I thought I reblogged this already but I guess not.
(Source: ladyoftheleague)
500 Days of Sivir
Someone hacked my account and won a bunch of games as Sivir. So rude. Ionic Spark is so good on her its shocking.
(Source: summoner-einsamekaiser)
Drake’s Master Champion List (Morgana - Zilean)
Part II of my complete champion rundown. Part 1 is here. Expect to see a post covering the new masteries. Have at it.
Morgana - Relatively popular with good reason. Morgana’s spell shield and innate spell vamp make her one of the safest mids in the game. Soul Shackles is even harder to flash away from and overall a pretty good champ to have on your team. I’ve seen her banned in a couple games.
Nasus - A popular solo top. Nasus is another one of those champs that can farm uncontrollably. His late game presence is frustrating. Grab a Frozen Heart and completely lock a carry down with wither. In draft mode, you’ll want a Kog’Maw or Vayne to keep this guy maintained. While I don’t like the idea that a champ can have a meager early game just to be supplanted with a godlike late game, I respect Nasus and good last hitting.
Nidalee - A fun little champ with tons of surprises. Her sustain is great for a solo top while her damage is strong enough to carry mid. If she doesn’t have a solo lane, though, she will struggle when it comes to all out team fight and merely become a poker/healer. Good escaping, solid pick.
Nocturne - a veritable beast of a jungler. Pretty strong base damage allows him to build somewhat tanky. If he’s able to grab some early kills he can snowball really well and just pick on certain champs. His spell shield is very good and his ult is still very powerful.
Nunu - Not bad in the top lane or as a support on bottom. He’s fast as a jungler but his ganks aren’t the greatest. His ult is like Kat’s, strong if you can actually pull it off. 60% slows from his Ice Blast are great for chasing but in teamfights theres not much he can do besides watch and block. Fairly balanced at least.
Olaf - Even bad Olafs can still contribute some easy true damage. A good candidate for some tanky DPS. Laning is rough and jungling is the greatest. If you can find a way to farm up well, Olaf can potentially be unstoppable. More of selfish pick for solo queuing. He is a great late game assassin.
Orianna - She used to be a top pick for mid and now she’s kinda average. Her output is high but isn’t very reliable. To me, she’s not fitting into the league very well in terms of team deliverables. Do you consider her a burster? Heavy CC? Support mage?
Pantheon - A fun champion in a weird place. Hes strong against squishy champs but also vulnerable to AoE and aggressive carries. One of my problems is the mana cost to his ult. It never used to be a problem because most of the time you would leap from the fountain and get the mana replenished. Now, with the short range on his ult, you’ll find yourself Skyfalling into a fight without enough mana.
Poppy - Really uncommon champion. She can be strong in Dominion where there are plenty of walls. Having a Poppy on your Summoner’s Rift team limits who else you can bring. Lanes poorly, farms poorly. Hard to synergize with.
Rammus - I still love this guy. Powerballing into an overextended player and locking him down for 3 seconds is pretty novel. With the new masteries, playing as jungle Rammus won’t hurt his build as much as before. He lanes ok for matches that aren’t running supports. Still good a pick, strong in Dominion as well.
Renekton - One of the better solo tops. He does a surprising amount of damage and doesn’t have to worry about mana. Hasn’t really been messed with in a while so I think he’s in a good place.
Riven - I think her CC is decent for her role. That short CD AoE stun always catches people off guard. She dishes out some decent multi-target damage while never sitting still. Pretty unique. The one thing I’m not too crazy about is the small cast time for her ult. For a champion all about flow, casting her ult makes it painfully obvious what her intentions are. Imagine if Yi had to pause a second whenever he wanted to Highlander.
Rumble - A specialized champ. Melee AP done right. All he really needs is a Rylai’s and he’ll do some decent crowd control. He doesn’t farm as well as you would think and takes a lot of skill when playing against ranged carries. He doesn’t fit into to teams well with his very specific role, but his ult can change the tide of battle easily. Also, not as as great in Dominion as I thought he’d be.
