PRESEASON 2015 HYPE

http://www.surrenderat20.net/2014/10/109...pdate.html

LEAGUE IS BECOMING A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GAME HOLY MOLY

- BARON NO LONGER GIVES A TON OF FREE STATS, YOU HAVE TO ACTUALLY DO THINGS WITH IT
- RUNES IN THE RIVER? GREAT NOW WE'RE DOTA
- THE NEW RIVER RUNE IS BASICALLY A SPLITPUSHING BUFF
- YOU CAN SMITE ENEMY CHAMPIONS. I REPEAT, YOU CAN SMITE ENEMY CHAMPIONS
- OHMWRECKER BUFFS YOUR TOWER
- THE FOUNTAIN TOWER GOT MOVED TO ALL THREE INHIB TOWERS IN THAT THEY SHOOT YOU WITH LASERS
- YOU CAN SPAWN A FRELCKING PORTAL THAT SPAWNS FRELCKING MINIONS
- DRAGON GIVES YOU STACKS
- THERE IS AN ELIXIR THAT ALSO GIVES YOU STACKS
- ELIXIRS DON'T REALLY GIVE FREE STATS ANYMORE, YOU HAVE TO DO STUFF WITH THEM
- ITEM BUILDS ARE LESS STUPID
- SMITING WOLVES GIVES YOU A GOD DAMN GUARD DOG
- YOU CAN SWITCH BETWEEN QUINN AND VALOR WHENEVER YOU GOD DAMN WANT
- SINGED

HOLY MOLY I'M SO HYPED I CAN'T CONTAIN ALL OF THIS HYPE ASLDHOQWEYQWOYEIQYWIRY

It's kind of hard to tell if you're really hyped or really being sarcastic. I'll assume trully hyped since you created the thread.

-I didn't get one bit about that change to champion stats that they want to push in order to prevent people going back to base during lane phase.

-Also that HP/vision rune from minute 20 onwards seems useless to me. It would be really usefull during laning phase, why make it spawn when it is supposed to be over?

-They are rebuilding the jungler role so much that I'm afraid for the amount of current pro junglers that might fall behind to these new mechanics.

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-Also that HP/vision rune from minute 20 onwards seems useless to me. It would be really usefull during laning phase, why make it spawn when it is supposed to be over?
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Literally what? It doesn't give HP at all, and it is TOTALLY made for mid-game, when the laning phase is over. It will be great to help roaming and keep vision in the jungle, because skirmishes are going to start happening more frequently around this time. Are we looking at the same thing, though?

I I thought I read they give heatlh? Besides they are using the health item icon from Howling Abyss and Twisted Treeline, my bad I guess.

I I thought I read they give heatlh? Besides they are using the health item icon from Howling Abyss and Twisted Treeline, my bad I guess.

Nah, it's cool. They use placeholders for a lot of pomegranate and they've done it for a long time, so it could be confusing.

I can only hope they make item builds less static/set so missing a timing window or deviating doesn't spell the end of the world in a match in the upper brackets. Also, are pro player still essentially using the top 10 FoTM champs for each role, according to what I hear?

I can only hope they make item builds less static/set so missing a timing window or deviating doesn't spell the end of the world in a match in the upper brackets. Also, are pro player still essentially using the top 10 FoTM champs for each role, according to what I hear?

1. Having less static item builds makes it more impactful or "devastating" not less. Riot is adding a ton of variation to the current 4 item choices for junglers and adding some nifty items for laners as well.
2. It's hard to tell since many of the best players are still involved with or on break from Worlds. My inclination is that the jungle changes have made it so difficult that it will greatly limit the champion pool useful there. This probably won't affect pro players much since the niche picks are mostly used in solo queue anyway. The good news is, we should expect to see a ton of variation and new strategies as people experiment with the new routes and objective changes. I don't think it will change the FoTM pool size, but it should offer variety in play style and adaptation.

1. Having less static item builds makes it more impactful or "devastating" not less. Riot is adding a ton of variation to the current 4 item choices for junglers and adding some nifty items for laners as well.
2. It's hard to tell since many of the best players are still involved with or on break from Worlds. My inclination is that the jungle changes have made it so difficult that it will greatly limit the champion pool useful there. This probably won't affect pro players much since the niche picks are mostly used in solo queue anyway. The good news is, we should expect to see a ton of variation and new strategies as people experiment with the new routes and objective changes. I don't think it will change the FoTM pool size, but it should offer variety in play style and adaptation.

That's what I meant. There shouldn't be a need to go items A->B->C->D->E every single time to be effective, and if someone goes A->B->C->G->H that it can still work. What I'd like to see is item builds that are able to completely change based on what your enemy team is running and it works, or exchanging one item for another isn't bad.

Yes there'll always be an all-rounder build, but if one can change that build to shut down a specific champion(s) on the enemy team, then I'm all for it. Sadly though the last time I checked Riot hates people building a champion for an unintended role and/or an unintended lane. I heard Support Annie was a thing this season, and Riot didn't like that so the nerfhammer came to try to force her back into mid.

Here's hoping Riot is allowing true diversity this time.

I heard Support Annie was a thing this season, and Riot didn't like that so the nerfhammer came to try to force her back into mid.

Here's hoping Riot is allowing true diversity this time.

Annie & Fiddlesticks were great supports, until their CC got nerfed (Annie's now scales with levels, Fiddle's got tone down).
Morgana is now one of the best supports.
Lulu is a powerful top.
Maokai top is strong.
Jayce is a great mid right now.

Every role has a decent amount of viable champions at the moment, except for ADC. It's either Tristana or Lucian, Corki if they ban either. And maybe Jungle, with Kha'Zix & Lee Sin being the top picks.

[MENTION=3175]IllegallySane[/MENTION]; I'm not sure how you determined that there's only one effective build or build order unless you're talking about ADCs. All other roles have pretty decent item selection and order variances depending on your and your enemy's team.

Annie did indeed see support play (mainly last season) along with Morgana and Zyra. The reason for Annie and Fiddlesticks nerfs was that they outshone traditional supports significantly. The huge round of support scaling and items changes makes it much easier for utility and mage supports to coexist in balance. If Worlds has taught us anything, it's that the niche pick, oddball champs can still beat the FotM priorities. Riot has previously stated that they dislike many champs switching to new roles because it's difficult for them to balance both simultaneously. It works for some champs like Mao and J4 (jg/top), Morg (mid/supp), but really poorly for others like Alistar top. The pre-season work seems to find a way around this by tying some jungle items with the Smite summoner spell. This should hopefully allow them to balance Jungle role champs through itemization without having to nerf their lane counter parts. I'm slightly skeptical since this may require more effort and upkeep on Riots part to balance properly.

Loose hit some of the best. Heck, Lulu has been played successfully in Top, Mid, AND Support this season.

On my personal list, I really like J4 top, Panth mid, and Liss top even though it's not exactly their intended roles.

Then there were those couple of weeks when Vel'Koz and Gragas were support.

Now that I think about it, in competitive play, I think I saw Gragas played in all positions, except ADC (for obvious reasons).