League of legends LXI: Demaglia!

[PhantomFox]

If you need a crash course in Everything About League, hit up Godskook (ign Bethor Kookalian) or myself (PhantomFox7) and we can give you a guided tour of Things That's Helpful to Know

[ex cathedra]

That's fine and all. But for my part I'm just annoyed that my favorite champion had what I loved about him nerfed and is now switched to being at his best at my favorite position in the game to my least favorite. And even if he's still in a good position powerwise it sucks that his giant ult that takes about a third of his mana to pull off is never really satisfying to use.

Panth wasn't a dominant laner when you last played, since he's virtually never been popular in that role for a prolonged period of time in modern league history. panth jungle was him finding a place in the popular metagame, not changing his place. there's no disincentive to lane him that exists now that didn't exist earlier. oh, and sorry that your ult is fair now.

Even if you're the one in the duo, I find that it hurts your chances unless you're playing with someone where you have good synergy. Remember, if you and the person you're voice chatting with don't have good communication or you don't pick up on each other's cues in the game, you'll do worse than a random solo person because you'll make uncoordinated moves that get you killed that you'd have never made at all if you didn't think somebody was backing you up.

I find that duo queue horror stories are over-reported and duo queue MMR inflation is overestimated

[Godskook]

I thank everyone for their responses on good begginer Junglers. That said, I am brand new and can someone explain what the tier of runes means/when they become available or drop me a link?

Don't worry about runes until you're summoner level 20(I think that's about 50-100 wins into the game), as short of tier 3 runes, the overall effect isn't valuable to be worth the long-term costs of buying early unless you 100% know what you're doing(if you friend me in-game, I can walk you through it).

Masteries are free and while also non-huge, you can get some very useful benefits early on, *ESPECIALLY* as a jungler. For your early summoner levels, you want a mastery page designed around letting you survive the jungle as best you can, which means:

Offense:
Butcher > 3 Fury > Feast > 4th Fury

Defense:
Tough Skin > Recovery > Bladed Armor

Tough Skin is probably the most important, then butcher, but if you have to choose between Bladed Armor and Butcher, get Bladed Armor(at lvl 5).

WW and Fiddlesticks are great starter junglers for getting comfortable with it, while Xin Zhao, Amumu and Master Yi are easy but probably a bit stronger atm once you're comfortable.

Personally, I suggest staying away from Nunu, as he's hyper-specific in how he plays, preventing you from generalizing much from playing him.

[TFT]

I find that duo queue horror stories are over-reported and duo queue MMR inflation is overestimated

Then you haven't been with a pair where the lower mmr person is somewhere between just good enough for their mmr and worse then their mmr says, and the other player is at best at the mmr the other person drops the average to. What happens is the lower mmr person will more often then not end up 0/5 and the other person will most likely go even in lane, leaving the rest of the team to carry.

This is my experience with about half the duos where the mmr difference is huge.

Oh, and I've been waiting for this one for a while...

[Olinser]

Then you haven't been with a pair where the lower mmr person is somewhere between just good enough for their mmr and worse then their mmr says, and the other player is at best at the mmr the other person drops the average to. What happens is the lower mmr person will more often then not end up 0/5 and the other person will most likely go even in lane, leaving the rest of the team to carry.

This is my experience with about half the duos where the mmr difference is huge.

Oh, and I've been waiting for this one for a while...

From the amount of control he has in that description he sounds like a support champion. A long range slow, what sounds remarkably like Zyra plants for harass, a knockup, and an ult that is a wall your team can move through but the enemy can't?

[Ionbound]

Well, yes, it's something TFT suggested. Looking at the CDR=AS, it seems like he'll be something in the vein of Leona, building tank and CDR with a BotRK somewhere in there and becomes very, very scary with high damage, attack speed, and tank. Heck, he might find a niche toplane, too. Though what with Tree being Tree, he might not work up there.

[TechnOkami]

oh, and i've been waiting for this one for a while...

Who's the one god? He's the sun god!

Ra! Ra! Ra!

[Ashen Lilies]

That was fast. Gnar was only just released.

I suppose there was quite the gap between Braum and Gnar, so they ended up completing multiple champions in the interim.

I'm... I'm curious as to how the passive will be applied in Dominion.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to somehow trying to force this guy into top lane, even if that's not where he's intended to be (though it might be... his E seems to me like he wants to be at least slightly tanky, and WE into team -> flash behind -> ult towards team seems like it could be a devastating initiate.)

[Godskook]

Well, yes, it's something TFT suggested. Looking at the CDR=AS, it seems like he'll be something in the vein of Leona, building tank and CDR with a BotRK somewhere in there and becomes very, very scary with high damage, attack speed, and tank. Heck, he might find a niche toplane, too. Though what with Tree being Tree, he might not work up there.

