Tag: new champion (Page 6 of 8)

LoL: Patch Day 06/24 – Kog’Maw

June 24, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

The servers are back up (and set to busy to throttle traffic) and Kog’Maw has finally made his way into the League of Legends store at a whopping 6300 IP. I’ve been dying to give this little monster a go and I’m hoping he’s a solid addition to the champion lineup. Healing has also gone through yet more changes so the game will hopefully feel a bit less like a kite fest.

As always, new champ first. Kog’Maw is really frackin cool. His skillset is actually pretty nice, and makes him extremely adept at tearing people down from great range. I think I really surprised the Veigar I faced in my first game when suddenly he was at 20% health at his turret and all of my damage had been done from extreme range. I have a feeling he will be infuriating to play against, much like a well played Ezreal. I’ll have a full impressions post up later today.

Ashe finally got her Hawkshot, so look forward to seeing her in even more of your games. I can’t imagine why they thought one of the strongest characters in the game needed to have the best map awareness in the game. It’s on a long cooldown, but it’s like having free wards with a huge radius. Her other skills did catch some minor nerfs, so hopefully it won’t be too ugly.

Gangplank got a bit of a buff. His Parley can no longer be dodged or blinded and his Raise Morale now grants additional attack damage instead of attack speed (though I’d imagine the active buff will still be speed). His ultimate has also been changed so that each individual cannon ball deals less damage but the radius (of the cannonballs, not the ult) has been increased so you should see more hit.

Pantheon’s Heartseeker Strike has been both fixed and modified. It should deal less damage in the early game but with itemization it could actually deal about the same, which seems fine. I never had a problem with it past level 11, it was the level one 400+ damage nuke that killed me. His spear also received a bit of a buff, which could make him just as scary in the early game.

Veigar is the last of the major reworks. He got a new passive, which is half of a Chalice for mana regen. He also now gains ability power for any champion killed by an ability. Event Horizon got some mana and cooldown tweaks, but the biggest change is to his ult. It no longer deals damage based on mana but instead takes the sum of his own AP plus the targets and deals 80 percent of that value in bonus damage. It also no longer refunds mana on kill.

Among other, smaller tweaks, Blitzcrank’s ultimate now silences for .5 seconds. I don’t know if that includes the passive, but certainly on active. Morgana’s Dark Binding now deals damage like a nuke, which should help with her damage output in the prevalence of Mercury’s Treads/Cleanse. Akali’s attack timing has been fixed and Corki should more consistently generate rockets and now has a counter to indicate the “Big One” rocket. Shaco’s Jack in the Boxes should also be fixed for targeting and the visibility bug. Kayle also caught a few damage nerfs but a reduction on her ultimate CD at level one and two down to 90 seconds.

As for healing, Soraka’s ult has been significantly nerfed, both in the amount healed and her AP ratio. Ezreal’s heal has been completely removed and his attack speed buff/debuff has been significantly reduced. It should bring him a bit more in-line, though he still has obscene attack range/harassment ability. Innervating locket also no longer heals minions.

I’m a little sad to see that Janna didn’t receive any significant changes. She is crazy out of line when it comes to kiting and harassing, and though her knockup has a 33 percent shorter duration, she still has too many escape tools to be considered truly balanced.

I’m sure you’ll see more posts throughout the week on this patch and the new champion. So far I’ve only had one game with him but it was a lot of fun.

Reviews

kog'maw kog'maw impressions kog'maw patch kog'maw skills kogmaw abilities monster champion monster hero new champion patch day

Champion Sneak Peek: Kog’Maw, the Mouth of the Abyss

June 18, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

If there’s one thing League of Legends is missing, it’s monster champions. Today, Riot gave us a sneak peek at something that is finally non-humanoid: Kog’Maw, the Mouth of the Abyss.

Kog’Maw made his first appearance back when Malzahar launched, in the picture above. A lot of people thought that might be his original voidling skin, but it turns out that’s actually our boy, Kog’Maw. Unfortunately the picture is the only thing we have to go on at this point. I think he looks pretty cool, I’m just hoping his mouth-related abilities aren’t quite as buggy as the gentlemanly Cho’Gath.

