[PC] League of Legends

[Mach56gs]

Just stick to ARAMs, Dominion, the new game modes that Rito introduces

If anything just play normals and catch up with all of the champs for there. The jungle is different so stick to relearning lanes first.

Spoiler for IEM:

You had ONE JOB, SK.


ONE.


STINKING.


JOB.

[Kafriel]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Any tips for someone who will return to the game?
I think last time I played was during the time when Karma was new, and that's a LOT of heroes to learn and relearn.

Also, as someone with a far less than competitive nature, will it be a good idea to jump in to the League compared to DotA 2 or other MOBAs? Right now, I'm ping-ponging between Minecraft and Dragon Nest and I wanted a change of atmosphere or something like that.

Smite is popular and I've tried a few others, but LoL is by far the most fun to play for me. ARAMs will help you get the hang of the new poking options available (of which there are many) and bot games can introduce you to the new new jungle and the ever-changing items. I still haven't played any solo Q despite it being two weeks or so since my own return.

P.S: Karma pwns well, I managed to hold a lane 1v2 and still get ~55 cs by the 10' mark. She has been redesigned to fit mid and top in addition to her classic bot role...but strangely enough, few people play Karma.

Spoiler for finalists:

TSM vs WE, who'da thunk it?

[DevilHighDxD]

Unbelievable, holy #$%ing unbelievable. Good luck for all the teams that will face EDG in the MSI.

[IceHism]

Thats right GE tigers.

Spoiler:

Get #rekt

Lpl is bad they say. WE has no chance they say
This must be supreme embarrassment to those folks on Inven and Reddit
Losing to a roster that only debuted at this tournament. Ouch

[DevilHighDxD]

Originally Posted by IceHism

Thats right GE tigers.

Spoiler:

Get #rekt

Lpl is bad they say. WE has no chance they say
This must be supreme embarrassment to those folks on Inven and Reddit
Losing to a roster that only debuted at this tournament. Ouch

They better hope now for WE to return and start stomping the LPL, if not it will be the biggest embarrassment for EU, NA and KR.

[Mach56gs]

That blue shell made me cry tears of joy.

Well done to the WE team, what a game they brought.

Gonna root for the west at the finals, but kinda split anyhow. Still incredibly bummed over SK's choke, I wanted to see them in a BO3 so bad.

[Marcus H.]

Summoner Level 3.
Holy shit, the sheer number of items available. D:

[Mach56gs]

Ingame or in shop?

Ingame don't sweat it, just go with recommended and start looking at some guides. The more you play you'll begin to see how certain items are non-meta and unused and you'll improve naturally.

In the LoL shop, I'd save my IP and then use it all on tier 3 runes. There are guides to that as well.

Keep at it, enjoy the game above all!

[IceHism]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Summoner Level 3.
Holy shit, the sheer number of items available. D:

Its okay, every champ has a set of only 6 out of 8-9 items they can realistically build

[Kafriel]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Summoner Level 3.
Holy shit, the sheer number of items available. D:

That's what makes it fun! No more of that crap cookie-cutter build that ALL champions of a certain role must buy! Have fun with AD Thresh and on-hit Vi :P

I ended up playing Soraka today, didn't know she had had yet another remake. What's with everyone getting skillshots? Does Riot hate targeted spells or something? ...anyway, no ADC in the team, Akali mid losing to Vlad and top just getting shredded by the enemy jungle/top. Lee Sin (not jungling but going bot against Caitlyn) spent more time in the fountain than in lane, so I was practically soloing bot with a support...again. Didn't know what else to do, so I went with warmog's/spirit visage and then a ton of AP in order to abuse her W! We somehow turned it at 40' and won after picking up a baron, but damn...that was hard.


EDIT: Screw this, lagging waaaay too much to watch this game live! At least now I know what I'll be doing tomorrow morning

EDIT2: So yeah, I ended up watching it...

Spoiler for GAME 1:

Damn that was an amazing match, what a terrible start for TSM! That last ace was a really close call too, gg for them carries. Santorin did well turning around the TF at the inhibitor turret with a double kill but Lustboy's Tibbers was the real game-changer imo...flash tibbers is never gonna die

WE played pretty well too, double blue steal, dragons, dat map control and Sion's annoying ult zoning everyone out. Xiye built way too much MR though, that abyssal scepter shouldn't have been followed by void staff - he could have gone for a zhonya's instead...oh well.

