The LoL Dojo

IEM Hanover Live Coverage - Day 1

2012-03-06T05:32:00.002-08:00

The Intel Extreme Masters World Championship has begun, and we're already well on our way to determining which teams will advance out of group A!

Updated Standings, Group A:
aAa - 3-0
Dignitas - 3-1
Fnatic - 2-2
CLG - 2-1
Alternate - 1-3
Millenium - 0-4
Spoiler - For Final Group A Standings, click "Read More" and scroll to the end of this post

Group A, Game 7: Dignitas vs. Millenium

18:00: Dignitas has a significant lead at the moment, taking first dragon and leading in kills 7-3. As far as map control is concerned, each team has a tower. Dignitas leads gold 28k to 22k.

28:00: Dignitas wins a fairly straightforward, one-sided game over Millenium, putting them at 3-1 in their group. We'll get new group standings in the next update, so stay tuned!

Group A, Game 12: CLG vs. aAa

Preview: This is perhaps one of the biggest games of the tournament so far. If CLG manages to win, we are that much closer to a big tie scenario in this group. If aAa wins, they are guaranteed to advance to the elimination rounds. CLG is running Shen, Janne, Udyr, Vayne, and Ahri. aAa picked Yorick, Shyvana, Alistar, Corki, and Morgana. Yorick was a good pick to counter Shen, who switched with Udyr to jungle at the last second.

8:30: Not a lot of action so far, no first blood yet with each team attempting no real ganks. Hotshot has managed to stay even in CS with Yorick, while aAa's bot lane is about 15 cs ahead of CLG.

18:00: CLG picks up first blood as aAa goes for their blue, using an epic Shen dash to take the first kill. CLG follows up with taking Alistar, while Shen ends up dying as well. aAa still managed to get CLG's blue, although CLG's bot lane managed to get a kill on Corki as well. A very back-and-forth game so far, with a slight lead for CLG.

21:00: CLG manages to jump out to a strong lead, picking up a double kill at middle, a successful gank on Alistar, and a free follow-up on dragon. CLG has a 5k gold lead right now.

26:00: CLG picks up a free Baron, putting them 8k gold ahead of aAa, which might as well be an extra champion worth of gold. It's CLG's game to lose at the moment, as Vayne gets more and more beefy, at 3-0 with a finished PD, BT and QSS.

CLG finally rolls over aAa in a one-sided, methodical game. This puts both teams at 3-1 now, both tied with Dignitas. We may be on our way to a 3-way tie, folks.

Group A, Game 13: CLG vs. Fnatic

Preview: Fnatic needs to win this to survive in the tournament, and CLG may need to as well. 3-2 may not be enough to advance in this group, so CLG will want to take it here to avoid any math being done at their expense in the tie-breaker. CLG has some momentum coming off of a big win over the previously undefeated aAa. Fnatic is running Nocturne, Ezreal, Janna, Vladimir, and Talon, while CLG is running Mundo, Irelia, Caitlyn, Galio, and Ahri.

4:00: CLG picks up first blood as Saintvicious' Mundo returns for a double gank on Talon in mid. CLG was able to put Irelia against Talon in mid with Ahri against Vlad top, causing them to take an early lead. As I'm typing this, Shushei's Talon dies yet again to Mundo. CLG is really shutting down mid lane, Fnatic is going to have to do something to counter this.

9:30: Fnatic gets a kill on Cait bottom with a great Nocturne gank, setting them up for an uncontested Dragon. CLG is still ahead by about 1k gold, but Fnatic can close that lead fast with plays like that.

15:00: The teams trade a few kills, with CLG again coming out slightly on top, taking 2 kills to 1 on an exchange in top lane, with Mundo finishing off Vlad in a close fight. CLG is up by 2k gold at the moment, with Fnatic's Talon being severely underfarmed.

17:30: Fnatic starts turning this game in their favor, picking up 2 kills in top lane and taking turret in the process. Fnatic is now up in kills 5-4 as well as slightly up in gold.

28:00: CLG catches Talon at mid tower with 2 beautiful charms by jiji's Ahri, leading to a 4-0 chasedown of Fnatic's team. CLG follows up with a free Baron, and now enjoys a decent lead over Fnatic once again.

36:00: Fnatic tries a last-ditch attempt at stopping CLG from taking Baron, but CLG turns around before beginning and wins a one-sided fight, 4-0. Rather than finish Baron, CLG simply runs to Fnatic's nexus and ends the game. CLG will be moving on to day 3!

Final Results - Day 1

Team Dignitas - 4-1 - advances to semifinals!
Team CLG - 4-1 - advances to quarterfinals!
Against All Authority - 3-2 - advances to quarterfinals!
Team Alternate - 2-3
Fnatic.RaidCall - 2-3
Millenium - 0-5

IP Price reductions on LoL Champions

2012-02-29T13:33:00.001-08:00

While League of Legends players such as ourselves are used to RP sale promotions from time to time, IP price reductions are more of a rarity.

Today, however, Riot Games announced that not just one but two champions are having their IP prices reduced. These changes will allow for significant savings, as they are both from 6300 to 4800. All of us League of Legends players just got an added incentive to check out Irelia and Miss Fortune.

Champion 1: Irelia

Previous price: 6300 IP
Current permanent price: 4800 IP

Irelia is a great champion that sees high-level play frequently. This reduction provides a great opportunity for any solo-top fans to finally grab her as part of their arsenal.

Champion 2: Miss Fortune

Previous price: 6300 IP

Current permanent price: 4800 IP

While not one of the most frequently-used AD carries, Miss Fortune has tons of potential, as has been demonstrated time and again on Chaox's League of Legends stream. A great pickup for experienced AD carries who previously didn't have the IP to buy her.

Source: League of Legends

Fiora Champion Spotlight and Updated Patch Notes!

