Spell Vamp is an odd mechanic because it has a bunch of confusing rules as to its application. These rules have confounded and confused the community for some time because whenever someone asks, "Does Spell Vamp work on insert ability here?" they get 20 different answers. I hope to do my part in raising the general awareness of Spell Vamp's mechanics today.
Spell Vamp is actually a bit of a misnomer. "Spell" for many players implies "magic", and so they reasonably assume that Spell Vamp only works on magic damage. This is not the case, as Spell Vamp works on all cast abilities regardless of damage type (otherwise what would the point of Spell Vamp on Olaf or Lee Sin?). A more accurate name would be Ability Vamp, but Riot has never seen fit to change it.
So everything from Reckless Swing, to Noxious Trap, to Resonating Strike can make use of Spell Vamp, but there's plenty more confusion to be had. Spell Vamp's effectiveness is reduced by two-thirds on multi-target abilities. This is a necessary mechanic because otherwise a Morgana with no Ability Power at all could heal for 500+ Health with a single Tormented Soil. Still, it's something else for players to remember about Spell Vamp.
More confusion abounds because of Smite and Ignite. Because they are coded like abilities they actually work with Spell Vamp. You can, to this day, find threads where people ask whether these two Summoner Spells work with Spell Vamp, and get multiple answers. Rest assured, Spell Vamp definitely works with both (though it can be hard to notice for Ignite as its damage is done over time).
Then there are items like Hextech Gunblade and Deathfire Grasp. These too use Spell Vamp because their actives are also coded like abilities. These don't come up as often as Smite and Ignite, but they have classically been a point of confusion.
While damaging item actives do make use of Spell Vamp, on-hit effects from items do not. However, champion on-hit effects aren't so well delineated. Because the "on-hit" effects for many champions use backend code tricks to function, a number of them do work with Spell Vamp. Rather than have me list them all, you should refer to this list on the LoLWiki. When in doubt, you can always run your own tests, and then update the wiki as necessary.
As an aside the most Spell Vamp any champion can have in the game is 244.7%. It requires an Akali with 6 Gunblades, stacked buffs and is generally utterly implausible, but it's fun to imagine Akali Smiting something and healing for 2400 Health. A much more reasonable (relatively speaking) number is 153.5% (5 Gunblades + Runes/Masteries). It's overkill, you can solo Baron at 2 Gunblades, but it's fun overkill.
Hopefully that made Spell Vamp's mechanics slightly more clear. There are a lot of misconceptions about the mechanics of League of Legends, and while they may never be eliminated if I can reduce the cacophony of errant answers even slightly I'll be satisfied.
Showing posts with label mechanics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mechanics. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Mechanics: Damage Reduction
Damage Reduction tends to be poorly understood, largely because there are so many forms of it. There's Armor, Magic Resistance, a plethora of champion abilities, and a handful of masteries that all purport to reduce the damage you will take. How all of these disparate factors combine to ensure one's survivability seems incalculable, but it's actually fairly straightforward.
Damage Reduction, as with many other mechanics, can be found in both percentage and flat forms. The former greatly outnumbers the latter for reasons we'll get to later. For now, here's the equation:
Damage Taken = Raw Damage * (Product of all % Damage Reduction Factors) - (Sum of all Flat Damage Reduction Factors)
Armor, Magic Resistance, and effects such as Alistar's ultimate are % Damage Reduction factors. When they are applicable they are multiplied together before reducing damage. This prevents abuse, as adding them together would potentially allow champions to reach 100% Damage Reduction. The Indomitable mastery and Amumu's Tantrum are Flat Damage Reduction factors, and they are subtracted from the damage at the end.
Which brings us to why Flat Damage Reduction is rare and comes in very limited forms. Damage reduction is calculated separately for every instance of damage, meaning that damage over time effects are calculated on a per tick basis. As a result, sufficient combinations of % Damage Reduction and Flat Damage Reduction can lead to invulnerability against damage over time abilities.
For example, Olaf's ultimate used to provide 40 Flat Damage Reduction. Many damage over time abilities tick twice a second, such as Malzahar's Malefic Visions. Because the Flat Damage Reduction applies to each tick, Malzahar would lose 320 damage trying to kill Olaf. Not only that, but if Olaf has 60% Damage Reduction from Magic Resistance, Malzahar would need a raw damage of 800 in order to even scratch Olaf. Flat Damage Reduction was simply too strong against damage over time abilities to remain a significant part of the game.
