League of Legends

[Ablu2]

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/sho ... hp?t=13418

There's this. And if you still see people in matches saying stuff you don't know, just ask them.

[SaintCrazy]

LoL has a pretty steep learning curve to get into it, not gonna lie. The controls and actual playing of the game is fine, it's all the lingo and strategy that goes into it. You CAN do a lot of things when you play, but there are only certain things done in certain ways that will actually bring you success.

I watched my friends play it for a few months before I felt comfortable enough with the mechanics to install and play it.

[Shoolis]

I jumped STRAIGHT IN and built everyone wrong dear God it was awful

[Ablu2]

So the other day I bought taric because I decided I needed to own a support, and I'm starting to regret my decision. Alistar does most of what Taric does and more, and does it better.

Is there any real advantage to using Taric instead of Alistar?

[ZenithOfChaos]

Being fabulous.

[SaintCrazy]

Have I mentioned how much fun Xin Zhao is
because he's pretty dang fun

Pretty sure my opinion is swayed heavily by this video though



I know it is a mega repost but it never gets old to me.

[Eat_box]

I've seen a number of good Poppys and Trundles. Kats too. EVERY CHAMP IS VIABLE, OKAY?

YO GANELON Teach me how to jungle.

This is extremely specific to the jungler you're playing. Unless you just want the quick summary of "If you kill minions fast at level 1, take the wolves at 1:40 and then the blue buff, because it won't have spawned before you're done."

Uhhhh YO GANELON Teach me how to jungle with Skarner and Nocturne.

[Verom]

So the other day I bought taric because I decided I needed to own a support, and I'm starting to regret my decision. Alistar does most of what Taric does and more, and does it better.

Is there any real advantage to using Taric instead of Alistar?

A hard single stun over a melee range aoe knock up.
A single target heal that heals himself as well over a small aoe heal.
Armor buffs to himself and who he's supporting that can be used for damage, or an easy to fuck up knockback.
And a aoe nuke ult that buffs him and his team mates over a self buff.
I'm not sure what alistar does other than heal that taric does too, let alone better. I's situational, there are better match ups with who ever depending on who you pick.

[Cottarsby]

Blitzcrank you German, metal bitch.

[Ganelon]

Uhhhh YO GANELON Teach me how to jungle with Skarner and Nocturne.

Alright, well both of those junglers are pretty standard. Wolves spawn at 1:40, you can get your teammates to help kill them, move on to the blue buff and take that down at 1:55. Both champions are pretty big mana hogs, so you'll have to learn how to manage that without the blue buff helping you later on in case you end up with a mid that really needs it. The rest of the jungle farming is quite simple, you just take wraiths and then the red buff and golems in whichever order you're more comfortable with and then gank, although without their ultimates, Skarner and Nocturne will only have a lot of success ganking lanes that are pushed to your side's towers, or ones where your team has some good stuns or slows. It's important to remember that a successful gank isn't just one where you kill someone. Forcing them back to base, causing them to waste Flash and thus become far more vulnerable to further ganks for the next few minutes, or even just scaring them into getting zoned for a single minion wave, are all advantages that you and your teammates can take advantage of. If you're going to gank a lane at level 4 and you don't expect a kill, try hitting whichever lane you think is going to be the most trouble for your team.

Now for the specifics. As Nocturne, you want to level Duskbringer first, whatever his shield/passive AS buff is second, and have the fear by level 4. His runes are a mix between armor pen and attack speed (quints can be whatever the hell you want but those two stats will help in the jungle most), and the usual flat armor yellows and MR/level blues. Masteries are pretty much 21/9/0 or 9/21/0 based on your preference. For items, you get a Wriggle's Lantern, Merc Treads (or Ninja Tabi/Berserker's Greaves if you really think you don't need it), and then just anything tanky. Duskbringer's significant AD steroid means that you don't desperately need stuff like Youmuu's Ghostblade to remain scary, so if nothing else you can make some progress towards that Atma's combo before worrying about the AD you might have needed to get there.

For Skarner, you level his spammable AoE first and shield second. His skillshot is odd and not particularly powerful, but it's a heal nonetheless so you'll want at least one point in it before level 13. Stacking even more attack speed runes than you would as Nocturne is recommended since your passive makes your cooldowns shorter as you attack, but otherwise it's just the usual. Armor yellows and MR/level blues, quints are whatever's convenient. As before, start by getting a Wriggle's Lantern and Merc Treads, a Heart of Gold (to build into Randuin's) and a Sheen (to build into Trinity Force). Once again, Atma's reigns supreme as the ultimate item for all tanky DPS, but beyond that you're welcome to build damage like Guinsoo's Rageblade or the Hextech Gunblade. If you think you're going to need to tank for people, though, pretty much any full tank item will do instead. Banshee's Veil is great regardless of your build because you need the resists and it helps you get within range of your ultimate without eating stuns on the way there.

In both cases while ganking, these champions are like Flash magnets. You can expect everyone you come within range of to Flash away because they know that you're nearly inescapable once you've closed distance with them. You'll want Flash yourself for this if nothing else, but it's a bigger concern for Nocturne as his ultimate is primarily an initiation tool - you can't Flash away from Skarner's once it activates or he'll just pull you back towards him. People will relentlessly try to escape from Nocturne's fear tether and get out of Skarner's AoE slow spam, but it's really not easy. Both ultimates are very powerful during ganks, but special mention goes to Nocturne because he can gank from anywhere he wants, even if the lane is warded. If you do suspect that it's warded, you can just run in from behind that lane's allied minions or the enemy jungle that isn't connected to the river so long as you intend to start the gank with your ultimate. Try to get a good feel of its range at each rank so that you don't embarrass yourself by using it with no valid targets to hit, though.

I actually have a replay from just yesterday where a jungle Nocturne pretty much saved my Anivia versus Vlad lane in mid which ended in a 20 minute surrender for them. If you've got LoLReplay and you'd like, I can try uploading it for you.

[Shoolis]

Hello I am Graves and I am going to shoot your dick off (even the ladies).

Also Maw of Malmortius is a really good item to make casters shut up, or even magic damage fighters like Teemo.

[SaintCrazy]

Yup

I played a game as Singed where we were mostly melee champs against mostly casters (I remember Lux and LeBlanc causing tons of trouble for us) (lol isn't blind pick great?), and we were getting harassed and shot down like nobody's business all the way up to the level cap. I don't know how we managed to survive that long.

Slowly but surely though we built up just to shut them down. Malmortius, Spirit Visage, Banshee's Veil, basically magic resist errywhere. Then in less than 5 minutes we punched through mid and took them down. I love come-from-behind victories like that.

[Ablu2]

That feel when you go 10-0 in the laning phase, but then your urgot decides you HAVE to get baron at lvl 11 with only three people, and then you get ganked while doing so, leading into an eventual snowball to your eventual loss.

[Shoolis]

Never Listen to the Ranged AD

[Verom]

If it seems like a horrible idea, don't do it.
I'm slowly getting into this state of mind.