League of Legends XXXIII: Game of Mundo

[TechnOkami]

Bug (maybe): When you are on the summoner's platform at summoner's rift and do not move, if you try to do a joke/taunt/laugh, the sounds will occur, but the animation won't.

[Darth Mario]

-How big is the difficulty jump between Beginner AIs and Intermediate? How long should I play before I jump into actual PvP matches?

However long it takes you to feel comfortable enough to try. Though something that I feel that bot games teach you that is BAD to learn is a fear of losing. This is a PvP game. Statistically, losing should happen about half the time. But in bot games, it very rarely occurs. This means when you DO jump to PvP you're probably going to feel a lot worse at the game than you actually are. Don't let this get you down, just keep playing. You'll improve faster and if you're in the mood to just win a game you can always jump back to a bot match.

[toasty]

When do they add that Chalice upgrade?

Maybe never. PBE is not live.

[Maeglin_Dubh]

Patch notes.

Spoiler

Show

Spectator Mode!

Spectate your Friends
Added the ability to spectate games that friends are playing by right clicking their name in the buddy list
Easily identify friends you can spectate by the eye icon near their name
Featured Games
The landing page will now host featured games that anyone can spectate
Click the 'Watch Now' icon to view some of the most skilled players in League of Legends!
Games cycle at regular intervals so be sure to check back often
Directed Camera
Implemented a directed camera mode that will automatically follow the action in game!
The camera will seamlessly jump between champion fights and other critical moments
Interesting events like Champion kills will be prioritized
When multiple Champions are on the screen, the camera will automatically adjust to include them
Timeshift Controls
Spectators can now jump around the timeline of a live game to watch past events!
Replay events in slow motion to review action-filled moments
Spectators can now actively fast forward through the game
Spectator announcer coverage will now report more events
Updated spectator UI elements to respect colorblind mode
New Skins in the Store

Frostblade Irelia
Rune Wars Renekton
PVP.net v1.59

Added a new image for ignored Summoners in the buddy list
Fixed several display inconsistencies when using Summoner Name Change
Summoners must now be level 5 to talk in public chat rooms
Level 1 summoners will still be able to join with read-only access
Pending a hotfix, only game creators can invite players to games
PvP.net Store

Added an indicator to show owned rune content when attempting to purchase a new rune
Rune purchases past the usable rune limit will now be prevented
League of Legends v1.0.0.139

Alistar

Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level
Amumu

Curse of the Sad Mummy cooldown reduced to 150/130/110 seconds from 170/150/120 seconds
Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level
Annie

Base Health increased to 460 from 424
Incinerate Mana cost reduced to 70/80/90/100/110 from 80/95/110/125/140
Molten Shield
Fixed a bug where Molten Shield returned damage to turrets
Duration reduced to 8 seconds from 15 seconds and cooldown reduced to 16 seconds from 30 seconds
Mana cost reduced to 20 from 25
Armor and Magic Resist increased to 20/30/40/50/60 from 10/20/30/40/50
Blitzcrank

Updated playing against tips
Cho'gath

Movement Speed increased to 320 from 315
Dr. Mundo

Burning Agony
Now has a short cooldown upon activation (to avoid accidental disabling)
Base damage reduced to 35/50/65/80/95 from 40/55/70/85/100
Crowd control reduction decreased to 10/15/20/25/30% from 15/20/25/30/35%
Fixed a bug where Burning Agony was reducing the duration of blinds and silences by more than intended
Sadism
Cooldown increased to 75 seconds from 65 seconds
Graves

Fixed a bug where using a ward could break Buckshot's sound
Irelia

Base health increased to 546 from 515
Health per level increased to 90 from 85
Base health regen per 5 increased to 7.5 from 6.5
Base damage increased to 59.3 from 56.3
Jarvan IV

Fixed a bug with Commando and Dragon Slayer skins that caused the game to hitch when first using Demacian Standard
Jax

Fixed a bug where Counterstrike was stunning through spell shields
Kog'maw

Void Ooze slow reduced to 20/28/36/44/52% from 28/36/44/52/60%
Lee Sin

Iron Will Life Steal and Spell Vamp reduced to 5/9/13/17/21% from 5/10/15/20/25%
Safeguard and Iron Will cooldown increased to 9 seconds from 8 seconds
Leona

Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level
Lulu

Glitterlance
Ability power ratio reduced to 0.6 from 0.7
Mana cost increased at later ranks to 40/50/60/70/80 from 40/45/50/55/60
Updated Wild Growth tooltip to reflect knock up ability rather than knock back
Malphite

Fixed a bug where Polymorph was interrupting Unstoppable Force
Master Yi

Meditate
Mana cost reduced to 70/80/90/100/110 from 70/85/100/115/130
Highlander
Fixed a bug where assists with Highlander failed to reduce Alpha Strike's cooldown
Duration changed to 8/10/12 seconds from 6/9/12 seconds
Miss Fortune

Bullet Time now deals physical damage
Double Up secondary target damage increased to 120% from 115%
Nocturne

Fixed a bug with the Ravager skin where Unspeakable Horror was not visually applying the fear tether
Nunu

Added a range indicator to Absolute Zero
Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level
Olaf

Reckless Swing cooldown increased to 9/8/7/6/5 seconds from 8/7/6/5/4 seconds
Ryze

