tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83731615851980453392023-11-16T05:44:00.189-08:00This is MontegomeryMontegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.comBlogger250125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-69152627250502636652013-11-12T09:04:00.000-08:002013-11-12T09:04:06.508-08:00Preseason Impressions: The JungleI've had some time to play around in the Season 4 Jungle and with the new jungle items, and I'd like to share with you what I've found.<br />
<br />
First, the Cliff's Notes version:<br />
<ul>
<li>Smite's 40 second cooldown inhibits counter-jungling and eases clearing for tanky junglers.</li>
<li>Spirit of the Ancient Golem is still the best of the jungling items.</li>
<li>Having two "small" camps on each side helps jungle flow considerably.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Smite:</b><br />
<br />
Smite's 40 second cooldown is a big deal. You no longer need to worry about saving Smite for your second buff because you can have it up for both. If you Smite your first buff on spawn it's seamless (though that should obviously only be done when you're certain it's safe). Even if you don't you can just take 10 seconds to look for the enemy jungler and Smite will be still be back in time to secure your second buff.<br />
<br />
This makes contesting an opponent's second buff significantly more difficult early on. The types of junglers who routinely have their buffs contested tend to take extra time and damage at their first buff unless they get an extraordinary amount of help. Being able to Smite that first camp means a healthier jungler will arrive at their second camp sooner. Combined with every laner having the ability to throw down early wards, early counter-jungling is going to be rare except in very lopsided setups.<br />
<br />
Having Smite up constantly also makes clearing much easier for junglers in general, though tanky junglers tend to benefit the most. All in all it's a huge quality of life change.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Jungling Items:</b><br />
<br />
All the jungling items now have gold generation passives aimed at boosting jungler income. Of these passives, Spirit of the Ancient Golem's stands out as the most versatile for fairly straightforward reasons.<br />
<br />
Conservation, the passive in question, stacks once per second up to 80 times. Killing a large or epic jungle monster consumes up to 40 stacks granting one gold per stack. The upshot of this is you can half a minute and a half of downtime without losing incoming. Moreover, you still gain roughly 10-15 gold per camp if you're straight up farming due to the time it takes to move between them and clear. With four small camps and a low cooldown on Smite it's easy to make use of the passive even into the late-game.<br />
<br />
Bounty Hunter, the passive for Elder Lizard and Spectral Wraith, is considerably less potent. The 10 gold bonus per camp is functionally worse than Conservation. Getting two kills/assists every 80 seconds to keep up with the potential of Conservation is basically impossible except in low level games. At the moment I question the value of either Spectral Wraith or Elder Lizard.<br />
<br />
The new Wriggle's is potentially powerful, although the much whispered about upgrade currently does not exist. If you're straight up farming the jungle Wriggle's provides a very considerable amount of gold. The problem is that Attack Speed, while sensible for Wriggle's passives, is not by itself that great for most farming junglers. Without the upgrade Wriggle's is a little awkward.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Jungle Flow:</b><br />
<br />
The new jungle camp makes a huge difference to jungle flow. Absolutely huge.<br />
<br />
One of the biggest problems facing a jungler is balancing farming and ganking, and a large part of that problem is how their clears flow into their ganks. In Season 3 ganking the side lane closest to the wolves camp is the most costly in terms of time and farm. There's just the one camp on that side and it's fairly distant from the lane, especially if there are wards involved. It's still a gankable lane, the issue is simply that the personal cost to the jungler is higher.<br />
<br />
The wight camp significantly helps this problem. It's positioned extremely close to the lane, allowing for quick access in case something happens. It's now easy to flow from wolves to wight to gank, or even vice versa. Moreover, if you exit the gank with a lot of health you can almost always go straight back into the jungle and have a nearby camp waiting for you. Jungling flows better in Season 4.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Overall I'm liking the new jungle, but there's a lot left to figure out. Double jungling might actually be viable with each jungler able to farm two camps. Dealing with free wards all over the map will be an interesting problem.<br />
<br />
My only regret is that none of the jungling items are really suited for jungle Akali, alas.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-69407405271011539602013-11-01T10:49:00.001-07:002013-11-01T10:49:10.625-07:00Preseason Impressions: Support ItemsThe first wave of preseason changes has hit the PBE. It's fairly incomplete, there's a handful of blatant bugs and issues, but thankfully the new support items are in and functional.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>I'm not going post the stats of the items here, but you can find them at <a href="http://www.surrenderat20.net/2013/10/1031-pbe-update-nasus-vu.html">surrender@20</a>. Just search for "philosopher" and you'll skip down to the relevant section of their mega post.</b><br />
