During yesterday's LCS matches Reginald brought out the oft-overlooked Xerath. For some time I've considered Xerath to be an underappreciated champion, in particular because of the vast amounts of Magic Resistance he can simply ignore. TSM took advantage of this facet of Xerath by incorporating him into a Double AP team composition.
The cleverness here is obvious. Depending on how many runes Xerath commits to Magic Penetration, he can completely bypass between 105 and 140 Magic Resistance. Even a target with 300 Magic Resistance will effectively be reduced to 70 as far as Xerath is concerned. As a result, investing in Magic Resistance is only effective against one champion, and failing to build Magic Resistance would be equally bad.
While the composition met with mixed success, in large part due to misplaced Xerath ultimates, the principle behind it is sound. Forcing your opponents into suboptimal choices is a very strong strategy, as even if they do what's "correct" they're getting weaker returns on their investments than you are. Xerath in a Double AP composition is a textbook example of that principle.
Still, Xerath himself seems to have a few issues. The awkwardness of his wave clear, his mana consumption, and his dependence on never missing a skill shot were extremely obvious in the TSM versus MRN game. I'm not sure he deserves a buff, but he definitely has exploitable flaws.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Update: Video Backlog
I've been remiss for failing to update the Mondays with Monte archive for some weeks. Episodes 10, 11, and 12 are all in the process of being uploaded right now and should all be finished and process by this evening.
I'll try to avoid taking so long to update the archive in the future.
I'll try to avoid taking so long to update the archive in the future.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Quote: On Elo
"Elo is what gives a player his power. It's an energy field created
by all raging things. It surround us and penetrates us; it binds the Tribunal together."
-Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars IV: A New Hope
-Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars IV: A New Hope
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Theory: Gold Values
In your travels through Runeterra you may at some point have encountered strange phrases such as "item efficiency", "cost-efficiency", or "gold value". Theorycrafting gurus expound on these strange, mystifying terms, claiming that they indicate one item or mastery is secretly overpowered. There's a method to the madness, and madness to the methods.
The basic concept of an attribute's gold value is straightforward. All you need to do is take a basic item and divide its gold cost by its attribute. Voila, now you know that 1 Attack Damage is worth 20 gold, and 1 Ability Power is worth 21.75 gold. Simple, obvious, and useful.
Theorycrafters use these values to determine what items are cost-efficient. An item is cost-efficient when the sum of the value of its attributes is equal to or greater than the cost. It's fairly straightforward math once you have the gold values for all attributes.
The problem, referred to previously as "madness", is that we don't have gold values for all attributes. A significant number of attributes don't have any basic items on which to base their gold values. Cooldown Reduction, Life Steal, Spell Vamp, Penetration, Movement Speed and others are only found through upgrading items and other special cases. As a result, the only data points we have to work with are the combine/upgrade costs of items.
Unfortunately, combine costs have essentially nothing to do with the value of the stats gained. You need only look as far as Trinity Force for this to become self-evident. Its combine cost is a ridiculously small 3 gold, yet it gains 5 Ability Power, 10 Attack Damage, 12% Attack Speed, 50 Health and more. The value of the stats I listed alone is 880 gold, not to mention the nebulous value of the Movement Speed and item passives. Upon closer examination, all item combine costs are just as devoid of meaning.
This presents a problem for theorycrafters as the gold values of roughly half of all attributes cannot be determined. Many theorycrafters try anyway, but the results are mere conjecture. Do we base the value of Cooldown Reduction off of Kindlegem, putting the value of 1% Cooldown Reduction at 32.23 gold? Or do we base it off of Glacial Shroud, giving us -6 gold? With Fiendish Codex and Stinger giving us values of 16.75 gold and 45 gold per 1% Cooldown Reduction respectively, it should be immediately obvious that there's simply no way to assign a meaningful gold value to these sorts of attributes.
Some theorycrafters lack the conviction to admit it, but it is essentially impossible for us to have a complete picture of cost-efficiency. Without an incontrovertible method of determining gold values for advanced attributes most items can't be fully assessed. The best we can do is see how close an item comes to being cost-efficient before making a personal judgement as to whether the remaining attributes are worth the difference.
The basic concept of an attribute's gold value is straightforward. All you need to do is take a basic item and divide its gold cost by its attribute. Voila, now you know that 1 Attack Damage is worth 20 gold, and 1 Ability Power is worth 21.75 gold. Simple, obvious, and useful.
Theorycrafters use these values to determine what items are cost-efficient. An item is cost-efficient when the sum of the value of its attributes is equal to or greater than the cost. It's fairly straightforward math once you have the gold values for all attributes.
The problem, referred to previously as "madness", is that we don't have gold values for all attributes. A significant number of attributes don't have any basic items on which to base their gold values. Cooldown Reduction, Life Steal, Spell Vamp, Penetration, Movement Speed and others are only found through upgrading items and other special cases. As a result, the only data points we have to work with are the combine/upgrade costs of items.
