Exploring unorthodox playstyles in LoL

New site

2011-10-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

Let me be the first to announce that EUPiLoL is now running on my own website.

yay!

this means that I won't be posting here anymore. All of the old posts have been moved to that site, and I will continue posting my new ones there.

Here's the link :) www.alyzar.com

EUPiLoL#16 - Old School Alistar (In Dominion) The Creep Master

2011-10-02T07:27:00.000-07:00


YEAH NIGGUH

Alistar is an absolute beast in Dominion, and anyone who thinks otherwise isn't playing him right. The play style that I've adopted reminds me of how he used to be played. Sheer tankiness. This didn't work very well in Summoner's Rift because there wasn't much reason to target Alistar, but unmovable objects take on a whole new dimension when it comes to Dominion. Rather than relying on AP (which is what I've seen) I focus on an extremely tanky Alistar with huge amounts of sustainability. I go bottom lane, and forcefully push it with promoted minions. The sheer mix of tankiness and regeneration makes it impossible for most players to face you down in a 1v1 situation, and constant use of your heal means that while you stomp through their minions, you will amass an army for yourself.

His early game potency is about using that army to manhandle anyone who dares strike your beefy exterior. Slowly, yet surely, you push to their bot tower (and often gain control of it through minions alone). This forces the enemies to react. You aren't a pushover by any means. If you make it to their cap point, and claim it as yours, it will take at least three of your enemies to push you off of it, and even then it will take quite a bit of time (Even more so if you have some sort of damage dealer by your side). Alistar is one of the best bot pushers because he is less of a distraction and more of a glaring problem that needs addressing immediately unless you want the enemy team to have a permanent residence at your bottom point. His sheer tankiness and sustainability, as well as the focus in his heal allows for very early pushing capabilities that few other characters are capable of.

As Alistar, I end games as #1 on the scoreboard as a bot pusher and my score is usually under 900 because of how quickly the game ends. If you want to kick it old school, and be a bad ass while doing so, read onward.

Strengths

Early game Sustainability

Unmovable object

Can arguably push almost any character out of bottom lane 1v1

Extremely difficult to deal with

You feel like a badass while doing it

You don't feel useless in a fight

Arguably the most fun character to go bot with

Can beat just about anyone 1v1 in the early game if you use your creep army properly

The ability to use defense offensively

Weaknesses

You are at bot most of the game, so your team can easily lose top if they are terrible
Lacks much damage (But you can use creeps and cap points as your main source of damage)
Lacks much mobility
Must use Promote and Garrison as spells (No exhaust, flash, ghost, etc)
Mana intensive (Even with the added regeneration from Dominion)
Somewhat team reliant on getting kills and overall winning.
You can get a huge lead as Alistar, but it can be difficult to seal the deal on your own if your team sucks.
Reliant on your team to take advantage of the fact that 3-5 people are trying to pull you off bottom.

WUT

Itemizing

My item choices might seem a tad silly to you at first, but it is simply something that you have to try for yourself so that you can understand exactly what I'm getting at.

Core build (In this order)

Elesia's Miracle - "OMFG YOU ALREADY HAVE MANA REGENERATION WTF YOU ARE SO STUPID AHHHH AHHH AHH" Probably going to hear a lot of that. The thing about Alistar in bot is that you are reliant on your creeps for your early game potency. As a result of that, their creeps are dying very quickly and you are spamming the shit out of your heal. That's just how it is. Your mana will drain extremely quickly as you push onward. This also gives you the ability to trade blows with just about anyone and come out on top, especially if you let them attack you and then headbutt them into your creep army.

TL;DR

- You need the mana regeneration
- The health regeneration allows you to trade blows and win
- Tenacity is fuckin' awesome

Boots of Mobility / Boots of Lucidity - This is up to you. I prefer BoM so I can move quickly around the map, but I know some people like the CDR boots for the early spammability. It's really user preference.

Past that, everything is situational. Here is a list of situations you might find yourself in and what items to get to accommodate yourself.

Auto attacker / AD galore - Frozen Heart into Thornmail if you need it

This is pretty much best case scenario. Frozen heart is fucking amazing on Alistar. It gives you essentially everything you need and Thornmail seals the deal by offering you some damage so they have little choice but to run away. If you get these two items and are facing an AD team, there is VERY little they can do to push you off of their cap point, ESPECIALLY if you have garrison

Magic damage Galore / AP Galore - Force of Nature into Spirit Visage into Odyn's Veil

It's no secret that CDR is very important on Alistar but unfortunately there aren't many options to choose from that offer both CDR and MR. This is what I've found to be the best setup vs a heavy AP team. Extra sustainability, increased heal, some CDR, and some offensive potency.

Mixed damage - Glacial Shroud into Spirit Visage into Frozen heart into Odyn's Veil / Aegis

This is essentially the best of both worlds, and nets you a sexy amount of both MR and armor without gimping your CDR. Getting an Odyn's or an Aegis is entirely up to you and depends on your preference. I prefer Odyn's 9/10 times.

The enemy team is terrible and can't hurt me - Deathfire Grasp into Morello's into Deathcap

Max out your CDR, get a shitload of AP, and wreck face. Enough said.

Spells

Garrison and Promote are necessary here for obvious reasons.

Masteries

0/9/21 or 9/0/21. I wouldn't suggest going 21 in defense since you are already going to be extremely tanky and 21 in offense is silly on Alistar for obvious reasons.

Runes

AP runes are nice, in my opinion. CDR runes are a bit redundant as you will probably get to 40% in most cases anyway. Magic penetration is also nice.

Skilling Order

My skilling order for Alistar is somewhat unorthodox, although very important to his success. I go 2 into Triumphant roar and 1 into headbutt at level 3, taking my first point in Pulverize at level 4. I then proceed to max them out in this order

Triumphant Roar > Headbutt > Pulverize

Maxing out triumphant roar early on is very important for keeping your creep army alive and adds nicely to your sustainability. You'll find that you don't need to do that much damage if you manage your creep army properly and your heals + your miracle means that you can trade blows and come out on top almost every time.

General tips

- Headbutt and then immediately pulverizing will allow you to land your full combo the most efficiently. Although it can be a bit difficult to pull off for newer Alistar players, it is essential that you learn how to combo your headbutt and pulverize properly if you want to dominate as him.

- If your opponent is being aggressive, get them to attack you near your creeps. Once they target him, pulverize him and headbutt him into a wall or into your creeps. Heal, and run circles around him or auto attack while your creeps do the rest.

- Try to use promote as soon as possible so you can get the most out of it. There is no reason to wait. Use it on the first creep that you can so you can push their bottom as fast as possible

- Use hit and run tactics if your opponent out damages you. Even if they do, you will out regenerate them, and eventually be able to overcome just about anyone. Don't commit to a fight unless you know you will win. What you lack in damage and early tankiness, you make up for in creeps and regeneration.

- Only use garrison if your opponents have committed to the fight under your cap point.

- Pick up the health packs as much as possible. Don't let your opponent get them if possible, but don't die for the sole purpose of picking up a health pack.

- Keep tabs on where your enemies are on the map. Just because it's Dominion, doesn't mean map awareness isn't important. If a bunch of them are top, push bot as hard as you can and MAKE them pay attention to you.

- Try to get as many of your wounded creeps as possible within range of your heal. Remember that the CDR is lowered for every creep that dies around you.

- Don't be afraid to spam your spells. Your miracle is more than enough to keep your mana replenished.

EUPiLoL#15 - AP Shaco in Dominion

2011-10-01T01:49:00.000-07:00

I'm aware that AP Shaco isn't necessarily unorthodox, but I wanted to do a post about him, so deal with it. I'd like to say that I'm extremely well versed in Shaco. He was my favorite character to play back when Sunfire Shaco was around, and I am one of the (unfortunately few) players who can actually jungle with him without dying in the first minute. I have always liked AP Shaco, but he and his play style have some pretty huge flaws that stopped him from dominating summoner's rift.

- Lacked any sort of farming capabilities whilst simultaneously being item dependent

- Required that he spend long periods of time getting no experience

- Pitiful early game

- Assassination focused on a team fight oriented map.

As you can see, every single one of these issues is rectified in Dominion, and on top of that, the directions that players can go are simplified (seeing as there are only so many routes you can take through The Crystal Scar's jungle). Because of this, on top of his amazing ability to not only defend cap points, but also assassinate people in the way that can truly invoke fear within your enemies, as well as annoy the living piss out of them. I know I usually jump into items after my introduction, but I would like to discuss the role of AP Shaco.

His role is, simply put, to annoy the living shit out of your enemies. To truly utilize the psychological torment that Shaco is capable of, you must enter the mindset of a sociopath that is both psychopathic and slippery. In my opinion, AP Shaco requires the most cunning out of every other champion in the game. I can't possibly get into every little thing that will make you into a good Shaco because it would consist of thousands of words and probably at least forty images.. Instead, I will give you the tools necessary to become a sociopath yourself.

Strengths

Amazing ganking potential
Can easily defend top on his own (Unless 3-5 people bum rush it, in which case your team can just pick up two cap points to compensate)
1v1 Potential
Can escape most situations
Can trick people with his clone
Can beat any character 1v1 in the right circumstances
Health / speed buff control
Map control
Extremely high burst potential
Can deceive over many obstacles
Can use JITB to stall approaching enemies whilst you cap a point
Split-Capping capabilities

High end base movement speed

Can use his ultimate to dodge spells

Snowballs very well

High skill cap

Weaknesses

Due to the complexity of his kit, it can be easy to get overwhelmed and lose your cool

Difficult to learn, Difficult to master

Reliant on JITB for damage

Lacks the blatant offensive capabilities of AD Shaco due to said JITB reliance

Very squishy

If you don't have micromanagement skills, his ultimate can go to waste

Deceive loses potency due to lack of AD
Hextech Sweeper will ruin your life.
The classic deceive + Hit + JITB + Shiv might not always work if they are smart enough to AoE your box away (With characters like xin zhao or renekton)

Itemizing

Starting Items

When going AP Shaco, you have three basic choices that I see as viable..