<br />
Here's a quick fact round-up before I dig into some analysis:<br />
<ul>
<li>You can only have one of the three support items (they're also exclusive with Avarice Blade and jungle items).</li>
<li>All three have a mini version costing 365g that's half as effective that upgrades into the full version.</li>
<li>The final upgrades (e.g. Shurelia's, Shard of True Ice, Martyr's Call) keep the gold generation passives. </li>
</ul>
<br />
To begin, here's a quick comparison of the maximum gold generation each item provides.<br />
<ul>
<li>Philosopher's Stone: 10.4 gp10</li>
<li>Kage's Lucky Pick: 20 gp10</li>
<li>Reaper's Emblem: 13.3 gp10</li>
</ul>
These calculations are for <i>ideal</i> scenarios, and this is important. All Philosopher's Stone has to do for its ideal scenario is stay in lane (although I didn't count Z. However, Kage's Lucky Pick's ideal scenario requires you to harass two targets every 10 seconds exactly. It's fairly obvious that won't happen often. Your opponents are not going to open themselves up for harass at exact 10 second intervals, if they're even in lane at the same time you are. Reaper's Emblem requires that you're in lane and can safely Execute minions, otherwise it has no gp10 generation at all.<br />
<br />
Kage's Lucky pick is thus the most iffy of all three items. To match Philosopher's Stone you need to be landing 5 valid harass hits every minute. That's a little dicey, and if you fall behind (or even if you get too far ahead) you won't have the opportunities you need to make that quota. Shard of True Ice, despite its changes, is still somewhat questionable in usefulness. <br />
<br />
Philosopher's Stone is obviously the safest option, so long as you aren't losing the lane so horribly you can't even get near minions. Of the items it's got the most solid performance throughout the game, generating gold in siege scenarios just as well as in laning scenarios. It also builds into Shurelia's, which is still a reasonably useful item.<br />
<br />
Reaper's Emblem is unique in that its functionality doesn't preclude last-hitting. You can last hit all day while waiting for your next charge, and as long as you're using charges on melee minions you're still generating 10 gp10. For this reason I suspect we may seem some interesting duo setups involving one or more of these. Most importantly, it upgrades into Martyr's Call.<br />
<br />
Martyr's Call is, in fact, probably overpowered at present. If it was merely a shield it might be roughly equivalent to the others, but the shield can be self-cast and works like a Zilean bomb. Breaking the shield doesn't stop the damage from occurring four seconds later, and the damage is AoE. The power this can represent in both skirmishes and teamfights is huge.<br />
<br />
I don't know if it will bring about the return of double-bruiser lanes or bruiser-support lanes, but in any matchup I can get away with it I'm planning on grabbing Reaper's Emblem (which incidentally also scales as minion values go up).<br />
<br />
That's it for the support item review. There's a lot more preseason stuff coming, but with the jungle changes incomplete and some trinkets outright not working, it'll have to wait for a later date.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-39360869426150470862013-10-08T10:13:00.000-07:002013-10-08T10:13:04.490-07:00Thought of the Day: LucianIt's been a while, but I had a epiphany about Lucian.<br />
<br />
<b>If Ardent Blaze, Lucian's W, could be cast while moving he'd be a competitive AD carry.</b><br />
<br />
Right now Lucian is considered terrible for a number of reasons:<br />
<ul>
<li>He's a short range AD carry without a powerful steroid. </li>
<li>His W isn't an effective tool for either chasing or kiting.</li>
<li>His E is a relatively weak escape/gap closer.</li>
<li>His ultimate is difficult to aim and doesn't do much damage.</li>
</ul>
At first it looks like Lucian has multiple issues that need to each be resolved individually. Upon closer inspection, however, it's clear that three of the purported issues are actually <i>symptoms</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Lucian's short range is an issue because he can't chase or kite effectively.</li>
<li>Lucian's E is underwhelming because it's insufficient to make up for his chase/kite deficiency.</li>
<li>Lucian's ultimate feels week because he's often forced to use it mid-fight when he's been zoned by the tanky front line due to his range and chase/kite issues.</li>
</ul>
It all comes back to the fact that Ardent Blaze fails to be more than an additional damage skillshot. If it provided the kite/chase potential it was supposed to, all these dominoes would be knocked over and he'd be much, much better. Perhaps not perfect, but far closer.<br />
<br />
Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-23735029671263367802013-07-18T08:09:00.000-07:002013-07-18T08:09:01.189-07:00Update: PlansSo I've been absent for quite some time and a few people have been asking me to update my blog. Here you go.<br />
<br />I've been thinking about my Mondays with Monte show. It was a lot of fun to do, and I'd like to start it back up again, but I need to find ways to attract more viewers. Unfortunately, people aren't very interested in the advice of Gold or even Platinum players. As such I'm putting my money where my mouth is and hunkering down to play all the ranked games I should have been playing months ago. The goal is to reach Diamond, maybe even Challenger, in order to better attract viewers.<br />