Unfortunately, combine costs have essentially nothing to do with the value of the stats gained. You need only look as far as Trinity Force for this to become self-evident. Its combine cost is a ridiculously small 3 gold, yet it gains 5 Ability Power, 10 Attack Damage, 12% Attack Speed, 50 Health and more. The value of the stats I listed alone is 880 gold, not to mention the nebulous value of the Movement Speed and item passives. Upon closer examination, all item combine costs are just as devoid of meaning.
This presents a problem for theorycrafters as the gold values of roughly half of all attributes cannot be determined. Many theorycrafters try anyway, but the results are mere conjecture. Do we base the value of Cooldown Reduction off of Kindlegem, putting the value of 1% Cooldown Reduction at 32.23 gold? Or do we base it off of Glacial Shroud, giving us -6 gold? With Fiendish Codex and Stinger giving us values of 16.75 gold and 45 gold per 1% Cooldown Reduction respectively, it should be immediately obvious that there's simply no way to assign a meaningful gold value to these sorts of attributes.
Some theorycrafters lack the conviction to admit it, but it is essentially impossible for us to have a complete picture of cost-efficiency. Without an incontrovertible method of determining gold values for advanced attributes most items can't be fully assessed. The best we can do is see how close an item comes to being cost-efficient before making a personal judgement as to whether the remaining attributes are worth the difference.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Thought: Ashe
There's an utterly hilarious thread on the official forums calling for Ashe buffs or quality of life changes through the medium of comical conversations between Ashe and other champions. It's worth a read, and started the analytical gears rolling.
Ashe is a fairly balanced champion, but her kit has two of the most awkward abilities in the game. Her passive and the passive effect of Hawkshot are problematic in a myriad of ways.
The problem with Ashe's passive is that it's fairly useless in both laning and team fighting. Aside from the guarantee of a level 1 crit, the need to constantly last-hit or auto-attack prevents the passive from stacking. You can try for crits between creep waves, but generally it's a null factor.
Hawkshot's passive, meanwhile, is notable only for it's mediocrity. Maxing it first sacrifices Ashe's only reliable offensive ability and poke for a small return in gold. While an additional four gold per creep is substantial (you'll have at least one rank normally anyway), missing a single creep due to having no way to respond to an aggressive lane negates almost an entire creep wave of last-hits. On the other hand, by the time you finally max Hawkshot (last) most of your farming is done, giving minimal impact. Whatever you do, Hawkshot's passive isn't worth much.
I have a simple idea that could possibly fix the awkwardness, swap the passives.
With gold generation tied to Ashe's passive she would no longer need to worry about the folly of trying to level it first or the uselessness of leveling it last. Instead, the passive would scale similarly to Nasus' passive, reaching full power at level 11. Some balancing would be necessary, but the awkwardness would be gone.
Shifting the Critical Strike effect to Hawkshot would not only work mechanically, but thematically. It's more intuitive to tie Critical Strikes to vision than gold generation. While this would create some tension between level 1 choices (you could no longer try to abuse a guaranteed crit at level 1 combined with Volley), it's a sound, simple change.
The key to these changes is that Ashe, while not picked often competitively, currently has a fairly average winrate. Changing her crit passive to work meaningfully in team fights or laning would possibly imbalance her. Instead, I'm simply suggesting a change that will only make her slightly more intuitive and understandable, without dramatically buffing her.
Ashe is a fairly balanced champion, but her kit has two of the most awkward abilities in the game. Her passive and the passive effect of Hawkshot are problematic in a myriad of ways.
The problem with Ashe's passive is that it's fairly useless in both laning and team fighting. Aside from the guarantee of a level 1 crit, the need to constantly last-hit or auto-attack prevents the passive from stacking. You can try for crits between creep waves, but generally it's a null factor.
Hawkshot's passive, meanwhile, is notable only for it's mediocrity. Maxing it first sacrifices Ashe's only reliable offensive ability and poke for a small return in gold. While an additional four gold per creep is substantial (you'll have at least one rank normally anyway), missing a single creep due to having no way to respond to an aggressive lane negates almost an entire creep wave of last-hits. On the other hand, by the time you finally max Hawkshot (last) most of your farming is done, giving minimal impact. Whatever you do, Hawkshot's passive isn't worth much.
I have a simple idea that could possibly fix the awkwardness, swap the passives.
With gold generation tied to Ashe's passive she would no longer need to worry about the folly of trying to level it first or the uselessness of leveling it last. Instead, the passive would scale similarly to Nasus' passive, reaching full power at level 11. Some balancing would be necessary, but the awkwardness would be gone.
Shifting the Critical Strike effect to Hawkshot would not only work mechanically, but thematically. It's more intuitive to tie Critical Strikes to vision than gold generation. While this would create some tension between level 1 choices (you could no longer try to abuse a guaranteed crit at level 1 combined with Volley), it's a sound, simple change.
