Learn the League Update 09

Learn the League

The Unofficial League of Legends Super-Guide Update 9 Patrick O'Callahan

http://www.learntheleague.com/ http://www.youtube.com/user/ciderhelm/

Learn the League is copyright Patrick O'Callahan 2012. Images from League of Legends are copyright Riot Games Inc., and are used in accordance with U.S. Fair Use law. This guide is intended for personal use and may not be shared without written permission. 1|Learn the League Update 9

Contents Introduction to Learn the League ............................................................................................................... 13 An Unofficial Guide ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Accuracy ...................................................................................................................................................... 15 Getting Started in League of Legends ......................................................................................................... 16 What is League of Legends ..................................................................................................................... 16 Setting Up An Account & Installing The Game ....................................................................................... 16 Name Your Summoner ............................................................................................................................ 16 Choose an Expertise Level ...................................................................................................................... 16 The Tutorial Game .................................................................................................................................. 17 Battle Training ......................................................................................................................................... 17 What Now? ............................................................................................................................................. 17 Runes & Masteries .................................................................................................................................. 18 An Introduction to Runes & Rune Pages ............................................................................................. 18 Masteries ............................................................................................................................................ 20 Basic Game Information ......................................................................................................................... 21 Elo Rating ............................................................................................................................................ 21 First Win of the Day Bonus ................................................................................................................. 21 Advice For New Players............................................................................................................................... 22 General Advice ........................................................................................................................................ 22 Don't Buy Runes Until Level 20 ........................................................................................................... 22 When & Why to Purchase Riot Points ................................................................................................ 22 Get Cheap Champions......................................................................................................................... 23 Playing One Champion vs. Playing Many ............................................................................................ 23 Snowballing Champions & Items ........................................................................................................ 24 Dive In & Don't Panic .......................................................................................................................... 25 Tips for Learning Champions................................................................................................................... 25 Muscle Memory .................................................................................................................................. 25 Dashes & Blinks ................................................................................................................................... 26 Skillshots ............................................................................................................................................. 27 Steroids ............................................................................................................................................... 27 2|Learn the League Update 9

Attack Animation & Projectile Speed.................................................................................................. 28 Beating the Smurfs .................................................................................................................................. 28 Leavers & AFKers ................................................................................................................................ 29 Bot Games (Cooperative vs. AI) .......................................................................................................... 30 Play With A Patient, Experienced Friend ............................................................................................ 30 Try 3v3 Twisted Treeline and Dominion ............................................................................................. 30 Ignore & Report Jerks ......................................................................................................................... 31 The Meta - Who Goes Top, Mid, and Bot ................................................................................................... 32 Fighter - Solo Top ................................................................................................................................... 33 AP Caster - Solo Mid ............................................................................................................................... 33 Ranged AD & Support/Tank - Duo Bot ................................................................................................... 33 Jungler ..................................................................................................................................................... 34 Why Not Send Two Top?......................................................................................................................... 34 Can You Switch This Up? ......................................................................................................................... 34 Ciderhelm's Champion Recommendations................................................................................................. 35 Olaf (Jungling) ......................................................................................................................................... 35 Nocturne (Jungling) ................................................................................................................................. 35 Ahri (Solo Mid Ability Power Caster) ...................................................................................................... 36 Urgot (Solo Top) ...................................................................................................................................... 36 Jayce (Anywhere... No, really)................................................................................................................. 36 Miss Fortune (Bot with Support) ............................................................................................................ 37 Sivir (Bot with Crowd Control Support) .................................................................................................. 37 Ezreal (Bot or Mid) .................................................................................................................................. 38 Summoner's Rift Guidebook ....................................................................................................................... 39 Game Objectives ..................................................................................................................................... 39 Map Layout ............................................................................................................................................. 40 Fog of War ........................................................................................................................................... 42 Bushes (Brush) .................................................................................................................................... 43 Impassable Terrain .............................................................................................................................. 44 Gold & Experience for Champion Kills ................................................................................................ 44 Structures ................................................................................................................................................ 46 3|Learn the League Update 9

Towers (Turrets) .................................................................................................................................. 46 Inhibitors & Nexus .............................................................................................................................. 48 Summoner Platform, Shop & Obelisk ................................................................................................. 49 Team Minions ......................................................................................................................................... 50 Minion Waves ..................................................................................................................................... 51 Melee & Caster Minions ..................................................................................................................... 52 Siege & Super Minions ........................................................................................................................ 52 Neutral Monsters .................................................................................................................................... 53 Baron Nashor ...................................................................................................................................... 53 Dragon................................................................................................................................................. 55 Blue Golem (Ancient Golem) .............................................................................................................. 56 Red Lizard (Lizard Elder) ...................................................................................................................... 57 Minor Camps (Double Golems, Wraiths, Wolves) .............................................................................. 58 Playing To Win ............................................................................................................................................ 59 Personal Skills.......................................................................................................................................... 59 Counter ............................................................................................................................................... 59 First Purchase: The Doran's Dilemma ................................................................................................. 60 Potions & Elixirs .................................................................................................................................. 61 Tab, Evaluate, & Invest Wisely ............................................................................................................ 61 Situational & Map Awareness (Wards!).............................................................................................. 62 Observe Your Opponents .................................................................................................................... 63 Think About Your Opponent's Cooldowns .......................................................................................... 63 Track Timers ........................................................................................................................................ 63 Gold Matters ....................................................................................................................................... 64 Avoid Unfavorable Fights .................................................................................................................... 65 Movement & Positioning .................................................................................................................... 66 Juking .................................................................................................................................................. 66 That Awkward Moment When... ........................................................................................................ 67 You Have Been Slain............................................................................................................................ 67 Calling MIA .......................................................................................................................................... 67 Direct Your Team ................................................................................................................................ 68 4|Learn the League Update 9

