Friday, November 30, 2012

Season 3: Seraph's Embrace

Today's item is an upgrade to Archangel's Staff: Seraph's Embrace.


Seraph's Embrace: (Transforms from Archangel's Staff)
1000 Mana
60 Ability Power
10 Mana Regen per 5 seconds
Passive: UNIQUE - Insight: Gain Ability Power equal to 3% of your Maximum Mana.
Active: UNIQUE - Mana Shield: Drains 25% of your current mana to shield yourself for an equal amount for 3 seconds - 120 second cooldown.

Item transformation isn't entirely new to League of Legends. Rengar's Bonetooth Necklace upgrades itself based on a stacked buff, and even changes into Kha'zix' head if you murder the void horror in the right circumstances. This item simply extends the core concept.

Fully stacking the bonus Mana on Archangel's Staff will cause it to transform into Seraph's Embrace. The stats on the two items are nearly identical, save for an additional 10 AP and the active ability. The passive Maximum Mana to Ability Power is unique for both items, so enjoy stacking Archangel's Staves while you still can.

Building Archangel's Staff has long been an indicator of a player's inexperience. The time require for stacking its Mana combined with Tear of the Goddess' complete lack of offensive or defensive potential made it a weak choice. You had to rush Tear to be sure of stacking it, but rushing Tear put you at a severe disadvantage in lane. Even though Archangel's Staff could easily provide in excess of 135 AP late-game, the cost, effort, and ultimate lack of defense were not worth the risk.

Some of these problems have been addressed in Season 3. It is now only necessary to stack 750 Mana, rather than 1000, and the upgrade to Seraph's Embrace provides a very significant defensive shield. Even with half of one's mana spent, Mana Shield can potentially provide a 300 damage shield, almost as good as Barrier

Still, it will take a significant portion of the game to stack the mana. You can't count on the transformation until well into the mid-game, even if you rush Tear. However, at that point it offers a great combination of offense, defense, and mana sustain. Who wouldn't want more AP on a single item than even Deathcap, practically unlimited mana, and a potent shield?

While Singed and Ryze are the obvious champions for this item, I expect many champions for whom Archangel's was previously a mistake will find this a useful item when aiming for a strong mid or late-game.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Season 3: Crystalline Flask

Continuing our Season 3 Item Extravaganza, we have another entirely new item: Crystalline Flask


Crystalline Flask: (225g)
Passive: Starts with 3 charges and refills each time you stop by your shop.
Active: Consumes a charge to restore 100 health and 40 mana over 10 seconds.


There is a stage in player development where they learn the importance of potions, and how purchasing them liberally can turn the tide in difficult lanes or break a stalemate. A potion used in combat can be the difference between glorious victory and ignominious defeat. However, few players mentally track just how much gold they spend on potions. It's not until they realize they are an item or two behind their opponent that the potential cost of their drinking habit catches up to them.

Crystalline Flask serves as an efficient solution to this problem, so efficient that Riot very quickly nerfed its sell value. Flask's three charges are equivalent to two health potions and one mana potion, and recharge for free every time you recall. Flask effectively breaks even with just one use, and only gets better from there.

Starting with Flask is, in short, something of a no-brainer. It's cheap, so much so you can add a Rejuvenation Bead or Faerie Charm (both of which are immensely more useful than before) and still have enough gold for two regular potions (or a ward and a potion with the Wealth mastery).

Flask is also an excellent item for level 1 skirmishes. If two teams clash, but one bought Flasks while the other bought potions, the Flask team will generally procure an advantage so long as they stay even on kills. By forcing the opposing team to use potions, while making use of their own free refills, the Flask team earns a small, but important edge.

Using the Wealth mastery it's actually possible to start Flask + Cloth Armor/Hunter's Machete, allowing even junglers to make use of the item. However, this opening is incredibly dangerous for many junglers, and essentially impossible for most of the rest. Unless your team is giving you incredible amounts of help on your first buff camp, don't try this unless you're someone with very, very high sustain (e.g. Warwick, Nunu, Udyr etc.). 

One final, notable aspect of Flask is that it can be used at the same time as regular potions. Both act as 10 Health per second for their duration, resulting in a potential 20 Health per second. The Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation can overlap the other two as well. In early levels that could easily be the difference between dying to Ignite, and living with a sliver of health.

Crystalline Flask is going to be a useful, cheap purchase for everyone, save for the rare case where zero sustain is necessary at all (and even then). There are simply far too many factors in its favor, and practically nothing bad to say about it. As a result, you can expect to see a lot of Flasks come Season 3.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Season 3: Sightstone

Very few items are going to make it through the Season 3 revamp unscathed, and plenty of new choices will present themselves to players of all roles and skill levels. A number of these altered or alien items are worthy of exclusive examination. From now until Season 3 begins, and possibly even after, I'll be reviewing one of these items every day.

Today's item is the brand new Sightstone.


Sightstone: (700g)
100 Health
Passive: UNIQUE - Ward Refresh: Starts with 4 charges and refill each time you return to the shop.
Active: UNIQUE - Ghost Ward: Consumes a charge to place a Sight Ward. You may have a maximum of 2 wards from this item at once.