The key to these changes is that Ashe, while not picked often competitively, currently has a fairly average winrate. Changing her crit passive to work meaningfully in team fights or laning would possibly imbalance her. Instead, I'm simply suggesting a change that will only make her slightly more intuitive and understandable, without dramatically buffing her.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Thought: Spectral Wraith for Jungle Akali
Hextech Gunblade has been Akali's quintessential item for some time, having usurped the now ancient Rylai's into Lich Bane combo shortly after patch 105. It's easy to see why Gunblade is so critical to Akali; it provides her with a hefty 27.5% Spell Vamp, 65 Ability Power, and an extremely useful active. However, the recent cost reductions and buffs to Spirit of the Spectral Wraith have caused me to reconsider Gunblade's position when jungling Akali.
Compared head to head, Spectral Wraith is clearly inferior to Gunblade. The stats on Spectral Wraith are all lower, save for the addition of 10% Cooldown Reduction. Its passives, while nifty, can't adequately be compared to Gunblade's incredible Active. If asked to choose between the two any player worth their salt would pick Gunblade, it's simply the obvious choice.
Unfortunately for Gunblade, that head to head comparison is deeply flawed for one simple reason: cost. Spectral Wraith is 1400 gold cheaper than Gunblade, an absolutely staggering difference in price. Because Akali, like most junglers, starts Hunter's Machete she's also 300 gold closer to completing Spectral Wraith than she is Gunblade from the outset of the game. In short, Spectral Wraith can be completed 1700 gold sooner than Gunblade when jungling.
To call the gold gap between the two items significant would be an egregious understatement. 1700 gold is a large number even for champions or roles with top farm priority. For junglers, who often defer to everyone but supports, it's enormous. The size of this gap should immediately cause any veteran jungler to pause and question whether the stats and benefits of Gunblade are worth that cost.
It's a difficult question to evaluate because almost all of the stats involved defy typical cost-analysis. Mana Regeneration and Life Steal are essentially worthless to Akali, Attack Damage's value is confused by her passives, and most of the remaining stats have no clear basis for a gold value. To a significant extent it is subjective, a judgement based on one's jungling experience.
There are, however, a few ways of approaching the problem that are useful. Comparing builds first when Spectral Wraith is completed, and subsequently when Gunblade is completed, can give insight into the value of each.
The moment Spectral Wraith is finished Gunblade should have Machete, Revolver, and Long Sword with a little gold to spare. At this point the Spectral Wraith build has an additional 10 AP, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 6.33% Spell Vamp, and significantly faster jungle clears when compared to the Gunblade build. The mere 10 Attack Damage from Long Sword is hardly enough to match the power surge from completing Spectral Wraith.
This timing is important because of the opportunities it presents. Clearing faster makes it easier to farm while maintaining map presence, making it likely that Spectral Wraith Akali will begin earning gold faster than Gunblade Akali. At the same time the Gunblade build just entered a lull period as it invests the next 1435 gold into more Attack Damage and valueless Life Steal. Just as Spectral Wraith Akali starts taking off, Gunblade Akali is winding down.
When Gunblade finally finishes there are a number of ways the Spectral Wraith build could have allocated the 1700 gold (or more) difference. If Spectral Wraith Akali rushed a Kage's Lucky Pick, it's possible that she'll have both that and another Revolver completed (due to gold per 10). Alternatively, she could simply save up and buy a Needlessly Large Rod. She could also begin working toward Rylai's, sporting a Giant's Belt and possibly a Blasting Wand. In all cases Spectral Wraith Akali has a significant Ability Power advantage, and is well on her way to completing another key item. Gunblade Akali may be about to leverage a strong timing, but Spectral Wraith Akali is already more than halfway to her second.
It's this early impact followed by additional early timings which has lead me to significantly improve my appraisal of Spectral Wraith. The clear speed difference is extremely noticeable, enough so that I wouldn't be surprised if the Spectral Wraith Akali farmed a significant advantage. Factor in that both builds will likely want to finish Sorcerer's Shoes before Gunblade is finished, and there's plenty of time for Spectral Wraith Akali to pull well ahead with or without gold per 10.
For Akali, who depends heavily on turning early momentum into further power, the allure of Spectral Wraith is undeniable. Spending 500 gold for 10 AP, 8% Spell Vamp, 10% Cooldown Reduction, and ridiculously faster clears is obviously an efficient and valuable investment. The next time I jungle Akali, I'll be putting this through its paces.
Compared head to head, Spectral Wraith is clearly inferior to Gunblade. The stats on Spectral Wraith are all lower, save for the addition of 10% Cooldown Reduction. Its passives, while nifty, can't adequately be compared to Gunblade's incredible Active. If asked to choose between the two any player worth their salt would pick Gunblade, it's simply the obvious choice.
Unfortunately for Gunblade, that head to head comparison is deeply flawed for one simple reason: cost. Spectral Wraith is 1400 gold cheaper than Gunblade, an absolutely staggering difference in price. Because Akali, like most junglers, starts Hunter's Machete she's also 300 gold closer to completing Spectral Wraith than she is Gunblade from the outset of the game. In short, Spectral Wraith can be completed 1700 gold sooner than Gunblade when jungling.
To call the gold gap between the two items significant would be an egregious understatement. 1700 gold is a large number even for champions or roles with top farm priority. For junglers, who often defer to everyone but supports, it's enormous. The size of this gap should immediately cause any veteran jungler to pause and question whether the stats and benefits of Gunblade are worth that cost.