Fiendish Codex - This item offers the best offensive capabilities while giving up speed entirely. You will be forced to use ghost if you want to make it top quickly enough to be of any use. This is the choice that I prefer.

Prospector's Ring + Boots of Speed - This is what I would suggest that new AP Shaco players go. It offers you some survivability, some AP, some mana regen, and enough speed so you aren't slow as fuck.

Boots of Mobility - I wouldn't suggest this unless you are forced to cap your mid turret for your team.

Core (In that order)

Boots of Mobility - Mobility is key, and for Shaco, this is no exception. No brainer.

Deathfire Grasp - This is the another no brainer. The active adds a layer of potency to your burst potential and CDR is extremely important on Shaco.

Rabadon's Deathcap - I've seen some players opt for the evil tome before Deathcap, but I feel like rushing the deathcap truly makes you a force to be reckoned with. In this case, CDR can wait it's turn behind pure, unadulterated damage.

Morello's Evil Tome - We get Morello's so you can finish up your CDR while still maintaining a steady AP flow

Lich Bane - Lich Bane is the cherry on top of all of your damaging capabilities. The magic resistance is nice, and the mobility is useful in Dominion. Get it.

Luxury Items

Here are a couple of different luxury choices you can get and why you might want to get them.

Zhonya's Hourglass - The highest possible AP increase other than Deathcap. The active is also nice, and the armor doesn't go unnoticed if you need it. I usually get this item if I don't find myself particularly needing anything, or if I need a bit of armor

Rylai's Crystal Scepter - Personally, I don't much care for this item on Shaco, but it is a good item for giving yourself general survivability without sacrificing your AP flow.

Abyssal Scepter - MR is a great item if you need some magic resistance and don't want to sacrifice your AP

Force of Nature - If you are in serious need of magic resistance.

Guardian Angel / Thornmail - Two extreme choices if you are in need of survivability.

Priscilla's Blessing - If you find yourself side capping a lot.

Spells

I've settled upon Exhaust/Ghost for my personal repertoire. Exhaust is very potent in Dominion, and ghost is simply mandatory. Garrison, flash, and ignite can all be useful, I just simply find Exhaust/Ghost to be the best possible combination for me.

Masteries

No brainer. 9/0/21

Runes

I find myself using Pure AP runes or magic penetration runes. CDR isn't very useful because you end up maxing it out anyway.

Skilling Order

This is another no brainer. One level in each of your skills at level 3, and then Jack in the box > Shiv > Deceive

General Tips

- Placing 3-5 JITB at choke points can usually land you a kill if you keep an eye on it and remain close enough to deceive+DFG+Shiv.

- Going for one of the mid turrets and placing 3-5 JITB at the health shrines south of them can usually land you a kill

- Try to keep minions off of the cap points that you have boxed up. They are the bane of your boxes

- Rather than going back, try to utilize health shrines as much as possible. If you are consistent about it, you'd be surprised at how little you need to go back.

- Once you have lichbane, deceive becomes all the more useful.

- Remember that your shiv does 20% bonus damage from behind

- You can try to place multiple JITB at the entrance of your enemies' spawn point if you want to stall them. I've landed a kill a couple times in doing it and it can prove very annoying to your enemies.

- When running away, place your JITB in front of you rather than behind you so it has time to charge up and whoever is chasing you doesn't simply kill it / run past it

- Remember to use your clone. The nuke that it has can prove very effective.

- Deceive -> Hit once -> JITB -> Shiv or Exhaust -> Exhaust or Shiv is your optimal combo. You want to keep them slowed long enough for the JITB to proc and fear them.

- Placing JITB(s) on speed / health shrines can yield useful results.

EUPiLoL#14 - Supersonic Zilean (Cappin' and shit) DOMINION

2011-09-28T23:34:00.000-07:00

Zilean as a capper is hilariously amazing and annoying as fuck for your opponents. While he lacks any sort of offensive capabilities whatsoever, his consistent speed is rivaled by none (774 without movement quints). Zilean works best as a capper if your team is strong enough to not need what Teemo and Janna might offer otherwise. He does have some support capabilities with his ult and slow, although he is usually better off capping, and I find that his ult doesn't see much use (Although it's still extremely useful to have in your kit. Let's put his main strengths and weaknesses into a list.

Strength

He isn't mana intensive. - This is what stopped Zilean from speeding all around summoner's rift, but I find myself rarely if ever running out of mana.

- Fastest constant speed as a capper.

- Some support capabilities

Weaknesses

Zero combative capabilities - You won't even leveling your bomb until last. That is how little he can do.

Rewind brings you "into combat", thus halting the rank 5 movement on Boots of Mobility - It doesn't matter much because you are still fast as fuck.

People will rage at you. - I find my teammates rage at me more than if I played Teemo because they don't expect me to be capping. Make sure they know that you are doing this in the pregame screen.

Itemizing

Obviously we are going to start with Boots of Swiftness or Boots of Mobility (this is your decision. If you want consistent speed, get boots of swiftness. If you want a mixture of slower speed with very fast speed, get boots of mobility. It's preferential). and a rejuvenation bead. Turn that bead into a Priscilla's Blessing when you get the chance and follow up with a Shurelia's Reverie (Kindlegem first, duh). Past that, it's situational.

TL;DR

Boots of Swiftness or Boots of Mobility + Rejuvenation Bead
Priscilla's blessing
Shurelia's Reverie (Kindlegem first)

Past your Core:

Aegis of the Legion - Cost effective defense and useful for helping your teammates

Force of Nature - A great item if you are facing an AP / magic intensive team

Phantom Dancers - For more mobility

Odyn's Veil - I don't really care for this item, but I've seen some people get it so I felt that I should mention it. I personally feel like there are stronger options.

Randuin's Omen - A decent item to get if you are having trouble with gap closers.

Frozen heart - An amazing item to get if you are having issues with melee. The CDR is extremely helpful and will allow you to keep your speed boost up 100% of the time.

Spells

I originally thought I would need clarity for Zilean, but it turns out that he really doesn't need it. Ghost/Flash are what I use, but clairvoyance, exhaust, and even garrison are good options. Definitely take ghost, though, as it aids in your ability to cap.

Masteries

As long as you have 21 in utility, you're fine. I go 8/1/21 (1 point in MR or armor) due to the fact that you don't need the magic penetration anyway.

Runes

Movement speed quints are nice. So is CDR. So are general defensive runes but it is mostly user preference. Use what you feel you need or what you have on hand.

Skill Order

Time Warp -> rewind -> Time Bomb

Gameplan

Here's the route that I generally take for the first couple of points (as there will probably be a tiny bit of confusion and I figured I would clear it up).

Your mid tower -> Race to their mid bush and wait for the fight at top to begin and take their mid tower. -> Go bot or top depending on which one you think you can take.

General Tips

Rewind on every cooldown and time warp on every cooldown

Always avoid fighting if you can. If you get into a fight, ult a teammate before you die because the ult is pointless on you.

Capping points > Fighting enemies

EUPiLoL#13 - Janna in Dominion (Capping+Defensive style)

2011-09-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Jannna is another character who excels in the art of capping. The thing that she has over Teemo is that her ultimate goal when split capping isn't to get the point for her team (although that is always nice). Her ultimate goal is to be a distraction. Her kit is entirely based upon stalling the enemy and you would be surprised at how far people will go to kill you. Every second that you have 1-3 people chasing you is crucial to your team pushing other points, and if you play your cards right, you can get away most of the time. The thing that differentiates Janna from Teemo is that she's still Janna. She has all the move speed that he does (Excluding the active of his move quick), with all of her support abilities. This makes her an excellent defender and supporter so she can actually do something useful if capping a point isn't the best option at that particular point in time. When looking at her strength and weaknesses, we'll compare her to Teemo.

Strengths

Amazing support potential. In summoner's rift, Janna excels at supporting in little skirmishes, and this makes her all the more powerful in a game mode where most of the fights consist of these little brawls.

Kiting potential - While Teemo can lead someone into a group of shrooms, Janna has her tornado, zephyr, and her ultimate to do this. It could be argued that she can out kite him depending on the situation. She can also bullshit her enemies much harder, where as all Teemo can really do is kite the enemy into his shrooms. Janna excels at running in circles and keeping the enemy a couple steps behind, ultimately wasting a large portion of their time.

Combative capabilities - At the end of the day, all Teemo can do is kite. Janna is quite annoying to fight against if she has a teammate with her, which makes her multi-dimensional in her capabilities. Her kit also allows for her to defend quite well, or at least stall someone long enough for her team to get there. She has difficulty finishing the deal due to her lack of damage.

Weaknesses

- Slightly slower overall (The active of move quick)

- Using her slow makes her even slower

- Lacks the map control that shrooms provide.

So as you can see, Teemo is a bit faster and has better map control, but Janna is more versatile of a capper. Keep that in mind when deciding which one you should play.

Itemizing

I start with Boots of Mobility and Rejuvenation Bead. Due to her speed, Janna is a prime candidate for taking your team's mid tower and then rushing to aid them at top or taking the opponent's mid. After that, I obviously opt for Priscilla's Blessing. After that, Shurelia's Reverie is a pretty good choice because of it's active and it gives you a bit of needed mana regeneration (Janna can be a bit mana intensive, even in dominion. Reverie fixes that. IMPORTANT. REMEMBER THIS. The movement buff of Reverie and Priscilla's don't stack. This means that if you use them simultaneously, you don't get a 70% increase. Use them one after the other to utilize them to the fullest extent. I find myself really needing Tenacity on Janna, so I opt for a Moonflair Spellblade (first time I've ever actually bought this item for a champion). Past that it is pretty situational, but here are a couple of options that sound nice to me.