Don't Give Up ...................................................................................................................................... 68 Teamplay & Objectives ........................................................................................................................... 69 Defend ................................................................................................................................................. 69 Sometimes It's Better To Wait ............................................................................................................ 70 Control Your Lane Extension ............................................................................................................... 71 Between Minion Waves ...................................................................................................................... 72 Press The Advantage ........................................................................................................................... 73 React To Enemies Who Aren't There .................................................................................................. 73 Dragon & Baron Nashor ...................................................................................................................... 73 Force Favorable Teamfights ................................................................................................................ 74 Inhibitors Matter, But So Does Their Nexus ....................................................................................... 75 Pushing & Split Pushing....................................................................................................................... 76 Backdooring ........................................................................................................................................ 76 Double Explosion ................................................................................................................................ 77 Team Composition .................................................................................................................................. 78 AOE Disables/Damage ........................................................................................................................ 78 Early Victory (Bruisers or Assassins) ................................................................................................... 78 Pushers ................................................................................................................................................ 79 Poking vs. Initiating ............................................................................................................................. 79 Map Dominance: Warding, Counterwarding & Clairvoyance..................................................................... 80 Sight Wards, Vision Wards, Oracle's Elixir .............................................................................................. 80 Teleport & Champion Abilities ............................................................................................................ 80 Counterwarding .................................................................................................................................. 81 Towers ................................................................................................................................................. 82 Map Zones........................................................................................................................................... 82 Who is Responsible ............................................................................................................................. 83 Too Much ............................................................................................................................................ 84 Dealing With Stealth Champions ........................................................................................................ 84 Warding With Teammates .................................................................................................................. 85 Protecting & Replacing Wards ............................................................................................................ 86 Clairvoyance ............................................................................................................................................ 86 5|Learn the League Update 9

The First Cast ....................................................................................................................................... 86 Chase the Jungler (Early Timers) ......................................................................................................... 86 Against Baiting .................................................................................................................................... 89 Against Juking ..................................................................................................................................... 89 Clairvoyance as Protection.................................................................................................................. 89 Requests .............................................................................................................................................. 89 Specific Ward Locations .......................................................................................................................... 91 Team Warding ..................................................................................................................................... 92 Bot Lane .............................................................................................................................................. 95 Top Lane .............................................................................................................................................. 98 Mid Lane ............................................................................................................................................. 99 Jungle ................................................................................................................................................ 103 Dragon & Baron Nashor .................................................................................................................... 105 Bases ................................................................................................................................................. 111 Special Cases ..................................................................................................................................... 112 Jungling, Counterjungling, and Ganking ................................................................................................... 113 Jungling ................................................................................................................................................. 113 What is a Jungler's Job? .................................................................................................................... 113 Why have a Jungler? ......................................................................................................................... 113 What is Counterjungling?.................................................................................................................. 114 Picking a Jungler ................................................................................................................................ 114 Runes & Masteries ............................................................................................................................ 116 Smite & What? Summoner Spells ..................................................................................................... 117 First Item Purchases .......................................................................................................................... 118 Champion Specifics: Stonewall008's YouTube Videos ...................................................................... 120 Coordinated Play vs. Solo Play (Also, Communication) .................................................................... 121 Balancing Experience & Ganks .......................................................................................................... 122 Understanding & Minimizing Risks ................................................................................................... 123 The Moment to Gank ........................................................................................................................ 124 Covering a Lane ................................................................................................................................. 124 Blue Golem Buff to Mid?................................................................................................................... 125 6|Learn the League Update 9

The Pull / Leash ................................................................................................................................. 126 The Value of Custom Games ............................................................................................................. 126 Handling a Level 1 Invasion ............................................................................................................... 127 The '~' Key ......................................................................................................................................... 127 Don't Be Nervous .............................................................................................................................. 127 Counterjungling .................................................................................................................................... 128 Ideal Jungle Champions .................................................................................................................... 128 Mid Laning - Champions & Responsibility......................................................................................... 128 The Level 1 Invasion .......................................................................................................................... 129 See their Jungler? Punish them! ....................................................................................................... 130 Track Timers & Invade Accordingly ................................................................................................... 130 Leave Someone To Tell The Story ..................................................................................................... 130 Jungling Routes ..................................................................................................................................... 130 Defending Your Jungle from Invasion (Blue Golem, Full Team) ....................................................... 132 Defending Your Jungle from Invasion (Red Lizard, Full Team) ......................................................... 134 Early Blue Golem Route (Safest On All Champions) ......................................................................... 136 Early Red Lizard Route (Ideal for early ganks) .................................................................................. 138 Prioritizing After Your First Pass........................................................................................................ 139 Counterjungling & Ganking Routes ....................................................................................................... 140 Early Jungle Invasion (Blue Golem) ................................................................................................... 140 Jungle Invasion (Red Lizard) .............................................................................................................. 142 Ganking Entrances in the Jungle ....................................................................................................... 144 Ganking Mid Lane ............................................................................................................................. 145 Ganking Over-Extended Side Lanes .................................................................................................. 146 Ganking Pushed Side Lanes............................................................................................................... 147 Flanking Behind Side Lane Towers .................................................................................................... 149 Stats .......................................................................................................................................................... 150 Baseline Stats vs. Multiplier Stats ......................................................................................................... 150 Normal Attacks...................................................................................................................................... 151 Attack Damage (Baseline) ................................................................................................................. 151 Armor Penetration & Armor Reduction (Multiplier) ........................................................................ 151 7|Learn the League Update 9