It's a difficult question to evaluate because almost all of the stats involved defy typical cost-analysis. Mana Regeneration and Life Steal are essentially worthless to Akali, Attack Damage's value is confused by her passives, and most of the remaining stats have no clear basis for a gold value. To a significant extent it is subjective, a judgement based on one's jungling experience.
There are, however, a few ways of approaching the problem that are useful. Comparing builds first when Spectral Wraith is completed, and subsequently when Gunblade is completed, can give insight into the value of each.
The moment Spectral Wraith is finished Gunblade should have Machete, Revolver, and Long Sword with a little gold to spare. At this point the Spectral Wraith build has an additional 10 AP, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 6.33% Spell Vamp, and significantly faster jungle clears when compared to the Gunblade build. The mere 10 Attack Damage from Long Sword is hardly enough to match the power surge from completing Spectral Wraith.
This timing is important because of the opportunities it presents. Clearing faster makes it easier to farm while maintaining map presence, making it likely that Spectral Wraith Akali will begin earning gold faster than Gunblade Akali. At the same time the Gunblade build just entered a lull period as it invests the next 1435 gold into more Attack Damage and valueless Life Steal. Just as Spectral Wraith Akali starts taking off, Gunblade Akali is winding down.
When Gunblade finally finishes there are a number of ways the Spectral Wraith build could have allocated the 1700 gold (or more) difference. If Spectral Wraith Akali rushed a Kage's Lucky Pick, it's possible that she'll have both that and another Revolver completed (due to gold per 10). Alternatively, she could simply save up and buy a Needlessly Large Rod. She could also begin working toward Rylai's, sporting a Giant's Belt and possibly a Blasting Wand. In all cases Spectral Wraith Akali has a significant Ability Power advantage, and is well on her way to completing another key item. Gunblade Akali may be about to leverage a strong timing, but Spectral Wraith Akali is already more than halfway to her second.
It's this early impact followed by additional early timings which has lead me to significantly improve my appraisal of Spectral Wraith. The clear speed difference is extremely noticeable, enough so that I wouldn't be surprised if the Spectral Wraith Akali farmed a significant advantage. Factor in that both builds will likely want to finish Sorcerer's Shoes before Gunblade is finished, and there's plenty of time for Spectral Wraith Akali to pull well ahead with or without gold per 10.
For Akali, who depends heavily on turning early momentum into further power, the allure of Spectral Wraith is undeniable. Spending 500 gold for 10 AP, 8% Spell Vamp, 10% Cooldown Reduction, and ridiculously faster clears is obviously an efficient and valuable investment. The next time I jungle Akali, I'll be putting this through its paces.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Patch Day: 3.02
I'm much later than I wanted to be with this "patch day" analysis, but better late than never. Some people think Quinn will be coming out before 3.03, but I'm not so certain. For now, let's focus on what the patch notes themselves say.
There are a lot of quality of life changes and bug fixes this patch. While many champions have been affected, most of those changes aren't notable enough to be analyzed here.
Akali's passives no longer require a set amount of Attack Damage or Ability Power to activate. This is extremely useful for players who don't have many runes or rune pages, as it allows them to avoid dedicating an entire page to Akali. However, the best page for jungling hasn't changed; Spell Vamp Quintessences remain vital for sustain, Ability Power Glyphs remain vital for clear speed, and Attack Damage Marks remain vital for both.
Nasus' entirely balanced and not in any way abusive crit glitch has been fixed. Though I mourn the loss of my overpowered and unfair crits, it's entirely understandable. In return, Nasus gets some extremely valuable buffs. The mana cost reduction on Q is extremely useful for both laning and jungling, allowing him to farm his Q without worrying about mana. The cast and attack range changes on his ultimate may not seem like much, but being able to spam Wither from 900 range makes Nasus a nightmare for any carry not rocking Cleanse or Quicksilver Sash. He may not be able to one shot bots in Coop vs AI games anymore, but he's still significantly better off than he was a few patches ago.
According to LoLWiki Riven's new passive is actually 20-50% of total Attack Damage, not 15- 45%. The original numbers were probably too much of a punishment at early levels, and slightly too little later on. This should have the desired effect, as even at level 9 (when the passive reaches 35% of total Attack Damage) the new passive should be slightly stronger than before due to base Attack Damage.
There are significant changes to items as well this patch.
Cooldown Reduction got shuffled around a bit. Athene's Unholy Grail, Spirit Visage, and Zeke's Herald all saw increases, while Deathfire Grasp, Glacial Shroud, and Iceborn Gauntlet all saw decreases. This was one knob Riot very consciously turned to help balance overused and underused items.
Armor and Magic Resistance became cheaper. Stacking Health was the best option not only because it was cheap and easy, but because defensive stats were costly and difficult. In some cases items had their stats increased, and in other cases they had their costs reduced. Riot obviously wanted to make non-Health defensive items more competitive.
