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I play Riven as my main, so I'm biased. It just feels like everyone does her job better, even when you play her at her most optimal level :/ (I started well after she was nerfed from her FotM status)

 Melissia wrote:
I play Riven as my main, so I'm biased. It just feels like everyone does her job better, even when you play her at her most optimal level :/

Definitely true now. For years (literally years) Riven was the powerhouse of top lane, and the only people really able to touch her were Jax and Darius but she's been getting steady nerfs over the last year and her power has greatly diminished.

If the 'better nerf Irelia' joke wasn't still so funny, I'd probably replace it with 'better nerf Riven' (Well realistically I'd replace it with 'Better nerf Shen')

What's a good build for her these days anyway? If there is such a thing as good build for Riven any more. Everyone always just says "Ravenous Hydra to Bloodthirster" with ionian boots w/alacrity enchantment, and leaves it at that...

 Melissia wrote:
What's a good build for her these days anyway? If there is such a thing as good build for Riven any more. Everyone always just says "Ravenous Hydra to Bloodthirster" and leaves it at that...

Hydra and BT are the standard items for all AD characters now.

Really what you build past those will depend on what you're facing.

For Riven; Lots of CC? Merc Treads. Generally I'd use merc treads on Rivin no matter what, but if the enemy team has almost no cc or ap, ninja tabi or super speed boots (Boots of Swiftness) might serve you well. From there depending on what you want first (tanky or killy) build Randuin's Omen, Maw of Malmortius, and the Black Cleaver. The Mercurial Scimitar is a situational item* that can replace the Maw of Malmortius in the build but generally you'll want the Maw. You can also if you want to substitute the Black Cleaver with a Ghost Blade only on killy Riven.

*For the Mercurial Scimitar; Are you lanning against Darius? Rush the Quick Silver Sash, wait for him to start his ult and cast that thing to save your life. His ult rakes up damage based on Bleeds. Cleanse those off you and it doesn't do much damage. It's also helpful when fighting Teemo to clear a blind or a slow.

So basicaly how I've already been building it, except with different boots :/

They really need more variety in AD stuff, they have a ton in AP...

 Melissia wrote:
So basicaly how I've already been building it, except with different boots :/

They really need more variety in AD stuff, they have a ton in AP...

Yeah the AD build variety has diminished the past few years (I miss Force of Nature ) AP build variety actually isn't too great either cause most AP champions favor a specific set of items.

AD variety is just two questions: "are you ranged, or are you melee?" and "do you want attack speed/critical hit, or do you want damage?"

That's all there is to determine your build it seems.

I recently hit 30, and I'm wondering, do I even want to play ranked? Everything I've seen on the forums make it sound like a black hole of misery and frustration, where you'll be lucky if your own team-mates aren't trying to wreck the game for you.

 Elemental wrote:
I recently hit 30, and I'm wondering, do I even want to play ranked? Everything I've seen on the forums make it sound like a black hole of misery and frustration, where you'll be lucky if your own team-mates aren't trying to wreck the game for you.

I'd say do your placement games, at the least - the first ten ranked games you play to determine your initial rank. You might get lucky and wind up placing into Gold or something.

Otherwise, yeah. It's an unbelievable cesspit at lower MMRs. I haven't played in a few days just due to being too frustrated with all the bs. Had a midlane Zed in my last game who got killed once, said, "Well that's gg" and AFKed out. It's really pretty unbelievable.

Yeah, don't bother playing ranked until you are ready.
Like, have at least 80 cs at 10 minutes on a regular basis, and be very good with at least one champion at any of the roles, because you will be last pic.
Also, having a full rune page with T3 runes isn't a bad idea.

The problem I have with league is that it's so grindy...IP rewards per game are pitiful for what they charge you for.

Ranked probably isn't worth it really. I constantly hear from ranked players how much it sucks and how much the system keeps screwing them over.