Pendragon included a silhouette of our new champion in the official post, but I think the pic above does him more justice. I’m as excited about this guy as I’ve been about any of the recent champions I can remember. I’m also kind of happy that the Test Realm is down because it makes his release a little more mysterious. I can’t wait to see a skill list.

league of legends

champion sneak peek kog'maw kogmaw abilities kogmaw skill list lol mouth of the abyss new champion new hero

LoL: Patch Day 06/08 – Olaf

June 7, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

What do you know – the day I write a post about the general lack of LoL-related news we get a patch announcement and a preview Champion Spotlight. There is much to cover so I’ll be making several posts to try to wrap everything up.

Let’s start with the obvious: Olaf. The viking champion will be making his live debut some time tomorrow afternoon (for those of you on EST like me). He’s a tanky melee DPS champion, not entirely unlike…well, okay, he’s unlike most melee champions in the way his damage scales up with his health and the fact that his attack speed goes up as his health goes down. Overall, I think he will be a dangerous character to tangle with anywhere past level eight or so. For more on Olaf’s abilities check out my earlier post.

Aside from the new champion, the most notable change is a big fat nerf to support healing toons. Nidalee finally caught a heal nerf that should significantly reduce her ability to play like a crazy fool in the early game and heal through it all. Her heal is down nearly 30 percent at all ranks, though it did get an ability power bump from .8 to 1.25. That sounds big, but it will mean a weaker early game and about the same mid to late for her, which is just what she needed.

Ezreal caught a similar (and long overdue) nerf. The heal from his Essence Flux is now down to 50 percent of the damage dealt and has had the attack speed debuff reduced as well. Trueshot Barrage had its AP ratio down from 1.0 to 0.7, which should keep him more in line with other highly escapable champions.

The rest of the champion changes are fairly minor barring the Kayle remake, which I’ll cover in another post. TF caught a bit of a nerf and Shen’s shield was indeed reverted to work like a regular shield, which is sure to bring a lot of tears from Shen players (honestly, those guys are starting to sound like Jax players to me).

As for the rest of the game, there’s a new, ability power equivalent to the BF Sword called the Needlessly Large Rod. For 1600g you can get 80 AP. It’s a nice boost for those AP Kat players and frankly, it’s been a long time coming. Twisted Treeline got a few gold generation changes and some rework on the Lizard, but none of that stuff is really going to change the game too much.

I’ll be covering the rest of the patch throughout the next couple days. Keep an eye out for the new skins. They are oh-so-sweet.

league of legends, News

melee champions new champion new patch olaf olaf guide olaf skill list olaf skills olaf the berserker patch day tanks

LoL: Olaf is on release notice

June 3, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

Well, that was fast. The “champion approaches” post is already up for the viking champion, Olaf, along with a few in-game screens and his splash page (which is huge resolution, by the by).

Abilities:
Undertow: Olaf throws an axe into the ground at a target location, dealing damage and slowing the movement speed of units it passes through. If Olaf picks up the axe, the ability’s cooldown is reduced by several seconds.

Vicious Strikes: Olaf’s attack damage is increased, scaling based on his health, and he gains massive lifesteal and spell vamp.

Reckless Swing: Olaf attacks with such force that it deals true damage to his target and himself.

Ragnarok (ultimate): Olaf becomes immune to disables, gains increased armor penetration, and reduces incoming damage by a flat amount.

Berserker Rage (passive): For each percentage of health Olaf is missing, Olaf’s attack speed is increased by that percentage.

There you have it – from what I can tell he sounds a bit like Yi, though his ultimate is about a thousand percent better (as is his passive). I’m guessing we’re due for another patch early next week if this post is already up. That’s mighty quick turnaround for a new champion, especially considering how buggy Malzahar is currently (anyone else noticed the crazy ult bugs?).

Still, I’m pumped to see the champion list continue to grow.