Liandry's Torment was modified slightly. Previously damage over time abilities or repeated casts munched some of the passive damage from this item. It's an old problem that used to plague Teemo and Nautilus, but no longer. The change, and the damage increase, should help make this item strong against Health-stacking opponents. Blade of the Ruined King received buffs as well with the same goal, but Riot is already playing around with a different iteration due to the insufficiency of the changes.
Ohmwrecker has been modified to try to appeal more to supports than tanks. Despite that, the gold cost is extremely steep. A lot of the cost comes from the Ability Power, which is arguably less than useful for supports. Riot seems to have forgotten that they nerfed the Ability Power ratios on supports long ago, making Ability Power a largely undesirable attribute for a role centered around ability actives and team utility.
All in all, not the most exciting patch, but a good one nonetheless. You'd think I'd be more thrilled about the Akali changes, but as I primarily jungle Akali rather than lane it didn't change all that much for me. It's the lane Akali players who can now run Magic Penetration who should be excited.
There are a lot of quality of life changes and bug fixes this patch. While many champions have been affected, most of those changes aren't notable enough to be analyzed here.
Akali's passives no longer require a set amount of Attack Damage or Ability Power to activate. This is extremely useful for players who don't have many runes or rune pages, as it allows them to avoid dedicating an entire page to Akali. However, the best page for jungling hasn't changed; Spell Vamp Quintessences remain vital for sustain, Ability Power Glyphs remain vital for clear speed, and Attack Damage Marks remain vital for both.
Nasus' entirely balanced and not in any way abusive crit glitch has been fixed. Though I mourn the loss of my overpowered and unfair crits, it's entirely understandable. In return, Nasus gets some extremely valuable buffs. The mana cost reduction on Q is extremely useful for both laning and jungling, allowing him to farm his Q without worrying about mana. The cast and attack range changes on his ultimate may not seem like much, but being able to spam Wither from 900 range makes Nasus a nightmare for any carry not rocking Cleanse or Quicksilver Sash. He may not be able to one shot bots in Coop vs AI games anymore, but he's still significantly better off than he was a few patches ago.
According to LoLWiki Riven's new passive is actually 20-50% of total Attack Damage, not 15- 45%. The original numbers were probably too much of a punishment at early levels, and slightly too little later on. This should have the desired effect, as even at level 9 (when the passive reaches 35% of total Attack Damage) the new passive should be slightly stronger than before due to base Attack Damage.
There are significant changes to items as well this patch.
Cooldown Reduction got shuffled around a bit. Athene's Unholy Grail, Spirit Visage, and Zeke's Herald all saw increases, while Deathfire Grasp, Glacial Shroud, and Iceborn Gauntlet all saw decreases. This was one knob Riot very consciously turned to help balance overused and underused items.
Armor and Magic Resistance became cheaper. Stacking Health was the best option not only because it was cheap and easy, but because defensive stats were costly and difficult. In some cases items had their stats increased, and in other cases they had their costs reduced. Riot obviously wanted to make non-Health defensive items more competitive.
Liandry's Torment was modified slightly. Previously damage over time abilities or repeated casts munched some of the passive damage from this item. It's an old problem that used to plague Teemo and Nautilus, but no longer. The change, and the damage increase, should help make this item strong against Health-stacking opponents. Blade of the Ruined King received buffs as well with the same goal, but Riot is already playing around with a different iteration due to the insufficiency of the changes.
Ohmwrecker has been modified to try to appeal more to supports than tanks. Despite that, the gold cost is extremely steep. A lot of the cost comes from the Ability Power, which is arguably less than useful for supports. Riot seems to have forgotten that they nerfed the Ability Power ratios on supports long ago, making Ability Power a largely undesirable attribute for a role centered around ability actives and team utility.
All in all, not the most exciting patch, but a good one nonetheless. You'd think I'd be more thrilled about the Akali changes, but as I primarily jungle Akali rather than lane it didn't change all that much for me. It's the lane Akali players who can now run Magic Penetration who should be excited.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Jungler: Akali (3.02 Update)
Patch day analysis will come tomorrow, for now I have some initial thoughts after taking advantage of the Akali changes.
It's not, unfortunately, very exciting news. While you can theoretically use other rune and mastery setups, my tests indicate that the same exact setup from before is the fastest, safest, and most effective in general. Other setups are functional, but inferior.
So if you really want to free up a rune page or modify one to be more general you can do so, just be aware that it will likely weaken any Akali jungling you plan on doing.
It's not, unfortunately, very exciting news. While you can theoretically use other rune and mastery setups, my tests indicate that the same exact setup from before is the fastest, safest, and most effective in general. Other setups are functional, but inferior.
So if you really want to free up a rune page or modify one to be more general you can do so, just be aware that it will likely weaken any Akali jungling you plan on doing.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Quote: On the New League System
"Players are not the enemy of players but through the medium of a false system of ranking."
-Thomas Paine
-Thomas Paine
Monday, February 11, 2013
Math: Malzahar
Malzahar is a champion dear to my heart. He's the reason I became enamored with League of Legends, and despite the fact he's only rarely been competitive I still consider him one of my favorite champions.
