League of Legends

[BurningLed]

Finally got around to trying out Cho'Gath today, liked him so much I bought him. Had to solo mid with him though, down to random PUG being terrible and everyone else just going where they felt like rather than what made sense, but despite that I managed to hold it decently well, and we had a classy Shyvana that helped me out when it turned into a 3 on 1 situation.

Cho'Gath is an amazing solo laner -- it gives him free reign to become a terrifying beast of death, and gives you the opportunity to feast the crap out of the enemy AP carry.. Though the build on it is outdated, I highly suggest reading The MFing Cho'Gath for strategy on him.

[Bakemaster]

He's pretty fun in the jungle, too. His knockup is hard to hit with, but when you do hit it's also a slow, and the duration on his silence is great.

[Jesse]

Finally got around to trying out Cho'Gath today, liked him so much I bought him. Had to solo mid with him though, down to random PUG being terrible and everyone else just going where they felt like rather than what made sense, but despite that I managed to hold it decently well, and we had a classy Shyvana that helped me out when it turned into a 3 on 1 situation.

Cho'Gath is an amazing solo laner -- it gives him free reign to become a terrifying beast of death, and gives you the opportunity to feast the crap out of the enemy AP carry.. Though the build on it is outdated, I highly suggest reading The MFing Cho'Gath for strategy on him.

I like the look of that build, but it requires having a team you can rely on to save you from ganks, which I do not have, so I tend to build a tankier Cho'Gath.

[eeris]

Graves is free this week. New ban rules.

if firstpick:
pick graves
else:
ban graves

[Windowlicker]

The free champions this week are dissuading me from playing anyway, both because I can't ban all of the OP ones and I can't convince my teams to let me play them. I've had to tell too many people that yes, Galio mid is strong, and no, this is not the first time I've done it. Yes, I play a very good WW solo top, and yes doran's ring is a good starting item on him. And then LeBlanc and Ahri being in every single game, of course.

[Lostdreams]

I haven't seen it in this thread so I thought I'd post it here:

Counterpick list w/counter items.

edit: updated version

[eeris]

I haven't seen it in this thread so I thought I'd post it here:

Counterpick list w/counter items.

edit: updated version

Awesome.

New fun game: Finding champions which counter noone. So far I've found Jarvan.

[eeris]

Ok, double post I know but deserves a bump for this.

I swear Riot is trolling me. I surely can't keep getting put with teams insistent on throwing the game away. I suppose I bring it on myself by playing support but Janna is just too awesome, anway, story. Dominating bottom lane, our tristana (finally I got a good AD carry) was mega farmed and we were ahead and suddenly it's like a switch is flicked. The rest of our team starts going for insane engages and the other team starts to get back into the game, they manage to gank a couple of our team then they do baron and proceed to push the top lane. Our vlad however felt like farming middle lane instead of trying to defend with myself and tristana, so of course they get the tower and inhibitor then back away. They then start to push the middle lane mid turret and instead of defending like you would expect, our Fiora just straight into the middle of their team with baron buff. So they then dive onto us at our inhibitor turret and we win the fight 4v5 only losing 1 team member thanks to me keeping them off trist. They then start to push bottom lane, fiora AGAIN proceeds to suicide into the enemy team on her own and again we win the fight 4v5 at our inhib turret, losing 2 team members.

By this time our top inhibitor has respawned but there is 3 super creeps and a big wave attacking it and wearing it down, being Janna theres not much I can do but try and draw their agro whilst hoping the other surviving member (shyv) would come finish the creeps off. But no! She also proceeds to farm the middle lane! The inhibitor is lost. By this point I'm practically tearing my hair out and it looks like the game is going to be decided by a final team fight at baron. Again the enemy GP and nocturne dive on tristana but I keep her alive whilst she blows their faces off and we win the fight. Then as we make our way to destroy the nexus I check to see who's still alive and Fiora is again farming the middle lane and we won the fight 4v5 without her!

I just don't even.. what..

[Bakemaster]

BAWWWWWW KOG IS SO FUN AND HIS FREE WEEK IS ALMOST OVER :(

I played a game as Ryze where I was against Kat mid. She kept trying to kill me and I would just be kind of like "lol k QWQEQRQWQE" and she would rage.