TL;DR

Boots of Mobility + Rejuvenation Bead

Priscilla's Blessing

Shurelia Reverie (Kindlegem first)

Moonflair Spell Blade

Aegis of the Legion - Cost effective defense and useful for helping your teammates

Force of Nature - A great item if you are facing an AP / magic intensive team

Phantom Dancers - For more mobility

Odyn's Veil - I don't really care for this item, but I've seen some Janna's get it so I felt that I should mention it. I personally feel like there are stronger options.

Randuin's Omen - A decent item to get if you are having trouble with gap closers so you don't have to sacrifice your zephyr in order to keep them at bay.

Frozen heart - A decent item to get if you are having issues with melee. The CDR is also nice.

Spells

This is really personal preference. I prefer Ghost / Flash, but Garrison is really nice on her and so is exhaust. I would definitely recommend that you at least get Ghost. Clairvoyance can also be nice for revealing the area near your point you are capping so you know when to run, but I usually get away even if I don't have it. I really like flash because you can use it to position yourself for an offensive ult.

Masteries

9/0/21 if you want CDR or 0/9/21 if you want improved armor and magic resistances. Again, up to you.

Runes

Movement Speed quints are nice. So is full bown AP if you want early potency. The thing about runes is that they are early game centric, and the early game is so fast in Dominion that they don't matter as much. CDR is also good, as are general defensive runes, but it's not that big of a deal for Janna in Dominion.

Skill Order

In Summoner's Rift, every good Janna will max out her shield first, but her skilling order is a bit more situational. Your main focus is to cap points, so maxing out zephyr is a pretty good idea, in my opinion. At the start, I put 2 points into zephyr and 1 into gale. I max out the middle point, and by the time I reach top I've hit level 4 and I take my point in shield. You can max out shield first, but I feel like it hurts your ability to cap points.

General tips

- Capping points is more important than killing someone.

- Janna is ultimately better off side-capping than defending. Don't make it your personal job to stop every enemy capper unless you are in the area.

- In a fight, shield whoever is going to auto attack most / whoever has the highest attack speed unless someone desperately needs the actual shield.

- In certain cases, Janna can win a fight if you use hit and run tactics. Keep that in mind.

- Your tornado is a source of CC, not a source of damage. Don't bother letting it wind up unless you are waiting for someone to enter it's range.

EUPiLoL#12 - "Fast Mover" Teemo in Dominion (Open ended Theory Crafing Discussion)

2011-09-24T00:04:00.000-07:00

This is an open ended discussion about the possibility of a completely roaming-centric Teemo in Dominion. You can take part in this discussion at < click here >

I haven't done much testing of Teemo in Dominion (Only a couple of games at that), but I see a lot of potential for a completely mobility focused capper. After looking extensively at the champion list, he seems to be the best hero for the job for multiple reasons.

- Shrooms
I think shrooms are very important here for a few reasons. Firstly, they offer an escape route for Teemo. The way that Dominion is built allows for long consecutive shroom lines and if you place them so you can cap a point and then retreat into them, you are not only making sure you are safe, you are quite possibly wasting a lot of the enemies time if they try to chase you. Ontop of this, the map awareness that Shrooms offer allows you to plan your capping a bit safely, and allows you to hamper the opponent in some way so your team isn't at a complete disadvantage due to your play style. I've heard of Teemo's placing them on the health power ups as well.

- Passive speed
Teemo is the only character in the game who has a passive speed boost (excluding Sona and Janna, I think?). In summoner's rift, you max this out second (After your poison), but perhaps we could even take it one step further and max it out first? This definitely hampers your offensive capabilities, but it improves your capping capabilities by quite a bit, which is your sole objective to begin with.

Items/Runes/Masteries

The following build is sort of something I've thought up on the fly. I don't know how good it will be, but it is something to think about.

Starting items
Boots of Mobility + Rejuvenation Bead

Core (In this order)
Priscilla's Blessing
Kindlegem
Shurelia's Reverie

Past that, I am rather unsure of what to get. There are a lot of possible options, though. Some people say Zeals, although I am not sure I'm a fan of that. I've considered going the AP route (Deathcap/Rylais for the added shroom / Blinding Dart slow into Lich Bane?), or perhaps Randuin's for an AoE slow in case you're getting chased down?

One instinct I had was to finish up CDR. I'm not sure if there is a CDR buff in Dominion or not (There might be. I think I remember someone saying that there was), but with cooldown glyphs + 1 seal you can have 6% CDR. + 9 from Masteries (Assuming you go 21 into utility, which you should be doing in the first place for the bonus movement speed) and +15 from your Reverie will net you 30. Picking up another Kindlegem would bring your to 40, thus netting you the maximum amount of shrooms and speed boosts.

Rune-wise, I suppose movement speed quints would be useful here, and I have no idea (Besides defensive runes) what could be useful for the seals and marks.

Spells

Ghost is an obvious choice for Fast Mover Teemo. I can see use in Clairvoyance as well, and obviously flash. I'm not sure how I feel about the new dominion spells.

EUPiLoL#11 - Lux in Dominion

2011-09-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Let me start off by saying that Dominion is very young and that strategies and play styles are bound to change on whim, so what is considered viable today might not be considered viable tomorrow until things cool down. Let me also say that I've only played around five games of Lux so far and this is less of a full blown guide and more of speculations. That being said, I really like Lux in Dominion. It caters to her play style amazingly as a cap defender. She can halt a cap from a long distance and the way the map is built caters to her positioning-centric play style very well. The general lack of many creeps in many areas of the map also allows for her snare to have free reign over her enemies, and her kit is very useful in the skirmishing based combat that goes on in Dominion. I'm not entirely certain of her main weaknesses yet (It is slightly hard to tell because I haven't played many games, and most of them have been as Lux), but I'll name a couple of things that I think she is very good at.

- Early top fighting. Lux is a prime candidate for going top with two others and securing the middle cap point.
- Cap defending.
- Ulting fleeing opponents.
- Amazing combative capabilities through kiting and general burst. In Summoner's Rift, Lux seemed to fall a bit short due to the team fighting nature and the general structure of the map. In Dominion, there are so many winding paths that you can position yourself in a way that keeps you safe whilst doing maximum damage. On top of that, she excels in skirmish based combat, and there is plenty of that in Dominion.

Itemizing

In Summoner's Rift, what is considered most viable is a glass cannon sort of build with the use of the blue buff. There isn't a blue buff in Dominion, so our main focuses will be in...

CDR
AP
Mana Regeneration
Mobility

What might be considered viable in Summoner's Rift doesn't hold a candle to Dominion. Our main goal will be to get to 40% CDR as quickly as possible without sacrificing your mobility. Since you start with 1.3k, your first item will be a Fiendish Codex, followed by Boots of Mobility and a Kindlegem. The idea is that you turn your Codex into a Morello's, thus netting you 40% CDR and the mobility required to quickly run to defend a point. This is everything you need to do your job (and do it well if I might add). After that, you will want to get a Deathcap in order to drive your damage home. Let's put it into list form.

Core
Fiendish Codex
Boots of Mobility
Kindlegem
Morello's Evil Tome
Rabadon's Deathcap

Past that, there are a number of things you can do based on what you need. Here are some viable options.

Zhonya's Hourglass

If you need a bit of armor and find yourself getting focused a lot. It can also be bought if you need a clutch button to dodge an ultimate like veigar or annie's ult.

Abyssal Scepter

A good item to get if your team is heavily AP based or you need some MR

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

A good item to get if you feel you need the extra slow (Although it isn't very good on Lux) or some extra HP. I wouldn't recommend it, but some people seem to like it on Lux so I felt that I should include it.

Lichbane

This is my favorite item to get for her. It gives you a bit more mobility along with a reason to use your passive. Be careful with it, as it's very easy to bait yourself into getting killed. Only go in for an auto attack if you are sure you will be safe.

Spells

For spells, you can do a number of combinations. My personal preference is Ignite/Flash, but you can also use Clairvoyance or ghost in place of one of those if you'd like. Ghost can be very potent in Dominion, but I simply prefer ignite flash.

Masteries

I use the generic 9/0/21

Runes

I don't like to tell people which runes to use for non jungle characters as I feel that it's more of a user preference thing, but I like AP runes. Don't get CDR runes because you will already have 40% CDR. I've been told that Movement speed quints work well in Dominion also.

Skill Order

R->E->Q->W

General Tips for Dominion Lux

There's not a whole lot I can say about her in Dominion that isn't also true in Summoner's Rift, but here's a couple of things that I've learned about her.

- She excels at stalling and halting enemies who are capping.
- Her overall effectiveness (Compared to other's around her) increases a lot once she hits 6. I'm not saying that she is ineffective pre-level 6, I am simply pointing out the fact that her ultimate is responsible for a huge portion of what makes her amazing in Dominion.
- Be aware of your positioning at all times. Lux is very positioning focused, and can be easily overrun if you aren't aware of your surroundings. Mobile characters are seem to be the current meta game, so try to be aware of your surroundings at all times.
- It's better to cap a point than to get a kill. If someone is no longer a threat, let them run and take the point instead.

EUPiLoL#10 - Examining our Obession with Mercury Treads

2011-09-21T00:11:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be a bit out of the ordinary, but I believe it might be helpful to some of you. I was thinking up a build for a certain character and when thinking about which boots I should buy, the thought popped into my head that no one has actually (to the best of my knowledge) gone through the trouble to examine Tenacity and see if our reliance on it is actually misplaced. No one has put forth the effort to actually get some hard numbers on how much CC reduction we are actually getting. My first instinct was to go through and apply the 35% duration reduction to every form of CC in the game. Obviously this is a terrible idea, so I came up with the much simpler (as well as convenient) idea for starting at .5 and making my way to 3.5. My findings were a bit eye opening.