2012-02-29T07:36:00.001-08:00

With the brand new Fiora patch rolled out on the League of Legends client, Riot was quick to post the new champion spotlight on their main site. Check out the Fiora Champion Spotlight below:

A couple of thoughts on the video:

Blade Waltz benefits from lifesteal and hits its initial target last. I take this to mean that Fiora, with her additional survivability from Riposte, will be able to re-join teamfights to help her team even if focused early. It also seems very effective at targeting and sticking to squishy champions.
Fiora is a great duelist. Although she was featured against Nasus, who she obviously hard-counters with Riposte, it's easy to see how effective her abilities synergize to make her a great 1v1 champion. Riposte is great for melee poking without risking damage by opposing physical damage.

In addition to our shiny new champion spotlight, we also get finalized patch notes! Changes from the original PBE patch notes are highlighted in red:

New Skins in the Store

Royal Guard Fiora

Nightraven Fiora

Bladecraft Orianna

PVP.net v1.55

Ranked Teams

Fixed a bug with the background on the Team Invite popup

Fixed a bug where Team status would be missing on the Team Profile

Fixed a bug where Ranked Team specific notifications would not send properly

Fixed several bugs with client side stat calculation and display

League of Legends v1.0.0.135

Fiora, The Grand Duelist

Duelist (passive) - Fiora regenerates health over 6 seconds each time she deals damage. Striking champions will cause this effect to stack up to 4 times.

Lunge - Fiora dashes forward to strike her target, dealing physical damage. Fiora can perform the dash a second time within a couple seconds at no mana cost.

Riposte - Fiora's Attack Damage is increased. When activated, Fiora parries the next basic attack and reflects magic damage back to the attacker. Works against champions, monsters, and large minions.

Burst of Speed - Fiora temporarily gains additional Attack Speed. Each basic attack or Lunge she lands during this time increases her Movement Speed. Killing a champion refreshes the cooldown on Burst of Speed.

Blade Waltz (ultimate) - Fiora dashes around the battlefield to deal physical damage to enemy champions. Successive strikes against the same target deal less damage.

Alistar

Triumphant Roar mana cost increased to 28/41/54/67/80 from 20/35/50/65/80

Unbreakable Will mana cost reduced to 100 from 150

Trample damage increased to 10-27 per second from 10-23

Fizz

Base damage increased to 56 from 54

Armor per level increased to 3.4 from 3.1

Churn the Waters mana cost reduced to 100 from 150

Galio

Idol of Durand damage range increased to 600 from 575

Irelia

Fixed a particle issue with Transcendent Blades (Hotfixed 2/21)

Jax

Fixed a bug where Grandmaster's Might passive attack canceled if the buff ran out during the attack animation

Lee Sin

Sonic Wave base damage increased to 50/80/110/140/170 from 45/75/105/135/165 (Hotfixed 2/21 due to an unintended nerf in the Nautilus patch)

Lux

Lucent Singularity

Now additionally grants vision while in flight to its destination

Now starts its cooldown when cast rather than when detonated

Cooldown increased to 10 seconds from 9

Now displays a buff showing how long Lucent Singularity will last until it automatically detonates

Finales Funkeln

Now grants vision of the affected area during the spell and vision of enemy champions hit for a short duration afterwards

Lux can no longer use Flash while casting Finales Funkeln

Malphite

Granite Shield now shows a cooldown timer

Unstoppable Force

Area of effect radius on impact increased to 325 from 300

Malphite can no longer flash while using Unstoppable Force

Fixed a bug where Malphite would seem to hit the target but would not cause the effect

Miss Fortune

Strut now shows a cooldown timer

Nocturne

Umbra Blades now has a passive cooldown timer like Ziggs and Shen

Olaf

Axe Throw

Damage increased to 80-260 from 50-210

Scaling changed to +1.0 bonus AD from +0.5 total AD

Base cooldown reduced to 8 seconds from 10

Cooldown reduction for picking up the axe reduced to 4.5 seconds from 6

Ragnarok now provides 30/45/60 Armor and Magic Resist instead of 20/30/40 flat damage reduction

Movement Speed increased to 325 from 320

Poppy

Paragon of Demacia now shows you over its icon how many stacks you have

Shen

Fixed a few bugs with ability sounds

The following changes were hotfixed out on 2/21:

Base armor reduced to 19 from 23

Vorpal Blade health scaling lowered to 1.5% from 2%

Feint Energy cost increased to 50 from 40 at all levels

Base shield value reduced to 70/115/160/205/250 from 70/120/170/220/270

Teemo

Health per level increased to 82 from 77

Move Quick's passive component now shows a cooldown timer

Noxious Trap arm time reduced to 1 seconds from 2

Tristana

Explosive Shot cast range increased to 625 from 600

Ziggs

Hexplosive Mines

Mana cost reduced to 70/80/90/100/110 from 80/90/100/110/120

Slow duration reduced to 1.5 seconds from 2

Damage from 2nd and subsequent mines reduced to 40% from 50%

Fixed a bug where Ziggs' Mad Scientist skin was leaving particles on the map (Hotfixed 2/21)

Items

Madred's Bloodrazor attack damage increased to 40 from 30

General

Improved minimap visibility of turrets in Colorblind Mode

Colorblind announcement colors now reference blue (friendly) and purple (enemy) teams

Important items purchased by your team will now be called out in chat (Aura items, Sight and Vision Wards, top tier items, etc)

Champion Kill messages are now more specific

You can now activate a timestamp for game chat in the options menu

When colorblind mode is activated, movement cursor is included with new color scheme (was not before)

Announcer callouts no longer reference blue team/purple team, and instead should reference friendly/enemy team (ie. A friendly inhibitor is respawning soon/the enemy inhibitor has respawned)

Champions will now attempt to run home immediately when disconnecting, rather than attempting to Recall

Small monster camp sigils now restore up to 30 Mana in addition to Health

Small Golem camp

Movement Speed increased to 300 from 180

Medium Golem base damage increased to 59 from 54

Fixed a bug where whisper messages were the wrong color

Co-Op Versus AI

Added Blitzcrank bot to the roster of bots in Co-Op versus AI.