Ryze - Finally a caster where stacking full AP runes isn’t the best way to go. Ryze is incredibly weak in early game and pretty tanky and powerful late game. He’s never really on cooldown so its hard to tell when to initiate on him, but his lack of escapes balance out his late game tankiness. In mid he struggles against most of the more popular mid casters.
Shaco - He’s been sitting in the underpowered bin for a while. With Dominion giving him a second chance, he’s also been seeing more SR games. A great champion if you like tricks. The changes to his boxes make him play more reliably. Its important to counter jungle him early cause he has some of the best ganks in the game and will really make that early lead pay for itself.
Shen - Formerly a constant ban, now the source of much anger over his inability to protect. Seriously, I’ve never seen people get so angry over a tank. When they die anywhere on the map they’ll blast Shen for not ulting them with his paltry 200 point shield. Bumping up his AP ratios was a mistake and Shen now feels like the weakest of tanks. The slight heal from his Vorpal Blade feels pointless and he never has enough energy to match the length of his cooldowns. Needs a look at for playability and fun factor.
Shyvanna - I was surprised to find she did not use any mana. Having no mana frees up Seals for some seriously good stat buffs. She clears jungle very fast and is always ready to gank. She can also be somewhat of a wild card with good dueling yet adequate team fighting. Pretty strong overall.
Singed - He still tears apart solo queue games. He excels at safely pushing a lane until he’s built up some solid health. Fairly consistent magic DPS with almost no concern for mana. With the right teams he can really isolate a single target and force team fights in your favor. Decent pick, can feel on the verge of OP if left to farm.
Sion - Another champion that has gained some popularity through Dominion. To me, AP Sion seems incredibly boring to play, and incredibly lame to lane against. Unfortunately, AD Sion needs too many items to get anywhere decent. He’s an awkward one-trick champion that fails to impress. Again, Doran’s stacking might be one of the few reasons he can be viable in SR.
Sivir - My love affair with Sivir can be legendary at times. While I love to play her, she intimidates no one and is pure feed for gap closers. Yes, she can push lanes like no other, but kills are worth so much more now. They’ve hinted at a rework, so until then, she’s currently a very bad pick that will discourages a team. Things that need work: her movespeed is very low for her lack of CC, her passive doesn’t even fit into the game anymore (dodge is largely being removed), and her spell shield pales in comparison to Nocturne’s Shield or Vlad’s pool. She also has egregious mana issues early game due to her only offensive poke being a skillshot that does too much damage or none at all for a 3rd of her mana.
Skarner - Pretty decent jungler. His ult is comparable to Warwick’s in that its really easy to set up ganks. A really good candidate for Tri-Force because of low cooldown and great comboing. I like Skarner and wouldn’t mind seeing more of him.
Sona - A world class support. Consistent, reliable heals and great poking. Sona is a fantastic support and takes advantage of auras really well. Her offensive boost is huge early game and as long as she isn’t pretending to be an AP carry, her laning ideal. Come team fights you better have turned those assists into some defense. To top it off, her ult is a great tool to shutdown pesky channeling ults. Nice safe pick.
Soraka - Again, I see a lot of Soraka’s feel like they are caster carries. She is much too easy to gank. Her silence is her greatest ability but honestly, it’s better saved for the mana and best used as a clutch to throw off initiation and channeling. Soraka ends up being too much like a babysitter and lacks a compelling reason to play her outside of queuing with a buddy to protect him. I’ll take a Sona or Nidalee over her most of the time.
Swain - Swain is good against positionally reliant champions like Singed and Garen. If you end up laning against him, it’s imperative you get boots early or he will tear you apart. He’s an interesting champion but mostly straight forward. I mean, have you ever been so impressed by Swain that you think- wow I want to try him now? Good players will be good with him.
Talon - Popular. He does surprisingly well in a solo lane and shuts down casters that aren’t keen to his tactics. Talon is potentially very powerful in the hands of a player who can read situations well. He should be aggressive but not reckless. For an assassin he’s actaully good in teamfights. A top of the line AD assassin that will cause players to grab armor.