Leona is a tank, like Braum or Nautilus. Azir is a mage, like Zyra or Cassiopeia. Actually probably a lot like Cass, outside the CDR-scaling that encourages Athene's core on him.

I expect BoRK to be *ATROCIOUS* on him because I'm reasonably sure his soldiers don't proc on-hit.

[Ashen Lilies]

Nashor's Tooth is an item that I expect to see as a possible core, depending on how his soldiers interact with on-hits. Not only does it give AS in itself, it also gives as much CDR as Athene's, meaning that he can have attack-speed to go with his attack-speed, and I'm guessing his soldiers might have some variety of AP scaling on their basic attacks.

It's also pretty underused at the moment, being only a staple on Kayle and some Teemo builds, and very niche on Diana.

[Ionbound]

Right, but I think the idea is to use the soldiers as support rather than a major source of damage. They seem like they're for setup, and your Autos are a major source of damage. Anyways, his kit seems more like a bruiser's than a mage's. A dash+knockup and a speed steroid+poke suggest melee, and the only thing that seems specifically mage-y is his W. His R seems like a beefed up verion of Jayce as well, and he seems like he's going to be a melee champion, and doesn't have the unique kit of Kassadin to fit Mid-lane.

[Forum Explorer]

Even if you're the one in the duo, I find that it hurts your chances unless you're playing with someone where you have good synergy. Remember, if you and the person you're voice chatting with don't have good communication or you don't pick up on each other's cues in the game, you'll do worse than a random solo person because you'll make uncoordinated moves that get you killed that you'd have never made at all if you didn't think somebody was backing you up.

True, but I find my friend and I make for a great team when we play. Though usually when I'm in lane and he's jungling.

I find that duo queue horror stories are over-reported and duo queue MMR inflation is overestimated

Nah, he speaks from experience. Anarion and I have horrible synergy so when we duo'd together we were constantly on the wrong page.

[Sallera]

What I got from the description was that his soldiers effectively 'replace' his autos (and as Kook says, they'd be highly unlikely to proc BoRK in that case), and I'd be very surprised if they didn't have appreciable AP scaling.

[Ashen Lilies]

Right, but I think the idea is to use the soldiers as support rather than a major source of damage. They seem like they're for setup, and your Autos are a major source of damage. Anyways, his kit seems more like a bruiser's than a mage's. A dash+knockup and a speed steroid+poke suggest melee, and the only thing that seems specifically mage-y is his W. His R seems like a beefed up verion of Jayce as well, and he seems like he's going to be a melee champion, and doesn't have the unique kit of Kassadin to fit Mid-lane.

From the looks of it, your autos are actually replaced by the soldiers when you have one up. If you watch the video for his W, he hits Xerath with a short-ranged beam attack (something like 300 range? it looks terribly small, but still long enough to technically qualify as ranged) when his soldier is not up, but when he summons his soldier, his auto-attack is replaced by the soldier stabbing things and he has no such beam.

[Olinser]

From the looks of it, your autos are actually replaced by the soldiers when you have one up. If you watch the video for his W, he hits Xerath with a short-ranged beam attack (something like 300 range? it looks terribly small) when his soldier is not up, but when he summons his soldier, his auto-attack is replaced by the soldier stabbing things and he has no such beam.

That is my impression both from the description and the video as well. He still does his attack animation but the attack comes from the soldier rather than Azir himself.

[Olinser]

In other news, patch notes are up.

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/new...atch-415-notes

I would like everybody to remember that I predicted this exact nerf to Alistar a while ago. Won't terribly affect his support play but was a massive part of why he was so good top lane. Honestly I think it might kill top lane Alistar entirely.

[Dienekes]

Panth wasn't a dominant laner when you last played, since he's virtually never been popular in that role for a prolonged period of time in modern league history. panth jungle was him finding a place in the popular metagame, not changing his place. there's no disincentive to lane him that exists now that didn't exist earlier. oh, and sorry that your ult is fair now.

Ult changes are a pretty big disincentive to lane him, honestly. It means you can't roam to go help someone and then jump back to your lane. You can't quickly defend a pushed tower if you died. The best use I've seen for it is being a clean up crew after a big team fight is over. Useful, I guess but not particularly satisfying.

And no, he was never the best laner. He was at his best as a laner, there's a difference. And honestly, I don't remember many people ever complaining that pantheon was ever too strong even when his ult was at it's most powerful. When I left there was even talk about him needing a buff. The ult was considered fair then. As was said, he didn't change (except stunning minions apparently) the game around him did. Which, I missed, sadly. So all I'm seeing is my favorite champion suddenly unable to do the cool things I enjoyed using him for, that never really came across as overpowered anyway. It's a bit annoying, no doubt there were fine reasons for the changes they gave him. But that doesn't change that it's annoying.

