League Of Legends

Jarvan Solo Top

2012-05-07T23:18:00.001-07:00

Masteries

21/09/00

With the advent of the revamped mastery trees I was forced to re-evaluate my choice of masteries. After some deliberation and testing, I chose to run these 21/09/00 masteries. Sustainability is still key to my Jarvan playstyle, however, the new masteries allow for about the same amount of sustainability through the health regen in the defensive tree, the lifesteal in the offensive tree, and the mana regen runes. The new masteries really shine at making my sustainable offtank Jarvan dish out a lot more damage than before.

Runes

Greater Mark of Desolation
These are pretty straightforward. From the beginning of the game, ArP runes are going to make an AD champ do more damage. It's scientific fact. However, if you're choosing to level up Dragon Strike faster than Demacian Standard, you might be better suited for something else, like flat armor or even attack speed.

Greater Seal of Clarity
I originally ran flat Armor runes (which aren't a bad substitute) but switched over to mana regeneration runes because Jarvan has some serious mana problems throughout the course of the game, and you shouldn't be itemizing for mana. Going Mana Regen per level helped cover that weakness and made holding solo top a much more pleasurable experience for me. I can see the potential in HP per level yellows too, so you could use those if you're less spammy than me in your Jarvan playing.

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Greater Glyph of Shielding
Another pretty straightforward pick. These runes give a decent amount of magic resistance, which gives you more leeway in taking on some more offensive items if you feel you can do without the extra survivability. Flat CDR blues are an acceptable substitute, but it will make you less tanky.

Greater Quintessence of Swiftness
This is mainly personal preference, as there our several other quints that could be useful. I find the extra movespeed makes tracking down, knocking up, and steamrolling carries that much easier, which often times is Jarvan's main priority. Suitable replacements would be Armor Pen, flat HP, or maybe even flat AD (which would benefit from maxing Dragon Strike first). It's also been suggested to me that Flat HP Regen Quintessences work well, which seems very solid in theory, especially with the purpose of this guide. Those would be another acceptable substitute.

Summoner Spells

Ignite
I've very recently taken to running Ignite on a lot of my solo top champions because of the lane dominance it helps to gain. You can be a lot more aggressive and secure more kills early game when your jungler ganks, and sometimes without your jungler. Because of this, it's become a standard for me fairly often. Though, if you team already has a lot ofIgnites, consider taking something else.

Ghost
Since Jarvan has a built in ability than functions like Flash, he doesn't always require Flash. This allows him to takeGhost for the boost in chasing someone down. It can also be used as a last resort to quickly return to your tower if necessary (if you don't have Teleport or your Teleport is down).

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Flash
I used to run Ghost, but I've found with the movespeed I have, flashing in and then doing my knock up combo from a distance has become a lot more effective. You have the surprise aspect. Also, it's 100% easier to escape ganks on top with a well timed flash. Ghost just isn't as effective at that. However, that's not to say Ghost isn't useful, because it certainly is. I have just changed personal preference (and seen better personal results), and thus am reflecting that in my build.

Exhaust
In recent weeks I've picked up using Exhaust over other secondary summoner spells as it allows our big boy J4 to repeatedly punch someone in the face with his spear. It also makes your opponent do less damage to you and weakens them, so all in all, you can often get a lot more damage out of this than Ignite. Always consider who your solo top opponent is going to be when deciding between the two.

Teleport
I used to feel this is almost mandatory among those who wish to take the position of solo top. ~~Unless there is an explicit reason you need to take something else, this should always be a part of a solo top's arsenal.~~ I have started to try out Ignite instead and have found that I often will be able to secure a kill and then push the lane out, followed by recalling and simply walking back with standard boots. This spell is no longer mandatory in my mind, but still a huge asset to your team. If you don't already have one, I would still recommend considering taking it. It, for one, allows you to recall and pick up your Heart of Gold & Philopher's Stone combo when you have the gold and return instantly, thus maximizing your gold income. If you somehow die, you can return to your tower (hopefully) before it is lost. This also allows you to roam elsewhere for a gank and safely return if your lane is getting pushed too hard.

Skill Sequence

I usually level in the order given in the table on the top of the guide.

As usual, take Cataclysm at levels 6, 11, and 16 when it become available. Dragon Strike is maxed before anything else to increase your damage output. I used to run Standard over this, but since the masteries change, this build's change from 00/09/21 to 21/09/00, and the even older changing of his passive to deal physical damage instead of magic damage, this is just fairly superior to Standard's early game. Golden Aegis and Demacian Standard are maxed almost evenly to scale into mid and late game. Neither of them really demands to be maxed before the other, so I keep them pretty even. You can max your shield earlier if you're getting harassed a lot, or max Demacian Standard earlier if you're able to bully your lane a lot or even if you need the armor bonus versus an AD top. Honestly, with Jarvan, it's kind of a jack of all trades thing. Pick what fits the situation, there is no cut and dry law for this section.

Typical Builds

Recommended build 1 sequence.

Recommended build 2 sequence.

The first build is my usual build. It focuses on being tanky, yet threatening, as well maximizing the purchase of Atma's Impaler to raise survivability and still build upon Jarvan's damage output. It does very well in almost any game, as it has enough of a mix of resistances to deal with any problems, as well as dish out enough to damage to give reason to be focused. A tank that you can safely ignore is a bad tank.

The second build is what I resort to when I'm worried about being CC'd too much, plus it's also smart to get if their AP carry is getting kind of fed earlier.. Taking an early Banshee's Veil will keep you alive for a long time, plus the prior Catalyst the Protector will help quite a bit around mid-game, especially those mid-fight level ups that can be a life-saver. Besides that, it's very similar to my usual build.

Starting Items

Boots of Speed
In the past I always ran Pendant + one pot, always, but recently I've been doing boots and three pots to be more aggressive in top lane and be able to return faster. If you have TP, this probably is unnecessary and you can run the other starting set, but don't disregard the advantages of being really fast and having cheap sustain due to pots. It allows you to play super aggressive and possibly win your lane. Choose wisely.

Regrowth Pendant
This item is often necessary for that sustainability solo top requires. With this you can safely venture off into your laning opponent's harassment to gather last hits and gold, then return and regenerate any lost HP. It also builds into the lovely gold fabricating Philopher's Stone, which you need to get as early as possible.

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Health Potion
Helps in case you happen to take a lot of harassment at once, possibly from an early gank, as well as provide early game sustain for top lane. It's always important to spend excess starting gold on a potion or two, or three, because you never know if you might need them. You probably will.

Core Items

Mercury's Treads
A CC'd Jarvan is a useless Jarvan, so lowering any slows, stuns, etc. with Tenacity is very important. The Magic Resistance that it gives is important too. Every team will have some form of CC or AP caster, so there isn't any real reason to sub this out for Ninja Tabi. Especially since Demacian Standard gives you Armor as you level it up. A well-rounded Jarvan is a strong Jarvan.

Trinity Force
This is your bread and butter. Everything it does is useful. The AD and Attack Speed it gives adds to your damage output, the AP helps your Demacian Standard's landing damage, the Critical Chance synergizes with Atma's Impaler if you build it, and it gives HP and Mana. The Movement Speed helps chance down champions and initiate fights, and then the slow proc keeps them in your range. Not to mention the 150% damage boost will occur fairly often because Jarvan's skills have low cooldowns. This item does everything, much like the Bad*** Prince of Demacia himself.

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Randuin's Omen
This item builds off of Heart of Gold, so some of it is already paid for. The active effect synergizes pretty awesomely with Golden Aegis, it gives a **** ton of HP, Armor, and even some HP Regeneration. It also gives CDR and has both an Attack Speed debuff and a Movement Speed debuff. This makes it impossible to kite a pissed off Jarvan.

Atma's Impaler
This item makes Jarvan IV even more of a kickass Tanky DPS threat. The Armor it gives is great for the price, plus the Critical Chance stacks with Trinity Force, and the passive synergizes well with almost all of Jarvan's other common survivability items, thus giving him even more damage potential with minimal effort. This item is so good, I consider it core on Jarvan IV. Even without a lot of HP, this item gives good damage for the price, so it's situationally viable at many points in a match. The true trick is choosing when to take it based on the opposing team.

Preferred Items

Force of Nature
This makes Jarvan even more of a speeding semi-truck of death. I pick this instead of Banshee's Veil whenever I don't need to worry about being CC'd, which is most games, since I always have Mercury's Treads and a gap-closer with my knockup slows are not an issue and most teams will save their stuns for other targets. Most importantly, this time gives a **** ton of MR, HP Regen, and even a Movespeed bonus. Nothing about this is a bad purchase.

Aegis of the Legion
This item synergizes so mind-blowingly well with Demacian Standard it's not even funny. The aura boost to your teammates can even make squishies tanky enough to hold their own. It gives HP, Armor, and Magic Resistance, all things Jarvan loves, and even a little bit of extra damage. Everything about it is sexy. However, you may want to consider getting something else if your team's support is going to pick this up. It's usefulness is lessened if there's more than one on the team, that's just a waste. Aegis of the Legion is great, but it's not worth the gold if your team already has one. Be sure to negotiate with your Support if they're going to pick it up or not. I will say, though, that when you have Demacian Standard on the ground with this item you are giving your teammates a whopping 34 ARMOR. Wowza.

