xkcd

by **faranim** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:35 pm UTC

I generally play tanky support characters on Dominion. My main list includes:

Maokai
Alistar
Leona
Amumu

I will sometimes play AP like Ryze or Morgana.
I very rarely play AD.

I haven't done SR in a while, but I almost always play 0cs Support there (Taric, Soraka, Alistar).

by **Weeks** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:40 pm UTC

I also do Irelia, but I'm not nearly as effective with her. I also tried Ahri (who I'm decent with in SR) and lost every time. =(

by **emceng** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 3:46 am UTC

What the tap dancing fuck stick. 1 hour wait time when I'm supposedly #1 in the queue? Fuck you LoL, you can suck my dick. Also beer.

by **Drumheller769** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:09 pm UTC

So, did Riot do something to ELO gains, or am I super lucky? Played a 1 hour ranked game. We lost, although it was epicly close. Score screen comes up, I lost 0 ELO. Some other people lost 14 ELO or 6 ELO, some people on the other team gained 0, 6, or 14 ELO. Everyone's ELO ratings were within 50 points of one another...so whats going on?

by **Lostdreams** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:16 pm UTC

Were you in queue with someone else? You lose less (or no) elo when you are playing people who have an elo much higher than yours. If you had won that game your elo would have went up by a much larger amount, too.

by **Drumheller769** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:25 pm UTC

No, I was solo. Also, everyone on both teams had ELO within 50 points of one another, nobody was really high or low.

by **Weeks** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 9:15 am UTC

Ranked queues were having problems for a while. Also some people's holiday/special runes aren't working.

by **3fj** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 9:44 am UTC

Weeks wrote:So, Dominion players, who do you play? I personally love Teemo and find I can fit him in many more teams than other champs and win. I build him AP with a Lich Bane and Nashor's Tooth.

Speaking of which, I'm told Nashor's Tooth is a bad item and I should probably get something else, but what else would fit the bill? Or is that just on Summoner's Rift, where skirmishes are rarer?

Sona,
Olaf,
Le Blanc,
Fiora (4 Tiamats, BoSwift FTW),
Fizz,
Maokai

There the main ones, and it all depends on what mood I'm on.

Nashor's tooth isn't bad in my opinion, it's just incredibly niche. Not many casters need attack speed, but teemo is one of them if you're going to play him AP.

Speaking of items that have been remade/removed: What items do you miss?
One of mine is Innervating Locket. Mana/health issues? What mana/health issues?
Also Priscilla's Blessing. GOFASTCAPGOFASTMORE.

by **Weeks** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:15 pm UTC

I heard Zeke's Herald is a remake of a previously good item.

I just picked up Ezreal and I don't regret it. 4:1 on dominion. :D

Also we will now have Alien as a playable champ! http://na.leagueoflegends.com/news/champion-sneak-peek-%E2%80%93-khazix-voidreaver

by **Asmodieus** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:36 pm UTC

Weeks wrote:I heard Zeke's Herald is a remake of a previously good item.

I just picked up Ezreal and I don't regret it. 4:1 on dominion.

Also we will now have Alien as a playable champ! http://na.leagueoflegends.com/news/champion-sneak-peek-%E2%80%93-khazix-voidreaver

Yeah, it was a remake of Starks Fervor. It was built with a recurve bow and emblem of valor, which they also changed

by **BlackSails** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 10:49 pm UTC

3fj wrote:
Weeks wrote:So, Dominion players, who do you play? I personally love Teemo and find I can fit him in many more teams than other champs and win. I build him AP with a Lich Bane and Nashor's Tooth.

Speaking of which, I'm told Nashor's Tooth is a bad item and I should probably get something else, but what else would fit the bill? Or is that just on Summoner's Rift, where skirmishes are rarer?

Sona,
Olaf,
Le Blanc,
Fiora (4 Tiamats, BoSwift FTW),
Fizz,
Maokai

There the main ones, and it all depends on what mood I'm on.

Nashor's tooth isn't bad in my opinion, it's just incredibly niche. Not many casters need attack speed, but teemo is one of them if you're going to play him AP.