Attack Speed (Multiplier) .................................................................................................................. 151 Critical Strike Chance (Multiplier) ..................................................................................................... 152 Critical Strike Damage (Multiplier) .................................................................................................... 152 Lifesteal ............................................................................................................................................. 152 Range ................................................................................................................................................ 152 Abilities.................................................................................................................................................. 152 Ability Power (Baseline) .................................................................................................................... 152 Cooldown Reduction (Multiplier) ..................................................................................................... 153 Magic Penetration & Magic Resistance Reduction (Multiplier)........................................................ 153 Mana & Resources ............................................................................................................................ 153 Mana & Resource Regeneration ....................................................................................................... 153 Spell Vamp ........................................................................................................................................ 153 Defensive .............................................................................................................................................. 154 Health (Baseline), Effective Health & Shields ................................................................................... 154 Armor (Multiplier) ............................................................................................................................. 155 Magic Resistance (Multiplier) ........................................................................................................... 155 Health Regeneration ......................................................................................................................... 155 Tenacity ............................................................................................................................................. 155 Utility ..................................................................................................................................................... 156 Movement Speed .............................................................................................................................. 156 Passive Gold Gain (Gold Per 10)........................................................................................................ 156 A Little More Regarding Defensive Stats .............................................................................................. 157 Low Health, Armor, and/or Magic Resist .......................................................................................... 157 High Health ....................................................................................................................................... 157 High Armor or high Magic Resist ...................................................................................................... 157 High Health, Armor, and Magic Resist .............................................................................................. 157 High Health Regeneration or Healing ............................................................................................... 157 Summoner Spells ...................................................................................................................................... 158 Recall ..................................................................................................................................................... 158 Exhaust (Summoner Level 1) ................................................................................................................ 158 Ghost (Summoner Level 1) ................................................................................................................... 159 8|Learn the League Update 9

Heal (Summoner Level 1) ...................................................................................................................... 159 Revive (Summoner Level 1) .................................................................................................................. 159 Smite (Summoner Level 1) .................................................................................................................... 160 Teleport (Summoner Level 1) ............................................................................................................... 160 Cleanse (Summoner Level 2)................................................................................................................. 161 Barrier (Summoner Level 6) .................................................................................................................. 162 Clarity (Summoner Level 6) ................................................................................................................... 162 Ignite (Summoner Level 7) .................................................................................................................... 163 Clairvoyance (Summoner Level 10) ...................................................................................................... 163 Flash (Summoner Level 12) ................................................................................................................... 164 Champion Roles & Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 165 Primary Roles ........................................................................................................................................ 166 All-purpose Runes, Items & Summoner Spells ................................................................................. 166 Boot Enchantments........................................................................................................................... 168 Finding Items in the Shop ................................................................................................................. 169 Ranged AD (Physical Attack Damage) ............................................................................................... 171 AP Caster (Ability Power Mage) ........................................................................................................ 177 Support.............................................................................................................................................. 184 Fighter ............................................................................................................................................... 190 Tank ................................................................................................................................................... 197 Secondary Roles .................................................................................................................................... 203 Carry .................................................................................................................................................. 203 Assassin ............................................................................................................................................. 203 Pusher ............................................................................................................................................... 203 Poke .................................................................................................................................................. 204 Initiator ............................................................................................................................................. 204 Counter-Initiator ............................................................................................................................... 204 Disruption ......................................................................................................................................... 204 Jungler ............................................................................................................................................... 205 Stealth ............................................................................................................................................... 205 Mobile ............................................................................................................................................... 206 9|Learn the League Update 9

Zoning ............................................................................................................................................... 206 Anti-Carry .......................................................................................................................................... 207 Major Patch Updates ................................................................................................................................ 208 Season 3 Patch ...................................................................................................................................... 208 Rengar, Syndra, Kha’zix, Elise, Zed Patches .......................................................................................... 209 Diana Patch ........................................................................................................................................... 209 Zyra Patch ............................................................................................................................................. 210 Pulsefire Ezreal & Jayce Patch............................................................................................................... 210 Darius & Draven Patch .......................................................................................................................... 210 Spectator Mode & Varus Patch............................................................................................................. 210 Deathfire Grasp ................................................................................................................................. 210 Morello's Evil Tome ........................................................................................................................... 211 Hecarim Patch ....................................................................................................................................... 211 Magic Resistance & Ability Power/Magic Penetration Runes .......................................................... 211 Atma's Impaler .................................................................................................................................. 211 Doran's Ring & Blade......................................................................................................................... 211 Lulu Patch .............................................................................................................................................. 212 Lifesteal & Bloodthirster ................................................................................................................... 212 About the 'Don't Feed' Guides .................................................................................................................. 213 Don’t Feed Ahri ......................................................................................................................................... 214 Don’t Feed Amumu ................................................................................................................................... 222 Don’t Feed Ashe ........................................................................................................................................ 226 Don’t Feed Caitlyn ..................................................................................................................................... 231 Don’t Feed Cassiopeia ............................................................................................................................... 236 Don’t Feed Darius ..................................................................................................................................... 244 Don’t Feed Diana ...................................................................................................................................... 250 Don’t Feed Darius ..................................................................................................................................... 256 Don’t Feed Ezreal ...................................................................................................................................... 263 Don’t Feed Fizz .......................................................................................................................................... 269 Don’t Feed Galio ....................................................................................................................................... 275 Don’t Feed Gangplank............................................................................................................................... 281 10 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Don’t Feed Garen ...................................................................................................................................... 285 Don’t Feed Gragas..................................................................................................................................... 288 Don’t Feed Graves..................................................................................................................................... 296 Don’t Feed Hecarim .................................................................................................................................. 300 Don’t Feed Jax ........................................................................................................................................... 306 Don’t Feed Jayce ....................................................................................................................................... 311 Don’t Feed Kog’maw ................................................................................................................................. 322 Don’t Feed Lee Sin .................................................................................................................................... 325 Don’t Feed Leona ...................................................................................................................................... 331 Don’t Feed Lulu ......................................................................................................................................... 336 Don’t Feed Maokai .................................................................................................................................... 343 Don’t Feed Miss Fortune........................................................................................................................... 346 Don’t Feed Morgana ................................................................................................................................. 349 Don’t Feed Nautilus .................................................................................................................................. 354 Don’t Feed Nocturne................................................................................................................................. 360 Don’t Feed Nunu ....................................................................................................................................... 364 Don’t Feed Olaf ......................................................................................................................................... 368 Don’t Feed Rumble ................................................................................................................................... 373 Don’t Feed Sejuani .................................................................................................................................... 377 Don’t Feed Shyvana .................................................................................................................................. 382 Don’t Feed Sivir ......................................................................................................................................... 388 Don’t Feed Sona ........................................................................................................................................ 393 Don’t Feed Tryndamere ............................................................................................................................ 397 Don’t Feed Urgot....................................................................................................................................... 402 Don’t Feed Varus....................................................................................................................................... 405 Don’t Feed Vayne ...................................................................................................................................... 413 Don’t Feed Viktor ...................................................................................................................................... 416 Don’t Feed Vladimir .................................................................................................................................. 422 Don’t Feed Volibear .................................................................................................................................. 428 Don’t Feed Xerath ..................................................................................................................................... 434 Don’t Feed Master Yi ................................................................................................................................ 438 11 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Don't Feed Ziggs ........................................................................................................................................ 441 Don’t Feed Zilean ...................................................................................................................................... 448