.5 seconds = .325 seconds (Minus .175 seconds)
.75 seconds = .4875 (Minus .2625 seconds)
1 Second = .65' (Minus .35 seconds)
1.25 Seconds = .8125 (Minus .4375 seconds)
1.50 Seconds = .975 (Minus .525 seconds)
1.75 Seconds = 1.125 (Minus 0.625 seconds)
2 Seconds = 1.3 (Minus 0.7 seconds)
2.25 Seconds = 1.4625 (Minus 0.7875 seconds)
2.50 Seconds = 1.625 (Minus 0.875 seconds)
2.75 Seconds = 1.7875 (Minus 0.9625 seconds)
3 Seconds = 1.95 (Minus 1.05 seconds)
3.25 Seconds = 2.1125 (Minus 1.1375 Seconds)
3.50 Seconds = 2.275 (Minus 1.225 seconds)

The unspoken rule within the LoL community has usually been that if they have 2+ forms of CC, you opt for Mercury Treads. I was one of those people up until recently when I realized that a lot of the CC in the game doesn't last very long. Because of this, a lot of that CC reduction is modest at best. Before you jump to any conclusions, know that I am a proud supporter of Mercury Treads. I can definitely see and without a doubt acknowledge their usefulness. That being said, allow me to pose a question. How many of you actually notice the difference after getting these Tenacity items? Obviously the difference between a 3.5 Second Ashe ult and a 2.2275 Second Ashe ult is huge, and obviously being able to leave Galio's ult early can do wonders wheni t comes to countering him, but perhaps we are being a bit narrow minded when it comes to our reliance upon Mercury Treads. Perhaps Tenacity boots are a more situational pick that we have grown to become so attached to simply because that's the way it is. I'm not saying that they should only be picked in extreme cases, I am simply pointing out the fact that in certain situations, it might not be the best choice, and the +2 CC rule doesn't apply to every composition.

That being said, tenacity isn't the only attribute that these boots offer. You are getting enough MR to feel somewhat comfortable in the early game, and it is probably the most cost effective choice of boots (excluding Attack speed boots, perhaps).

EUPiLoL#9 - A different way of approaching AP Taric

2011-09-19T22:33:00.000-07:00


(I picked that picture because it looked more "AP-like", NOT because of his boots. Just clearing that up.)

Sorry for my lack of posts recently. I lost interest in League of Legends (And blogging about it), although my interest has been peaked slightly and I am back on the horse for the time being. I come to you with a post about AP Taric. AP Taric is nothing new. That being said, with his new changes, I've been looking at him, and I feel like I have a certain approach that some people who play (or want to play) AP Taric might find appealing.To the player who suggested an alternative Taric build, I finally got around to it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

The big issue that I find with AP Tarics is that they forget their role as a support character, and that leads to them building him the same way they would build your common nuker. The thing about Taric, is that 2/3 of his damaging spells are close ranged (dazzle being medium ranged, although you might as well use it as close as possible as well). The point (however obvious it might be) that I'm trying to make is that glass cannon builds don't work on Taric. He needs survivability in order to be effective. The new changes to dazzle make survivability even more important.

The second issue that I find is that most AP Tarics is that they try to build expensive nuker items on him straight from the get go, despite the fact that he is a side lane babysitter / aggressive support first and a nuker second. He lacks much farming ability, and the idea of having a Taric go mid or top is quite frankly sickening to me. My Taric will focus on gold efficiency and early survivability followed by heavy focus into AP.

Let's look at some of the strengths and weaknesses that AP Taric has compared to your run of the mill support Taric.

Strengths

- Heavily increased late game damage.
- Improved heal (This can lead to the argument that in certain ways, an AP focused Taric out-supports a tankier one)
- Increased support potential for an AP focused team (Will explain why later)

Weaknesses

- Less survivability (This can be slightly countered by the fact that your heal is much more powerful as AP Taric)

- Slightly more mana intensive

- Somewhat costly in comparison to support Taric

Now... What you've all been waiting for...

Itemizing

Like I said. I prefer a support Taric that moves into heavy AP after his core is done. Like I also said, this build is costs more than your average taric build. I like to start with Boots of Speed / 3 Pot or a Regrowth Pendant / 1 pot. I would suggest starting with the regrowth pendant because you can turn it into an extremely early philosopher's stone. My core build is as follows (In this order)

Philosopher's Stone

Boots of Speed (Unless you started with them.)

Heart of Gold

Kage's Lucky Pick

Aegis of the Legion

I finish my boots whenever I generally feel the need to, although I try to make it past aegis. You can either go Mercury Treads or Sorcerer Boots. If they have more than 2 stuns, I'd opt for the treads (although you can go sorcerer boots and turn your philosopher stone into a Miracle later on).

As you can see, this is a run of the mill support build. It offers you enough g/5 to fund your AP, as well as the most cost effective survivability item in the game. I know this might seem boring for people who want to jump in and start blasting things, but believe me when I say that all of these items are necessary in order to achieve success as AP Taric.

This is where the fun begins. Your next item is Rabadon's Deathcap. The great thing about this build is that it looks like a normal Taric, and then you turn around with the biggest AP item in the game and start bursting like crazy. After getting this item, it's not unheard of that I burst a squishy down to 20-30% life, all the while supporting my team with a seriously powerful heal, damage/AP buffs, and my Aegis aura. This is especially true if you opted for Sorc Boots.

After that, you can continue going AP to your hearts content, but let's look at some AP options and why we might chose them. The choice I usually go with is Deathfire Grasp. This isn't an item that I normally suggest so early, but it is simply amazing on Taric. The combined mana regeneration from your philosopher's stone and your DFG nets you enough MR to be somewhat comfortable. The cooldown reduction is helpful on Taric because his cooldowns are long enough for CDR to have a substantial impact, but short enough for that impact to matter. The active adds another chunk to the burst potential that caused you to pick AP Taric in the first place.

Another good option that I enjoy going is Will of the Ancients. This is an especially awesome choice if someone else on your team gets it (110 AP and 50% Spell Vamp for each of you) due to the fact that the auras combine between the holders. If you want to go crazy, and would like a bit of DPS, and for some reason have the gold for it, you can even get a Gunblade and enjoy 75% Spell Vamp as well as an added slow (Although it does little to help your supportability and is quite expensive.)

Abyssal Scepter is another good item (albeit situational) that I enjoy getting. It's a good item if you are on an magic focused team and having issues with magic damage as well. That being said, either reason is a good enough reason to get it. If you are getting it simply for the aura, I would get will of the ancients first, unless your team isn't AP focused.

If you are in desperate need of armor, I wouldn't suggest Zhonya's Hourglass, as the active won't be of much use to someone like Taric. Glacial shroud into (possibly) Frozen Heart is a great choice. Randuin's is good as well if you can make use of the active.

TL;DR

Core:

Regrowth Pendant + Potion / Boots of Speed + 3 Potion

Philosopher's Stone

Boots of Speed

Heart of Gold

Kage's Lucky Pick

Aegis of the Imperium

Mercury Treads (If 2+ CC) Sorc Boots

Rabadon's Deathcap

Past Core:

Doing Well - Deathfire Grasp or Will of the Ancients (Works best if someone else gets it as well)

Need MR / Teamwide Magic Penetration - Abyssal Scepter / Banshee's veil

Need Armor - Frozen Heart (Better CDR, Mana, More armor, Passive Attack speed debuff)
/ Randuins Omen (Active AoE slow, more HP)

-> BUY WARDS!!!!!!!!!!! <-

Approaching Team fights

AP Taric walks the line between Tanky AP and support. His strength lies in his ability to burst someone down and then turn around and heal someone else, all while offering up auras. Because of the fact that 2/3 of your damage is AoE, try to use those two abilities with as many people in them as possible. Also, try to use your ult first, so your following abilities do more damage. On top of that, try to use your ult with as many teammates around as possible, so they benefit as well. You aren't incredibly tanky, but you would be surprised at how often you can heal when you're constantly hitting someone, and you'd also be surprised at how much your heal is actually worth with some AP under your belt. Try to make sure your shatter lands on whoever your carry is targeting so they can benefit from the armor debuff.

TL;DR

- Try to get as many enemies in your AOEs

- Use your ult first so your abilities benefit from your AD/AP buff.

- Try to get as many allies as possible in your ult

- Try to get your shatter debuff on whoever needs it to be on them the most

- Make sure you are constantly auto attacking in order to get the most out of your heal.

Runes

I like to use AP runes. That's just me. Cool down runes, magic penetration, and even defensive runes can work very well. It's up to preference at the end of the day

Masteries

There are a couple of different approaches you can do. 9/0/21 for the improved CDR and magic penetration or 0/9/21 for the improved regeneration and MR/Armor. It's up to you. Whatever suits your fancy is fine.

Spells

Either Clairvoyance/Flash or Exhaust/Flash or Ignite/Flash. Once again, preferential.

Leveling Order

I take Dazzle first, followed by imbue, followed by Shatter. I then Go in the order of Shatter -> Imbue -> Dazzle. I max out Dazzle last because it doesn't really do all that much damage and it's duration is the same throughout all the levels.

EUPiLoL#8 - Playing on Mundo's strengths

2011-05-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

Honestly, the way some people play Mundo annoys me to no end. I feel like a lot of people try to shove him into one of the standard play styles without realizing that he is a unique hybrid and shouldn't be seen as the traditional carry/off-tank/tank. This leads people to build him AD/Tank/Hybrid and often leads to what I perceive as a lot of potential gone to waste. Since the LoL community's biggest issue seems to be his role, let's discuss that first.

