Category Archives: News

Champion and Skin Sale Breakdown: 11.15 – 11.18

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Champions:

Thresh (487 RP) – Thresh has been one of the top supports in Season 3, so much so that he was given the Championship Skin for this year.  A very fun champion to play who has a huge impact on the game.  Can also be played as a carry if one chooses.

Wukong (440 RP) – Wukong is a fighter champion who is usually seen in the top lane.  He has a great escape mechanism in Decoy, as well as an ult that can be devastating in team fights if used correctly.

Shaco (395 RP) – Shaco is one of the most obnoxious champions to play against in the game.  He has boxes that can fear you, he can multiply, and he can even go invisible and teleport to a nearby location.  His early game ganks are devastating when played in the jungle, and can snowball a lane very quickly.  Shaco is best played as a jungler.

Skins:

Infiltrator Irelia (487 RP) – This is actually a very cool Irelia skin, and makes up for the lack of color in the original.  If not a fan of Frostblade, this skin might be worth a look.

Runeborn Xerath (375 RP) – Hey look, Xerath is green now!

Resistance Caitlyn (260 RP) – Fight off the rebels with this skin!  Nothing much to say about it, you will probably either like it or you won’t. 

Our Playlist of This Sale:

Want to Learn League of Legends for Free, or Teach Someone Else?

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I found a website today called LoL-Coaching.  This website is a tool to connect League of Legends players to other League of Legends players, with one player being a coach and the other wanting to learn.  The website is completely free, and students will not be required to pay for their lessons.  Some coaches may charge for lessons, but students can always choose the free coaches instead. This website is based on the goodwill of the community, and I hope this model works.

How LoL-Coaching Works for Students:

  • The student will create a free account at http://www.lol-coaching.com
  • The student must verify their summoner name
  • Student finds a coach, and chooses a time slot that works for both the student and the coach (the coach makes these time slots)
  • The request is sent to the coach who can either accept or decline the request
  • Once accepted and the lesson completed, the student may review the coach

How LoL-Coaching Works for Coaches:

  • The coach will create a free account at http://www.lol-coaching.com
  • The coach must verify their summoner name
  • The coach creates their profile, which states the roles they will teach, their best champions, their division ranking, and the times they have available
  • Once a student picks from the times the coach has offered, the coach may message the student and accept or decline their request for a lesson

All of this is completely free, and I plan on taking a lesson this week.  I will write an article about my experience with this service, but in the meantime if you try it out let us know how it was!

This service is currently available for NA, EUW, and EUNE servers.

 

Happy Coaching and Learning, and remember to leave a comment if you try it!

http://www.Lol-Coaching.com

Season 3 Is Over – Now What Happens?

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As I’m sure you know, League of Legends Season 3 has ended.  What exactly happens now?

In the preseason, ranked queue will be available.  While games won’t play a huge factor in your Season 4 Ranked Placements, they will still effect your MMR.  Your MMR will be used to determine who you play against at the start of Season 4, and will help you get into a higher division right off the bat.  If you are serious about your rank, continue to go for victories in ranked during the preseason!

That being said, the only players required to play ranked during the preseason are Challenger players.  This is the only division which will have Inactivity Decay applied to it, meaning if players don’t play ranked for a certain amount of time they will be removed from the division.  No other division needs to worry about this, so don’t feel the need to play Ranked Queue during the preseason!

There will be huge changes being implemented throughout the preseason, some of which have already been revealed.  A few which have been announced so far:

  • New jungle camp
  • Baron changes
  • Support and Jungle gold changes
  • New Gold items
  • New ward / trinket system
  • Team Builder

There are many more changes coming to League of Legends in the near future, so keep an eye on this website for articles about those.

Courtesy of LeagueOfLegends.Com

Season 4 will begin about 1 month after the preseason begins.  You will be required to play Placement Matches again, with a “soft MMR Reset” hitting your account.  This reset is currently said to take your current MMR (end of preseason) + 1200, and then be divided by 2.  This equation is not 100% confirmed yet.  Once you play your 10 placement matches in Solo Queue you will be placed into a division based on your MMR.

I hope everyone is happy with the rewards they earned in Season 3, and let’s have a great preseason and Season 4!  I will update this website as new information is revealed about Season 4.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask below!

Champion and Skin Sale Breakdown: 11.12 – 11.15

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Champions:

Volibear (487 RP) – To Da Mouf! Wait, I’m not Trick2G.  However, when you play Volibear you feel like a monster and can roam wherever you please.  Volibear is a great tank jungler who can also carry the game with his early game ganks.  I would recommend Volibear if you want to add a champion to your jungle pool.

