All of the above are good picks in my eyes. Viktor is phenomenal, but if you want less popular picks a bully like Ori or Anivia if you can play her well. Anivia is a personal pick vs assassins due to her survival amd point blank stun/burst. Unfortunately she's blue dependent which puts weight on your jung. Otherwise, Brand is strong (2v1 god) but rather unpopular, and also has his quick point blank stun for ganks/assassins. No mobility except ori, but I'd argue Brand still has good roam in his ability to gank bot post 6, pushed or not.
Karthus vs Kat I've always struggled, Vik is a bit better off for his burst coming out quick and being able to counterstun. Karthus can't het away or kill her first.
Honestly, kinda hypocritical to bash assassins and play shaco, the most heinous and impossible to retaliate against of them. Just my opinion though, low diamond elo is a different place than gold elo.
I think Cassio is just a stronger version of Karthus at the moment. If you are good with Viktor with all the kiting and mid range dps mage play style, you will probably pick her up quite fast.
Cassio can solo carry a game if you are good enough, so how does that sound?
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But mom my global ultimate!
They are fairly similiar, i mean come on, the Q is literally the same hitbox. But maybe cassio really is the way to go rather than karthus, will give her a try. But that still opens another question: how do i play vs lb who deals more damage than me in a trade, do i play passive and wait for my fangs or just ... not? :I
@mrfuzzy78 i am not bashing assasins, i am saying that i find assasin midlane cheap and lame.
I could come up with some story that explains why shaco is a very complex champion, but to be honest i just play him because he has a lot of potential and is active.
The first thing that came to my mind is Vel'Koz. He is a strong and safe mid-laner that works against all matchups, even assassins if you are careful. Good teamfight potential with his utlimate, good laning phase, good combo (E+W, Ult), deals true damage with his passive, and low cooldowns. The reason why he isn't played much is that he is immobile like many AP mages and is skill-shot reliant.
One of my best mid laners, so I recommend using him and who doesn't love using his laser? :3
Aww, I just wanted to recommend some filthy, filthy assassins until I read your last paragraph.
Anyway, I feel like Syndra is still decent if you know how to play her and I personally think it's great she doesn't get banned anymore.
Annie is a similar champion to Viktor with the downside of less versatility and the upside of less counterplay but I will personally hate everyone that plays her in my games. Brand is another name to be mentioned here, but his burst takes a bit longer and the advantages of picking him are a bit weird (i.e. his R can be downright broken or downright useless and I haven't figured out what determines his bounce targets yet). I'd assume Malzahar falls into a similar niche, but he's a bit buggy and only really excels in specific situations (protecting a hypercarry and kitey teamfights where your W can work wonders).
I don't know what else to recommend. My personal champion pool (besides Zed) is a bit atypical for SoloQ, so that won't help. Anyway, good luck at finding to your former strength.
I'm seeing a ton of LB, Zed, Kata, Diana and Ahri. Obviously so other mages too like Annie, Viktor, and Cassio, but I see a ton of assassins still.
I don't see Diana as an assassin, not quite. Actually, if I see anything become meta, then it would be DPS mages because ADCs alone can't deal with tanks becoming popular.
And sorry, I can't actually talk about this because Zed is basically non existant, Ahri is a mage for me, Kat is not really played in my games for some reason. Leaving only LB as not banned and picked.
Last edited by LoliKingTaku: 3/19/2015 12:55:02 PM
The first thing that came to my mind is Vel'Koz. He is a strong and safe mid-laner that works against all matchups, even assassins if you are careful. Good teamfight potential with his utlimate, good laning phase, good combo (E+W, Ult), deals true damage with his passive, and low cooldowns. The reason why he isn't played much is that he is immobile like many AP mages and is skill-shot reliant.
One of my best mid laners, so I recommend using him and who doesn't love using his laser? :3
I love the squid as much as anyone as he's one of my mains, but he's far from good against all matchups. Dashes and gapclosers absolutely crap on him. He has four skillshots, and his ult roots him with a slow turn speed. He's very safe IF the enemy can't close the gap to you (good luck catching him running after him), but once they get on top of you you can't fight back at all as they can just circle around you to avoid Q, W, and R. Your best hope is hitting a E and flashing or something to get distance to land a Q and run.