The most traditional role that he falls into is a tanky DPS, although I think this does little to describe the unique role that he has, and this is much of why people incorporate fundamentals that I feel don't quite fit with him. The way I play Mundo, is as a Chaser/Kiter/Baiter/Semi Carry. He is very good at chasing, and he is very good at running away. His ultimate allows him to do both of these things well as well as baiting the enemy in certain situations. The way I build him allows for decent damage (Through unorthodox means ;) ) whilst giving him the means to use his passive and his ultimate to their fullest extent. He excels at keeping the enemy locked down as well as kiting them about if need be.

Just because I've failed to call him an off-tank doesn't mean we suddenly drop tanky gear and rush for attack items, but before I even begin to go in depth into his items, we need to talk about his strengths and his issues.

Strengths

A lack of mana.

Natural regeneration

Amazing early game potential

Scales well into the late game (Damage and tank-wise)

AMAZING chasing/kiting ability

Awesome poke

Decent farm / Last Hitting

Issues

Lacks a stun

Extreme focus fire is to much for his ultimate to handle

Ignite will fuck you over

Aim Reliant

As you can see, you can't do a whole lot when it come's to Mundo's weaknesses (item wise). Because of this, we must adapt our own play style and focus on his strengths when itemizing. First things first, we all know that Spirit Visage is amazing for him. The DPS Mundos get it. The tank Mundos get it. Let's get it.

Even though it's not a very good item to rush for (Health Crystal and Null Magic Mantle are so-so starting items), I still like to rush for it (Or Boots+3 HP pots). It's really up to your preference, and whether or not you are comfortable going for the Crystal / Mantle.

Spirit Visage and Boots of Swiftness are my core items. They rock. He gets everything he needs for the first portion of the game from these two items. Our next item is when things will start to get a little bit different from the normal Mundo.

I like to go for a Rylai's Crystal Scepter next. I know that might seem like a fucked up decision at first, but try to look at it from my perspective. Like I said, Mundo excels at chasing and baiting. He also has NO skills that scale off of AD, so why bother building him that way? It's expensive, and it lacks synergy with his abilities. Rylai's, on the other hand, has a shitload of Synergy.

- Adds slow to your cleaver, as well as your Burning Agony.

- Adds a pinch of damage to your burning agony

- HP is amazing on Mundo.

These don't seem like huge reasons to get it, but it is something that you need to experience for yourself so that you might understand the potential it holds. Mundo is about the long term and that damage does add up, and the added slow is extremely noticeable.

Your next item is a toss up. As much as I would like to stack flat HP, that isn't a viable option. You can be bursted down pretty easily and you need some defense under your belt. You need to keep two thing sin mind when looking for mitigation items and that is HP and HP regeneration. If I need armor, Randuin's Omen is an excellent choice. If I need MR, an obvious pick is Force of Nature. If you need a mixture of both, I usually opt for a Guardian Angel.

Past this, I tend to do something that you might not enjoy the idea of but might like once you see it in action, and that is to stack Warmogs. You see, my Mundo style is all about being bulky, having lots of regeneration, and being able to slow someone down to a crawl whilst poking them for decent damage. Mundo can do all of this. He has a built in 25% HP poke, a built in +100 damage, and a built in AoE. He doesn't need massive amounts of damage items to be effective. What he does need is a lot of HP to increase the effectiveness of his ultimate, and a lot of regeneration to win any poking war whatsoever. I know that Warmogs aren't very cost effective generally, so let's do some math and find out exactly what they do for Mundo.

At it's worst, it offers you 920 HP and 30/5 HP regeneration. Now, when we incorporate your passive and your ultimate, it adds...

27.6 / 30/5 HP regeneration

644 HP to your ultimate

Now, any of this is before we incorporate spirit visage at all. Remember that it adds 15% to your heailng and regeneration effects.

That means that at it's minimum, Warmogs actually offers...

65/5 HP Regeneration

740 HP to your ultimate.

At it's best it offers you 1370 HP and 45 HP Regeneration

Which translates into (With Spirit Visage)

86/5 HP Regeneration

1102 HP to your ultimate

And that is before we even discuss the added bonuses that it gives Force of Nature.

Are you beginning to see the awesome potential that Warmog's can offer Mundo? This is coming from someone who HATES Warmog's and has never been able to justify them on anyone.

ITEM BUILD/TL;DR

Spirit Visage

Boots of Swiftness

Rylai's

Force of Nature / Randuin's Omen

Warmog's

That's it. It rarely changes, and it is always effective for me. Let's move on to other things.

Approaching Team fights

You can be initiate somewhat well if you have to, although Mundo is the sort of character whose job is to jump on a problem character that needs to be killed and keep them slowed down and taking his AoE damage. You are somewhat tanky, but not to the extent that you should be jumping before the main initiator. Use hit and run tactics with a focus on chasing and locking opponents down and you'll do just fine. Use your ultimate if you need the added speed, or as you are about to enter a fight to keep your HP up. If you get focused, laugh in their face. If you get focused and ignited, try to run because you might die. You'll find that your ultimate + your regeneration + your defensive items will keep you safe against most focus but ignite will seriously fuck you over.

Runes

There are a couple of runes that I like. I enjoy Cooldown, Movement speed, health, and magic penetration, although it is mostly up to what you find useful and what works for you.

Masteries

I like 9/21/0

Spells

This is something that some people will probably disagree with me on, but I honestly prefer exhaust/ignite for Mundo. He already has a built in ghost, and his amazing early game potential along with his decent 1v1 potential make exhaust/ignite a valid choice for him, in my opinion.

EUPiLoL#7 - A realistic approach to Heimerdinger.

2011-05-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

Heimerdinger used to be regarded as an amazing pusher with extremely annoying potential when it came to pushing and anti-gank methods. Although he had no natural escape mechanisms, a halfway decent player would, with ease, kite you to your doom whilst allowing his turrets to output insane damage. His nerf hampered his damage severely and left him regarded as a "meh" champion to most people. I believe this is mostly due to the fact that most people are building him improperly, and playing him even worse. Before we begin with the same template I use in the other posts, let's take a few moments to get into a "Heimerdinger" state of mind. Heimerdinger is probably the biggest niche role in the game. There are a couple of things that he is very good at, and some players have seem to have lost sight of this.

Anti-Pushing.

If you lose your mid turret as heimerdinger, all I can say is what the fuck. Both of your turrets can stop an early push in it's tracks along with your grenade, and Heimerdinger should be doing everything in his power to ward off pushes. I consider it his main early/mid game job.

Space Control and Proper Ability Use.

Heimerdinger rewards creativity. Instead of thinking of your abilities as tools for damage, try to think outside the box. They have many uses outside of that. Here are only a few things that Heimerdinger can do.

- An Escape Mechanism. Throwing down 1-2 turrets and popping your ult can and will save a teammate's (or your) life. My Heimerdinger play style supports mobility and mana regeneration in order to get around quickly and to always have enough mana to save a teammate in a clutch situation, as well as building around making it easier for your teammate to escape / chase with support items.

- Team fight disorientation. "Oh shit. I'm slowed and my armor/magic resist is being rapidly drained. Fuck. He stunned/blinded me." You need to live and breathe to be annoying, and to make life as difficult for your enemies as possible. Such is the way of the Yordle.

- Baron/Dragon/Tower Pushing safety net. Placing your turrets in strategic positions can give your teammates that needed 1-3 seconds in order to secure something of value. Usually upon getting slowed by a hidden brush-turret, players will either try to kill the turret or run right past it. You can punish both of them by throwing your grenade in their way and buying your team even more time.

Issues that Heimerdinger faces.

- Mana hungry.
- Squishy
- Slow
- Positioning Reliant
- Reliant on a solo lane whilst carrying a support role.

Let's ignore the fact that his damage is shit. That ship has sailed and in my opinion it's a ship that should have sailed a long time ago. When we build, we build to address those four problems. Don't worry about getting massive AP. If you want AP, play Kassadin.

We start out with a Regrowth Pendant and an HP Potion. 25 HP/5 + 200 HP from your potion. No one is going to be harassing you anytime soon.

You can stay in your lane however long you want, although the rule that I follow is that I will definitely go b when I have 1365 gold. I buy a Philosopher's Stone and Boots of Mobility.

Boots of Mobility are an obvious choice for a niche character like Heimerdinger. They give him a bunch of play style related options.

- Moving around the map to defend turrets.
- Rushing to help a fleeing teammate.

These are only two different situations in which these boots come into play, and there are plenty more. The possibilities are endless.

Your next purchase, as some may have guessed, is Shurelya's Reverie.

Suddenly, your lack of speed isn't as much of a problem, your mana issues are a bit less obnoxious, and your a tad less squishy. Now that we're starting to flesh out his early game speed issues and mana problems, we can focus on his alleviating a bit of his fragility. My next purchase is an Aegis of the Legion.

It's cost effective. It supports your team. It helps you push. I really don't feel the need to explain further. You'll find that Heimerdinger's mana issues are ever prevalent, even after buying a Reverie. This is why I always invest in Elesia's Miracle.

If you don't feel like you need the Aegis at that point in time, you can get the miracle instead and get the Aegis after, although I usually enjoy the added safety.

Now that you have amazing regeneration, mobility, and 35% effective CDR, we are going to work on bolstering your core defensive abilities. I almost always follow up with a Banshee's Veil and a Randuin's Omen.

The Banshee's Veil is an obvious choice to avoid getting locked down by pesky CC, and with your veil + aegis, you have around 100/100 in both of your stats.

The Randuin's, I may have to explain. This is probably my favorite item for Heimerdinger because it works amazingly with a Reverie, and bolsters your ability to escape and chase. The sudden burst of speed in conjunction with your enemy being suddenly slowed is enough for almost anyone to get away, on top of the slow from your turrets if need be.

Now that we've established your build we can move on to spells. My personal opinion is that you should have some sort of combination of Teleport, Clairvoyance, and Fority.