I think lichbane works better on him, so you can activate w, scurry forward, proc lichbane, q them + lichbane again, for massive burst.

by **3fj** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:01 pm UTC

Weeks wrote:I heard Zeke's Herald is a remake of a previously good item.

Also we will now have Alien as a playable champ! http://na.leagueoflegends.com/news/champion-sneak-peek-%E2%80%93-khazix-voidreaver

Yeah, Stark's Fervor. Lifesteal, attack speed and passive health regen for you and everyone around you. What's more, you could have up to two stacks on it (yours and someone elses.) Used to be part of my Olaf core.

What, Kog Maw and Cho'gath not good enough for you?

BlackSails wrote:I think lichbane works better on him, so you can activate w, scurry forward, proc lichbane, q them + lichbane again, for massive burst.

In dominion, I'd get lich bane as well, probably right before. Upgraded boots, rush dethcap, lichbane, nashors, rylais. Last item is situational.

by **Adacore** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 12:04 am UTC

3fj wrote:What, Kog Maw and Cho'gath not good enough for you?

They're just regular aliens, not the Alien from the film Alien.

I suck so badly with most AD carries, and about 50% of AP carries. The free champions this week are pretty awesome, though - I can actually play Miss Fortune and Morgana without being completely terrible, I think. And Soraka used to be my favourite support (although I've not played her post-nerf). I really need to practice remembering to use active item powers. So often I'll buy something like a deathfire grasp, locket of the iron solari or randuins omen and completely forget to activate it for the rest of the game.

Also, level 16 now. Only 4 more levels until I can start buying runes, then I can jungle, which I think might actually be my preferred role (although it's mostly 'oh god, anything but AD').

by **Kag** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 7:44 pm UTC

3fj wrote:In dominion, I'd get lich bane as well, probably right before. Upgraded boots, rush dethcap, lichbane, nashors, rylais. Last item is situational.

Teemo benefits from attack speed and AP, but 25% CDR and some mana regen do not justify buying it over Malady. DFG is also really good on him. You should also consider buying defensive items like Zhonya's and Abyssal, since Teemo's awful range makes him comically easy to explode in a teamfight.

by **Weeks** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 7:51 pm UTC

I actually always buy Lich Bane on Teemo, but almost never go for the rylai's or deathcap, since usually nashor's + lich bane = death to most ad champs. Then I buy a dfg, a frozen heart or a force of nature depending on who is killing the most. Deathcap usually turns out to be too expensive. I could run Rylai's as a last item because of the health though.

Kag wrote:Teemo's awful range makes him comically easy to explode in a teamfight.

This is a good point; I hadn't considered Abyssal >.<

I get CDR because laying shrooms everywhere is very, very useful in Dominion. I find I don't usually engage long enough to merit buying a Malady.

by **Kag** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 8:06 pm UTC

Weeks wrote:I get CDR because laying shrooms everywhere is very, very useful in Dominion. I find I don't usually engage long enough to merit buying a Malady.

This also limits the value of attack speed. Might want to just get Morello's or something instead. Also Hextech Sweeper is ridiculous on Teemo in dominion.

by **Weeks** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 8:16 pm UTC

Agreed, I'll try it out once I get the chance. My connection has been exceedingly crappy these days. =(

by **3fj** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 10:57 pm UTC

Teemo usually get's blown up in a 1vs1 unless you burst down anyways. I'd say that a Malady's usefulness in that extra second of a toe-to-toe are vastly outweighed by the mushroom spam a Nashor's provides. You're right enough, though, he'd benefit from more straight up AP than a Nashors.

Disclaimer: I don't play him. I just like theorycrafting

by **BlackSails** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:56 am UTC

I dont play much dominion, but when I go teemo, I usually go sweeper, deathcap, rylais, and the game is usually over before I finish rylais.

by **Weeks** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 2:33 am UTC

Tried it, went Abyssal first instead of Nashor's. Completely destroyed the enemy Teemo in botlane. The sample size is still small but I think it works. Also I always, always forget Sweeper exists D:

Riot allows refunds now! Used it right away. I shall now be very, very wise with my RP.

by **Adacore** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 2:58 am UTC

Hmm, it appears playing games on the NA server during US evenings rather than East Asia / Australasia evenings leads to a much higher proportion of douchebags, judging from my most recent game. Just had a game in which the only things three of the team ever said were insults aimed at the other players. Maybe that's an anomaly that's just coincidentally reinforcing my preconceptions, though.

by **Weeks** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 4:00 am UTC

I had one fizz that insulted us all game because he apparently wasn't going to play anymore. US afternoon.