<br />
So in the meantime I'll be streaming my misadventures during the day, and occasionally updating this blog with thoughts on my progress. Enjoy.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-12630587260978268082013-06-03T15:19:00.000-07:002013-06-03T15:19:17.325-07:00Update: Life, the Universe, EverythingIt's been waaaaay too long since my last blog post, and not without reason. Unfortunately I've had a lot on my plate, and it isn't looking to let up anytime in the near future.<br />
<br />
As a result updates to this blog are likely to be incredibly sporadic. What time I do find available to me is most likely to be consumed playing League instead of writing about it, though occasionally some idea or thought may excite me and spur me to post.<br />
<br />
Thank you all for reading, and best of luck in League.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-66630212727258689192013-04-11T13:38:00.002-07:002013-04-11T13:38:48.699-07:00Patch Day: 3.5 Balance UpdateSome <a href="http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=3322095">new balance changes</a> have arrived, and as usual I'll give them the old analysis once over.<br />
<br />
The changes to <b>Akali </b>will have a semi-significant impact on her laning. While technically speaking she'll do more damage part 300 Ability Power, most games are decided before Akali could reasonably acquire that much power. You basically need a 3-4 item build finished before you cross that threshold.<br />
<br />
<b>Corki</b> hasn't seen much play as of late. These changes help him a little, as missiles have been a limiting factor for him for some time. His lack of play is really an oddity in any case, so if you were on the rocks about playing him before now is as good a time as ever to pick him up.<br />
<br />
<b>Karma</b> sees a few adjustments to her abilities. These are almost entirely quality of life buffs. Beyond making her Mantra easier to access through buffs to her passive and its activation, her most important change is to her Focused Resolve. Now that using Mantra charges automatically gives the 60% speed boost she no longer has any abilities who gain Mantra benefits for being skilled up.<br />
<br />
The cast range reductions on <b>Kayle</b>'s abilities are steep. Dropping her utility to 900 range forces her to stay much closer to a fight in order to ensure she can save or aid allies in need. However, this primarily affects Support Kayle, as any other form of Kayle is already going to be in the thick of it or near a needy ally.<br />
<br />
<b>Lux</b> will no longer be able to instantly clear a creep wave every 24 seconds. Instead, she'll be able to clear a creep wave every 30 seconds. Ultimately (har har) she hasn't been significantly hurt, save for those foolish enough to consistently overextend while laning.<br />
<br />
<b>Morgana</b>, <b>Nami</b>, <b>Nautilus</b>, and <b>Nunu </b>all got minor tweaks to make them more competitive. I'm of the opinion that it's largely unnecessary in Nami's case. Nami is good, but before anyone could get used to her Thresh (who is clearly amazing) arrived. Morgana and Nautilus' changes are mostly friendly bumps to remind you these champions exist and are good. Nunu, however, is still on the edge of competitiveness.<br />
<br />
<b>Quinn</b> had a few significant playability issues which have now been addressed. Valor's mark timing was such that it was extremely common that you would start to attack a target, and before you finished Valor would have started to mark it. However, because your attack was in the air before he finished marking you'd fail to get the proc, resulting in no benefits and a 10 second wait for the next mark. This is a little more rare now, and along with her Vault change should improve her popularity slightly.<br />
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<b>Volibear</b> got a slight nerf. He's still extremely strong, especially when ganking, so don't freak out if you love jungling as a bear.<br />
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<b>Jungling</b> is now different, thanks to changes to the items which build out of Spirit Stone. They now all cost 2000 gold. In order to effect this change, Spirit of the Elder Lizard received a slight nerf, and Spirit of the Ancient Golem traded its Armor for Cooldown Reduction, with a slight change in recipe. This will incidentally also make it easier for jungle tanks to get the Cooldown Reduction they need to spam their utility.<br />
<br />
Overall there were any crippling nerfs or incredible buffs, nor was there anything out of the ordinary. However, there were significantly more buffs and quality of life changes than nerfs this patch, which reverses the previous, concerning trend where almost everything was a nerf. Good show.<br />
<br />Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-34174168806380863142013-03-29T20:05:00.002-07:002013-03-29T20:05:38.035-07:00Patch Day: Zac & Karma<a href="http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=3268405">The patch</a> is actually here, and with it comes Zac and a remade Karma.<br />
<br />
<b>Karma</b>'s remake is interesting in that it makes her much more of an offensive caster than a support. While she can support, she'll likely be played as a straight carry more often than not due to her high damage and survivability.<br />
<br />