The strength of this item should be readily apparent to any support player. For 700g you immediately gain 300g in wards and ~250g in Health. Assuming you place these wards continually, it's effectively an 8gp10 item. With its current sell value of 490g it is actually cheaper to buy this item, place two sets of wards, and sell it than to simply buy and place four wards. Even if they nerf the sell value to 50%, a standard for gp10s, it will still be a mere six minutes before enough wards have been placed for the item to break even in value.

Sightstone's ridiculous cost efficiency is going to have interesting ramifications for more than just support players. At higher rankings it's expected that junglers and mid players will also ward in order to track the enemy jungler and warn of impending ganks or roaming opponents. With two access points by mid, warding can be very costly. Yet, with Sightstone the entire burden can be easily shouldered by one of the two players. Even top can make use of this item, as it's not uncommon for enemy junglers to sneak through the fog of war into the lane brush. Unless you have no intention to ward at all Sightstone is going to be an important item for almost every player on the map.

This incredible utility is likely to get the item nerfed. While dropping 700g at once for a Sightstone can be a little difficult for a support, it will be trivial for anyone else. The theoretical power discrepancy between a champion with Sightstone and one with stronger items of similar cost is limited by the lack of vision forgoing wards provides. Unless one's jungler or mid is inept (which, to be fair, is a common condition in lower rankings) the champion who doesn't purchase Sightstone is the one with a disadvantage.

On top of that, Sightstone actually has an upgrade. For an additional 600g (475g for a Ruby Crystal and 125g for the combine cost) you can acquire a Ruby Sightstone, which increases the Health bonus to 300, charges to 5, and number of simultaneous wards to 3. Supports are likely to be the only ones particularly interested in this upgrade, as only they can afford to be so slot-inefficient.

Sightstone doesn't represent the death of wards entirely. You'll still need to pick up wards at the beginning (unless you think you can hold out for a minute or two with no items whatsoever) at the very least. Pink wards will take on a particular significance given the ability of opponents to ward and reward important locations. Late in the game three wards won't be nearly enough to control the map. Still, the amount of gold spent on wards is likely to decrease drastically thanks to this item.

I'm fairly certain that Riot doesn't want the map lit up like a Christmas Tree, and with the nerf to Oracle's there won't be much preventing such a situation. It takes no special foresight to see that Sightstone will be treasured not only by supports, but by laners sick of roaming mids and jungle ganks. Sightstone will be the equivalent to a fast expansion in StarCraft, only without any significant all-in cheeses that might punish the play.

I fully expect that Riot will be forced to impose some limit on the number of Sightstones in the game. Until then, abuse it all you can when Season 3 begins.

Season 3: Utility Masteries

In Season 2 the Utility tree was much maligned and generally avoided, save for the first nine points. Nothing it offered was particularly compelling, with some supports opting to ignore it in favor of the Defense tree. Season 3's revisions make it significantly more competitive.

Obligatory mastery calculator links:

Season 2: http://leaguecraft.com/masteries
Season 3: http://www.finalesfunkeln.com/s3/

Unlike the Defense tree, which was almost completely uprooted, the Utility looks very similar to its previous incarnation. However, plenty of masteries have been shuffled around and altered, and the results are generally very good.

The first tier now features Wanderer, once known as Swiftness. The frequently taken 2% Movement Speed mastery now only works out of combat, cementing its place as a tool for roaming, clearing wards, and traveling back to the lane. Meditation, the Mana Regen mastery, has also been moved to the first tier, but is otherwise unchanged. These simple changes belie the larger ones coming in the remaining tiers.

Mastermind, once the final mastery in the Utility tree, has been moved all the way to the second tier. It now costs three points and only reduces summoner spell cooldowns by 10%, but the change in accessibility is notable. Scout still appears to be something of a throwaway mastery despite its buffs, but will at least be useful in specific situations. Expanded Mind is now in this tier without any other alteration. Also of note is a new mastery, Artifacer, which reduces the cooldowns on item active abilities by 15%. Overall this tier presents some interesting choices, especially given the increased importance of item actives.

The third tier still sports Runic Affinity and Greed without change. Transmutation, however, has moved and in its place are Biscuiteer and Strength of Spirit. The latter of these two was moved down from the penultimate tier, and received a notable nerf to compensate. Seeing as how it was practically never taken in Season 2, and the addition of new mana items in Season 3, this seems a fair trade. Biscuiteer is a one point mastery which grants the player a one off item at the start of the game. The Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation heals 80 Health and 50 Mana over 10 seconds, roughly adding up to one potion's worth of restoration. This is a new and interesting precedent for masteries, and makes another appearance in the next tier.

Explorer is a one point mastery which grants the player a special ward at the start of a game. It only lasts 60 seconds, but nevertheless represents an opportunity to detect invasions, avoid face checking, and control brush. Vampirism combines the old Life Steal and Spell Vamp masteries into one, forcing carries who wish to load up on sustain to make sacrifices in the Offense tree. Wealth has received a slight buff, granting 25-50 gold, which opens up new starting item possibilities such as Cloth Armor + Crystalline Flask. Only Awareness is unchanged.

