Reign of Gaming

I think it's safe to assume that with how cheap attack damage is nowadays I will prefer armor penetration over flat AD. The boost to your ability to last hit doesn't change much for me. I've been playing ADC for about a year now and have no problem doing it with 55-60 AD at lvl 1. I've also been skipping doran's for early pickaxe and and/or vamp scepter so I tend to have a lot of extra AD pretty early.

Winrar, but wouldn't you say that the fact that the blackfire torch is so efficient is because AP champions in the twisted treeline being extremely inefficient because of the lack of a farm heavy laning phase? In a way, the blackfire torch and the Wooglet's witchcap, while being "gold OP" are not per se "gameplay" OP because the AP champs have kind of a rough start, needing to make the most of their abilities while having only 1 or 2 items.

Of course, some mages like Teemo, Rumble and Singed already thrive on this and as such they are constant presence in the treeline, which may cause some balance problems, but overall, since it's map specific, I don't see the blackfire torch as something stupidly overpowered. I still think it's strong, but balanced.

Your comments on Kha'Zix make you look like you've never seen either Alien or Predator. Or pokémon, for that matter. SCYTHEEEEEER

After finishing another Hashinshin read, you can come up with a lot of things to discuss, but none better than:
"B*tch, you're crazy!".

OMG DEM CARDZ

I'm completely against the "pick something strong and carry your team" advice. The "Support sux" thing is also total bs. First thing: to raise elo you must play anything in terms of roles. But don't bother much in playing all the OPs. Just make sure you can cover any space with champions you're comfortable with.
The problem with "carry your team" mentality is that it supposes that you're actually THAT Good and is in elo hell due to your team. Generally, that's rather inaccurate or just plain false: you belong in your elo because you are average. If you want to climb elo, you must overcome your difficulties. Troll/Feeder is a matchmaking fact, you are as likely to find one as not, and so is the other team. The only advice to take from that is: when you find such a player playing in the opposing team, abuse it. When it's on yours, try and make it up if at all possible.

I'd take a longer look at that. Ashe is still tier 1 because while she doesn't have that dash, she is probably the strongest kiting champion of the game, which, if you look at it, is related to mobility. People look sideways at caitlyn but she is both strong at kiting and has a (limited) dash, her lategame is by no means supbar, but her damage cannot compare.

Graves and Corki have ALWAYS been strong, the only ezreal crept up lately is because both got nerfed heavily, which hit their lategame potential.

I do believe meta shifts can bring things that were under the water, but I also believe that mobility and crowd control are two factors that require very delicate tuning. Right now, I think this is something that requires balancing on both sides: AD mobility nerfs would make other options available and CC/Mobility adjusts on bruisers and mages would also help that "in your face" feeling on non-jumping ADs.

As usual, time will tell. It's just a little bit unnerving to be playing the same three champions over and over again when you see that Olaf/Jax/Irelia/Ahri/Gragas pop on your screen.

It's worthwhile to note, GentlemanGustaf, that while you have been accruing the number o releases to math it out, you may note that not every release gets integrated into "tier-wise" gameplay. Meaning: doesn't matter that we didn't have a significant enough mobility creep in AD Carries, when the only "viable-ish" ones have those dashes/jumps.

What I'm trying to say is: while the effect may not be generalized in regards to mobility and CC creep, you have to deal with the fact that these are dominant champions these days, which severly hinders the viability of non-mobile, non cc heavy champions. And while you praise the pick-counterpick aspect of "Ashe and Kog'maw can still fit the right comps", the critique we can make is that: why are there champions that have been reduced to niche or non-use while others are just able to fit anywhere and still be all over the place?

This is both sad and stupid. It creates the trinity force of AD Carries and puts Vayne, (my favorite) Draven, Sivir, (tristana may yet be rediscovered), Varus and pretty much every non-jumping AD carry out of order. It also creates situations that are extremely unfun. Take the case of high level top and mid lane. It has shifted towards boring/safe matchups of champions that are just impossible to kill or drive out because you just have to protect yourself against jump-happy junglers, which in turn makes the junglers turn away from ganking and into fast-clearing, control and counter-jungling. Which is fine by the junglers, but very annoying for people who like aggressive top and mid lanes.