Spoiler for Game 2:

LV1 shennanigans were hilarious, Dyrus sure was the master baiter in that first blood Crazy game all around, lots of wasted opportunities by WE and, once again, burned ultimates on wrong calls. Can't really call them out on it though, they're up against TSM and had to play defensively. Waiting on the next one...

Spoiler for Game 3:

WE just got schooled this time around. Jungle Nidalee really did pay off, Aluka just got shut down for the first half of the game and Santorin's spears earned him many a kill (and a few buff steals). If WE could burst down Bjergsen at the first dragon fight, things would have been different for sure - Wildturtle on Lucian didn't hold that much of an advantage over Sivir, WE would just take that first dragon and at least a turret...but they were too far behind even then. Props to Dyrus for cockblocking Xiye's Ahri in that dragon pit, rushing into the jungle is too cliche

Anyway, GG and TSM once again shows what they're made of.

v use spoiler tags for a day or so, the match just ended.

[DevilHighDxD]

WE, I am proud of you. While I am a bit sad that I can't see Spirit holding that championship Cup. But for what you has accomplished coming into this tournament, you guys did excellence.

Congratz TSM, for being the strongest Western team.

Oh and NA > EU

[Awrya]

TSM are the champions, but still props to WE, no one expected them to go so far in this tournament.
Got to love twitch chat, they come up with so many weird things.

NSFW

Warning: Not safe to view at work or school!

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[IceHism]

TSM > Korea confirmed.

[Mach56gs]

Bad strategic plays from WE. Game 1 should have been theirs.

Death by a thousand cuts, really. Not impressed this series, but certainly their achievement of getting to the finals was nice.

[Awrya]

This is why ARAM is so fun (or not):
http://matchhistory.euw.leagueoflege...2?tab=overview

Enemy team with ridiculous burst potential with ADCs and Assassins + a Thresh for pulls. Kalista, Talon and Thresh were free rotation champs and you could feel that they never played them before. For every 2-3 Death Sentences someone on our team should have been bursted down, but Thresh either kept pulling the minions or Malphite.

But we also had a nice team comp with Malphite/Pantheon engage followed by Annie/Tibbers stun. I don't think I'll ever get used to Malphite's ultimate cry, that sound + jumping towards an enemy looks too funny.

Now that I'm level 27, it's about time I started to get runes, but it costs 10k+ to build one complete rune page from scratch (minus the ones I unlock as I level) with T3 runes.

[Last Sinner]

Spoiler for Reflections on IEM Katowice 2015:

Cloud 9 - what is it going to take to make them do what is required to stay competitive? There is a point where friendship overriding all things is eventually to one's own detriment. If C9 have any sense, they will make a roster change in the mid-year break. They peaked last year and the room for growth is minimal. Their utterly yolo queu mentality vs GE Tigers was a glaring example of that. Meteos and Sneaky aren't enough to carry passengers.

SK Gaming - Slowly getting better but learn to play something other than the 1-1-3 split. Nrated, for someone who's been playing for as long as you have, being able to play just Lulu to the required standard is way too low a champ pool. Ultimately, a poor draft vs the Flash Wolves cost them.

CJ Entus - Reasonable but they are a middle of the pack team. Ambition has transitioned reasonably well to the jungle but has a shallow champ pool. Madlife is in decline, which is painful to see given how he was once the epitome of supports. Space is showing improvement.

Gambit - Well....what can one say? Betsy made some very weird picks that backfired. Edward was hot and cold. Priorities weren't in line.

Flash Wolves - TPA have a legit rival. Jungle is definitely a strength of theirs, top is a weakness. Were fun to watch.

