Author: Jeff Morgan (Page 171 of 260)

LoL: The state of Flash

Morgana in lane.I realize it seems a bit pointless to talk about Flash at this stage of the game, but I had some bad experiences with it today so I thought it was time to discuss my least favorite mechanic in LoL.

The basic problem with Flash as I see it is that there are no real consequences to taking the skill. As a summoner skill it is simply a bonus, and for characters with high durability, killing power, pushing power, tanking power, whatever, summoner skills usually augment or fill gaps in the champion skill list. As a for instance, I was laned today against a Morgana/Twitch combo as Janna (Bumbleclot was in lane with me as Amumu). It was only my second game with Janna so I was trying to be reasonably cautious, but I also knew we could pull an easy FB on Twitch if we tried. Sure enough, we went for it at level three and had him, I mean nailed him to a wall had him, but just as my last auto attack was about to kill him (from approximately 18 HP), he flashes, breaking the projectile. Morgana lands a snare, Twitch turns around and I die.

Over the course of the game, I saw Flash save either Twitch or Morgana from 5 deaths, and save my opponent’s Ashe from at least one. The range has been nerfed to the point that it rarely bothers me as a positioning tool, but when it breaks attacks and spells that have already been cast I swear I could choke a kitten.

Thankfully, Riot’s taking a look, but they haven’t done much yet. There was the opinion thread asking what should be done with the skill, but it’s long gone from the front page and there isn’t much discussion going on. Personally, I think it just needs removed. There are very few toons that truly need a Flash type skill, and even those toons could probably do just as well with Ghost or some movement speed tweaks. I know there was support for a DotA-style Kelen’s Dagger, which would really be fine. If you really have the 1800g or whatever it is to spend on a statless item, by all means.

My hope is whatever is done with Flash is done soon. It’s one of very few mechanics in the game I still find infuriating.

LoL: My Eve explanation

Evelynn.I feel like I owe you guys an explanation. I made a passing mention of Eve the other day along with some malicious comments and I figure it’s time I come clean. The people I regularly play with know just how much I hate Eve and the reason why, and I think it’s only fair you do too.

First, a little history. I came to LoL from DotA, so I had a pretty good understanding of the game’s basic mechanics. The only thing to learn, really, was the champions. I started off with Kassadin and Master Yi, but after seeing what Twisted Fate would do to a game I saved my IP until I could buy him. He was dominant, but again, I was coming from such a similar game that it was easy for me to maximize his potential.

Then I met Twitch. It was pretty clear that he was this game’s Rikimaru, only stronger because he was ranged and had the ability to hit multiple toons and then nuke. Prior to his nerfs he stayed strong through most of the ELO brackets. Then I met Eve. She seemed strong at first – she got stealth, had good nuking potential, and seemed to break everyone but the strongest toons. Luckily, the LoL designers implemented a consumable even better than gem – Oracle’s Elixir. I bought one early when I laned against an Eve and presto, she was almost completely nullified. It wasn’t quite the same for Twitch because he’s ranged, has an AOE slow, and can still blow up an entire team.

Don’t get me wrong, Eve is great at the lower ELOs. People rarely play to counter one another so she can run around legendary as often as she pleases. That’s actually a bad thing, though, because it pigeonholes players into toons that have limited viability as the player improves and it discourages new players from playing the game because they get stomped by one toon with seemingly no recourse.

What Eve really needs is a complete remake, an overhaul that makes her fun both to play and play against. The last time anyone from Riot commented on her they said Eve was at the bottom of the priority list precisely because she does so well at low ELO. Honestly, that seems like a terrible reason to keep a toon around. Give newer players a chance to get better rather than getting stomped by a truly uninteresting toon.

LoL: Unconfirmed skins on the Test Realm

Red Riding Hood.The most recent Test Realm patch has some interesting content in the champions screen on the client. Several of the champions have skins listed with no graphic content, just some names. Here’s the rundown:

Red Riding Annie
Big Bad Warwick
Warrior Princess Sivir
Scuba Gragas

That’s what I can remember for now. I like the Red Riding Hood theme and I’ve honestly been waiting on it for a while. I could care less about the Sivir skin if only because she’s the most boring, auto-win toon in the game. Scuba Gragas, though, sounds awesome.

On a side note, googling “Red Riding Hood” for images turns up some…interesting…results.

LoL: Garen patch is live on the Test Realm

Garen screen.The patch that introduces Garen has officially gone live on the Test Realm. So far I’ve only had the chance to sneak two games, one of which crashed in epic fashion so I’ll have to hold out on the real feedback. I can give some impressions, though, regarding the newest addition to the League of Legends list of champions.

First, I can’t help but think that Garen is the Tryndamere remake and they’re just going to delete Tryndamere from the game. Obviously I don’t really believe that, but if you look at his skills there are some perplexing similarities. Judgement is like Spinning Slash, but with much greater damage output potential and slow immunity. Courage reduces incoming damage (a bit like Mocking Shout). He has an active skill that deals extra damage and crits and, just for good measure, silences too. His ult is definitely different but for overall “feel” I’d say the two are a close pair.

I’ll try to get another game in tonight but I’ll definitely have some more detailed analysis on the Garen playstyle tomorrow.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Fearless Gamer

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