General
Base attack damage increased to 52 from 49
Base missile speed increased to 2400 from 1400
Recommended items updated on The Crystal Scar/Summoner's Rift
Animations updated for Overload, Rune Prison, and Spell Flux
Overload
Mana ratio reduced to 6.5% from 7.5%
Ability power ratio increased to .4 from .2
Overload base damage increased to 60/85/110/135/160 from 40/65/90/115/140
Range reduced to 650 from 700
Rune Prison
Mana ratio reduced to 4.5% from 5%
Mana cost adjusted to 80/90/100/110/120 from 80/95/110/125/140
Rune prison duration reduced to .75/1/1.25/1.5/1.75 seconds from 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds
Spell Flux:
Added a 1% mana ratio
Missile speed reduced
Bounce radius increased to 400 from 375
Spell Flux now prioritizes enemy champions over Ryze
Mana cost adjusted to 80/90/100/110/120 from 80/95/110/125/140
Desperate Power:
Passive mana component removed
Active now adds 35/45/55 movement speed
Singed

Base Health increased to 487 from 448
Fixed a bug where Insanity Potion was reducing the duration of blinds and silences by more than intended
Sivir

Boomerang Blade bonus attack damage ratio increased to 1.1 from 1.0
Soraka

Starcall
Duration of Magic Resist reduction decreased to 5 seconds from 8 seconds
Mana cost increased at later ranks to 20/35/50/65/80 from 20/30/40/50/60
Infuse will no longer target allied minions
Astral Blessing armor bonus adjusted to 25/45/65/85/105 from 25/50/75/100/125
Swain

Fixed a bug with Bilgewater and Northern Front skins that caused the game to hitch the first time Decrepify was used
Talon

Rake mana cost reduced to 50/55/60/65/70 from 60/65/70/75/80
Base armor increased to 20.5 from 18.5
Taric

Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level
Udyr

Turtle Stance shield reduced to 60/95/130/165/200 from 60/100/140/180/220
Volibear

Fixed a bug where Majestic Roar was reducing Minion movement speed to 0 at rank 5
Warwick

Hungering Strike
Damage reduced to 8/10/12/14/16% from 8/11/14/17/20%
Zilean

Zilean can no longer level up Rewind at level 1
General

Turret base damage decreased but armor penetration and damage to minions increased
Improved particle scaling on larger characters like Dragon and Baron
Champion skin names will now be displayed on the load screen
New option added: Show All Chat
Cross-team chat in all games is now hidden by default
Cross-team chat in spectated games will also be hidden by default
If you enjoy competitive banter, opt-in using the new toggle in the 'More Options' menu!
Fixed a crash that would occur when attempting to maximize the window while loading into the game
Selected unit outlines are now improved to be less pixelated
"Surrender Vote Failed" message no longer appears to the enemy team
Announcements will now take up the same proportional amount of screen space regardless of the display resolution. The net result is a smaller size at smaller resolutions
Items

Deathfire Grasp
Now builds out of Blasting Wand and Kage's Lucky Pick (total cost reduced to 2600 from 2610)
Now grants 80 Ability Power and 15% Cooldown Reduction, from 60 Ability Power, 12 MP5, and 15% Cooldown Reduction
Increased cast range to 750 from 650
Active base damage changed to 25% +4% per 100 AP of the target's current Health from 30% + 3.5%
Fiendish Codex cost reduced to 1125 from 1245
Morello's Evil Tome
Now builds out of Fiendish Codex and Kage's Lucky Pick (total cost reduced to 2330 from 2350)
Now has Grievous Wounds active
Sunfire Cape aura damage increased to 40 from 35
Will of the Ancients
Now builds out of Blasting Wand and Hextech Revolver
Total cost increased to 2500 from 2100, combine cost reduced to 440 from 465
Atma's Impaler, Manamune, Archangel's Staff, Randuin's Omen, Force of Nature, and Deathfire Grasp tooltips now update dynamically
Fixed a bug where Randuin's Omen tooltip stated the incorrect slow duration
Summoner Spells

Fixed a bug where Teleport could be used after being affected by Crowd Control effects
Fixed a bug where casting Cleanse could interrupt Teleport
Summoner Heal base value reduced to 100 from 145
Co-op vs. AI

Changed Soraka Bot's Wish logic to help all allies instead of just those near her
Changed logic for Master Yi Bot's use of Meditate
Fixed a bug where Dominion bots would prematurely break counter-channel attempts on neutral points
Fixed a bug where Caitlyn Bot did not learn all of her skills

Also, I suck at formatting...

[Eldariel]

Patch notes.

Spoiler

Show

*snip*

Tip: Go to the forum page and "Quote" the Patch Notes post, copy the quoted part. The forums use the same code so it's directly compatible and you can retain all the formatting with zero effort invested, thusly:

Spectator Mode Patch Notes

Spoiler

Show

Spectator Mode!

• Spectate your Friends
  • Added the ability to spectate games that friends are playing by right clicking their name in the buddy list
  • Easily identify friends you can spectate by the eye icon near their name
• Featured Games
  • The landing page will now host featured games that anyone can spectate
  • Click the 'Watch Now' icon to view some of the most skilled players in League of Legends!
  • Games cycle at regular intervals so be sure to check back often
• Directed Camera
  • Implemented a directed camera mode that will automatically follow the action in game!
  • The camera will seamlessly jump between champion fights and other critical moments
  • Interesting events like Champion kills will be prioritized
  • When multiple Champions are on the screen, the camera will automatically adjust to include them
• Timeshift Controls
  • Spectators can now jump around the timeline of a live game to watch past events!
  • Replay events in slow motion to review action-filled moments
  • Spectators can now actively fast forward through the game
• Spectator announcer coverage will now report more events
• Updated spectator UI elements to respect colorblind mode

New Skins in the Store

• Frostblade Irelia
• Rune Wars Renekton

PVP.net v1.59

• Added a new image for ignored Summoners in the buddy list
• Fixed several display inconsistencies when using Summoner Name Change
• Summoners must now be level 5 to talk in public chat rooms
  • Level 1 summoners will still be able to join with read-only access
• Pending a hotfix, only game creators can invite players to games