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Introduction to Learn the League Hey, my name is Patrick O'Callahan. I want you to be a great League of Legends player. And I want to be part of making that happen. In this book I aim to teach you as much about League of Legends as possible. My goals are to: • • •

Teach you winning strategies and concepts; Outline the core League of Legends mechanics that define how you play; Make your experience more enjoyable.

To do this, I'm going to cover a number of different aspects of the game, including the game client and how to best approach your first matches, along with tips regarding runes, masteries, and other out-ofgame interfaces. I'll also let you know about some of the stuff you'll run into when you're playing, including the attitudes of other players. Beyond this, there are two critically important subjects that players spend hundreds or even thousands of games learning. The first of these are champions -- with nearly one hundred champions at the time of writing this, each with their own totally unique combination of abilities, much of your time will be spent figuring out how they work, how you can fight them, and which ones you want to play. I'll get you started on this, teaching you not just the broader roles but also the specific mechanics of many of these champions. The second big concept is items and all of the options and combinations that work well together. My goal here will be to give you a working knowledge, to the point that you will be able to play a champion and pick up appropriate items without reading specific guides for that champion first. While I won't cover every single item available in League of Legends, you'll learn all of the core items as they relate to the primary champion roles.


An Unofficial Guide Riot Games Inc. has not endorsed or authorized this guide in any way. In very limited cases throughout this book I use images and text that are copyright Riot Games Inc. I have done so after studying Fair Use cases and settlements. Since this is a commercial product, the bar for Fair Use is higher, but I believe this book meets and exceeds the requirements of Fair Use: • • •

•

This work will in no way detract from the commercial gains of Riot Games Inc. This work is complementary to League of Legends and is not in competition with it. This work only uses content from League of Legends where it directly aids and benefits the user's understanding of the game. Images are used so players can more quickly identify important objects in the game client. The amount of copyrighted material used is insignificant, both in relation to their work and to this work.

As Judge Posner said in Ty Inc. v. Publications Int'l Ltd.: "... in fair-use case law, we may say that copying that is complementary to the copyrighted work (in the sense that nails are complements of hammers) is fair use, but copying that is a substitute for the copyrighted work (in the sense that nails are substitutes for pegs or screws) ... is not fair use." This work is not a substitute for League of Legends, but is complementary to it.

That said, if Riot Games Inc. requests that I remove the limited copyrighted material from this guide, I may comply by removing these images. This would not be an ideal situation as I believe the images I use are important referential markers and are completely protected under Fair Use, but I would prefer to keep working on new guides for my fans than get into a legal battle. (I'm also a big fan of Riot Games Inc., and am pursuing a dialogue with them in regards to this work)


Accuracy I have strived for accuracy in everything I have done throughout this work. Wherever possible, I have also attempted to make sure the information I present is relatively timeless, in the sense that game updates are unlikely to change them. However, Riot Games Inc. frequently updates League of Legends. These changes may affect the accuracy or validity of parts of this guide. With each update I make to this work, I will also attempt to adjust parts of of it that no longer reflect the current state of the game. I may miss some on occasion, but I will do my best.


Getting Started in League of Legends What is League of Legends League of Legends is a game based on Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), a custom game developed by Warcraft III players. It shares a genre with DOTA, DOTA 2, Heroes of Newerth, and several smaller games. League of Legends has three primary multiplayer game modes. The first, and by far the most popular, is Summoner's Rift. This game places up to five players against a group of human or AI opponents with the goal of overrunning the opposing team's base. Twisted Treeline is a smaller game mode with similar concepts and a maximum of three players on a team. In late 2011 a new game mode called Dominion was introduced. This is a 5v5 capture-and-hold game type, and usually involves much quicker matches. Though less popular than Summoner's Rift, Riot has put significant development work into making sure it is polished and ready for players who are interested in playing it. At this time, this guide focuses primarily on the Summoner's Rift game mode, though nearly all concepts translate to Twisted Treeline.