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Banshee's Veil
Being CC'd is sometimes a curse of Jarvan, as he's a terrifying sight to the enemy, so he gets stunned or slowed almost instantly in a fight. A Banshee's Veil can prevent this. It also gives HP and Mana, which synergizes with a possible Atma's Impaler and helps aid Jarvan's mana-hunger, respectively.

Sunfire Cape
Picking up the old cape of suns is a great substitute for some of the defensive armor items you could take. It synergizes really well with Atma's Impalerand allows you to deal some great AoE damage, especially to a team with low MR squishy champions.

Other Viable Items

Guardian Angel
A little obvious. If you find you're dying too much, this is a great solution. Often I take this if the game goes longer than an hour, as that 70 second death timer can sink a game if you make the mistake of dying this late in the game. The Armor and MR it gives are great anyways.

Wit's End
I don't usually see other Jarvans take this, but I find it pretty useful in caster heavy games. If I don't have to be a dedicated tank in a caster heavy game, I often take this after Trinity Force to add to my damage output, but keep my anti-magic tankyness, especially since it's so cheap. This is truly an under appreciated item.

Madred's Bloodrazor
If the other team is very, very tanky, I'll take instead of Trinity Force to become a fairly effective tank slayer. It gives decent Armor as well. The problem with this item is I find Trinity Force to almost always be more useful, and both are very expensive items.

Last Whisper
Is their team REALLY Armor heavy? Are you the only one who can safely get in range to eliminate these foes, or at least get them low enough to drop to your AD carry? Pick up a Last Whisper and watch as that impenetrable Rammusgets penetrated! Err...

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Infinity Edge
Is your AD carry slacking and you don't need to be as tanky as usual? Are you somehow really rich when you recall? Consider picking up an IE. With this beast of an item, coupled with a Trinity Force, Jarvan instantly becomes the biggest threat on the map. Seriously, the damage potential is insane. Usually, however, this isn't a very realistic goal. It's definitely a luxury item. Once you've picked up this item, you should be able to kill anyone unlucky enough to get caught in your Cataclysm.

Wriggle's Lantern
This is practically a required item on a jungle Jarvan, but is a suitable pick for solo top as well. I sometimes take it because that lifesteal can keep me at full HP for long amounts of time, and even help me win 1v1 fights. I've become used to it from playing solo top Teemo. This makes Jarvan even more of a beastly pusher than usual. Usually it's better to fill a slot with something else, but don't overlook the potential of this item, as it gives some Armor too. The free ward is pretty sweet too.

Youmuu's Ghostblade
The AD, Critical Chance, Armor Pen, and CDR are all great additions to the damaging, but tanky, Atma's Impalerstyle build, adding even more Critical Chance. The active can help you melt down almost anyone in a matter of seconds. If you don't need to be too tanky, this luxury item could net a Jarvan a lot of kills.

Laning Phase

Jarvan IV is a top tier solo top. He's able to take on 1v2 lane fairly well if the enemy forgoes a jungler, but he's an unmovable menace 1v1 at top lane. With the setup this guide offers, you should be able to hold top lane and farm to your hearts content for long periods of time, pushing the lane when appropriate. With yourHeart of Gold & Philopher's Stone combination, you should be able to farm from in front of your tower and gather large amounts of gold, and all while being at near-full strength. Left to his own devices, Jarvan IV will eventually force his opponent to recall, maybe even slay them, and will probably take the tower.

Your main focus for the first few levels should be last hitting minions with Demacian Standard and your autoattacks. You should try to land your spear on your opponent when possible, but don't forget about your farm. If you aren't farming at solo top, you're blowing one of your primary jobs.

Around level five you should start hitting your opponent with your spear, sometimes knocking him up withDragon Strike and an autoattack or two, then backing off. At some point he will probably be around half health and maybe low mana, while you should be at near-full strength with all of your sustainability. This is a primary opportunity for your jungler to come in for a gank. Hell, you might even be able to drop a Cataclysm on them and take them out yourself. Whichever the case, play it smart.

Once you have dropped the tower, you should start roaming a little bit and helping where needed, always returning to keep your lane pushed. Constant pressure should be on top lane at all times, because it might allow you to force a 5v4 teamfight on the other half of the map when one of the enemy team members has to safe top from a large minion wave.

Teamfights

I usually try and keep my Demacian Standard on the ground at all times to maximize the time my team is benefiting from its bonus. It's also smart to try and knock up as many enemies in one lunge, because that can be just the setup your team needs to burst half of their team to 0 HP. It's also good to stick your Dragon Strike through as many tanky enemies as possible, which will make it easier for your AD carry to shred them to pieces.

In teamfights you need to try and pick apart their team and separate them from each other. If you can get a carry alone, you should usually be able to kill them 1v1. With Cataclysm you can usually single someone out and pick them off. You can also use it to capture several enemies together for some nice AoE damage out of one of your friends. It also can be used to save a low-HP teammate from a chasing enemy.

In any case, you must always keep in mind that Cataclysm can also screw over your teammates. Unless it will be in your favor, never trap a teammate inside of your ultimate. They will be very, very unhappy with you.

Tips n' Tricks

I usually try to first recall at 1190 gold so I can pick up my Heart of Gold & Philosopher's Stone combination, which can also be done at 1540 gold if I want to pick up a pair of Boots of Speed. I only do this if my Teleport is up or if I can return before my lane is pushed to its tower. Hell, you can even do it immediately at 365 gold to pick up Philosopher's Stone right away and maximize your early game sustainability.
Flash and other blinks are Cataclysm arch-enemies. Be sure to keep tabs on champions who may or may not have some form of blink ready to cast. Make note of how recently they have used their blink ability or Flash so you can attack accordingly.
It seems champions can sometimes Ghost out of Cataclysm. Keep that in mind when preparing to use your ultimate on a victim.
Sometimes you can time Cataclysm right so that you'll follow someone who is blinking away. If you feel you can predict their movements, don't hesitate to "DEMMMAACIAAAAA!!!" on their face.
While you can accidentally trap unwilling friends in your Cataclysm, you can also save them from pursuing enemies. Just drop your ultimate on a chasing foe, drop Golden Aegis so they're slowed, and then use your knock-up combo to escape your own cage, thus leaving the enemy alone in there for another second or two.

Lux build and game guide

2012-04-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

So you want to melt faces with Lux eh?

Lux is one of the most powerful nuke champions in the game if you have the skill, and more importantly, the knowledge on how to destroy people with her.

This guide should help.

IMPORTANT:: When to play as Lux ::IMPORTANT

This is probably the most essential part of this guide to read and understand.

Lux should always be picked when your team needs range and AP. If your team doesn't have a melee carry/dps - you shouldn't play lux - see, the enemy team will want to kill you no matter what... so if you have melee dps to protect you - they can't. But if you don't have melee DPS - that consists of stuns, slows, knock ups, cc and lots of dps... then you will get focused so fast in team fights your head will spin, and you will just suck.

TL:DR -- You need melee DPS to protect lux, otherwise she's not a good choice in a 5 man team. Always build your teams in this fashion.

Tank > Melee Carry > Ranged Carry > Off-Tank > Support

Lux = Support/carry. If you don't fulfill at least 3 of the other roles - lux cannot truly shine. She is a SUPPORT character at heart since she is meant to support melee - and melee needs to support her. If this relationship doesn't exist, Lux will get melted down instantly.

With that said - she just does a **** load of dmg with this build, so when your team has a strong melee/ranged carry/off-tank...

Lock in Lux and prepare to Melt Faces.

Updated for new Masteries!

New masteries essentially mixed up casters quite a bit. Before most casters went 9/0/21, but now it's more appealing to go 21/0/9... which means a loss of 6% CDR from utility tree, movement speed, xp gain and so on, in exchange for more damage. I've updated the build and the masteries section to relfect these changes.

WHAT?! Attack damage in Masteries Tree?!!?

You'll notice as of February 2012 I've changed the Offense Mastery Tree: I've specced out all but 1 point inMental Force and specced into 3 pts into Brute Force. The reason for this is simple:

1) 3 extra AP is really not that much. Sure it multiplies, but in the end 3extra AP isn't going to pay off as well compared to early game...

2. LAST HITTING.

At lvl1, lvl2, lvl3, and lvl4.. Lux has a REALLY hard time last hitting if you aren't very experienced with her. This additional 3 dmg on your auto-attacks and your passive .

This ensures you will land last hits and farm very well early game (an area a lot of Lux players struggle with from what I hear.)

GL, let me know if this helps some of you.

How to play Lux (Using her Combo & Harassing)

Lux's passive ability is activated each time she does damage with one of her spells. Enemies will have a little green glow on them, you want to try to always take advantage of this. Early game(after level 3), always try to harass your opponent by dropping lucent singularity on them and detonating right away.. then run in and hit them with an auto-attack. This will hurt them, bad.. and if you keep doing this, by the time you are level 6, they should be around 50% hp.. It's always VERY important to SAVE YOUR Q as often as possible. You don't want to waste this spell if you aren't going for a kill or saving yourself.