It honestly depends on your mood, your play style, and your preferences. I prefer teleport/clairvoyance personally.

Runes

Mana regeneration is your friend, as are defensive runes and movement quints. Try to avoid using cooldowns as this build maxes on CDR and it'd be a waste.

This is what I use, although you can opt for a more defensive focus if you want fortify (You should definitely invest in improved fortify. It's worth it.)

Tips, tricks, and alternative uses for your abilities

- You can use your turrets as bush wards, especially in the early game.
- You can use your turrets to kite people fairly well.
- Your concussive grenade moves fairly slow. It isn't always a bad idea to close the gap in order to maximize effectiveness. Alternatively (a better option in my opinion) you can shoot it from behind a wall so the enemy doesn't see it coming.
- Micro rockets are amazing for securing last hits and later in the game your grenade + Micro rockets can kill jungle camps.

Leveling Order

Max out your turrets first and your grenade next. I ignore the rockets until they are the last thing to level (Save a level for last hitting if I feel like it, it's a matter of preference).

The Role of Heimerdinger.

I consider Heimerdinger the true essence of a utility support. His strength and usefulness lies within his debuffs, his steady stream of stuns (every 5.4 seconds), his ability to keep a lane pushed through the use of turrets and grenades, and his ability to be a safety net for baiting and when for when things truly go wrong, and finally his amazing farming ability. To a good team, he is a support, and to a bad team, he is what makes a horrible situation more manageable. A true problem solver and one of the only characters that truly epitomizes utility.

You won't output massive damage as Heimerdinger, and you won't CC as hard as Janna, or heal like Soraka, but what you do have is the ability to make things happen, and the ability to TRULY get your teammates out of a bad situation. Where as most supports are only as good as their carry, Heimerdinger is a self sufficient champion that doesn't need someone else to prove his worth. That being said, it is your job to make the enemies life a living hell whilst making your teammate's lives a breeze.

Map awareness is of extreme importance to him. Clairvoyance constantly, ward constantly, and control the map. Position yourself decently, and be creative in your play. Heimerdinger isn't a straight forward champion but once you get a hang of him you'll be having lots of fun. Remember to be creative, and to be constantly thinking about how you can make your play better.

I'll post some replays soon of some Heimerdinger games, but here's a screenshot of some successful scores.

EUPiLoL#6 -A completely different way of looking at Veigar

2011-05-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Veigar is commonly regarded as the AP king, and the glass cannon of choice for people who want to go AP whilst still carrying through the use of an amazing stun and serious burst damage, both AoE and single-target. Let's take a look at his main strengths and his main weaknesses (In comparison to the other nukers)

Strengths

- Unending AP gain with your Q

- Spammable abilities

- An amazing AoE stun

- Potential at all stages post level 5

- Passive helps alleviate some mana issues

- Awesome Ratios

- Farms amazingly

Weaknesses

- Farm Reliant

- Early game isn't very good.

- Somewhat mana hungry

- Only has 1 utility ability (Even if it is amazing)

So the thing you notice right off the bat is amazing ratios, unending AP gain, awesome carrying potential, awesome farming and last hitting, and spammability, as well as a so-so early game and lacking escape mechanisms or many forms of CC. When I say what I'm about to say, you should keep an open mind. I'll try to take it slow so as to not overwhelm you. This is also something I would only suggest for an experienced Veigar player, as you have to be on top of your game at all times in order to maximize effectiveness. Obviously you take middle. Veigar doesn't have many escape mechanisms, he's farm reliant, and he last hits well.

Start out with Boots + 3 HP pots and play normal as Veigar level's 1-5. Last hit constantly, try not to harass to much (To avoid missing out on AP), try to avoid getting harassed, try not to push your lane, etc. etc. The 3 potions should be enough to keep you in the lane. Use your creeps to your advantage along with your stun.

Upon reaching 1200 gold, your transformation officially begins. At this point I pick up

Elesia's Miracle

Players who were around for the days of Locket Veigar understand why early regen is amazing on him. At this point you can try to go in for the kill. Start last hitting again and every time your q is up just innocently send it at the enemy heroes way until you can successfully nuke them down with your ult + q combo. It works amazingly often and gives you another 5 AP on top of that. A general rule that I follow with mid game veigar is to farm until my ultimate is up and gank with it, only to start farming again (Unless your team needs you.). IF you don't kill him, your superior regen will force him to go back off 9/10 times and allow you to dominate the lane.

When you have another 2k, you will want to invest in a Sheen and Boots of Swiftness before eventually proceeding to turn that Sheen into a Lich bane.

You might be wondering why I would invest in Lich bane, and it is something that becomes clear as the rest of the build unfolds, but a mid game Lich Bane in conjunction with Veigar's amazing AP capabilities will add a whole new dimension burst to your play and strengthen your Q even further. With your boots as well as your newly found core item, you'll find that it's much easier to escape, kite, and chase, thus slowly making one of your main issues not such a big deal anymore. Keep in mind that the strength of your Lich Bane is entirely dependent on your ability to farm with your Q. Keep that in mind when last hitting and farming in general. Slowly picking off creeps with your Q can sometimes be more effective than throwing a Dark Matter up. Please save your prejudice for after I've explained everything, as this build is about to get a bit fucked up.

Your next major purchase should be an Infinity Edge.

I know. I understand what is going through your mind at this point. Infnity Edge. What the fuck. I understand completely, although you should probably give me a second to explain. Veigar does MASSIVE amounts of magical damage. He's known for it. Lich Bane scales off AP and does physical damage, AND can crit. Take all of this into account, and imagine splitting your damage down the middle between physical and magic, and making it very difficult for your damage to be countered.

With that thought process instilled in your mind, imagine adding two Phantom Dancers.

Okay, that might send you running for the hills already, which is why I feel the need to post this.

No bullshit, no gimmicks, no tricks. This is an amazing build. Between your Infnity Edge and your first phantom dancer, you'll notice a bit of a sink in your ability to do damage. The second you get that Phantom Dancer, your crit chance skyrockets and you start critting constantly, for HIGH numbers (Crits for 900 on my lich bane are common place for me) Whilst still having an amazing burst. You PLOW through squishies and make tanks squeamish. Upon reaching the second Phantom Dancer, you are critting on almost every hit.

Stupid players will stack MR against you. Smart players will try to do a mixture of Armor and MR, but it doesn't much matter because of how high each of your damage types are. I've had entire teams build magic resist, only for me to go Infinity Edge and wreck them with that.

In the event that you can afford it (It happens often), you should sell off your Miracle and invest in an Archangel's Staff, and that ends your build.

Leveling Order

I do something that might seem weird to some people, and ignore Dark Matter almost completely (I put 1 point into it early on) and focus on maxing out my Q and E. It's a matter of preference, although I think getting your cool down as low as possible allows you to spam your Lich bane and last hit more frequently.

Runes

This is based on your preferences. Cooldown, Mana regen, and AP per level are all very nice choices. I personally go flat AP / level.

Spells

Flash and ghost are what I use.

Masteries

Classic 9/0/21

EUPiLoL#5 - Tank Kennen

2011-05-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

Tank/Support Kennen is something that I've been doing for quite a while and never got around to writing about. He was my first legitimate main, and one of my favorite characters to play. I've experimented with AP Kennen, and found that his burst wasn't worth missing out on the beefiness that tank Kennen provides. I tried AS Kennen, and found that his general lack of defense doesn't allow for constant auto attacking. Let's take a look at what you stand to gain, and what you stand to lose as a tank-centric Kennen.

You Gain..

Initiation capabilities
Better positioning on your ultimate without killing yourself or relying on hourglass.
Anti Carry Capabilities (Constantly stunning one target whilst being nearly impossible to kill)
Better early to mid game potential

You Lose..

Mediocre burst damage (Compared to other nukers)
A slow (Assuming you get a Rylais, although a tanky Kennen can fit a rylais/frozen mallet into their build with ease)
Carrying Capabilities (Not that I believe that an AP Kennen can carry, although some people seem to)
Farming Capabilities (Although building AP is more expensive than building tanky)

So as you can see, the role of a tanky Kennen changes drastically once he switches his gear up. Before we go any further, I'd like to discuss leveling order

More Stuns
Level 1: Electric Surge
Level 2: Lightning Rush
Level 3: Thundering Shuriken
Level 4: Electric Surge
Level 5: Electric Surge
Level 6: Slicing Maelstrom
Level 7: Electric Surge
Level 8: Thundering Shuriken
Level 9: Electric Surge
Level 10: Thundering Shuriken
Level 11: Slicing Maelstrom
Level 12: Thundering Shuriken
Level 13: Thundering Shuriken
Level 14: Lighting Rush
Level 15: Lighting Rush
Level 16: Slicing Maelstrom
Level 17: Lighting Rush
Level 18: Lightning Rush

OMG WTF YOU LEVEL ELECTRIC SURGE OVER THUNDERING SHURIKEN??

Yes, I do. Leveling shuriken first is a common misconception that bad or new Kennen's make. If you use the passive of electric surge + it's active, you can double your harassment and be able to stun easily by level 2. Maxing out electric surge over thundering shuriken is what gives you a lot of damage output and the ability to stun early on.

More mobility + Better Initiation

Max out Lightning rush instead of Thundering Shuriken first.

Items

Boots + 3 HP pots is my personal favorite starting set for Kennen, although Doran's Shield is a good choice also. It depends on what you are looking for.

The first thing that I invest in is a pair of mercury treads, and I follow through with an Aegis, just because of how amazing it is early on. A lot of people doubt the potency of an Aegis because the stats don't seem that high, but it in fact gives you...

270 HP
30 Armor
39 Magic Resist
8 Damage

It's an amazing item and allows you to reach just about 100/100 on both of your defensive stats whilst giving you an amazing damage aura. A lot of people doubt the potency of it and fail to realize that it adds 8 damage to EVERY friendly unit around you, including creeps. Aegis is probably the most cost effective item in the game and that's what we are looking for in a support/tank Kennen.

