Category: league of legends (Page 35 of 163)

      Talon, the Blade’s Shadow skillset preview

      August 18, 2011 /

      Riot put together a “mechanics preview” for Talon, the upcoming melee assassin. I’m not sure why it’s a mechanics preview rather than just a skill preview. It seems to be his full skillset, but maybe they just don’t want people to think that the thing is set in stone. Tough to say.

      Regardless, let’s take a look at his skills:

      Cutthroat: An ability that allows Talon to catch his enemies by surprise. Talon leaps behind his target and silences them for a short duration, amplifying the damage of any of his follow up attacks and abilities.

      Noxian Diplomacy: Talon viciously stabs his enemy, dealing heavy physical damage and causing them to leave a blood trail that Talon can use to track them.

      Rake: Talon fans out three blades in front of him that quickly return to him, dealing damage and slowing any target hit in either direction.

      Shadow Assault (Ultimate): Talon enters stealth for a short duration, gaining a movement speed boost and sending blades that deal damage to all enemies in their path flying in every direction. Once the blades reach a certain distance, they pause and form a circle. When Talon reappears from stealth, the blades return to him, once again dealing damage to any opponent they pass through.

      Mercy (Passive): Talon’s auto-attacks deal additional damage to a target that is under the influence of any crowd control effect.

      He seems to be Vayne’s brother or depraved uncle or some such thing, at least as far as his skills/flavor go. It’s tough to get a good feel for his skills, mostly because their so basic. I like the idea of a targeted leap plus a silence, but I can’t really say much about his other skills. Slows are always nice. I’m not sure why he has a tracking skill unless his dash is on a very short cooldown. His ultimate is something I’ll definitely have to see to really pass any sort of judgement on.

      Phreak claims the Talon spotlight has neither jungling or a Trinity Force. I suppose we’ll see on Monday night. Are you excited for Talon?

      Champions, Development, league of legends

      Champ of the Week: Gragas

      August 16, 2011 /

      gragas_splash_2

      I’ve been sneaking some Gragas games in with the final Blitzcrank wrapup, so it only seems fair to make him this week’s Champ of the Week. As anyone who watched Dreamhack can attest, Gragas has the potential to be one of the most disruptive characters in the game. And who could refuse the love of a gigantically fat, barrel-wielding drunk guy? I couldn’t.

      I used to play a good bit of Gragas way back when. I wasn’t very impressed with him when he first came out, but shortly thereafter I started taking him mid and playing him…as tanky DPS. I know, for shame, but it was before tanky DPS was a thing, I swear! Actually, this was back when Trinity Force was rarely purchased, but I absolutely loved that build.

      Now, though, I’m really enjoying AP Gragas. I used to think AP Gragas could only be viable with a solo lane, but I just rocked a game with a Skarner lanemate (who also rocked and may have had a couple kills stolen). Gragas plays like a much tankier version of, well, I’m not really sure who. Gragas is sort of unique in the game, which is part of his appeal.

      So this week, I’ll be giving the fat man his due. If you have build suggestions or questions you’d like answered, drop them in the comments. As always, you can catch a game with me by adding me at “The Wiggin Boy.”

      Champ of the Week, league of legends

      Champ of the Week: Blitzcrank Wrapup

      August 16, 2011 /

      Piltover Customs Blitz.

      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. Continue reading »

      Champ of the Week, league of legends

      The big reason I’m excited for Dominion

      August 14, 2011 /

      There’s a lot to get excited about with the upcoming Dominion game mode, but I’m excited for one major feature above all else – the lack of a lane phase. It’s not just that I think the lane phase has gotten stale, which it has, or that I don’t really like trying to last hit, which I don’t. I’m excited about Dominion’s lack of a lane phase because it means teams will be playing with one another more. Honestly, I think the change could be the one thing with a shot at injecting some positivity into the LoL community.

      I’ve thought a lot about why the LoL community tends be a negative environment, and I think it pretty much boils down to this – for the first 15-20 minutes of a game, it isn’t a team game. It’s 3-4 solo experiences (3 lanes and a jungle) that have the potential to ruin the team part of the game that comes much later. In some cases, your teammates actually become your enemies. If bot lane feeds 5 kills in the first 10 minutes, it’s going to be a very tough game. Because games are fairly long, it can often feel like that feeding lane has just wasted whatever amount of time you spend in the game.

      Dominion should remove or at least reduce that initial intra-team tension. From the very beginning of the game, players have to work together to succeed. The way that the map is designed, teams will still split up, and there will still be moments that it feels like your teammates have screwed you. I think the key difference is that you’ll be playing as a team from the beginning, instead of playing as 3 solos and one team lane.

      To that end, I’m really pumped about Dominion. What are you looking forward to?

      Dominion, league of legends

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