Taric - After changes to his ult, Taric began to feel a bit more usable. After the newness has worn off, he’s back to being a support without the defenses to handle the front line. He works okay in pre-mades but is found lacking all around. At least the new masteries were nice to him.
Teemo - AD Teemo is really the only way to go. His poison is deceptively strong making him ideal against top solo melee champions. He is also difficult to gank ensuring that he at least won’t feed. He really does need a madreds to help him farm up and get beefier. One of the best harassers in the game.
Tristana - It remains to be seen what the recent changes have done for her. She is slow and her auto attacks don’t feel that great. Like, Ashe, there are currently too many gap closers to safely play Tristana. Once you hit late game, with her 90% AS boost and the longest AA range in the game, Tristana can make short work of her opponents. I suppose, then, it’s all about surviving until that point.
Trundle - One of my personal favorite junglers. His rabid bite and ultimate make him deceptively strong and a great duelist. He’s also one of few champions with built in CC reduction. Trundle is very strong in the final pushes of the game where he is constantly healing from all the death occurring around him. Great jungle pick. Let’s see a new skin for him already!
Tryndamere - Endless rage. A pretty versatile champion able to handle a 1v1 top or jungle with surefire gankability. Between him and Talon, casters really need to have more defensive armor options as Zonya’s Hourglass just doesn’t cut it. Trynd is a late game god who can push a lane without retribution. At 6 he’s a massive bully and by the time you have a Thornmail he he’s sitting on 2 Bloodthirsters. Amazing solo queue pick, entirely imbalanced.
Twisted Fate - He’s in a really bad spot. Slow moving, obvious gold cards. As AP he is super weak, as AD he requires a lot of teamwork. His ult always seems to be out of range. Needs help. Do not pick.
Twitch - He was nerfed and people forgot how to handle stealth champions in his absence. Some pretty frightening damage but all too squishy. If you die to him, its bad map awareness. Still not very fun to play against.
Udyr - What can I say? The guy ganks really well nice and early. He can carry games if he manages to outscale the turrets. Not item dependent and very reliable- as a teammate you’ll know when hes about to stun. A good jungler in solo queue where teams aren’t warding.
Urgot - Not very popular at all. I wonder what is Riot’s opinion of the crab man. He has a tight early game but doesn’t do so well into late game. Perhaps his Q should proc on-hit effects. His ult is still very hard to use correctly. League is becoming more fast paced and Urgot is not that champion.
Vayne - Still popular from what I can tell. Along with Kog’Maw, Vayne is one of the few answers to ultra tanky champions like Singed and Nasus. Her huge damage potential is supposedly balanced out by her extreme fragility, but I feel she should be somewhere in between. Good pick as an anti-tank. Would greatly benefit from Kitae’s Bloodrazer in SR.
Veigar - The Tiny Master of Evil doesn’t get much love these days. He needs a solo lane to farm up some AP, but he lacks the survivability to hold onto one. Veigar simply does not fit into the current meta. Shame, because he’s a decent enough champion. It might help to change the targeting graphic for his stun. It’s also too easy to evade or jump through the AoE- Perhaps add a slowing effect to things inside it.
Vladimir - Spellvamp changes and slight nerfs took their toll on Vlad. Somewhat rough early game until level 9. He’s a nontraditional caster that doesn’t play well with others. Fine in mid because he can be difficult to gank. Decent pick depending on the player.
Warwick - A strong, safe jungler. Pretty good throughout all phases of the game. Has some nice teamwork skills and lots of flexibility in build options. He’s Warwick though, so people know what he’s gonna do. It’s up to you to do it to them all the same.
Wukong - Awesome! They buffed him when I don’t think he needed it. His ult is one of the highest physical damage AoEs in the game. He’s full of great tricks and handles just about any lane. He’s quite the indomitable assassin once you get a Sheen and have your ult. A good pick if you’re good with him.
