olaf impressions – Fearless Gamer

I opened my Olaf Impressions post by stating that Olaf is strong, and potentially too strong and I think I’m willing to stand by that statement on one condition. When ghost is up, Olaf is strong. When ghost is down, he becomes a wet bag of meat for the other team to ingest.

When I first saw Olaf I thought he was kinda cool, sort of unique. I know it doesn’t take a genius to see the similarities between the viking and Mundo, but for whatever reason I overlooked their similar design (I think it was those pretty axes distracting me). Both toons have a skillshot slow. Both toons deal more damage as they lose health. Both toons have CC reduction (in Olaf’s case, immunity). The problem is, Olaf is only better than Mundo in one of those categories – the CC reduction – and it’s an ult versus a rank 1 regular skill. Mundo also has one thing that Olaf desperately needs – an active speed boost.

Olaf starts the game feeling extremely slow, and even by the time you get boots you probably aren’t going to catch anyone. His Undertow has a slow projectile speed and doesn’t slow nearly as much as Mundo’s cleaver. It also has a smaller hitbox. And while Olaf’s passive is admittedly awesome, it’s only awesome if someone is standing toe-to-toe with you, and generally the only people that will do that are the DPS that will rock you, regardless of your passive.

I realize this is why people recommend Frozen Mallet on Olaf – to force people to stay near you – but the prevalence of escape skills between just regular champion spells and summoner spells virtually guarantees that anyone who wants to get away from you will be able to do so.

Olaf’s ult can be nice, but without a means to close the gap, it’s still pretty worthless. I’ve had several games with him in which I would be running down an Ashe, my ghost would wear off and though I could ult, she was still ripping me apart until I got to her. By then you’re going to have some trouble against any truly farmed toon, even if you start at full HP. Mundo’s ult, on the other hand, gives you the speed and regen necessary to both close the gap and stay alive until you get there to pound some face.

Without a speed boost of some kind, Olaf feels horribly underpowered. If you see one at the loading screen without Ghost, get ready for an easy game.

I was fortunate enough to catch a couple games with Olaf today so I wanted to share my impressions, as usual. Olaf is definitely a strong champion – potentially too strong, though I think his lack of a initiator/gap closer will be his weak point.

For starters, Olaf is insanely strong in the early game. My first match with him I managed to bait a Kayle/Nasus combo down my lane a bit before creeps had spawned. They had me to about 60 percent when I turned and my lanemate (another Kayle) and I rocked them. Olaf’s attack speed gets so high he is just unmanageable if you have to be close to deal damage.

Unfortunately, his passive is his one great strength. Yes, it is awesome, but I wish his other skills offered a bit more. Ghost is pretty much a necessity, because you just aren’t fast enough otherwise. If someone is toward the edge of your axe range, the distance they cover while you cast is enough that they’re out of range by the time your axe lands.

Olaf is very strong in the jungle, which is good considering his ability to burn through mana. Most of his skills are cheap, but they’re up often so you can really churn through that blue bar. It’s also really nice to have lizard buff early in the game for the slow. That means you can rely less on your somewhat sporadic axe and more on your heavy-hitting Reckless Swing.

The fact that Reckless Swing is pure damage is another strength. It deals what it deals, regardless of your enemy’s resistances. It can also hit you pretty hard in the early game, so be sure you’re going to live through the encounter before spamming this too hard.

As for the rest, it feels a little early to talk about Olaf’s position as a part of the ongoing metagame. Patch Day always encourages odd choices, and I saw more Kayle players today than I care to remember. I also seemed to see Ashe in every game I played, which meant I was getting kited all over the map. If you’ve enjoyed heroes like Pantheon or Mundo, give Olaf and go and let me know what you think.

Tag: olaf impressions

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