Renekton (440 RP) – Renekton is one of the strongest top lane champions in League of Legends right now.  He deals tremendous damage to his lane opponent while building pure tank.  He also has built in sustain and an escape, making him hard to kill.  Renekton is a great champion to learn, and I would recommend him if you are looking to add another champion to your top lane pool.

Olaf (395 RP) – Olaf recently got reworked and seems to be doing pretty well.  He was a running joke in League of Legends for a while as a champion who got nerfed so hard that he they deleted him from the game.  However, he has been seeing play recently and feels quite strong.  I do not recommend buying champions who cost less than 4800 IP using RP, but if you really want Olaf, go ahead!  He is viable.

Skins:

Blight Crystal Varus (487 RP) – This skin is a bit disappointing to me.  The artwork looks very cool, but in game I don’t think it holds up.  The animations are also nothing new.  I personally would not buy this skin.

Dragon Trainer Lulu (675 RP) – I really like the concept of this skin.  The splash art is nice, and the in-game model is also nice.  However, the animations don’t really change much at all.  Her butterfly is not a dragon, and she can poly-morph enemies into dragons rather than squirrels.  The ult animation is pretty nifty.  If you play Lulu a lot, I would recommend this skin.  If you don’t, I would save your money.

Commando Xin Zhao (260 RP) – It is Xin Zhao with sunglasses.  Take it or leave it.

Here is a playlist I put together on YouTube with this week’s Champion and Skin Sale Lineup: 

I hope you enjoyed this week’s Champion and Skin Sale Breakdown, and leave a comment with the loot you will be picking up!

Today is the Final Day of League of Legends Season 3!

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Today, November 11, 2013, is the final day of Season 3.  This was the first season that I played League of Legends, and I must say that it has been incredibly fun.  I can’t believe how incredibly huge this game is, from the champions and skins available to the massive player base.  Looking at the World’s event this year, it is incredible to see how many fans will pay money to watch a video game live.  I have been gaming since the age of 5, and to see it grow this much is really awesome to see.

Season 3 World’s courtesy of Gazettenet

Today is your last chance to get challenger, get to Gold for rewards, or hey even get to Bronze lV.  Did you reach your goals for this season?  I can tell you that I just wanted to learn this game as much as possible in the few months that I have played it, and made it to Silver lll… In my placements.  I am currently Silver V with around 70 LP, and probably won’t be playing enough to make it to Silver lV today.  I am happy with that, however, because I learned a lot and got better at the game.  I always try to remember that every game is a learning experience, and if I can catch at least one mistake that I make in a game it was worth the experience whether I won or lost.  I plan on climbing the ranks in Season 4, but we will save that for another day and another post.

My best champions in ranked for Season 3 were Elise, Nami, and Diana.  I had a 55% win rate with Elise, and a 90% Win Rate (9-1) with Nami.  Who were your most reliable champions this season, whether in ranked or normals?

Good luck in any last minute division climbing efforts, and see you in the Preseason!

“One For All” Details and Analysis

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As some of you may know, Riot announced a new Gamemode last week called “One For All”.  This mode hit the PBE a few days ago, and I have had some time to play around with it and form an opinion.

To start, I just want to explain what “One For All” is in my own words.  One For All is a 5v5 battle on the Summoner’s Rift, where each team consists of 5 of the exact same champions.  The game is played out like any other game on Summoner’s Rift, and there are no changes in items or objectives.

The Pregame Lobby – A team captain gets to ban 3 champions from the game, just as a normal draft lobby is conducted.  This results in 6 total banned champions for that game.  After the banning phase, each player gets to choose a champion which is then up for vote.  Each player’s respective team can see their vote, however, the other team cannot.  It is a majority rules system, so whichever champion has the most votes will be the champion that is played by all members of that team.  If there is a tie, or no majority, the game will randomly choose from those which are tied for the most votes.  Potentially you could have 5 different votes, meaning it will be a 20% chance for each of those champions to be chosen.  Each team votes on their own team’s champion, so it’s not a mirror match 5v5.  This means you could potentially have, for example, 5 Garen’s Vs. 5 Syndra’s.  You could also have 5 Garen’s Vs. 5 Garen’s.  It depends how the vote goes, and it is blind to the other team.

The Game – The game is conducted like any other League of Legends game on Summoner’s Rift.  Depending on the champion selected, however, the meta will differ.  Some teams will have a jungler, some will not.  Some teams will go 2-1-2, which means two champions top lane, one midlane, and two bottom lane.  Sometimes you will even see all 5 players go mid, making it somewhat of an ARAM.

