League of Legends XXXII: Cupcakes and Kittens and Squirrels. Oh my!

[fred dref]

CLG vs. Dignitas in the losers bracket, game 2. An absolutely stunning example of why you do not let CLG run a poke comp.

EDIT: Oh, and the Dignitas vs. Monomaniac games. Really shows off how absurdly strong the triple support was, and why everyone who beat Dignitas banned it out. Huge comebacks on the strength of the strategies teamfighting power.

[toasty]

I've been looking for something like this. Any games in particular that are worth watching? Otherwise, I'll just pick entirely at random =)

The CLG v TSM games (all four of them) for the finals were very very good. THe first two showed the strength of split push and the second two showed the strength of hard engage. Very entertaining.

Also: Its the first time TSM has beaten CLG at a LAN event.

[efdf]

I personally thought the last two TSM vs CLG games weren't that interesting

[9mm]

CLG vs. Dignitas in the losers bracket, game 2. An absolutely stunning example of why you do not let CLG run a poke comp.

Also, how to hide a poke comp via picks.

[Dante & Vergil]

Does anyone know what the upcoming patch notes may be like? Cause I sometimes see people here getting them early from someplace or another.

[Penguinizer]

They've put out a patch preview and some details have been spoiled from the test build they had PAX East.

[fred dref]

Also, patch notes from the PBE are almost always an accurate, though incomplete, snapshot of what will be coming.

[ex cathedra]

Generally, information about the upcoming patch is accrued via red posts at the GD forums or PBE realm players. Here's current information regarding the upcoming patch. It doesn't have everything, though. For example, Hecarim's passive ratio is 10% at level 1 and 25% at level 18, the ratio on his Q is .6 and the ratio on his E is between .6 and 1.0, depending.

I personally thought the last two TSM vs CLG games weren't that interesting

I didn't think that any of the TSM vs CLG games were particularly interesting. They were worth watching because they were the finals and it was TSM vs CLG, but all four of the games were kind of boring.

Dignitas vs Mm games 1/2, Dignitas vs TSM game 1, CLG vs Dignitas game 2, and TSM vs v8 game 2 were probably my favorite games of the series, but I don't recall all of the matches perfectly.

[Lix Lorn]

...so, echoing them... are we going to get two champs tomorrow? I mean, Varus was complete enough for PAX, if I heard right, and Hecarim was meant to be out...

[Maeglin_Dubh]

...so, echoing them... are we going to get two champs tomorrow? I mean, Varus was complete enough for PAX, if I heard right, and Hecarim was meant to be out...

I would face a very hard choice.

[Lix Lorn]

I have enough RP for both, if their skins suck. >_>

[ex cathedra]

Hecarim is released this patch, Varus is released in the following patch, according to a Riot member on the GD forums.

[Eldariel]

Hecarim is released this patch, Varus is released in the following patch, according to a Riot member on the GD forums.

Other pre-spoiled champs have had similar patterns (though they've usually taken longer; see Monkey King, Kumiho and Blind Monk for instance).

[Lix Lorn]

Hecarim is released this patch, Varus is released in the following patch, according to a Riot member on the GD forums.

Thank you!

Other pre-spoiled champs have had similar patterns (though they've usually taken longer; see Monkey King, Kumiho and Blind Monk for instance).

I was around for the entirety of Kumiahri, but I wondered if it'd be different due to his entire mechanics being spoiled.

[Nadevoc]

I remember a Rioter saying a while back that they won't do any more double releases. Not to say that won't ever change, but until they come out and say there's a double release, I'd always assume no. Especially since they're nearing triple digits for the champion base.

As for games from IPL to watch, game two of MM vs Curse was pretty good. Fair warning, it's long.

[ex cathedra]

I have enough RP for both, if their skins suck. >_>

Varus's default splash art, along with the new skins coming out in the Hecarim patch (including Hecarim's), can be found here.

[Reinboom]

I remember a Rioter saying a while back that they won't do any more double releases. Not to say that won't ever change, but until they come out and say there's a double release, I'd always assume no. Especially since they're nearing triple digits for the champion base.

As for games from IPL to watch, game two of MM vs Curse was pretty good. Fair warning, it's long.

They're each a separate release.