I was curious how well Malzahar might work in today's Health stacking meta, so I put together a few spreadsheets to examine the question. The spreadsheets model the ideal case where all of Malzahar's abilities, most importantly Null Zone and Nethergrasp, do their maximum damage.
The first and most obvious takeaway is that Malzahar represents a significant threat to any tank he can lock into his Null Zone, provided he has a Deathfire Grasp. Even with 3500 Health and 210 Magic Resistance, the amount of Ability Power Malzahar needs to potentially eliminate a tank or bruiser outright is well within the bounds of reason.
This is important, not because we would expect Malzahar to flawlessly one shot tanks all the time, but because it illustrates how much of a threat he poses even to tanky champions. In the idea case, Malzahar needs as little as 340 Ability Power to crush a thoroughly decked out bruiser or tank. With the core of items required to do so only filling four slots, Malzahar has plenty of room to build defensively.
Is Malzahar a viable pick to focus down a scary bruiser or tank? I don't know, but it's something I'll have to test out the next time I have the opportunity.
I was curious how well Malzahar might work in today's Health stacking meta, so I put together a few spreadsheets to examine the question. The spreadsheets model the ideal case where all of Malzahar's abilities, most importantly Null Zone and Nethergrasp, do their maximum damage.
The first and most obvious takeaway is that Malzahar represents a significant threat to any tank he can lock into his Null Zone, provided he has a Deathfire Grasp. Even with 3500 Health and 210 Magic Resistance, the amount of Ability Power Malzahar needs to potentially eliminate a tank or bruiser outright is well within the bounds of reason.
This is important, not because we would expect Malzahar to flawlessly one shot tanks all the time, but because it illustrates how much of a threat he poses even to tanky champions. In the idea case, Malzahar needs as little as 340 Ability Power to crush a thoroughly decked out bruiser or tank. With the core of items required to do so only filling four slots, Malzahar has plenty of room to build defensively.
Is Malzahar a viable pick to focus down a scary bruiser or tank? I don't know, but it's something I'll have to test out the next time I have the opportunity.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Jungler: Nasus
With Nasus' Siphoning Strike now granting double the stacks when killing large jungle creeps, Nasus is now a powerful jungler (especially if you have Crit runes).
What makes Nasus so strong is that his damage is largely independent of his itemization. So long as you properly last-hit with Siphoning Strike as you jungle you'll be able to hit like a truck. This allows Nasus to build tank items early without being ineffective during ganks, skirmishes, and fights over objectives.
You do want those early tank items to sport Cooldown Reduction. This enhances both Nasus' offense by allowing for more Siphoning Strikes, and his defense by increasing his Wither uptime. Nasus with Cooldown Reduction is far, far scarier than Nasus without. For this reason my first items are typically Glacial Shroud and Kindlegem, which I later upgrade into Frozen Heart and Spirit Visage.
The next priority for Nasus is to become unkiteable. The best way to do this is to build Spirit of the Ancient Golem and Swiftness Boots. Between Tenacity, reduced slow effectiveness, and Wither spam, running away from Nasus is extremely difficult. Nasus lacks gap closers, so it's easy to get kited if you aren't prepared.
It's only after completing all of those items that I begin to consider offense. Against an Armor-stacking team Last Whisper is extremely effective, and also cheap. Nasus' doesn't stack Black Cleaver fast enough for it to be a worthwhile investment, and you should already be capped or near-capped on Cooldown Reduction anyway. Infinity Edge is currently an excellent option against Armor-light teams, though when and if Siphoning Strike's interaction with Crit is removed that will change. Most games you won't reach this point, or if you do there won't be much of the game left.
The most critical skill required to jungle Nasus is last-hitting with Siphoning Strike. Failing to judge its damage properly is fatal. The better you do early, the better you'll do later, so focus heavily on making that first clear smooth and effective, it'll carry through to later clears.
As the game goes on, realize that Nasus is a monster when it comes to objectives and towers. With his monster 14-20% Life Steal and auto-resetting Siphoning Strike Nasus can easily solo Dragon; just drop a pink ward, wait for a nearby lane to recall, and go. Towers provide little obstacle as well, falling quickly if left unguarded.
In team fights either spam Wither on the enemy ranged AD carry, or use it as a peeling tool for your carry. Nasus is just as happy to take chunks out of a bruiser's health as he is chasing squishies. So long as you keep spamming Wither and smacking people around you'll have a ton of presence.
Jungle Nasus is strong enough to use just about any rune/mastery setup you can think of. All you need to do is pick what fits your playstyle, and scatter your enemies like the sands of the desert.
What makes Nasus so strong is that his damage is largely independent of his itemization. So long as you properly last-hit with Siphoning Strike as you jungle you'll be able to hit like a truck. This allows Nasus to build tank items early without being ineffective during ganks, skirmishes, and fights over objectives.
You do want those early tank items to sport Cooldown Reduction. This enhances both Nasus' offense by allowing for more Siphoning Strikes, and his defense by increasing his Wither uptime. Nasus with Cooldown Reduction is far, far scarier than Nasus without. For this reason my first items are typically Glacial Shroud and Kindlegem, which I later upgrade into Frozen Heart and Spirit Visage.
