I was really excited when I realized the Harrowing was coming back around. Last year’s Harrowing skins remain some of my favorite skins in the game. Zombie Ryze is one of the main reasons I enjoy playing Ryze. Lollipoppy is my favorite skin in-game to date, bar none. When I heard there was a Frankenstein Annie costume, I couldn’t wait to see the rest of the skins.
Riot put together a cute little video to show off the new attire. I’m definitely going to pick up Frankentibbers Annie, but the rest don’t really do it for me. I kinda like the Blitzcrank skin, but I already own Boom Boom Blitzcrank and Rusty Blitzcrank. The Nidalee skin looks too much like Sorceress Lux and the Nocturne skin looks an awful lot like his Frozen Terror skin.
In between my Talon matches over the past two weeks I’ve found myself playing a lot of Shaco. I’m not sure what brought me back to him – maybe the bug fixes, maybe that a friend was looking to learn him – but whatever the case, I’ve really been enjoying Shaco.
I think part of the turnaround is that I realized how similar Shaco is to Lee Sin. The real power of Lee Sin is that he can provide strong ganks incredibly early in the game. It’s entirely possible to hit level three before the enemy mid does. The same is true for Shaco. By setting up a box nest at lizard and the double golem camp, shaco can burn through one side of the jungle and hit level three long before the enemy mid. It’s just a simple matter of ganking.
That said, Shaco’s ganks aren’t particularly strong, especially early in the game. His slow is minimal and his early crit doesn’t deal much damage. For that reason, positioning is key to successful Shaco ganks. My ganks have a much higher success rate when I take the time to get behind my target. That extra 20% damage makes a big difference at every stage of the game.
Shaco still has the same old Shaco problems. He’s not survivable enough through the mid-late game to contribute to teamfights. He’s mana-starved in the early game. His jungle is heavily dependent on the level one nest. Despite those things, though, I still enjoy Shaco immensely. If you’re in need of a new jungler, he’s at least worth a shot.
I hate to do this, especially after missing last week due to travel, but I’m going to be away from home tonight. It looks like FG LoL Monday will have to wait for next week. I should be around for most of the week, though, so if you’re looking for a game, feel free to get in touch. You can always add me at “The Wiggin Boy” in the LoL client.
Talon video is coming together as I write this. It should be uploaded and ready to go tomorrow morning.
Riot posted the patch preview for the upcoming Graves patch some time last night. The video includes some decent champion changes, including Skarner buffs, but it’s missing some key champion nerfs that are long overdue. Gunblade is getting some nerfs, which are aimed at “hyper-carry” hybrids like Jax and Akali, but the changes will only really affect Dominion.
Skarner is getting across-the-board buffs – attack speed per level, mana cost reduction on Crystal Slash, duration increase on Impale. It’s a nice set of buffs that should make him much less mana dependent. Honestly, I think he might become the flavor of the month with these buffs. Skarner was in a decent spot, I think he just needed some mana adjustment. Now I can see him as an overwhelming solo top or jungler.
Corki is getting an adjustment to Gatling Gun that should make the damage output from the skill more consistent. I’m not sure why Corki is on the change list, though I haven’t seen him in many games recently. In fact, the only ranged carry I see with any consistency these days is Caitlyn. I would love to know when we’re going to see a couple adjustments to her kit.
The other serious changes made to the game all have to do with Dominion. There’s less ambient XP so the “hyper-carries” get to endgame more slowly. Gunblade spell vamp no longer stacks, and Gunblade is getting stat nerfs to bring the power benefit more in line with the cost.
I thought it was funny that Phreak played Akali for a large portion of the patch preview and yet there was no mention of nerfing her. I’ve thought Akali’s burst was broken for a while now, and after learning to play her using Westrice’s guide and some practice, I can’t believe she’s remained in the game in her current state for as long as she has. I wouldn’t be surprised if part of the hesitation to nerf her is that a lot of people are playing her now and a lot of those people don’t know what they’re doing. A big part of Akali’s playstyle is wrapped up in prepping her lane opponent for a kill before level six. At level six she outlanes virtually every single character in the game. This isn’t just on Noob Island either; it’s at every level of the game. Akali was used to devastating effect in the New York tournament this weekend and was the biggest reason Team Dignitas beat CLG.
It looks like the most exciting thing coming this patch will be Graves, unless of course you’re a Skarner devotee.
If you’ve played a game with me over the course of the past 6 months, chances are good you’ve heard me complain about Irelia. Sorry to subject that to you again, but every time I see her I see something that I think needs a change. Unfortunately, Riot has made it clear that they don’t intend to change her because it would cause too much disruption. Seems like a funny reason to leave such a frustrating character in such a frustrating state of development, but whatever, it’s not my game. Still, I think we could at least make one simple change to Irelia that would make her a little more reasonable.
As it currently stands, Irelia gets a two-second, targeted stun if she has lower health than her opponent by percentage. If you’ve ever played Irelia, you know how often she gets that stun, and you certainly know how often that stun saves her ass. The simple fact is that two seconds is just too long. Sion’s stun was changed for that very reason, and I think Irelia’s should get at least the same nerf, especially considering her passive.
Best case scenario, I would like to see her stun brought down to a one second duration. I realize that means a character with Merc Treads will only be stunned for .6 seconds, but honestly, I think that’s fine. I think it’s insane that she gets a stun at all, but again, don’t want to disrupt the players that like her. Keep the slow at two seconds, fine, but when that stun is coupled with her gap closer, true damage, massive lifesteal, and CC resistance, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to reduce the stun.