While % Damage Reduction can't be abused in the same way it is still strong. Because Armor and Magic Resistance have diminishing returns, other sources of % Damage Reduction increase in value. At high levels of Armor or Magic Resistance the mere 20% Damage Reduction from Maokai's ultimate can easily be worth 75 of either stat.
Ultimately this mechanic has a limited effect on item choice. The only item in the game which provides any form of damage reduction is Leviathan, the oft-forgotten snowball item for Health, but only if you reach 20 stacks. The vast majority of Damage Reduction comes from champion abilities, and much of it for very limited time frames. As with any other defensive steroid, you need defenses to fill in the gaps or else your enemies will simply destroy you during the downtime.
Hopefully that clears up the nagging questions about Damage Reduction which were obviously keeping you up at night.
Damage Reduction, as with many other mechanics, can be found in both percentage and flat forms. The former greatly outnumbers the latter for reasons we'll get to later. For now, here's the equation:
Damage Taken = Raw Damage * (Product of all % Damage Reduction Factors) - (Sum of all Flat Damage Reduction Factors)
Armor, Magic Resistance, and effects such as Alistar's ultimate are % Damage Reduction factors. When they are applicable they are multiplied together before reducing damage. This prevents abuse, as adding them together would potentially allow champions to reach 100% Damage Reduction. The Indomitable mastery and Amumu's Tantrum are Flat Damage Reduction factors, and they are subtracted from the damage at the end.
Which brings us to why Flat Damage Reduction is rare and comes in very limited forms. Damage reduction is calculated separately for every instance of damage, meaning that damage over time effects are calculated on a per tick basis. As a result, sufficient combinations of % Damage Reduction and Flat Damage Reduction can lead to invulnerability against damage over time abilities.
For example, Olaf's ultimate used to provide 40 Flat Damage Reduction. Many damage over time abilities tick twice a second, such as Malzahar's Malefic Visions. Because the Flat Damage Reduction applies to each tick, Malzahar would lose 320 damage trying to kill Olaf. Not only that, but if Olaf has 60% Damage Reduction from Magic Resistance, Malzahar would need a raw damage of 800 in order to even scratch Olaf. Flat Damage Reduction was simply too strong against damage over time abilities to remain a significant part of the game.
While % Damage Reduction can't be abused in the same way it is still strong. Because Armor and Magic Resistance have diminishing returns, other sources of % Damage Reduction increase in value. At high levels of Armor or Magic Resistance the mere 20% Damage Reduction from Maokai's ultimate can easily be worth 75 of either stat.
Ultimately this mechanic has a limited effect on item choice. The only item in the game which provides any form of damage reduction is Leviathan, the oft-forgotten snowball item for Health, but only if you reach 20 stacks. The vast majority of Damage Reduction comes from champion abilities, and much of it for very limited time frames. As with any other defensive steroid, you need defenses to fill in the gaps or else your enemies will simply destroy you during the downtime.
Hopefully that clears up the nagging questions about Damage Reduction which were obviously keeping you up at night.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Mechanics: Attack Speed
Attack Speed is an intuitive concept governed by unintuitive, arcane calculations and mechanisms. Everyone can understand that more attack speed means attacking faster, but the exact nature of the math can induce headaches.
To make this easier, we'll start with an oversimplified formula.
Attack Speed = Base Attack Speed * (1 + Attack Speed Bonuses)
Every champion has their own Base Attack Speed. These range from 0.579 to 0.694 attacks per second depending on the champion. Because of how the formula works this value is very important to a champion's ability to scale with Attack Speed. To reach 2.0 attacks per second a champion with 0.694 Base Attack Speed only needs 188% Attack Speed, whereas a champion with 0.579 Base Attack Speed needs 245%, a 57% gap worth roughly 1500 gold. A higher Base Attack Speed clearly results in substantially greater benefits from Attack Speed bonuses.
Champions also gain Attack Speed as they level, similar to how they gain AD. These range from 0.98% per level to 3.84% per level, including level 1. This Attack Speed functions the same as any other Attack Speed Bonuses.