Setting Up An Account & Installing The Game The first thing you'll need to do is create an account. To get started, go to this URL: http://signup.leagueoflegends.com/en/signup/index Once you've created an account you'll be able to download the game client, after which you can log in for your first time.

Name Your Summoner Choose a name for your Summoner. This can be different from your account name, and you can change it later if you choose to. Once you're done, choose an icon to represent your Summoner.

Choose an Expertise Level You'll be asked to choose between four different levels of expertise. Be honest about these choices, as it will directly impact the experience of the human opponents you're matched against.


The Tutorial Game Play it. The tutorial is a fantastic way of learning the most basic concepts in the game.

Battle Training Play it. The Battle Training against bots is another fantastic way of learning the basics of the game. This is set on the popular Summoner's Rift map (which most of this guide focuses on), and the tips and messages throughout the game are genuinely worthwhile to read and remember. You won't necessarily remember everything from Battle Training after you're done, but it is still worth the experience.

What Now? After playing through the Basic Tutorial and Battle Training missions you have two choices. You can either explore the game client, check out the news items, use the Riot Store, or poke around the champion pages. If you need help with some of the basic functions of the game, the '?' in the upper right hand of your client may be of assistance. Of course, the more fun choice is just to dive right in and play another match. Click the red 'Play' button at the top of your screen, then jump into a new match. I recommend the "Co-op vs. AI" to get started, as this will ally you against computer opponents who can be a little more enjoyable to learn the basics of your champions against. Either now, or after your first few games, I strongly recommend reading the "Advice for New Players" section of this guide. At the very least it will give you some things to think about. Once you've played a dozen or so games, start really digging into the rest of "Learn the League." There are very advanced concepts throughout the guide that will help you out immensely if you learn them sooner rather than later. As always, last hit, last hit, last hit! (If you didn't catch the mention during Battle Training, last hitting enemy minions and monsters is how you earn gold. It's one of the hardest and most important skills to master. Practice early, practice often!)


Runes & Masteries In the upper-right of your game client you should see several buttons you can click on:

The first button (orange) is the Riot Store -- click this if you want to purchase new champions, skins, or a wide variety of other perks for your account. Next to this is your profile button. Once you click this you'll see several tabs. Peruse these at your leisure (especially the Champions listing). The two we want to get into in this section are Runes and Masteries.

An Introduction to Runes & Rune Pages Runes are items purchased from the Riot Store interface that have the following characteristics: • • • •

Stat bonus; Tier rating; Slot defined by color and name (ex. Red Mark); Primary or Secondary status based on slot.

Let's look at the Greater Mark of Strength. In order, here are its attributes: •

•

• •

"Strength" runes indicate a physical Attack Damage bonus, meaning a player with this rune will deal more damage on normal melee or ranged attacks and abilities that benefit from physical damage; Since this is a "Greater" Mark, it is Tier 3 item. It is available to players who are level 20 or higher. Second tier runes (available at level 10) have no prefix, and first tier runes (available immediately) are labeled "Lesser." "Mark" indicates it is a red rune. Yellow runes are Seals, blue runes are Glyphs, and the large slots are Quintessences. Red Mark runes can only be placed in red slots on a rune page. Greater Mark of Strength is considered a Primary rune, meaning it grants a strong bonus to its stat (physical Attack Damage).

Runes can only be purchased with Influence Points (IP). This is a fairly important point because it means your selection of runes is limited primarily by your games played, as well as your success within these games. Before we go further, let me outline what determines whether a rune is Primary or Secondary: •

Red Marks: Offensive runes are generally Primary; 18 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

• •

Yellow Seals: Defensive runes are generally Primary; Glyphs: Magical runes are generally Primary.

Quintessences provide their full stat bonus regardless of type (in other words, there are no Primary or Secondary Quintessences). For whatever reason, Riot does not currently tell you whether a rune is Primary or Secondary when purchasing from the Riot Store. This is frustrating, and I recommend taking the time to check particular runes before making a big investment.

Not All Secondary Runes Are Created Equal Let's say you want to stack Flat Armor in your Marks, Seals, and Glyphs. To do this, you would buy Seals, Marks, and Glyphs of Resilience. You'd probably notice something when you were purchasing or putting these into your rune page: Even though both the Mark of Resilience and Glyph of Resilience are 'Secondary,' the Mark of Resilience provides more Flat Armor. It's ok to use Secondary runes in a lot of cases, but it's usually not a good idea if it's a third tier Secondary rune, meaning it provides a significantly lower return than other Secondary runes.

Not All Bonuses Are Equally Good It's worth saying that some bonuses just aren't very good. Not all bonus stats you receive from runes will help you on every champion. In some cases, such as with Endurance runes (which provide a percentage bonus to your health), they'll rarely ever be a top pick for any champion.

Not Always The Most Fun, But Always Reliable I'll cover this in the Champion Roles & Recommendations guide, but it's worth saying here that there are some runes that are universally good, and will work fine on the vast majority of champions in the League: • • • •

Red Marks: Armor Penetration (Desolation) or Magic Penetration (Insight), depending on your primary damage type. Yellow Seals: Flat Armor (Resilience). Blue Glyphs: Flat Magic Resist (Warding). Quintessences: Flat Health (Fortitude).


These are staples. Most of the time there may be a bit better way to build your champion, but this will be good enough. This is an especially helpful set of runes to have if you want to try out a lot of new champions or test the champions that are free in a given week. This is also a good idea if you really don't want to get a lot of rune pages.