Now, once you're 6 keep wearing them down until they are around 50% hp... depending on the champ you might want them lower... OR, you can look at top/bottom lane and see if an enemy has low enough hp that you can kill them with your laser. Either teleport to the lane or run to it, but don't let your opposing Mid see you leave.

NOW THE KILL: NOW this is very important. Using your Q properly her makes or breaks the gank. If you are flanking someone with Flash or that can escape, you need to ONLY OPEN WITH YOUR E . Do not use your Q or your ULT until you are certain you can hit them... i.e., when an enemy retreats, they willlikely retreat in a straight line. You want to take advantage of this since your Q travels in a straight line! I like to wear them down with my E and prevent their escape path, slowing them, and exploding right at the end, and usually, if you land a proper E, your Q will be alot easier to land while your opponent is inside your E.

TO KILL: Hit them with Q - Light binding - this will immobilize them for 2 seconds while you throw down a lucent singularity on top of them/slightly behind themand IMMEDIATELY USE YOUR ULTIMATE - they will not be able to avoid it. They should be dead. and if they aren't, auto-attack them - EXPLODE the singularity(E), and finish them with another auto-attack. There's hardly any champs in the game that can survive this at low levels.

I always find myself launching Q at the enemy, and if I am 90% certain it will hit I will cast my E immediately on top of them, then my ultimate right away. This should become your standard opener. Q, if you know it's going to hit, throw E, ULT! auto-attack, explode E, auto-attack. = INSANE DMG

Finales Funkeln always does more damage if your passive is active on your opponent, so always try to hit a Q or E before using your ult.

Also, until you can farm blue buff at around level 9, it's important that you conserve mana. Also, if your team's jungler doesn't necessarily need blue buff, always ask if you can have it.. a lux with unlimited mana is a very dangerous opponent. Spam your abilities and harass constantly to zone them out.

Always get your E maxxed out ASAP - of course, your ult as well. Q secondary, and IMPORTANT: W should be smart spellcast bound to quickly cast... it saves lives. and if you cast it properly, you can apply it twice to any team mate - once going out, once coming back. To smart cast bind, press esc, go into key bindings, and find Smartcast bind spell 2. bind this to W.

In team fights, where it seems that every single player in the game is focused on one point, spam your abilities. You will change the outcome of any fight, very easily.

Lucent Singularity (E) can be used in many ways - one is to scout the map, I always throw it into the bushes if I'm overextended to dps a turret - it will allow you to see enemy champs flanking you.. also.. it can be used to push your front line, once you have about 500 ability power, when you explode your singularity is hits very hard, and no champ will want to stand in it... it's one of the best pushing abilities in the game - since it gives you vision of wherever it is thrown. Thirdly, it can be used to ensure an escape for yourself, or when assisting a team mate escape. I get so much <3 from team mates because I will constantly put my neck on the line to shield them and help them escape a gank - this is Lux's most important role. Keeping your team alive and pushing front lines (while doing insane damage, of course)

Finally, don't be afraid to use your ult often - if you see 3 enemy champs grouped together, send your ult right into them (or at least try to get a Q or E on them first). Many people think Lux's ult is about finishing off enemy champs, which it is very good at doing - but once you have a 36-24 sec cooldown timer - spam it as much as possible... DPS enemy champs who are hit by your ability spam will be worn down on health quickly, and forced to port back to base - you've just turned the battle in your team's favour.

How to build Lux: AP, and nothing but.

Lux is a very squishy champion. Building HP on her will not help since she is always going to be squishy. You need to learn to play very passive and behind the rest of your team. Your tank and melee also need to protect you. Achieve this, and you will nuke their team down so fast their heads will spin.

If you find yourself getting killed or focused down a lot you're probably going to be thinking "I need HP, I need survival" - STOP. You cannot build lux survival and still carry, it just doesn't work like that. If you don't start playing even more passively in team fights, and I mean super passive.. then you're going to get focused down, generally annoyed, and hate lux for being so fail.

YOU SHOULD NEVER BE WITHIN RANGE OF ANY ENEMY CHAMP. Lux out ranges everything. Don't GET HIT! Know your enemy. Bait them to miss a skill shot, and push in with your E. Always save your Q. You never know when you'll need it, E is enough to harass with until you know you can get a killshot, then use your Q.

Runes

See top of page for Rune setups.

Magic Resist Glyphs

If you are playing ranked games, you might want to roll with Flat Magic Resist Glyphs if you know you will be against a strong caster mid, IE: Morgana, Brand, Leblanc, Xerath, Ziggs, etc.

Summoner Spells

Suggested spells: I prefer Teleport and Clarity for just completely dominating middle lane from the start of the game and the ability to gank teleport to bottom or top @ lvl 6 and gank.

However, I am able to do well with Teleport/Clarity because I'm very experienced with Lux and I know how to hug towers and hover outside fights and stay out of danger. But if you are new to Lux or don't quite have the feel of her yet it's probably best to run with Flash.

PRO When to get Mejai's Soulstealer?

is a great items on lux because she is able to get assists and kills very well with her extremely long range. However, you must only get this item if you are feeling comfortable with your farming and/or early ganks. This item can be very powerful for a snowballing lux early game, but as the game carries on to mid-end game Lux is much more prone to death. You really need to get a feel for if you want to get it or not. Sometimes that gold is better spent on rushing your Deathcap, especially if you haven't got some early game ganks.

No Rod of Ages?

You will notice I don't get in this guide nor suggest it... people don't understand this. I will explain why Rod of Ages is a bad choice for Lux.

First off, every item in this guide adds +AP, right away. It's important you build lux with as much AP as fast as possible. Most people when building RoA get first, which is 1325g spent in the wrong direction. While HP is nice, lux really can't escape much (if you miss your Q, you're done)... so that lil extra HP really doesn't make a difference.

Furthermore, and most importantly -- by the time you get RoA fully purchased, you could have had Deathcap up, which means you have significantly less AP @ this point than you should, and your ability to carry is instantly diminished. Without an early deathcap to carry, you cant destroy, and you cant get fed.

simple.

Why Lich Bane?

Alot of ppl ask why do you build Lich Bane on Lux? Some have even commented ridiculous claims that is a bad item for her...

Well guess what? It's really not.... it's actually quite amazing on her. Here is why:
- When you get Lich Bane with Lux you will have between 350-500 AP. That means you will auto attack enemy champs for 650 Damage or so. Auto-attack every time you cast Q, W, E, and even when you explode E - counts as another ability. So 5 auto-attacks for 600+ DMG every spell rotation. Pure melt.
GG.

When to get tier1 boots?

is highly recommended early on lux depending on who she is facing in her lane... most of the time you can hold off buying them until AFTER your , but occasionally if you are vs a champ like Miss Fortune, Kass, or other fast moving harass you will want to pick them up before your lucky pick.

Why Magic Pen Boots and not CDR Boots?

Magic Penetration is essential on Lux, especially in the mid-game. This is mostly why you need Magic Pen boots for mid game (after Deathcap). CDR Boots aren't good on Lux because it doesn't matter if you have lower cooldowns if you aren't doing enough damage to start with. Also, Lux's cooldowns are so long that 15% on shaves off ~1 second on each ability... with 7-9 seconds of waiting in between. If you don't do enough damage to kill them with your Q > R > E combo then they will just escape with their lives and you won't be getting kills.

Also, once you have deathcap and magic pen boots up you will do so much damage that your enemies won't even see it coming, thus making the chances of you getting mid game kills much higher.

It's true that these boots become less appealing end game when you can get Void Staff for your Magic Penetration needs, but that's end-game only. If you don't get Magic Pen Boots mid game, and get CDR boots instead you won't be doing enough damage. By the time you get void staff you will already have max CDR, so trading them in for CDR Boots at this point is also useless.

Long Story short? Magic Pen boots are required for mid-game damage, getting CDR boots instead will make your damage output drop drastically, and you will be medicore the rest of the game and will have much lower chance of getting kills and carrying the team with insane damage output.

Early Game Lux: Level 1-3

It's important that you play extremely passive with Lux at the start of the game. Don't use any abilities and just try to focus on ONLY last hitting minions in your lane for the gold income. You don't want to use your E unless you know for sure it will not hit any minions. Why? Cuz if you do too much damage to minions your lane will get pushed, and then it will be risky for you to travel too far away from your tower. It's best to just sit back and last hit until you are level 3. At level 3 is when you want to start to harass the enemy champ with E and Q. Always make sure if you land one of these abilities, you run in and auto-attack to take advantage of the extra damage on your passive.

After Level 3

Always always always focus on killing minions and getting the last hit for maximum gold income. Lux is an amazing farmer with her E. A great strategy for Lux after level 3 is to use your E on the 3 caster minions behind the front line, then 1 shot them with your auto-attack. If you manage to kill all the minions in the wave quickly, it will cause your minions to push to the enemy tower. IF you aren't quick enough however, the next wave will also meet at the tower and you will risk being zoned out. It's either fast or nothing.It will take time to get a feel for this, but usually if a 2nd wave of enemy minions meet your minions in the lane, it's a safe bet to kill them all as fast as possible, and then laugh as your enemy champ tries to last hit minions instead of the tower killing them. This will wipe the lane clean, and then both waves of minions will meet in the middle of the two towers again.