Improved bots' ability to last hit and reduced how much they push their lanes.

Reduced the amount of gold given to bots on Summoner's Rift Intermediate.

Added the ability for bots to call for help from nearby bots.

Improved the precision of skill shots and ground targeted AoE abilities.

Minor bug fixes with Leona, Lux, and Shyvana bots.

Art

Fixed animation bugs on the following skins:

Toy Soldier Gangplank

Jade Dragon Wukong

Superb Villain Veigar

Headhunter Master Yi

Riot Announces New free Champions

2012-02-28T11:25:00.003-08:00

Beware free Veigar week!

As we near the release of the Fiora patch tonight, Riot has given us a fresh list of free champions for us all to dabble with this week.

Season 2, Week 14:

There isn't much that stands out this week. As usual, we get to try out the last new champion (Nautilus) as well as a mix of champions in all different roles. The champions, from top right to bottom left:

Ashe - AD Carry
Cho'Gath - Solo Tank
Corki - AD Carry
Fiddlesticks - Jungler/AP Carry
Morgana - AP Carry
Veigar - AP Carry
Garen - Solo Tank
Jarvan - Solo Tank/Jungle
Riven - Solo Tank
Nautilus - Jungle

Source: League of Legends Forums

New LoL Art: Fiora spotlight & More

2012-02-27T21:21:00.001-08:00

Today is shaping up to be a great day for lovers of League of Legends artwork.

First up, we have the new Fiora Art Spotlight, fresh from the main page:

"There comes a time when every artist must step up and meet a challenge. So when Katie De Sousa told us that she had the perfect idea for the splash art for Fiora, the Grand Duelist, we had to consider her gauntlet thrown. We think you’ll agree that she really was ready to rise to the occasion!

Please enjoy this high-speed rendition of Katie deftly rendering the artwork for Fiora, the Grand Duelist!"

In addition to Fiora's art spotlight, Riot announced the winners of the Art of Revelry contest today. See Riot's announcement and the grand prize winners below:

"Summoners!

On the 16th of January we asked summoners like you to submit their best Lunar Revel themed artwork to the Art of Revelry Contest! These entries featured some of your favorite champions of the League ringing in the Lunar Year in style. Since the New Year brings renewal and new beginnings, we decided to put some top gear from our friends over at Alienware, ASTRO and Logitech up as prizes!

As of the 15th of February, the contest has officially come to a close, leaving us to sift through the massive number of entries in search of those special few who would take home the swag! We got thousands of awesome submissions, but even amongst all this talent and enthusiasm a few masterpieces really stood out.

And so, without further ado, here are the grand prize winners!"

Source: League of Legends

Latest PBE Patch Notes Available

2012-02-26T15:47:00.003-08:00

RiotLykaeus recently graced us with the most recent patch notes on the beta forums. Without further ado:

Alistar
Triumphant Roar mana cost increased to 28/41/54/67/80 from 20/35/50/65/80
Unbreakable Will mana cost reduced to 100 from 150
Trample damage increased to 10-27 per second from 10-23

Fizz
Base damage increased to 56 from 54
Armor per level increased to 3.4 from 3.1
Churn the Waters mana cost reduced to 100 from 150

Galio
Idol of Durand damage range increased to 600 from 575

Jax
Fixed a bug where Grandmaster's Might passive attack canceled if the buff ran out during the attack animation

Lux
Lucent Singularity
Now additionally grants vision while in flight to its destination
Now starts its cooldown when cast rather than when detonated
Cooldown increased to 10 seconds from 9
Now displays a buff showing how long Lucent Singularity will last until it automatically detonates
Finales Funkeln
Now grants vision of the affected area during the spell and vision of enemy champions hit for a short duration afterwards
Lux can no longer use Flash while casting Finales Funkeln

Malphite
Granite Shield now shows a cooldown timer
Unstoppable Force
Area of effect radius on impact increased to 325 from 300
Malphite can no longer flash while using Unstoppable Force
Fixed a bug where Malphite would seem to hit the target but would not cause the effect

Miss Fortune
Strut now shows a cooldown timer

Nocturne
Umbra Blades now has a passive cooldown timer like Ziggs and Shen

Olaf
Axe Throw
Damage increased to 80-260 from 50-210
Scaling changed to +1.0 bonus AD from +0.5 total AD
Base cooldown reduced to 8 seconds from 10
Cooldown reduction for picking up the axe reduced to 4.5 seconds from 6
Ragnarok now provides 30/45/60 Armor and Magic Resist instead of 20/30/40 flat damage reduction
Movement Speed increased to 325 from 320

Poppy
Paragon of Demacia now shows you over its icon how many stacks you have

Shen
Fixed a few bugs with ability sounds

Teemo
Health per level increased to 82 from 77
Move Quick's passive component now shows a cooldown timer
Noxious Trap arm time reduced to 1 seconds from 2

Tristana
Explosive Shot cast range increased to 625 from 600

Ziggs
Hexplosive Mines
Mana cost reduced to 70/80/90/100/110 from 80/90/100/110/120
Slow duration reduced to 1.5 seconds from 2
Damage from 2nd and subsequent mines reduced to 40% from 50%

Items
Madred's Bloodrazor attack damage increased to 40 from 30

General
Improved minimap visibility of turrets in Colorblind Mode
Colorblind announcement colors now reference blue (friendly) and purple (enemy) teams
Item call-outs for game changing items
Champion Kill messages are now more specific
You can now activate a timestamp for game chat in the options menu
When colorblind mode is activated, movement cursor is included with new color scheme (was not before)
Announcer callouts no longer reference blue team/purple team, and instead should reference friendly/enemy team (ie. A friendly inhibitor is respawning soon/the enemy inhibitor has respawned)
Champions will now attempt to run home immediately when disconnecting, rather than attempting to Recall
Small monster camp sigils now restore up to 30 Mana in addition to Health
Small golem camp
Movement Speed increased to 300 from 180
Medium Golem base damage increased to 59 from 54

Co-Op Versus AI
Added Blitzcrank bot to the roster of bots in Co-Op versus AI.
Improved bots' ability to last hit and reduced how much they push their lanes.
Reduced the amount of gold given to bots on Summoner's Rift Intermediate.
Added the ability for bots to call for help from nearby bots.
Improved the precision of skill shots and ground targeted AoE abilities.
Minor bug fixes with Leona, Lux, and Shyvana bots.