Past that it depends, although I will list a bunch of choices that I find to be useful and why.

Randuin's Omen. Awesome item for Kennen, especially when trying to keep people inside of your ultimate.

If you're looking for heavy duty MR, a couple Force of Natures can help you out (The mobility is extremely useful for you as well.) I wouldn't suggest banshee's veil unless you absolutely need it, as the mana doesn't help you in the slightest and that lowers the cost effectiveness a bit.

Spirit Visage/Wits End/Hexdrinker/Abyssal scepter can be decent choices if you don't need a lot of MR, but still want a bit.

Guardian Angel is more of an mid/end game oriented item. I wouldn't get it until you have some form of health under your belt.

Speaking of HP, Frozen Mallet is an amazing choice if you are looking for general survivability / a constant slow. You can do a lot to fuck someone's day over with your stuns + slow

Redefining Kennen's Role

When you decide to switch it up and go for a tanky Kennen, his role changes drastically. He goes from being a soft carry with decent AoE potential and his stuns for utilities, to being a hard support with amazing carrying potential in the early game before he transitions into an anti carry and a CC god. Your new found beefiness gives you the ability to initiate amazingly, and stick on a certain target throughout the fight with little worry about things like dying easily or being targetted constantly.

While you do miss out on his burst, I think we can all agree that Kennen's burst is nothing to write home about, and if you are looking for a burst character, there are many choices that you're better off with (Anivia, Annie, Veigar, etc.), and if you are looking for a poker, there are better pokers out there as well. Kennen's AP ratios aren't anything to write home about, and investing in tanky gear not only helps his amazing early game become even more stable, it helps make sure his usefulness in the late game isn't diminished.

Runes

I tend to leave runes up to the reader, although my personal favorite is a magic pen/CDR focus.

Masteries

This is what I use, with Flash and Ignite as my preferred spell combination.

EUPiLoL#4 - Mage Malphite

2011-05-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

A Burst/Initiation oriented Malphite is something that I've always thought of, but never actually acted on. Malphite's role has always been somewhat shaky. Riot doesn't even regard him as a tank, and he lacks true "tanking" abilities (taunts for example) outside of his amazing initiation capabilities. He has noticeably large ratios for AP, but in order to truly utilize him to his full potential, one must invest in armor. Let's ignore his base capabilities for now and jump straight to item ideas.

For a mage oriented Malphite, there are four stats that we are going to be focusing on. These stats are AP, Health, Armor, and Magic Penetration. That being said, I believe that a Doran's Ring suits him best as a first item. Boot wise, I am going to opt for Sorcerer's shoes, of course leading up to the Sunfire Cape as his first real item, and following through with an Abyssal Scepter.

Doran's Ring
Sorcerer's Shoes
Sunfire Cape
Abyssal Scepter

This is a core build that makes a mage oriented Malphite decently potent without missing out on defense (You are still expected to be tanky.) Past that, I found a number of items could be of use.

I need to be more tanky, but I still want to fill a mage Malphite role.

Luckily with all that mana pen, you'll still be able to cut through squishies, although I would suggest investing in armor based items like Frozen Heart, or Randuins. Your core build allows for 110ish Armor/MR (160ish armor with your W activated), so you're already somewhat tanky. Zhonya's Hourglass isn't something that I would suggest, as you won't really see much use in it's active (in my opinion.).

In the event that you need magic resist, I would suggest a Banshee's veil, as at the very least the health on it will improve your shield.

AP Route

My favorite route for this style of play. There are a lot of things you can do. You can rush for a Rylais if you want. (health+AP is sexy on Malphite), you can get a Deathcap, and you can even opt for a Deathfire Grasp in the event that they are stacking heavy duty HP.

Rylai -> Deathcap -> Lichbane is my favorite AP related route.

They are stacking magic resist.

Haunting Guise -> Void staff can solve this problem, although I would only suggest Void Staff if 4/5 of them at least have 100 MR, as it isn't cost effective otherwise.

The Role of an AP Malphite

AP Malphite is an amazing choice if you're solo queuing. What you are essentially doing is sacrificing some of your tanking ability in order to add a large amount of burst to your initiation, and to give yourself better ganking potential in the mid game. You can still act as an off tank, if need be, but I find that he works best in teams that do a lot flash damage with a lot of CC (Kassadin, Veigar, Fiddlesticks). He works very well with other mage-like characters. AP Malphite's farming ability is also slightly less than the average armor stacking Malphite, although that isn't a big deal at all.

Pros
- Burst
- Multipurpose (Can Initiate, Gank, and perform some nice burst.)
- Less reliant on your team to get kills

Cons
- Less tanking ability
- More of a solo queue pick. I wouldn't go AP malphite on a team that knew what they were doing.
- Your teammates might rage at you if you don't perform well, thus making AP Malphite look bad. ;P

Spell Choices

I prefer Exhaust/Ghost. Although Flash, Ignite, Teleport, and Fortify are all nice choices in my opinion.

Runes

You'll want to invest heavily in cooldown and/or heavily into magic penetration, as he needs a nice chunk of both.

Masteries

I prefer the classic 9/0/21.

EUPiLoL#3 - Early Game Domination with Sona (Sheen Style)

2011-05-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Sona is another character that I find to be generally misused. Her known role is an early game poker that transitions into a general support character (With an emphasis on auras.) People tend to either build her with auras in mind, with AP in mind, or with CDR/Utility in mind. This isn't how I think Sona should be built. Let's take a look at her strengths and her weaknesses (Compared to other supports).

Strengths

- Spammable abilities.
- Arguably the best early game -> early mid game support.
- Low Mana demand.
- Natural Auras
- One of the best early harrassers
- Decent nuking power
- Amazing teamwide mobility
- Chasing Power
- Escaping Power
- The best early game burst potential. Period.

Weaknesses

- Other supports outshine her in the mid to late game.
- Lack of stun outside of her ultimate.
- Her heal is lacking.
- Difficult to focus damage.

So what you can see right off the bat is that most of her strengths are built around the early game, and most of her weaknesses come into play in the later stages of a match. I want to show you a style of Sona that isn't built entirely around support, and it isn't built around AP. This is a style that focuses on completely dominating the early game in order to snowball yourself and your team into the mid game. Before you judge anything at all, I ask that you read into this post entirely. Take it as a whole, and don't scrutinize on any particular aspect. When theory crafting and building in general, one of my favorite things to do is to emphasize the strengths as much as I possibly can. With this in mind, I fore go her heal entirely and follow this sort of setup.

Level 1: Hymn of Valor
Level 2: Song of Celerity
Level 3: Hymn of Valor
Level 4: Aria of Perseverance
Level 5: Hymn of Valor
Level 6: Crescendo
Level 7: Hymn of Valor
Level 8: Song of Celerity
Level 9: Hymn of Valor
Level 10: Song of Celerity
Level 11: Crescendo
Level 12: Song of Celerity
Level 13: Song of Celerity
Level 14: Aria of Perseverance
Level 15: Aria of Perseverance
Level 16: Crescendo
Level 17: Aria of Perseverance
Level 18: Aria of Perseverance

I know this might seem strange at first, but keep in mind the fact that her heal isn't what makes her shine. It's her early game damage and her mobility. Dispel any sort of desire to level a subpar heal with a mediocre defensive buff. It won't save your teammates, and it won't protect them from any legitimate harassment. Instead, use the other two spells to support as best you can. You'll find that your usefulness will sky rocket.

Justification for maxing out Celerity over Perseverance

My style of Sona is a damage oriented gank machine that uses the slow of Celerity as well as it's mobility to get around the map as fast as possible, and to cause massive amounts of damage as fast as possible. This sort of play style does everything in it's power to give you a large advantage in the early game so that you can use that advantage to skyrocket your team to a healthy lead.

Lane with other strong early gamers. (Garen, Sion, Teemo, Alistar, Jarvan, Olaf, Poppy, Xin, etc.) and hide in the brush. As the enemy approaches, pop your q and your passive (Along with exhaust for the armor/MR debuff) and hope for the best. Depending on who you're laning with, you have a decently large shot of scoring first blood. You'd be surprised at what Sona is capable of.

Items

Amplying Tome + Health Potion is your starting pick. It's a risky choice, but it's one that you will have to make. Mind the fact that you are squishy, but use that to bait your enemies to their doom. Use your celerity and your Hymn to aggressively poke and prod and bait at the enemy lane. It's usually best that Sona teams up with someone who can be aggressive (Sion, Garen, etc.) You'll be surprised at the burst you find yourself capable of.

Your first 860 should be turned into a Sheen. As a Dominating Sona, this is your new bread and butter item. You can unleash a surprising amount of damage once you pick up your sheen, especially with Sona's spam ability

Boot wise, I prefer Boots of Swiftness. They give you that needed in battle mobility that Boots of Mobility simply can't provide.

TL;DR Core Build

Sheen
Boots of Swiftness

Past that, there are many routes that you can go, although I always turn my Sheen into a Trinity force sooner or later.

Possible Options

- Starks and or Black Cleaver. Now that you've harassed the potential of your Sheen, a route that I enjoy going is massing armor debuffs. Not only does this help your personal damage, it helps your team overall.

- Frozen Mallet. An obvious pick if you feel you need it. Maxing out Celerity over your heal means you make an amazing chaser and an amazing kiter.

- Hex Drinker. A good choice if you are facing excess magic damage. Keep in mind that the earlier you get your Hex Drinker, the more effective it is.

- Brutalizer. If you find yourself completely and utterly destroying the enemy team, this can be a good choice to quickly and cheaply amplify your potency.

- Shurelia's Reverie. An amazing item, even if you don't particularly need the regeneration. It works well with Frozen Mallet, as well as your speed boost.