Nerfing <b>Akali</b>'s Twilight Shroud through its mechanics is painful, but only for those overly reliant on it. The truth of the Shroud is that beyond the laning phase its usefulness drops due to pink wards and Oracle's. In fact, in high level play pink wards are par for the course when it comes to ganking Akali.<br />
<br />
<b>Hecarim</b> gets another bout with the nerf bat. This dramatically affects his survivability in longer encounters, especially at low ranks. He'll still be played, but his popularity is likely to decrease as will his chances at competitive play.<br />
<br />
<b>Rumble</b>'s ultimate is now entirely damage over time without any special upfront burst. Using it to catch people who were nearly dead was apparently too strong. I'd be interested in seeing the analysis which lead to this change.<br />
<br />
Everyone's favorite gap closer-less jungler, <b>Udyr</b>, has essentially been given a minor rework. This should help his jungling and distance closing issues, though he loses a bit of tankiness, mana sustain, and longer duration mobility as a result. Chances are he'll still be very strong both top and as a jungler.<br />
<br />
The changes to turret damage will make early dives harder, but in the end it's mostly going to make foolish junglers accidentally kill themselves more.<br />
<br />
A decent patch overall, and nice in that it had a fairly even share of both buffs and nerfs (even if I didn't discuss them all). Hopefully this balance will continue in future patches.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-57530358675539751252013-03-28T14:20:00.001-07:002013-03-28T14:20:50.541-07:00Patch Day?Servers are borked. I'll review the patch notes when they are not.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-64514664891190949102013-03-20T15:02:00.001-07:002013-03-20T15:02:55.252-07:00Patch Day: 3.04A day late, but there was a patch which had <a href="http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=3237018">notes and everything</a> yesterday.<br />
<br />
<b>Elise</b> takes a laning phase hit, but ultimately this isn't going to dramatically change her viability. The Health-based damage on Neurotoxin wasn't affected, so it'll still be a very effective poking/damage tool against top lane champions.<br />
<br />
<b>Jarvan</b> loses his team Armor buff. This actually surprised me when I saw it. Jarvan is definitely strong, but at lot of his current power stems from the current popularity of physical damage junglers and solo lanes. His winrate wasn't excessive despite that circumstance, and he would have fallen in popularity with a shift in the meta. As a result I think this change was premature.<br />
<br />
Everyone's favorite chemist, <b>Singed</b>, receives nerfs. This will make him slightly easier to catch, but his deadly cloud of poison is still the most dangerous part of his kit, and will still choke to death anyone foolish enough to chase him.<br />
<br />
<b>Taric</b> is likely to see a significant drop in popularity due to these nerfs. However, I'm inspired to try a variation on jungle/top-lane Taric where his stun is maxed first. With these changes it makes a lot more sense to max that first, regardless of role, especially with Shatter's armor bonus no longer based on skill rank.<br />
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<b>Runic Bulwark</b> and <b>Locket of the Iron Solari</b> both received nerfs. Yes, each is cheaper, but the combination of the two was extremely common on support-oriented junglers. Dropping 200 Health and 5 Magic Resist is significant, even if you save 400 gold in the process.<br />
<br />
As with most recent patches, most changes are aimed at making popular champions and items weaker, with a few minor buffs here and there to make others more viable. In general the nerfs have been outnumbering the buffs, a trend which remains concerning. We'll see what 3.05 hold, but for now I wonder what popular jungler will next get the nerf bat.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-376317552839033742013-03-18T14:37:00.002-07:002013-03-18T14:37:30.660-07:00Thought: Dragon Priority<b>There may be a few spoilers regarding MLG Dallas in this post. Consider yourself forewarned. </b><br />
<br />
There were many fantastic games over the weekend, but rather than highlight any particular one game I'd like to focus on an interesting trend I've noticed across all of LCS and Season 3 thus far. It's something Gambit Gaming has picked up on and made central to their strategy. Specifically, Dragon is more valuable early than turrets.<br />
<br />
The strategy Gambit Gaming, and some others, employed was to simply take every Dragon during the early-game, even if it meant committing all five members of the team and losing a turret. Dragon is considered more valuable because the outer turrets are almost guaranteed to fall eventually. Thus, taking a turret in exchange for Dragon will only <i>temporarily</i> keep the teams even in gold. The team that prioritizes Dragon has an advantage because they evenly trade a permanent advantage for a temporary one, and eventually the other team will have to pay the piper.<br />
<br />
The key to the strategy is the initial mid-game team fight. If the Dragon-hoarding team wins that first, crucial team fight they'll easily gain several thousand gold on their opponents due to all of the easy objectives within reach, regardless of their relative position before the fight started. Even without a decisive win, it's far harder to defend outer turrets than inner ones, meaning even a disadvantaged team is likely to make up ground. The result is a near-guaranteed slingshot effect, where the team which had yet to take towers will catapult forward.<br />