[Neoseanster]

Meddler on the main LoL forums posted some pretty interesting info about Varus's design process.

Spoiler

Show

Varus' design started with his Q, Piercing Arrow. Right from the start I'd been really keen to try a charged shot, particularly since it's an approach that I've found to be a lot of fun in other games over the years and because it's such a natural conceptual fit with a bow - more time equals bowstring drawn back further equals more range and power. Additionally because of the charge time involved we were able to give the skill a really long range when fully charged, allowing the sort of sniper shots that really capture the sort of legendary archer feeling we wanted with Varus. The other thing I really wanted to try was press/hold/release abilities, and Piercing Arrow was a natural fit for that too. If you're using smart casting, instead of activating the ability once to start the charge and a second time to fire the arrow you'll start the charge when you press the key down and fire when you release the key.

Once Piercing Arrow was working well it was time to look at capturing the rest of Varus' thematics. With his background of being consumed by a dark, supernatural power a mix of physical and magical abilities/AD and AP scaling seemed a natural fit. This also tied in well with a desire to make a wide variety of builds playable if not necessarily competitively viable, something a lot of our older champions especially do really well that I quite like (AP Trist or AP Yi for example). Blighted Quiver was the result of that line of thought, recognizing the magical nature of his attacks and allowing AP to enhance Varus' auto attacks. The Blight stack detonation mechanic then arose out of a desire to amplify the satisfaction/reward of landing Varus' other abilities, all of which are skillshots, and incentivize skilled chaining of abilities and attacks. Damage based off the target's maximum health was chosen to give Varus an edge against tougher front line enemy champions, improving his odds of proccing his passive earlier in a fight.

Speaking of which, Varus' passive, Living Vengeance, evolved hand in had with Blighted Quiver. Given his backstory escape abilities didn't really seem like a natural fit on Varus (he's got no reason to back away from a fight anymore), so a passive that rewards fully committing to a time fight at the right time, potentially allowing you to cut through multiple enemies, seemed like a good match. I initially tried attack damage rather than attack speed, but ran into a couple of issues with that. The first was that it made last hitting minions surprisingly frustrating - a short duration attack boost that's likely to expire around the time you go for a last hit can really throw you off, resulting in minions surviving with a sliver of health. The second was that it didn't fit well with Blighted Quiver and non standard AD carry builds, while attack speed by contrast did.

Hail of Arrows seemed like another natural fit for an archer conceptually - raining multiple arrows down upon one's enemies being a great cinematic sort of thing. The desecrated ground effect went in for both thematic and gameplay reasons. Thematically, since Varus is slowly being consumed by a malicious evil it seemed fitting to have abilities that spread such a dark touch. Mechanically, since he was to have no movement abilities having a slow was pretty important in order to survive/chase as a carry, while a location based healing debuff offered help against sustain heavy match ups that were quite resistant to his Q harass and a form of zone control we hadn't previously explored in LoL.

Finally for Varus' ultimate there were a few goals in mind. We don't generally go for ranged carries with CC/utility ultimates but in Varus' case the lack of escape abilities as mentioned made it a natural fit, in addition to supporting some interesting team compositions with the spreading mechanic for players . An immobilize worked well with the rest of his kit, allowing him to charge up Q shots and/or set up a target with Blight in order to proc his passive. Thematically it was also a great opportunity to really show off the power of the corruption Varus had turned to to get the power he felt he needed to exact revenge.

I was aiming for a space between the spots occupied by Ashe and Kogmaw in terms of utility versus sustained damage as far as carries without movement abilities go, combined with a desire to allow some strong synergies with various other champions and flexible build paths. Really happy with how that turned out and how his playstyle feels pretty distinctive, particularly stuff like charging up and then landing a Q on a target running for safety with 3 stacks of Blight on them for that ranged execution sort of feeling.

[Lix Lorn]

Varus's default splash art, along with the new skins coming out in the Hecarim patch (including Hecarim's), can be found here.

Oh! Thanks!
Varus looks awesome. Hecarim skin 1 looks similar to his standard IIRC, and 2 looks... eh.
...nice Shen skin though.

[toasty]

I personally thought the last two TSM vs CLG games weren't that interesting

Well, the last two games are picture perfect games of why Vladimir should never have been released at the very least.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Sooooooo.... Odds of Hecarim getting a bright pastel-coloured skin at some point?

