IMO Ashe as a whole is in a pretty good spot. She sees decent play and maintains a decent win rate across all elos while also being a niche pick in the competitive environment. Her kit has clear strengths and weaknesses and offers Ashe players many opportunities for extreme high moments.
What is NOT in a good spot is Focus, Ashe's passive. As far as the majority of Ashe players are concerned it provides one singular moment of play and power to Ashe over the duration of the entire game. This is during the level one team fight/lane engagement. For the rest of the game the Ashe player tends not to notice or care about Focus and if she does notice it she feels as though she has no way to be proactive and take advantage of the power it is providing. Not cool.
So what to do? CHANGE IT OF COURSE! Here's something CertainlyT and I just put into testing:
Ashe gains 3/6/9/12/15/18 stacks of Focus for every 3 seconds spent not attacking. At 100 stacks her next attack is guaranteed to crit. Her Focus stacks will then reset to her current Crit Chance.
Note - Attacking no longer causes Ashe to lose focus.
The goal here isn't to do a massive Focus overhaul but instead make a lighter change that turns Focus into a binary mechanic that you can plan and play around in lane. If you have full stacks of Focus you get a free crit on your next attack. If you have 90 stacks of Focus then go hide in a bush for 6 seconds, get Focus, and R+W+Crit the enemy Sona.
Gentleman Gustaf here to try something a little different. I talk a lot about AD Carries. In part, it's because they're easy to do math on; they really only have one priority (dps), and they don't have vastly differing kits (for the most part). Kog Maw may have % health damage, but you can still compare it to Caitlyn's damage, in a way that you can't really compare the value of 66% more CC, and how much more worthwhile 66% more Silence time is than 66% more knockup time. In part, it's because it's the role I play for my ranked team, so it was the role I was mathing personally anyway. But largely, it's because I think it has the weirdest learning curve of any role.
These two changes are intended to give Akali's kit some utility. With Twilight Shroud now granting vision where it's placed, Akali can perform interesting jungle and lane jukes by first casting Twilight Shroud to gain vision of an enemy or jungle monster, and then using Shadow Dance as an escape tool. Overall, it should be a cool little trick that adds some depth to this ability.
Twilight Shroud
Now grants vision in the area of effect
Shadow Dance
Essence of Shadow charge time reduced to 30/22.5/15 seconds from 35/25/15
Caitlyn was crowding out a lot of other AD champions with her potent siege capabilities and strong lane trading potential. We wanted to highlight her weakness to extended trades as a sniper by reducing her base attack speed.
Additionally, by removing the accrual of headshot stacks when attacking turrets, it'll be a little more difficult for Caitlyn to perpetually siege towers in early game while zoning out enemies with the threat of a headshot.
As a melee champion, Diana should have an inherent weakness to lane harass. These changes are to reduce some of the safe and efficient wave clear Diana was getting from auto-attacking with her shield up in lane.
The shield change will help Diana in mid- to late-game team fights when she needs to dive into multiple enemies to engage. Before the changes, Diana's shield refreshed almost immediately and she got no benefit from the first stack unless she took damage very quickly upon initiating. Now with her shields stacking on top of each other, Diana will gain a little more survivability in these kind of engagements.
Moonsilver Blade
Damage reduced to 20/25/30/35/40/50/60/70/80/90/105/120/135/155/175/200/225/250 (+0.6 Ability Power) from 20/25/30/40/50/65/80/95/110/125/140/155/175/195/215/240/265/290 (+0.6 Ability Power)
Total damage changed to 66/102/138/174/210 from 60/105/150/195/240
Shield reduced to 40/55/70/85/100 (+0.3 Ability Power) from 55/80/105/130/155 (+0.45 Ability Power)
The second application of the shield now stacks with the first shield instead of replacing it
Elise
Removing the bonus Armor and Magic Resist in Spider Form while increasing the ability power ratio on Skittering Frenzy will better position Elise's offensive capabilities and vulnerabilities. Elise continues to be a very strong lane bully; she will just need to think carefully about when she can win a trade.
Miss Fortune excels at trading in lanes, but her Impure Shots were building too quickly and dealing too much burst damage with the use of Double Up. With this change, Miss Fortune loses some of her burst potential, but will do around the same damage in extended trades.
Impure Shots
Passive
Max stacks increased to 5 from 4
Damage per stack reduced to 4/6/8/10/12 from 6/8/10/12/14
These general usability buffs are for Nami to feel more impactful in team fights and skirmishes. In particular, with Surging Tides giving more movement speed and Aqua Prison having a longer stun duration, Nami players should feel better about playing aggressive in a lane.