My Thoughts – I like the idea of this mode, mostly because it gives players something fun to play that differs from the current meta.  I do think, however, that the game is decided too quickly based on which champions are playing which.  Hard counters exist in League of Legends, and if you are playing 5v5 against your counters, you probably don’t have a chance.  The fun factor of this game can die quickly when one team has complete advantage over the other team just from level 1.  Some games are close, but for the most part they have been very short and one sided.  This makes it a bit frustrating at times, and has already somewhat kept me out of that playlist.

I would almost like to see the champion select be random.  I think it would be more fun if every player on each team had to choose a different champion, and then the game randomly chose one of those champions for the team.  This means teams could not always pick the “most OP champion”, because it would still end up being a game of chance.  It would also force variety in the playlist, which I think is a big part of the potential fun the playlist brings.  Once players find a few champions who excel at this playstyle, we will probably see little variety in champions chosen.  My idea would force games to be a bit more random and exciting.

What are your thoughts on One For All?  How do you think Champion Select should work?

League of Legends World’s Game Statistics

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Amazing infograph of statistics from this year’s World’s tournament.  Riot did a great job with the design as well as choosing which stats to show.  My favorite part is definitely the champion win %’s along with their key item builds.

What is your favorite stat?  Click the image to see it full-sized!

Source: http://euw.lolesports.com/content/worlds-game-stats

League of Legends Introducing New “One For All” Gametype

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Riot announced today that they will be implementing new gametypes for a limited time in the near future.  This means that there will be multiple new gamemodes and they will be rotated in and out of the game as new ones are introduced.

The first game mode is called “One For All”, which is a 5v5 on Summoner’s Rift where everyone is the same champion!  This sounds like a ton of fun, and I can’t wait to try it out.

5v5 Cow Herding sounds too fun.  The amount of headbutts and knockups… Imagine it!

Poppy Ultimates everywhere also sounds like a crazy team fight.

So many options!  Who are you looking forward to 10 manning on the Summoner’s Rift?

Source: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/node/8328

Patch 3.13 Aftermath – Statistics of the Nerfs and Buffs

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This is an incredible post taken from jngldrm over at Reddit. Each month he takes the time to look through LoLKing.com statistics on the champions who were recently changed, and he complies them in a list of data.  The data consists of what was changed, the pick rate of the champion before and after the change, and the win rate of the champion before and after the change.

Enjoy!

The Data covers the last 7 days. So it is the last 7 days before the Patch and then the 7 days after the Patch. It is ranked Solo Queue only.

Champions:

Aatrox:

Passive Attack Speed lowered for early levels. Blades of Torment (E) damage reduced.

Pick Rate: 13.07% –>10.09% -2.98

Win Rate: 52.4% –>48.87% -3.53

Ahri:

Essence Theft (passive) is no longer spell vamp but heals calculated by some formula with ap scaling. Fox-Fire (W) mana cost and damage reduced. Charm (E) mana cost is now flat 85 at all levels and amplifies damage by 20% for the next 6s. Spirit Rush (R) damage reduced.

Pick Rate: 13.88% –>11.26% -2.62

Win Rate: 51.12% –>49.09 -2.03

Corki:

Base attack speed reduced. Missile Barrage (R) damage reduced and cooldown between attacks increased.

Pick Rate: 17.03% –>8.83% -8.2

Win Rate: 52.41% –>46.51% -5.9

Fizz:

Seastone Trident (W) active ability power ratio reduced significantly.

Pick Rate: 9.82% –>8.08% -1.74

Win Rate: 49.23% –>48.24% -0.99

Heimerdinger:

Heimerdinger’s kit has been significantly reworked this patch. Check patch log.

Pick Rate: 0.89% –>7.85% +6.96

Win Rate: 48.41% –>49.55% +1.14

Jinx:

Switcheroo! – Minigun (Q) attack speed bonus reduced at early levels. Zap! (W) base damage reduced, mana cost increased and no longer reveals stealthed units.

Pick Rate: 25.94% –>20.79% -5.15

Win Rate: 52.87% –>50.48% -2.39

Kassadin:

Magic Resist per level reduced to 0. Null Sphere (Q) damage reduced, silence duration changed (longer at lvl1), mana cost reduced. Riftwalk (R) damage increased, stack damage reduced but ap ratio added. Now refunds 50% mana cost if it damages a Champion.

Pick Rate: 6.65% –>5.47 -1.18

Win Rate: 52.62% –>49.91% -2.71

Morgana:

Attack range and speed increased. Tormented Soil (W) damage changed, now deals up to 50% increased damage based on enemy hp missing. Now deals damage every 0.5s instead of 1s. No longer reduced magic resist.

Pick Rate: 5.68% –>7.52% +1.84

Win Rate: 49.08% –>52.18% +3.1

Olaf:

Undertow (Q) slow duration increased, mana cost changed (lower for higher levels). Vicious Strikes (W) attack speed increased. Reckless Swing (E) self damage reduced.

