League of Legends XL: Season on Hold 'til Morello gets Gold

[Godskook]

TIL: TFT plays top lane at about 1300 Elo.

He plays Lulu at like Plat level, though, so w/e.

What happens if he plays Lulu solo top?

[Silverraptor]

So I guess there's little point in lurking here much longer. Hi, I'm Kid Kris, and I'm a League of Legends player. Same username as I use over here, over on the NA servers. Steadily working my way up to level 30; at level 25 currently and ballin'.

I don't really seem to have a main yet... I tend to pick last so I can fill whatever role the team is missing. My most common picks tend to be Lux, Ashe, or Malphite as a top-laner or as support. Recently though, I've been playing support Leona since she's in rotation right now, and... omg. So much fun. I've only done 3 games with her so far, but that means I've just won 3 games with her so far. It's like I'm a soup kitchen for my carry. Brilliance. Definitely going to be saving up the 6300 IP to buy her, as much of a grind as that is. (And I just keep getting distracted by other, cheaper champions too!)

So um... hey guys.

Hey Kris. Glad you finally made it in here. Welcome.

As far as not having a main, thats actually the best way to play. You want to be profficient with many champions to accomidate any role your team needs. Mains are basically for new players who are still trying to master the mechanics of the game. If you got that down, you're set to being able to play any champion. Normally we just pick champions based on what we "Feel" like playing.

So yeah, hope on mumble sometime and start asking people for games. Were more then happy to do so.

[Talesin]

As far as not having a main, thats actually the best way to play. You want to be profficient with many champions to accomidate any role your team needs.

While I agree with you, in ranked games its usually good to have a 'main' for each of the roles you play and then a back up if it gets banned/picked from you.

But while you're leveling, like Silver said, you want to be playing champions you enjoy so you can find out what all characters can do to you if you lane against them. Plus you might find characters you thought wouldn't suit your style and turn out to be really fun to play.

I'd say Corki, Riven and Heimer were 3 who fall into the above situation for me.

[Eldariel]

As far as not having a main, thats actually the best way to play. You want to be profficient with many champions to accomidate any role your team needs. Mains are basically for new players who are still trying to master the mechanics of the game.

It just so happens occasionally whatever champ you've played the most remains your best champion by a mile even if you're extremely competent on most other champions too. Nothing to strive for but e.g. I'll probably never get quite as good on any other champ as I am with Anivia.

[PersonMan]

This can often form a cycle of sorts:

I like champ X -> I play X a lot -> I am good at playing X -> I win many games with X, which I enjoy -> I like champ X...

[ex cathedra]

Hey Kris. Glad you finally made it in here. Welcome.

As far as not having a main, thats actually the best way to play. You want to be profficient with many champions to accomidate any role your team needs. Mains are basically for new players who are still trying to master the mechanics of the game. If you got that down, you're set to being able to play any champion. Normally we just pick champions based on what we "Feel" like playing.

So yeah, hope on mumble sometime and start asking people for games. Were more then happy to do so.

As in most things, specialization is much more valuable than general knowledge. You should be able to fill in three or four roles competently, but if you actually want to improve i'd suggest that you main two or so champions and play them whenever popular. Having a wide champion pool isn't actually very useful at most levels of play. Mains are for for people like Bischu, TiensiNoAkuma, InvertedComposer, Cruzer, Hotshot, Dyrus, Froggen, Crumbz, etc. Tons of players hit the top 50 ladder wih only a couple of champions under their belt. Filling in roles every game and playing what you feel like playing doesn't help you improve nearly as rapidly.

[Ashen Lilies]

Hey Kris. Glad you finally made it in here. Welcome.

As far as not having a main, thats actually the best way to play. You want to be profficient with many champions to accomidate any role your team needs. Mains are basically for new players who are still trying to master the mechanics of the game. If you got that down, you're set to being able to play any champion. Normally we just pick champions based on what we "Feel" like playing.

So yeah, hope on mumble sometime and start asking people for games. Were more then happy to do so.

Well I do sort of have that. Lux or LeBlanc mid, Ashe carry, Malphite or Lux (or this week, Leona) support, Malphite or Garen or Shen or some random bruiser top. Haven't had much luck jungling, though I did try some Shyvana jungle last week and did fairly okay, I guess.