Development, league of legends

new champion olaf olaf skill set olaf skils olaf the berserker viking

LoL: Akali skill list and impressions

May 6, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

If you’re keeping up with the announcement forums you know Akali is upon us. She’ll finally be joining her brothers, Shen and Kennen, for battle in the League of Legends. The Test Realm has been absolutely packed with players trying to get a look at her. I was lucky enough to get several games in so I thought it would only be fair to give you guys my impressions. As we now have the “new champion approaches” post from Riot, I can also offer the official skill list for your perusal.

Without further ado, the Akali skill list:

Mark of the Assassin: Akali throws her kama at an enemy, dealing damage and marking her target for several seconds. If she hits a marked target, the mark will deal additional damage. This is your bread and butter AP damage skill, even if it is inappropriately named (seriously, what assassin lets you know you’re marked?). It scales with ability power at a .4 ratio for both the initial strike and the secondary hit. This is what a fed Akali will use to cut you in half.

Twilight Shroud: Akali throws down a smoke bomb at a target area. While in the area, Akali becomes stealthed. Performing an action breaks stealth for a second. Enemies in the area have reduced movement speed and attack speed. This is the most “ninja” of Akali’s skills. It drops a circle on the ground about the radius of Nasus‘ Spirit Fire, visible to all players. When Akali is in the circle she cannot be seen for the duration that the circle is active (I believe it’s 6.5 seconds at rank 1). It also slows attack and movement speed of all enemy units in the circle. It’s not a bad skill, but it’s not great either. I haven’t played it much on 5v5 but on 3v3 I used it mostly as an escape mechanic, though occasionally the slow would get me a kill. I would love to see them give this a small (maybe 15%) movement speed boost for Akali as well. The slow improves along with the duration as you rank up.

Crescent Slash: Akali hits all units around her for damage scaling off both her attack damage and ability power. The bread and butter damage skill, this thing hits in about the radius of Malphite’s Ground Slam. It gains 60% of your AD and 30% of your AP along with a base damage modifier. It’s great for picking other Akali players off in the Shroud when they’re low.

Shadow Dance (ultimate): Akali moves through shadows to quickly strike her target, dealing damage and consuming an Essence of Shadow charge. Akali recharges Essence of Shadow charges periodically, max 3 stacks. This skill gives Akali all of her feel. It has great range, is up – typically with 3 stacks – every time you need it, and can be used for farming, harassment, whatever. Much like Ezreal, Akali can be tough to target when she’s using this skill. It’s only on a two second cooldown and it improves from there, making this your go-to skill for dishing out quick damage. Coupled with Mark, most targets won’t get away from Akali over 40% after a full combo.

Twin Disciplines (passive):
Discipline of Might – Upon obtaining 20 ability power, Akali’s melee attacks deal additional magic damage. The bonus magic damage is increased for every 5 ability power gained afterwards.
Discipline of Force – Upon obtaining 10 attack damage, Akali gains spell vamp. She gains additional spell vamp for every 20 attack damage gained afterwards. I’m completely unimpressed by this aspect of Akali’s playstyle. Might only hits hard if you have high attack damage (it’s a percentage based increase on your AD). Force only heals well if you have high AP. This doesn’t encourage one build over the other, it encourages a strict hybrid to maximize both your damage dealing potential and your survivability. This is further emphasized with the damage scaling on Crescent Slash and the fact that Mark scales by AP only. If there was one thing I would change it would be her passive. The Mark/Slash issue just points to viability for both builds. Adding another level of dual-scaling encourages those weird hybrid builds the new champions seem destined for. It’s not that I’m opposed to hybrid builds, but that there aren’t enough items to support it. Guinsoo’s, sure, but what then? Until we have better itemization for true hybrids I’ll remain displeased with the effort to push players in that direction.

Despite my distaste for her passive, I think Akali will be a lot of fun She still has excellent damage output, and her twitchy playstyle is something I’ve really enjoyed on Kennen. In fact, I’ll probably build her a lot like I do Kennen – heavy magic penetration with enough early AP to completely carry a team. From just a few practice games I get the feeling that she’ll snowball fairly well as AP but has the farming capability to make AD viable. I still think AP is the spec, though. Ranged damage dealers far outshine their melee counterparts in most situation. Yes, even on TT. There are a select few melee toons that do well there – I don’t think Akali will be one of them. Not as AD, anyway.