 Elemental wrote:
I recently hit 30, and I'm wondering, do I even want to play ranked? Everything I've seen on the forums make it sound like a black hole of misery and frustration, where you'll be lucky if your own team-mates aren't trying to wreck the game for you.

Well to start no.

Unless you already unlocked a LOT of champions, runes and pages.

Ranked can be frustrating since the game puts an arbitrary goal in front of you rather than just playing random normals.

but i think its worth it to get better in a more "serious" setting.

 Melissia wrote:
Ranked probably isn't worth it really. I constantly hear from ranked players how much it sucks and how much the system keeps screwing them over.

To be fair, that's probably just them in denial that they need to improve their skills.

The one thing Ranked can be good for is teaching you to put your team on your back and carry them to victory, because that's the only way to win in ranked most of the time. If your someone who revels in their own suffering and completing a mind numbing challenge for meager reward (read none), Ranked can indeed be worthwhile.

If you just want to play the game, not so much.

Does anyone else find laning against Heimer infuriating? I mean, at least Teemo kills you himself. Heimer hides behind a wall of turrets, eats all the minions that comes his way and taunts you.

A major part of beating Heimer is psychological and choosing the right time to engage. Heimer is a bruiser slayer. Meaty melee attackers who try to take him head on alone are likely to lose, but Heimer is very vulnerable to ranged and harassment. A key is not to let his turrets intimidate you (farm them) and to know the right moment to jump on him (preferably when he doesn't have his ult upgrade ability). A well timed flash can often easily screw Heimer as you can flash out of his turrets effective range.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Does anyone else find laning against Heimer infuriating? I mean, at least Teemo kills you himself. Heimer hides behind a wall of turrets, eats all the minions that comes his way and taunts you.

I do as pretty much everybody except Talon or Swain.

I have yet to gain level 30 and even if I do I might not take my Mundo Tank into Ranked

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
Ranked probably isn't worth it really. I constantly hear from ranked players how much it sucks and how much the system keeps screwing them over.

To be fair, that's probably just them in denial that they need to improve their skills.

You basically just need one quick look at a ranked system to see if it's good or not: are solo queues being matched up vs. premades? If yes, the system sucks.

The only way a good system would work is 5vs5 and 1+1+1+1+1 vs. 1+1+1+1+1 as only in this setups, it's possible to actually measure the "skill" of one party. In any other case, you measure in luck as a huge deciding factor.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
Ranked probably isn't worth it really. I constantly hear from ranked players how much it sucks and how much the system keeps screwing them over.

To be fair, that's probably just them in denial that they need to improve their skills.

You basically just need one quick look at a ranked system to see if it's good or not: are solo queues being matched up vs. premades? If yes, the system sucks.

The only way a good system would work is 5vs5 and 1+1+1+1+1 vs. 1+1+1+1+1 as only in this setups, it's possible to actually measure the "skill" of one party. In any other case, you measure in luck as a huge deciding factor.

The problem is, imo duo queue, because one player is slightly ahead of everyone else but the other guys is much farther behind than everyone else and it changes the name of the queue from "solo queue" to "mostly solo queue unless you want to play with a friend in which case never mind".

So...I tried Rammus today.
He is pretty awesome. Using powerball makes me giddy.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
So...I tried Rammus today.
He is pretty awesome. Using powerball makes me giddy.

Rammus the Hedgehog bro

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Does anyone else find laning against Heimer infuriating? I mean, at least Teemo kills you himself. Heimer hides behind a wall of turrets, eats all the minions that comes his way and taunts you.

Nothing is as infuriating as Teemo.

I've mainly been playing support, with Sona and Leona (also tried Zilean and Taric, couldn't make them work). I also like Swain and Ahri, but I hardly ever get to play them, as mid lane either gets called instantly, or I get a long wait in the team builder. Learning support means I always get a game, and it's actually quite a fun role to play, with either the chain stuns or swooping in to save someone fleeing the entire enemy team with a timely speed boost. The only problem is that everything becomes my fault. Went in and got killed? Feeding! Stayed back and menaced? Useless support! Got the last hit on an enemy five people were piling into in a big explosion of effects? Killsteal! And so on.