So a level 18 Shaco with Madred's Bloodrazor and Berserker's Greaves has 65% Attack Speed from items, 54% from levels and a Base Attack Speed of 0.694 attacks per second. Attack Speed Bonuses are added together, so filling out the the formula we get:
Attack Speed = 0.694 * (1 + 119%)
Attack Speed = 0.694 * 2.19
Attack Speed = 1.520
If we replace Shaco with Nautilus, we only have 17.6% Attack Speed from levels, and a Base Attack Speed of 0.613, giving us:
Attack Speed = 0.613 * (1 + 82.6%)
Attack Speed = 0.613 * 1.826
Attack Speed = 1.119
As you can see, both Base Attack Speed and a champion's innate Attack Speed per level can have a huge influence on their scaling.
However, there's more to Attack Speed than that. The oversimplified formula ignores the effect of Attack Speed Debuffs, such as Frozen Heart or Malphite's Ground Slam. Factoring those in the equation changes.
Attack Speed = (Base Attack Speed * (1 + Sum of Attack Speed Bonuses)) * (Product of Attack Speed Debuffs)
Because of how this formula works Attack Speed Debuffs are incredibly powerful. Consider what happens to our Shaco when fighting an opponent with Frozen Heart's 20% Attack Speed Debuff.
Attack Speed = (0.694 * (1 + 119%)) * (1 - 20%)
Attack Speed = (0.694 * 2.19) * (0.8)
Attack Speed = 1.520 * 0.8
Attack Speed = 1.216
Shaco's final Attack Speed is reduced to a level equivalent to having only a 75.2% total Attack Speed Bonus. Because the 20% Debuff affects all attack speed as a multiplier it's as if Shaco lost 43.8% Attack Speed. The more Attack Speed a champion has, the greater this effective loss becomes.
Multiple Attack Speed Debuffs are multiplied together, so if our Shaco was affected by both Frozen Heart and Ground Slam the calculations are as follows:
Attack Speed = (0.694 * (1 + 119%)) * ((1 - 0.2) * (1 - 0.5))
Attack Speed = (0.694 * 2.19) * (0.8 * 0.5)
Attack Speed = 1.520 * 0.4
Attack Speed = 0.608
In this case our unfortunate Shaco is actually attacking slower than his Base Attack Speed. He effectively has -12.4% Attack Speed, making such an auto-attack heavy champion essentially worthless. This crippling combination is a key part of why Malphite has been a top ban.
As a matter of trivia, Attack Speed has both a cap and a minimum. You can't exceed 2.5 attacks per second, or go below 0.2 attacks per second. The circumstances for approaching either number are extremely rare, but not entirely improbable. There is also one confusing exception to the rules for debuffs, the passive effect of Randuin's Omen. For whatever reason, Randuin's Omen's passive is treated as a negative Attack Speed Bonus rather than as an Attack Speed Debuff. You won't often encounter situations where these tidbits are practicable, but they're interesting nonetheless.
What is useful is applying the understanding of Attack Speed mechanics to champion theory. Not too long ago AD Kennen was used in tournaments in place of traditional AD carries, and a large part of his success came from his excellent Base Attack Speed and Attack Speed per level. Combining his 0.690 attacks per second with his 3.4% Attack Speed per level, Kennen has the highest innate Attack Speed in the game. Despite only having a nominal AD steroid, Kennen's superior base stats and scaling allowed him to be a serious contender at the tournament level.
Similarly, Twitch is currently flying under the radar. Of the traditional AD carries Twitch has the highest Base Attack Speed and Attack Speed per level. That he also has an extremely strong Attack Speed steroid only adds to his hidden strength. It's only a matter of time before someone figures out an appropriate team composition and Twitch rises from the depths of obscurity.
Understanding Attack Speed isn't quite as critical as other mechanics, but for the teams that want to be on the bleeding edge of composition and champion theory it's another important piece of the puzzle.
To make this easier, we'll start with an oversimplified formula.
Attack Speed = Base Attack Speed * (1 + Attack Speed Bonuses)
Every champion has their own Base Attack Speed. These range from 0.579 to 0.694 attacks per second depending on the champion. Because of how the formula works this value is very important to a champion's ability to scale with Attack Speed. To reach 2.0 attacks per second a champion with 0.694 Base Attack Speed only needs 188% Attack Speed, whereas a champion with 0.579 Base Attack Speed needs 245%, a 57% gap worth roughly 1500 gold. A higher Base Attack Speed clearly results in substantially greater benefits from Attack Speed bonuses.
Champions also gain Attack Speed as they level, similar to how they gain AD. These range from 0.98% per level to 3.84% per level, including level 1. This Attack Speed functions the same as any other Attack Speed Bonuses.
