It worked out well that I didn’t have time to finish off my Blitzcrank wrapup last night. I hadn’t yet seen the Champion Spotlight Riot put out sometime yesterday, which was for everyone’s favorite steam golem. I wrote the majority of this prior to seeing Phreak’s spotlight, but I’ll add in a couple notes where I think it’s appropriate.

After spending more than a week with Blitzcrank, I was happy to find that the steam golem still has some life in him. In my earlier posts I was frustrated by the tankiness of a lot of my enemies. Later in the week, though, I got set up against some more average comps, which made Blitz feel a lot more fun.

Part of my early issues with Blitzcrank were my build, too. I was messing around with Manamune too much, and he just doesn’t need it. While it’s definitely cool to see more than half of Blitz’s health bar turn to shield when Mana Shield procs, it seems like a waste to build around a skill that only activates when you’re close to death. Honestly, a Sheen rush is plenty to give Blitz that little extra durability when he needs it and provide some much-needed extra damage. If you level his Power Fist first, you should have plenty of opportunities to make use of Sheen’s extra damage.

I want to make sure to point out that Blitzcrank deals excellent damage, thanks to the short cooldown on Power Fist and the fact that it deals double damage. Blitzcrank can crit incredibly hard while still remaining fairly tanky thanks to Mana Shield. That said, he requires farm like any champion, and he can have a pretty rough time farming in lane.

This is where I think it’s good to talk about Phreak’s spotlight for Blitzcrank. You’ll notice he’s teamed up with Alistar for just about every grab situation he’s in. Later clips he’s got a Shen and the improved Nasus Wither to keep targets close. Also, take a look at the health levels of the targets he’s grabbing. Notice a trend? They’re all low maximum health targets. I’m not saying the spotlight was rigged, just that you need to know that a lot of fights probably won’t go like that. When they do, it’s a blast. When they don’t, it can be frustrating, but if you can hold out and farm, you can take down even the tanky targets.

If I could change one thing about Blitzcrank it would be the passive on his ultimate. It’s nice when you’re fighting a single target, but it’s kind of awful in lane. It messes up my last hitting rotation just as often as it actually last hits and it gives away my position in brush. Thing is, he still needs the damage output. The simple burst and silence really isn’t enough. Maybe still an electrical arc that shreds armor? Something that isn’t seen from brush?

Blitzcrank is an amazing champion to play if you know how to be patient, not just in each individual game but from game to game. Not every game is perfect for Blitz, but if you can wait for the right games and wait for the right hooks, farming up in each game as you go, you can be a strong asset to your team. The simple fact remains that there is probably nothing in this game that’s quite as fun as pulling an enemy over a wall, away from a tower, straight into your teammate’s arms.