I used to just blind pick him into anything in mid gold and wreck face, but once I got up to plat MMR I only feel safe playing him when there are 2 or fewer gapclosers on their team. Ire, Riven, Vi, J4, Nid, Sej, Lee, Rek, Rango... all ruin his day pretty hard even if they aren't his lane opponent.
They are fairly similiar, i mean come on, the Q is literally the same hitbox. But maybe cassio really is the way to go rather than karthus, will give her a try. But that still opens another question: how do i play vs lb who deals more damage than me in a trade, do i play passive and wait for my fangs or just ... not? :I
@mrfuzzy78 i am not bashing assasins, i am saying that i find assasin midlane cheap and lame.
I could come up with some story that explains why shaco is a very complex champion, but to be honest i just play him because he has a lot of potential and is active.
Cassio outdamages everyone in a prolongued fight. You have to abuse that. If LB wants to all-in you, she has to jump into you, which gives you are free ulti. I think running a defensive summoner is best on Cassio. Ignite doesn't really add much to her dueling potential, because she usually dies before her superior dps matters. Exhaust helps her survive and turn the fight around.
I've talked a lot with Taku about it and you can just check his guide, because it's spot-on. Go Seraph's->Rylai's and you're good to go. Items after that are situational. Liandry's is an option against hyper tanks. Deathcap is probably best for raw damage. Luden's gives wave clear and utility. Its passive procs Rylai's, so you can slow people from further away and since Cassio is so spammy, it also provides decent damage for her.
Cassio is kinda a broken champion. Her ultimate is way more useful than Viktor's W and she can build pretty tanky and still kill everything. If you get good with her you can win like 70% games and even more. Especially in the current super tank meta, she shines, because getting more than one MR item is inefficient.
Karthus is good against squishy teams, because then his AoE damage shines, but he can't deal with tanky teams like Cassio can.
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I'm seeing a ton of LB, Zed, Kata, Diana and Ahri. Obviously so other mages too like Annie, Viktor, and Cassio, but I see a ton of assassins still.
I don't see Diana as an assassin, not quite. Actually, if I see anything become meta, then it would be DPS mages because ADCs alone can't deal with tanks becoming popular.
And sorry, I can't actually talk about this because Zed is basically non existant, Ahri is a mage for me, Kat is not really played in my games for some reason. Leaving only LB as not banned and picked.
AH ok. Totally understandable.
I guess I define anyone with high mobility and single target burst as an assassin. Like "get in, blow up that guy, get out". So Ahri and Diana fall into that for me.
What high DPS mages are you seeing? Also, why is Zed a non-factor? I'm still seeing him picked or banned in 60%+ of my games.
As others have stated, Vel'Koz. He is an underrated champion capable of carrying the damage aspect of team fights with his death ray. A bit of set up and peel from the ever popular Sejuani / Jarvan / Amumu being played or baiting the enemy team into a choke point is all it takes.
Other than Vel, the only champions that come to mind are:Annie, Xerath, Anivia, Malzahar, Swain. The only one who hasn't been mentioned yet is Swain. :P
i had quite some success with midlane vladimir lately. he seems to do pretty well against the common meta picks and can just destory teams mid to lategame
I disagree, Karthus is love and life. Behold as every single assassin thinks they beat you early game by ducking out of minion wave to get lay waste crit 3 times into forced flash...it is hilarious.
Not sure if people understand how strong karthus is early game assuming you hit your giant skittles. Infinite mana sustain in lane, global pressure, the only issues I have had over the past 40ish games both ranked and normals are:
Ward or get sodomized by any of the following super ganks (Jarvan Q->E[Because you can q before e on jarvan and still proc the knockup?!], Any vi ability cause yolo op, Maokai W, the pantented surprise party fiddle sticks ganks from YOUR raptors, the patented barely efficient rek'sai gank that somehow gets you killed anyway, the leona roam from bot lane, the riven roam from top lane at 3 minutes in because this is a thing now, the gives 0 fucks yolo jungle pantheon ult.)