So a level 18 Shaco with Madred's Bloodrazor and Berserker's Greaves has 65% Attack Speed from items, 54% from levels and a Base Attack Speed of 0.694 attacks per second. Attack Speed Bonuses are added together, so filling out the the formula we get:
Attack Speed = 0.694 * (1 + 119%)
Attack Speed = 0.694 * 2.19
Attack Speed = 1.520
If we replace Shaco with Nautilus, we only have 17.6% Attack Speed from levels, and a Base Attack Speed of 0.613, giving us:
Attack Speed = 0.613 * (1 + 82.6%)
Attack Speed = 0.613 * 1.826
Attack Speed = 1.119
As you can see, both Base Attack Speed and a champion's innate Attack Speed per level can have a huge influence on their scaling.
However, there's more to Attack Speed than that. The oversimplified formula ignores the effect of Attack Speed Debuffs, such as Frozen Heart or Malphite's Ground Slam. Factoring those in the equation changes.
Attack Speed = (Base Attack Speed * (1 + Sum of Attack Speed Bonuses)) * (Product of Attack Speed Debuffs)
Because of how this formula works Attack Speed Debuffs are incredibly powerful. Consider what happens to our Shaco when fighting an opponent with Frozen Heart's 20% Attack Speed Debuff.
Attack Speed = (0.694 * (1 + 119%)) * (1 - 20%)
Attack Speed = (0.694 * 2.19) * (0.8)
Attack Speed = 1.520 * 0.8
Attack Speed = 1.216
Shaco's final Attack Speed is reduced to a level equivalent to having only a 75.2% total Attack Speed Bonus. Because the 20% Debuff affects all attack speed as a multiplier it's as if Shaco lost 43.8% Attack Speed. The more Attack Speed a champion has, the greater this effective loss becomes.
Multiple Attack Speed Debuffs are multiplied together, so if our Shaco was affected by both Frozen Heart and Ground Slam the calculations are as follows:
Attack Speed = (0.694 * (1 + 119%)) * ((1 - 0.2) * (1 - 0.5))
Attack Speed = (0.694 * 2.19) * (0.8 * 0.5)
Attack Speed = 1.520 * 0.4
Attack Speed = 0.608
In this case our unfortunate Shaco is actually attacking slower than his Base Attack Speed. He effectively has -12.4% Attack Speed, making such an auto-attack heavy champion essentially worthless. This crippling combination is a key part of why Malphite has been a top ban.
As a matter of trivia, Attack Speed has both a cap and a minimum. You can't exceed 2.5 attacks per second, or go below 0.2 attacks per second. The circumstances for approaching either number are extremely rare, but not entirely improbable. There is also one confusing exception to the rules for debuffs, the passive effect of Randuin's Omen. For whatever reason, Randuin's Omen's passive is treated as a negative Attack Speed Bonus rather than as an Attack Speed Debuff. You won't often encounter situations where these tidbits are practicable, but they're interesting nonetheless.
What is useful is applying the understanding of Attack Speed mechanics to champion theory. Not too long ago AD Kennen was used in tournaments in place of traditional AD carries, and a large part of his success came from his excellent Base Attack Speed and Attack Speed per level. Combining his 0.690 attacks per second with his 3.4% Attack Speed per level, Kennen has the highest innate Attack Speed in the game. Despite only having a nominal AD steroid, Kennen's superior base stats and scaling allowed him to be a serious contender at the tournament level.
Similarly, Twitch is currently flying under the radar. Of the traditional AD carries Twitch has the highest Base Attack Speed and Attack Speed per level. That he also has an extremely strong Attack Speed steroid only adds to his hidden strength. It's only a matter of time before someone figures out an appropriate team composition and Twitch rises from the depths of obscurity.
Understanding Attack Speed isn't quite as critical as other mechanics, but for the teams that want to be on the bleeding edge of composition and champion theory it's another important piece of the puzzle.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Mechanics: Penetration and Reduction
Penetration and Reduction, whether Armor or Magic, are important stats for any champion looking to do significant damage as a game continues forward. They can also be fairly befuddling.
The first source of confusion is the separation of the stats themselves. This is the unfortunate, but necessary, result of game mechanics. Reduction is a debuff, granting its benefit to anyone attacking the affected target or targets. Penetration is a personal stat that benefits only the holder. Because Penetration does not benefit the team it can be balanced to give a greater personal benefit, whereas Reduction is usually found only on expensive items and support champions. Without this separation either some support champions would lose a critical benefit or carries would see diminished effectiveness from several key items.