In other news, Dominion is not about killing. Also Jayce is a champ, that exists.

by **Adacore** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 6:17 am UTC

Ugh, today is going so terribly. On a 6-game losing streak, and played really bad in a lot of them, so it was at least partly my fault we lost.

EDIT: Yay! Streak broken. That last game was awesome

by **3fj** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 10:00 am UTC

That's why I love Dominion. Even if you're getting stomped, some smart play can win it for you. Even if you're stomping everyone, late game silly play will ruin you. That's not to say that isn't the case in SR, but it's so much more exaggerated in CS.

As an example, I was recently in a game as an Olaf vs a team that had Soraka and a Janna. The team with the supports won because we knew we'd beat them in a straight fight, so while most of our team was kill focused, their team was running round capping points. I can respect losing to a team like that, and It's the reason I play Sona. Or Zilean. Man, Zilean with high cooldown and AP and BoM is just hilarious. If ever I need to spend 20~ minutes yelling "See you later, fuckers!", he's the champ I go for. Needs good map awareness, but it's so much fun.

My neighbours aren't as happy about that.

by **Drumheller769** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:59 am UTC

Yea, ive lost 4 outta 5 of my last ranked games. Its so discouraging, since I main support. I used to main middle, but I hate getting into fights about who wants what lane, so I default to the lane nobody wants. I have around a 60% win rate as sona, but sometimes you just can't help your team enough.

by **3fj** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:15 pm UTC

Yeah, I only ranked Support and Jungle, but mostly support. It's horrible watching your team fall apart with very little you can do about it other than clutch saves. The problem then is that it's enabling them to Leeroy Jenkins about the place.I got yelled at recently for not using my stun to save them. "It's on cooldown. I used it 20 seconds ago to save you. I don't know what you expect of me." "Worst Sona EU." "Right. Cool."

I don't bother any more, though. I'm back at 1200, which seems to be a magnet for a lot of the rage-y members of the community.

EDIT: Also, while we're on lady champions: Syndra would need to control telekinetic powers to hold that outfit together.

by **Asmodieus** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:38 pm UTC

At 1200 elo people treat ranked as if it was just a normal game and everyone wants to fight over roles.

The important part about ranked is to be flexible, I think you should start only start doing ranked when you're decent at every role because if the positions you play get taken that's it for you.

by **Adacore** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:17 pm UTC

My original plan was to get reasonably good at most of the support and jungle champions, and be able to switch a few of the junglers to top if needed. I might change that to a plan of getting really good at one champion in each position so I can be flexible but still play well (plus it's cheaper than buying all the supports/junglers).

I'm nowhere near high enough level yet, but how many champions does one need to have unlocked to make playing ranked viable? In an absolute worst case scenario, I can see you being forced to go a specific position, then 3 of your picks for that position could be banned, 2 of them taken by other players, and 1 might be hard countered by the champion the opposing team picked. That would imply 7 champions for each role, or 35 total. Which is gonna take a while to unlock.

by **Asmodieus** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:35 am UTC

The bare minimum to play ranked is 7 champs, that's excluding free champs since you can't play them in solo queue ranked

1 for each possible ban, and then 1 more (I think)

by **omgryebread** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:41 am UTC

Adacore wrote:My original plan was to get reasonably good at most of the support and jungle champions, and be able to switch a few of the junglers to top if needed. I might change that to a plan of getting really good at one champion in each position so I can be flexible but still play well (plus it's cheaper than buying all the supports/junglers).

I'm nowhere near high enough level yet, but how many champions does one need to have unlocked to make playing ranked viable? In an absolute worst case scenario, I can see you being forced to go a specific position, then 3 of your picks for that position could be banned, 2 of them taken by other players, and 1 might be hard countered by the champion the opposing team picked. That would imply 7 champions for each role, or 35 total. Which is gonna take a while to unlock.