Basic Attack Missile Speed increased to 1500 from 1350
Nunu naturally fits in the jungle with his strong objective control and high map mobility - these changes should add more depth within that role. Above all, we want Consume to be a cool spell -Consume has traditionally languished in late game for everything besides objective control, so making it an attractive spell with these changes adds more depth and rank-up incentive.
Consume
Damage increased to 600/700/800/900/1000 from 500/600/700/800/900
Healing reduced to 90/130/170/210/250 from 125/180/235/290/345
Healing ratio reduced to 0.75 from 1.0
Consume now grants bonuses for 120/150/180/210/240 seconds based on the type of monster consume was used on:
Golem-type monsters grant 10% increased size and maximum Health
Lizard-type monsters grant Nunu's attacks and spells additional magic damage equal to 1% of Nunu's maximum Health
Wraith or Wolf-type monsters grant 15% movement speed for 3 seconds after Nunu kills a unit
Quinn
Vault
Fixed a bug where Vault failed to interrupt targets that were immune to slows
We did tone down some of Rumble's overall damage, but we also took this opportunity to make Danger Zone more impactful in Rumble's overall play. Here we've decided to increase his benefits for staying in the Danger Zone, so Rumble players will have more incentive to carefully manage their abilities.
Flamespitter
Damage decreased to 75/135/195/255/315 (+1.0 Ability Power) from 90/160/230/300/370 (+1.35 Ability Power)
Danger Zone damage bonus increased to 50% from 25%
Electro-Harpoon
Damage decreased to 45/70/95/120/145 (+0.4 Ability Power) from 55/85/115/145/175 (+0.5 Ability Power)
With his huge global map pressure in early and mid-game, we wanted to reduce Twisted Fate's overall power without hitting the core components that make him fun. We're changing the passive cooldown reduction on Stacked Deck to attack speed to take out some of the free power he was getting without much gameplay interaction. Additionally, given Destiny's high impact, we've brought it more in line with other global ability cooldowns
Pick a Card
Blue card now restores 50/75/100/125/150 Mana instead of 26/39/52/65/78 (+0.6 total Attack Damage)
Stacked Deck
No longer grants Cooldown Reduction
Bonus Attack Speed increased to 10/15/20/25/30% from 3/6/9/12/15%
Destiny
Cooldown increased to 180/150/120 seconds from 150/135/120
Hail of Arrows makes Varus very strong in lane trades and zoning enemies out, but the strength of this ability was crowding out the intended use of Piercing Arrow as a high-damage snipe. With these changes, Hail of Arrows still has its strength in area control but it no longer completely trumps Piercing Arrow as a method of proccing Blighted Quiver and dealing high burst damage.
Base Movement Speed reduced to 330 from 335
Piercing Arrow
Minimum damage increased to 10/47/83/120/157 from 10/43/77/110/143
Maximum damage increased to 15/70/125/180/235 from 15/65/115/165/215
Improved hit detection at the end of the missile
Hail of Arrows
Damage reduced to 65/100/135/170/205 from 65/105/145/185/225
These are mostly quality of life changes for Warwick, who actually spent more time channeling Infinite Duress than he spent suppressing his target. Additionally, the fact that Warwick will now always place himself in front of the target rather than in a random location around them should add a little more strategic depth to who he suppresses and when.
Infinite Duress
Channel time reduced to 1.5 seconds from 2.1 (the target is still suppressed for the full 1.8 seconds)
Infinite Duress now always places Warwick in front of the target rather than a random spot around the target
Zac
For all of the utility and sustain he brings, Zac was just a little too strong across the board. These changes should tone him down in places where he had excessive power - reducing the burst power of his ultimate and his already unusually high sustain from bloblets.
Base Health Regen reduced to 7.0 from 12.5
Let's Bounce!
Damage reduced to 140/210/280 from 160/240/320
Fixed a bug where Let's Bounce! was applying a 0.25 Ability Power ratio on every bounce rather than 0.4 on the first bounce, halved on subsequent bounces
Tenacity reduced to 50% from 75%
Zed
As a resourceless champion, Zed was able to farm efficiently and safely without giving his opponent much opportunity for interaction. These changes should hit his wave clearing efficiency, especially at early levels. The vision reduction on Zed's Living Shadow was just to bring it more in line with other abilities of this type.
Razor Shuriken
Damage dealt to secondary targets reduced to 45/69/93/117/141 (+0.6 bonus Attack Damage) from 60/92/124/156/188 (+0.8 bonus Attack Damage)
Living Shadow
Vision radius of the Shadow reduced to 700 from 1300
Mana Warp Passive Aura reduced to 5 Mana Regen per 5 seconds from 6
Mikael's Crucible
Mikael's Crucible is a very strong item for supports who want to stay on the back line out of harm's way. Most supports, however, opt for Philosopher's Stone in early game, which makes them adverse to buying another high-sustain item like Mikael's Crucible. These changes also open up more diversity for supports when upgrading their Philosopher's Stone - Shurelya's offers more offensive and defensive disengage, but Mikael's Crucible offers more in-fight potential.