My Initial Thoughts:

No Shen nerfs. There's been a lot of speculation over the last two weeks as to whether Shen was overbuffed in the last patch, and at least so far it seems Riot doesn't think so.
Teemo Buffs. I'm not sure he needed them in the first place, but the change on noxius traps seems like it could be pretty big in dueling situations.
Madred's Bloodrazor is good again. I can see this item used in a lot more builds now, especially on bruisers that need both AD and AS, like WW.
Olaf received significant buffs. Will be interesting to see if he is used more now after the patch. The movement speed buffs coupled with buffs to most of his abilities make me think he will be much more viable now.

Source: League of Legends

Go4LoL #78 - Full Coverage

2012-02-26T06:09:00.001-08:00

Today we're covering the 78th Go4LoL cup on Europe West. Games are just starting in round 1 as we speak. We'll be focusing on TSM's games in the early rounds and we'll transition to covering some other teams later in the day!

You can check out the full tournament bracket here.

Stay tuned for live updates as we go through the tournament round by round!

Round 1: TSM vs. WLIIA

TSM was able to turn this game into a pretty straight-up stomp, taking an 8-1 kill lead early and using the advantage to methodically push their opponents back to their base turrets. A 21 minute Baron allowed TSM to make the final push, winning at the 25 minute mark. TSM now goes on to play dLgaming in the second round.

Round 2: TSM vs. dLgaming

dLgaming kept this game close from the start, opening the game only one kill down to TSM with a 4-3 score. Chaox and Xspecial started top and were actually forced to switch to bot lane. Once teamfights started, TSM was able to pull ahead to a substantial lead, taking a 4-to-1 tower advantage. After a brief stall around the 25 minute mark, TSM was able to win a big fight at dragon and push to solidify the win.

Notable teams still in the tourney: TSM, Fnatic, 4Kings, Mouz, gamed!, ieS, Winfact, ATN.LoL

Round 3: TSM vs. oG dF

TSM went down early to a kill deficit of 6-16. They managed to even it up a bit at 10-16, but subsequently lost baron and a few critical fights, pushing them back to their inhibitors. They were unable to make anything big happen after that, and will now be out of today's tournament.

UPDATE: Since the team we were following was knocked out early, we'll resume coverage with the later rounds of the tournaments, so we can be sure we get you all the results. Stay tuned!

UPDATE (4:18 PM EST): We are down to 6 teams, With WinFact waiting in the Ro4 for the winner of gamed! and rYo!; and consurgo and Mouz facing off to make it to the other side of the bracket to play KRYZYS.

UPDATE (6:17 PM EST): We're finally down to our last 2 teams - The Russian team, Mouz, and the international team, WinFact. Still not sure on when the matches will be played but will update as soon as I get more information.

IP Bargains - Ryze and Sivir

2012-02-25T12:58:00.001-08:00

Today we're starting a new featured article series, IP Bargains, in which we feature two champions 1350 IP or under who can face up to the 6300's any day of the week. This segment is meant for players who are either just starting or who don't play enough to be able to afford the more expensive counterparts to our featured champions. Today, we'll be featuring Ryze and Sivir.

1. Ryze- 450 IP

Strengths

Lots of survivability - good for new players with few runes and masteries
Carries games
Easy to play

Ryze should be one of the first buys for any player. At 450 IP, Ryze will get you plenty of wins, arguably more effective at carrying games than most champions far more expensive than him. Considered a solo-mid AP bruiser, Ryze is one of the best champions for newer players to practice playing AP carry.

Played by top ladder players such as Alex Ich, Bigfatlp and TeddyRO, Ryze has lasting value, allowing you to stick with him as one of your only APs without losing effectiveness as a ranked player.

2. Sivir - 450 IP

Strengths

Lots of early game damage
Shield and movement speed add to survivability
High-end AD carry

Sivir is a mainstay in high-ranked ladder and tournament games. While she takes a bit more skill to play than many AD carries, her Boomerang Blade and Ricochet will allow you to trade well with your opponent's lane, giving you breathing room to maintain an early advantage.

Sivir's ability to safely farm from a distance will allow you to build up an impressive array of items, setting you up as one of the best late-game carries. Against unsuspecting players, Sivir can even score early kills with the help of her high-damage Q and her passive, which increases movement speed upon every successful attack against an enemy champion.

Sivir is an exceptional hero for her cost. Matched in lane against a champion such as Vayne, worth 6300 IP, Sivir will win nearly every time, due to her impressive long-ranged harassment utility. Sivir is a great general pick in both normal and ranked games. Because she is useful in nearly any team composition, Sivir is well worth the investment of 450 IP.

Fiora Patch: Gameplay Changes

2012-02-25T08:59:00.001-08:00

Riot has just given out more details on what we can expect in the next patch. In addition to getting Fiora, we'll be getting some significant changes to a few champions.

Lux

Lucent Singularity: Base cooldown increased, but cooldown will start to refresh upon spellcast, rather than after spell is activated.
Lucent Singularity and ultimate now both give vision during cast.

Olaf

Undertow: Base damage and AD ratio increased, now scales off of bonus damage. Cooldown is being reduced.
Ragnarok: Now gives bonus armor and magic resist, damage reduction removed.

Ziggs

Hexplosive Minefield: Mana cost, slow duration per mine, and damage per mine are all being decreased.