<br />
This is not an invincible strategy, but it appeared to be a very reliable one for Gambit Gaming. It took them all the way to the international exhibition finals, and almost made them the victors. It was only KT Rolster B's superior early game pressure, consistently shutting down Darien, which kept Gambit in check.<br />
<br />
I've mentioned this to a number of people in a number of places, and the reaction has been largely the same every time. Practically everyone becomes immediately concerned about map control, citing how the loss of one's jungle, increased necessity of wards, and the like negates any benefits. Given how prominently this strategy was on display, especially during the first two games between Gambit and KT Rolster B, I myself was, in turn, surprised by the reactions.<br />
<br />
Map control is an issue, but I believe it to be nowhere near as dire as others seem to believe, at least competitively. Against a coordinated team who wards as a team and reacts as a team, jungle invasion and aggressive map control are risky even with turrets down. The potential for the defending team to intercept incursions is high with proper warding, and the likelihood that there are unsuspecting players to catch out of position is low. Especially with GG Edward prioritizing warding and clearing wards over personal development, the map control issue seems born out of solo queue experience more than competitive. At the very least, Gambit Gaming was not particularly inhibited by this.<br />
<br />
It's also important to note the progressive nature of the exchanges. One does not instantly trade three turrets for Dragon, but does so over the course of 12 minutes. For much of that time map control is still assured due to the remaining turrets and the developmental stage of both teams. It's only when the mid-game is effectively in progress that map control becomes a major issue, and that's when the strategy calls for team-fighting in order to begin making up the difference.<br />
<br />
Again, the strategy isn't perfect or without counter, but I believe it's more effective than many players will realize. It has potential applications in both solo queue and ranked 5s, and should be carefully considered by any competitive player.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-67888457575218477622013-03-12T16:29:00.002-07:002013-03-12T16:29:14.892-07:00Jungler: KarthusJungle Karthus? What madness is this!? You might be confused by the topic, but believe me when I say that jungle Karthus is real, effective, and arguably the strongest Ability Power-based jungler in the game (apologies Akali, but tis true).<br />
<br />
<b>Jungle Karthus:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><i>Quints</i>: Spell Vamp</li>
<li><i>Marks</i>: Attack Damage or Magic Penetration</li>
<li><i>Seals</i>: Armor</li>
<li><i>Glyphs</i>: Flat Ability Power or Magic Penetration</li>
<li><i>Masteries</i>: 21/0/9 or 21/7/2 or 9/0/21 </li>
</ul>
The mechanics behind jungle Karthus are actually very simple. Lay Waste is an extremely Mana-efficient and spammable nuke, giving Karthus potent clearing power, and only suffers the AoE Spell Vamp penalty if it hits multiple targets. With Defile providing mana returns on kills, Karthus can sustain both his mana and his health (through Spell Vamp) while jungling. His combination of speed and sustain makes him an extremely fast and effective jungler, even without Blue buff.<br />
<br />
His ganking is also extremely dangerous both before and after level 6. His Wall of Pain is an extremely long range and long duration crowd control, reaching 1000 range and lasting 5 seconds. With only one rank the slow is a potent 40%, making any opponent hit an easy target for Lay Waste. So long as your aim is true Karthus brings more than enough damage to a gank to take down all but the tankiest, most slippery champions by himself.<br />
<br />
Once he has Requiem, Karthus can "gank" without even leaving the jungle, although it serves just as well as a follow up to an actual gank. The constant, global pressure applied by the threat of red orbital laser death is not to be underestimated. If undisturbed or distracted Karthus can hit level 6 less than a minute after a typical solo lane, sometimes in parity. The result is a jungler who can quickly take control of the game.<br />
<br />
Karthus also is extremely good at taking Dragon. His huge single target damage when spamming Lay Waste on a stationary target means Dragon falls quickly, not even requiring the presence of anything other than a support should there be sufficient mana. Later in the game he poses a similar threat to Baron, meaning that as a jungler he has surprisingly few weak areas despite being so unorthodox.<br />
<br />
It's important to embrace lane taxation and selfishness as jungle Karthus, for it benefits your team significantly for you to gain farm. Hold lanes whenever possible, do not shy away from grabbing a few creeps following a successful gank, and figure out in advance who will have priority on Blue buff. So long as you do not handicap your team you'll be able to carry them in mid-game fights.<br />
<br />
In terms of item build I generally focus on getting a quick Spirit Strone, followed by Sorcerer's Shoes. The former item helps your clearing significantly, and the latter makes your ganks and Requiem significantly scarier. From there, building a Tear of the Goddess and finishing Spirit of the Spectral Wraith should be your priorities. Follow those items with Haunting Guise, Seeker's Armguard, and whatever else suits the game at hand. Unless your team is truly struggling, you'll have a commanding presence in team fights.<br />