The next priority for Nasus is to become unkiteable. The best way to do this is to build Spirit of the Ancient Golem and Swiftness Boots. Between Tenacity, reduced slow effectiveness, and Wither spam, running away from Nasus is extremely difficult. Nasus lacks gap closers, so it's easy to get kited if you aren't prepared.
It's only after completing all of those items that I begin to consider offense. Against an Armor-stacking team Last Whisper is extremely effective, and also cheap. Nasus' doesn't stack Black Cleaver fast enough for it to be a worthwhile investment, and you should already be capped or near-capped on Cooldown Reduction anyway. Infinity Edge is currently an excellent option against Armor-light teams, though when and if Siphoning Strike's interaction with Crit is removed that will change. Most games you won't reach this point, or if you do there won't be much of the game left.
The most critical skill required to jungle Nasus is last-hitting with Siphoning Strike. Failing to judge its damage properly is fatal. The better you do early, the better you'll do later, so focus heavily on making that first clear smooth and effective, it'll carry through to later clears.
As the game goes on, realize that Nasus is a monster when it comes to objectives and towers. With his monster 14-20% Life Steal and auto-resetting Siphoning Strike Nasus can easily solo Dragon; just drop a pink ward, wait for a nearby lane to recall, and go. Towers provide little obstacle as well, falling quickly if left unguarded.
In team fights either spam Wither on the enemy ranged AD carry, or use it as a peeling tool for your carry. Nasus is just as happy to take chunks out of a bruiser's health as he is chasing squishies. So long as you keep spamming Wither and smacking people around you'll have a ton of presence.
Jungle Nasus is strong enough to use just about any rune/mastery setup you can think of. All you need to do is pick what fits your playstyle, and scatter your enemies like the sands of the desert.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Quote: On Elo Heaven
"To every man is given the key to the gates of Elo Heaven; the same key opens the gates of Elo Hell."
-Richard Feynman
-Richard Feynman
Friday, February 1, 2013
Patch Day: Season 3
The preseason is over, Season 3 has arrived. With it, we have new patch notes.
The new League System is perhaps the most notable change in all of the notes. Gone are the days of Elo Hell. Welcome to Division Hell, Tier Hell, Promotion Hell or whatever other catchy names players come up with to describe their inability to advance. The system is very reminiscent of the one used by StarCraft II, which has earned Riot's implementation both criticism and accolades. I don't have a firm opinion yet as I plan on running the system through its paces before I make any judgements.
Blitzcrank's mana and Rocket Grab's mana cost have been nerfed. This change doesn't really change Blitzcrank's effectiveness unless you're highly inaccurate or careless with your grabs.
Ezreal gets another round with the nerf bat. The lower duration on his passive will make landing every Mystic Shot critical, and is the largest of the changes. Reducing his movement speed, even by so small an amount, will make proper use of his Arcane Shift slightly more important. Overall these changes are less about the math and more about increasing Ezreal's difficulty.
Tank Katarina has been seeing a lot of play as of late, and the changes this patch are largely targeting that build. With less base damage, reduced duration on her damage reduction, and more incentive to build AP, AP Katarina's viability has significantly increased. However, the changes are likely too small to eliminate Tank Katarina as a build.
The scourge of all ARAMs has been dealt a severe blow. Master Yi will no longer be able to casually Meditate in the midst of an entire enemy team and get free pentakills by building AP. The build will still be potent and viable, it just won't be impossible to deal with if you're lacking in crowd control.
Nasus, Sion, and Veigar all got a special bonus on their stacking abilities. It's small if you aren't jungling or frequently taking jungle camps, but it's still a nice little boost.
Nunu's ability to just sit in a bush spamming W and winning lanes is gone. Many claim this has utterly killed his jungling, supporting, and many other things, but that seems a bit of an exaggeration. He's certainly worse off for losing 20% Attack Speed, but his buff still provides roughly 1425g worth of stats, not counting the Movement Speed. He still has one of the most spammable and effective Movement/Attack Speed slows in the game. Ultimately, he's still Nunu and he'll still be good, he just won't be as effective when played as a buff bot.
Olaf, my favorite bruiser to hate when I'm a squishy champion trying to hide behind a wall of crowd control, is a little less fearsome post-patch. His free damage sources from his W and ultimate were nerfed, and his slow's effectiveness will be much more dependent upon proximity and good aim/axe placement. He's still going to be extremely powerful and a pain in the neck.
If you think for a moment that the nerfs to Shaco are going to prevent your team from inexplicably feeding him, you're thinking wishfully.
Tristana and Tryndamere, a couple of carries lost to time, have both received a few minor buffs. These aren't completely game-changing, but they're enough to edge them toward being played more frequently.
I'm not a big fan of Seeker's Armguard. It will be a very strong item for AP champions, helping them to deal with the proliferation of bruisers, AD casters, and assassins. I don't like it because it allows players to be lazy; they could have been grabbing Cloth Armor guilt-free before anyway. The item represents Riot making decisions for their players instead of allowing the game to evolve naturally. Philosophy aside, you'd be pretty silly to ignore this item.
