): Ahri dashes forward and fires essence bolts, damaging three nearby champions. Spirit Rush can be cast up to three times before going on cooldown.

- You know how most AP's in the game snowball? Well, take that snowball, and launch it out of a fucking bazooka. That is the range of Ahri's killing potential. Fantastic for aggression and gtfo'ing. This skill is just absolutely amazing. Easily one of the best (Non-Global) gap closers in the game.

• Rylai's Crystal Scepter (Item): "Hey! This isn't one of her skills!" No, but it might as well be. Around the time that you get this, Ahri will be able to spam her skills in rapid succession of each other. Add a blue buff in there and a slow, there's no getting away. Turn to fight? Good luck chasing when you're constantly getting slowed. By the way she can just Spirit Rush away if things get bad. Without any hard CC, Ahri becomes nearly unstoppable with this item. She is very durable due to the large amount of HP she gains from it as well. I highly recommend rushing this as her first big item.

Core Aspects that Make her Weak: None. Jk. Ahri is a phenomenally strong hero, but she most definitely has her weak points. 

• Pre level 6, shes very succeptible to ganks. Only having 1 level in charm, her ability to deter ganks outside of flash, are nearly non-existent. 
• Poor Usage of "Spirit Rush" will put you in a really bad spot. No way in, no way out. Without "Spirit Rush" you will generally be forced to play more conservatively just poking back and forth. Her ability to create opportunities diminish greatly.
• Hard CC flat out counters Ahri. Even though Rylai's provides her with a nice chunk of health to play around with, she can still be bursted down fairly easily. Theres no worse feeling than "Spirit Rushing" in once, only to get CC'd and not even be able to use the other 2 charges to get out. 
• Low early game burst potential. Untill Ahri gets her first big item, her damage in the laning phase is just a tad bit weaker than most AP's. To make up for this, you will have to take quantity over quality in terms of the harassment you are dealing to your opponent.

I'm not about to make a tier list since so many other people have already done it but, in this current state, Ahri is easily a Tier 1 AP. Will this last? As more and more people play with or against Ahri, people will undoubtedly learn to understand her and how to deal with her. Is she OP? I don't think so. I feel shes very balanced and very fun to play.

To close: DON'T CHARM ME BRO