PvP.net Store

• Added an indicator to show owned rune content when attempting to purchase a new rune
• Rune purchases past the usable rune limit will now be prevented

League of Legends v1.0.0.139

Alistar

• Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level

Amumu

• Curse of the Sad Mummy cooldown reduced to 150/130/110 seconds from 170/150/120 seconds
• Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level

Annie

• Base Health increased to 460 from 424
• Incinerate Mana cost reduced to 70/80/90/100/110 from 80/95/110/125/140
• Molten Shield
  • Fixed a bug where Molten Shield returned damage to turrets
  • Duration reduced to 8 seconds from 15 seconds and cooldown reduced to 16 seconds from 30 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced to 20 from 25
  • Armor and Magic Resist increased to 20/30/40/50/60 from 10/20/30/40/50

Blitzcrank

• Updated playing against tips

Cho'gath

• Movement Speed increased to 320 from 315

Dr. Mundo

• Burning Agony
  • Now has a short cooldown upon activation (to avoid accidental disabling)
  • Base damage reduced to 35/50/65/80/95 from 40/55/70/85/100
  • Crowd control reduction decreased to 10/15/20/25/30% from 15/20/25/30/35%
  • Fixed a bug where Burning Agony was reducing the duration of blinds and silences by more than intended
• Sadism
  • Cooldown increased to 75 seconds from 65 seconds

Graves

• Fixed a bug where using a ward could break Buckshot's sound

Irelia

• Base health increased to 546 from 515
• Health per level increased to 90 from 85
• Base health regen per 5 increased to 7.5 from 6.5
• Base damage increased to 59.3 from 56.3

Jarvan IV

• Fixed a bug with Commando and Dragon Slayer skins that caused the game to hitch when first using Demacian Standard

Jax

• Fixed a bug where Counterstrike was stunning through spell shields

Kog'maw

• Void Ooze slow reduced to 20/28/36/44/52% from 28/36/44/52/60%

Lee Sin

• Iron Will Life Steal and Spell Vamp reduced to 5/9/13/17/21% from 5/10/15/20/25%
• Safeguard and Iron Will cooldown increased to 9 seconds from 8 seconds

Leona

• Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level

Lulu

• Glitterlance
  • Ability power ratio reduced to 0.6 from 0.7
  • Mana cost increased at later ranks to 40/50/60/70/80 from 40/45/50/55/60
• Updated Wild Growth tooltip to reflect knock up ability rather than knock back

Malphite

• Fixed a bug where Polymorph was interrupting Unstoppable Force

Master Yi

• Meditate
  • Mana cost reduced to 70/80/90/100/110 from 70/85/100/115/130
• Highlander
  • Fixed a bug where assists with Highlander failed to reduce Alpha Strike's cooldown
  • Duration changed to 8/10/12 seconds from 6/9/12 seconds

Miss Fortune

• Bullet Time now deals physical damage
• Double Up secondary target damage increased to 120% from 115%

Nocturne

• Fixed a bug with the Ravager skin where Unspeakable Horror was not visually applying the fear tether

Nunu

• Added a range indicator to Absolute Zero
• Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level

Olaf

• Reckless Swing cooldown increased to 9/8/7/6/5 seconds from 8/7/6/5/4 seconds

Ryze

• General
  • Base attack damage increased to 52 from 49
  • Base missile speed increased to 2400 from 1400
  • Recommended items updated on The Crystal Scar/Summoner's Rift
  • Animations updated for Overload, Rune Prison, and Spell Flux
• Overload
  • Mana ratio reduced to 6.5% from 7.5%
  • Ability power ratio increased to .4 from .2
  • Overload base damage increased to 60/85/110/135/160 from 40/65/90/115/140
  • Range reduced to 650 from 700
• Rune Prison
  • Mana ratio reduced to 4.5% from 5%
  • Mana cost adjusted to 80/90/100/110/120 from 80/95/110/125/140
  • Rune prison duration reduced to .75/1/1.25/1.5/1.75 seconds from 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds
• Spell Flux:
  • Added a 1% mana ratio
  • Missile speed reduced
  • Bounce radius increased to 400 from 375
  • Spell Flux now prioritizes enemy champions over Ryze
  • Mana cost adjusted to 80/90/100/110/120 from 80/95/110/125/140
• Desperate Power:
  • Passive mana component removed
  • Active now adds 35/45/55 movement speed

Singed

• Base Health increased to 487 from 448
• Fixed a bug where Insanity Potion was reducing the duration of blinds and silences by more than intended

Sivir

• Boomerang Blade bonus attack damage ratio increased to 1.1 from 1.0

Soraka

• Starcall
  • Duration of Magic Resist reduction decreased to 5 seconds from 8 seconds
  • Mana cost increased at later ranks to 20/35/50/65/80 from 20/30/40/50/60
• Infuse will no longer target allied minions
• Astral Blessing armor bonus adjusted to 25/45/65/85/105 from 25/50/75/100/125

Swain

• Fixed a bug with Bilgewater and Northern Front skins that caused the game to hitch the first time Decrepify was used

Talon

• Rake mana cost reduced to 50/55/60/65/70 from 60/65/70/75/80
• Base armor increased to 20.5 from 18.5

Taric

• Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level

Udyr

• Turtle Stance shield reduced to 60/95/130/165/200 from 60/100/140/180/220

Volibear

• Fixed a bug where Majestic Roar was reducing Minion movement speed to 0 at rank 5