- Heavy duty DPS (Infinity Edge, Ghostblade, Phantom Dancers, etc). This is a viable tactic if you find yourself getting seriously fed and have nothing to do with it (Although you shouldn't be getting kills, sometimes they just sort of pile in.).

Runes

You're going to want to maximize your early effectiveness so that you can snowball into the later stages. Flat AP is my personal favorite choice, as it gives our Hymn an added oomph that can take many enemies by surprise.

Masteries

9/0/21

Spells

Exhaust/Ghost or Exhaust/Ignite are my two suggestions (Ignite being a higher risk, higher reward choice.)

EUPiLoL#2 - AP Kog'maw

2011-05-04T00:54:00.000-07:00

I know this might not be the most out of the ordinary style in the book, but I feel like it is one of the most misunderstood ones. There is a lot of controversy behind Kog'maw. There are three common ways that Kog'maw can be built, AS, AP, and hybrid.

To truly understand why AP is so good on him, you have to take a look at his strengths and weaknesses as an AS character (Compared to other ranged carries)

Strengths

Built in Attack Speed (30%)
Built in Armor Reduction (-25)
Very good range and very good DPS in short bursts.
Decent poking potential

Weaknesses
Very poor range (When his w isn't active)
Damage is mediocre when Bio-Arcane Barrage isn't active
You have to choose between having no mana and almost never using your R.
Long Cooldowns
Mediocre farming capabilities compared to most carries.
Lack of escape mechanisms.

Now that you've looked at his strengths and his weaknesses, let me ask you a question. Why would you pick AS Kog'maw over any other ranged carry? Is that small window of high end DPS worth being mediocre the rest of the time? I think not.

The Metamorphosis

The second that you decide to go AP over AS, your role changes completely to the most unique one in the game. I consider AP Kog'maw to be an AoE nuker. Did you know that around 250 AP, the damage on his ultimate surpasses the initial damage of Annie's Tibbers? All in a spammable spell that reveals the enemy and let's you sit far out of harm's way.

Did you know that it's blatantly easy for your Void Ooze to reach 500+ damage, and that it has one of the longest ranges in the game, AND it slows, AND it's an AoE. Did you know that the slow is one of the most potent ones in the game?

The more you examine him, the more you begin to see the utility that lies in an AP focused Kog'maw. You don't have to worry about building defensively, because you're rarely, if ever, in the actual fight. The few times that you do get close enough to a teamfight to start throwing auto attacks, you can thankfully pop that range boost of yours and hit that 10% health per hit from a mere 400 AP.

Caustic spittle does everything that it did before, except now it's a single target nuke that does more damage than Annie's Disintegrate, while simultaneously smacking the target with an armor reduction in order to aid the actual carry.

What you stand to gain

- A complete fix to your mana problems
- A unique role that only AP Kog'maw can fill.
- Increased damage from a safer distance
- Said damage is 80ish% AoE
- Amazing farming potential (Void Ooze one shots entire creep waves.)
- HIgher damage on your Bio-Arcane Barrage

What you stand to lose

- Tower pushing power that doesn't amount to actual pushers.
- Using your passive often

Building AP Kog'maw Properly

The thing about AP Kog'maw is that you don't need any sort of survivability to get the job done, as you are rarely, if ever, in the fray.

Meki Pendant / Sapphire crystal + 2 HP Pots
Tear of the Goddess + Boots of Speed
Mejai Soulstealer
Archangel's Staff / Sorcerer Shoes
Sorcerer Shoes / Archangel's Staff
Rabadon's Deathcap
Archangel's Staff
Archangel's Staff / Void Staff

The classic glass cannon build, except much safer (Kog'maw's range FTW!). Mejai soulstealer is easily justifiable because of your amazing ability to catch fleeing targets, your massive range, and the fact that 90% of your damage is AoE.

2-3 Archangel's Staffs with a deathcap means you will be maxing your AP as far as it can go whilst giving yourself enough mana regen (50-75/5) to last you however long you need.

Skills an AP Kog'maw must have

- Awareness. Awareness of your surroundings, and map awareness. You need to be constantly knowledgeable of what is going on around you. You are very squishy, and one false move could kill you! Abuse your range, place wards frequently, and try not to get close unless you know it's safe.

- Decent aim and the ability to lead your target. It's important to be able to predict where your target will go, even in fog of war, and to place your ult accordingly.

- Patience. I've seen a lot of bad AP Kog'maw's that rush into the fray in order to use their entire burst. You need to know the best times for using your slow and your Caustic Spittle, and this will often require patience on your part.

Spell Choice

It honestly depends on what you are comfortable with. Flash, ghost, teleport, ignite, and exhaust are all nice choices.

Masteries

9/0/21 is what I use for AP Kog'maw.

Runes

Again, it depends on what you are comfortable with. My personal favorites are flat AP/level and flat magic pen. Cooldown is also a decent choice.

Here's some incentive for trying AP Kog'maw

EUPiLoL#1 - Roaming Alistar

2011-05-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hi! Welcome to the first installment of "Exploring unorthodox playstyles in LoL". In this post, we will be discussing "Roaming Alistar."

http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Alistar

Alistar is an underrated character that has slowly (But surely) began to get a bit of recognition, especially with the recent buffs. His role in the common game is generally to initiate upon the enemy team, pulverize them, and headbutt an enemy squishy into your team for an easy kill, although there have a been a number of playstyles attributed to Alistar. These include AP centric Alistar, Pushing centric Alistar, and my personal favorite, Roaming Alistar.

If you are unfamiliar as to what roaming is, it is sort of like jungling, except you rely solely upon killing enemies for xp. It's a support role that focuses on getting your teammates fed at the cost of your own leveling power and gold farm. That being said, Alistar is one of those characters that can play amazingly regardless of his level (Or items), and if you are doing well enough, you can catch up to / surpass certain members on the enemy team.

First things first, let's discuss the pros and cons of a roaming Alistar vs laning as him.

Roaming Pros

3 Solo lanes (Assuming you have a jungler)
Potential to shut down the enemy team
Jungler + Alistar gank = Very deadly
Amazing ganking power (Pulverize + Headbutt + Ignite = Potential)
Counter Jungle capabilities

Roaming Cons

Somewhat team dependent. When I say this, I don't mean that you are reliant on your team to execute the ganks, because only the most moronic player could mess that up. You are literally GIVING your teammates kills, but one of the issues I ran into is that certain type of player who felt it necessary to push their lane to the ends of the earth, despite me asking them not to. This can cause problems for you, especially if everyone on your team is doing it. Pushed lanes equates to zero kills, which equates to you being horribly under leveled. If this happens, you should probably switch to laning Alistar.

Somewhat kill/assist dependent. Like I said, if you aren't getting kills, you aren't getting xp. In the case that I made an enemy go b, I would usually stick around that lane and soak up some xp / get a few towers hits before moving on. Your farming capabilities skyrocket come mid game, so I wouldn't worry to much about this. You generally just want to make life difficult for the enemy team. Don't worry about falling behind, but at the same time, don't let yourself be level 4 when everyone else is level 10.

Runes

I've seen a couple people argue a couple different things when it comes to runes, and at the end of the day, it depends on what you want. What I found to work for me was flat AP runes. Although they don't do much to help you in the long run, most games are decided within 15 minutes, and you'd be surprised at what you can accomplish with an extra 30 AP under your belt at the start of the match.

Spells

Again, people argue different things, but as a roaming Alistar, my main focus is sealing the deal. For this reason, I run flash and ignite. I've seen other Alistar's go for ghost and flash, flash and clarivoyance, and even exhaust/ignite.

Masteries

9/0/21 is what I use. Grab improved ignite if you want to.

Items

Alistar can do so many different things, item wise. I've seen Alistar's opt for carrying, hardcore tanking, AP bursting. That being said, your role as a roaming Alistar is a support/ganker for the first twenty minutes or so. You should build to represent that.

My starting build is Boots + 1 HP pot + Ward / Boots +2 HP pot +Mana pot (Depending on whether or not they have a jungler.) If they do have a jungler, go ahead and ward their ward their red so you can come back and fuck with their jungler between your ganks.

Past that, my core build looks something like this.

Boots of Mobility
Philosopher's Stone
Aegis of the Legion

What you're looking for when building as a roaming Alistar is cost effectiveness. That's why I build Aegis (Not to mention the fact that it's an amazing support item, and amazing on Alistar.) I had the intention of turning my stone into a reverie 99% of the time.

Past that, it is completely dependent on the game. One game I rushed a Force of Nature after my reverie. Another game we were widely magic based, and our damage was lacking, so I went for an abyssal scepter and a malady.

Build for what your team needs, although keep a couple things in mind.

- Auras are amazing.
- Building tanky is very cost effective.
- Don't go Warmogs

- You don't need to dump 100% into tank gear so long as you know when to use your ult.
- A partially damage focused Alistar can yield amazing results.

The Actual Game

#1: TELL YOUR TEAMMATES THAT YOU ARE ROAMING. Don't just start roaming. Tell them what you are doing, and explain to them what that means. Tell them that you will feed them kills if they don't push.

#2: Identify the easiest target. Ask yourself a couple questions while looking at the enemy composition.

Who doesn't have flash?
Who is the squishiest?
Which one of my teammates are most likely to snag the kill?

These are all equally important. If the person you are ganking has flash, then you should likely save your flash. If not, feel free to use it for initiation purposes. Let the enemy push, tell your team to get ready, and ping when you are about to go in.

#3: It is okay to die, become underleveled and to become under farmed, so long as you feed your team kills. At the end of the day, if your team is overall better off then theirs is, you have done your job. Alistar is probably the least level/ item dependent character in the game. Keep that in mind and build / play selflessly. Try not to take kills, and try not to steal to much farm.