This is turning into article size, so wrap-up: while there may not be a notable amount of gap-closers and cc in new releases or over time, the relative strength that these mechanics posess is giving them an abnormal "weight" in the game, making any release that contains one of these that much more viable AND putting a lot of fun champions and gameplay idea to the sidelines. Draven was a double-fail? Hell no, it's one of the most engaging and fun champions to play, but the way people jump in your face today makes your lack of a jump AND your need to run out of your way to catch an axe or lose on DPS an impossible mission in lategame teamfights. This is bad for the game, and new releases that don't find a way around this will make it worse.

P.S.: Just saw Kha'Zix and guess what, just like Rengar, he has both JUMPS AND STEALTH.

Quote from abrb2011 »

Let me prenote this by saying that I love Rengar, but I disagree with the premise that he's OP.

He's not that strong, you just have to figure out how he's going to play and counter play that. In lane, he's very weak early and it's obvious what he's doing if he heads towards bushes. Harass him into the floor. His roar isn't spammable for the heal. His jungle isn't that great either early. His only sustain being his roar which requires five casts just to get the heal. The double cast at 4 stacks is nice, but honestly any good invader can shit stomp his sack in within the first 10m if they're smart. You need to think about the champion critically before passing judgment.

Strengths

• Not mana reliant.
• Each ability has the potential to be combo'd and buffed differently based on the situation at hand.
• Nice heal every 5 casts.
• Good combos and trades.
• Great burst, passable sustained damage. Single target kill chance vs squishies is very high if he's fed.
• Good AD ratios.
• Fantastic bush abuser.
• His gank capacity is really strong, he's one of those champions who can almost always force Summoner's.
• His ult is tits, it gives him a great chase/escape tool in tight or clutch situations.
• Strong cleanup.

Weaknesses

• He has no hard CC without full Ferocity, if he uses stacks for the stun, he hampers his combo damage significantly.
• He can bush juke, but this is predictable. Until level 6, he's basically a sitting duck for lane ganks with low mobility at best.
• His jungle has a slow, low sustained start. Consequently, strong new-era control junglers can eat him up early game.
• He has a strong sustain built into Roar, but it is dependent on full Ferocity stacks. Also, ->Ignite<-
• His team fighting isn't that great, and even with Roar buffs, he's not tanky enough to be up in the front lines. He's best suited for jungle skirmishes thanks to bushes.
• He can't push very hard without putting himself in danger. Even his ult is not full proof push security.
• Building him AP means you play AP Sion, I know you've seen this build work but it's simply not efficient to rely on one ability to do everything you want.
• He entirely lacks the capacity to stop or help stop strong pushes. He can't do damage without being in the middle of the fray, which is what most push strats avoid.

Feasible Lane Counterpicks (Top)

• Rumble
• Irelia
• Cho'Gath
• Renekton

Feasible Jungle Counterpicks

• Lee Sin
• Shyvana
• Dr. Mundo

I'm not saying Rengar is weak, I am saying he's not the bomb diggity OP Highness, he's just a FOTM thanks to patch buffs. I also agree he shouldn't be let into tournaments atm, but he's definitely not Diana.

Let me just add a few other things: Rengar is an assassin type. Meaning he is very similar in both strengths and weaknesses to famed Akali and Diana. Meaning: easy way in, hard way out. He is also extremely weak in viability compared to other characters in that he is terrible at "coming back". If you can get that snowball rolling, you're very strong, but if you're setback early, you're basically doomed.

Also, as abrb2011 smartly pointed out, YES, he has strong burst, YES, he has strong sustain, YES he has hard CC. But he can only choose one. And the patch didn't improve his ferocity stacking. Treat him in the toplane like you treat a Fiora matchup. The first 3-5 levels are crucial, and if you make them miserable for him, you can abuse him all game.

True, but isn't that something that Riven/olaf/Jax/Jayce/whatever does in the toplane?