Warwick

• Hungering Strike
  • Damage reduced to 8/10/12/14/16% from 8/11/14/17/20%

Zilean

• Zilean can no longer level up Rewind at level 1

General

• Turret base damage decreased but armor penetration and damage to minions increased
• Improved particle scaling on larger characters like Dragon and Baron
• Champion skin names will now be displayed on the load screen
• New option added: Show All Chat
  • Cross-team chat in all games is now hidden by default
  • Cross-team chat in spectated games will also be hidden by default
  • If you enjoy competitive banter, opt-in using the new toggle in the 'More Options' menu!
• Fixed a crash that would occur when attempting to maximize the window while loading into the game
• Selected unit outlines are now improved to be less pixelated
• "Surrender Vote Failed" message no longer appears to the enemy team
• Announcements will now take up the same proportional amount of screen space regardless of the display resolution. The net result is a smaller size at smaller resolutions

Items

• Deathfire Grasp
  • Now builds out of Blasting Wand and Kage's Lucky Pick (total cost reduced to 2600 from 2610)
  • Now grants 80 Ability Power and 15% Cooldown Reduction, from 60 Ability Power, 12 MP5, and 15% Cooldown Reduction
  • Increased cast range to 750 from 650
  • Active base damage changed to 25% +4% per 100 AP of the target's current Health from 30% + 3.5%
• Fiendish Codex cost reduced to 1125 from 1245
• Morello's Evil Tome
  • Now builds out of Fiendish Codex and Kage's Lucky Pick (total cost reduced to 2330 from 2350)
  • Now has Grievous Wounds active
• Sunfire Cape aura damage increased to 40 from 35
• Will of the Ancients
  • Now builds out of Blasting Wand and Hextech Revolver
  • Total cost increased to 2500 from 2100, combine cost reduced to 440 from 465
• Atma's Impaler, Manamune, Archangel's Staff, Randuin's Omen, Force of Nature, and Deathfire Grasp tooltips now update dynamically
• Fixed a bug where Randuin's Omen tooltip stated the incorrect slow duration

Summoner Spells

• Fixed a bug where Teleport could be used after being affected by Crowd Control effects
• Fixed a bug where casting Cleanse could interrupt Teleport
• Summoner Heal base value reduced to 100 from 145
  

Co-op vs. AI

• Changed Soraka Bot's Wish logic to help all allies instead of just those near her
• Changed logic for Master Yi Bot's use of Meditate
• Fixed a bug where Dominion bots would prematurely break counter-channel attempts on neutral points
• Fixed a bug where Caitlyn Bot did not learn all of her skills

[fred dref]

I actually dislike the change to Mundo's Burning Agony. I liked being able to flash it on for a second if I missed a last hit or something. You could get one tick of damage, but you'd take no damage if you turned it off again immediately.

EDIT: Huh, Yi's Alpha Strike change didn't go through. I'm a little sad.

I'm pleased that they didn't reduce Talon's Rake's mana costs as much as they did in the PBE. That was insane.

They changed Cleanse interrupting Teleport, but did they change Olaf ult? I remember costing my team a game due to hitting R too early and canceling a 'port into a Baron fight.

Tooltip changes are nice.

I tentatively like all the AP item changes except WotA, but that's just because I love WotA and how easy it was to build.

[Maeglin_Dubh]

Ah, I just copied it from the page. Good tip.

[PEACH]

When you think about it, 275 + 1.0/AP + 20% of a target's max health is a LOT of damage to be regaining 80% of...and more than 80% if your team has any spell vamp or you've got a Spirit Visage. Without Blue or any CDR it's on a 6 second cooldown, which is a ton of free healing. Then his passive adds to that?

Just wanted to bring this up: His Q is either 275+1.0 or 20% of max health. It is not both. This misconception is annoying and the reason the "build Rabadons on WW, it's so good!" thing came about (though that may have been when it was still Zhonya's Ring).

[Tergon]

So I feel the need to vent something here. Hope nobody minds.

I like Heimerdinger. A lot. He’s probably my single favourite League Champion… and yet it’s so obvious that many people don’t agree. Not only by how rarely I see him played, but also by the fact that, well, folks abuse me for choosing him sometimes. It sort of saddens me, really.

See, here’s what turns most people off Heimerdinger: he doesn’t get kills. His abilities include a low-damage skillshot, an instant shot that hits whatever three targets are closest to you, an autonomous turret that shoots what it likes, and two passives. No nukes, little damage, and unless you’re really paying attention, not much use. Especially if you’re a slow, squishy mage with low autoattack, which is basically going to mean you suck at PvP. Which in turn means that yes, people are right, he doesn’t get kills easily.
So, the obvious solution? Don’t try to. I mean, think about it. A high killscore will not win you a game of League. Killing towers, inhibitors, and the enemy nexus will do that, and nothing else will. Sure, killing champions will help, but how? Why, by giving you gold, experience, and removing the opposition. And if you had a champion who could farm effortlessly, gain experience rapidly, and had no reason to fear the enemy… logically you wouldn’t need to get kills in the first place, now would you?

So what can Heimerdinger do? Well, thanks to his turrets, he can autoattack two separate targets at once, or the same target two times simultaneously. That goes up to three with enough levels, and when splash damage comes in, even a backed-up swarm of minions takes him about two seconds. He needs no other abilities or autoattacks to farm with incredible profit and ease. So clearly, he doesn’t need to worry about that. Hell, he can keep farming heavily while he’s back at the nexus buying gear, something that literally nobody else can claim they’re able to do. And as for worrying about enemy champions, well, what can they really do to him? Walk up and hit him while being peppered by his turrets and creeps? Because he will always have creeps, I promise, with the speed at which he takes down enemy waves. With his stun grenades to hold you there while you die, nobody’s really going to have much luck attempting that. Ganks are only a sure thing if the enemy has made themselves vulnerable, and since Heimerdinger sets up a heavily-armed base everywhere he goes, he’s never really all that vulnerable at all in the laning stages. The only tactic that’s likely to do anything is hanging back and harassing him from a distance and, well, he’ll be at the rear of his mob of creeps lobbing rockets and grenades right back. With that rolling wave of creeps and turrets, he’s easily one of the best pushers you’ll ever see early-to-mid game.

