Fnatic.LOL clan highlights from the monthly go4lol of march
12.5.11
The Rain Man’s Roam Tier List
I am going to go over what heroes are top tier roamers and what heroes can be left out. At the moment I think that Alistar is the game’s strongest roamer. Alistar is superior to other roamers because he has 2 abilities in a gank, and when his flash is up he can use pulverize/headbutt and if used correctly will most always result in a kill or a save.
Not only is this combination deadly early game, once he gets 6 Alistar can dive towers with his ultimate up and take literally no damage. He does not need to have farm to be useful late game. This allows him to buy wards all game with oracles and roam around with basically no items. Because of his ultimate, he is nearly impossible to gank and it is really hard to take oracles off of Alistar.
(Side note: Alistar’s flash is the most deadly flash in the game, and should only be used only for assuring a kill/save. An Alistar roaming without flash cooldown up is not only very gankable, but is much harder to secure kills/saves with, so save flash for key moments).
The next roamers are basically preference, Janna is very strong because with only 1 point invested into Q she has a full on knockup, which can interrupt and be used as a ministun on a group of players. Also, she has a built in speed buff/slow combination on W, and shield on E. Finally, her ultimate is another spell that is a double ability, a super knockback in case one of your carries gets caught in a bad position + a minor AOE heal (Janna shouldn’t really be farmed enough to make her heal too noticable, and her ult is usually just used as another knockback). Taric has a nice ranged stun with a lot of base armor with his W ability, and a pretty negligible heal. Taric’s abilities are inferior to Janna’s because all he offers is a stun, which can be arguably better or worse than Janna’s Q. However, Janna’s ult absolutely destroys Tarics ult in terms of being a very clutch ability. Taric is very beefy, and can survive longer when being beat on which is an interesting trade off, less utility + more survivability. Also, Taric’s stun is much easier to land, making him a much easier hero to play than Janna.
Finally, Blitzcrank is also a very strong roam, and his hook can be devastating in early game ganks, and late game ganks. Blitzcrank is overall a great roamer as he offers not only a nasty grab on a fairly short cooldown, he can stun once he lands the grab and usually can make the enemy flash out or they are dead. Not to mention his passive gives some insane survivability. These are all “Tier 1″ roamers, and are very strong candidates for bans/first picks in ranked play.
Next is the “Tier 2″ roamers. These roamers offer much less both early game and late game than “Tier 1″ roamers, and need more experience and farm to be viable late game, which is taking farm away from your carries. The first “Tier 2″ roamer I want to talk about is Eve. An Eve forces mid and top to play very defensively and can scout buffs and help the jungler gank the enemy jungler very well. Eve is probably the strongest early game roam, but brings absolutely nothing to a teamfight which is why I put her as tier 2. To counter Eve, buy pink wards. But more importantly, when there is an Eve on the other team you can force early game 5 mans on dragon, towers, and Baron. Eve does absoultely nothing in a standard 5v5 teamfight, and is extremely easy to focus.
Other “Tier 2″ roamers (or supports) who lack in certain areas include Lux, Karma, Kayle, Garen, Soraka, Sona, and Poppy. I hesitate to put Poppy into a “Tier 2″ category because she can be very viable early and late game. From my experience, however, Poppy players tend to soak XP too much and rely on early game CS before they begin ganking. Overall, however, these tier 2 roamers basically have no place in a solo lane, no place in a roaming role because they lack either serious survivability or have absoultely no lane pressence. Soraka is a great example of a hero that is not viable against a skilled comp of players because she:
A. Is way too squishy
B. Has absolutely 0 CC
C. Basically does not fit any role in the current metagame, as supports that need farm in order to contribute to teamfights -ARE NO LONGER VIABLE-.