This is good for 2 reasons. 1) it causes the enemy to lose last hits to the tower, increasing the gold advantage you have over them. and 2) it allows you to leave your lane temporarily to gank bottom or top without fear of having your tower take damage.

Items / Starting Sequence

First, you want to start with a Doran's Ring

I often carry HP potions with me early game while I can afford the slots, they can be life saving. Put any HP potion on your #1 slot, so you will always associate hitting 1 when you have low health. It's also important to always pick up HP potions every time you port back to base at low levels, i'd say level 1-10... these little things will save your life often. Again, always move them to the 1 slot.

I'd suggest getting a Kage's Lucky Pick as soon as you have 765 gold (this should be before level 6, so you will have that extra AP for your ult once you hit 6); It takes 25 mins to pay off(breaks even if you sell @ 17 mins), but it makes it alot easier to get the gold flowing. Port back to base, pick it up, then teleport back to mid or ur lane.

Next: depending on the opposing team's ganking/ tower diving ability you might want an early Boots of Speed, but you can hold off getting these and get your Mejai's first. However, but DO NOT worry about upgrading this to !!!!! REPEAT, DO NOT WASTE YOUR GOLD ON THIS EARLY! Lux is always far enough away from enemy champs that you don't need the extra speed, and no one will have magic resist till mid-late game.

This is when you start to gank. It's very important with Lux to gank as much as possible after level 6. This will increase your gold income, and also since you have about +30 ability power from runes, you will be extremely powerful at this level - while your opponents are still around level 4-5.. assuming you took solo mid lane (which you should always do!)

Next: If you were able to get a few early game ganks, and have over 2000 gold, go straight for a Needlessly Large Rodor a Mejai's Soulstealerif you think you are going to have no problem getting continuous kills. Always get your Rabadon's Deathcap ASAP. If you manage to get this around level 8-10, you will instantly be destroying enemy champs. Otherwise just get a Blasting Wand , and get an Elixir of Brilliance to help your early game AP.

Also, you should be trying to get BLUE BUFF as much as possible. This will allow you to spam your abilities on the front lines, and wear down your opponents health as they try to take your turrets. ALWAYS let your team mates give you blue buff. It is by far the most valuable buff for Lux.

You should also get Elixir of Brilliance CONSTANTLY after level 6, this little bit of extra AP will make or break your ability to finish people with your abilities, especially your ult. You can only imagine how frustrating it is to see an opponent escape with 5% of their HP, and you didn't have an elixir popped!

Finally get your Sorcerer's Shoes. Some people use cooldown reduction boots for Lux, but I really don't think that's wise. Why? Because magic penetration = more damage, and 20 more magic pen does make a big difference. Lux is about bursting, and 15% less CD is not going to get you kills faster simply because lux's cooldowns are so long. 15% is about 1 second with her Q, W, and E, and if you haven't killed that enemy champ in those 8 seconds, you arent going to, they will have ran away. Also, you have 4% cooldown reduction from your masteries, then another 10% from blue elixir - which you should always have popped. That's 14%, then you get blue buff @ 22% and you are at 36%.. pretty good. And once Morello's Evil Tomb is up you will be @ max CDR. Therefore, no need for CDR boots.

At this point if you find yourself getting 2 shotted by the likes of Veigar, or any other caster, you probably will want to get a Banshee's Veil.

Next is . This item alone makes lux extremely dangerous, even in melee. You will be auto-attacking for 500+ dmg.

Next a Needlessly Large Rod, then Zhonya's Hourglass. You want to put this in your #1 slot, since you won't be carrying HP potions by this point (they're only good until about lvl 10). Some people don't understand why you use this item. Simply to prevent death. You will be focused, hard. And this item alone can save your life, vs kat's ult, vs kennen, vs anyone who is trying to focus you down, the 2 seconds it buys you will save your life, trust me. Also, some people ask why not get a Archangel's Staff? Well, to be honest I used to get this item, but quite frankly I feel it takes too long to max out, and in the end it gives just a slight bit more AP than hourglass, but hourglass will be more AP faster, armor and 2 secs of escaping death. Choice is yours, but I prefer AP sooner than later, and hourglass has saved my life many times when used correctly.

Finally end game get a Morello's Evil Tomb& A Void Staffto penetrate that magic resistance even more.

You will be god like.

What NEVER to do as Lux

Never go into river or jungle alone if you don't know for sure it is safe.
Never push to an enemy tower without a good idea of where the enemy team's jungler and other champions are.
Never build anything but your deathcap asap. (after lucky pick and boots of course)
Never open with just your ultimate unless you know 100% it will kill.
Never be within melee range of any enemy champion.
Never face check bushes. (use your E for scouting)
Never be in the middle of a teamfight, always "hover" outside the battle.
Never stay at a tower with no mana or little HP. Just go back, chances are you will get dived.
Never use your ult to STEAL KILL.
Never be out of mana when you are going into battle.. a Lux with no mana is useless.

and finally... NEVER, push your lane at low levels or allow yourself to get attacked by the enemy champion. Lux is super squishy early game, you want to avoid as much confrontation as possible until at least level 3 where you can start to harass nicely with your level 2 E.

What ALWAYS to do as Lux

Always look for geometric opportunities in the environment to line up your skill shots. What I mean by this is if an enemy is running away, and they have to go around a certain corner, you want to wait until you know for sure that if you send your Q at them in a direct line it will hit rather than trying to hit them at awkward angles. This also applies for your ultimate. Always try to get yourself and the enemy champions in a line so your ultimate hits as many as possible.

Always help top and bottom if you see any trouble occurring. As a Mid champion, Lux is required to leave her lane and help her team quite often.
Always keep an eye on your mana and your clarity, don't get yourself out of mana before a team fight.
Always use your ultimate, E, and Q any given chance you have to do a decent amount of damage to an enemy that will TACTICALLY impact the battle. Meaning, if your turret is getting pushed, you will want to wear the enemy team's HP down as much as you can. But don't waste your skill combo on enemy champs you know you aren't going to kill if there is no tactical advantage to doing so.
Always teleport to help your team if you think they are going to need it. Trust me, if you delay that extra few seconds could make or break the team fight.
Always save and use your shield on allied champs when you see them taking damage. As lux you will always be on the back lines, it's your job to throw that shield up as soon as someone starts getting hurt.
Always go back to base for mana if you are out.
Finally, always try to steal baron, dragon and and blue buff from the enemy with your ultimate (this is one of the best parts about Lux).

End Game

You should have over 900 Ability Power with all your items and always get an Elixir of Brilliance everytime you port back.

This is god mode time.

Team Work

Lux works best by following team mates around.

She can shield them when fighting, and usually save their lives.

She can slow enemy advances with Lucent Singularity, and also scare away pushes by sending a Funkeln right into enemy champs faces. She has some of the best lane control in the game, and is able to hold turrets almost by herself.

Never, NEVER, NEVER be by yourself as Lux. EVER. EVER! She is so fragile, that she will die instantly... and the enemy team will love to finally take you down (after you keep 2 shotting them).

Hecarim Guide

2012-04-28T06:18:00.000-07:00

Insatiable Insight

Just remember, no one build / guide is going to be perfect for every situation played by every person ever. If it doesn't work, try again. The idea of this guide is to help you make your own ideas. This guide was created to inspire you, not scold you about not being a pro :D I myself am a crazy-***-noob at this game, lol. Just do whatever works. So, always remember, your imagination is the only thing that will always be perfect. Good luck, and have fun!

Insane Introduction

Hallo! I'm Silver Seer723 in case you don't know me yet. I am a no-lifer when it comes to these things so feel free to do ... a lot of ... things ... Anyways, This is my take on a Guide for you, my dear readers/ladies/gentlemen/league players/babies/judges/servants/people/cats/dogs/elephants/aliens/others reading this guide to make fun of the no-lifers out there! (anyone else go ahead and leave) Before I get started on this, I want to make one thing very, VERY clear. (If this is not as clear as a freshly cleaned window I will *censor*) This guide is not your Bible. It is not your Torah. It is a website made by a random amazing dude to help YOU have moreFUN. (I know right; INSANE)(The cake is a lie.)

Special thanks to (as always) jhoijhoi for teaching me how to create designs such as these even if I'm still a newbie to them ^^ Before voting, be it a thumbs-up or two thumbs-down, please read at least most of the guide and try out some of the things explained here. Without further ado, ENJOY!

Professional Pros / Consequential Cons

Pros

+Able to Jungle Well
+High mobility
+Relatively High Damage for Being Tanky
+Insane CC
+Amazing at Farming

space

Cons

-Low Damage Early Game
-Needs Team's Cooperation
-Hard to Master
-Focused
-Large Body Frame

Ravaging Runes

RUNES

This is the standard set-up I run when I play . This provides us with a hefty amount of attack damage/armor penetration with marks/quintessences. The seals provide a good bit of a needed armor for those AD carries. The glyphs give a large amount of magic resistance for runes. I got hooked on the per-level glyphs and find they work well for me.

