I wrote that title as 75 percent joke, and to be fair, most of his problems are melee related, not champion related. Let’s forget all that and talk about the good stuff for a minute, shall we?

Renekton has the hyperactive playstyle that I love. He’s regularly casting, has a fun little dash, and he flourishes his blade when he swings. Also, he’s a damn crocodile, in case you didn’t notice. Renekton also brings a decent stun to your team, and once the skill is at max rank, he can use the stun pretty often. His ult isn’t bad, and if you couple him with a stunner, you could have a decent lane.

That said, I am just now having my first runaway game with him, and I don’t really feel like I’m dominating all that hard. A big part of the problem is his cooldowns. They are long, to the point that you better have some cooldown reduction items with you. I understand they sort of have to be this way because of the fury system – too short and he’s constantly using furious abilities – but it limits the regularity with which you get to use his skills, which are all pretty cool. No doubt, part of the issue is that the resource system is new, and it’s still tough to know what the best use of all that fury is in the moment.

The other problem is that Renekton seems to be balanced around 1v1 fights where he is at or above his opponent’s level. In that situation he is very strong, much like Xin Zhao. His stun really cuts people up, especially if you’ve used a furious Dice, and a furious heal can be enough to keep you up against one target. Against multiple targets, though, you’re taking too much damage to even notice that heal.

It’s as though he was designed specifically to take second solo, which, when he can get it, is great. In the six or seven games I’ve played with him, though, I haven’t been solo. More often than not, I’ve been against strong ranged harass with another melee. When you’re the same level as multiple opponents and lower than the people ganking you, Renekton suffers like every melee toon. He’s easily kited despite his dash (the range is very short because he can do it twice if he hits someone) and often subjected to chain CC before he can even reach a target (or safety).

As for build, I’ve tried several things, but the thing I liked most so far is a Bloodthirster -> Trinity. Trinity is a little strange on him, but the added movespeed, health, and slow proc make a big difference for his gameplay. His cooldowns are long enough that you usually aren’t wasting the bonus damage procs, either.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say about him in a few days. I’ve been pretty busy with work and starting up a Minecraft server so I haven’t put quite as much time into studying him. This weekend I should be able to get a few more games and let you know how he feels.

I’ve only had the time for four games today with Akali, but between that and my time on the TR I feel like I have enough data to offer up some initial impressions.

First, I like Akali. The energy system provides just enough spam to keep me happy while still limiting DPS output to a reasonable degree. That said, the fact that Akali is melee makes her incredibly susceptible to CC/AoE damage dealers, and without her own hard CC she can be easy to counter.

For my first game I set out to try AD. It was broken for most of her duration on the TR so it seemed right to give it a go. Akali is a great farmer, especially if you have a lane partner capable of some decent harass. I had quickly put together my Rageblade and a Phage (which I didn’t love). My burst was solid and I was healing well from her passive, but I was missing something. My next item was a BF sword, and in the time it took me to farm that (which wasn’t long) I watched my damage go from good to just below mediocre. She doesn’t have enough of a CC to keep an opponent close and her Mark of the Assassin (Q) and ultimate are both laughable as AD. Mark is so bad as AD you shouldn’t even waste the energy to use it. By the time I had a Bloodthirster and Infinity (yeah, my farm was huge in an average length game) I was cutting people down fairly quickly, though mostly through right clicks, which kills a lot of the “feel” of the character. Crescent Slash feels extremely lackluster the further the game gets, mostly because of the crappy damage coefficient. I know she’s meant ot be a hybrid toon, which is fine if you have a mix of AP and damage, but consider a skill like Volley, which is used at range, covers a wide radius, gets 100% of your attack damage plus bonus damage and shares a similar cooldown. For the number geeks, at 300 attack damage, Crescent Slash will deal 310 damage (180 from AD ratio plus the 130 bonus damage). Volley, by comparison, would deal 380.

For the second game I went AP and was similarly disappointed. The ult felt better, but her ratios are pretty bad for Mark (40%) and downright deplorable on Crescent (30%). Without a monster farm she is hardly something to fear, especially since she has to be on top of you to deal any damage. The only person I felt like I was rocking was a Zilean who had built zero survivability, and once he was down I was usually out of energy, leaving me woefully exposed to his allies. Consider that at 300 AP – which is a lot if you aren’t sitting on a 20-stack Soulstealer and can’t benefit from Archangels – her Crescent is dealing a meager 270 damage while Mark is hitting for 540 (including the proc). Compare that to Anivia’s Flash Frost – which you can proc for extra damage if you’re good – hitting for 660, stunning, slowing, and synergizing with her other nuke. I think increasing her ratios a bit would make AP feel much more viable. Since shroud deals no damage, she needs the other skills to hit hard. I feel like her passive is meant to counteract her melee vulnerability, but by level 10 a 20% spell vamp isn’t going to save you from much. In most cases you’re healing back something on the order of 60-90 damage for each cast. That’s fine if you’re at a distance and capable of running but when you’re buried in the mix it’s not going to help.

On the whole, I think it’s still very difficult to make melee DPS viable without some sort of survivability. Garen works well because he has both passive and active damage reduction, a speed boost, and slow immunity. Though you could argue that Shroud adds survivability, your enemy still knows where you are and can spend AOE skills to blow you up without much trouble.

As I play her more, you can bet I’ll be making more posts about her viability. Stay tuned.

A friend of mine really likes Master Yi. I try to understand, I really do, but at the end of the day all I see is a toon with no escape mechanism and no team utility. If your opponent is bad enough he can be fine, even great, but if your enemy is mildly competent you’re going to have some trouble. To some extent his problem can be blamed on the fact that he’s melee, and melee toons have it rough. You have to throw yourself in harm’s way and hope you can live through the CC and burst long enough to get your damage in. As one forum poster put it, “when will melee DPS be viable?”

Here’s what Phreak had to say:

Melee DPS poops on kids in Treeline. It’s going into matchmaking soon. Melee DPS being underpowered is simply a function of 5 people being able to burst down 1 melee DPS super quickly. Champions like Udyr, Tynda (sic), and Mundo are able to kite in and out and heal or shield themselves, ignoring a lot of the burst out there. Yi can do similar things with meditate, I suppose.

Mostly, I feel like melee DPS does really well in small battles, and then in the larger ones seems to require a good support champ like Morgana or Kayle to keep him alive vs 5 champions. Otherwise you need to use supreme discretion to get in and out. Generally you should grab Cleanse. Ghost isn’t a bad option either. IMO it’s a different playstyle.

I agree with him for the most part. Melee toons have to choose their battles very carefully, which is why a full melee team rarely succeeds. But played well, I think melee is just as viable as any ranged. Most ranged suffer, in fact, from a reduced health pool or slightly lower damage. I’ve had some excellent games with Nasus, a toon with no escape to speak of, simply through smart play and the Ghost/Cleanse combo. It’s all about picking your battles, and making sure your teammates can help support you on your way to close the gap.