I'd grab like 2 for every role except your preferred, which you should have more. In addition to that, make sure you don't have any really severe weaknesses in terms of counterpicking. You need some champ to play mid that doesn't really build AP in case you end up vs. Veigar. Have a top that can deal with Teemo.

Picking champions that don't vary their lanes a lot also helps. If your only junglers are Cho and Riven, you might have an issue, since you have 3 other players (their top and jungle, your top) that may pick those champs. Don't pick big ban targets like Shen. If it's absolute worst-case "oh no I have to play this champ I've never used outside of bot games and don't know anything about!" then there is queue dodge. I'd rather take the 10 Elo hit than waste my time derping around a champ.

I'm generally fine when I play ranked (not that I've played many ranked games). It helps that I play support (people are usually willing to give you support unless they're duo queuing) and don't mind jungling as a backup (okay, I mind terribly, but it's the off-role I suck least at.)

I would offer to duo with you when you hit 30, so we could call bot lane, but I am a terrible AD player so that's probably a bad idea.

Also, I think the minimum to play ranked is 16? 6 for bans, 9 for other picks?

by **Asmodieus** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 1:00 am UTC

omgryebread wrote:I would offer to duo with you when you hit 30, so we could call bot lane, but I am a terrible AD player so that's probably a bad idea.

Also, I think the minimum to play ranked is 16? 6 for bans, 9 for other picks?

They changed it so now if you queue dodge ranked you just can't get into queue for 30 minutes

But you're right it's 16 champs minimum.

Do you play on EU or US servers? Maybe we could duo

by **3fj** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:50 am UTC

Asmodieus wrote:The important part about ranked is to be flexible, I think you should start only start doing ranked when you're decent at every role because if the positions you play get taken that's it for you.

I can play adequately in all lanes, and I have a good portion of the champs I play every now and again. I just prefer jungle and support and usually end up getting one of those lanes. What really drove me off was how angry people got over everything. People seem pretty willing to call it gg and AFK for the rest of the game. It's just pathetic.

by **Adacore** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:03 am UTC

3fj wrote:What really drove me off was how angry people got over everything. People seem pretty willing to call it gg and AFK for the rest of the game. It's just pathetic.

That sucks. I was (naively, I guess) assuming that people only did that in Normal and took Ranked more seriously.

by **3fj** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:10 am UTC

Adacore wrote:
3fj wrote:What really drove me off was how angry people got over everything. People seem pretty willing to call it gg and AFK for the rest of the game. It's just pathetic.

That sucks. I was (naively, I guess) assuming that people only did that in Normal and took Ranked more seriously.

For the most part they do, it's just that it has a shaky initial starting phase. Once you've won a couple of games (i.e. when the odds even out for you) and get about about 1300/1400 elo, you're home free. I just can't be bothered with the starting phase when I could just Dominion for 20 minutes and have fun.

by **Drumheller769** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 11:48 am UTC

I've been hovering between 1350-1450 for months(trying to get Gold for the Janna skin). While its improved a little, there is still that same attitude of giving up if you even look like you are behind. Or even worse, you could be way ahead, and people will get cocky and get caught a lot, or just dive the enemy past 2 turrets or some none sense and throw the game.

by **Asmodieus** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 2:12 pm UTC

3fj wrote:For the most part they do, it's just that it has a shaky initial starting phase. Once you've won a couple of games (i.e. when the odds even out for you) and get about about 1300/1400 elo, you're home free. I just can't be bothered with the starting phase when I could just Dominion for 20 minutes and have fun.

What the hell is a "fun"?

by **3fj** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 2:19 pm UTC

It's that thing you do between 50 minute drawn out SR games where both teams are slinging insults at eachother

EDIT: No, not the thing with your genitals. The other thing.

by **Asmodieus** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 3:00 pm UTC

Ohhhhhhhhh that thing. I guess that's enjoyable.

I never saw the appeal in Dominion. The objectives get in the way of what I want, a brawl. So I just play ARAM.

by **Weeks** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:21 pm UTC

I don't play ARAM because of no matchmaking, and I have too many champs I forgot how/never actually learned to use.

by **Asmodieus** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 12:03 am UTC

That's the cool part, you get to play champs you would have never thought to play and you get to learn them and stuff

EDIT: THE ECSTASY OF GOLD

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