League of Legends

Trilliana

The group has gone on to EVE, GW2, and a few other games. (ooh looking at their twitter, they took out DayZ too)

Daklore

They should focus on a tangible target instead. They should DDoS Mha... Ashtan right out of comission. Yes.

Never noticed any GW2 downtime, though. LoL, though, yeah.

Jarrod

PhantomLord traded in being arrested for a few thousand dollars in revenue, so I'd say he's probably doing alright.

Daklore

I think I did it right this time...

I didn't even realize I was that fed until post-game. I mean, sure, I knew I was getting kills, but I never actually looked at my kda during the match. I did get a few good goomba stomps, though

Daklore

So.... I participated in a streamer's 5 viewers vs 5 viewers game a day or two ago, whilst they commentated and pointed out tips to the other viewers... which was part of the reason I watch this stream in the first place.

http://www.twitch.tv/lolfroskurinn/c/3548913

Granted, the camera isn't really focused on me... much... but I'm there. Watch me get dunked! (and contrary to her opinion in the loading screen that most of the action should be bot lane, it wasn't. Action happened, but it wasn't where the best action happened.) Kind of weird watching a game you played in from spectator mode to see how other lanes were going.

Daklore

This worked pretty well in ARAM... wonder if it'll work in soloqq... hmmmm

Well, I figured since the only way I was going to contribute anything was if I was in the thick of it being a nuisance rather than -maybe- blowing one person up for my death... Also, the rest of the team more than had enough damage to make up for me not building glass cannon and went bruiser-y.

It'd probably get pwned in soloqq u_u

Cooper

Went 11-3-18 with Rammus, first game in 11 months and like 20th game overall.

Darktalon

Had 3 matches today with 3 people afk on my team in ARAM. Managed to hold one of the teams off for 21 minutes with me playing Janna and the only other active teammate on Ezreal. That was actually amusing for a game.

Cynlael

Darktalon said:

Had 3 matches today with 3 people afk on my team in ARAM. Managed to hold one of the teams off for 21 minutes with me playing Janna and the only other active teammate on Ezreal. That was actually amusing for a game.

Bro do you even Talon?

Kuy

So... this just happened.

I should start playing more, again.  This was fun!

Cynlael

Soooo...
I came in like a wrecking baaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllll.

Daklore

This is what people get for not banning Amumu. Just like when they let throw a Master Yi and get stomped by a Yi. Or an AD Lux... I saw that once, in a ranked game... it was like 300 elo... but it carried hard. Saltyteemo stream, so much next level builds.

Cynlael

>2014
>People still think amumu is banworthy.


Wrecking ball 2.0

Yasuo, Leona, Thresh, Blitz (in low elo), Elise, Nasus, Lee Sin, Vi, LeBlanc (as you get higher) - All much, much better bans than Amumu. I haven't banned him in like 7 months. 90% of the time, it's not the Amumu pick that wins the game, it's protecting him early and having a teamcomp revolving around Amumu that wins the game.

See: Above, me, heimer and panth would all ult on top of amumu ult and chunk them all down to half hp -minimum-.
And my own pic before that was people playing a poke comp properly, and then hard engaging with amumu ult when they're around 60% hp.

Edit: Forgot. Dragon control, once you learn it and your team starts responding better, you'll love everyone. Can help recover from losing games quite easily.

Daklore

Well, obviously, text doesn't come throw with tonal inflection, but I never thought Amumu was -that- ban worthy, even last year. Oh sure, he was strong and against low elo teams(such as myself) he could wreck... but he could very easily be put behind. To my knowledge, he still can. :P

My comments about "ban mumu, ban yi" stem from the saltyteemo stream, where the team that gets one of those often wins. (which isn't an overall demographic, as it doesn't always work out ... since a Teemo pick can counter-balance the whole thing)

Daklore

It started out ridulously enough...




Obviously, our Blitz was able to land grabs. But I think the enemy team just kind of gave up after 4 minutes(we were already up 10 kills and a tower at that point) and decided to derp around and do whatever. Swain was determined to "die fourty times before the end of the game" ... he actually started to play after 10... And Teemo decided to just lay in wait and ambush whoever sprung his trap. Going so far as to do so halfway down the lane and wait for us to be retreating from taking too much turret damage.

Oh, and I didn't die at all. I admit, I used ... destiny? to get away from one death... and there were maaaaany occassions where I thought about using my ult to port to fountain and die to shop... but I never. Oh, and there was that guy named RiotPhoenix. No idea who they are.