Jungle

Regeneration Sigils will now restore mana as well as HP.

My Thoughts

Lux: Although the benefit of immediately activating Lucent Singularity for DPS has been decreased, these changes allow her to leave the skill up as a slowing and revealing mechanism without being punished by the spell's cooldown. She also gains some slight benefit with the additional reveal on Lucent Singularity and her ultimate. Whether this patch is a net buff or not depends on if you play Lux in a utility role or if you were relying on Lucent Singularity for instant and sustained dps.

Olaf: Bonus HP will now be a more effective build due to the extra damage mitigation he recieves from his ultimate. This in turn will help Vicious Strikes scale better. Olaf should also trade better in lane now, as Undertow will cooldown faster even when he can't reach his axe to retrieve it. This patch seems like a decent buff for Olaf.

Ziggs: Ziggs will now be able to retain mana slightly better, which he needed, but the damage and slow duration nerfs point to an obvious choice on Riot's part to balance out the burst damage and utility portions of this ability. This change should help Ziggs keep opponents zoned while retaining mana for other abilities, but it will also result in a less threatening ability combo for dealing direct damage. It remains to be seen how much this nerf will effect Ziggs players.

Jungle: This is a change I think we all wanted to see, as it now opens up multiple jungle paths to champions who were previously restrained to taking blue early, such as Amumu or Fiddlesticks. Players will now be able to be more creative with their jungle routes, keeping opponents guessing and allowing for more dynamic early game play.

Source: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/

New champion revealed: Fiora

2012-02-25T04:36:00.002-08:00

We've finally got the details on Fiora straight from Riot, and it seems the information that was leaked earlier this week was accurate. Riot is billing this champion as a "melee carry", what I'm guessing is a different iteration of Master Yi or Talon.

Abilities:

Duelist (passive) - Fiora regenerates health over 6 seconds each time she deals damage. Striking champions will cause this effect to stack up to 4 times.

Lunge (Q) - Fiora dashes forward to strike her target, dealing physical damage. Fiora can perform the dash a second time within a couple seconds at no mana cost.

Riposte (W) - Fiora's Attack Damage is increased. When activated, Fiora parries the next basic attack and reflects magic damage back to the attacker. Works against champions, monsters, and large minions.

Burst of Speed (E) - Fiora temporarily gains additional Attack Speed. Each basic attack or Lunge she lands during this time increases her Movement Speed. Killing a champion refreshes the cooldown on Burst of Speed.

Blade Waltz (R) - Fiora dashes around the battlefield to deal physical damage to enemy champions. Successive strikes against the same target deal less damage.

You can read Riot's entire write-up on Fiora here.

$10,000 Tournament to begin in March

2012-02-21T09:09:00.000-08:00

Corsair has recently announced a new tournament to begin in March with a huge $10,000 prize pool. This marks Corsair's first sponsored LoL tournament.

This is a great opportunity, not just for large gaming organizations, but for all 256 teams who are up to the challenge. That's right, the opening round of the tournament begins at 256 teams on March 12th on the European West server.

The first round will be played in group stages, with double elimination beginning in the round of 128. This means we will have TONS of games to be played, and plenty of opportunities for epic moments on stream.

If you have a team on the European server, and you think you have what it takes, be sure to sign up by following the source links! And if you don't have such a team, be sure to tune in on March 12th. This is a great opportunity for the community to support new tournaments.

Source: Corsair

New Skin: Dark Crystal Ryze now available

2012-02-20T12:03:00.000-08:00

Everyone's favorite AP tank just got a sweet new skin courtesy of Riot. Say hello to the new and improved Dark Crystal Ryze:

From looking at the Riot store, the new skin is priced the same as any high-quality non-legendary skin, at 975 RP. From the looks of things they've certainly outdone themselves this time.

Source: leagueoflegends.com

New free week champions revealed

2012-02-20T11:12:00.000-08:00

For all you LoL noobs out there, Riot has just released the list of the next 10 champions that will be available to all the week:

We'll list the champions and their roles after the break. My heart goes out to everyone affected by free Master Yi week.

Kassadin - AP Carry
Master Yi - ???
Rammus - Jungle
Singed - Solo Top
Taric - Support
Malzahar - AP Carry
Miss Fortune - AD Carry
Caitlyn - AD Carry
Talon - Solo Top/Solo Mid
Fizz - AP Carry/Solo Top

Possible new champion info leaked

2012-02-20T10:02:00.000-08:00

After some scouring of Youtube, I managed to find some video of the different skins for what appears to be the next new champion, Fiora. This is from OccupyMid's Youtube:

The video reveals what appears to be a pirate skin, which is good news for all-pirate teams. The recent update to the test server also included the Fiora files, which reveal her abilities:

(Passive) - Duelist: Fiora regenerates health over 6 seconds each time she deals damage. Striking champions will cause this effect to stack up to 4 times

(Q) - Lunge: Fiora dashes forward to strike her target, dealing physical damage. Fiora can perform the dash a second time within a couple seconds at no mana cost.

(W) - Ripost: (Passive) Fiora's Attack Damage is increased. (Active) Fiora parries the next basic attack from a champion or monster and reflects magic damage back to the attacker.

(E) - Burst of Speed: Fiora gains Attack Speed for a couple seconds. Each basic attack or Lunge she lands during this time increases her Movement Speed, stacking.

(R) - Blade Waltz: Fiora dashes around the battlefield striking random champions dealing physical damage. Successive strikes against the same target deal less damage.

This doesn't look like the new support champion we've all been waiting (and voting) for, but from her abilities she's sounding pretty worth the IP.

Champion abilities source: Sk-gaming.com

New Guides page added to the site

2012-02-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

With the release of our Shen and Yorick guides, we've recently added a new page dedicated to original Dojo champion builds.

You can access our list of guides here or by following the link in our navigation bar. Be sure to check out our guides, and leave feedback to tell us what you think!