Rune Pages Runes are placed onto a Rune Page. Rune pages unlock new slots based on your level, with all slots unlocked once you're level 30. You will gain Quintessence slots every 10 levels. These are pretty straightforward, but there's a couple things you want to know: • •

You can always take runes back out of a page (you never permanently lose runes by placing them in a page); You can use the same runes in multiple rune pages.

In other words, you're never going to be penalized for using your runes

Masteries If you've used talent or perk trees from nearly any other game, especially modern MMORPGs or RPGs, this is the same concept. You'll get new points to spend every level and you can place them into any of the available perks. Once you've spent enough points in a tree, a new set of perks in that tree will become available to you. You can have up to 10 Mastery pages (add more by clicking the '+' button). Unlike Rune Pages, these don't cost you anything. Also, if you know you need to make a change to your runes while you're in a game lobby, you can quickly edit and save them before a game starts.


Basic Game Information Let me jump into a couple concepts related to the matches you play, but not part of the actual in-game match-up.

Elo Rating League of Legends using a rating system called 'Elo.' The effect a single match has on your Elo rating is determined by two factors: • •

Whether you won or lost the match; Who you won or lost the match against.

This is a relative ranking system, meaning the system attempts to place you at a rank in relation to your peers. Only games against human players are rated. When matching you against new opponents, the system will first try to match you against opponents of similar Elo and party size. If this fails, it will continue expanding its parameters until it finds the most suitable opponents for you. For this reason, matches that take an unusually long time before they're found have a higher likelihood of being imbalanced either for or against you, as this can mean that the parameters for acceptable opponents have been significantly broadened. Players are assigned different Elo ratings for each different type of queue. For example, ranked 5v5 matches are separate from normal 5v5 matches, and solo queue ranked matches are different from arranged team ranked matches. Normal Elo is hidden. Only ranked Elo is visible to other players, and this is only true if a player has a sufficiently high rank. Taken a step further, players can only see how many normal games you've won through the normal public interface, not how many normal games you've lost. In other words, you can do badly without worrying about being embarassed.

First Win of the Day Bonus The first win of the day bonus is (surprise) a bonus you get in Experience and Influence Points (IP) for winning your first match in a day. A lot of players (including many of my friends) will log on to aim for this bonus.


Advice For New Players In this section I'm going to cover a wide variety of topics regarding the new player experience. League of Legends, like other competitive multiplayer games, can be an extraordinarily frustrating game to play if you wind up with the wrong teammates or opponents. I want to help mitigate that by giving you a heads up on some things to expect and how to deal with them.

General Advice Don't Buy Runes Until Level 20 Runes cost Influence Points (IP), and this is a relatively scarce resource given the number of runes you may want to purchase. For this reason, I recommend you wait until you're level 20 before you purchase runes. This is when all of the best runes become available to you, and any runes you've previously purchased are likely to be a wasted investment.

When & Why to Purchase Riot Points League of Legends is a free-to-play game, and many of those who play League of Legends never purchase anything with real money. It is certainly possible to play and enjoy the game without spending any money. That said, Riot Games has a very successful business model, and there are real incentives to purchasing Riot Points (RP). If you're willing to invest some money into the game, I strongly suggest doing so. The fact that you're reading this guide means you want to get involved with the game on a deeper level, and having RP is a big help towards that. Here's how: 1. Influence Points (IP) can be used to purchase champions. However, it is also the only way to purchase Runes, which have a big impact on your in-game performance. With limited runes, you will not be able to play the game as effectively or with the same flexibility you could, so consider purchasing any champions with RP to put your IP towards runes; 2. Because IP is so important to filling out rune pages, consider purchasing IP boosts under the Boosts tab in the Riot Store. The per-win boosts do stack with the time-based boosts (ex. 10 Wins boost stacks with 14 Days boost), so you may wish to do this. 3. Reaching level 30 -- again, on the assumption that you also care about being a good player -makes the XP boosts valuable as well. Like IP boosts, win-based and time-based boosts stack. 4. Runes are placed into rune pages, and while a wide selection of runes gives you more flexibility, having more rune pages is necessary to give you more options when a game is starting. Keep an eye on sales and price reductions. Over time, Riot tends to reduce the price on champions to provide more incentive to purchase them.


BoostingTip I mentioned using Experience and Influence Point (IP) boosts. It's definitely worth noting that per-win bonuses will be maximized if you're playing on Summoner's Rift against human opponents. This is because Summoner's Rift against human opponents grants the most Experience and IP per game.

Skins I also like to buy skins from time to time, particularly for champions I play a lot. These are often advertised around their store and interface, and can be fully searched under the Skins tab in the Riot Store. If you're a big fan of buying champion skins, it's worth remembering that new champion skin bundles (where you get the two bonus skins along with the champion) cost the same RP as buying just the two skins by themselves. Practically speaking, this means that purchasing a champion with IP, then buying the two skins, doesn't save you any money (but does cost you a good chunk of IP). You may see some skins that cost 1820 RP (this is unusually expensive). These are legendary skins and nearly all of them have significant overhauls and pretty cool voicework. Brolaf (an Olaf legendary) is one of my personal favorites. One exception to this rule is Magnificient Twisted Fate, which is listed and priced as legendary, but has no significant changes and, in my opinion, is not worth the money.

Get Cheap Champions There are two main ways to acquire a small collection of champions on a budget. The first is through champion bundles, which can be purchased through the Riot Store with Riot Points. These offer 20 introductory champions, as well as some other bonuses, at a hugely discounted price. The second is by purchasing the cheap 450 and 1350 Influence Points (IP) champions. While I recommend limiting the amount of champions you purchase with IP while leveling, it's worth purchasing these if you really want to play a champion without investing cash money into them. I recommend purchasing any bundle you may want prior to purchasing specific champions. A lot of the basic champions come with these bundles.