It was especially satisfying in that at beginning of the game our GP said "our Ryze is a moron" because I wouldn't help him chase down someone he had absolutely no hope of catching. Best way to respond to that kind of thing is to carry like a bawss. Which I did. Eventually their Kat raged so hard she decided to randomly dive our fountain.

Only a bit over a level left to go until I can start playing ranked.

[Enokh]

Finally got hooked on LoL -- watched a friend play, tried it out, and now play as much as I can (so. . .maybe an hour or two a day). Have only played five games so far, each time with a different Champion. Really great game, got up to a 2:3 K/D ratio, which isn't super pathetic considering we only had four players (three, once).

Only thing I don't like about the game is that I feel REALLY zoomed in. Other than that, good times. I should probably try using potions at some point, though.

[ProZac]

Kog was the second champion I bought, and the first 6300. I have the Butterfly skin for him as well, and I don't play him nearly enough. He's just so adorable! And his joke is the best in the game.

I rarely play ranked, but do a game or two every now and then. I had two horrible ranked games last night. Played support Alistar (which I'll admit I'm not great at unless the enemy is really stupid), but got yelled at for not warding (we always had a ward up), not harassing, and not zoning. The real problem? The Sivir I was with apparently had no idea how not to push a lane. We were constantly up against their tower.

Game 2 I jungled Nautilus and was invaded constantly by Lee Sin. At my first red, at the second blue (along with mid/support), and at 3rd red (with top). It took until the 3rd invasion for any laners to come help, and they only managed to make it an even trade then. I should have ganked more to catch up (as clearly the jungle wasn't working out) and started warding earlier (I did after the 2nd invasion). I'm not sure what I could have done without the help of teammates, which I clearly couldn't rely on, though. I'm too used to having my friend in mid, who I've trained to be in the jungle in a moments notice.

[eeris]

Finally got hooked on LoL -- watched a friend play, tried it out, and now play as much as I can (so. . .maybe an hour or two a day). Have only played five games so far, each time with a different Champion. Really great game, got up to a 2:3 K/D ratio, which isn't super pathetic considering we only had four players (three, once).

Only thing I don't like about the game is that I feel REALLY zoomed in. Other than that, good times. I should probably try using potions at some point, though.

I guess you never played HoN/DotA then, you can only see half of what you can in LoL.

[ProZac]

Whenever I first picked the game up, I was annoyed with how far in I was zoomed as well. I've since gotten used to it, but I would love to be able to zoom out more. What's slightly annoying is that you can zoom out further with LOLReplay. Not sure why it's not the same in the actual game.

[BurningLed]

Whenever I first picked the game up, I was annoyed with how far in I was zoomed as well. I've since gotten used to it, but I would love to be able to zoom out more. What's slightly annoying is that you can zoom out further with LOLReplay. Not sure why it's not the same in the actual game.

More strategy, and so having a bigger monitor doesn't give you an advantage I guess - It'd suck if people with 2400x1600 monitors didn't have to have minimap awareness in bot lane to avoid ganks, but everybody else did or else have to deal with a 10-pixel wide Teemo.

[Bakemaster]

First we make hue, then defense it.

Morde is surprisingly fun.

[Enokh]

Bought my first Champion -- Tristana -- last night. She's. . .interesting. I feel like Bloodrazor would go nicely with her, but I'm terribad at picking items. I do seem to remember having a lot of fun with Bloodrazor on Kog'maw, though, specially with his W up.

[Lostdreams]

Bought my first Champion -- Tristana -- last night. She's. . .interesting. I feel like Bloodrazor would go nicely with her, but I'm terribad at picking items. I do seem to remember having a lot of fun with Bloodrazor on Kog'maw, though, specially with his W up.

People still buy Trist? Make a dummy facebook account and get her for free. Same for Alistar and youtube. Plus you get a free skin for each.

edit: Also, since you probably didn't know about those, email them and you can probably get a refund if the purchase was within 1 month's time. Then you can do the freebie version.

[Enokh]

Well. . .crap. Didn't know about that. I'll shoot an email their way and see how that goes. Thanks!

I REALLY need to work on lasthitting minions.

[Drumheller769]

Next champ I am going to buy is Ezreal, since hes free this week he is sooo much fun.