RUNES

M
A
R
K
S

spa

Greater Mark of Desolation: Really good for Hecarim. These make auto-attacks, Devastating Charge ,and Rampage do a lot more damage. As these are our main damage out-outs, these make for excellent marks. (My Choice)
Greater Mark of Strength: These work almost exactly like the Greater Mark of Desolations, however with an added bonus of a faster jungle speed and making farming easier. The downside vs. Greater Mark of Desolations is that armor penetration will make auto-attacks and skills hit harder than attack damage will.
Greater Mark of Alacrity: This is an excellent pick despite it's 'unpopularity'. I use these for a faster jungle speed however I use the armor pen for the lane. Since I jungle a majority, I have these as my 'Usual Runes'.(Jungle Choice)

spa

M
A
R
K
S

RUNES

S
E
A
L
S

spa

Greater Seal of Resilience: Needed. Tons of armor early game, these are necessary.

spa

S
E
A
L
S

RUNES

G
L
Y
P
H
S

spa

Greater Glyph of Warding/ Greater Glyph of Shielding: Best when used in combination with Greater Seal of Resilience. Good for gaining some survivability from those pesky casters. Excellent choice overall. (My Choice)
Greater Glyph of Alacrity: Good for increasing jungle speed however I feel that they are lacking some power.

spa

G
L
Y
P
H
S

RUNES

Q
U
I
N
T
S

spa

Greater Quintessence of Desolation: Same reason as the mark version. More damage.
Greater Quintessence of Strength: Same reason as the mark version. Easier farm / faster jungle speed.
Greater Quintessence of Swiftness: Excellent runes for getting around the battlefield faster. Also great for chasing down enemies. I highly suggest these runes, as they will also increase your damage passively. Synergises well with Hecarim fairly well overall. (My Choice)

spa

Q
U
I
N
T
S

Stupendous Skill Sequence

Hecarim ignores unit collision and gains bonus attack damage based on his bonus movement speed: This passive is insane. I've gotten as much as a free from this passive along with the fact unit collision doesn't matter, how awesome it that!?

Hecarim damages all nearby enemies with attack damage. This cooldown is reduced each time it is used in succession.:

You're going to want to max out before and before .

Tips and Tricks

The CDR applies on minions as well, use this to get an edge before a fight
When jungling, try to use this as the final blow to a jungle camp, this will allow the CDR to continue on in the next camp
You can activate this during Devastating Charge for bonus damage (movement speed buff)
Use this directly after Onslaught of Shadows for massive burst damage to a large area

Hecarim creates an aura around himself damaging nearby enemies and healing himself a portion of this damage. Healing has a cap on minions.:

You're going to want to max out after and before .

Tips and Tricks

Spam this spell if possible, the healing power on it will add up over time
Never enter a fight without it if at all possible
Use this spell to really turn the tides on an enemy mid-fight
NEVER under-estimate or over-estimate this ability, it does small damage and heals small amounts but the damage+heal combined is rather considerable

Hecarim steadily gains increasing movement speed and deals bonus damage (depending on how far Hecarim traveled) along with a knockback:Great for getting out of sticky situations and getting off that extra damage.

You're going to want to max out after and after .

Tips and Tricks

Use this skill to get in position during fights
Mostly used for utility however if possible use it for the extra damage on an enemy
When returning to lane from base, use this to get back to lane faster (start at pool so mana loss is 0)
The damage is based on DISTANCE TRAVELED not time spent in the speed boost

Hecarim becomes a total beast and summons undead riders to charge in a line while Hecarim charges with them. Where Hecarim lands, enemies are feared.: The large area between the lines is where the riders will charge. The circle that is adjustable is where will land and fear enemies. Enemies will always run AWAY from .

Tips and Tricks

When using this try to aim so that you best benefit your teammates
This can also be used as an escape, run with Devastating Charge then jump over a wall
As with most ultimates, don't 'save it for the right moment' use it when applicable

Incredible Items

spaceArmorspacespac

spaceResistspacespace

spaceHealthspacespace

spaceDamagespacespa

spaceAtk Spdspacespac

Absolutely Armor Penetration

Armor Penetration and Armor Reduction are the statistics of a Champion which allows them to counter some or all of a target's armor. All champions have 0 base armor penetration but can increase it with items, runes, or abilities for a few champions.

Armor penetration and armor reduction are applied in the following order:

1. Percentage Armor Reduction ('s )
2. Flat Armor Reduction ()
3. Flat Armor Penetration ()
4. Percentage Armor Penetration ()

Read more on How Armour Reduction Works Here. Credit to Complexicate and LoL Wikipedia.

Generic Gameplay

As you want to spend majority of early-mid game roaming and ganking as much as possible. Mid/Late-game is here is at his best, early game is fairly weak for him. Spend the first 5 minutes or so farming/jungling then go gank another lane. Return back and then when you hit 6 go gank again etc.'s ganks are pretty strong and a lot of people underestimate him.

Later in the game focus on either taking the tank or carry role and fulfill them for your team. Run into teamfights at the lead of the charge and use your ult to damage/fear as many enemies as possible. As long as you fulfill your role, which is initiator, as expected you will be a great asset to your team.

Jagged Jungle

Wolves(help)
Blue(leash/help)
'Hang Out' by Red Buff jungling
Gank when opportunity comes
Dragon whenever possible
Gank as much as possible

I can't say much else really besides that jungling is insanely situational because it all depends on your lanes. If you follow that route like a Bible you'll fail horribly 9/10 times. You need to be flexible with your choices and actions. Don't go F*** YEAH PONY CHARGE! WOOHOO! BOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!!!!!!! unless you intend to basically fail that game and are just doing it for fun. (Believe me though it's hilarious, ++++=PONY CHARGE NUKE.) Anyways, off topic... Be flexible and help your lanes as needed or farm jungle as needed.

TL;DR: Start blue. Gank a lot. Get dragon as much as you can. Be flexible.

Whimsical Wards

Mowen wrote:
"For your warding section you should emphasize not to buy wards unless it's an absolute necessity (ie your team doesn't even ward dragon/baron) because really other characters should be buying those for you since you really need to farm farm farm."

I believe this is untrue. Everyone should buy wards. Vayne should buy wards, but not as often as the tank or the support on your lane. If you're solo top or solo mid, wards are definitely necessary unless you're completely pushed back to your allied turret.

Pro Tip: Whenever you recall or have died, and you find yourself in the shop, buy a or two. This may seem lame to you, especially if you have never bought wards before, or you believe that the jungler or support should only buy wards, but with wards you will find there are many benefits.

[*] Map awareness is the key to preventing successful ganks, tracking the enemy jungler, and keeping strategic objectives (like Baron and Dragon) under lock and key.
[*] If every player brought one ward each time they recalled, and assuming players recalled once every 7 minutes in a 35 minute game, your team would be rewarded map vision for the whole game (assuming your wards aren't taken out by an ).
[*] If your team is co-operative in this endeavour, warding "The Belt" will prove highly effective. The Belt is shown below. In addition to standard warding of Baron/Dragon/Buffs, warding as shown below (assuming you are Purple - Top Team, reverse if you are Blue Team) will warn you of all enemy movement from their jungle.

This is where you and your team should Sight Ward beyond the places show in the above image. Keep in mind, you don't have to ward the whole map - try and spread out your wards so that they cover the most amount of area for the least amount of wards.

Yellow: Vital to protect the jungler on your team
Blue: For protection depending on which lane you're on
Red: To guard Dragon and Baron
Orange: In order to Counter-Jungle

League of Legends Varus Patch Preview

2012-04-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Patch Preview, summoners! In the Patch Preview, we’ll be looking into gameplay changes for existing champions, items, and other gameplay, as opposed to information about Varus himself. In this episode, we discuss our changes for Alistar, Amumu, Leona, Nunu, Taric, Master Yi, Ryze, and a number of items! For more information about these updates, take a look at the video! by: Phreak

Xin Zhao

2012-04-12T12:49:00.002-07:00

Xin Zhao

THE SENESCHAL OF DEMACIA


	975 3150

Health	2011
Mana	771
Speed	320
Armor	82.8
Magic Resist	52.5
Critical Chance	0%
Health Per 5 Sec	19.6
Mana Per 5 Sec	14.7
Range	175

ASSASSIN, FIGHTER, DISABLER, HASTE, MELEE, PUSHER, CARRY, TOUGH

Riot's Recommended Items

LoL Champion Lore: Xin Zhao

*Whenever Jarvan III, the king of Demacia, delivers one of his rallying speeches from the glinting marble balcony atop the Royal Palace, Xin Zhao is at his side. Coined the Seneschal of Demacia, Xin Zhao is the personal steward of the Lightshield Dynasty. His enigmatic, silent vigil has led to an abundance of conjecture concerning his ''secret life'' and origins. Whether it's ''Zaun double-agent'' tendered at the dinner table or ''indebted rune mage'' mused in the editorials of the ''Demacian Constant'', Xin Zhao betrays no hints to sate the curiosity of the masses... for good reason.