About that pantheon jungle thing though, I can't tell you how many times I have been ulted at full health under tower and just died to it...so like...prepare your anus.
Mathups: I have never had a problem with assasins...you just have to know how to fight them/when to not, but as karthus, with your raptor jesus range, you should never be zoned that hard.
Matchups that suck: Ahri is a whore, Xerath kind of a whore, the main issue is jungle camp.
Some of you guys might try to grab your pitchforks and torches when I say this but I just got to... I've been playing mid as my preferred role for years and have learned just about every viable mid champion. However the champ I've been EASILY carrying on is one that I never looked twice at until recently. Cho'gath is incredible guys.
He counters sooo many popular mids including Kat, Zed, Ori, and Fizz. Max W and focus on last hitting, and only harrassing when the enemy comes close to cs. His passive will provide more sustain than most mids can deal with unless you take needless AA's over and over. After a solid laning phase you bring SO much to the mid/late game. Heavy CC, the ability to tank/offtank, massive single target burst for turning fights into a quick 4v5, AoE damage that's perfect for Wombo teams, and a knockup for those Yasuo comps. I've been doing very very well on him so far, and he is very easy to play. He just wins lane with mega stats and overbearing tankiness. Not to mention that in the current meta you can safely first pick him in yoloqueue and be fine, as the enemy team will either assume you are top or jungle most times. Hell even when they send champs that are my counter I've had an easy time winning.
Even when I first started and was still sloppy as hell with landing his Q I was still wrecking most games (usually only lost the game when my carrying just wasnt enough). Now that I've had some time to get used to his Q, it's amazing. Not to mention this guy brings and extra way to secure dragon and baron kills with his ulti. I've gotten so many flash/feast dragon steals. It amazing to watch a whole team blow their ultis on me in the dragon pit as I bring their squishies down by 30-50% of their HP before dying and getting dragon, and then watching my team come in and clean them up in the dragon pit. If you haven't looked at this guy, look again.
I've played EVERY conventional mid, many many times over, but I wish I would have discovered this guy sooner. Just prioritize getting your feast stacks up early unless you can use it to land a kill, and try not to make risky plays until mid/late game when you have at least 3 high tier items.
Honestly why dont you try heimerdinger? I personally prefer him in the toplane but he works well against assasins, Just fight behind your towers and run flash and heal or barrier which ever you prefer, le blanc would have to dash into your turrets to deal damage to you which will let you land an easy stun also since her spells are fairly short range it makes it even easier for you to push her out of lane of stop her from snowballing on you.
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All of the above are good picks in my eyes. Viktor is phenomenal, but if you want less popular picks a bully like Ori or Anivia if you can play her well. Anivia is a personal pick vs assassins due to her survival amd point blank stun/burst. Unfortunately she's blue dependent which puts weight on your jung. Otherwise, Brand is strong (2v1 god) but rather unpopular, and also has his quick point blank stun for ganks/assassins. No mobility except ori, but I'd argue Brand still has good roam in his ability to gank bot post 6, pushed or not.
Karthus vs Kat I've always struggled, Vik is a bit better off for his burst coming out quick and being able to counterstun. Karthus can't het away or kill her first.
Honestly, kinda hypocritical to bash assassins and play shaco, the most heinous and impossible to retaliate against of them. Just my opinion though, low diamond elo is a different place than gold elo.
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DiamondBut mom my global ultimate!
They are fairly similiar, i mean come on, the Q is literally the same hitbox. But maybe cassio really is the way to go rather than karthus, will give her a try. But that still opens another question: how do i play vs lb who deals more damage than me in a trade, do i play passive and wait for my fangs or just ... not? :I
@mrfuzzy78 i am not bashing assasins, i am saying that i find assasin midlane cheap and lame.
I could come up with some story that explains why shaco is a very complex champion, but to be honest i just play him because he has a lot of potential and is active.
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Stop killing Nidalee Riot :(
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PlatinumWhy not Twisted Fate or Vel'Koz?