Also, ugh. Just played TT against a Zilean that rushed Rod of Ages. Time Bomb, Refresh, Time Bomb, everyone dies.

[toasty]

As far as not having a main, thats actually the best way to play. You want to be profficient with many champions to accomidate any role your team needs. Mains are basically for new players who are still trying to master the mechanics of the game. If you got that down, you're set to being able to play any champion. Normally we just pick champions based on what we "Feel" like playing.

From a casual standpoint: Its good to be able to fill every role on the team and enjoy playing each role in some fashion. Solo Queue, especially DRAFT mode means you can't always play the role you want and teamcomps mean your favorite hero might not always be the ideal pick.

From a competitive standpoint: Pick a hero and play nothing but that hero. "Best Riven NA" has played more than half of his games with Riven this season. He has a 61% winratio with that hero. Stastically, if he plays Riven he will continue to gain elo and improve on this game. Players like Wickd, Froggen, Misaya, and HSGG are very well known for their signature picks are teams often simply blanket ban them. I think at Dreamhack someone pointed out how Fnatic's picks/bans were heavily geared towards simply banning Froggen out as much as possible because he so dominate on the champions he has mastered.

Having said all of this, becoming better at the game requires you to play all roles and all champions, not just one hero. Though mastering one hero is generally a good way to win lots of games.

I won my 1st Rengar Season 3 game today. I commented in chat how I felt my Rengar wasn't really up to snuff and the enemy Olaf (who was their best player) commented how I was terrible. lol.

[Maeglin_Dubh]

I'm good at Teemo, good at Gangplank, good at Kayle, lousy at Draven, and have a hard time fitting Poppy into the meta.

Who else has a pocket Ghost? Apart from Zilean, that is. Never really liked his playstyle.

[Joran]

This can often form a cycle of sorts:

I like champ X -> I play X a lot -> I am good at playing X -> I win many games with X, which I enjoy -> I like champ X...

Continuing the cycle

I like champ X -> Champ X is Flavor of the Month -> Champ X is banned all the time -> I am sad...

My friend mained Blitzcrank back in the days when Overdrive slowed you as it cooled down and Doublelift said he loved Blitzcrank, but he had no place in the meta. Now he can barely get any games in as Blitzcrank in anything but Blind Normals.

I'm good at Teemo, good at Gangplank, good at Kayle, lousy at Draven, and have a hard time fitting Poppy into the meta.

Who else has a pocket Ghost? Apart from Zilean, that is. Never really liked his playstyle.

Volibear, Shyvana, Fiora, I'm sure I'm missing more.

[Lix Lorn]

So um... hey guys.

Hi KK! Nice to see you! I'd love to friend you, but I warn you I have a tendency to only play games at very capricious times, so I don't answer invites very often.

As in most things, specialization is much more valuable than general knowledge. You should be able to fill in three or four roles competently, but if you actually want to improve i'd suggest that you main two or so champions and play them whenever popular. Having a wide champion pool isn't actually very useful at most levels of play. Mains are for for people like Bischu, TiensiNoAkuma, InvertedComposer, Cruzer, Hotshot, Dyrus, Froggen, Crumbz, etc. Tons of players hit the top 50 ladder wih only a couple of champions under their belt. Filling in roles every game and playing what you feel like playing doesn't help you improve nearly as rapidly.

Having a lot of champions/roles will make you popular in groups, especially ones you play with regularly, cause then people don't have to do the same thing every game. But to get really good, you need to specialise. Of course, if you specialise too much, then if you play against people who know you, they could target you.
(Like, if I was playing vs Eld for some reason, I'd at least consider banning Anivia.)

From a casual standpoint: Its good to be able to fill every role on the team and enjoy playing each role in some fashion. Solo Queue, especially DRAFT mode means you can't always play the role you want and teamcomps mean your favorite hero might not always be the ideal pick.

From a competitive standpoint: Pick a hero and play nothing but that hero. "Best Riven NA" has played more than half of his games with Riven this season. He has a 61% winratio with that hero. Stastically, if he plays Riven he will continue to gain elo and improve on this game. Players like Wickd, Froggen, Misaya, and HSGG are very well known for their signature picks are teams often simply blanket ban them. I think at Dreamhack someone pointed out how Fnatic's picks/bans were heavily geared towards simply banning Froggen out as much as possible because he so dominate on the champions he has mastered.