Euro comps with Soraka/X in lane at bot are going to get beat every single time by a solo tank because no hero can put out enough damage to force a good tank out of lane, and Soraka does not pressure lanes. Also, if Soraka/X in lane at bot is going to push the tower, they will be forced to be way out of position and extremely overextended. At this point, the bot tank calls for a gank and the roamer and jungle come bot and completely destroy Soraka/X and take the tower.
As for the rest of the tier 2 roamers, I feel they have no place in ranked Solo queue and from my experience will usually burden the team at some point in the game, with exceptions always. Also, because I have much more experience with solo queue than tournament play, I cannot say that these tier 2 roamers are not viable in tournament play. However, the comp MUST be built around them, and I still feel that they are inferior to tier 1 roamers.
Not only is this combination deadly early game, once he gets 6 Alistar can dive towers with his ultimate up and take literally no damage. He does not need to have farm to be useful late game. This allows him to buy wards all game with oracles and roam around with basically no items. Because of his ultimate, he is nearly impossible to gank and it is really hard to take oracles off of Alistar.
(Side note: Alistar’s flash is the most deadly flash in the game, and should only be used only for assuring a kill/save. An Alistar roaming without flash cooldown up is not only very gankable, but is much harder to secure kills/saves with, so save flash for key moments).
The next roamers are basically preference, Janna is very strong because with only 1 point invested into Q she has a full on knockup, which can interrupt and be used as a ministun on a group of players. Also, she has a built in speed buff/slow combination on W, and shield on E. Finally, her ultimate is another spell that is a double ability, a super knockback in case one of your carries gets caught in a bad position + a minor AOE heal (Janna shouldn’t really be farmed enough to make her heal too noticable, and her ult is usually just used as another knockback). Taric has a nice ranged stun with a lot of base armor with his W ability, and a pretty negligible heal. Taric’s abilities are inferior to Janna’s because all he offers is a stun, which can be arguably better or worse than Janna’s Q. However, Janna’s ult absolutely destroys Tarics ult in terms of being a very clutch ability. Taric is very beefy, and can survive longer when being beat on which is an interesting trade off, less utility + more survivability. Also, Taric’s stun is much easier to land, making him a much easier hero to play than Janna.
Finally, Blitzcrank is also a very strong roam, and his hook can be devastating in early game ganks, and late game ganks. Blitzcrank is overall a great roamer as he offers not only a nasty grab on a fairly short cooldown, he can stun once he lands the grab and usually can make the enemy flash out or they are dead. Not to mention his passive gives some insane survivability. These are all “Tier 1″ roamers, and are very strong candidates for bans/first picks in ranked play.
Next is the “Tier 2″ roamers. These roamers offer much less both early game and late game than “Tier 1″ roamers, and need more experience and farm to be viable late game, which is taking farm away from your carries. The first “Tier 2″ roamer I want to talk about is Eve. An Eve forces mid and top to play very defensively and can scout buffs and help the jungler gank the enemy jungler very well. Eve is probably the strongest early game roam, but brings absolutely nothing to a teamfight which is why I put her as tier 2. To counter Eve, buy pink wards. But more importantly, when there is an Eve on the other team you can force early game 5 mans on dragon, towers, and Baron. Eve does absoultely nothing in a standard 5v5 teamfight, and is extremely easy to focus.
Other “Tier 2″ roamers (or supports) who lack in certain areas include Lux, Karma, Kayle, Garen, Soraka, Sona, and Poppy. I hesitate to put Poppy into a “Tier 2″ category because she can be very viable early and late game. From my experience, however, Poppy players tend to soak XP too much and rely on early game CS before they begin ganking. Overall, however, these tier 2 roamers basically have no place in a solo lane, no place in a roaming role because they lack either serious survivability or have absoultely no lane pressence. Soraka is a great example of a hero that is not viable against a skilled comp of players because she:
A. Is way too squishy
B. Has absolutely 0 CC
C. Basically does not fit any role in the current metagame, as supports that need farm in order to contribute to teamfights -ARE NO LONGER VIABLE-.