The only notable change to the penultimate tier is the new Pickpocket mastery. This mastery grants 3g (5g if you're melee) every time you auto-attack an enemy champion (on a 5 second cooldown). Theoretically one could gain 3.6-6gp10 from this mastery alone, if your opponents were accommodating. In practice it will be worth far, far less, but as Greed is commonly taken for a mere 0.5gp10 per point, one would only need to auto-attack a champion once or twice per minute to match that value. Unless you're jungling, you should definitely grab this mastery if you're this deep already.

The final Utility mastery is Nimble, which increases Movement Speed by 3%. That's a significant boost for one point, considering that in Season 2 it cost four points for 2% Movement Speed. Placing this mastery so deep in the Utility tree is clearly Riot's answer to the Movement Speed stacking that was rampant in Season 2. If a champion wishes to zoom around with 400+ Movement Speed at level 1, they now have to sacrifice significant offensive and defensive potential.

The Utility tree is true to its name in Season 3. Every mastery in the tree somehow enhances player choices and actions. Whether it's reaching a location sooner, using abilities or items more frequently, getting items faster, or leveling more quickly, the Utility tree clearly enhances a champion in very different ways than the other mastery trees. Compared to Season 2, the new Utility tree is a compelling place to invest points even for non-Supports.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Season 3: Defense Masteries

After a brief interruption due to a national holiday involving the mass consumption of plump fowl, the examination of Season 3 masteries continues. Today we'll look at the new Defense masteries.

Again, you can follow along using these mastery calculators:

Season 2: http://leaguecraft.com/masteries
Season 3: http://www.finalesfunkeln.com/s3/

It should be immediately apparent that the Defense masteries have changed fairly dramatically. While a few of the old favorites remain untouched, almost everything has been at least moved, if not replaced entirely.

The Armor and Magic Resistance masteries are conspicuously missing from the first tier, replaced by the Health Regen and Health per Level masteries. The former of these two has undergone a large revision, increasing the amount of Health Regen granted based on how much Health you're missing. Summoner's Resolve and Tough Skin are notable in that they are two of the only masteries in the entire Defense tree which have not been moved or altered in any way.

The second tier features the Armor and Magic Resistance masteries that were missing from the first. Moving them down a tier makes them slightly less accessible, a necessary change given their ubiquitous use at the end of Season 2. Bladed Armor is also now in this tier, meaning all the essential jungle masteries can be obtained with only seven or eight points invested.

In the third tier is Veteran's Scars, the only remaining Defense mastery which has not been altered or moved. Indomitable has been renamed Unyielding, and now only reduces damage from champions. Two new masteries also appear in this tier. Relentless decreases the effectiveness of slows (e.g. a 40% slow becomes a 34% slow), and Safeguard reduces damage incurred by turrets. While the Defense tree is useful to any champion, these and other specialized masteries make it clear that this tree is primarily aimed at helping bruisers and tanks.

All of the previous fourth tier Defense masteries have been removed, leaving the tree completely without Movement Speed or Cooldown Reduction. The new fourth tier is populated by Tenacious and Juggernaut, two masteries which split the crowd control reduction and % Maximum Health once given by Season 2's final Defense mastery. There is also Block, a mastery which reduces damage from champion auto-attacks. This tier is one of the strongest in the Defense tree due to the power of crowd control reduction and the direct effective health benefits of % Maximum Health.

The Defense tree's penultimate tier is also completely different. Defender is an incredibly strong mastery in a team fight, granting up to five Armor and Magic Resistance with a single point. Legendary Armor isn't quite so amazing, but if you're a champion with a strong defensive steroid or defense itemization heavy on Armor and Magic Resistance it can be potent. Good Hands has moved here from Utility, and now only costs one point for the full effect. Finally, Reinforced Armor serves to help protect a tank or bruiser from the crit happy end-game of enemy AD carries. Because both this tier and the previous tier have so many compelling masteries, putting more than 21 points into Defense may be common.

Honor Guard is now the final Defense mastery, and costs only one point for 3% damage reduction. In Season 2 it cost three points for half the effect, making Honor Guard the recipient of one of the largest buffs any mastery has ever seen. If you're going to go deep into Defense, this is a must-have mastery.

Overall, the Defense tree is much, much stronger in Season 3. In Season 2 most everything past the third tier had little to do with actually tanking, or was a very marginal increase in durability. The new masteries are quite the opposite, very few masteries do not relate directly to taking less damage, and almost all have value to one champion or another. Even though the masteries are aimed toward bruisers and tanks, even carries and supports may well be inclined to invest heavily in this tree.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Update: Mondays with Monte

Starting tomorrow I'm going to stream a weekly show I call "Mondays with Monte". The goal of the show is to help players improve through analysis, replays, community interaction, and a touch of good humor. The show will start at 8:00 PM CST every Monday, and should last about an hour. Never fear, I'll keep this blog updated, though the show is going to take priority where necessary.

This has been a long time in coming. The original idea has been spinning around my head for over a year, but other projects and interests kept it on the backburner. The impending chaos of Season 3 seemed like a good opportunity to put this idea into action. The Season 3 changes won't be the limit of the show, but it's starting point.