<br />
Jungle Karthus is often overlooked in today's meta, but despite not being a dive-oriented tanky bruiser he is an extremely secure and viable jungler. Just be ready for when people call you a troll (they don't know any better). Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-33342246590410361952013-03-11T14:34:00.002-07:002013-03-11T14:34:56.702-07:00Quote: On Skillshots"I love skillshots. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."<br />
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-Douglas AdamsMontegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-28422628222402292762013-03-07T12:06:00.002-08:002013-03-07T12:06:29.888-08:00Quote: On Want"It is curious how often players manage to obtain that which they do not want."<br />
<br />
-Spock Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-68037753425292254662013-03-06T15:21:00.001-08:002013-03-06T15:21:46.689-08:00Thought: On QuinnIt's too early to have any hard opinions on Quinn, but I have a few observations.<br />
<br />
Quinn seems to have a few issues in a duo lane. Her very short range makes her vulnerable to longer ranged champions, and more susceptible to being crowd controlled. This also weakens a lot of her abilities considerably. With greater restrictions on her positioning it's hard to land her Blinding Assault or follow up on her passive, and using her Vault offensively is dangerous as it removes her primary escape mechanism. She's not completely worthless, but she feels weak in that position.<br />
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However, Quinn appears to excel in a solo lane. Her ability to roam with her ultimate is extremely significant. One on one it's much easier to force an opponent into a position where her Blinding Assault harass is deadly, and to follow up on her passive. Her Heightened Senses is also an excellent tool for a champion who can only ward one ganking path. There are very few ranged carry champions who can exert map pressure like she can.<br />
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I worry that her short range will be a liability against many mid champions, but I won't know how much of a factor that will be until I have further opportunities to try her out. In the meantime, remember that you can interrupt Vault's backward jump with Flash, and that Vault will chase flashing/dashing targets ala Maokai.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-16717787901500272642013-03-05T13:53:00.000-08:002013-03-05T13:53:35.013-08:00Support: NasusIt's time for me to eat a little bit of humble pie and talk about support Nasus, a concept which I initially spurned due to several bad but unrepresentative experiences. Support Nasus is actually a fairly frightening partner for many popular carries. It's counter-intuitive, as Nasus is best known for his carry potential, but his utility is actually significant enough to make him a potent support.<br />
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The key to support Nasus lies in Wither and Spirit Fire. The former ability is an incredibly potent slow, affecting both Movement Speed and Attack Speed to significant degree. Not only is it powerful in laning, but throughout the game it will shut down any carry who forgets to grab Cleanse or a Quicksilver Sash. The latter ability is the single strongest Flat Armor Reduction ability in the game, removing an incredible 20 armor with only one rank, and scaling up to 40 at maximum rank. The degree to which Nasus both decreases an opposing carry's damage while improving his own makes him a scary support.<br />
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Because of these factors, Nasus works best with high physical damage carries, and is best used against carries who depend heavily on auto-attacks. Champions like Miss Fortune, Twitch, Graves, Caitlyn, or Draven become absolutely terrifying when Spirit Fire is placed properly. It's therefore important to be very judicious when placing Spirit Fire; haphazard placement will dramatically reduce Nasus' effectiveness.<br />
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Nasus needs to be built similarly to any all-in support. While his two most important abilities are ranged, hanging back is a gigantic waste of his potential. He should be in the thick of things, and as a result he prioritizes items like Locket, Aegis, and other items which make him tankier while providing team utility. Cooldown Reduction is also extremely important for support Nasus, as capping it yields very high uptime on Wither and Spirit Fire, dramatically increasing his teamfight contributions.<br />
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Obviously in a supporting role Nasus will not be able to stack Soul Siphon very much, but even with limited stacks he can contribute significantly to a tower push. Soul Siphon's auto-reset also allows him to quickly dispense with wards if his AD is attentive. While not his most defining feature when supporting, it's not a useless ability.<br />
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Nasus' ultimate, however cannot be underestimated. By simply standing near opponents he can deal significant damage while also gaining AD. Even with just one rank it deals nearly a third of a target's health in damage over the duration (even Baron and Dragon). With Health stacking a common itemization path, Nasus' ultimate is extremely potent.<br />