As a further complication both stats can appear in two forms, flat values and percentages. In effect, Penetration and Reduction are actually four stats in all. Because of these two forms the order in which the stats are applied becomes highly relevant, and has actually changed over League of Legend's history.
In the earliest days of the game these stats were applied in the following order:
% Reduction
Flat Reduction
% Penetration
Flat Penetration
This, however, lead to a number of problems. Because % Penetration was applied before Flat Penetration the combination of the two was extremely potent. Building Armor or Magic Resist felt largely useless because the vast majority of it would be meaningless. Between Last Whisper and Armor Penetration runes and masteries a tank's 200 Armor would shrink to 85, and a non-tank's Armor would often be completely irrelevant. Because of these issues Riot altered the order.
The new order became:
% Reduction
Flat Reduction
Flat Penetration
% Penetration
In addition, both Last Whisper and Armor Penetration runes received nerfs. The net result was that our hypothetical 200 Armor tank would still have 104 Armor after penetration, and a non-tank would actually have a significant chunk of armor remaining.
At that point % Reduction was only found on Nidalee's Bushwhack, so its place in the order of operations wasn't particularly problematic. However, by the time of the second Kayle rework a large number of champions were now sporting % Reduction effects. Wukong, Jarvan, Renekton, Trundle and now Kayle all had them. This was a potential disaster, as not only was Flat Penetration applied after % Reduction, but so too was Flat Reduction. Riot wisely headed off the problem by changing the order again, and that change is still in place today.
The order as it is now:
Flat Reduction
% Reduction
Flat Penetration
% Penetration
Since the release of Wukong very few other champions have been given % Reduction, and with good reason. The combination of % Reduction and Flat Penetration remains very strong, though not abusively so.
So after all that history, what are the practical applications?
First, and most obvious, if you're one of the 10 champions with % Reduction then Flat Penetration can be very valuable. How valuable depends on the strength of your % Reduction ability and its ease of use. Wukong and Jarvan love Flat Penetration because of their simple yet strong % Reduction Abilities. Jayce and Shyvana, on the other hand, don't really care as their abilities aren't as effective or easy to use.
Less obvious is when to stack Flat Penetration on champions without % Reduction. Few AD carries stack Flat Penetration because it is hard to come by and delays their vital items. Bruisers sometimes grab Brutalizer if they're ahead in an attempt to press their advantage. AP carries, however, will often attempt to exploit a strong mid-game through a combination of Sorcerer's Shoes, Haunting Guise, and Abyssal Scepter, even if they aren't already fed. It's a tough call that depends a lot on a champion's role, skill set, and the game's circumstances. The most important rule to keep in mind is that Flat Penetration, while less effective late-game, is nonetheless effective; unless your item slots are all full it's better to build other items rather than foolishly sell your Flat Penetration items.
You can also build team compositions around stacking Reduction effects. This was once popular, but became rare after dragon and Baron became immune to these effects. It used to be that a team with Nidalee and Trundle could tear through Baron in the blink of an eye. This team composition was nerfed in order to make Baron less than the be all and end all of the late-game. It's still effective against tanks and their teams, but not so effective that anyone has found a compelling reason to revive such team compositions.
Hopefully Penetration and Reduction have become less mystifying, or at least more interesting, as a result of this post. It was far more history-heavy than math-heavy, but hopefully my chronicle of the long forgotten past was not as dull as some history lessons can be.
The first source of confusion is the separation of the stats themselves. This is the unfortunate, but necessary, result of game mechanics. Reduction is a debuff, granting its benefit to anyone attacking the affected target or targets. Penetration is a personal stat that benefits only the holder. Because Penetration does not benefit the team it can be balanced to give a greater personal benefit, whereas Reduction is usually found only on expensive items and support champions. Without this separation either some support champions would lose a critical benefit or carries would see diminished effectiveness from several key items.
As a further complication both stats can appear in two forms, flat values and percentages. In effect, Penetration and Reduction are actually four stats in all. Because of these two forms the order in which the stats are applied becomes highly relevant, and has actually changed over League of Legend's history.