Prior to the formation of the League, Noxus was renowned for a spectacle called The Fleshing. It was a gladiatorial event with a cruel twist: as a fighter won matches, his number of opponents (generally prisoners of war) fought simultaneously would increase. This meant eventual death for every contender, but with unparalleled glory. Xin Zhao, known then as Viscero, was slated to face 300 soldiers, nearly six times the previous record. This was clearly meant to be his final match. Jarvan II, hearing of this unprescedented feat, infiltrated the arena to offer him an alternative: serve Demacia and punish those who ultimately sentence him to death in exchange for his freedom. Xin Zhao accepted, astonished that a king would risk his own life on his behalf. Under the cover of a prearranged Demacian assault on Noxus, Jarvan liberated Xin Zhao and his 300 opponents. During their retreat, Xin Zhao took a poisoned dart meant for Jarvan. This act of loyalty, from a man who vowed no allegiance, earned Xin Zhao a spot at his side until the day the king died. Now in the service of his son, Jarvan III, Xin Zhao is stepping into a new ring - the Fields of Justice - to fight for his adopted country and to honor the legacy of the man who gave purpose to his life.

''Death is inevitable, one can only avoid defeat.''
- Demacian Manual of Arms

Talon

2012-01-22T01:44:00.000-08:00

Talon is a extraordinary burst champion excelling at counter acting squishy AP heroes during the early game phase. Subsequently his ability to eat hp is second to none. But to utilise his skills, a deep knowledge is required in both item synergies as well as playstyle.

Recently, Talon took some hard nerfs in the mana department since he was an incredibly spammy hero. Talon could no longer sustain himself within lane without either not having high creep kills or just being outlaned in general. This guide hopefully rectifies that problem not. So sit back and spend some quality time with talon

Pros/Cons

Pros

+Good early-mid game
+Good chaser; can "stick" to enemies
+CD efficient abilities

Cons

-Squishy
-Susceptible to focus fire
-Mana inefficient hero whom requires spamming of abilities.
-Scaling into lategame depends wholly on itemization

Laning prowess

Solo top - 7/10 Great
Solo mid - 9/10 Outstanding
Duo Bot - 5/10 Decent (there are more suitable champions)
Jungling - 2/10 Mediocre

Abilities

Mercy
+10% damage if target is under CC, decent passive
A decent passive, nothing too great but better than alot. A mistake that people do, is to build specifically to utilise this passive. Its not worth it, 10% is chump. Think of it as a nice bonus, nothing more.

Noxian Diplomacy
Nuke and applies bleed. Good nuke, use after initiate.
An incredibly nice nuke since it resets the attack timer which is core in this crit based build. The bleed is a nice bonus, but the revealing of the enemy champion can enable another ally to cut the retreat path of fleeing enemy to finish him off. Very nice.

* Resets attack timer so time an auto attack before using this.
* Bread and butter skill late game, main source of burst.
* Use this before cutthroating to an enemy for maximum burst.
* High cooldown so its usage is fairly limited. Use this to initiate along with a charged Noxian diplomacy for maximum burst.

Rake
AOE slow and damage. Bread and butter skill early, use to prevent fleeing
Similar to Sivir’s throw, though does significantly less damage and range. Generally the bread and butter skill, since it provides a nuke but also most importantly, a slow enabling you to get close to unleash more crits and abilities (most notably Noxian Diplomacy)

* The main ability to slow enemies. Immediately use this after initiating to prevent fleeing.
* A staple ability to efficiently farm, especially against a tough lane enemy
* Post nerf talon is unable to spam this without running out of mana. Use sparingly and only to ensure creep kills or harass.

click image to enlarge

Cutthroat
Blink towards enemy causing silence and amping subsequent attacks/ability. Initiate with this
Good skill to initiate with because of its silence which prevents immediate reactions; meaning a very short time to land some pot shots. You can also use this defensively. For example blinking to an enemy creep behind you, or using neutrals to juke and jive around shrubs.

* Standard blink towards enemy
* The ability does no damage itself however does briefly silence the target.
* Also resets attack timer.
* Use this ability creatively. When an enemy chamption comes to gank, cutthroat to them which silences them and puts you in a favorable position to escape.

click image to enlarge

Shadow Assault
Ultimate, on low CD, sick damage and speed boost. Use this as the killing blow.
Self explanatory, though the stealth does offer some utility in escaping messy situations. It also does do AOE damage, so if you place yourself correctly you can get some sick damage. The cooldown is rather low, so don’t be afraid to use it to clear creep waves to save a tower for example.

* Positioning is very important, deactivate when you are in front of fleeing target to ensure the blades will hit
* Be careful of popping ultimate since the blades do fan out resulting in the potential loss of surprise
* Generally, use this ability as the killing blow so that you have the choice of either diving or fleeing; its a good escape tool
* If you get CC'ed while stealthed, the blades will not come back to you. Essentially it will only do half damage so be weary of oracles or wards during team fights.

click image to enlarge

Phreak can explain the general concept of Talon's abilities quite well. Also gives good insight about the basics of how to use each spell

Ability Sequence

Solo top
Shadow Assault > Rake > Noxian Diplomacy > Cutthroat
As always the ultimate is leveled first whenever possible.
Rake takes precedence over noxian diplomacy because if offers farming ability needed in solo top. It also offers decent harassment potential. Noxian Diplomacy takes thrid precedence because it is the main source of single targeted damage. Cutthroat takes the lowest priority, however is taken at level 2 for its utility.

Solo Mid
Shadow Assault > Noxian Diplomacy > Rake > Cutthroat
Again the ultimate is taken whenever possible however, noxian diplomacy takes seconds precedence due to its exorbitant single damage output. Rake takes thrid precedence and cutthroat again takes last priority, however one rank is taken early on due to its utility.

Basic Combos

Q-E-W-R

Recommended harassment combo for AD champions
Charge Q before initiation then E to the enemy so that the auto attack timer does instant burst. Also Q's effect stacks with E for maximum burst.
W to slow and keep in melee range whereby Q should be close for another use. Otherwise make the choice whether to use R to secure a kill or to keep it for the potential need to escape.
The rake slows the AD enemy to minimise damage by getting away ASAP after harassment.

W-Q-E-R

Recommended harassment combo for AP champions
Works in a similar fashion. Instead of jumping immediately, a rake is used as the initiator and the Q-E combo is used for burst. The silence offers escape from offensive spells during harassment.

Masteries

MASTERIES

Masteries are generally very straight forward. I opt for 21/2/7.
Offensive masteries are a given and should be self explanatory. They all emphasize Talon's burst damage and ability to push and destory towers quickly.

Within the utility tree masteries improving mana regeneration are taken. To cope with Talon's mana usage (without implementing a philosopher's stone early game) they are needed. Summoner's insight is taken for utility.

The last two points are spent within the defensive tree. While i have taken additional armour, an equally good alternative would be more magic resist. Take either depending who you know you'll be laning with.

Runes

RUNES

Armour penetration emphasises Talon's prowess early-mid game. Gives him a much needed damage boost against champions especially tanky ones.

Additional mana regeneration is taken to assist Talon's early game

Armour penetration emphasises Talon's prowess early-mid game. Gives him a much needed damage boost against champions especially tanky ones.

Alternatives

If mana is not a problem, then take these if you know you are laning mid against an AP carry.

If mana is not a problem, then take these if you know you are laning top/bottom against an AD based champion.

Summoner Spells

Flash
Highly recommended
Gets you in good position or gets you out of tough situations. Definitely a good summoner spell, especially when you flash over a wall and deny enemies a kill muhahaha. Highly recommended.

Ignite
Highly Recommended
good for getting kills you might otherwise won't. General usage in a standard game is pretty often so this is immensely useful. If playing draft pick try to predict who you will be laning with. Generally its quite easy to tell.

Cleanse
Highly recommended; situational
If you don't like getting mercury's treads or find that the enemy team is stacking CC, this is the spell to get. It literally is a free quicksilver sash, so its great.

Exhaust
Recommended
The ultimate chasing spell but sacrificing survivability. Also makes use of your passive. Not bad

Ghost
Decent - aimed at survivability
The opposite of exhaust. Good for escaping, but offensively its not as great as exhaust. Recommended.

Teleport
If you have a Teemo/ward *****
This is great if you have a good Teemo or a ward *****. Nonetheless, using this defensively is not great, but if in the event that you can use this offensively, its great

Core items

Boots
If you’ve noticed, I didn’t really specify what boots to get. However in the cheat sheet above I did opt for the Ionian boots purely for the CD reduction. However, that’s not to say other boots are complete rubbish, but rather quite the contrary. I’ll go further into this in the next section.
But in a nutshell, boots provide mobility…Duh obviously.

B. F. Sword
BF sword gives Talon that extra AD boost when the brutalizer stops cutting it. The reason this item is within the core items is that its preps the build to deviate in a number of items depending on personal playstyle. Either opt to rush bloodthirster or infinity’s edge. Must item for increase in damage boost.