Synbios

Looking for advice:

Now that Riven's Q and E have been nerfed(Q damage reduced, E shield duration reduced to 1? 1.5? seconds), can I ask for advice on how to stay strong in the game? Out of the options I tried against the Fioras I faced in top lane, I found that maxing W first put me at a less disadvantageous situation, but I don't know. Maybe it's just for Fiora, but what are your thoughts on how to adapt?

Tahquil

Different Champ.

Synbios

Tahquil said:

Different Champ.

@Tahquil: Unless there's a Battle Bunny skin for other champs, that'll be a resounding 'no'.

(Yes, a Battle Bunny Urgot is even fine too.)

Tahquil

You play a champ for the skins? You sound like me.

Synbios

Tahquil said:

You play a champ for the skins? You sound like me.

Life story:

>League of Legends just released in this region of the universe

>Graphics still shoddy compared to today

>Me: Meh, because of DotA players in my subdivision, still upset at MOBAs and the crap mentality most of them have

>See bloodkin play that

>Yeah you guys have fun with that

>Sees Riven

>Sure, but what do I care abou-

>Battle Bunny Riven

>HELLO LEAGUE OF LEGENDS YOU ARE LOOKING LOVELY TODAY

Flash forward:

>See nerfs to Riven

>Dragonblade Riven

>Instabuy DB Riven because DAT SWORD and RECALL ANIMATION

Kuy

Okay, first off, Riven didn't get nerfed. All that happened was a power shift. Her crazy early game power got moved to the mid to late game. She's definitely still just as strong as she was; she's just not hilariously ridiculous at level two. All you have to do now is hold out and play smart instead of hitting two and going all in.

Second off, I still hate Riven. The best build for her is six abyssals. Trust me. Everyone will thank you.

Daklore

I agree with Kuy. Her power is just later game, not early game snowball. That was (supposedly/apparently) the goal of the change, to take away her early snowball power to add counter-play.

Granted, I heard armour was her counter-play, but, what do I know? I can't play top(which means Riven, who I do not own ... let's face it, whenever I'm on a melee in aram, I tunnel so hard and feed)

Kuy

There was no counter play to Riven. Either you hit two and get a jungle gank before she hits two and kills you, or you hide under your tower and wait until she tower dives you at six.

A good Riven was absolutely terrifying. Now, though, it takes more skill than just hitting two and going all in first.

Synbios

Hm, makes sense. So best course of action is to keep farming at tower and shield/stun/call for gank more while doing so?

Kuy

Synbios said:

Hm, makes sense. So best course of action is to keep farming at tower and shield/stun/call for gank more while doing so?

Farm well, trade well, hit six and go all in.

Most people assume this is a nerf, but most people aren't reading it correctly.  The change to her Q is that the damage has been lowered, but that's not entirely true.

General

• Base attack damage reduced to 54 (from 56.7)
• Attack damage per level increased to 3 (from 2.7)

Q - Broken Wings

• Damage per strike decreased to 10/30/50/70/90 (+40/45/50/55/60% total attack damage) (from 30/55/80/105/130 (+70% bonus attack damage))

E - Valor

• Shield duration reduced to 1.5 seconds (from 2.5 seconds)

General:  Her stats have been readjusted.  It looks like a nerf, but Riven now has more base AD than she used to starting at level 10.  She's slightly weaker in the earlier game, but by the time she gets her level two ult, she's stronger than she would have been in the previous patch.

E - Valor:  THANK FUCKING GOD.  Listen, this is a nerf.  This is a perfectly acceptable nerf.  Riven and Diana both suffer from this problem, but Diana's answer to the problem has always been a super short uptime of her shield.  The problem, you ask?  These two characters don't have to buy defensive items to gain defensive stats; Riven's shield scales from attack damage and Diana's shield scales from ability power.  That kind of hidden power in a kit is pretty crazy.  Now, it's not mechanically a nerf; it's merely a nerf to 9/10 Riven players.  You now have to use her shield intelligently, and where you could just spam it for the short dash, you have to actually use it as a defensive ability and try to absorb damage with the shield.  (I say this is only a nerf to 9/10 Riven players because high-tier Riven players already make this decision in their regular play.  For examples, see BoxBox, Faker, or WingsofDeathx [while BoxBox and Faker are arguably "better," WingsofDeathx explains the intricacies of the champions he plays to a far greater extent. The example here is Riven's ability to cancel the frames of her attacks when timed properly, allowing you to do almost instantaneous combinations of Q + W + Hydra activation.])