Yes, I know, there are those who aren’t impressed by this. He can farm well and is hard to gank? Why, I’m sure that you play champs like that all the time! And yeah, you probably do, I don’t doubt it. Sure, he might take the occasional tower early game, but you’ll use that time to feed and late game, you’ll be a terrifying force that will send the enemy flying, which is something Heimerdinger will never really be able to do. Instead, he’ll have incredible CC and splash damage, slows, stuns and blinds, as well as quite decent damage for anyone who gets within range, to say nothing of his aura which heals allied units of all types – including towers, which nobody else in the game can boast. Which makes him, if you think about it for even a second, a pretty damn fantastic Support. He can hold almost any position with a tower to back him up, even against a full enemy push – not forever, maybe, but long enough for backup to get there. During the counter-push he can set up fallback points and defensive positions for the team to wait in for the next creep wave, or to run through if they need to escape enemy hunters. And all those folks who are saying that they’d still kill him easily, please, I invite you to try. Walk up and whack him with your lamp-post, Jax, see what happens. It’ll go something along the lines of turret-stun-turret-rocket-ult. And if you were wondering why Heimerdinger bought himself a suit of Thornmail midgame, well, your rapidly-vanishing health bar is the reason why.
Seriously, you want comedy? Get Heimerdinger some Thornmail, stand in the open between your gun turrets, and let the gankers come to you to die. It is hilarious. And it’s also a fully legitimate tactic – you’re aware of the concept of ‘leading’ your enemy into a trap? Heimerdinger is, himself, a walking trap for enemy champions. He’s the king of schmuck bait. It’s actually one of the easiest and most effective ways for him to get kills in the first place, by letting enemy gankers kill themselves on him.

Added up… well, there you have an awesome pusher early game, an awesome support late game, who’s very nearly impossible to gank, farms like a boss, and takes the idea of playing defensively to such a high level that he can use it offensively instead. And yet, just today, a Master Yi on my team found it necessary to call me a “noobfag” (whatever that is) seven times in champion selection for even suggesting that I might go Heimerdinger, before I’d even locked him in. And when the rest of the team encouraged me to select Heimerdinger, he ranted to the other team about how he was clearly the only smart player and the game was already over. Sadly, when you disconnected in an explosion of impotent rage, you’d only had time to get one kill and die four times, so we would never see you reach that full potential (for the record, I was 3 kills 0 deaths at the time).

All in all, if you feel like TL;DR’ing that mess up there, let me sum it up for you neatly. If you agree with my dear friend Master Yi, that Heimerdinger’s high difficulty and low killscore make him useless in a match, please… do us all a favour.
Go back to Counter-Strike, you massive, massive tool.

Thank you.

[Math_Mage]

I hate to be that guy, but apart from very specialized kite/poke/push comps, baiting schmucks IS about all Heimerdinger is good for.

Oh, and jungling.

also GP and Ez can farm from base

[Tergon]

Go back to Counter-Strike.

No, seriously, though. I know lots of folks think that about Heimerdinger, but that's because there's so few good Heimerdingers out there! I promise you, he's much much much more effective than folks think. I'll have to make a point of showing you that some time.

[PEACH]

Heimerdinger doesn't work well as a support because he can't actually get fire off of anybody; he can just do some good-ish damage and CC in a specific area. He pushes well, but then again, so does every other mid nowadays, the difference being they can actually threaten a sidelane by running there at six and blasting them. I'd also say he's less "hard to gank" and more "normally gankable by some people, impossible to gank with others." Like, if Malz wants to gank Heimer, outside of being dumb enough to start ulting with a grenade flying, Heimer is going to die (I'm assuming Mazahar isn't dumb enough to start the gank and try to get a full combo during turret range, but he may ult from within them). But if Udyr wants to gank Heimer, well, he's SoL. Basically, anybody with ranged CC or high burst can gank Heimer as normally; it's just melee champs and guys who require attacks to be effective that get screwed.

[Qaera]

Karthus can farm from base, too.

Farm kills, that is. Last hitting is for plebs.

$$$$$ #neverplayedkarthusbefore

~ ♅

[tyckspoon]

I hate to be that guy, but apart from very specialized kite/poke/push comps, baiting schmucks IS about all Heimerdinger is good for.

Oh, and jungling.

Fortunately for Heimer players, League of Legends has no shortage of schmucks.

[Math_Mage]

Go back to Counter-Strike.

No, seriously, though. I know lots of folks think that about Heimerdinger, but that's because there's so few good Heimerdingers out there! I promise you, he's much much much more effective than folks think. I'll have to make a point of showing you that some time.

Well, what are the virtues you mentioned? Farms well, pushes hard, has good range, good CC, zone denial, can build tanky. I could play Anivia and get all that with better damage output, better teamfighting, and less dependence on a stationary fight. The only real downside is that I can't hit turrets with my spells, and I'm slightly more dependent on blue.

I don't think Heimer is USELESS. I just think he's outclassed for most of the uses to which one could put him.

I'm willing to volunteer for a 1v1, but I'm no AP mid main. Besides, most mages are better at both supporting and escaping ganks than Heimer.