In the earliest days of the game these stats were applied in the following order:
% Reduction
Flat Reduction
% Penetration
Flat Penetration
This, however, lead to a number of problems. Because % Penetration was applied before Flat Penetration the combination of the two was extremely potent. Building Armor or Magic Resist felt largely useless because the vast majority of it would be meaningless. Between Last Whisper and Armor Penetration runes and masteries a tank's 200 Armor would shrink to 85, and a non-tank's Armor would often be completely irrelevant. Because of these issues Riot altered the order.
The new order became:
% Reduction
Flat Reduction
Flat Penetration
% Penetration
In addition, both Last Whisper and Armor Penetration runes received nerfs. The net result was that our hypothetical 200 Armor tank would still have 104 Armor after penetration, and a non-tank would actually have a significant chunk of armor remaining.
At that point % Reduction was only found on Nidalee's Bushwhack, so its place in the order of operations wasn't particularly problematic. However, by the time of the second Kayle rework a large number of champions were now sporting % Reduction effects. Wukong, Jarvan, Renekton, Trundle and now Kayle all had them. This was a potential disaster, as not only was Flat Penetration applied after % Reduction, but so too was Flat Reduction. Riot wisely headed off the problem by changing the order again, and that change is still in place today.
The order as it is now:
Flat Reduction
% Reduction
Flat Penetration
% Penetration
Since the release of Wukong very few other champions have been given % Reduction, and with good reason. The combination of % Reduction and Flat Penetration remains very strong, though not abusively so.
So after all that history, what are the practical applications?
First, and most obvious, if you're one of the 10 champions with % Reduction then Flat Penetration can be very valuable. How valuable depends on the strength of your % Reduction ability and its ease of use. Wukong and Jarvan love Flat Penetration because of their simple yet strong % Reduction Abilities. Jayce and Shyvana, on the other hand, don't really care as their abilities aren't as effective or easy to use.
Less obvious is when to stack Flat Penetration on champions without % Reduction. Few AD carries stack Flat Penetration because it is hard to come by and delays their vital items. Bruisers sometimes grab Brutalizer if they're ahead in an attempt to press their advantage. AP carries, however, will often attempt to exploit a strong mid-game through a combination of Sorcerer's Shoes, Haunting Guise, and Abyssal Scepter, even if they aren't already fed. It's a tough call that depends a lot on a champion's role, skill set, and the game's circumstances. The most important rule to keep in mind is that Flat Penetration, while less effective late-game, is nonetheless effective; unless your item slots are all full it's better to build other items rather than foolishly sell your Flat Penetration items.
You can also build team compositions around stacking Reduction effects. This was once popular, but became rare after dragon and Baron became immune to these effects. It used to be that a team with Nidalee and Trundle could tear through Baron in the blink of an eye. This team composition was nerfed in order to make Baron less than the be all and end all of the late-game. It's still effective against tanks and their teams, but not so effective that anyone has found a compelling reason to revive such team compositions.
Hopefully Penetration and Reduction have become less mystifying, or at least more interesting, as a result of this post. It was far more history-heavy than math-heavy, but hopefully my chronicle of the long forgotten past was not as dull as some history lessons can be.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Mechanics: Cooldown Reduction
Cooldown Reduction (CDR) is an odd mechanic. Most stats are less effective as they are stacked, or at least cause other stats to become better investments past certain points. CDR alone becomes more effective the more of it you have.
This can be unintuitive initially, especially because of how information regarding CDR is presented in game. We see the results of CDR in the numerical values of our cooldowns, which follow this equation:
Cooldown = Base Cooldown * ( 1 - CDR% )
To the mathematically inclined this is obviously a linear equation. Each additional % of CDR will reduce the cooldown by the same amount as the last. A 10 second cooldown is reduced by 0.1 seconds per % of CDR whether you're at 0% or 39% CDR. At face value CDR appears to have linear worth.
But the value of CDR isn't determined by how much we reduce the cooldown, but by how often we can use the ability. That equation looks like this:
# of Ability Uses = Time Frame / ( Base Cooldown * ( 1 - CDR% ) )
This equation isn't linear at all. Even though the cooldown decreases linearly, as a divisor its effect on the equation is anything but. Consider a graph of the equation using our hypothetical 10 second cooldown:
Looking at the graph it becomes self-evident why Riot capped CDR at 40%. Past that point the increase in value accelerates to game-breaking proportions.
Even though CDR's effectiveness at 40% isn't as dramatic as at 100%, it's still incredibly valuable. Many champions hit a threshold at or near 40% CDR where their crowd control or other abilities chain together in a way that isn't possible otherwise.
