• Low Elo Jungle Picks

    In this article I will write about the champions I think are "best" to carry through the lower levels. To start your choices are less about murdering the hell out of your opponents and more about being useful for your own team. Before reaching Gold Elo you cannot really rely on matchmaking to give you strong teammates and therefore you have to assume the entire game is on your shoulders.

    I have been called an asshole by some people because I hold the belief that sometimes in order to win, you have to be utterly selfish and abandon your teammates. Someone said I'm not a good person because of this and this baffled me. In the lowest of Elo your teammates are so unreliable, so uncoordinated and sometimes just terrible that you cannot trust them to do their job. With that in mind you have to pick up the slack and carry the game. It sometimes requires you not to share with your teammates or play in such a ruthless manner that it makes you seem like a selfish ass. I do not believe you should trash your teammates or be abusive though. I do mean that you should feel free to take kills and buffs for yourself if you feel you need to carry. Remember that they are not entitled to anything - it is merely a suggestion. Consider being a selfish player if your teammates are not doing their job: they have low cs, they're dying, they aren't warding, they aren't helping, etc.

  • Aatrox Patch Jungle Changes

    Surprisingly this next patch is bringing with it some jungle changes. To be fair I expected (and I'm sure everyone else did too) that Riot was getting tired of the early golem starts giving blue side an advantage over purple (purple had the advantage too with a lane swap). When players started expanding the camp snatching to wolves and wraiths - that's what things started to get a out of hand. Riot decided to slap the change they've been wanting for the golems onto the other camps as well effectively making ALL camps spawn at the same time.

    • Wolves
    • Initial spawn time increased to 1:55 from 1:40
    • Respawn time reduced to 50 seconds from 60
    • Wraiths
    • Initial spawn time increased to 1:55 from 1:40
    • Golems
    • Initial spawn time increased to 1:55 from 1:40
    • Respawn time reduced to 50 seconds from 60
    • Ancient Golem
    • Base Experience granted increased to 275 from 220
    • Now plays a particle effect to show who the buff transferred to
    • Lizard Elder
    • Base Experience granted increased to 275 from 220
    • Now plays a particle effect to show who the buff transferred to

  • The Right Choice - Jungle Picks

    I've been playing on several accounts for research (I won't disclose the names till then of course) and I've played multiple roles in each one. Whenever I take the jungle role I was always curious to see who I could win with that wasn't your standard flair at the moment. I would pick champions like Rengar for instance. Yes he isn't completely terrible and yes you can theoretically win with everything in the lower divisions but some champions obviously make better picks.

    While ranking up I've been able to make some ridiculously situational picks work out and also hilariously upset people (even my own team) because I pulled out a champion that is no longer commonly used. Generally put I would use champions that filled whatever we needed but could still either carry/murder everything or feed the important teammates.

    If you don't believe yourself skilled enough to be able to screw around and still win then you need to make sure your jungle picks are adequate to support your team AND deal with the enemy team. These suggestions are simply my opinion as, even when leveling my main, I made these choices as I went up the divisions.

    Ultimately though the best picks are the champions you are most comfortable with and you feel you're skilled at. Never feel forced to pick a champion you don't feel you can play optimally.

  • Freljord Junglers: A Successful Transformation

    It's been a week since we were given the remade Sejuani and the tweaked Trundle and they've made quite an impact on some people. There is a lot of back and forth between people about whether they're good or bad or if they're even different than before. Some "hipster" players are saying that the champions didn't need any changes and that their old forms were better - more noticeably for Sejuani than Trundle. Some players feel they're very overpowered now and you get the idea. There is a lot of disagreement here. I'll add my opinion about both champions here and give a mini-guide as to how I've been using them.

    First of all I'm pretty damn happy with both the champions. I feel it's a great improvement for both champions even though I can't be certain about their competitive level usage. I have a feeling that Sejuani will be thrown into the tournament scene simply because of her ability to set up plays while Trundle will likely still be a bit niche. Yes Sejuani could always set up plays with her ultimate before her rework but she had some usability issues.

  • Riot's Educational Misstep

    I say this with all due respect with the company. I love a lot of what the company does such as with public relations and interaction with the players. Often times they will fix the problems they cause (accidentally or otherwise) and address the players about it. They have become better about shedding light on concerning topics and, even if the players have been unruly and dumb, give some logical responses to "pitchfork" worthy issues. Riot is a great company and I fully support it but that doesn't mean there can't be some criticisms.

    That said, this issue hasn't been addressed much (if at all) because no one really brings it up. Riot isn't really great at educating their player base. I mean there are attempts here and there mostly with the Champion Spotlight but often times those boil down to being a sale's pitch. I believe Riot has settled into outsourcing most of the educational needs. I mean sure Riot talks to players on the forums here and there and has stream spotlights too but the forums don't reach everyone and the streamers have their own issues.