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GoldThe first thing that came to my mind is Vel'Koz. He is a strong and safe mid-laner that works against all matchups, even assassins if you are careful. Good teamfight potential with his utlimate, good laning phase, good combo (E+W, Ult), deals true damage with his passive, and low cooldowns. The reason why he isn't played much is that he is immobile like many AP mages and is skill-shot reliant.
One of my best mid laners, so I recommend using him and who doesn't love using his laser? :3
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DiamondAww, I just wanted to recommend some filthy, filthy assassins until I read your last paragraph.
Anyway, I feel like Syndra is still decent if you know how to play her and I personally think it's great she doesn't get banned anymore.
Annie is a similar champion to Viktor with the downside of less versatility and the upside of less counterplay
but I will personally hate everyone that plays her in my games. Brand is another name to be mentioned here, but his burst takes a bit longer and the advantages of picking him are a bit weird (i.e. his R can be downright broken or downright useless and I haven't figured out what determines his bounce targets yet). I'd assume Malzahar falls into a similar niche, but he's a bit buggy and only really excels in specific situations (protecting a hypercarry and kitey teamfights where your W can work wonders).I don't know what else to recommend. My personal champion pool (besides Zed) is a bit atypical for SoloQ, so that won't help. Anyway, good luck at finding to your former strength.
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I signed in to say that I am 11-4 with Karthus at gold 3...Idk what that means, but yolo.
Now I'm curious, what do you see as the mid meta?
I'm seeing a ton of LB, Zed, Kata, Diana and Ahri. Obviously so other mages too like Annie, Viktor, and Cassio, but I see a ton of assassins still.
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DiamondI don't see Diana as an assassin, not quite. Actually, if I see anything become meta, then it would be DPS mages because ADCs alone can't deal with tanks becoming popular.
And sorry, I can't actually talk about this because Zed is basically non existant, Ahri is a mage for me, Kat is not really played in my games for some reason. Leaving only LB as not banned and picked.
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PlatinumI love the squid as much as anyone as he's one of my mains, but he's far from good against all matchups. Dashes and gapclosers absolutely crap on him. He has four skillshots, and his ult roots him with a slow turn speed. He's very safe IF the enemy can't close the gap to you (good luck catching him running after him), but once they get on top of you you can't fight back at all as they can just circle around you to avoid Q, W, and R. Your best hope is hitting a E and flashing or something to get distance to land a Q and run.
I used to just blind pick him into anything in mid gold and wreck face, but once I got up to plat MMR I only feel safe playing him when there are 2 or fewer gapclosers on their team. Ire, Riven, Vi, J4, Nid, Sej, Lee, Rek, Rango... all ruin his day pretty hard even if they aren't his lane opponent.
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GoldCassio outdamages everyone in a prolongued fight. You have to abuse that. If LB wants to all-in you, she has to jump into you, which gives you are free ulti. I think running a defensive summoner is best on Cassio. Ignite doesn't really add much to her dueling potential, because she usually dies before her superior dps matters. Exhaust helps her survive and turn the fight around.
I've talked a lot with Taku about it and you can just check his guide, because it's spot-on. Go Seraph's->Rylai's and you're good to go. Items after that are situational. Liandry's is an option against hyper tanks. Deathcap is probably best for raw damage. Luden's gives wave clear and utility. Its passive procs Rylai's, so you can slow people from further away and since Cassio is so spammy, it also provides decent damage for her.
Cassio is kinda a broken champion. Her ultimate is way more useful than Viktor's W and she can build pretty tanky and still kill everything. If you get good with her you can win like 70% games and even more. Especially in the current super tank meta, she shines, because getting more than one MR item is inefficient.
Karthus is good against squishy teams, because then his AoE damage shines, but he can't deal with tanky teams like Cassio can.
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AH ok. Totally understandable.
I guess I define anyone with high mobility and single target burst as an assassin. Like "get in, blow up that guy, get out". So Ahri and Diana fall into that for me.
What high DPS mages are you seeing? Also, why is Zed a non-factor? I'm still seeing him picked or banned in 60%+ of my games.
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Ban kat or be sure you know the other mid, before taking karthus mid. He has fair matchups against most other champs.