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Overall support Nasus is not mainstream. It's likely that his use will be met with derision, fear, and loathing by those afraid of the unknown. Still, when playing among friends or simply defying the jeers of solo/duo queue, support Nasus can be surprisingly effective.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-32181076036540378332013-03-04T11:55:00.000-08:002013-03-04T11:55:40.364-08:00Quote: On Sport"For what do we play, but to make sport for our opponents, and laugh at them in turn?"<br />
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-Mr. Bennet, <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-54149763676097751772013-03-01T10:16:00.001-08:002013-03-01T10:16:35.967-08:00Patch Day: QuinnQuinn should soon be released, but in the meantime her patch brings with it a crapton of notable changes.<br />
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<b>Amumu</b> has been nerfed. Reducing the damage on his Bandage Toss and range on his ultimate makes him a less scary initiator. These changes, however, concern me. Perhaps it's different in some other tier of play, but he didn't strike me as anything more than decent. Riot would do well to avoid a game of perpetual whack-a-mole, where anything that's being picked frequently must be nerfed.<br />
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<b>Ashe</b>, <b>Tristana</b>, and <b>Vayne</b> received minor buffs. For some time these champions have been second tier picks due to either poor mid-game performance or reliance on outside protection. The buffs will help a little, but more than anything else they'll simply remind people these champions exist (and aren't as bad as people think).<br />
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The change to <b>Darius</b>' ultimate addresses a common abuse case. Getting killed by his ultimate once essentially set off a chain of inevitable executions. Riot's changes should do exactly as they've stated, removing this unfun situation without impacting Darius' teamfighting.<br />
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The <b>Garen</b> nerfs represent another case of proactive balance. He frequently got a little too tanky with too little effort, so a minor nerf to his durability is useful. However, I also didn't think him more than decent, so he is another "whack-a-mole" case from my perspective.<br />
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<b>Hecarim</b> is getting nerfed. The fact that Spirit of Dread has higher healing at low ranks is a red herring, the loss of 10% healing at maximum rank as well as the increased cooldown at lower ranks makes the ability much weaker. The slight buff to Rampage doesn't make up for this. Perhaps he needed it, but Hecarim was only a fixture of the NA meta (EU largely ignored him), and so I call into question the necessity of the changes.<br />
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<b>Kayle</b> also received nerfs, despite Riot's dancing around that word. In her case it was likely necessary, as she was not only a first pick/ban in tournaments but a powerful choice in any tier of play. That said, removing the damage amplification from her Reckoning and replacing it with a single stack of her passive makes it the most underwhelming debuff application I can think of.<br />
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Meanwhile, <b>Nidalee</b> is losing all her bonus Armor and Magic Resist. This essentially kills Bruiser and Tank Nidalee. Given Nidalee's recent popularity as an AP champion this may be warranted, but it does kill off a once-popular build.<br />
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<b>Taric</b> received some notable buffs. While he needs 250 Armor to give an equivalent armor buff to his team as before, Taric's laning phase was always less about his Armor aura and more about his stun -> ult+Shatter combo. That now does more damage and costs less mana, meaning Taric is actually scarier than before.<br />
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<b>Tryndamere</b>'s once overpowered sustain from Ability Power is being significantly nerfed. As even I was able to play him top without issue, it's probably a necessary nerf.<br />
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<b>Vi</b> and <b>Xin Zhao</b>, NA's most popular junglers, are both receiving nerfs. Vi was simply able to clear too quickly and deal too much damage, whereas Xin Zhao had too much sticking power and damage even when building tanky. They'll still be strong, just slightly less so.<br />
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<b>Zed</b>'s changes don't really change anything. A slight damage boost on later ranks of his shuriken doesn't remotely make it as good as his AoE. You can still use the latter twice as often, making it much more important for both wave clear, damage, and stacking with his ultimate.<br />
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Overall the patch changes worry me. Aside from a few token buffs, it's all nerfs. While it's good to try to avoid power creep by favoring nerfs more than buffs, this patch was very, very heavy on the latter. I'd rather they err a little more toward buffing weak champions, or letting the players find counters to popular champions.<br />
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There are also some item changes to consider this patch.<br />
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<b>Warmog's Armor</b> dropped to 1% maximum Health regenerated every 5 seconds. This is a very significant nerf, though Warmog's position as the largest, most cost efficient Health item remains.<br />