[Tergon]

My default summoner abilities with Heimerdinger are Flash and Heal. And I'll concede that without those, I'd die a LOT more with him. But with those, I will argue cheerfully my ability to stand up to any other hero you care to throw at him. Yes, he's not all that good at ganking, but there are four whole players on your team who are more than capable of doing that. Heimerdinger's best tactic is to simply charge down your lane, laying turrets and farming creeps, right up to the tower. And trust me, with two gun turrets and a few creeps, he can take down those towers FAST. He ignores enemy champions simply because he can! And if someone else is there, well, slows and stuns will let Heimer help make it into an easy kill.

Not every champion has to be a ganker, or able to get twenty kills per game. I regularly get single-digit kills but almost never drop below 15 assists in a game. And if we agree that Heimerdinger can farm like a boss, take down towers easily, and is difficult to actually kill... well, what more do you need? That is the point of the game, after all. And all I can say is that either I'm some kind of supernaturally lucky freak, or else there's some merit to what I'm saying - because I find him to be pretty damned effective in almost any game I play him.

[Qwertystop]

So I feel the need to vent something here. Hope nobody minds.

I like Heimerdinger. A lot. He’s probably my single favourite League Champion… and yet it’s so obvious that many people don’t agree. Not only by how rarely I see him played, but also by the fact that, well, folks abuse me for choosing him sometimes. It sort of saddens me, really.

See, here’s what turns most people off Heimerdinger: he doesn’t get kills. His abilities include a low-damage skillshot, an instant shot that hits whatever three targets are closest to you, an autonomous turret that shoots what it likes, and two passives. No nukes, little damage, and unless you’re really paying attention, not much use. Especially if you’re a slow, squishy mage with low autoattack, which is basically going to mean you suck at PvP. Which in turn means that yes, people are right, he doesn’t get kills easily.
So, the obvious solution? Don’t try to. I mean, think about it. A high killscore will not win you a game of League. Killing towers, inhibitors, and the enemy nexus will do that, and nothing else will. Sure, killing champions will help, but how? Why, by giving you gold, experience, and removing the opposition. And if you had a champion who could farm effortlessly, gain experience rapidly, and had no reason to fear the enemy… logically you wouldn’t need to get kills in the first place, now would you?

So what can Heimerdinger do? Well, thanks to his turrets, he can autoattack two separate targets at once, or the same target two times simultaneously. That goes up to three with enough levels, and when splash damage comes in, even a backed-up swarm of minions takes him about two seconds. He needs no other abilities or autoattacks to farm with incredible profit and ease. So clearly, he doesn’t need to worry about that. Hell, he can keep farming heavily while he’s back at the nexus buying gear, something that literally nobody else can claim they’re able to do. And as for worrying about enemy champions, well, what can they really do to him? Walk up and hit him while being peppered by his turrets and creeps? Because he will always have creeps, I promise, with the speed at which he takes down enemy waves. With his stun grenades to hold you there while you die, nobody’s really going to have much luck attempting that. Ganks are only a sure thing if the enemy has made themselves vulnerable, and since Heimerdinger sets up a heavily-armed base everywhere he goes, he’s never really all that vulnerable at all in the laning stages. The only tactic that’s likely to do anything is hanging back and harassing him from a distance and, well, he’ll be at the rear of his mob of creeps lobbing rockets and grenades right back. With that rolling wave of creeps and turrets, he’s easily one of the best pushers you’ll ever see early-to-mid game.

Yes, I know, there are those who aren’t impressed by this. He can farm well and is hard to gank? Why, I’m sure that you play champs like that all the time! And yeah, you probably do, I don’t doubt it. Sure, he might take the occasional tower early game, but you’ll use that time to feed and late game, you’ll be a terrifying force that will send the enemy flying, which is something Heimerdinger will never really be able to do. Instead, he’ll have incredible CC and splash damage, slows, stuns and blinds, as well as quite decent damage for anyone who gets within range, to say nothing of his aura which heals allied units of all types – including towers, which nobody else in the game can boast. Which makes him, if you think about it for even a second, a pretty damn fantastic Support. He can hold almost any position with a tower to back him up, even against a full enemy push – not forever, maybe, but long enough for backup to get there. During the counter-push he can set up fallback points and defensive positions for the team to wait in for the next creep wave, or to run through if they need to escape enemy hunters. And all those folks who are saying that they’d still kill him easily, please, I invite you to try. Walk up and whack him with your lamp-post, Jax, see what happens. It’ll go something along the lines of turret-stun-turret-rocket-ult. And if you were wondering why Heimerdinger bought himself a suit of Thornmail midgame, well, your rapidly-vanishing health bar is the reason why.
Seriously, you want comedy? Get Heimerdinger some Thornmail, stand in the open between your gun turrets, and let the gankers come to you to die. It is hilarious. And it’s also a fully legitimate tactic – you’re aware of the concept of ‘leading’ your enemy into a trap? Heimerdinger is, himself, a walking trap for enemy champions. He’s the king of schmuck bait. It’s actually one of the easiest and most effective ways for him to get kills in the first place, by letting enemy gankers kill themselves on him.

Added up… well, there you have an awesome pusher early game, an awesome support late game, who’s very nearly impossible to gank, farms like a boss, and takes the idea of playing defensively to such a high level that he can use it offensively instead. And yet, just today, a Master Yi on my team found it necessary to call me a “noobfag” (whatever that is) seven times in champion selection for even suggesting that I might go Heimerdinger, before I’d even locked him in. And when the rest of the team encouraged me to select Heimerdinger, he ranted to the other team about how he was clearly the only smart player and the game was already over. Sadly, when you disconnected in an explosion of impotent rage, you’d only had time to get one kill and die four times, so we would never see you reach that full potential (for the record, I was 3 kills 0 deaths at the time).