I'd also like to learn jungling, which seems to be the other role nobody takes. I can fake it with Warwick, but I've still got a lot to learn about ganking, or countering the enemy jungler to stop their ganks. And I'm not sure how to build for it on champions who don't have good health regeneration, without having to drop back to heal all the time..

Warwick is actually really bad at ganking, unless you are level 6, and even then it's tricky.

He's something known as a farming jungler - basically he's supposed to stay in the jungle and farm up, only occasionally leaving to get a gank.
That's why he has a wriggle's; you are meant to feed it.

There's a guide on jungling on Youtube. It's pretty handy.




Wards go a long in stopping and in doing counter-jungling. If you can see them coming, you can ambush them.

Warwick was my favorite champion before I got Mundo. I once got 24 kills in a standard PVP match. And only 3 deaths (All towards the end)

Warwick is mostly this. Grab Hunter's Machete and some Health Potions. Grab blue buff. Jungle vs everything til 6.
Build Hydra, then BT, then something tanky, then everything pure Attack Damage. If you Ultimate a Champion make sure that all your other powers are up. Jump him, pop your W, Q him, and chase with E. That combo is very hard to beat unless you get slowed or stunned.

That's what worked for me in dozens of games. I may not have won them all but it's always worked. Nowadays I do get Wriggle's in my build but that was what I generally did, and I stand by it today

Warwick is one of the more sustainable Junglers. He can jungle for longer periods at low level due to his Q and passive healing him. Get you hydra and you can take Dragon at level 9. No problem.

So there ya go! Have fun with Warwick!

Rather liking Rammus. He seems to suit my more aggressive tank/support playstyle than Leona, whom I had been using before.

Looking forward to Azir. Seems completely fun as a champion. Also, Sivir is a Shurima Champion now wtf Definitely cool with a revamp of the lore, cause lord knows the lore needed it, but so far it's kind of been a stream of 'huh'? Definitely liked Renektons old lore more than his new lore. His knew lore is the blandest bland. The old lore at least had a little flavor.

 LordofHats wrote:
Looking forward to Azir. Seems completely fun as a champion. Also, Sivir is a Shurima Champion now wtf Definitely cool with a revamp of the lore, cause lord knows the lore needed it, but so far it's kind of been a stream of 'huh'? Definitely liked Renektons old lore more than his new lore. His knew lore is the blandest bland. The old lore at least had a little flavor.

Wasn't she always a merc from Shurima?

Took Azir as support, not the best but definitely fun for poking.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:
Looking forward to Azir. Seems completely fun as a champion. Also, Sivir is a Shurima Champion now wtf Definitely cool with a revamp of the lore, cause lord knows the lore needed it, but so far it's kind of been a stream of 'huh'? Definitely liked Renektons old lore more than his new lore. His knew lore is the blandest bland. The old lore at least had a little flavor.

Wasn't she always a merc from Shurima?

No. If I remember correctly, Sivir lived in Zuan and regularly worked for Zuan, Noxus, and Bilgewater, but she wasn't associated with Shurima (She's one of the original 40, and I don't think Shurima existed until Nasus' lore was revamped in like, 2008 or 2009... It was whenever Renekton was added to the game).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Duce wrote:
Took Azir as support, not the best but definitely fun for poking.

That's because he's not support. If anything, he's the games desperately needed answer to Yasuo. An AP midlane caster who has a long attack range with 0 projectiles for the wind wall to block, and insane harassment capability (and an epically cool ultimate XD). Yasuo has kind of been a meta pain in the ass, but with such a ridiculously hard counter now available, he's not going to be as upsetting to the meta as he was. Hell, that wall might even block Yas' ultimate, which would be insanely game changing.