Xerath - One of my favorite casters. It’s fun to kill people on their towers. He works well with champions that can grant visibility like Nidalee or Warwick. Very good early and mid but tapers off in late game. His passive is conceptually good but in play it’s one of the weaker gold multipliers in the game. Surprisingly, he’s kind of a rare pick too despite how strong he is.
Xin Zhao - The nerf to his Audacious Charge slow nearly broke him. It’s difficult to get off 3 Talon Strike before enemies simply walk away. Xin is a subpar jungler and pretty shoddy in the lane. He has the problem of initiating really well but having no way to retreat and often just dying- making him a suicide assassin in the worse way possible. I would like to see his ultimate grant resistances based on enemy and ally champions nearby rather than only enemies hit. Not a good pick.
Yorick - When it comes down to it, Yorick is simply a pain to lane against. The slows, the ghouls that are unintuitively hard to click, its quite the mess. He’s not even that good of a champion. His ult, being based on death, is really hard to use right and leads to a lot of confusion. He’s like the AD version of Swain- good against positional champions, seemingly useless elsewhere.
Zilean - A great champion with low popularity. As a support, he doesn’t have crucial heals. He compliments champions well and is absolutely godlike in the right hands. He is missing just a that little bit of ‘oomph’ to make him a common pick. It might be interesting to see if his Q lowered/increased the cooldowns of whatever champ he put the bomb on. Probably end up being insignificant but a man can dream.
So there you have it. Every champion and their current place in the League. I could be wrong about some, but I’m probably not. Either way, let me know what you think. Stay tuned for a look at he revamped masteries!
Drake’s Master Champion List (Akali - Mordekaiser)
Having returned from a fairly long hiatus, I’ve noticed my inbox filled with mostly questions regarding my take on a specific champion. To save time and be fair to all, I’ll cover thoughts on all of the League’s current champions as of now (11/17/2011).
Akali - Dominion made her shine. She’s one of those hit 6 and start winning champions. Even after nerfs to her and her items she still manages to enrage anyone playing a squishy. Limit her Shadow Dance charges to the level of the skill and maybe she won’t have such a faceroll dichotomy between lane/teamfight phases.
Alistar - Great disruption, good team player. A lot more item dependent than he used to be, so not the greatest pick for dedicated support anymore.
Amumu - Still one of the best initiators in the game. The flat damage reduction from Tantrum’s passive seems pointless. Otherwise he’s in a good place right now.
Anivia - A very powerful caster, though fairly one dimensional. Have you ever seen one NOT build an Archangels staff? She actually does require skill to play but once you’ve got it, shes good.
Annie - She can get out of hand really quick. The slight nerf to flash will change the way she can initiate on you from outside of the fog of war. All around, still a safe pick.
Ashe - Ashe has really fallen from her once dominant position as the defacto ranged carry. With the mid caster meta in full effect, and the addition of newer ranged AD, Ashe lacks the sustain for solo top, and the escapes for a duo bot. Her ult is still a game changer.
Blitzcrank - Exceptional disruption makes the steam golem a solid counter pick to many types of champs. The nature of his initiation fits well in solo queue while his great itemization (Frozen Heart) makes him a good team pick in premades.
Brand - Very popular, common mid. Skilled Brand players don’t even rely on his stun. His burst and passive make him a good pick against tanky champs. Having two high damage spells as skillshots does great zone control in teamfights.
Caitlyn - A super popular champion. She dominates the lane phase and makes you wish your jungler was a bit more active. With a dedicated support on bot lane she is incredibly annoying. She might struggle later in the game, but it’s also possible for her to outfarm everyone and become a terrifying carry.
Cassiopeia - She becomes more and more viable everyday! Her ability to peek into bushes is a great asset and her single target DPS is very high. She really is not a traditional caster. If she ever gets to the point where players are running from her (rather than trying to kill her outright) she chases like no other caster.