Recipe changed: Philosopher's Stone + Chalice of Harmony + 920 gold = 2500 total cost
Grants 7 Health Regen per 5 seconds from 0
Grants 18 Mana Regen per 5 seconds from 9
No longer grants Mana
Active Heal changed to "Heals for 150 + 10% of the target's Maximum Health" from "Heals for 150 + 15% of the target's Missing Health", Cleanse effect unchanged
Active travel time changed to 0.2 seconds from variable with distance
Fixed an issue with the hit effect particle
Shard of True Ice
Total cost reduced to 1600 gold from 1700
Mana Warp Passive Aura reduced to 5 Mana Regen per 5 seconds from 6
Summoner's Rift
While this change doesn't seem significant, it will help auto-attack reliant laners when trading against ability-based laners. Champions who rely on lane harassment through abilities typically don't draw minion attacks as much as auto-attack champions, and this disparity was forcing a lot of champions to opt for high-sustain starts in order to compensate. This change will have a larger overall effect on lane trading as the game progresses.
Caster Minions
Base Attack Damage reduced to 23 from 25
Howling Abyss
High Winds duration and intervals tweaked to match the pace of the music
Statue destruction algorithms tweaked to become more consistent throughout the match
Game Interface
Loss of Control UI
Loss of control indicators now appear underneath a player's nameplate when the player's champion is afflicted by a crowd control effect
A unique icon is displayed for each type of effect, and a shrinking progress bar indicates time remaining on the effect
When multiple, unique crowd control effects are active:
An additional icon is displayed for each unique effect type
The progress bar represents whichever effect has the longest remaining duration
Icons are removed as their associated effect type becomes inactive
Indicators are visible to the afflicted player, that player's team and the player who inflicted the crowd control effect
Co-op vs. AI
Fixed a bug that caused Co-op vs. AI games on Twisted Treeline to award more IP/XP than intended for games under 20 minutes
Fixed a bug that caused Co-op vs. AI games on Twisted Treeline to award less IP/XP than intended for games over 20 minutes
League System
Fixed a number of cases where icons on the league view were not showing up correctly
General
Custom Item Sets
Custom item sets can now be created and edited in the summoner profile.
Saved item sets appear as an option in the Recommended tab of the in-game item shop
Item sets can be associated with a specific champion, multiple champions or all champions
Item sets can be associated with a specific map, multiple maps or all maps
Silence, Taunt, Stun, Fear and Suppress effects have been updated with a new, consistent visual
Karthus' Requiem should no longer have a major FPS performance hit across all maps.
Rerolls in the ARAM queue will now prefer champions not being played by a member of the other team.
The 'Random Champion' option is no longer available in ranked game champion select.
Players who fail to connect to the game will now be granted the same bonus Magic Resistance/Armor that disconnected players receive.
Fixed a bug with certain AMD Radeon video cards when playing Dominion.
Players may now disable moving their champion via right-clicking on the minimap in the options menu.
Logitech G-Key, LED, and LCD technologies are now supported.
Fixed: Players joining private custom games in the PvP.net client were not able to submit passwords using the Enter key.
Adobe AIR no longer uses the Debug Launcher and has been updated to version 3.7. This should result in increased client stability.
For those coming in from a red tracker, this is for Dominion only!
Tear of the Goddess + Manamune: 8 mana per charge (SR: 4) Archangel's Staff: 10 mana per charge (SR: 6) Rod of Ages: 40 seconds per charge (SR: 60)
Champions with persistent drain effects (Singed, Amumu, Swain, Karthus) will charge the new Tear extremely quickly, but it should still help other champs out a bit. Feedback is welcome!
Thanks for asking. I spent the weekend building "Orbital Beam Cannon Xerath".
It was pretty much a huge bust for Xerath. Controlling the orbital beams conclusively felt too much like Viktor R, but with a better theme. It also didn't pay-off in terms of kit cohesion. Orbital beam cannon *is* a cool idea, but its better dedicated to an appropriate, vector-targetting champion.
However, it did create this awesome screenshot of my placeholder artwork.
In the last month or two a different way of building and playing Ezreal has come to light, and it’s called “Blue Ezreal” because of the color of the items used. The concept around it is to abuse Ezreal’s moves by almost maxing cooldown, having a large amount of mana and mana regen, and kiting with Iceborne Gauntlet.
We’ve had some chance to see it in play and I wanted to not just discuss the pros and cons but actually run some hard numbers on it compared to regular Ezreal.