All in all, if you feel like TL;DR’ing that mess up there, let me sum it up for you neatly. If you agree with my dear friend Master Yi, that Heimerdinger’s high difficulty and low killscore make him useless in a match, please… do us all a favour.
Go back to Counter-Strike, you massive, massive tool.

Thank you.

Well, I agree with you in theory. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make it actually work. What runes, masteries, and items do you use, and what order do you skill in? It sounds like you use grenade a lot more than me.

[Math_Mage]

Heimerdinger's best tactic is to simply charge down your lane, laying turrets and farming creeps, right up to the tower.

Okay, here's the problem. You're handing the enemy free XP and gold, probably not denying any mage significantly, and setting yourself up to get ganked. And your only defenses against a gank are blind-stun and summoners, because your turrets are set up where ult won't help.

Most of us are past the point where we think a champion's worth is determined by his ability to get fed on kills. I'm not saying you're a noob Heimer who thinks he can play this gosh-darned game without killing people, though your team comp will hurt for lack of a burst mage in fights.

[Joran]

I don't think Heimer is USELESS. I just think he's outclassed for most of the uses to which one could put him.

Also, Heimerdinger's a lousy inventor who is outclassed by at least 2 other inventors on the Fields of Justice.

[Eldariel]

Yeah, Heimer's fine. There's a few team comps where he absolutely shines (he's one of the best ways to take early Barons and Dragons due to his midgame area control power and obscene repeatable damage) and he's a decent mid overall; overshadowed in most team comps by other alternatives and hard to learn but still fine.

He can actually kill people alright; his damage is in the Twisted Fate class without turrets which is not a bad place to be at. And with turrets he actually hurts a lot. He isn't a burst mage nor is he an AP carry but he's a utility mage with decent damage and is in no ways unviable, to be sure. I think Dan Dinh's little Heimer escapades showcased the incredible strength he has in the right teamcomps.


Also, little fact your dear Master Yi forgot; the level he plays on is the same level where it's completely possible to carry games with Evelynn if you play well enough. Champion choice really doesn't hold a candle to skill on the champion you've chosen until way, way later when everybody is extremely good with the champions they play and absolute masters only have small edges.

[Tergon]

Oh, please don't think my rants are directed at the folks here. It was venting a little frustration by shouting at the invisible spectre of the douchebag who annoyed me, there's absolutely no personal digs going on here, nor claims that my Vast Superiority is Vastly Vast. I'm more than willing to accept that there are plenty of people here who could match me as Heimerdinger, or straight-up beat me. My complaint is with those who consider him to be a sub-par champion.

You're right, of course, in that Heimerdinger is no replacement for a powerful burst mage. My counter is simply that he should never be viewed as such. He's a mage in that he uses abilities more than autoattacks and AP more than any other stat, but beyond that? His turrets are his main weapon and they do a hybrid of physical and magic damage, and once cast they cost zero mana to sit there cheerfully until he drops another one. Otherwise he just lobs the occasional grenade or rocket and concentrates on getting last hits. It requires decent placement of turrets, both in matters of timing and location, but that's not hard to figure out.
Provided you pay attention, and especially with Flash and Heal as your abilities, ganking him is nearly impossible. It can be done, but mostly it requires you to do something stupid. It's about using defensive play in an aggressive manner - advance your wall of turrets and creeps and always have something to fall back to. A ganker will have to run into a storm of bullets to attack, and when they do, Heimer will be waiting there and more than capable of fighting back.

He's not unbeatable, far from it! But I've found him to be a quite reasonable match for any opponent 1v1, a fantastic base defender lategame, and a very handy support player for your team toward the end. His strength is in his flexibility, and the fact that he can duck in to fill multiple roles without a fuss, as opposed to all those nukers and burst mages who can only attack and atttack some more.

[Tergon]

Sorry for the double post...

Well, I agree with you in theory. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make it actually work. What runes, masteries, and items do you use, and what order do you skill in? It sounds like you use grenade a lot more than me.

Magic penetration reds, mana regen yellows, mana boosting blues, and AP boosting quins. Early game, the boost to your turrets is terrifyingly effective: their power is to deal low damage with rapid-fire shots. Boosting that damage even slightly makes them deadly, and the mana boosters give you far greater sustainability.
Masteries I focus mainly on utility. Again, mana regen is important, and he relies on his Summoner Abilities to evade ganks (I prefer Flash and Heal, like I said). Some in defence won't hurt either. But the general rule that I follow is that Heim's priority early game is sustainability and survival, as he can already farm with ease, and there's not a need for him to actively chase kills yet.

For skills, I throw the first point into turrets and the second into his grenades. From there, upgrading his turrets always has first priority, upgrading his rockets has second, and upgrading grenades has third. And his ult should obviously be given points whenever the chance comes up, like most heroes.
I do use grenades a lot while playing, but I don't prioritise upgrading that skill after the first point. Their biggest advantage is the stun / blind effect, and that works just as well at level one as it does at level five. Frankly, his rockets do a LOT more damage if you can time their usage right.

Concentrate on putting your turrets in the right spot, ideally right were creep waves will meet, or if they're already engaged, put them in the middle of the caster creeps to ward off the enemy champ. As long as it doesn't die, it'll be there as a fallback point after the next wave goes down, getting the most possible use out of each turret.

And above all, micromanage. If your abilities and skills are all on cooldown, or your mana is low, play cautious. You can avoid almost any gank if you're got the spells to throw at someone who runs in at you. If they're on cooldown, hover around your gun turrets and be prepared to duck back safely if they push. More than once I've had someone gank me near my autoturrets, chase me back to the tower, and then walk off... right back to where my autoturrets are still waiting. I've earned many kills that way.

