Reign of Gaming

Anyone who can get through the wall: Xin, Lee Sin, Noct, Zac, Vi.  Strong early gankers like Xin and Lee do well versus J4 since they can counter-gank and/or match the pace of his ganks.  

The question is what are you trying to accomplish with that build?  Split pushing?  I'd keep Lichbane over IBG.  Kiting?  TF's never going to kite/spam like Ezreal since he doesn't have a built in flash nor a Q on as short of a cooldown.  Teamfighting?  Even with the boost to AS, I don't know that DPS is a better choice for TF over burst considering that with max CDR his Q will still only get to 2.4 CD.  While that build looks good on paper, I don't see how it synergizes well with TFs kit.

However...I could see TFs starting to like SotEL now that his innate CDR is gone.  Penetration isn't an issue in regards to the passive since it's true damage.  Plus, extra AD certainly wouldn't hurt TFs split push.  Finally, since his mana sustain got hid hard, I don't think TF would mind the regen either.

Generally speaking, if you're going to get a tear, you need to get it ASAP so you can begin stacking it.  My understanding is next you pick up SotEL.  From there, it all starts to vary.  Need more damage?  Turn Tear into Manamune.  Enemy stacking armor?  Last Whisper.  Enemy stacking health?  BotRK.  Need more survivabiliy and kitability? IBG.  One of the strengths of this build is that there are a lot of cheap little pieces you can mix and match with on your way to completed items.  For example, you could grab a Bilgewater and Sheen if you want sustain, damage, and better self-peel.  While I believe the total cost is similar to a traditional ADC build, you build "faster" because you're never sitting around waiting for 1550 for a BF. 

Quote from ICMS »

Quote from LPF »

**Snip.

Why does this site have hashishin as writer instead of you, again?

Lol, thank you.

The only way you stop dealing with hard counters is to learn a champion thoroughly.  Every match-up is a "problem" and each champions kit has "tools" you can use to create a solution.  If you know how to understand the problem and have mastered your tools, you won't have a problem arriving at a solution.

Okay, massive face palm.  Let's say I pick Janna to counter Leona and my ADC is Caitlyn.  Leona decides to jump on me.  I'm stunned so all my disengage means nothing because I can't use it.  If Leona jumps on Caitlyn, however, I can shield, tornado, birdy slow if necessary, and Cait should walk away with minimal to no damage.  As I stressed in my original response, this is all modified by who Leona's ADC is.  Against Leona + a gap closing ADC, the best course of action is to not get engaged upon at all and keep the lane by your tower. 

Moreover, staying behind the ADC is different from standing half a lane away.  You'll recall I advised the ADC and support staying near each other when against Leona.  Because Leona can very brutally punish mistakes, unless I had the chance to counter-pick her with Thresh or Ali, I have to play the lane cautiously and get a feel for how skilled the enemy pair is before I try anything too clever.  Contrary to what you seem to think, a support who's analyzing the lane and playing intelligently so he doesn't give up first blood at three minutes isn't a useless support.  Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.

It's also interesting you ask for tips on handling Leona as an ADC but have spent most of your time bashing supports.  So as an ADC you can:

1.  Know Leona's range.  Like seriously.  It's a big ass lane.  Position outside of her zone.  Know her cooldowns too.

2.  Know she's really good at killing wards.  Sometimes, your support literally can't ward the bush.  Believe it or not though, you don't actually need to see Leona to know where she is.  Where do all Leona's like to stand?  The _ip of the _ush, maybe?  Guess what, you can now predict where she is without demanding your support continue to feed her wards.  You can extrapolate this more broadly to know Leona.  What do Leona players like to do?  What's her playstyle?  Predict, adjust, adapt.

3.  Freeze your damn lane.  Even minion-health Sona can zone Leona if she's got the tower to help her control the zone.  But if you AFK shove the entire time, don't be surprised when I position oh, exactly 701 units away from Leona.  That's not the support being bad.  That's the support realizing that "not-feeding" is the only course of action they can take based on the circumstances they're presented with.   

Number one rule versus Leona: don't push your lane.  Your tower is your greatest ally versus Leona.  You can freeze your lane so you're within tower range but the creep wave is just outside of it.  This means Leona is in tower danger if she chooses to engage, but you're not losing CS to the tower. 