[Qwertystop]

If they don't replace, they at least serve as a major supplement. Seems that most of his auto damage is intended to come from the soldiers - getting AS from CDR is more about twisting the mechanics into a knot than about encouraging him to actually autoattack people. Making soldier attacks an active skill without devoting a skill to soldier attacks means linking their autos to your auto, that means that if you want CDR to work on what is basically your sixth skill (targeted-line like Lucian Q from position of soldier), you need it to give AS.

Also, us this the only champ with effectively six active skills? Form-changers have seven (Gnar, the only one not to devote one skill from both forms to switching, only has an ult in one), Lee also has seven if recasting counts, Rengar has five with his active passive, but this is a new availability-tree.

[ex cathedra]

Then you haven't been with a pair where the lower mmr person is somewhere between just good enough for their mmr and worse then their mmr says, and the other player is at best at the mmr the other person drops the average to. What happens is the lower mmr person will more often then not end up 0/5 and the other person will most likely go even in lane, leaving the rest of the team to carry.

This is my experience with about half the duos where the mmr difference is huge.

Oh, and I've been waiting for this one for a while...

correct me if I'm wrong, but the scenario you describe involves two players whose actual skill is meaningfully less than their MMR. those players can expect to lose regardless of whether or not they duo

[Winthur]

Oh, and I've been waiting for this one for a while...

Mega Ultra Chicken!

EDIT: Whoever is in charge of designing LoL champions these days has a real unhealthy obsession with walls and blocking enemy moves.

[Forum Explorer]

In other news, patch notes are up.

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/new...atch-415-notes

I would like everybody to remember that I predicted this exact nerf to Alistar a while ago. Won't terribly affect his support play but was a massive part of why he was so good top lane. Honestly I think it might kill top lane Alistar entirely.

Well it looks like I'm never going to get a Shyvanna skin, because that is an awesome update.

[Ashen Lilies]

*already has all the Shyvana skins*

But I'm going to have to learn how to last-hit with her E all over again. 20 damage why riot T_T

@Winthur: Here's my vain hope that they give the same dash-blocking utility to Anivia, Jarvan and Trundle as well on the patch this guy is released.

[Sajiri]

I recently got convinced to try out LoL after much nagging and then complaining on my part that I didnt want to. Well, I felt silly when I finally relented and realised I liked it. I'm on the Oceanic server though which I guess isn't as, um, feisty as the NA servers, or so I've been told.

I've really only done a few bot matches with a partner so far, though I was told I was doing really well as Ahri (with the partner going Nami). I've also tried a few as Soraka which is kinda fun, but I prefer Ahri. I tried out a couple other characters but haven't really liked any of them yet aside from those two.

[Winthur]

@Winthur: Here's my vain hope that they give the same dash-blocking utility to Anivia, Jarvan and Trundle as well on the patch this guy is released.

They already kinda have that, you just have to time the wall precisely with the dash.

It's been reported to be capable of even stopping Malphite's ultimate.

[Dusk Eclipse]

*already has all the Shyvana skins*

But I'm going to have to learn how to last-hit with her E all over again. 20 damage why riot T_T

@Winthur: Here's my vain hope that they give the same dash-blocking utility to Anivia, Jarvan and Trundle as well on the patch this guy is released.

Plz riot, make my day

[TechnOkami]

I recently got convinced to try out LoL after much nagging and then complaining on my part that I didnt want to. Well, I felt silly when I finally relented and realised I liked it. I'm on the Oceanic server though which I guess isn't as, um, feisty as the NA servers, or so I've been told.

I've really only done a few bot matches with a partner so far, though I was told I was doing really well as Ahri (with the partner going Nami). I've also tried a few as Soraka which is kinda fun, but I prefer Ahri. I tried out a couple other characters but haven't really liked any of them yet aside from those two.

So you've told us you're on the Oceanic server and we know your GitP name. Give us your in-game name and whoever's in control of the OP will add you to the almighty player list.

[Sajiri]

So you've told us you're on the Oceanic server and we know your GitP name. Give us your in-game name and whoever's in control of the OP will add you to the almighty player list.

It's Sajiri

[Renegade Paladin]

Team Newline practice is in three hours.

[TechnOkami]

It's Sajiri

Cool. Once PersonMan sees this, he'll be sure to add you.

Edit: Now download mumble and join in the fun.

[Recaiden]

Still without LoL-capable internet.