The removal of Mana Regeneration from Fiendish Codex is interesting for the effects it has on other items. It now allows champions building Deathfire Grasp to acquire Cooldown Reduction before finishing the item. It reduces the cost of Nashor's Tooth (over the years it's dropped from 2835g, now down to 2270g), maybe to the point where we'll see it on champions other than Kayle and Teemo. If nothing else, support champions might actually consider picking up the new, cheap Fiendish Codex.
Black Cleaver now takes longer to stack is provides less Health. It's been a one-stop shop for everything bruisers and AD casters could want, and while it remains so it will be less effective in this role.
While all Spirit Stone-based items are now cheaper, Spirit of the Spectral Wraith got the most significant reduction. It now costs a mere 2000g, and provides an insane amount of stats for that cost. Riot is obviously displeased with the lack of traction AP junglers are seeing, but they may have overcompensated here, as this value is in the range where lane champions are liable to pick it up.
Also, bots now talk at the start and end of Coop vs AI games. Obviously the most important change this patch.
The new League System is perhaps the most notable change in all of the notes. Gone are the days of Elo Hell. Welcome to Division Hell, Tier Hell, Promotion Hell or whatever other catchy names players come up with to describe their inability to advance. The system is very reminiscent of the one used by StarCraft II, which has earned Riot's implementation both criticism and accolades. I don't have a firm opinion yet as I plan on running the system through its paces before I make any judgements.
Blitzcrank's mana and Rocket Grab's mana cost have been nerfed. This change doesn't really change Blitzcrank's effectiveness unless you're highly inaccurate or careless with your grabs.
Ezreal gets another round with the nerf bat. The lower duration on his passive will make landing every Mystic Shot critical, and is the largest of the changes. Reducing his movement speed, even by so small an amount, will make proper use of his Arcane Shift slightly more important. Overall these changes are less about the math and more about increasing Ezreal's difficulty.
Tank Katarina has been seeing a lot of play as of late, and the changes this patch are largely targeting that build. With less base damage, reduced duration on her damage reduction, and more incentive to build AP, AP Katarina's viability has significantly increased. However, the changes are likely too small to eliminate Tank Katarina as a build.
The scourge of all ARAMs has been dealt a severe blow. Master Yi will no longer be able to casually Meditate in the midst of an entire enemy team and get free pentakills by building AP. The build will still be potent and viable, it just won't be impossible to deal with if you're lacking in crowd control.
Nasus, Sion, and Veigar all got a special bonus on their stacking abilities. It's small if you aren't jungling or frequently taking jungle camps, but it's still a nice little boost.
Nunu's ability to just sit in a bush spamming W and winning lanes is gone. Many claim this has utterly killed his jungling, supporting, and many other things, but that seems a bit of an exaggeration. He's certainly worse off for losing 20% Attack Speed, but his buff still provides roughly 1425g worth of stats, not counting the Movement Speed. He still has one of the most spammable and effective Movement/Attack Speed slows in the game. Ultimately, he's still Nunu and he'll still be good, he just won't be as effective when played as a buff bot.
Olaf, my favorite bruiser to hate when I'm a squishy champion trying to hide behind a wall of crowd control, is a little less fearsome post-patch. His free damage sources from his W and ultimate were nerfed, and his slow's effectiveness will be much more dependent upon proximity and good aim/axe placement. He's still going to be extremely powerful and a pain in the neck.
If you think for a moment that the nerfs to Shaco are going to prevent your team from inexplicably feeding him, you're thinking wishfully.
Tristana and Tryndamere, a couple of carries lost to time, have both received a few minor buffs. These aren't completely game-changing, but they're enough to edge them toward being played more frequently.
I'm not a big fan of Seeker's Armguard. It will be a very strong item for AP champions, helping them to deal with the proliferation of bruisers, AD casters, and assassins. I don't like it because it allows players to be lazy; they could have been grabbing Cloth Armor guilt-free before anyway. The item represents Riot making decisions for their players instead of allowing the game to evolve naturally. Philosophy aside, you'd be pretty silly to ignore this item.
The removal of Mana Regeneration from Fiendish Codex is interesting for the effects it has on other items. It now allows champions building Deathfire Grasp to acquire Cooldown Reduction before finishing the item. It reduces the cost of Nashor's Tooth (over the years it's dropped from 2835g, now down to 2270g), maybe to the point where we'll see it on champions other than Kayle and Teemo. If nothing else, support champions might actually consider picking up the new, cheap Fiendish Codex.
Black Cleaver now takes longer to stack is provides less Health. It's been a one-stop shop for everything bruisers and AD casters could want, and while it remains so it will be less effective in this role.
While all Spirit Stone-based items are now cheaper, Spirit of the Spectral Wraith got the most significant reduction. It now costs a mere 2000g, and provides an insane amount of stats for that cost. Riot is obviously displeased with the lack of traction AP junglers are seeing, but they may have overcompensated here, as this value is in the range where lane champions are liable to pick it up.
Also, bots now talk at the start and end of Coop vs AI games. Obviously the most important change this patch.
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