Optional Items

The Brutalizer
An important item in Talon’s repertoire early game. Provides AD, armour penetration, and cooldown reduction. This item simply excels for early game Talon which depends heavily on his spells rather than straight AD. Eventually, the item will build into a Youmuu’s Ghostblade, which is a great item on Talon mid game.

Doran’s Blade x2
Provides health and damage. Unlike the BF Sword which is pretty expensive during the early game, Doran's blade provides a quick fix of damage along with some life steal and health. A good alternative if you find yourself underfarmed or struggling in lane.

Wriggle's Lantern
Another alternate, where not only does it provide a ward for the laning phase (especially those in solo top) it gives decent AD as well as the coveted life steal which adds to Talon's sustainability in lane. Also it adds armour that Talon lacks especially those who do opt for mana regeneration runes instead of armour runes. This item is geared for sustainability, survivability and team utility.

Philosopher's Stone
For those who either are not yet level 30, not runed for increased MP5 or just want to play more defensively. This item allows for a much easier (and newb friendly) laning phase. Instead of going 21/2/7 mastery, go 21/6/3.

Boots

Get the type of boots according to your playstyle and enemy team.

Boots on Talon are very subjective to personal preference. Although all boots vary in their properties, they are actually all very useful for Talon. Here is a brief low down.

Ionian Boots of lucidity

Highly recommended
The boots offers 15% CD reduction which is my personal choice, since I personally play using Talon’s spells extensively. These are boots to buy where you find you are in a upper hand, or find yourself with a decent start. Buy these boots if you need more cooldown reduction (where you lack shurelia's reverie or Ghostblade tandem)

Boots of Swiftness

Highly recommended
Boots of speed offers an additional point of speed sacrificing other stats. These boots are great if you’re a early to mid game roamer. Great for roaming since the speed is amazing and you can switch lanes for ganks fast before enemies’ notice you are missing. These boots are the way to go IF you have the Ghostblade and Shurelia's reverie combo for the source of Cooldown reduction.

Boots of Mobility

Good for positioning one's self for battle or just plain roaming. Psycho synergy with Shurelya's+Ghostblade combo
THE boots if you play Talon as a roamer. Its passive gives you some amazing gank/roaming power hence potentially giving your team map control and to an extent awareness. Downside is that the passive turns off after combat, so not great at running away nor chasing, however you can initiate a lot of potential ganks in the early to mid game in hopes that you can indeed snowball to victory. Great map presence on these boots.

Mercury's Treads

Good for ELO matches or coordinated enemy team
The most expensive boots, but offers the sought after stat, tenacity. I find that these boots are very situational but if you’re in a situation where every enemy champion ****s a heavy CC then these boots is the way to go. The thing with Talon is that he is an assassin hero which inadvertently means that he is squishy. When the enemy team sees you, they will nuke you. It’s important that you’re a phantom; get in and get out. These boots will help you get out alive. These boots will prove to be the best boots in ELO games, or games against coordinated players, since they will decide to stun your *** first. Focus fire is Talon’s weakness, hence these boots will go a long way.

Items

Items are generally subjective to your personal play style and you position within the game. Although this guide does provide a cheat sheet, you should always build according to the enemy. Getting your *** under CC? Get some tenacity and so on. Remember, the cheat sheet provides the best scenario, contoured to my personal play style. Look to it as a guideline of which items to get in which in rough order, then buy according to the enemy.

Situational Items - Defensive

Yes we’ve all been in these situations before and yes, it’s frustrating. But what do you buy with your limited gold?

Doran’s Blade
Stack these bad boys
This is the fallback item to go if you are struggling. Why? It offers health, life steal and extra damage. Usually, when you are struggling you should buy two of these then continue with your regular build.

_________

iThis item gives you a buffer and scales nicely all the way into mid to early late game phase. Great item for what its worth.

Mercury’s Treads
Tenacity is good
If you’re getting owned you need to limit your loses; in other words stop dying. These boots will give you much needed tenacity for extra survivability. Good for high ELO or late game, where enemies will nuke the largest threat; either you or the hard carry.

Banshee’s Veil/Quicksilver Sash
F**K you malzahar, ammumu and everything that stuns
Find yourself getting focused with CC? These items will help you get out of stick situations. Personally, I prefer quicksilver sash purely because you determine when to pop the active and counter’s DoTs and channelled spells (malz anyone).

Guardian Angel
Good all round survivability item. Personal thumbs up
Affordable, great active, and great stats. This is actually a great item on Talon and given Talon's low CD's he can either escape with cutthroat or unleash a can of whoop *** after the active procs. Nice.

Hexdrinker
Got AP nuker's?
Pretty self explanatory, it gives a shield upon taking an AP spell that brings you under 30% of maximum health. This is really good especially with heavy AP nukers like and . On top of that it gives attack damage and is relatively cheap.

_________

iA must if versing AP heavy teams.

Cloak and Dagger
Wooooo T-E-N-A-C-I-T-Y
Yes thats right. Tenacity item that has relevant stats for talon. Really cheap, gives attack damage and crit. A really nice item during the early and mid game phase however is mediocre during the late game. Sell it then

Philosopher's Stone
Defensive item that has MP5, HP5
A potentially useful item for getting back into the game after an abysmal lane phase. It allows for increased HP5 which allows you to take harrasment and MP5 for more spamming especailly those who don't have/run MP5 runes. Also builds into shurelya's reverie.

Key Items

Then you have the items that you will come to see every other match. Generally, the items I have listed will be useful in most match ups one way or another.

Last Whisper
Got amour stackers?
This item counteracts their armour. Also it adds 40 damage so it’s a rather worthwhile item. Only use this item when at least 3 enemies are super armour heavy. Remember that this item offers a percentage buff, not straight armour penetration. Implement this during the mid-lategame.

Bloodthirster
Best damage item in game, that is all
A great item on Talon since it offers straight damage and lifesteal. Also, Talon is quite good at farming creeps, so bloodthirster should be easily stacked. Bloodthirster also offers the most straight damage of any item meaning that your abilities will benefit greatly from this item.

Shurelya's Reverie
Great active and CD reduction
CD reduction, MP5 and HP5. WHOA. Talon got hit with the nerf stick in the mana department so grabbing a philospher's stone was necessary for lane sustainability. Unfortunately, that hunger for mana is still there late game so this good item builds from a philo stone.

_________

iIt also adds health and a great team active. What this item does is that it does insane synergy with Ghostblade and boots of mobility since you are a chasing machine and the ultimate roamer.

Youmuu’s Ghostblade
Great active and CD reduction
Sick item on talon once you get the core items done. Offers +dmg, crit, CD reduction and amour penetration. Builds from brutalizer and does its active does sick damage in conjunction with the BF sword.

Trinity Force
Start building it ONLY in the lategame
A very expensive item but can offer a lot of utility to Talon. This was a very tough item to justify a serious thought about buying since it’s ridiculously expensive while offering very average stats for Talon. That being said, it offers everything that would be very beneficial for Talon.

_________

iGenerally, the best part of this item is its 150% buff on auto attack after using an ability. Is it really worth it? Well to be honest, this should be the last item you should get, but then again, you could get another stacked bloodthirster. Your choice.

Overrated Items - Don't use them

*Flame Shield on*
There’s always items that people use because they think its good on Talon, but in hindsight its actually a waste of gold. Although they are okay, they are just not worth the gold in the early to mid game. By the lategame however they are completely viable, but this section here encourages that there are much better items for the gold.

Infinity Edge
You cannot rely on crits as burst AD champion.
Talon's damage output relies on casting his abilities not auto attacking. Infinity edge is useful for those who are auto attack champions (i.e. AD carries). Despite this, many Talon's like to buy this because the number look big. If you must have another damage item, then opt for another

_________

ibloodthirster.

The only other viable item of similar cost is .
So lets assume 100 base damage. Damage is added up, whilst damage from critical hits is multiplied by its chance for a more realistic scenario.

____________

+30 Attack Damage
+150% Attack Damage
+14% Critical Chance
= 100+30+195(260*0.14)
= 361 average

_______

+80 Attack Damage
+25% Critical Chance
+250% Critical Damage
=100+80+(450*0.25)
= 292.5 average

So on average the trinity force does slightly more burst damage, however factor in its scaling with and then the infinity edge will overall do more sustained damage. But Trinity Force also offers other bonuses including increased movement speed, chance to slow among others bonuses.
By creating an ideal scenario where there is a guaranteed critical strike. (doesn't include passive proc)

____________

= 100+30+195+260
= 585 maximum

_______

=100+80+450
= 630 maximum

Here the infinity edge does 45 more damage not including the additional +40AD advantage it has over the trinity force for ability scaling. The minimum damage each item will do can also be calculated.

____________

= 100+30+195
= 325 minimum

_______

=100+80
= 180 minimum

With no critical strikes, the trinity force will do an additional 145 extra damage. So for an extra 240 gold the trinity force offers a better reliable burst damage, movement speed, chance to slow, HP and mana whilst only sacrificing a potential extra 40 damage.