Champion Guide: Jungle Shen, the Global Threat

2012-02-20T04:24:00.000-08:00

Today we are releasing our second guide, this time for Shen, Eye of Twilight. This guide goes over how to play Shen in the jungle, constantly surprising your enemy with ganks and well-timed ultimates.

Here's an excerpt from the guide:

This build will lay out how to play Shen in an aggressive way, allowing you to be a threat across the map, even in multiple places at once. Due to the utility of his ultimate, Shen is probably the only jungler who can gank once and then immediately assist in another situation across the map. This allows you to give your team supreme map control, and will make you an essential part of carrying most teams to victory.

You can check out our Shen guide in its entirety here. Enjoy!

Poll results: Dojo visitors want a new support champ!

2012-02-20T02:17:00.000-08:00

A whopping 60% of dojo visitors who voted in this week's poll want Riot to release a new support champion.

AD carry came in as the distant second choice at 15%, while AP carry and Solo top tied at 8% each. Only 6% of site visitors want a new jungle champion in the next patch.

The last new support champion to be released was Leona. Of the last 5 champions released, 2 have been AP carries, while 3 have been either jungle or top bruisers. We should get a sneak peek of the next new champion later this week, so stay tuned!

IPL 4 Qualifiers: Ongoing Coverage

2012-02-19T05:39:00.000-08:00

Today the closing matches will be played to determine who will go on to play the winner of IPL 3.

Click here to see the bracket as it updates.

Click here to watch the stream. Matches begin at 12 pm EST and will be best of 3.

We will be updating this page with live coverage when the matches begin. Click "read more" for updates!

Match 1: SK vs EZ

UPDATE: Just heard some big news on the stream. SK has been penalized a full game for showing up to the match late. That means EZ will now be up 1-0 in the best of three, needing just one more map to advance and knock out SK.

UPDATE: EZ just took their second dragon followed up by a thorough 3-kills-to-1 teamfight win. EZ has a clear advantage in this game so far, but SK is clearly building for late game with their Galio/Kog'Maw/Nunu comp. The kill count is 9-4 in favor of EZ right now but Kog'Maw will be hard to stop if this game goes late.

Champion Review: Nautilus

2012-02-15T13:05:00.000-08:00

Today we are reviewing the newest addition to Riot's champion lineup: Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths

Class: Solo Top / Jungle
Role: Tank, Ganking Jungle, Crowd Control
Abilities

Staggering Blow (Passive): Initial basic attack immobilizes enemy champion and deals bonus damage. Effect can only trigger once every few seconds per champion.

Dredge Line (Q): Line skillshot. If it hits a champion, Nautilus pulls the champion towards him, moving forward to meet the target halfway. If it hits terrain, Nautilus is pulled forward to the area it hits.

Titan's Wrath (W): Temporarily shield incoming damage. During the duration of shield, Nautilus' attacks apply an AoE damage over time effect. Damage shielded scales with Nautilus' bonus HP.

Riptide (E): Sends a wave of explosions out around Nautilus in a circle. Each time an enemy is hit by the shockwave, they take damage and are slowed. Champions running away Nautilus may be hit more than once if they are in the path of the explosion.

Depth Charge (R): Fires a shockwave into the ground that follows target champion, damaging and knocking up enemies in the path of the shockwave. The ability tracks its target, damaging and knocking up target champion upon impact.

Nautilus' strength resides in his ability to control teamfights and manipulate ganking situations with his multiple crowd control abilities. His Q is one of the better initiators, as it is almost impossible to miss compared to most skillshots. Even when his Q misses a champion, it still works as a significant distance closer by pulling Nautilus towards his target.

Whether playing solo top or in the jungle, Nautilus seems meant to be a tanky, utility-focused crowd-control bot. He moves and attacks slowly, with low ap ratios (ap does not seem to be very viable on him) and no significant damage scaling on his abilities. His shield provides additional incentive to build as a utility tank, as it benefits from bonus health. Because of this, it seems best to build Nautilus gp10 items -> tank auras such as Shurelya's.

If you like to be hard to kill, and enjoy toying with enemy carries with lots of cc, Nautilus is a fun and somewhat viable option. He is extremely limited in his ability to build as a bruiser and deal direct damage, but his Q, W, and Ultimate synergize well in teamfights against most team compositions. The challenge, however, is getting farmed enough to be effective in the late game. Because Nautilus has low sustain, it can be hard to farm with him early in the game. Nautilus' mediocre jungle clearing make him reliant on ganks, therefore requiring exceptional teamwork to make full use of his kit.

Jungle

Damage: 4/10

Ganking: 9/10

Crowd Control: 10/10

Jungling Speed: 6/10

Counterjungle: 4/10

Jungle Rating: 33/50

Solo Top

Damage: 4/10

Sustain: 5/10

Tankiness: 9/10

Crowd Control: 10/10

Initiate: 8/10

Solo Top Rating: 36/50

Riot's Nautilus Champion Spotlight:

Champion Guide: Yorick, the Lane Bully

2012-02-10T02:39:00.000-08:00

The LoL Dojo has just released its first champion guide on Yorick, the Gravedigger. Our guide centers around an extremely aggressive style, meant to shut down your lane opponent and give you an edge into the late game.

Here's an excerpt from the guide:

Have you ever had a bad day? Bad enough that you wanted to not just win top lane but completely smack the other guy around to the point where he can't get a single minion kill without dying? This is the guide for you.

In this guide, I'll be going over how to play Yorick in a style designed to stay in lane for extended periods of time, constantly denying your opponent from getting experience and gold.

You can check out our Yorick guide in its entirety here. Enjoy!

More Nautilus art released

2012-02-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

For those of you eagerly awaiting more information on Riot's next champion, we just saw a glimpse of what will likely pop up on thousands of loading screens next week: the Nautilus splash art. You can view the art spotlight here:

Nautilus is looking like quite the badarse diver so far. I'm going to stick with my AD bruiser prediction for now. Check out Riot's full post on the art spotlight here.