Euro comps with Soraka/X in lane at bot are going to get beat every single time by a solo tank because no hero can put out enough damage to force a good tank out of lane, and Soraka does not pressure lanes. Also, if Soraka/X in lane at bot is going to push the tower, they will be forced to be way out of position and extremely overextended. At this point, the bot tank calls for a gank and the roamer and jungle come bot and completely destroy Soraka/X and take the tower.
As for the rest of the tier 2 roamers, I feel they have no place in ranked Solo queue and from my experience will usually burden the team at some point in the game, with exceptions always. Also, because I have much more experience with solo queue than tournament play, I cannot say that these tier 2 roamers are not viable in tournament play. However, the comp MUST be built around them, and I still feel that they are inferior to tier 1 roamers.
29.4.11
Do not play Alistar yet!
He is bugged as hell. The bugs that I've found for Alistar are:
Base stats incorrectly shown, especially the base HP. You will seem to have more HP than you actually do.- Trample bugged. Alistar turns blue when you use any skills.
- Trample pathing bugged. Sometimes while in Trample, Alistar will have severe pathing issues. Plus the fact that Trample interrupts some skill animation, which is similar to lag.
- Alistar's Pulverize is bugged. I believe the range on Pulverize did increase, but only the damage side of it, not the stun!
- You can no longer combo Headbutt into Pulverize in mid air. Not sure if it's a bug or not.
26.4.11
Lets talk about Hexdrinker
So with the recent change to BF Sword we now have pretty much no reason to pick up a Hexdrinker. The thought process behind its pricing was that you would need to make a choice between either getting your first BF sword so you could build in to a bigger more endgame focussed item, or you instead pickup Hexdrinker so you can utilize its shield and MR in the mid game to deal with casters on the other team.
Now however, with BF Swords costing 1650 and all other major dps items that build off of a BF Sword getting a discount as a result, there is vary little reason to build a Hexdrinker. By not going BF Sword for Hexdrinker you delay your big dps item even more then before. If you were to instead pick it up as a second item you might find that the game has outpaced its effectiveness.
Most of the issues I have with this item is the lack of a end game build that uses it. If Hexdrinker could build in to something even more substantial then I wouldn’t worry about its price so much. Over all Hexdrinker gets you good stats for its price. Most end game builds however have no need for Hexdrinker, mainly because if casters are an issue then you should just build a B.Vail.
I feel that a few things need to happen -
Reduce the cost on Hexdrinker -
Pros - Brings it more in line with BF Swords Cost.
Cons - Provides to much stats for its cost.
Buff the stats on Hexdrinker -
Pros – Makes Hexdrinker worth investing in, by either having more MR, more AD, or a bigger Shield.
Cons – Could still provide to much stats for its cost.
Create an item for it to build in to -
Pros - Wont imbalance current Hexdrinker, allows you to use it in late game builds.
Cons - Creates an endgame item with a really small niche to fill.
I’m honestly in the 3rd options camp. If you could take a BF Sword and add it to a Hexdrinker, or a Brutalizer and Hexdrinker you could have a really awesome item.
Hexdrinker + BF Sword =
Magebane
85 AD
65 MR
UNIQUE Passive: If you would take Magic Damage which would leave you at less than 45% of your Maximum Health, you first gain a shield which absorbs 450 Magic Damage for 4 seconds. 60 second cooldown.
Hexdrinker + Brutalizer =
Spellbender
60AD
50MR
20 ArmPen
15% CDR
UNIQUE Passive: If you would take Magic Damage which would leave you at less than 45% of your Maximum Health, you first gain a shield which absorbs 450 Magic Damage for 4 seconds. 60 second cooldown
22.4.11
19.4.11
Ooooh Vlad you little bloodsucker...