[rigwarl]

People still buy Trist? Make a dummy facebook account and get her for free. Same for Alistar and youtube. Plus you get a free skin for each.

I tried this three times and it never worked Actually, I sort of think of the default Tristana skin as the cheapest "skin" you can get, because the REAL default is the pink hair one!

Re: zoom issues. Is it illegal to use a program to zoom out? My friend programmed one, if anyone wants it (he claims it's completely undetectable by Riot, he's a computer wiz so I believe him), I don't think he'd mind if I shared. I definitely think it's kind of cheating but I was just wondering if it was against ToS.

[Drumheller769]

There is actually a post about that on their GD forums. I cant link to it since Im at work, but you could look it up and see what they said.

[eeris]

Zoom out programs are illegal, can't be bothered finding the relevant links cause its nearly 1am but I've seen it being discussed in other places.. Also, bloodrazor isn't that great. 99% of the time it's better to just rush infinity edge / bloodthirster & phantom dancer.

[Windowlicker]

Irelia nerf and Shaco buff. This is... not good news.

[ProZac]

Aren't they technically buffing his late game and nerfing his early game? I mean, from what I've heard, Shaco has an absolutely terrible late game if he doesn't get fed. I wouldn't know though, I've never played a game where Shaco didn't get fed. People just won't give up a lane advantage to play safe, which always backfires with him around.

I own Lee Sin, and decided to give him another go last night. I'm not a very good Lee Sin player. He seems to ridiculously hard to play effectively, but I know being able to is insanely rewarding. I feel like I'm not playing nearly aggressive enough, and once teamfights start, my brain just kinda shuts down and I feel like I have no clue what my role is.

I have 18000 IP and can't convince myself to buy a 3rd Rune Page. I hate that you have to pay so much for those, when they feel just as critical as mastery pages (which you get free, and can change at champ select). I don't see the logic behind the differences between the two, other than 'money grab'.

[Enokh]

Played my third and fourth PVP games last night. Went 26 and 7 with Tristana, while also getting the most minion kills. Also scored my first Triple Kill, which was exciting (I was solo'ing Mid). The fourth game. . well, we got steamrolled. I went top, and my partner seemed absolutely dead set on 1)stealing all of my minion kills and 2)after nearby minions were dead, throwing himself face-first onto an enemy or turret. And then we had someone disconnect. So that wasn't a fun game.

I think I'm going to try jungling now. But I don't think any of the current free champs are really good Junglers. Oh well; new set of free ones are coming tonight or tomrorow, right?

[Jesse]

Playing the hell out of Cho'Gath and winning every game. Playing a mostly Q-based burst-damage style Cho. Not getting many kills, but rarely dying and instead holding lanes really well and getting a fair few assists on bot. So much fun, but so frustrating when I miss that Q.

[Drumheller769]

Having now played a lot of Ezreal since its his free week, I can see how he could fall off late game since he doesn't have any steroids. But I have been winning most of my games because hes just ridiculous in lane, even more so with a soraka. So you just win your lane, gank other lanes, do massive aoe damage in team fights with your ult..and you have a great escape. Yea...if you let the game go on for an hour that vayne is going to farm and eat you....but if you dont let it get that far, Ez is amazing.

[DaBigCheez]

Eh, 50% AS from his passive isn't bad. It's no Rapid Fire or Highlander, but you can keep it up 24/7 in a fight.

[ProZac]

Played my third and fourth PVP games last night.
<...>
I think I'm going to try jungling now. But I don't think any of the current free champs are really good Junglers. Oh well; new set of free ones are coming tonight or tomrorow, right?

Looking at the current free champs: Maokai is considered one of the best junglers (b/c of his ganking potential). Alistar is a fairly strong jungler for much the same reason. I've never played (much less jungled) Fiora, but I've seen it done successfully. But at played 3-4 pvp games? What level are you? I wouldn't even attempt jungling until at least 20, and 'able to jungle' is much different at low levels. While they changed the jungle to make it 'easier' for lower level players, having accidentally went in with the wrong set of masteries/runes before... it can still be disastrous.