New champion sneak peek: Nautilus

2012-02-09T03:03:00.000-08:00

On their site, Riot has just teased the next champion to be released, Nautilus.

To go along with our tradition of predicting what the champion will be before it gets revealed, I would guess Nautilus turns out to be a tanky, top-lane champion focused around crowd control with some type of rooting- or slowing-related abilities.

If Nautilus follows the normal Riot timetable, we should expect more information in a full reveal within a few days, and for Nautilus to be released in a patch next Tuesday.

You can check out Riot's Nautilus sneak peak for yourself here.

Champion Review: Ziggs

2012-02-01T14:11:00.000-08:00

Today we are analyzing Riot's newest champion: Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert.

Class: AP Mid
Role: Burst Damage, AoE Damage
Abilities
Short Fuse (Passive): Every 12 seconds, Ziggs' next basic attack deals bonus magic damage. Cooldown reduced whenever Ziggs uses an ability.

Bouncing Bomb (Q): Long ranged skillshot with a small AoE radius upon explosion. The bomb will bounce forward from its initial landing spot. The farther the bomb is initially thrown, the faster and further it will bounce.

Satchel Charge (W): Ziggs lays an explosive trap on the ground that explodes after 4 seconds, or after Ziggs reactivates the ability. Enemies take damage and are knocked back. If Ziggs is within the explosion radius, he will be knocked away, but will not take damage.

Hexplosive Minefield (E): Ziggs scatters a cluster of proximity mines on the ground, exploding upon enemy contact. When exploded, the mines will damage and slow affected enemies.

Mega Inferno Bomb (R): Long-range AoE direct damage ability. Enemies are alerted of an inconming Mega Bomb right before it lands. Similar range to Nocturne's ultimate.

Ziggs is an aggressive, high-risk, high-reward AoE solo mid champion. Ziggs' abilities synergize perfectly with a highly aggressive strategy, aimed at bullying his opponent in lane. Bouncing Bomb gives him a huge range advantage, allowing him to poke from afar, setting up ganks from the jungle or combos with his other abilities.

Smart players have a wide range of combos for his abilities. For example, his W can allow him to either close distance for an attempted kill, or placed perfectly, can be used to knock a weak enemy back towards him. Minefield (E) can be combined with this skill to cut off tower retreat from a target, forcing them to either take massive damage walking through the minefield, or to take a longer route of retreat.

Finally, Ziggs' R possesses perfect utility in several situations. When enemies are attempting team objectives, such as pushing a tower, Ziggs can effectively use his ult as a burst damage version of Gangplanks, killing creep waves and forcing damaged enemies to back away from the push. The mega bomb is also great for initiating team fights at Baron and Dragon, severely weakening the supports and carries of the enemy team and creating a favorable starting situation for your team in the fight.

While Ziggs has exceptional utility in the hands of a skilled player, he does come with a few weaknesses. Ziggs relies on burst damage and aoe rather than sustained damage in the mold of a Cassiopeia or Ryze, forcing him to focus heavily on AP and Magic Pen rather than survivability. This makes Ziggs a primary target, as he is usually very squishy in the mid-to-late game. Ziggs' reliance on ability combinations (coupled with his passive) is a huge drain on mana, and therefore Ziggs can have mana issues without blue buff. This can be somewhat remedied with proper runes and masteries.

AP Mid
Burst: 9/10
Lane Harass: 10/10
Survivability: 6/10
Teamfighting: 10/10
Ganks: 9/10

AP Mid Rating: 44/50

Riot's Ziggs Champion Spotlight:

Kings of Europe Finals: m5 vs. CLG.eu

2012-01-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

The final two remaining teams in the Kings of Europe LoL tournament face off today, for what is sure to be a close and exciting match.

CLG.eu, the much-hyped counterpart to the prominent North American team, would be the first team to take out m5 in a large tournament if they were to win. m5 will look to retain their recent dominance, brought about by their aggressive counter-jungling strategy.

We will be live blogging the entire match, so click "read more" for live updates!

Game 1 Picks

CLG.eu m5
Sivir Shyvana
Maokai Sona
Soraka Miss Fortune
Anivia Dr. Mundo
Irelia Galio

Update (4:00): CLG wards their bottom blue-side jungle early, catching Mundo as he tries to counterjungle Snoopeh's red. Anivia comes down and lands the stun, allowing CLG to take first blood on Mundo.

Update (9:00): CLG and m5 skirmish 3v3 at CLG.eu's blue buff, they trade kills with m5 forcing to fall back a bit with low health. m5 went back to try and steal the last hit on blue, but Froggen landed an amazing Anivia stun to take out Mundo and take blue as well. The kill count is 4-1 favoring CLG.

Update (15:00): CLG wins another teamfight at their blue, this time 2 kills to none. It seems like CLG had a strategy ready to counter m5. Sadly, Mundo isn't doing so great right now, although he has been a fast jungler at least.

Update (25:30): CLG wins a teamfight at dragon 4 kills to none, with m5 missing a lot of their AoE ults. Sona's ulti only hit one champ, while Galio's landed right as he was dying. CLG takes their second dragon, raising their gold lead to 36.7k to 32.7k.

Update (29:00): CLG picks off a few more kills and goes immediately for Baron, picking it up largely uncontested. Kill count is now 15:1 for CLG.eu, with m5 calling gg's (but failing a surrender vote 3:2). Looking like CLG.eu will take game 1!

Game 2 Picks

CLG.eu m5
Gangplank Sona
Kog'Maw Urgot
Janna Lee Sin
Rammus Twisted Fate
Ahri Shyvana

Update (4:00): Snoopeh's Rammus hits middle for a gank on Twisted Fate. Alex tries to run, and manages to stun Rammus next to tower, but dies in the process. Rammus took some damage but gets away safely. First blood for CLG.eu

Update (7:30): Ahri kills Twisted Fate once again, getting the kill pretty easily before Lee Sin comes in. However, Lee Sin doesn't have enough damage to kill Ahri, and has to start running when Rammus comes in. He isn't able to quite get away though, allowing CLG to pick up a second unanswered kill. CLG is now ahead in kills 5:1.