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The <b>Bilgewater Cutlass</b> changes convince me that no champion should bother getting Hextech Gunblade any more. Unless you can make very good use of Cutlass (which is significantly less inspiring than before), it's not a very fruitful build path. As a step toward Blade of the Ruined King, however, Cutlass is a worthy item.<br />
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<b>Blade of the Ruined King</b> is currently overpowered and is definitely going to get nerfed. What made Madred's Bloodrazor so bad was its heft cost (3800 gold) and inefficiency (magic damage on a physical damage champion is awkward). Blade of the Ruined King is almost 1000 gold cheaper, has a Deathfire Grasp-esque active ability, and does physical damage. You're going to see a lot of this item before it's hotfixed.<br />
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That's all for this patch. Hopefully we'll see Quinn before long.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-22614836208364069892013-02-28T15:10:00.002-08:002013-02-28T15:10:40.537-08:00Thought: Xerath and Double APDuring 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-65259252652635899012013-02-26T09:12:00.000-08:002013-02-26T09:12:01.122-08:00Update: Video BacklogI'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.<br />
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I'll try to avoid taking so long to update the archive in the future.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-85851642298322915572013-02-25T14:23:00.003-08:002013-02-25T14:23:50.542-08:00Quote: 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."<br />
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-Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars IV: A New HopeMontegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-33271158432751153152013-02-21T14:53:00.001-08:002013-02-21T14:53:26.123-08:00Theory: Gold ValuesIn 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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Unfortunately, combine costs have essentially <b>nothing</b> 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 <b>3 gold</b>, 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.<br />
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This presents a problem for theorycrafters as the gold values of roughly half of all attributes <b>cannot be determined</b>. 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 <b>-</b>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.<br />
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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.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-548771190647037812013-02-20T15:39:00.000-08:002013-02-20T15:39:20.676-08:00Thought: AsheThere's <a href="http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=3144872&p=34838720">an utterly hilarious thread on the official forums</a> 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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I have a simple idea that could possibly fix the awkwardness, <b>swap the passives</b>.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-69672055687069518322013-02-19T15:31:00.000-08:002013-02-19T15:31:09.506-08:00Thought: Spectral Wraith for Jungle AkaliHextech 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-62638348799495176452013-02-18T14:08:00.001-08:002013-02-18T14:08:22.735-08:00Patch Day: 3.02I'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 <a href="http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=3118216">patch notes themselves</a> say.<br />
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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.<br />
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<b>Akali</b>'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.<br />
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<b>Nasus</b>' 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.<br />
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According to LoLWiki <b>Riven</b>'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.<br />
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There are significant changes to items as well this patch.<br />
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<b>Cooldown Reduction</b> 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.<br />
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<b>Armor</b> and <b>Magic Resistance</b> 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.<br />
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<b>Liandry's Torment</b> 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. <b>Blade of the Ruined King</b> 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.<br />
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<b>Ohmwrecker</b> 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.<br />
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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.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8373161585198045339.post-57324643083518215952013-02-14T19:54:00.003-08:002013-02-14T19:54:40.153-08:00Jungler: Akali (3.02 Update)Patch day analysis will come tomorrow, for now I have some initial thoughts after taking advantage of the Akali changes.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.Montegomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05847647942735306736noreply@blogger.com0