Tag Archives: League of Legends

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!

League of Legends – “The Basics” Video by Riot Games

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Riot Games has created a video tutorial for League of Legends.  This tutorial highlights how the game works, the main roles in the game, objectives, how to win, and why League of Legends is such an amazing game.  The video comes off as more of a promotion for the game in my opinion, but it is very well done and entertaining.  I also feel like it made me appreciate League of Legends more just because it made me think about the basics of the game.  The graphics, commentary, and overall feel of the video were very professional

Great video by Riot in my opinion, what do you think of “The Basics”?

“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?

Skintimidation in League Of Legends

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Skins have always been an interesting concept to me.  Someone is actually willing to pay for something that doesn’t enhance the gameplay in anyway, but just makes something maybe more aesthetically pleasing or personal.  I am in no way discounting skins, as I have only been playing League of Legends for about 6 months and have already spent around $300 on the game.

Skintimidation is a term I like to use when someone has either a rare skin for their champion, or they have a skin for a champion who not many people play.  I like to think that people who have a skin for a champion that isn’t used much are probably pretty good with that champion, hence using it enough to justify buying a skin.  On the other hand, if someone has a rare skin from the past, they also have “skintimidation” because they have been playing the game long enough to own that skin.

My list of most intimidating skins is as follows:

  • Human Ryze
  • Black Alistar
  • Pax Twisted Fate
  • King Rammus
  • Any Galio Skin
  • Any Viktor Skin
  • Any Sion Skin
  • Any Malzahar Skin
  • Any Swain Skin
  • Any LeBlanc Skin

What are the most skintimidating skins or champions to you?

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%

My Favorite Champion

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Everyone has a favorite League of Legends Champion, right?  Whether it be because of looks, their kit, their voice, their laugh, or just how good you are with them, everyone has one.

My favorite champion is Elise.  I love how with just two items (Sorcerer’s Shoes and Haunting Guise) she can burst down opponents mid-game like they are nothing.  I prefer to jungle her, but I will play her top from time to time.

The Death Blossom skin is a necessity when playing Elise.

The Death Blossom skin is a necessity when playing Elise.

When jungling Elise, my favorite build is as follows:

  • Spirit of the Ancient Golem
  • Sorcerer’s Shoes
  • Haunting Guise (Later turned into Liandry’s Torment)
  • Rylai’s Crystal Scepter
  • Frozen Heart
  • Guardian Angel

Top is the same build, with another defense item instead of the Ancient Golem.

Who is your favorite champion and why?  Leave a comment!

Sincerely,

Afraid of spiders (seriously, spiders make me shiver.  I hate those things)

League of Legends Classified like an Addictive Drug in Korea?!

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A very interesting story has risen to the top of Reddit today.  A Korean high school student going by the alias of “KoreaUser” (seems legit) has created a post describing a new law Korea is attempting to pass.

The new law would classify video games as addictive substances, just like drugs, alcohol, and smoking products.  With this new found classification, video game companies would be forced to pay 6% of total sales as a tax for “medical purposes”.

Currently, there is a law called “Shutdown” active in Korea, which outlaws teenagers playing video games between 12 AM and 6 AM.

I think that video games can indeed be addicting, but so can anything. People claim that working out is addicting, and I agree with them.  However, are we going to put a sign on every gym that says “WARNING: WORKING OUT MAY BE ADDICTING!”?  Probably not.  Do you think that not playing League of Legends for a week is going to cause withdrawal symptoms like that of alcohol addiction?  I can almost guarantee it will not.  There is also a fine line between addiction and passion, which many people do not understand.  While I may play a video game for 3 hours or more a day, I can almost guarantee that the majority of people also do something they enjoy for that amount of time.  Whether it be watching television, reading a book, blogging, researching, or playing a sport.  Life is about doing things you enjoy, and if you enjoy playing video games, by all means do it.  If they start interfering with your daily life, then yeah, cut back a bit.

I sincerely hope that this law does not pass, as it would be a huge infringement on gaming companies and their fans.

Original Source:  http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/1q0k7o/in_korea_gamedrugs_alcohols_smoking/