Cho’Gath - A really safe pick for solo top. He won’t be forced out of the lane but he also won’t be scoring many kills. By late game Cho is the best of meatshields and is pretty good at protecting allies by virtue of just getting in your face.
Corcki - What happened? One month hes a premier carry with a great toolset, the next he’s just too fragile and outclassed all over. His lack of CC and an ult that’s more of a poking device leaves him waiting for a real buff. Someday, buddy.
Dr. Mundo - A really useless champ these days. Hard countered by a popular summoner spell and just doesn’t provide reliable utility, tanking or DPS.
Evelynn - While not as terrible as people make her out to be, having her on your team limits who else you can take. Don’t expect a support or you’ll lack serious damage. Evelynn also understandably struggles against premades that are warding and grabbing oracles.
Ezreal - He’s a beast at early levels but there’s no good lane for him. Still gets focused really easily. If you’re laning against him, play very conservatively until your scaling armor and health outpaces his damage.
Fiddlesticks - One of the only Mage junglers so he fills a niche role. Absolutely game changing ultimate and sometimes OP fear. Though not terrible in a lane, blue buff is really important so the jungle is his place.
Fizz - This new champion feels really awkward to me. His skillset feels like an AD champ’s and he is missing some much needed attack speed. As a melee caster he has a hard time in mid- too bad because he really needs items to do well. On the bright side, his ult is probably one of my favorites in the entire game. SHARK ATTACK.
Galio - Galio is a tank’s tank. Very sturdy with decent utility/damage spells. His ult is still too reliant on flash and too counterable with tenacity. It’s a cool concept but never seems to do enough damage.
Gangplank - Pretty good at all phases of the game, and particularly strong in late game with a decent farm. I feel his passive’s slow is too much considering how fast a late game GP can get. Add the last of the global ults and GP is an above average pick.
Garen - Some of the highest early game damage and a ult that is relevant throughout an entire match. He’s really hit or miss, causing all sorts of rage over his apparent immunity to towers, or being unable to do anything but die to deviating AoEs. Suffers a bit late game.
Gragas - Pretty much a caster these days. He does some really annoying early burst. Anyone who can gap close will really hurt Gragas. Not a great pick but not terrible.
Graves - Seems pretty popular. His burst potential is higher than any other ranged AD making him pretty one of a kind. Smokescreen is also very handy but I don’t think his ult is being used as Riot intended. His passive is really good early but it doesn’t scale, making him just another glass cannon carry by the end.
Heimerdinger - Works in very particular team comps. He just doesn’t have the kill potential of other casters and absolutely needs a bit of tankiness. His grenade is excruciatingly slow, his turrets get destroyed much too fast, and his passive lend’s itself to defensive play- something Riot has openly stated they have been trying to avoid. Needs a rework.
Irelia - The best pick for CC heavy teams. Solos top very well. With a slight lead in gold she is incredibly hard to stop. IMO, her Bladesurge range is much too far for her base movespeed. She has a little bit of everything and itemizes very well while being difficult to counter. Top pick, slightly imbalanced.
Janna - The new masteries give support a much more defined role, for the better. A good Janna player is an incredible team asset. A bad one is huge risk. Good pick if you’re good with her and know how to play support.
Jarvan IV - Good base stats and very good skillset. A solid tanky dps, but never a tank or full dps. His playstyle is really suited to itemizing as a tank and forgoing any significant damage in exchange for disruption and a very good ultimate.
Jax - Jax doesn’t really have a role other than duelist. Even then, it’s a rare role. In Dominion he can seem downright broken. He really needs to be shutdown early or else he’ll wreck havoc into late game because his passive is one of the best gold multipliers. Not a great team player but when you’re that good a duelist, who cares.
Karma - At times she seems underwhelming while at other times she appears godly. AoE low CDR heals and good utility. As a support she is just outclassed by Sona. Her reliance on Mantra really hurts coordination and flow. Pretty close to be being a good champion.
Karthus - This guy is so OP. Honestly he’s assassinated really easily. Sometimes in solo queue you end up in games where there’s no opposing assassin and then he farms well and picks up easy kills. A devastating pick in the right hands.