Tomorrow night I'll be discussing the Season 3 jungle. I hope my immense readership (*ahem*) will join me for an hour that is hopefully both entertaining and edifying.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Season 3: Offense Masteries

The masteries revamp is too big a topic to tackle in one post, unless you're one of those noble souls who enjoys reading fifty page white papers, so I'm dividing it up into three obvious sections. Today we'll be covering the new Offense masteries.

You can follow along using these mastery calculators:

Season 2: http://leaguecraft.com/masteries
Season 3: http://www.finalesfunkeln.com/s3/

There are only two new masteries in the Offense tree, the least of any, but they are interesting nonetheless.

Spellsword is a one point mastery adds 5% of your AP to your auto-attacks. 5% isn't much, but for one point it's a reasonably strong mastery. AP champions who do a lot of auto-attacking, such as Teemo, Diana, Twisted Fate, and Eve, could certainly get some mileage out of it, though most won't.

Frenzy is another one point mastery that grants a 10% Attack Speed buff for two seconds after a crit. Lethality, everyone's favorite Crit Damage mastery, is its prerequisite. It's an interesting concept, but ultimately feels fairly weak. By the time you have enough Crit to reliably proc the buff 10% Attack Speed will hardly be noticeable. It is only one point, but it's nothing to write home about.

The only mastery outright removed from the Offense tree was Vampirism. Anyone seeking that 3% Life Steal must now venture into the Utility tree instead. Everything else should be familiar, if jumbled around.

The first tier in Offense now sports the Attack Speed and Cooldown Reduction masteries, instead of Flat AD and AP. This decouples them from the Penetration masteries they were previously prerequisites for. Having them as prerequisites was always slightly awkward as they aren't otherwise tied to one damage type. Moving them to the first tier also makes picking them up easier for those who would dive deep into the other mastery trees.

The AD and AP per Level masteries fill the holes left in the second tier. What I find interesting about this change is how valuable it makes the first nine points of the Offense tree compared to the rest. The difference in offensive power between a carry who goes all the way into Offense versus one who invests in other trees is very, very slight. Also, Demolitionist has been renamed Destruction and now increases damage done to towers by 2.5-5%, though it costs two points instead of one.

The third tier is almost identical, minus the absence of the AD per Level mastery. Interestingly, this encourages players to take Havoc. It's the only mastery in the tier which isn't one point with a prerequisite, and most champions won't be interested in the masteries they've already skipped. While Havoc has been buffed to 2% from 1.5%, it's still a fairly weak mastery. This is part of why going further than nine points into Offense isn't as good as it might first appear.

The fourth tier contains Spellsword, Lethality and the Flat AD and AP masteries that used to be in the first tier. These latter two have been buffed by 50%, but are still fairly weak compared to their per Level peers. Lethality has been increased to two points and is half as effective for ranged ADs, essentially dividing its value per point for them by four. Again, the relatively weak nature of this tier calls into question the value of pushing forward.

The final two tiers are almost identical, save for the presence of Frenzy in the penultimate tier and a slight change to Executioner. Executioner now increases damage by 5% against targets at less than 50% health, versus 6% at less than 40%. This makes the mastery stronger as it is now slightly harder to leap frog the benefit when bursting an opponent. Sunder also benefits from the Penetration changes I discussed yesterday, increasing its potential effectiveness by up to 220%. These tiers are strong, but given all the questionable points that had to be invested to reach them they are, by proxy, also questionable.

Offense may be the weakest of the three trees post-revamp, and that may be slightly intentional. The community has a great deal of inertia when it comes to ideas and changes, and in Season 2 the Offense tree was arguably the strongest by far. Its slight disadvantage in Season 3 may be compensation for its current greatness.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Season 3: Penetration

It was only a few months ago that I discussed Penetration and Reduction mechanics. Now we've come full circle, and in Season 3 the order of application has gone full circle, return to its original form:

% Reduction
Flat Reduction
% Penetration
Flat Penetration

The strength of Penetration on items, runes, and masteries has been reduced almost universally for both Flat and % varieties, but champion abilities have largely remained untouched. The net result is that many champions are poised for some creative use of game mechanics.

Xerath is the only AP champion with a Penetration buff, and it clocks in at a whopping 40%. Combined with 8% from Arcane Knowledge and 35% from Void Staff, Xerath ignores 64% of his opponents' Magic Resistance. This makes any Flat Penetration roughly 2.8 times as effective as normal. Stacking Penetration runes with Sorcerer's Shoes and Haunting Guise, Xerath can completely ignore up to 140 Magic Resistance. Even an AD carry with Magic Resistance Glyphs, Aegis Aura, Soraka Passive, and a Quick Silver Sash will still be taking true damage. Now realize Xerath routinely hits three or more champions with his off-screen bombardment. Fun times ahead.

Nidalee lacks a personal buff, but can potentially debuff opponents for 40% reduction on both Armor and Magic Resistance. This gives her the same potential as Xerath, provided an opponent steps on one of her traps. Considering the raw damage on a maximum range spear, this should terrify anyone who abhors poke compositions.