GE Tigers - Ha...ha...HA! Wow, you cocky numbskulls. Didn't tempting fate with SK Telecom a few weeks ago by letting Faker have LeBlanc for one game teach you nothing?! Laughing about the fact fans in Korea complained you should have beaten Cloud 9 three minutes faster than you did? Reality check - you've achieved nothing yet. You haven't finished #1 in a split yet, you haven't made it to Worlds yet or even All-Stars yet. Learn some humility - if that's possible for you. Pray, stop being so out of position as AD carry - you threw so hard against WE it was pitiful. Lee, don't go after targets that are so low success chances. You five had better hope this event didn't reveal to all of Korea as to how to beat you, because you're in for enough of a roasting from the fans once you get home. And every other team in the LCK will be mad as hell and after your heads. Don't go claiming you will win a tournament flawlessly - pride cometh before a fall.

Team WE - one wonders why the team changes didn't come sooner. What a run they had. Pity they weren't able to keep that level up versus TSM but they did well. Here's hoping they can stay in the LPL.

Team Solo Mid - It is a long time coming to see this team showing this level of play on the international stage. It is very clear how far they have come with their pick and ban quality, showing more aggression towards objectives and having multiple people being able to carry. Bjergsen was his usual good self but Wildturtle came of age at Katowice. Better laning phase, better positioning in team fights and taking initiative for objective pressure. Lustboy - yikes, he is bringing it now. Where other teams have mainly floundered trying to incorporate a Korean player into their team, Lustboy has been the one to show it can be done. The international duck has been broken - here's hoping this keeps up. The rest of the NA LCS will be out for blood - especially CLG and C9. But the signs are promising.

If there is a year a Western team can be world champions for a season for the first time since the game went global at S2 Worlds, it's this year. TSM are making a decent claim. They do need to branch out a bit more beyond pick compositions and give up less dragons early in the LCS, but they look a good deal better than they did at S4 Worlds. This is the year they can make a serious run and they know it.


And I will feel 100% justified in permabanning Rek'Sai after this tournament.

[Marcus H.]

After reading a guide on how to deal with the road to a Level 30 Summoner, I set up a couple of bot games to familiarize myself with the free champs. (It's also an uneven matchup at 4v3 as the guide suggested.)

First game as Ashe, I actually lost because the enemy Xin Zhao bot tore through my allies easily, and the deadlock I managed to force mid-game was countered by Xin bot's advance through bot.

Second game as boots-on-head Nami, and it was much fun. According to some guides, support roles don't usually last hit to allow the companion to get more money, and since the champ comp consists of Karthus, Morgana and an idiot Trist on my side against Amumu, Cho'gath and Kog'Maw, I often switched lanes to help out the other lanes. I eventually chose Morgana over all the others, and I watched as Morgana snowballs with the help of my CC.

It is nice that AIs can use non-free heroes. At least I can watch how those champs fight (or revisit those who may have been remade since last time).
Next stop is Shyvana, I guess.

[Mach56gs]

My thoughts!
Pretty much agree with Last Sinner though.

Spoiler for Team Assessments::

Cloud 9: Stumbled hard, it seems that their champ pools are too tiny and their play is too straight-forward. A team thats great at adapting ingame and rotating, but their strategic approach to the early game and the game in general needs some serious work. Hai and Balls certainly are suffering in international competition, Sneaky can only do so much.

SK Gaming: Apparently their communication was bad in the decider match and in their winners match... but their pick and bans is painfully lacking and certainly needs improvement (picking Leblanc instead of Reksai? Rilly?). Forgiven being banned out of his lane bullies hurts the team more than it should. Really really want to see SK in a best of 3 to assess how they adapt to games in a Bo3/Bo5. Certainly an international threat if these flaws are worked out.

CJ Entus: Just lackluster on too many positions. Most notably Madlife. How the mighty have fallen... However, Madlife is still Madlife and the team could easily rebound.

Gambit: Why TF? Betsy's champ pool needs some work (as well as some positional play). Pinoy and Cabochard were unable to swing their weight due to Mid-lane's problems, and Diamond couldn't really cover for it as well as he could have or usually does in LCS.

Flash Wolves: Strong and gutsy in their wins, but their lack of rotation control and early game strength showed pretty well in their losses.