Q - Broken Wings: This, too, looks like a nerf.  However, read it very carefully.  Yes, the base damage is lowered.  Yes, those percentages are lower at rank 5 and now have a scaling.  Yes, the scaling has been changed from bonus attack damage to total attack damage.  This means that you inherently have a stronger pool of AD from which to pull to increase its damage, and this is one of the key elements to shifting her power away from snowballing.

This change alone takes away her massive snowball potential.  It also is a good thing for Riven.  Now if Riven is a little behind, she's not worthless; no, instead she has much better comeback potential.

Look at it this way:

Rank 5 Q at level 10, assuming 100 bonus AD (fully stacked bloodthirster).

Pre-4.1: (130 base) + (.7 * 100 bonus ad) = 200 damage

4.1: (90 base) + (.6 * (100 bonus ad + 84 base ad)) = 200.4 damage

So, assuming you get your BT at level 10 and max Q first, you're doing almost the exact same damage.  From here, however, the more damage you would add Pre-4.1 to make yourself insanely more powerful is now scaled down, reigning in the massive advantage she can pull out in lane:

Kuy

Rank 5 Q at level 10, assuming 175 bonus AD (fully stacked bloodthirster and completed Ravenous Hydra).

Pre-4.1: (130 base) + (.7 * 175 bonus ad) = 252.5 damage

4.1: (90 base) + (.6 * (175 bonus ad + 84 base ad)) = 245.4 damage

With these changes, I'm far more comfortable calling Riven a bruiser.  This patch basically increases her scaling up to mid game while reducing her scaling in the late game.  In the previous patch, Riven could hit that ridiculous late game insanely quickly with her way-too-early burst damage, something that is fixed by the scaling addition to her Q instead of the flat addition.  You are now far more justified to buy three AD items (I would suggest BT, Hydra, and Last Whisper/Black Cleaver/Yomou's Ghostblade [this choice dependent on your defensive item choices to round out your CDR]), boots (Ionian or Merc Treads), and two defensive items (Spirit Visage/Banshee's Veil/Maw of Malmortius for MR, Randuin's/Thornmail/Sunfire Cape for AD [note that there's a case for Frozen Heart, but this case will only come up if your jungler or support are either behind or selfish]) than just stacking as much damage and lifesteal as you can.

Cynlael

Actually. The counterplay to Riven was shoving the lane into her so you can hit level two first... She snowballed because people would always try to play passively and let her hit two first, which gave her a 4-5s window where she had level advantage = power advantage over you, and could actually do that.

>Play Nasus and start Spiritfire, get wither at level 2 and then proceed as per normal.
Really was not that hard.

You -still- don't need boots on Riven, by the way. Just CDR is fine (BC/SV + cdr blues if you're not vs an AP top)
Personally: http://leaguecraft.com/builder/riven/?items=87,64,33,73,81,291&runes=36,36,36,36,36,36,36,36,36,63,63,63,63,63,63,63,63,63,52,52,52,52,52,52,52,52,52,62,102,102&level=18&masteries=104103010103030003012200130010000000000000000000000000000&fspells=true

Change Mercurial for hydra (if no tankiness is needed), youmuu's if they're a mobile team, or randuins if you need the armour instead of MR.

GG. Riven still OP if you knew how to play her properly, and weren't one of the people who relied on the level 2/3 kill.

Synbios

@Cynlael: From your post, and a couple of other mobafire guides I've been consulting, Youmuu's gaining popularity with Riven nowadays, I notice. What changed? Used to be that Black Cleaver was the standard Brutalizer followup. Was it the Youmuu active? Crit? Or something else entirely?

Cynlael

I've not bought it that much, aside from on Yi really. It's a good mobility item for melee champs, the attack speed helps slightly with activating her passive too. It's mostly used for splitpushing, and the active allows her to -really- not need boots.

Duration also lasts a little longer than it used to, as far as I know.
-Active duration changed to 6 seconds for melee champions and 4 seconds for ranged from 4 seconds + 2 seconds per autoattack for melee champions (8 seconds max).

Used to be 4+2

Darktalon

Played with someone from Achaea and possibly a group (didn't ask who everyone was). Got placed on support, which was fine.

I got to embarrass myself in front of people! I do take solace in the fact that anyone playing with me surely feels like a gaming god after!

Note for everyone - If you only play ARAM and have literally only played the other maps 3 times each, then the ranked players are going to laugh and say "What is he doing?" a lot.  )

Massive headcold and inexperience is awesome!