Update (11:00): Snoopeh ganks for a successful kill once again, this time at bottom lane. m5 was planning on attempting dragon, but with one man down they are forced to back off. CLG takes dragon and is now up in gold, 16.5k to 14k. Alex is getting shut down by Ahri in middle.

Update (18:00): m5 forced CLG to initiate them at dragon by pulling it out, and proceeded to land a perfect Sona ult, dealing early damage. CLG did too much chasing in the fight, putting Kog'Maw out of position, with Twisted Fate killing Kog'Maw and returning to the fight. m5 wins the fight and kills dragon, closing the gold advantage to only 26k to 27.5k.

Update (24:00): CLG initiates a gank on Shyvana, but Shyvana jumps on Janna and gets help from the rest of his team. The gank turns into a bit of a teamfight, with m5 taking two kills to one. m5 takes dragon, and the gold is effectively even now. This will be a great comeback by m5 if they manage to pull this one out.

Update (28:00): m5 is looking invincible in teamfights, picking up an unanswered kill and following up with middle tower. m5 heads to baron, taking it and killing Rammus as Snoopeh tries to flash in and get the steal. The game is turning quickly into m5's favor.

Update (34:00): m5 takes another teamfight, 3 kills to 1. CLG focused Urgot the whole game, who unfortunately for CLG built extremely tanky. m5 gets middle inhib tower, and is pulling far ahead in this game. CLG.eu is going to have to change something up in a teamfight.

Update (37:30): m5 takes Baron, effectively wiping CLG as they try to steal it. Kog'Maw keeps getting caught in the middle of m5, dying too early to do much damage.

Update (40:00): m5 wins a teamfight at bottom tower without losing a man, proceeding to take out the inhibitor and eventually the nexus to take the game. We go to game 3 with everything on the line!

Game 3 Picks

CLG.eu m5
Sivir Lee Sin
Taric Sona
Maokai Kennen
Riven Gangplank
Cassiopeia Karthus

Update (7:00): Snoopeh goes top to gank Gangplank after a failed attempt on Riven by Lee Sin. Gangplank attempts to ult and run out, but WickD chases with flash and manages to get the kill, securing first blood for CLG.eu.

Update (9:30): Dar1en's Gangplank gets caught trying to ward CLG's blue by Froggen, who manages to chase him with poison and pick up the kill. Gangplank is starting to fall behind in top lane now, which is the opposite of what happened last game with his carry Shyvana.

Update (11:30): CLG is showing some brilliant dynamic play, swapping Cass and Riven's lane in order to take advantage of Gangplank's commitment to armor rather than magic resist. Froggen completely bursts down GP for an easy kill, and CLG continues to pull away in the early game.

Update (13:30): m5 starts their attempt at a comeback, picking up a double kill at bottom lane with a good combination of Kennen and Karthus ults. The gold advantage is only 700 for CLG. As I type this, CLG wins a skirmish at top lane, killing Lee Sin and managing to dive Gangplank, getting the 4th kill on him. CLG transitions to taking a free dragon.

Update (22:00): The two teams just had an amazing teamfight at dragon, taking one kill each and backing off with barely any HP left on any champ. CLG retained its support however, causing m5 to back off early because of the healing disadvantage. Dragon wasn't taken by anyone. As I type this, the teams effectively call a rematch at Dragon. Alex's Karthus dies early, and CLG jumps on Gangplank, killing him and transitioning to a messy Dragon kill, but a kill nonetheless. CLG now has a 35k to 30k gold lead.\

Update (27:00): Interesting trade just happened. CLG jumped on Ganja's Kennen on the right side of the map, getting a free kill. m5 started Baron right when this was happening. CLG decided to continue pushing right side, taking out the bottom inhibitor as m5 got Baron.

Update (33:00): This game is still incredibly close, with m5 barely taking a teamfight 2 kills to one at their bottom inhibitor. However, CLG was able to take out the inhibitor once again, keeping the pressure on m5's base. m5 heads to Baron, taking it out incredibly quickly while CLG had 2 down. The gold is now very close, with CLG up 2k but m5 with the Baron buff.

Update (41:00): The game is essentially stalemated at this point, with the gold completely even between the two teams. It's going to come down to who can initiate best. Baron has just spawned, so we may seen this game change dramatically soon.

Update (45:00): CLG.eu just wiped m5 4 kills to none at Baron, with Sivir doing an amazing job dodging and shielding m5's focus. CLG made the right decision to skip Baron, and went to m5 and ended it just in time. CLG.eu is our Kings of Europe LoL champion!

Gameplay changes in Ziggs patch

2012-01-28T13:30:00.000-08:00

Riot revealed today some of the major changes on the way in the upcoming Ziggs patch. Below is the patch preview.

In summary, there are a few big tweaks to a few champions, including a significant nerf to one of the most used junglers, Lee Sin. Lee Sin is now getting less of an AS bonus from his passive and resonating strike does less execution damage.

Jax is receiving what I think is a significant buff, which frankly he's needed after his rework. He can now activate the stun on counterstrike early, rather than waiting for the dodge effect to wear off before stunning.

My thoughts: Both changes were needed at least somewhat, although frankly it's too early to say whether the Lee Sin changes were appropriate before seeing him in action with the nerfs. He should be slower at clearing jungle now and an all-around less effective ganker. I personally prefer GP anyway, so luckily I won't have to rage this patch. The Jax buff is a great change, as it will give Jax players more utility and decisionmaking integrated into their gameplay. He also effectively has an immediate AoE stun, which should make him more useful in late-game teamfights.