GE Tigers: Teamfighting is strong, but putting themselves at such an early deficit in too many matches shot-themselves in the foot. Not wise with assessing their strengths and committed to fights that they couldn't follow through with. Needs to learn how to comeback from deficits the proper way, not the flashy/risky ways. Still top of the table, one Bo3 doesn't ruin their strength on the World Rankings.

WE: Great job at forcing early-game advantages and running away with games. Players top to bottom were mechanically the best in the tournament overall. However, early game weakness were exploited fully by certain teams (TSM) and lack of teamfight coordination. Very much relied on Jungle Teamfights where carries could eliminate other carries (HOLY COW AHRI). In open spaces, they could be easily outmaneuvered at times.

TSM TSM TSM: Mechanically solid and teamfighting phenomenal. Early game strats were plentiful and different, highlighting their adaptability. Lustboy made Turtle shine with the aggressive lanes, Dyrus was Dyrus, Bjerg and Santorin had crazy synergy. They definitely climb the World Rankings.

Overall, so many upsets and strange things that happened to really mess with the world rankings. C9 is definitely down to the 20s or even below, SK probably going to stay on the list but drop down a few despite their good showing against GE and their 1-1 record with YFW.

YFW might show up, TSM definitely in top 5 because of hype I reckon, as well as GE. WE may debut in the bottom as a potential dark horse because HYYYYPE.

@ Marcus Good for you! Play like 20 games of bots. If you have a friend, maybe you can duo bot with him in some human vs AI. Once you win like 10-15 "hard mode" bot games you can definitely hop into normals and learn how to lane against humans. I say this lightly because I had friends that taught me and walked me through it, so I learned really quick. I even had a friend lane against me an a premade 1v1 so I could learn the basics of laning and trading. Do what works with you!

Also ARAMs for fun and learning how to dodge and zone.


Anyhow, I would advise when you're playing solid normal games to main Gangplank mid. He teaches you ALL the basics. When to poke, when to use powerspikes, when to trade, how to conserve mana, map awareness, how to make plays with your map awarness and your ult, and how to farm.

Great champ for learning some very important aspects of the game.


Also he's a pirate. Who doesn't like that?




Keep at it!

[Eisdrache]

Spoiler for Impressions:

C9: Their bot lane was the only good thing about them. Meteos went full yolo in their match against GE for no reason. Got completely destroyed in that match. Their players definitely have the talent and synergy to play much better, that's if they can avoid playing like night and day. A roster swap is not necessary in my opinion.

SK: Had some fairly good games but then completely imploded. NRated should not touch Annie again. Svenskeren switches between amazing and bronze. fredy gets punished over and over for being greedy but doesn't learn anything.

CJ: You have to be good at this game to be top3 in the undisputed best league in the world. They did however not show up against either TSM or WE.

GMB: First international tournament with this roster and boy did they pay the price for it.

YFW: Their toplane is extremely weak, yet their opponents keep giving them the easiest toplaner (Maokai) to balance it out. Jungle is ok but overall they're still an average team.

GET: They are the undisputed #1 in Korea which makes them the strongest team in the world. Why they picked an obvious troll comp in g2 against WE is something we will never know. They ALMOST lost a match in LCK because of this too. GET are able to play on a MUCH higher level but for some reason not only weren't they able to play as good as they do in Korea, they were very far from it too.

WE: Kinda benefited that their opponents mostly defeated themselves. For a last place team they did however have an amazing showing. Didn't show up at all in g2 and 3 of the finals which is a shame.

TSM: The only team in the tournament that was able to bring out its full potential. Definitely deserved the win.

Overall: The level of play wasn't the greatest. C9 was still sleeping while SK choked as usual. GMB just isn't consistent enough, but to be fair their roster is fairly new. CJ and GET had their heads in the clouds and got punished for it. YFW made it out of group stage because they played C9 and SK. As soon as they played against a non-slumping team they got destroyed. WE had a decent run. Apparently TSM was the only team that actually played the game. If this is the extent of IEM then I don't have to watch the next one.

[Last Sinner]

IEM is normally a good tournament with its finisher in Katowice. Watch the 2013 grand finals between Frost and Blaze - that was a good set. If you have the patience for only one game, watch Game 3 of that set. It is an epic. As for 2014 IEM, it was definitely better than 2014 All-Stars.