Phage/Frozen Mallet
+10% damage is chump, trust me. Still viable but buy it in one go
Many will jump to the conclusion that by buying a Phage or Frozen Mallet, you utilise your passive which would result in a great item. Let me reiterate this for you. +10% damage is chump, go use the money to by a bloodthirster.

_________

iTo utilise the passive, you need the opponent to be under CC effects, whether that may be slowed etc. Phage only procs 35% but since Talon at the early game mark is a spell spammer, his attack speed is non existent. So there’s no guarantee that the slow will proc.
The frozen mallet however is a 100% chance to slow the enemy. Yes, that’s great but you have to buy a phage beforehand to get a frozen mallet. Yeah, not so wise.
Yeah but it offers health to give Talon survivability
If you need health to stay alive, you’re not playing Talon as an assassin. Talon relies on his abilities and summoner spells to get out of sticky situations. Not health. Health would be justified under cir****tances where you find yourself to be under heavy CC.
If you believe you must get this, then attain it as a luxury item and grab it in one go. Having a phage taking up an inventory slot is somewhat wasteful.

Sword of the Occult
Not worth it, play safely imo.
As a general rule I dislike to get snowball items unless your LeBlanc or Annie since they steamroll **** like butter. Its does offer awesome damage once stacked, but its stacked passive is pretty mediocre. +15% movespeed? Really?

_________

iIt’s better to work on getting a bloodthirster or building other items quicker because if you screw up, this item is useless. Also, this item puts a very negative mindset teamwork wise;

“I shouldn’t get involved in that team fight because I’m scared to lose all my hard worked stacks”.

Warmog’s/Atma’s combo
Are you serious?
Why o’ why. You’re Talon, you are the master of kill stealing and GTFO outta’ there. Believe or not, but I’ve seen this predicament more times than you think. No, just no.
Hell, Atma’s a no go in general.

_________

iSeriously, I don’t understand why anyone would get this on an assassin or carry for that matter. *sigh*
/end rant

Item Sequence

Early game
Farm Phase, rush the core items
These starting items emphasises on Talons mobility and enables lane endurance provided you use the mobility to dodge the majority of attacks. Utilise the staple Q-E-W combo for harrasment. If you find yourself struggling use rake to last hit and harass without taking damage.

Mid game
Transition period. Focus on attaining straight AD items.
The longer the game goes, the less damage you are going to do when spamming spells (sustained dps that is). Try to maximise burst output with straight AD items.
The goal here is to get enough farm (through creep kills or ganking) to complete the core items. After the all important boots what do you build after? Aim to at least finish one items below (if all goes well; if you’re in deep **** then you’re going to have to build situational) and attempting to start working for another one by the end of the mid game.

Bloodthirster
the safe option, Talon’s ability scaling is sexy and with a fully ranked rake, you can stack this bad boy in no time. Reasonably priced sonsidering the BF sword is a core component

Ghostblade
Maximises CD reduction hence really emphasises ability spam. Good active which makes up for Talon’s lack of attack speed and damage in between cooldown’s. Sacrifices pure damage for more spell spammage.

Late Game
Survival items and more straight AD items.
LoL is a game that rewards not dying, especially in the lategame. Get some survivability items and continue to pump some more damage.

SURIVABILITY

Banshee's Viel
Good for AP heavy teams or just alot of hard CC in general.

Quicksilver Sash
If you don't opt for [cleanse] than this will do. Pesky suppresses, stuns and slows are essentially negated.

Guardian Angel
MR and Armour; good all round defense item and the active is really quite nice. Very affordable as well.

Hexdrinker
Another great item for AP heavy teams. Goodbye ryze, leblanc, annie and xerath.

Shurelya's Reverie
Again maximises CD reduction and provides the extra MP5 for ability spam as well as HP5 and health. A good item that builds off the philosopher's stone.

DAMAGE

Bloodthirster
Straight damage output. Abilities will nuke quite hard. However forgoes extra crit chance which is important at this stage.

Last Whisper
Completely destroy armour stackers with this. Tanks beware.

Trinity Force
Offers a little bit of everything but the passive is of note. +150% extra damage on next auto attack after using an ability. Doesn't offer a lot of straight AD but if you know your job is just to completely annihilate a single target than the passive could prove useful especially with noxian diplomacy..

Graves the new Ranged DPS champion

2011-10-09T23:58:00.001-07:00

Some preview of the gameplay on our newest ranged DPS champion: Graves, the Outlaw.

This rough-and-tumble gunman uses a massive, hextech double-barreled shotgun to rain down death from a distance and punish any foolish varmints that get too close. For example, Buckshot shoots three quick shrapnel bursts in a cone in front of him. Unlike other multi-missile spells, however, all three Buckshot rounds can all hit the same target (although each individual projectile will deal slightly reduced damage).

Graves is also able to make it uncomfortable for foes to fight at his optimal range by throwing out Smoke Screen to limit enemy vision and slow them in an area, while Quick Draw lets him dash in for a quick shotgun blast or escape danger as needed. In this way he can control his positioning to set up maximum damage Buckshots.

Finally, Graves can use Collateral Damage to unleash a skill shot that nukes the first target it hits, spreading a cone of damage behind its target to hit anybody yellow enough to hide behind the tanks. While the single-target use is simple, properly utilizing the cone is what will separate the good Graves players from the great ones.

Goal with Graves was to make a ranged DPS that had some incentive to get up close or make enemies think twice before getting in your face. While it’s completely possible to play Graves as a standard max-range carry, this dichotomy makes for skill differential without adding a high barrier to entry (or any hefty, paragraph-long tooltips). Whether trying to maximize the close-up damage of Buckshot, or setting up the 1-2 punch of Collateral Damage, we’re excited to add a champion with true grit to the ranged DPS lineup.

Teemo Super Champion

2011-10-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a cryophoenix! It’s a gyrocopter! It’s Super Teemo!
If you’ve ever dreamed of being faster than a speeding Rammus, more powerful than a mighty Cho’gath, and able to leap tall yordles in a single bound, then you’ll definitely want to pick up Super Teemo. With powers and abilities far beyond those of mere mortal yordles, you’ll be ready to fight the never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the Bandle City way!
Super Teemo will be swooping in to save a metropolitan area near you on Monday the 10th of October, so be sure to stop by to greet him at the League of Legends Store!

League Of Legends Mastery Guide

2011-09-01T04:13:00.000-07:00

Learn the Basic

Never again be called a “feeder”

Are you tired of being a feeder all the time? Get yourself started with League of Legends basics such as summoners, spells, laning, runes and the equipment system.
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Basic Strategies

League of Legends is very complex game with a lot of information to be learned, in our basic strategies guide you are given some tips that are easy to understand for beginners but composed by some of the top LoL players. This will give you that edge you need to conquer any opponent early on in League of Legends despite not having the gameplay experience of others.
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Summoner Spells

One of the most common questions of new League of Legends players is what are the best summoner spells to use? There is no simple answer for this, and that is why we have an entire section that covers each spell and when you should and shouldn’t use it. Never be left feeling like you picked the wrong Summoner Spell for your champion ever again.

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Laning

A huge part of any game of LoL is the laning phase, one of the first things that we cover in this guide a detailied explanation of the laning phase itself and how to have a successful one.

League Of Legends

Jarvan Solo Top

Masteries

21/09/00

Runes

Summoner Spells

Skill Sequence

Typical Builds

Starting Items

Core Items

Preferred Items

Other Viable Items

Laning Phase

Teamfights

Tips n' Tricks

Lux build and game guide

So you want to melt faces with Lux eh?

***IMPORTANT::*** When to play as Lux ***::IMPORTANT***

Updated for new Masteries!

WHAT?! Attack damage in Masteries Tree?!!?

How to play Lux (Using her Combo & Harassing)

How to build Lux: AP, and nothing but.

Runes

Magic Resist Glyphs

Summoner Spells

**PRO** When to get Mejai's Soulstealer?

No Rod of Ages?

Why Lich Bane?

When to get tier1 boots?

Why Magic Pen Boots and not CDR Boots?

Early Game Lux: Level 1-3

After Level 3

Items / Starting Sequence

What NEVER to do as Lux

What ALWAYS to do as Lux

End Game

Team Work

Hecarim Guide

Insatiable Insight

Insane Introduction

Professional Pros / Consequential Cons

Stupendous Skill Sequence

Incredible Items

Absolutely Armor Penetration

Generic Gameplay

Jagged Jungle

Whimsical Wards

League of Legends Varus Patch Preview

Xin Zhao

Xin Zhao

Riot's Recommended Items

LoL Champion Lore: Xin Zhao

Talon

Pros/Cons

Laning prowess

Abilities

Ability Sequence

Basic Combos

Q-E-W-R

W-Q-E-R

Masteries

Runes

Summoner Spells

Core items

Boots

Ionian Boots of lucidity

Boots of Swiftness

Boots of Mobility

Mercury's Treads

Items

Situational Items - Defensive

Key Items

Overrated Items - Don't use them

Item Sequence

Graves the new Ranged DPS champion

Teemo Super Champion

League Of Legends Mastery Guide

IMPORTANT:: When to play as Lux ::IMPORTANT

PRO When to get Mejai's Soulstealer?