When Twisted Treeline first released I was thrilled. I loved the smaller map size, the emphasis on fighting and ganking, and the importance of map control. I thought it would be a great map to learn with the two friends with whom I play most often and a good way to get comfortable with a faster paced game.

Some of those things came true, but as people have started to figure out the map I’ve seen the same teams over and over again. It’s always some combination of Shen/Mundo/Jax/Poppy/Mordekaiser with the occasional Warwick/Shaco/Singed thrown in for a little variety. Mostly, though, it’s the first five, and I’m tired of it. The great part about this game is the variety, which that map limits in a big way. It’s not that three-tank teams can’t be beat, just that they require you to play near perfectly for the beginning of the game. If they get up in any way, or even if they keep pace with you, you’re going to have a very hard time beating them.

People have been asking for fixes to the problem – map specific items, global buffs or debuffs to reduce the effectiveness of three-tank teams – but I think the solution is much more simple. We need draft mode. If each team can ban two heroes and no one can pick the same toon it makes the game much more interesting. You can bet most people would ban Jax/Mundo right off the bat, likely followed by Poppy/Shen or maybe Udyr if the other team has a good Udyr player. Whatever the case, I really miss draft mode from DotA and I love the fact that it gives players the opportunity to filter out some of the more overpowered characters that haven’t received their respective nerfs/remakes.

Riot’s said multiple times that draft mode is in the works but there’s still no ETA. As with the Flash remake, I’m hoping it’s sooner rather than later.

Today’s LoL Basics post is a quick look at an essential stat for casters: cooldown reduction. It’s one of the best ways to increase your DPS at every stage of the game and can be very easy to max out.

Cooldown reduction, as the name suggests, reduces the amount of time between spell casts. Take Karthus, for instance. His ultimate starts at a 180 second cooldown. That’s a long time to wait, especially if your team is playing aggressively. If you’re going with a Mejai’s Soulstealer, you want to at least be picking up assists as often as you can, and an ult is great way to do that in other lanes.

A lot of items offer cooldown reduction, not to mention the runes you can buy. Frozen Heart is 25% reduction. Soul Shroud is 15%. Let’s say you have both those items on Karthus. Cooldown reduction works additively, so you’re at 40% reduction. For the 180 second ult, that means you can now cast every 108 seconds, which is really nice.

There is a caveat, though: cooldown reduction caps at 40%, meaning you can’t have any more than that. If you’ve specced into utility and offense for your masteries, you likely have 9% reduction. My own rune page puts me at 10% more, which means 4% of the CD reduction on Frozen Heart is lost. Granted, it has plenty of other benefits, but you should try to be conscious of how much of an item becomes worthless for you.

Don’t forget, you can also get the golem buff for an extra 25% CD reduction and some mana regen. Before taking the buff, though, consider whether you’re the best person to wear the buff on your team. If another player will be capable of more DPS, pass it off.