Kassadin - Exceptional anti-caster. His play style is disjointed and awkward (melee?) and auto attacking still feels like a bad idea. A decent, safe pick for the caster-mid meta.
Katarina - Kat is a lot of fun to play, unfortunately she has hard counters and doesn’t fit to any lane really well. In situations where her ult cannot be easily stopped, she does very well.
Kayle - Her speed is a huge disadvantage for someone who needs good positioning. She is much too item dependent and suffers in defense and mana issues by late game. She was reworked recently and I’ll doubt we’ll see anything from her anytime soon. Not a good pick.
Kennen - Having an energy-based ranged nuke on short CDR is always handy. His ult forces him to be in the thick of the battle so team with a lot of AoE are dangerous. The new masteries help him out all over. Pretty good overall, makes me wonder why we don’t see more of him.
Kog’Maw - Perhaps the highest damage late game carry. One of the few ‘tank-killers’, Kog’Maw is very strong with the right kind of protection/support. He’s a champion you really need to pay attention to. When he activates Bio-Arcane, its time to run.
LeBlanc - That burst! A frail mid-rage nuker. She has some pretty cool tricks but is overall outclassed by other casters. She has no pushing power and requires a solo lane. I really think Doran’s stacking is the only thing keeping her semi-viable.
Lee Sin - Currently, one of the best junglers. As the only energy based jungler, Lee can smartly give blue buff to a caster while still always being available to gank. If you land your Q, go for the gank, if you miss, forget it- nothing loss, no failed commitment, just come back and try later. Great pick.
Leona - Your standard tank. Average all around. Her ult has surprisingly good range and her CC is among the highest. She doesn’t lane well which is a problem because her lack of escapes/mobility means she better be tanky by the time team fights are starting. Gold per items are a safe bet here.
Lux - I wish Lux was better. Her moveset is a good combination of damage and CC. However, she definitely suffers from a lack of momentum. Once you’ve casted your skills you’re sitting around waiting on cooldowns. Most casters are busy with re-positioning and evading during CD, but Lux’s great range merely has her waiting.
Malphite - There was a time when Malphite completely epitomized the tanky DPS meta. He’s been tweaked slightly but overall he’s still pretty hardy. Mana is problematic and his damage is on the low side. It’s also rather misleading that his ultimate, Unstoppable Force, can in fact be stopped mid cast with quick enough CC.
Malzahar - A more methodical caster somewhere between tactical and brute force. Mal’z combo wrecks single targets but provides less in teamfights. A good, if predictable champion. Rylai’s Scepter combined with Malefic Visions is a nasty constantly slowing nuke.
Maokai - Most players run him nearly full AP. It would be great if his Twisted Advance actually made him impervious to damage. Instead, it seems he takes too much damage just trying to get into a decent position. Meanwhile his ult is a huge mana sink and rarely pays off. Maokai has a lot of potential to be a cool champion. As it stands hes a situational mage-tank at best.
Master Yi - Due to subpar laning, he is only really viable as an unreliable jungler. He can snowball well enough, but gets destroyed in full on team fights. He’s best coming late to a fight and finishing people off, but that’s not very team like is it?
Miss Fortune - Gets assassinated fairly easily. Even when hard carrying, she just cannot kite well. Like Ashe, as more and more champs with gap closers are introduced, MF’s effectiveness just declines.
Mordekaiser - The infamous battle mage doesn’t see much play after some serious nerfs. His ability health costs really hurt him early game and his shield is more of an accessory now. His ult is still ridiculously good. A good amount of AP with spellvamp is practically required on him now.
Your very own Castelon Drake being Renektacular in a pentakill. I helped someone get a pentakill, so basically I’m like a pentakiller myself, if not better.
Season 1 1520 ELO prize.
Victorious Jarvan
(Yeah, I has it. Jelly?)
Season 1 Ladder Participation Reward
Judgement Kayle