Trundle is perhaps one of the more frightening champions. Over the course of six seconds his ultimate steals 30-50% of a champion's Armor and Magic Resistance. With just Penetration runes, masteries, and a Black Cleaver enemies with 100 Armor or less are as good as bare. If you go absolutely nuts on Penetration you could theoretically ignore up to 224 Armor, but then you'd have few defenses yourself.

Olaf gains 30 Armor Penetration passively through his ultimate, which is as much as anyone can stack from runes and masteries combined. His lack of a built-in % Reduction or Penetration mechanic helps curb the insanity somewhat, but targets at less than 100 Armor will still take true damage from all of his attacks with the basic Black Cleaver setup. If you thought Olaf screaming toward you was scary before, wait until Season 3.

Wukong is perhaps the bruiser best positioned to make you shake your fist in anger. With Black Cleaver he can potentially reduce the armor of your entire team by 25%. Combined with the 30% from his Q on one priority target, he and his team can ignore a lot of armor. You should be very thankful there's no melee equivalent to Sorcerer's Shoes, as he would eat it right up.

Interestingly, the big loser in this equation is Flat Reduction. While it's applied after % Reduction, it's still applied before % Penetration and is therefore relatively weak. Unless people completely give up on trying to stack Armor or Magic Resistance against certain champions, Flat Reduction will only be good in the earlier stages of the game.

Still, the potential for Soraka to drop people into negative Magic Resistance is always amusing to consider. Between a full stack of Starcall, Abyssal Scepter, and Malady a foolish champion could be brought down to -134 Magic Resistance, increasing the damage they take from spells by 62%. The chances of anyone being that foolish and surviving long enough to reach that point are nil, but it's still fun to think about.

In any case, the practical result of the Penetration changes is that Health itemization is going to be considerably more important than before. Assassins and bruisers are going to be far more effective when and if they get on top of your carries. Even for champions who don't have ridiculous Penetration/Reduction tools built in, the new mechanics will make them significantly more deadly. Proper positioning and protection, skills that have long been sidelined, are going to be critical to survival.

We're only two mechanical changes into Season 3 and already it's becoming evident how alien the game will seem. Hold on to your Teemo hats, because while there will be a few spots of apparently normality going forward, in general things are only going to get crazier from here.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Season 3: Movement Speed

A heck of a lot is changing in Season 3, so much that it overwhelms even detail-mongers like myself. To help you digest the metaphorical mountain of information I'll be zeroing in on specific topics for analysis and explanation. Today's subject: Movement Speed.

In Season 3 Boots of Speed will only provide 25 Movement Speed, and to compensate all champions' base Movement Speed will be increased by 25. With Boots of Speed being only half as effective, other items will rise in viability. This change also gives junglers a break, as the new jungle severely limits which junglers can safely start boots. If the lanes all still had a 50 Movement Speed boost ganks would have been impossible past Bronze. In many cases picking up boots is going to be an afterthought, something you can put off a few minutes in order to pick up an important early item.

In addition, Season 3 has five "enchants" for boots which can be applied to any Tier 2 boots. They are:
  • Alacrity: +15 Movement Speed (475g)
  • Captain: Allied champions running toward you gain 8% bonus movement speed. Nearby minions gain 25% bonus movement speed. (650g)
  • Distortion: Decreases cooldown of Ghost, Teleport and Flash by 25%. (475g)
  • Furor: Whenever you deal damage with a single target attack or spell, you gain 12% movement speed that decays over 2 seconds. (650g)
  • Homeguard: Whenever you are at fountain, you instantly gain full health and mana, and gain a 200% movement speed boost that decays over 8 seconds (4 seconds on Crystal Scar). (475g)
There's something for everyone here, though some are more specific than others. Alacrity is an all purpose enchant, something that any champion can make use of (though champions with % Movement Speed boosts will benefit slightly more). Captain is obviously designed for pushers, initiators, and supports. Distortion is useful primarily for Flash-dependent initiators, but would be also be a favorite of Singed or Hecarim players. Furor is useful both for carries who need to kite, and the assassins and bruisers who need to stick to them. Finally, Homeguard is good for sprinting back to lane/jungle in the early-game, or defending in the late-game. All in all, these help make boots an item slot that isn't entirely forgotten past 10-12 minutes into the game.

Movement Speed items in general have seen vast reductions in their effectiveness. Phantom Dancer, once the proud bearer of 15% Movement Speed, will only sport 5%. All Movement Speed items will fall between 5% and 8%, save for those with actives/temporary boosts. In short, the days where half the champions on the field sprinted around at 450+ Movement Speed are numbered, and having a % Movement Speed boost should be more effective than before.

Movement Speed masteries are also being shifted and heavily modified. Initiator will be replaced by a mastery which reduces the effectiveness of slows. The 2% Movement Speed mastery in the Utility Tree is moving to the first tier, but only works out of combat. At the very bottom of the Utility Tree is a new mastery which will grant 3% Movement Speed called Nimble, but obviously will require a full investment. It will be very difficult to be both tanky and mobile simply from masteries.