He's a tough champion to learn, but for my money, he's VERY worth it. And since his playstyle is so unique, he's difficult to counter. So many DPS champs will run up for what looks like an easy kill to get shredded by his turrets. Tanks will charge in confident in their magic resistance, only to find themselves stunned and gunned while Heimer runs around avoiding their attacks. Truly good Heimerdingers are so rare that most folks just don't know how to fight one. Use that to your advantage!

[Math_Mage]

Okay, completely different subject, I'm unable to connect from Mumble because I'm on a new computer: it's the known issue. Can an admin kill my old connection so I can get on, please? Thanks much.

[Maeglin_Dubh]

Mages for top?

Ryze, Swain, maybe Annie?

[Math_Mage]

Mages for top?

Ryze, Swain, maybe Annie?

Kennen, Vlad, Rumble are the first to come to mind. Other mages can go top as well, but the major problem with most mages top is that they lack mobility in a long gankable lane. Those three have excellent escapability.

[tyckspoon]

Mages for top?

Ryze, Swain

Kennen/Vlad/Rumble, like Math Mage said, would be my choices for a blind/generic top. Ryze and Swain I would consider for counter/late picks top, when you're fairly sure you have a good matchup, otherwise I would assume they're running mid. Both of them require some quantity of levels and items to take off, and a good early-aggressor bruiser can completely eat you before you get that farm. Also, Swain wants Blue buff very very badly, and you aren't likely to get it without pre-arranging your team to let you have it; jungler and then mid-mage take priority in most people's minds.

[Psyborg]

Bug: In spectator mode, the post-game statistics page shows all summoners' Summoner Icon as the first one in the list, the...blue seige or promote minion, I believe, rather than their correct icon.

[Edit:]Bug: In spectator mode, only maximum three digits of AP are shown. This can cause confusion regarding lategame Veigar and Suicide Karthus with >1k AP. (I suppose Atma's Sion and Bloodthirster-stacking Riven and Malphite are also potential sources of confusion...if extremely unlikely ones.)

[Edit2:]

Also, Swain wants Blue buff very very badly, and you aren't likely to get it without pre-arranging your team to let you have it; jungler and then mid-mage take priority in most people's minds.

Not necessarily. At least for people who've ever played them, or have friends who have or do, blue buff priority is basically: Kassadin > Swain > AP Kog > Anivia > Karthus > Cassio > All others.

[Edit3]Bug: Alt+Tab-ing out of the loading screen for spectator mode crashes the client every time. I do it out of the loading screens for my own games all the time with no issues. Let me know if you need system specs.

[Tergon]

If you're familiar with him, Gragas can also be highly effective soloing top. He's got great staying power and he's hard to take down, and his barrels can take out entire waves of creeps no fuss. Though he can be difficult unless you're very used to his style. Otherwise, yeah, Kennen and Vlad would be my two picks.

[PersonMan]

One of the problems with Heimer is that you need your team to coordinate to win fights. If, say, your team constantly runs into fights while you're still far away, leaving you with no chance to do anything other than Rockets->Grenade to try and cover the escape of a survivor on your side, you can't really do much for them. Other mages can just rush into a fight with their team and burst, but Heimer can only do his 'oh, you didn't want to have negative armor and MR? Sorry.' thing if he can set up his turrets early in the fight or before it starts.

But the good part is that, if the enemy really really needs to get something, you can make them pay more than other mages. This is especially useful in Dominion (quadra kill <3).

Oh, and he has the standard Pusher thing going for him. If the enemy shuts you down early, you can just farm sidelanes until you can utterly wreck anyone who says 'ooh, Heimer! I think I'll kill him!', at least if they're melee.

I don't really know what my runes are (I know I have a single +0.42% crit chance rune, though, like all my other non-AD pages), but I have something like 20/0/10 for the spellvamp in Utility (Archmage is pretty meh until you're basically at full build). I start with turrets, getting rockets next, then grenade. I level turrets to 3, then rockets a few times, then max out turrets.

I haven't actually played Heimer in a while. I think I might go for another Camperdinger Dominion game today (my last one ended up with me getting fed by accidentally pressing R every other minute and getting way more kills than I expected to and then quadra kill).

Interestingly enough, the 'I'm a melee AD and want you to die' effect is one of the reasons I always build spellvamp on Heimer. You can be a fake squishy (that is, you look squishy but regen most of your health with your tons of damage), which is the best kind of squishy. Apart from the ones that just hang out at the edge of fights and bait enemies into getting double killed by a fed AD.

[toasty]

Mages for top?

Ryze, Swain, maybe Annie?

Ryze is alright, no escapes make him tough, Ryze is also rather blue reliant mid-game.

Swain is good, again, somewhat blue reliant but he's not terrible. I played against a good AP swain middle and the ability to zone people out is BRUTAL when played correctly.

My pefered APs top are Galio and Vlad. You probably have to build a little more tanky because... you're playing top lane, but both are really good top if you know how to control the minion wave. Galio himself is really a tank/mage and don't feel bad if you rush a Frozen heart on him, its not a terrible idea.

Rumble is good. Kennen is good. AP Nidalee is still good (!) for poke comps. I think Gragas is a good top but I haven't seen anyone play him a while. Again, probably need to build a little tanky, but you have massive sustain and being melee isn't a huge deal against most heroes that are played top.

Someone once said that Cass is good top, and honestly, Anivia is probably good top (if she wasn't so Blue reliant I would swear she is). Ahri might do alright top I feel. Morgana too.

Honestly, most heroes are viable solo top. The only problem is ganks and lane matchups. In fact, this is entirely what all of laning is about. Its not "is this hero viable in X lane?" its "I'm going against X, can I beat him? What if I get ganked?" That's why I think certain AD heroes are probably viable top and I really want to get off my ass and get better at playing them.