Looking at what should be the upcoming rotation, Amumu, Sejuani, and Nocturne are all strong junglers. Excited to try Nocturne at as a jungler again, and Sejuani is back! I get to try her again to determine if I'll finally pick her up.

[Windowlicker]

Yeah, I didn't try to jungle until I had a reasonable set of runes either. Though with that said, it is MUCH easier with the new jungle.. you can probably wolves/wraiths/golems then back before doublebuff with no problems before having a good runepage.

Also if that list is accurate, I'm quite excited to try Orianna. And I haven't seen a single Sejuani since her free week after release.

[ProZac]

The lists go up on the Korean site earlier, and they've been the same the past couple of weeks, so I see no reason for the change.

I've seen very few Sejuani's as well, but I enjoyed her when I played her during free week. My problem is I feel the 'pure tank' champ just has such a limited place in the current meta. And when it comes down to it, Sejuani, Nautilus, and Amumu are all almost the same champ. AoE damage, slows, and strong AoE initiates.

[omgryebread]

I'm excited about Lulu, but I know I'll be disappointed at some point when I get grounded by the fact that every support is just variations on "ward-bitch".

There was a long thread on the LoL forums at some point in which Xypherous talked about support and the warding mechanic. Supports are really limited in their variety and fun by the fact they buy so many wards. He rejected a lot of solutions like a support-based wriggles equivalent (since you'd just have to buy that item) and lowering the price of wards (since that just means you'd buy more wards). He floated the idea of somehow capping the number of wards you buy. That seems really interesting to me.

Still though, I've heard that a fully stacked Cho'Gath + Surge + Wild Growth can't fit in Baron Nashor's little cove thing. And that's pretty awesome.

[Jesse]

One of the problems I have with Cho'Gath is when I'm fully stacked and the like, I lose my fine control, since I take up about half of the lane horizontally.

[Enokh]

so what I'm hearing here is that, for maximum lulz, I should take Flash and Ghost if I play Cho'Gath.

And I'm level. . .6, I think, as of last night.

[ProZac]

And I'm level. . .6, I think, as of last night.

I would definitely wait to start jungling then. And a good practice for when you start is to pick a champ, create a custom game, and try to clear the jungle, or at least hit level 4.

I kinda took a break for the last week, but felt like I had been on an extreme losing streak when I stopped, and haven't won any games since I started playing again. Sure enough, my match history is entirely defeats . Granted, I know some of those games could be chalked up to 'my fault', but others... people can just be so stupid sometimes.

[Drumheller769]

Especially in solo Q ranked, I have found the best way to win, is pick a champ that you know you can stomp most lanes with. Stomp your lane, and then go stomp your team mates lanes. Like a fed Graves or fed Cassiopia... can just decimate an enemy team unless they are all beefy tanks.

[eeris]

Granted, I know some of those games could be chalked up to 'my fault', but others... people can just be so stupid sometimes.

See my earlier post on this page...

Also; pick Janna to win.

[Bakemaster]

Like a fed Graves or fed Cassiopia... can just decimate an enemy team unless they are all beefy tanks.

What's that? All beefy tanks, you say?

I just hit 30 today and played my first ranked game... against a team composed of Graves, Sona, Lee Sin, Mundo, and Mordekaiser.

We lost. It was a very civil game though, and I think I did well even though I was playing AD bot which is one of my weaker roles, and my support was derping around on Lulu.

[Windowlicker]

Hmm, that sounds... fun. All I can really think is that both Lee Sin and Mundo drop off in damage towards the late game (and with a teamcomp like that.. there's a reasonable chance of getting there). Other than that, the only way I've actually found to beat a team of bruisers is to hope they get cocky and you can pick them off 1-by-1. Catch one in the open, tear them down, then push with a 5v4. Had this exact situation in a game yesterday, I was playing Ashe and didn't get my BF sword until 25 minutes (due to me being an idiot in the lane phase). Took another half an hour to finally win that game.

Edit: Also DFG. There's nothing like seeing 1/3 of that huge Cho's health just disappear.

[Drumheller769]

On Lulu, Ive only seen her 3-4 times now, and I have to say Im not impressed. Her damage is easy to ignore, her shield doesnt seem as good as Janna's and she doesnt have a heal. The polymorph can be nice, but I would rather have a taric or ali stun, since those actually stop movement.