Playing One Champion vs. Playing Many Do you best learn the game by playing one champion or by playing many different champions? In my opinion, knowing one champion inside and out is a great benefit while learning a game like League of Legends. The reason for this is that there is still a vast array of information you need to learn about the game, such as items, mechanics, map awareness, objectives, and strategy. If you're good with a champion, you can spend more of your time in game learning these other concepts. 23 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

But you should also take time to play at least one champion of each different primary role. Just knowing how to play Support doesn't give you much of an idea how the other champions in the League play. You don't have to play much of them, but you should commit to at least trying them. I've played nearly more than a thousand League matches, but I still have not played every champion in the game. In fact, I am still learning new things all the time. You'll have time to do this. Play what looks interesting. Play until you find a champion you love. And if you want to experiment, do so! But never feel guilty for playing a champion you love over and over again -- you'll still be able to learn the game.

Snowballing Champions & Items Snowballing refers to taking the advantage, then compounding it to get an even stronger advantage. While snowballing is very common and smart in team play, doing so with specific champions or items (I'll cover them in a moment) will not always teach you to be better at the game. New players tend to make a lot of mistakes, including over-extending into dangerous areas of the map, getting caught alone and without teammates, and not knowing their limitations. They also won't usually make effective use of crowd controls and won't know the abilities of their opponents. All of these factors make champions like Master Yi and Tryndamere, who can normally be shut down with good use of crowd controls, very good at completely destroying these players. With each kill and each new item, they become even more capable of killing their opponents. Some items are meant for snowballing as well. Mejai's Soulstealer, an item that stacks ability power on kills and assists (but loses stacks if you die), really lends itself well to overpowering opponents who simply don't know how to respond to you. Sword of the Occult acts similarly, but provides attack damage instead of ability power. Winning is fun. Steamrolling your opponents is fun. If you want to take this route, go for it! My main caution is that it doesn't hold up forever, and as you come across better and more knowledgeable opponents, you'll need to know how to deal with them without relying on snowballing (specifically the kind that relies on specific champions or stacking items). The other side of the coin is that you'll probably have to deal with people who are snowballing, and in many cases you'll come across players who are significantly ahead of you by no fault of your own. Sometimes you can punish greed by crowd controlling your opponent under one of your towers as they try to dive you. Other times you won't be able to do anything at all, or your options may not be obvious while you're learning the game. Don't sweat it -- just focus on learning the game for yourself.


Dive In & Don't Panic If you've been playing against bots, don't get nervous about playing matches against real players. Just jump into it and accept that you're not always going to do well against real opponents. Once you've gotten over that hump, you'll be able to really enjoy the competitive matches, especially the close ones where your actions made all the difference. Once you're actually playing, don't panic if you're being harassed or getting hit with abilities you didn't know about. It happens. It'll happen for a very long time. And not too long into playing, you'll likely be using abilities that newer opponents don't know about. Just keep in mind that League of Legends has a fairly big learning curve, and this experience is part of learning it.

Tips for Learning Champions If you keep reading throughout this guide you're going to see all sorts of information about champions, roles, and gameplay tips. However, I'd like to add three things for you to begin thinking about as soon as you can.

Muscle Memory Muscle memory is one of the most often overlooked essentials in gaming. When playing a game, your brain will automatically learn patterns, and you will be able to more quickly bring knowledge to the front of your mind when you need it. For example, once you've used the summoner spell 'Flash' for several games, you will become far quicker to react and use it in tight situations. The same goes for using 'Cleanse' more quickly against opponents. Muscle memory isn't just the concept of quickly remembering things, though. It is your physical response time to your mouse and keyboard when assessing a situation. Your brain will develop it quickly for using champion abilities or summoner spells, provided you practice. You've developed muscle memory when actions become second nature for you. I will tend to spend at least my first game fumbling with complex champions before really getting an idea how they play. I might use an ability combo well, but it will be deliberative and thought out, not second nature. This is true even when I know the basic concepts behind a champion already. I won't perform my best with a champion until I've had a full night's rest after I've learned them. I bring this up for two reasons: • •

To reassure you that yes, you're going to make mistakes while learning, and yes, this is completely normal; To encourage you to take time to practice with champions and summoner spells, even if they are frustrating at first, if there's any chance you're going to enjoy them. 25 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Some champions will give you new insight into the game as you play them, particularly when those champions have abilities that force you to think differently. For example, Tristana and other champions can frequently make use of jumping over walls both to escape and initiate, and as you play them you'll get a feel for when to do that. A limited number of champions can utilize placeable units like wards, or to allied units, such as Lee Sin, and this also forces you to rethink how you look at the map. Once you've played champions like this and developed muscle memory for them, you'll be better at playing against those champions, as you'll be able to think like them.

High Skill Cap Champions Some champions are considered higher skill cap than others. Skill cap refers to how much there is to learn about that champion, along with the associated muscle memory, before you are playing at the champion's potential. Lee Sin is a good example of this. He has three basic abilities, which can all be activated a second time for a different effect. His abilities are all dependent on the position of other units, and using all of them effectively takes an extraordinary amount of practice. Because of the large number of combos he can pull off with his abilities, only a handful of the top players in League of Legends have mastered this champion. High skill cap does not mean that a champion is difficult to pick up and contribute to a team (though in some cases they can be). It also does not make these champions inherently better than other champions, though in some cases it will give them an edge. If you're interested in really getting a challenge in League of Legends, consider trying to learn one of theh higher skill-cap champions. You can get a fairly accurate idea of which champions these are by looking through the champion information pages in your League of Legends client and looking at the Difficulty slider.