Pick Rate: 1.81% –>2.95% +1.14

Win Rate: 41.84% –>46.72% +4.88

Sivir:

Pretty big changes to her playstyle. Check patch log.

Pick Rate: 1.75% –>17.89% +16.14

Win Rate: 49.36% –>56.18% +6.82

Zed:

Living Shadow (W) travel speed reduced significantly. Death Mark (R) now spawns the shadow at Zed’s starting position. All shadows will stay around longer and Zed can switch places with his shadows at a longer range.

Pick Rate: 13.77% –>9.41% -4.36

Win Rate: 47.67% –>44.42% -3.25

Ziggs:

Short Fuse (passive) damage slightly increased. Bouncing Bomb can now be cast at targets outside of max range but will only travel the set distance. Satchel Charge (W) radius increased. Hexplosive Minefield (E) damage radius increased and no longer deals reduced damage on multiple hits to minions. Mega Inferno Bomb (R) now deals double damage to minions.

Pick Rate: 1.79% –>3.21% +1.42

Win Rate: 49.57% –>54.21% +4.62

Zyra:

Deadly Bloom (Q) range reduced. Damage changed to lower base damage but better ap scaling. Rampart Growth (W) base damage reduced at lower levels, but increased later on. Cooldown reduction reduced. Stranglethorn (R) stun no longer persists after the knockup ends.

Pick Rate: 13.18% –>13.03% -0.15

Win Rate: 53.01% –>48.72% -4.29

Minor Changes:

Jarvan IV:

Dragon Strike / Demacian Standard (Q/E) knockup collision radius reduced.

Pick Rate: 23.74% –>20.51% -3.23

Win Rate: 52.7% –>52.12% -0.58

Master Yi:

Master Yi will no longer be hit by targeted spells during Alpha Strike (Q). Meditate (W) mana cost reduced.

Pick Rate: 8.21% –>8.12% -0.09

Win Rate: 48.78% –>50.37% +1.59

Rengar:

Rengar now de-stealths at the beginning of his leap when attacking a target from out of stealth

Pick Rate: 4.65% –>4.29% -0.36

Win Rate: 47.17% –>47.52% +0.35

Shen:

Shadow Dash (E) collision radius has been reduced at the start and end points of the dash.

Pick Rate: 13.66% –>11.27% -2.39

Win Rate: 46.85% –>45.23% -1.62

Swain:

Carrion Renewal (passive) now additionally restores 9% of maximum Mana on champion kill/assist.

Pick Rate: 3.3% –>3.42% +0.12

Win Rate: 51.36% –>53.29% +1.93

Syndra:

Scatter the Weak (E) range increased and Dark Spheres now have arrow indicators to show the direction they will travel if hit by Scatter the Weak. Unleashed Power (R) now has a counter for Dark Spheres.

Pick Rate: 2.68% –>3.4% +0.72

Win Rate: 45.04% –>50.82% +5.78

Thresh:

Attack speed per level increased. Basic attack wind up reduced.

Pick Rate: 26.09% –>25.06% -1.03

Win Rate: 48.55% –>49.52% +0.97

Tryndamere:

Spinning Slash (E) cooldown refund reduced for minions and monsters.

Pick Rate: 10.04% –>10.08% +0.04

Win Rate: 52.58% –>52.75% +0.17

Mana Cost Reductions on Ultimates

Ashe:

Pick Rate: 8.96% –>8.79%

Win Rate: 48.81% –>49.85%

Leona:

Pick Rate: 28.53% –>27.53%

Win Rate: 51.1% –>50.87%

Soraka:

Pick Rate: 5.33% –>5.64%

Win Rate: 49.22% –>49.67%

Varus:

Pick Rate: 13.02% –>12.32%

Win Rate: 49.65% –>50.44%

Viktor:

Pick Rate: 1.62% –>1.51%

Win Rate: 49.91% –>49.75%

Incoming Jax Nerfs

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Jax_0

Jax has been Flavor of the Month ever since his domination at this year’s Worlds Tournament.  He is now seeing a few changes, which I will outline here.

Health: 199 less HP at level 18

Base Health of 550 (Instead of 561) with +87 Per Level (Previous +98)

Empower (W): Mana Cost Changed to 20/25/30/35/40 (Previous All 30)

Damage: 60/80/100/120/140 (Previous 40/75/110/145/180)

These changes will boost Jax’s early game, while still spiking his midgame with Trinity Force.  The real nerf is to his late game, which was one of the best late games in the League before this update. I am excited to see how well he does with these new numbers, and also to see how much he is played.

Sorry Jax mains!