[ex cathedra]

Well, the last two games are picture perfect games of why Vladimir should never have been released at the very least.

Or how split push strat is way too strong and needs to be toned down, depending on how you interpreted it.

CLG did nothing but push 400 cs into Dyrus' face. I'm also under the impression that 17-3 games aren't generally supposed to be that close. And, ugh, I hate to be this guy, but CLG's play was just so astonishingly boring and all of the picks for both teams were so obvious.

[endoperez]

Sooooooo.... Odds of Hecarim getting a bright pastel-coloured skin at some point?

Amethyst Hecarim?
Taric already references a cartoon aimed at something that isn't the main demographic ("Gems are truly outrageous"), so I'm sure Taric and Hecarim get along just fine.

Oh, and Dark Crystal Ryze could be an animation reference too. Huh.

[fred dref]

Dark Crystal Ryze is my least favourite skin in the game. Right when it came out I played against someone using it, and every time I went to gank mid the first thing I thought was "Wait, why is Singed mid?", quickly followed by remembering they didn't even have a Singed.

[toasty]

Or how split push strat is way too strong and needs to be toned down, depending on how you interpreted it.

CLG did nothing but push 400 cs into Dyrus' face. I'm also under the impression that 17-3 games aren't generally supposed to be that close. And, ugh, I hate to be this guy, but CLG's play was just so astonishingly boring and all of the picks for both teams were so obvious.

It wins games. I certainly paid more attention to that game than a lot of games. Maybe cuz it was the finals, I dunno. I thought that it was beautiful how CLG was able to handle that stuff and it shows that Kills don't mean everything; you win the game by taking the Nexus, not by killing the enemy.

[Math_Mage]

It wins games. I certainly paid more attention to that game than a lot of games. Maybe cuz it was the finals, I dunno. I thought that it was beautiful how CLG was able to handle that stuff and it shows that Kills don't mean everything; you win the game by taking the Nexus, not by killing the enemy.

I think aethernox's annoyance is with the games where CLG lost while playing supersidelanefarm so that they could draw out the game forever despite being 3-17. So no, they didn't win the game by killing enemies, but they didn't take the Nexus either.

[Tesla_pasta]

So I tried Xin Zhao today.
wow.
why would you ever play xin zhao when you can play Wukong?
i did well, but the entire time I felt like everything I did would have been easier to do as Monkey King.
I suppose I'm biased because Wukong is one of my best characters, but still. Xin feels so weak to me. Am I just crazy?

[Nadevoc]

So I tried Xin Zhao today.
wow.
why would you ever play xin zhao when you can play Wukong?
i did well, but the entire time I felt like everything I did would have been easier to do as Monkey King.
I suppose I'm biased because Wukong is one of my best characters, but still. Xin feels so weak to me. Am I just crazy?

Xin is pretty much universally accepted as being in a bad spot right now. He was stupid good at one point. Release Xin Zhao was one of the most overpowered champs that has ever been in the game, and he was repeatedly nerfed. Then nerfed some more.

He's got some nice things about him, and I've still seen him wreck faces. But no, you're not just crazy.

[Tesla_pasta]

Xin is pretty much universally accepted as being in a bad spot right now. He was stupid good at one point. Release Xin Zhao was one of the most overpowered champs that has ever been in the game, and he was repeatedly nerfed. Then nerfed some more.

He's got some nice things about him, and I've still seen him wreck faces. But no, you're not just crazy.

Okay, thanks. The reason I asked is because I the last time I had even see a xin zhao was months and months ago, and I saw like 3 games in a row he pub stomped hard in. He seems like a cool champ, Riot should give him some work. he could be a really solid jungler with a few tweaks.

[Dogmantra]

Release Xin Zhao was one of the most overpowered champs that has ever been in the game, and he was repeatedly nerfed.

Hmm, second most OP probably. 'cause Beta Twisted Fate.
Gold card is AoE.
Gate isn't his ultimate and has a 20 second cooldown.
Yeaaaaah...

But yeah, Xin was like, the first tanky DPS with a really coherent kit. He still has probably one of the best tanky DPS kits that's not just inherently broken, and that's his problem, Pantheon Pox. His kit works so well together that it's hard to make it balanced.