Overall, the champions dependent on %-based items for their speed will be slower when moving from place to place, but everyone else will hardly notice. In-combat effects like Furor will preserve the battle between those who kite and those who are kited. Mobility Boots will still be a way to catch unsuspecting lanes off guard, especially with the addition of Alacrity. As with all things Season 3 the Movement Speed changes are both alien and familiar, and it will take time to adjust.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Update: PBE Madness

For those who are curious I did not, in fact, have any idea the Season 3 changes would be hitting the PBE last night. My oddly timed post regarding how to prepare for the chaos was a coincidence, and my cryptic twitter message was for a secret personal project the details of which will be revealed in due time.

Now that it's all out there, both reignofgaming.net and surrenderat20.net have good round ups of all the crazy stuff that's on the PBE. You can only sign up for a PBE account at the start of the month, so unfortunately those of you who are without one will have to live vicariously through streams, blogs, and YouTube videos (the queue for the PBE is probably as long as the Great Wall of China anyway).

I'll talk about everything in much greater detail as I have the opportunity to test and digest it all, but for now here are my initial impressions:
  • The new jungle is poorly balanced, much in the same way the Season 2 revamp was.
  • The new HUD is pretty and clean, but the shop's sounds are unsatisfying.
  • Nami is about as "Regal" as Ariel.
  • Xypherous wasn't kidding when he said Runaan's Hurricane + Muramasa would drain your mana fast.
From here on I'll be picking out specific topics to discuss. Quite likely the jungle will be the first one, as it's close to my heart and also in the process of being butchered. In the meantime, enjoy your information overload.

Pre-Season 3: Elo Compression

Ranked matches at moment seem to be wildly random, with newbies running into exceptional players at odd Elos. There's a method to this madness, and it's the result of Elo compression combined with the wild swings of placement matches.

It's another case of simple math. Consider the formula used for the Elo reset:

Pre-Season 3 Elo = (Season 2 Elo - 1200) / 2 + 1200

The practical upshot of this formula is that the further you were from 1200 Elo, the greater your gain or loss. At the same time, early placement matches can swing Elo by as much as 50 points. In this situation one victory or loss can is worth the equivalent of 100 Elo at the end of Season 2. It doesn't take a psychic to see where this is going.

Take two hypothetical players, one a 1400 at the end of Season 2 and the other 1800, and they'll be at 1300 and 1500 Elo respectively at the start of Pre-Season 3. All it takes to bridge what was a 400 Elo gap in Season 2 are two lucky wins and two unlucky losses respectively. Given the luck of some players, bad or good, even greater gaps can occur with reasonable regularity. The result are games which are even more random than normal, which feeds into the process and sustains the insanity of it all.

As I've played the past few days I've run into players who were obviously platinum-level down in the 1300 range, as well as players who were obviously lucky to have achieved bronze in the very same game. It's an intriguing time to queue.

Over the next week or so the madness will die down, but for now you at least understand what brought it all about in the first place.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Season 3: Be Prepared

Riot has been slowly doling out bits and pieces of information regarding Season 3, and you may well have noticed a distinct lack of posts highlighting them. I've already indulged in pure speculation, and I'm avoiding any further vague prognostications until we have a complete picture. Once all the changes hit the PBE you can expect a quick review of my wildly inaccurate predictions, followed by more thoughtful analysis.

In the meantime, it's clear that the breadth and scope of the impending changes will result in a fair amount of chaos. Much of what you currently know about the game will suddenly be wrong, from viable junglers to competitive top lanes to proper AP builds and more. To adapt, players across the Elo spectrum will be forced to leave their comfort zones and venture into the unknown.

The first step in preparing for this age of upheaval is realizing there's no substitute for experience. Analysis and theory are a supplement to, not a replacement for, playing the game. Even the most incredible of theorycrafters must eventually test their models against the reality of the game itself. Being mentally prepared to dive headlong into the unknown is critical; if you become afraid to play you'll never adapt.

With that in mind, take the time to familiarize yourself with all the new changes before they hit the live servers. Once the changes are on the PBE you can expect websites such as surrenderat20.net to have comprehensive lists to review, and I'll obviously be doing my own analysis here. You don't want to be that player who sits in the fountain for the first few minutes of the game reading tooltips and gawking in confusion, so take advantage of the many resources out there before you're staring down opponents wielding powers you cannot comprehend, let alone combat.

If you've been following the news Season 3 looks to be an exciting time for League of Legends. Be prepared to approach the game with the same intrepid curiosity (though not the same innocence) as when you first played.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Update: Dr. Mundo or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Queue

Preseason 3 has begun, Elos have been reset, rewards have been issued, and placement matches are underway. Now is the perfect time to overcome a longstanding problem that's been hindering me for some time, fear.

In both of the previous seasons I experienced a severe mental block when it came to playing solo queue. Having spent so much time poring over the intellectual side of the game, theorycrafting and testing mechanics, min/maxing junglers, and analyzing plays and team compositions, I became irrationally fearful that any failing on my part could be construed as a referendum on these important practices. In my own strange, twisted way I have an ego about my Elo, and that needs to go if I am to actually improve at the game.