Leona is a very reactionary support.  She doesn't rely on making plays so much as punishing other people for making bad plays.  Positioning is everything against her.  If her ADC is, for example, Miss Fortune, you can being a little more ballsy with Leona since MF has no real way to follow up on Leona's initiation.  With any gap closer ADC, however, you have to be VERY careful since the ADC is only an Arcane Shift/Rocket Jump away.   

You also generally want to stand together with your support.  Leona can only stun one of you (pre-6) while the other deals free damage.  This can deter her from jumping on you.  Post-6, you still want to stand together but far enough apart that she can't stunlock both of you.  

As for supports hiding behind you, that's not categorically wrong.  ADCs have minimal peeling capacity.  Supports have moderate to extensive peeling capacity.  What this means is, if Leona has to jump on someone, as a support, I kind of want it to be the ADC.  I can get Leona and her ADC off you but the reverse isn't true.

I've gotten 20 LP for wins, but when I do, I'm also eating 20 LP for losses.   So decoupling the MMR (elo) from the division seems really really dim.

From what I recall, the whole League/Division thing was introduced to make Bronze, Silver, and Gold feel like little shifts in ELO "meant" something.  Going from Silver V to Silver IV looks more exciting than going from 1201 ELO to 1299 ELO.  The problem, though, is that people think Leagues and Divisions are the equivalent of playing a campaign.  "I've played 200 games, I should be Silver II!  Matchmaking's broken/unfair/stupid!"  If I had a crystal ball, I would predict Riot will make some modifications to the League/Division model between S3 and S4 since most of the community has zero understanding of the system. 

Moreover, there's a reason LP clamping exists, especially for moving from Something I to Whatever V.  Having a high Silver MMR isn't the same as being ready for Gold V so the system will deliberately throttle your LP until your MMR (which is basically what ELO used to be) shows you're actually ready for Gold and a promotion series.  

The way to interpret this is, if you're getting large LP gains/losses, the system either isn't quite sure where you should be yet (played <100 games) or thinks you need to move up or down (played >100 games).  Mind you, if you've been averaging +/-4 LP but suddenly start getting +/-5-7 LP for wins or losses, this is the system adjusting you because your MMR shows you need to move.  

If you're getting small LP gain/losses, then the system thinks you're at your correct MMR and/or aren't ready to rise higher.  If you bounce between Bronze II and I, this isn't the universe being cruel.  Under the old system, this would mean your ELO fluctuated between 1100 and 1199 so you should float around the high end of Bronze.  The difference now is that small ELO shifts are represented by divisions rather than watching a number move up and down.       

When I'm in a game that seems like a lost cause from champ select, the first thing I do is accept that I'm most likely going to lose this game.  This isn't a defeatist attitude.  It's liberating.  If I know I'm going to lose the war, I focus on the battle.  I set an alternative goal for myself besides "win".  Get the most CS of anyone on my team, never die outside of teamfights, practice checking the mini-map every five seconds, never leave base without two wards, whatever.  Alternatively, if I want to experiment with a different build or work on learning a new champion, I'll use the troll game as a laboratory opportunity (normals only, though).  Mind you, this isn't me trolling too.  I still "tryhard" since sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised with an actual win, but I don't pressure myself to win that particular game or get upset over a loss.  

Even if you get on a streak of two or three trolls/idiots/afks, give yourself permission to lose.  Yes, even in ranked.  Tell yourself, okay, I'm not exactly harvesting IP/LP tonight, but whatever, I'm focusing on improving my skills and getting a chance to try some things out.  I mean, the only alternative is to get frustrated, pissy, and start raging.  In a weird way, by rolling with the punches and staying calm, you're thwarting the troll.  Generally speaking, they want to see people lose their temper and get upset.  They have small genitalia and their mothers didn't love them.  Stay zen, adjust your expectations, and the trolls can't touch you.   

Your post makes it sound like you played nothing but bots until level 30, is this correct?  If so, you have two options.  You can suffer through a very brutal learning curve as you effectively re-learn how to play the game in normals or you can make a smurf and level it to 30 playing normals.  

If you're just starting to play against real people, your skill level is the equivalent of a level 5-10 player.  Matchmaking, however, sees your level 30 and matches you with other similarly leveled players, even though they started playing against other people a long time ago.  Beyond giving you a general idea of which way the enemy Nexus is, bots in no way prepare you for playing against humans.  You're months away from wanting to even think about ranked.  Like I said, you basically need to throw out everything you "know" and learn the game again if most of your experience is bots.