Laning against Vladimir in mid is a pain in the ass, just as much as laning against Miss Fortune and Mordekaiser (will post guides on these guys later). Whenever you see a Vladimir on the loading screen in the opponent's team, you might have felt a chill in your spine, praying your carry in mid won't get sucked dry like a pig. If Vladimir gets fed, he can be compared to the final stage of Cell in Dragon Ball Z; the more he drains, the stronger he gets. Too bad there are no Senzu Beans to save your ass.
But he doesn't have to be a such a headache. Vlad is overrated in terms of his laning ability by most of the community, thanks to the usual torrent of sheep rants crying "OP NERF PLS" on the forums. Yes, he is a very strong laner, but can be shutdown easily if you know how. In this post, I will briefly give you some pointers on how to counter this constantly poking troll.
(In this post we assume your average Vlad player isn't a noob or a Pro)
Laning requires a strong mentality. This is especially true in 1v1 mid because the outcome of the match usually has a direct relation with how you perform in mid during laning phrase. Plus, you have no one else to rely on or blame. Ganking Mid is a bonus, not something you should be counting on to make up for your (lack of) performance. If your opponent gets the better of you mentally by making you afraid of leaving the sight of your tower, you have already lost - zoned out and forced to survive on the few creep waves that finally arrive in your range, while your opponent farms to his or her heart's content.
Vlad can "scare" many players with his annoying Q (Transfusion). This skill allows Vlad to drain your health constantly, and because Vlad has no mana or health costs for this skill plus the fact that it has a short cooldown (12 seconds lvl 1, decrease CD every lvl), Vlad is annoying as hell. Most Vlad players tend to max Q first, allowing them to poke at you everytime they can do so safely. Combined with Vlad's ultimate escape ability, Sanguine Pool (W), most serious counter attacks and ganks are discouraged. Tides of blood (E), can also be used as a harassing tool since it requires no targeting, and stacks in damage (and health cost) everytime it is used. But again, Vlad doesn't care about health costs or harassment from you because he can heal himself infinitely with drain if he has time.
How do I counter a self-healing, annoying poking champion with a godlike escape ability? Here are some tips:
1. Remember the ultimate goal of Mid laning: farm and get levels. With that said, often than not harassing Vlad simply isn't worth it. Ignore him and proceed with farming. If he plays aggressive and forcefully try to zone you out, punish him (read below).
2. Before level 6, Vlad cannot drain for a large amount of health, and his drain has 5+ seconds cooldown. Vlad likely won't spam E and W because they have a hefty health cost, especially with the stacking E. In this sense, it is worth it to trade bursts, only if you are sure you can do A LOT more damage to him than he does to you (factor in the 30-40 dmg drain). One of your autoattacks should balance out the drain, but you will lose health while Vlad loses little to nothing. Attack AFTER Vlad used his Q (on minions), this is very important.
3. If you have a long range character, harassing safely works because your autoattacks outrange Vlad's drain. But make sure not to stay too close. If you decide to harass, you have to be committed! If you let Vlad off for a minute or two, all of your harassing will be wasted because he will just heal himself back to full health.
4. Play safe, let Vlad make the mistakes. Do not ever push lanes for no reason. Learn/master last hitting. If Vlad catches you too far out less than half health and decide to burst you, its GG without escape mechanisms.
5. Do not go all out trying to burst down Vlad if his W is up. You will fail most of the time. Same with ganks. Bait him to use W, then attack. Always make him use W without putting yourself at risk. 20% health cost for W each time, you do the math.
6. Use your minions to your advantage. If Vlad attacks you near your minions, they will switch aggro and attack Vlad. Vlad cannot out drain your attacks + minions focus fire. He will be forced to back out and you will have the health lead.
7. Once you have successfully harassed Vlad and whittled him down, play very aggressive and ZONE HIM OUT. He cannot drain minions if he is zoned out and thats when his early game is fked.
Over 9000. If you are Mordekaiser, you don't need to be reading this guide. You are more annoying than Vlad. :p
Good luck guys! Next time if someone asks you "you vlad, bro?", tell him/her that you are not Vladimir -he is your bitch ;)
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