I have a fairly straightforward plan for rehabilitation, queue and play without regard for Elo. It takes approximately a month for habits to be established, so hopefully by 2013 queuing will be thoroughly engrained in my habits.

If you also have problems queuing I highly recommend taking advantage of this particular moment in time. Due to Elo resets and distance from any sort of reckoning the pre/early season has the least pressure of any time period. If you wait, as I did in past seasons, for the pressure to mount the problem will only be exacerbated.

For now I'm learning to stop worrying and love to queue. More than that, I'm not focused on winning as much as I am learning. This means avoiding comfortable champions and roles, trying new things, having concrete goals and the like. I'll be streaming my misadventures when I can, complete with my new webcam. If you've ever wanted to make fun of me for silly mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, there's never been a better time.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Monday, November 12, 2012

Patch Day: Pre-Season 3

The Pre-Season 3 patch is here, and unfortunately there isn't much to see. All of the juicy, exciting changes aren't coming until the Season 3 Patch proper. For now all we have are a large number of bug fixes and a few minor changes.

Elise received very significant buffs to her ratios, and some extra utility on her skill shot stun. These changes seem premature given that it's barely been two weeks since her launch. Particularly with the huge Season 3 upheaval incoming, it's too much too soon. Given the versatility of her kit chances were she would have found a place for herself without this sort of intervention.

Kassadin's Nether Blade got a mixed buff/nerf. It's never been a central part of his playstyle, and that isn't likely to change after this. What makes notable is that it diminishes his ability to sneak Inhibitors, and also makes Attack Speed/AP troll builds more entertaining.

Katarina's base damage on her two principal damage abilities was nerfed slightly. This very marginally reduces her ability to snowball, as level advantages will be lessened. However, the changes are still very minor, and with Season 3 coming soon who will be overpowered and underpowered is anyone's guess.

Ziggs can now do bonus damage to turrets with his passive. This is a surprising change, thematically appropriate and minor as it may seem, as Riot rarely, if ever, increases an AP champion's ability to damage turrets or structures. The explicitness of this change, even as Kassadin lost his ability to deal extra damage to Inhibitors and the Nexus, is striking and unexplained.

All the other champion changes were bug fixes, mana cost adjustments, tooltip alterations, or otherwise not noteworthy enough to mention. If you're a fan of the Twisted Treeline or Dominion there are some item changes that might interest you, but as they don't affect Summoner's Rift (yet?) I won't discuss them here.

When Season 3 does finally hit you can expect extensive analysis on everything from the new items and masteries to the jungle and where the meta will go. It's going to be an exciting time, but for now this is the calm before the storm.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Quote: On Math

"Is this just math that you do as a solo-queuer to make yourself feel better? Or is this real?"

-Megyn Kelly

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Thought: Why Ezreal?

Despite hefty nerfs, Ezreal was still the premier carry at MLG Dallas. His continued popularity at the professional level isn't a coincidence, Ezreal has the best kit around for that level of play.

To understand what makes Ezreal so good competitively we'll have to cover a wide variety of topics. Hold on to your keyboards, because we're going to be diving through a whirlpool of mechanics, laning principles, and meta elements as we explore Ezreal's dominance.

That Ezreal is one of a limited set of AD carries with an repositioning ability is well known, but Ezreal is unique in that he is the only one with a blink. Blinks are nigh-instantaneous and mechanically different from the dashes and jumps that Graves, Corki, Tristana and Caitlyn all use. Dashes have a fatal flaw in that the champion's collision detection lags behind the dash, and jumps are even worse. The champion may look as though they have escaped the range of an ability, but in reality they are still hit and suffer the consequences. This makes using them to evade significantly more difficult. Blinks are not only faster than dashes, but can not be interrupted once they've begun. Even if a crowd control ability lands as you blink, the blink will still happen. Blinks also have far fewer issues when dealing with terrain. Because of all the advantages of blinks, Ezreal is a significantly safer pick.

Ezreal's security is further increased by Mystic Shot. Even when severely disadvantaged in lane, Ezreal can continue to farm from a great distance. This safety mechanism, combined with Ezreal's blink, makes zoning him nearly impossible if he plays his cards right. Mystic Shot also provides a tool for harass, skirmishing, and checking brush. That it also applies on-hit effects such as Sheen and Phage is icing on the cake. Ezreal is simply an extremely safe laning choice when put in the right hands.

The mid-game also happens to be both one of Ezreal's main strengths and the current focus of the professional meta. Essence Flux's use as a tower and objective pushing tool sets him above his peers. Trueshot Barrage is a powerful ability for clearing creep waves that either inhibit a tower push or pressure one of his own towers. Combined with Ezreal's safety, he's simply the best mid-game carry.

Normally I would predict that all of this would warrant further nerfs to Ezreal. However, with Season 3 on the way and vast revisions to masteries, items, and jungling, it's likely that Riot isn't going to nerf champions who happen to match the meta. For all his strengths Ezreal has poor creep clearing aside from his ultimate, and a relatively weak late game. In a different meta, such as the one which preceded what we have now, Ezreal could easily be the worst AD carry. If you're sick and tired of seeing Ezreal in every match, you'll have to wait until Season 3 begins in earnest.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Prognostication: Preseason Updates

Morello posted some information regarding many upcoming changes. It's all very exciting and good conversation fodder, but the analytically minded will notice the absence of something important: numbers.