Roamers are best... Katarina, Talon and Zed are good examples. At least they worked for me.
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PlatinumPretty funny to see, that 50% of you guys tell him to play assassins, if he said, that he doesn't want to play assassins.
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PlatinumAs others have stated, Vel'Koz. He is an underrated champion capable of carrying the damage aspect of team fights with his death ray. A bit of set up and peel from the ever popular Sejuani / Jarvan / Amumu being played or baiting the enemy team into a choke point is all it takes.
Other than Vel, the only champions that come to mind are:Annie, Xerath, Anivia, Malzahar, Swain. The only one who hasn't been mentioned yet is Swain. :P
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Goldi had quite some success with midlane vladimir lately. he seems to do pretty well against the common meta picks and can just destory teams mid to lategame
I disagree, Karthus is love and life. Behold as every single assassin thinks they beat you early game by ducking out of minion wave to get lay waste crit 3 times into forced flash...it is hilarious.
Not sure if people understand how strong karthus is early game assuming you hit your giant skittles. Infinite mana sustain in lane, global pressure, the only issues I have had over the past 40ish games both ranked and normals are:
Ward or get sodomized by any of the following super ganks (Jarvan Q->E[Because you can q before e on jarvan and still proc the knockup?!], Any vi ability cause yolo op, Maokai W, the pantented surprise party fiddle sticks ganks from YOUR raptors, the patented barely efficient rek'sai gank that somehow gets you killed anyway, the leona roam from bot lane, the riven roam from top lane at 3 minutes in because this is a thing now, the gives 0 fucks yolo jungle pantheon ult.)
About that pantheon jungle thing though, I can't tell you how many times I have been ulted at full health under tower and just died to it...so like...prepare your anus.
Mathups: I have never had a problem with assasins...you just have to know how to fight them/when to not, but as karthus, with your raptor jesus range, you should never be zoned that hard.
Matchups that suck: Ahri is a whore, Xerath kind of a whore, the main issue is jungle camp.
Some of you guys might try to grab your pitchforks and torches when I say this but I just got to... I've been playing mid as my preferred role for years and have learned just about every viable mid champion. However the champ I've been EASILY carrying on is one that I never looked twice at until recently. Cho'gath is incredible guys.
He counters sooo many popular mids including Kat, Zed, Ori, and Fizz. Max W and focus on last hitting, and only harrassing when the enemy comes close to cs. His passive will provide more sustain than most mids can deal with unless you take needless AA's over and over. After a solid laning phase you bring SO much to the mid/late game. Heavy CC, the ability to tank/offtank, massive single target burst for turning fights into a quick 4v5, AoE damage that's perfect for Wombo teams, and a knockup for those Yasuo comps. I've been doing very very well on him so far, and he is very easy to play. He just wins lane with mega stats and overbearing tankiness. Not to mention that in the current meta you can safely first pick him in yoloqueue and be fine, as the enemy team will either assume you are top or jungle most times. Hell even when they send champs that are my counter I've had an easy time winning.
Even when I first started and was still sloppy as hell with landing his Q I was still wrecking most games (usually only lost the game when my carrying just wasnt enough). Now that I've had some time to get used to his Q, it's amazing. Not to mention this guy brings and extra way to secure dragon and baron kills with his ulti. I've gotten so many flash/feast dragon steals. It amazing to watch a whole team blow their ultis on me in the dragon pit as I bring their squishies down by 30-50% of their HP before dying and getting dragon, and then watching my team come in and clean them up in the dragon pit. If you haven't looked at this guy, look again.
I've played EVERY conventional mid, many many times over, but I wish I would have discovered this guy sooner. Just prioritize getting your feast stacks up early unless you can use it to land a kill, and try not to make risky plays until mid/late game when you have at least 3 high tier items.
Honestly why dont you try heimerdinger? I personally prefer him in the toplane but he works well against assasins, Just fight behind your towers and run flash and heal or barrier which ever you prefer, le blanc would have to dash into your turrets to deal damage to you which will let you land an easy stun also since her spells are fairly short range it makes it even easier for you to push her out of lane of stop her from snowballing on you.