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. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m finally back in North Carolina and, armed with a freshly cleaned apartment and a beautiful laptop HP was kind enough to lend me while I was in Ohio, I’m ready to dive back into the happy little world of Valoran. Unfortunately I didn’t have nearly enough time to spend with Blitzcrank this past week, so I’ll be extending his Champ of the Week feature so that the robot gets what he’s due.

In other news, I just attempted to log in, hoping to snag a quick Skarner game before succumbing to the inevitable result of an 11-hour car ride, but alas, a twenty minute queue timer is standing in the way. I think I’m going to let it win, too.

So how has Skarner been? The spotlight looked like a much more accurate representation of a given champion’s skills and abilities. Phreak actually died! OMGOMGOMG! Seriously, though, I don’t consider it a good thing that Skarner is relegated to jungle duty. It seems to me there are much more reliable junglers in the game and Wriggle’s feels like a total waste. Unfortunately, he has no dash, which means he’ll also get outperformed pretty badly in lane without a decent bit of burst damage. This is all conjecture, of course. If you’re finding that his heal allows for excellent lane sustain, let me know in the comments.

Also, how’s the Pantheon buff? I miss the days when I played him, which were basically just after he released. I haven’t messed with him much since.

With that, I’m going to call it a night. Look for me later in the week – I should be around quite a bit.

I’ve been spending my time this week with Blitzcrank, a champion I cut my teeth on way back in the day. Blitz was always appealing because of the huge dopamine hit I get whenever I land a hook. It just…feels…so…good. More than that, a good Blitzcrank grab can determine the outcome of a fight, or at least I used to feel like it could. While I’m still having fun with Blitz, I can’t help but feel like he’s a little outclassed by the new crop of Tanky DPS champions.

It used to be that a hook under the tower was a kill on most of the damage dealing characters in the game, unless they could pull off a nice Flash. Thanks to new tower-tanking mechanics and tankier champions, I feel much less confident in my ability to land a kill under the turret on anything but the squishiest of champions. Against the squishy champs, Blitz still feels amazing though. There really is nothing quite like landing a grab in the early game for first blood.

With the increased survivability of several of Blitzcrank’s opponents, it’s really important to have a strong lane mate. In most cases, any stunner will do, but having a character with heavy harass by your side means you become a much greater threat to your opponent. When I hook full-health Jarvan, for instance, he stabs me and smacks me twice and I’m at half hp. When I hook a half-hp Jarvan, though, he immediately thinks about running away. If you’re interested in playing Blitzcrank, make sure you bring a friend with some solid harass.

I’ve also had some trouble convincing my teammates to gank at level one, and I can’t figure out why. When I see a Blitzcrank on the enemy team, I usually run for cover at level. I’ll hang around turrets, hoping my team has a CV and knows how to use it. For whatever reason, though, my teammates have been fleeing the scene when I try to gank in the early game, which is where Blitz really tends to shine. I woul encourage any budding Blitzcrank player to play extra nice in the early game so that your teammates are more likely to lend a hand. It’s tough getting solo kills early in the game, but not so bad if you have a team surrounding you.

Check back this weekend for the Blitzcrank wrapup. I think I have some decent ideas for giving Blitzcrank a little boost without turrning him into the OP champ of the month.

It’s time to burn one of my favorite champions for the Champ of the Week. I’ve had a good time playing some champions that aren’t in my regular rotation over the past couple months, but I would love to get back to someone that’s right in my wheelhouse. This week’s Champ of the Week is none other than Blitzcrank, the Steam Golem.

I’ve written before about just how much fun I have when playing Blitzcrank, and little has changed about that. He’s one of the most stalwart champions in the League, catching the occasional mini-buff but rarely seen as needing a nerf. He’s also one of the most unique champions out there, providing a benefit to the team unlike any other champion.

I’m going to focus on a few things over the course of the week. First, I need to get back to farming well with Blitz. The last few games I’ve played with him my farm has been atrocious. I used to be excellent at farming with him, too. Secondly, his build. I’ve always been a Sheen believer, but I haven’t played much Blitzcrank since the introduction of Manamune (a shame, I know). I want to spend some time focusing on maximizing Blitzcrank’s early kill potential and hopefully increasing my early game farm.

Check back later in the week to see how Blitzcrank stacks up against the game’s best lane champions. Also, feel free to drop any questions or advice you may have in the comments. May the hooking begin!

Riot posted one of the cryptic announcement threads that typically lead to legendary skins this weekend. The post was titled “Blitzcrank Makes the Cover of Mid Lane Magazine.” Obviously, that’s a fake magazine, but the post goes on to describe a Crank skin made by Piltover Heimer.

Here are the details on “Piltover Customs Blitzcrank:”

We took our largest, most gigantic Great Steam Golem down to the Custom Shop to see what the Revered Inventor was really made of. We expected him to be intimidated, but the moment we walked in the door his face lit up. From that moment we knew he was up to the challenge, and we just couldn’t wait to see our old friend Blitzcrank get the royal treatment.

The first thing that we noticed was the finish. Gone were the dings and soot-stains that come from a career of heavy lifting, replaced by a superb paint job that positively emanated speed and performance. A shiny chrome grill glinted in the sunlight, a great compliment to the sleek new exhaust systems.

But the real test was yet to come. We fired it up and the exhaust just roared, giving you that satisfying feeling of a true performance machine. A set of performance tires had replaced the legs, and they gripped the lane for a silky-smooth ride, even when we kicked it into full overdrive.

Our brand new Piltover Customs Blitzcrank hit the mark across the board. If you were still skeptical about whether or not Heimerdinger could live up to his reputation, allow me to put your mind at ease. Take your Golem in for a tune-up today!

With all the model changes and the fact that Riot made a special post about it, you can bet this is probably the legendary Blitzcrank skin. It does sound cool, but I’ll have to see it in game before I decide whether or not to pick it up. I love Blitzcrank, as I may have mentioned, but I already really like Boom Boom Blitz. It would be tough for me to justify buying his legendary unless it’s significantly better than that skin.