Having said all of this, becoming better at the game requires you to play all roles and all champions, not just one hero. Though mastering one hero is generally a good way to win lots of games.

And there goes Toasty to say everything I did... sad face.

[ex cathedra]

Hi KK! Nice to see you! I'd love to friend you, but I warn you I have a tendency to only play games at very capricious times, so I don't answer invites very often.


Having a lot of champions/roles will make you popular in groups, especially ones you play with regularly, cause then people don't have to do the same thing every game. But to get really good, you need to specialise. Of course, if you specialise too much, then if you play against people who know you, they could target you.
(Like, if I was playing vs Eld for some reason, I'd at least consider banning Anivia.)


And there goes Toasty to say everything I did... sad face.

However, by playing Anivia Eld won lots of games, and by winning lots of games Eld gained lots of Elo, and by gaining lots of Elo Eld ensured that he'd play against more difficult opponents, such that when he *didn't* play Anivia he still had lots of competition. To an extent, you can only be as good as the people you play against. Stompings bots as a 40/0/1 Darius, past a certain point, won't actually make you better at Darius. I think that playing against people who are better than you are is easily the best way to improve yourself.

Having people target you with bans isn't a real concern for the vast majority of players and i'm not suggesting that you go and PhantomLord yourself. The fact that teams ban Anivia and Irelia every time they face CLG.EU is *good* for CLG.EU.

[Eldariel]

You know that game where enemy team gets one single kill and snowballs from it? You feel there was absolutely nothing you can do about it and the game just inevitably slips away as you get crushed in every engagement off the slight advantage the enemy got. Enemy never makes a mistake for you to capitalize on, the game's over.

Then there are these games:

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No matter how many times I got ganked, I couldn't be stopped from farming. Then midgame I turned on the crank and began to kill people.

This has lead me to conclude that Stalin's famous quote "One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic." describes a League-game just fine; at some point it just doesn't matter anymore.

[Ashen Lilies]

Ugh. Those games when you're playing support to a team that is entirely not worth supporting. Go ahead MF. Charge right into that bush. It's not like we're laning against a Garen and a Teemo.

Edit: And now in this new match we have a Dr. Mundo and an Evelyn, both packing Smite...

[Forrestfire]

Some people...

Just got out of a game that I was clicking to dodge but didn't click on time.

-Teleport/Flash Morde mid starting with Regrowth Pendant
-Zilean who called support in pregame, then buys zero wards and rages at corki for not being able to last-hit when the zilean himself was autoattacking and screwing up his farm
-Corki who rages back and gets killed multiple times while typing

Why do I always get these people?

Eh, I guess my luck isn't too bad. I've only had trolls/feeders in 5 of the eight I've played. Thankfully this last game only dropped my elo by 6 points, for some reason.

On the plus side, I had the privilege of playing against an extremely skilled Irelia, so that was fun.

[Renegade Paladin]

Ugh. Those games when you're playing support to a team that is entirely not worth supporting. Go ahead MF. Charge right into that bush. It's not like we're laning against a Garen and a Teemo.

Also appropriate.

[Ashen Lilies]

And my quest for first win of the day still goes unfulfilled...

We weren't actually that bad a team. Evelynn was a decent jungler and Mundo and I (MF) managed to dominate Teemo and Sona pretty well with her help. Then Ahri fed Kat and then Kat killed us all.

Next game!

Edit: Okay this time we have a premade Blitz + Jayce botlane and I'm midding as Lux. Hopefully this good feeling will not turn out to be a vain hope.

Edit Edit: 9 losses in a row. What the actual...

[Godskook]

Haven't had much luck jungling, though I did try some Shyvana jungle last week and did fairly okay, I guess.

All your rune pages are empty(Page 1 has a little). Most junglers, especially Shyvana, are dependent on decent runes to jungle well. The major exceptions to this are basically WW, Fiddles and Nunu. Of those 3, Nunu and WW are going to enjoy S3 changes(They have AS buffs, which works really well with Machete, and are already really safe junglers) and are thus good pre-rune junglers to learn. We'll have to wait and see with Fiddlesticks.

[Winthur]

All your rune pages are empty(Page 1 has a little). Most junglers, especially Shyvana, are dependent on decent runes to jungle well. The major exceptions to this are basically WW, Fiddles and Nunu. Of those 3, Nunu and WW are going to enjoy S3 changes(They have AS buffs, which works really well with Machete, and are already really safe junglers) and are thus good pre-rune junglers to learn. We'll have to wait and see with Fiddlesticks.