For example, Olaf's Axe Throw has an 8 second cooldown which is reduced by 4.5 seconds if you pick up the axe. That leaves 3.5 seconds of downtime between axes. However, with 40% CDR the cooldown is only 4.8 seconds, leaving a mere 0.3 seconds between axes. At that point Olaf can perpetually throw axes as fast as his animation allows, provided he instantly picks them back up. Many Olafs abuse CDR for super-fast dragon kills and for decimating targets in their immediate vicinity.
Crowd control also increases in effectiveness dramatically with CDR. At maximum rank Rammus' Taunt lasts for 3 seconds with an 12 second cooldown, leaving 9 seconds of freedom for an opponent. With max CDR the cooldown is only 7.2 seconds, cutting that freedom by more than half to 4.2 seconds. Some crowd control effects, such as Zilean's Time Warp, practically become permanent with CDR.
Not all champions can or should aim for maximum CDR, but as a stat CDR is perhaps one of the most undervalued.
This can be unintuitive initially, especially because of how information regarding CDR is presented in game. We see the results of CDR in the numerical values of our cooldowns, which follow this equation:
Cooldown = Base Cooldown * ( 1 - CDR% )
To the mathematically inclined this is obviously a linear equation. Each additional % of CDR will reduce the cooldown by the same amount as the last. A 10 second cooldown is reduced by 0.1 seconds per % of CDR whether you're at 0% or 39% CDR. At face value CDR appears to have linear worth.
But the value of CDR isn't determined by how much we reduce the cooldown, but by how often we can use the ability. That equation looks like this:
# of Ability Uses = Time Frame / ( Base Cooldown * ( 1 - CDR% ) )
This equation isn't linear at all. Even though the cooldown decreases linearly, as a divisor its effect on the equation is anything but. Consider a graph of the equation using our hypothetical 10 second cooldown:
Looking at the graph it becomes self-evident why Riot capped CDR at 40%. Past that point the increase in value accelerates to game-breaking proportions.
Even though CDR's effectiveness at 40% isn't as dramatic as at 100%, it's still incredibly valuable. Many champions hit a threshold at or near 40% CDR where their crowd control or other abilities chain together in a way that isn't possible otherwise.
For example, Olaf's Axe Throw has an 8 second cooldown which is reduced by 4.5 seconds if you pick up the axe. That leaves 3.5 seconds of downtime between axes. However, with 40% CDR the cooldown is only 4.8 seconds, leaving a mere 0.3 seconds between axes. At that point Olaf can perpetually throw axes as fast as his animation allows, provided he instantly picks them back up. Many Olafs abuse CDR for super-fast dragon kills and for decimating targets in their immediate vicinity.
Crowd control also increases in effectiveness dramatically with CDR. At maximum rank Rammus' Taunt lasts for 3 seconds with an 12 second cooldown, leaving 9 seconds of freedom for an opponent. With max CDR the cooldown is only 7.2 seconds, cutting that freedom by more than half to 4.2 seconds. Some crowd control effects, such as Zilean's Time Warp, practically become permanent with CDR.
Not all champions can or should aim for maximum CDR, but as a stat CDR is perhaps one of the most undervalued.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Thought: Diablo III
Diablo III launched today, and for a great many players defeating the minions of Hell will take precedence over everything else. It might be days or weeks before many normally stalwart LoL players return to the fields of justice. That's okay, because playing Diablo III could make you better at LoL.
Diablo and LoL actually share the same mechanical skills. Everything from animation cancelling to skill shots to mouse control is essentially identical. Thus playing Diablo III, especially on the harder difficulty settings, will potentially help your LoL mechanics.
So don't feel guilty about playing Diablo III, but enjoy yourself. Just remember to apply your demon-slaying abilities when you eventually return to LoL. Bonus points if you play a Demon Hunter with Vault, Impale, and Smokescreen for the full Vayne experience.
Diablo and LoL actually share the same mechanical skills. Everything from animation cancelling to skill shots to mouse control is essentially identical. Thus playing Diablo III, especially on the harder difficulty settings, will potentially help your LoL mechanics.
So don't feel guilty about playing Diablo III, but enjoy yourself. Just remember to apply your demon-slaying abilities when you eventually return to LoL. Bonus points if you play a Demon Hunter with Vault, Impale, and Smokescreen for the full Vayne experience.
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