Blue Ezreal builds the items up top: Spirit of the Lizard Elder, Manamune/Muramana, Iceborn Gauntlet, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Last Whisper, and Blade of the Ruined King. This provides for 39 cooldown with the masteries in the offense tree and plenty of additional effects to any given poke.
Let’s go over the build order and compare it to a standard build. A standard build is open to discussion, but I chose to use Doran’s Blade, Bloodthirster, Infinity Edge, Berserker’s Greaves, Last Whisper, and Blade of the Ruined King. Why do I use Doran’s Blade on the standard build? Because it costs as much money to max out Blue Ezreal’s build as it does to get those five items on a standard Ezreal. We’ll get to those differences when comparing them in a moment, but for now let’s look at the actual comparison. On either side here we have both Ezreals at various stages of the game with a typical build order.
Keep in mind I'm ignoring masteries, runes, and base-stats--this is about the difference between the builds only; I don’t take same items, such as Doran’s Blade, into account because this is a comparison. Blue Ezreal ignores the crit masteries and usually takes 2 or 3 lifesteal quints, but neither one is necessarily different from the other and the difference is minor.
On 05/16/13, starting at 00:30 PDT, ranked queues will be disabled in preparation for patch 3.7. At 02:00 PDT, the servers will be shut down and all games currently in progress will end in a draw and stats will not be recorded. We estimate the battlegrounds will be unavailable for 6 hours
Relegation week has come and gone for both North America and Europe, and we have 5 new teams out of 8 possibilities. In Europe aAa, Giants, and Dragonborns were replaced by Sinners Never Sleep, Alternate, and MeetYourMakers respectively. In North America MRN and Complexity were shown the door by Velocity and Quantic. Amateur teams exceeded expectations no matter how you look at it, and while we might have believed a few teams were on their way out 5 out of 8 surprised everyone.
The amateur scene is far from developed yet, and the LCS teams would have seemed to have the advantage of playing better opponents and preparing each week against the best day in and day out. So what led to 62.5% of the teams packing their bags? Was it more about the former LCS teams self-destructing or the improvement of teams around the amateur scene?
Getting to the top is easier than staying on top
Reaching your goal, your dream is a gigantic driving force. It powers people every single day to keep striving and getting into the LCS and being able to play video games for a living certainly falls under this category. It doesn't take a psychologist to see that working towards a goal and pushing yourself to achieve something is a much more powerful and healthy motivator than trying not to lose your job and (most likely) your team breaking up.
The Freljord event officially ends today 5/14 at 11:59 PM Pacific! Don't miss this last opportunity to declare your allegiance to the Avarosan, the Winter's Claw or the Frostguard and permanently unlock a tribal icon. You can review the official rules on how to join a tribe here!
Finish your 10 wins and join a tribe before 11:59 PM Pacific, summoners. Otherwise you'll get left out in the cold!
With the Freljord event coming to a close, this edition of the Champion Spotlight focuses on one of the leaders of the three tribes. Take aim with a giant frozen arrow and focus your enemies into frigid oblivion as Ashe, the Frost Archer.
With her full suite of crowd-control and utility, Ashe has the ability to harass in lane and deliver high-impact damage complemented by one of the strongest initiates in the game. Ashe demonstrates natural kiting power with Frost Shot, while Volley provides efficient wave clear and Hawkshot's active effect allows her to spot a sneaky gank attempt. Use Enchanted Crystal Arrow to start a fight, or pick off an opponent with a cross-map snipe to end one.
Check out the video for tips, tricks, and sample runes and masteries for Ashe, an ADC with a chilly disposition.
Updates! I have been consulting with the Pony on the issue. We will be trying out a version where he can 'merge' the augments together by spending more gold. Obviously this is an iteration and subject to change!
It has been happening for a long time and other authors on this site have talked about it before, but I want to focus on what changes have come about to really put the nail in the coffin for them. They just do not have a place in competitive play anymore. What can be done to help them, if any?
Hold still while I beat you with my cardboard tube!
This weeks free champion rotation has been posted on the Korean LoL site. These champions will become free to play starting tomorrow 5/14 UPDATE: Even though its only been 2 weeks, the US version has Lissandra free instead of Syndra
So with the upcoming Rengar "changes" (I say changes because all they've said is general ideas that they might use, rather than specific changes) I've decided to do a piece on Rengar. A small piece mind you, I'm not gonna write ten pages on Rengar (although I COULD.) This is really gonna focus mostly on Riot's change to his ultimate though: I hate it. For a variety of reasons the most important being that Rengar's ultimate is going to be a toned down lame version of Nocturne's ultimate that will be used primarily to escape. Really lame.