Without runes, you can also take a high CC pick and be a part-time jungler by running Smite. Take a buff, gank a lane at level 2, get a frag, lane some more, take another creep with Smite. Not really the most viable way to play once you get out of early levels. Otherwise, for full clear, try WW, Nunu or Fiddlesticks.

[Silverraptor]

Oh god, Rengar is hilarious! Especially against a vayne.

*Jump on her*

* She knocks you back with her bolt into a bush*

*Jump on her immediately afterwards*

[Ashen Lilies]

All your rune pages are empty(Page 1 has a little). Most junglers, especially Shyvana, are dependent on decent runes to jungle well. The major exceptions to this are basically WW, Fiddles and Nunu. Of those 3, Nunu and WW are going to enjoy S3 changes(They have AS buffs, which works really well with Machete, and are already really safe junglers) and are thus good pre-rune junglers to learn. We'll have to wait and see with Fiddlesticks.

Well with the one Shyvana game I tried did alright in the jungle... it's just that the rest of my team was so competent I didn't really have much chance for ganks. The enemy team was dying at every opportunity.

[NineThePuma]

Oh god, Rengar is hilarious! Especially against a vayne.

*Jump on her*

* She knocks you back with her bolt into a bush*

*Jump on her immediately afterwards*

I love when I'm running Support Rengar and the other support is running from me through the brush and pops flash while still in the bush. It's just like "... REALLY? My leap has no cool down."

[Silverraptor]

I love when I'm running Support Rengar and the other support is running from me through the brush and pops flash while still in the bush. It's just like "... REALLY? My leap has no cool down."

Yeah, I know. Its awesome!

Also, who was it that said they won bot lane dominion against rengar as urgot? I'd like to test that out.

[NineThePuma]

Son of Zeal is the only Dominion player in the thread, methinks.

[ChaosOS]

Nope. I play almost entirely dominion, but I'm watch enough SR streams and occasionally get pulled into SR games by my IRL friends to comment on the jungle n such.

[Temotei]

Son of Zeal is the only Dominion player in the thread, methinks.

I'm pretty sure a few others play, but nobody cares so they don't post about it often or at all.

[Tychris1]

Son of Zeal is the only Dominion player in the thread, methinks.

*Raises Hand*

I play Dominion. Not exclusively mind you (SR is still my main priority) But I do still play dominion atleast once a week. Unless you mean "Pure" dominion player

[Laudandus]

Without runes, you can also take a high CC pick and be a part-time jungler by running Smite. Take a buff, gank a lane at level 2, get a frag, lane some more, take another creep with Smite. Not really the most viable way to play once you get out of early levels. Otherwise, for full clear, try WW, Nunu or Fiddlesticks.

There's a little more clearing than this, but the "one smite and lots of ganks" strategy is much closer to the current high-level jungle meta than slowly clearing with Fiddlesticks or Warwick is. Season 3 jungle changes cannot come fast enough.

[ex cathedra]

Season 3 pls. Ninja Tabi + Zephyr on Irelia, every game.

Son of Zeal is the only Dominion player in the thread, methinks.

Eldariel has been known to partake in Dominion tournaments, last time I checked. I'm under the impression that he's very good at it, compared to most players, which isn't saying a lot considering its minuscule playerbase. Still tho', he's a good source of advice on the topic.

[9mm]

The following is a rant, read at your own risk.

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DO NOT ****ING PLAY ARAM UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO BE HORRIBLY, MASSIVELY STOMPED INTO THE GROUND. I SWEAR TO GOD, IF I THINK THE TEAMS ARE HORRIBLY BAD, I'M TOLD TO SUCK IT UP AND ROLL WITH IT; AFTER ALL IT'S ARAM. AND YET, THE ONE TIME THE SHOE IS ON THE OTHER FOOT, IT'S A ****ING TRAGEDY AND I SHOULD FEEL BAD BECAUSE I GOT TO ROLL DOWN THE BRIDGE? NO PUT YOUR BIG BOY PANTS ON AND ROLL WITH IT, IT'S ****ING ARAM. CONSISTENCY PEOPLE, HAVE SOME.