As much as it may tickle the mind to consider the implications of further jungle changes, alterations to masteries, new items, and modified summoner spells, lacking any hard data distinctly reduces the accuracy of any analysis. Because all of the information provided is generalized, analysis can only be done in wide strokes with a great many "ifs" and "buts".

What better time for another prognostication?

Measurement should be largely trivial, as most of my predictions will only require a quick comparison to actual patch notes. Without further ado, here are my predictions in topical order:

Items:
  • Van Damm's Pillager will be ported to Summoner's Rift.
  • Infinity Edge will be unmade.
  • Spirit Visage and Haunting Guise will be given upgrade paths.
  • Tenacity items (i.e. Moonflare Spellblade, Cloak and Dagger, Eliesa's Miracle) will be significantly rebalanced.
Jungle:
  • Most junglers will need to start Cloth Armor in order to have enough health to gank.
  • The new Jungler items will cost 1100-1300g, and be built from Cloth Armor.
  • The experience and gold value of the jungle will increase by 10-20%.
  • Spawn timers will not be changed.
Masteries:
  • Movement speed masteries will be moved deeper into their respective trees, but will increase in potency.
  • Strength of Spirit will be buffed.
  • Havoc is going to be replaced by a mastery which increases ability damage specifically by a larger margin, and moved deeper into the tree.
Summoner Spells:
  • Flash and Ignite's cooldowns will only increase by 15-25 seconds.
  • Heal will be a single target, ally-targeted spell.
  • Revive's cooldown will be decreased by a full minute, and the speed boost will last slightly longer.
  • Clarity will also restore Energy.
Other:
  • Riot will release another champion designed to be an AP jungler, only to have them be overpowered mid. 
We'll see how I do in the days ahead.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Thought: Asian Ascension

Season 2 ends tomorrow, and with it the longstanding dominance of North American teams. At both the World Championships and MLG Dallas, the best teams this continent had to offer were thoroughly crushed. As we begin Season 3, it's important to understand how this happened, what it means, and what the future may hold.

For most of the past three years the League of Legends competitive scene didn't exist outside of North America and Europe. It wasn't until May 2011 that LoL launched in China and Taiwan, and South Korea didn't see the game until December. Without a thriving playerbase to draw talent from, eastern teams could not compete in those early days. Despite nearly a two year handicap Asian teams are now reigning supreme.

One of the many factors at work is basic infrastructure. While they may have started years behind, Asia is an eSports hotbed, complete with coaches, sponsors, gaming houses, institutional knowledge, and cultural recognition. The principles for running a LoL team are not remarkably different from running a team for StarCraft or CounterStrike, it was merely a matter of applying tools they already had at their disposal. Europe also has some of this infrastructure, which partially explains why European teams have recently been more competitive than North American teams. North America largely lacks these sources of support and organization, putting the continent at a disadvantage.

Another important factor is discipline. In part because of culture and the aforementioned infrastructure, Asian teams typically have extremely disciplined schedules, practice plans, and methods. They not only work harder, but also smarter. It's not enough for North American teams to start practicing for nine or ten hours a day, that practice needs to have direction and meaning. Some teams have begun making baby steps toward acquiring the infrastructure and discipline to maintain a presence on the world stage, but it will be years before the region as a whole can match what is already the norm overseas.

The rise of streaming as a popular and lucrative activity is also a critical factor. While streaming is seemingly innocuous, much of what constitutes good practice makes for poor entertainment (or a good way to tip your hand to your competitors). Streaming represents a conflict of interest for professional players; they can make a good deal of money from streaming if they're popular, but doing so can impact tournament performance. Failing to stream consistently and for extended periods can also cause viewers to migrate to other streamers. While it's possible to stream frequently without measurable problems, it's not simple. Arguably, all of the popular North American teams, and a number of European players, have at some point streamed at the cost of a tournament performance.

Ironically, going forward it may be streaming which saves the North American scene. Many other eSports have been dominated by Asian players and teams in the past, to the detriment of other regions. While viewers may begin to tune out international tournaments as their favorite teams flounder, the persistent and even increasing viewer numbers might preserve interest. So long as a given region is invested in its teams, even if it's only in watching them stream, the potential for regional improvement remains.

In the meantime, the next six months will bear witness to the increasing prominence of Asia in LoL. As hopeful as I am that this will be the eSport where North America finally gets its footing and establishes itself as a world contender, 2013 will be a rough year. TSM, the best North America have to offer, has been crushed in back to back tournaments, and it showed on their faces at MLG Dallas. Depending what happens next, we could have a renaissance as new faces emerge, or a rebirth of our current teams. If  these growing pains can be endured, North America may yet have a chance at the Season 3 World Championships.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Quote: On 3D

Neo: "Why do my eyes hurt?"
Morpheus: "You're watching MLG Dallas."

-The Matrix

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Quote: On n00bs

"Several people have told me that my inability to suffer n00bs gladly is one of my main weaknesses."

-Edsger W. Dijkstra