Dashes & Blinks A lot of champions have dashes or blinks that can move you towards a location quickly, or abilities that dramatically increase your movement speed. Some of these are gap closers that require you move towards an enemy target. However, others do not require this. When learning a new champion you may be tempted to use this to jump into fights -- and in some cases, you'll be right to do so! However, try to think about whether you'll need to use these abilities to escape an upcoming fight if things start looking bad. Abilities that require you target enemies can sometimes be used to escape, too, if there are minions or flanking opponents moving in.


By saving your movement abilities to escape, you will be able to recover from mistakes or bad calls while you're learning. You might miss out on a kill here or there, but it often pays to be a little cautious until you're confident in your play and your knowledge of your opponents. Keep this in mind when using the Flash summoner spell as well.

Skillshots Skillshots (skill shots) are abilities that are not targeted, but are instead aimed in a direction or on a location. These abilities are not guaranteed to hit your intended target, and due to travel time, opponents may be able to avoid these abilities by responding quickly. While the number and types of skillshots are too diverse to cover here, here are some basic tips to help you out as you're learning to use them: • • • •

Lead your target based on where you believe they'll be when the projectile hits them, not where they currently are, unless they're standing still; If your target is trying to dodge a skillshot you're about to use, wait until they've stopped before you fire it; If your or an ally have a reliable crowd control, wait for that before using your skillshot against them; If you're using a location-targeted skillshot that goes over units, such as Kog'maws Living Artillery, try firing it right behind where your opponent is standing -- aim it so they'll get hit if they stand still and they'll git hit if they run backwards. Many players, especially early on, instinctively move backwards when a skillshot is being fired towards them (even if the skillshot is also aimed behind them).

Steroids When playing a new champion, look through your abilities for any that provide you a significant increase to a stat, such as Attack Speed or Physical Attack Damage. These are called 'steroids.' If these are on a short cooldown or, better, are passive and will always be applied to you, you should consider making item choices based on them. For example, Fiora gains a massive bonus to Attack Speed with one of her abilities, making it less important to build items that increase her Attack Speed. There's a lot of theory involved here and you won't necessarily want to stray too far from basic role items (covered in the 'Champion Roles & Recommendations' section of this guide). However, evaluating steriod abilities will help you improve your overall understanding of the game.


Attack Animation & Projectile Speed I'm going to get into a fairly technical concept here but it will help you as you're learning to last hit to gain gold in the early and mid game. Attack Animation is the speed at which a champion will complete a normal attack once an attack is ready. Projectile Speed is the speed at which normal ranged attacks will travel towards their target. These are not explicitly listed stats (as such I don't list them in the 'Stats' section of this guide). Attack Animation & Projectile Speed have an enormous impact on attempting to farm and last-hit minions that are receiving damage from other sources. Some champions, such as Nautilus, have very slow swing animations that prevent them from immediately hitting a target when the player orders an attack. Other champions, such as Corki, have extremely fast Attack Animations and Projectile Speeds that allow them to very easily farm minions within range of them. Attack Animation also plays a role in chasing and kiting enemy champions, as movement must be interrupted while the animation reaches the point where the attack occurs. Once a projectile is in the air, a player can immediately move again until their next attack is ready, and players should get in the habit of moving between attacks. Being able to do this will dramatically increase your ability to chase and kite, as well as reposition or dodge enemy skillshots while farming. Particularly fast champions can even stay ahead of slow opponents who are attempting to flee while still getting normal attacks off. Finally, I'll leave you with a tip. When I'm playing champions who have slower projectiles, such as Sivir and Kog'maw, I'll tend to move closer to minions I'm trying to last hit (provided it's safe to do so). Getting as close as you safely can to a minion greatly reduces the travel time of the projectile, allowing you to more easily land that killing blow.

Beating the Smurfs 'Smurfs' is a term that refers to players who have significant game experience but have started a new account and are playing with low-level players. In some cases, this is harmless, and is just used to get a new character up to level 30, perhaps to attempt to start fresh on the ranked ladder. In other cases, players are trying to get referral rewards. In other cases, players may be starting a new account after playing DOTA, Heroes of Newerth, or DOTA2, and may play at a very high level just based on experience in other games (these are not technically smurfs). But in a lot of cases, players start smurf accounts because they're not enjoying playing against experienced players as much as they enjoy slaughtering new players who don't know how to play the game. And even in the cases of players with a more legitimate reason to be on a new account, a lot of them will also bring a poor attitude towards the legtimately new players in their games.


Experience doesn't speak to skill, but it does speak to experience. Smurfs may not have much player skill, especially against more experienced players, but they do have experience. They're going to know more about champions, abilities, and basic strategies than their opponents. They're going to have some of the basic concepts of the game down that new players haven't learned yet. What makes many smurfs bad? 1. They will berate and insult you; 2. They will attempt to kill you over and over; 3. They will avoid objectives and prolong the game so they can continue killing you. Worst of all, you will not learn anything about how the game is played at any competitive level by playing against smurfs. It's sad that I have to write such a significant section of this guide for such an obnoxious group of gamers, but hey, it's the internet. A lot of people are jerks. Read the following sections to learn ways to deal with them and make your way through the leveling process.

Leavers & AFKers Leavers & AFKers are players who stop contributing to a match in progress. They're not smurfs, but they're just as likely to ruin an otherwise good match. While leavers and AFKers will happen at every level of the game, there is an astronomically high chance you'll come across them in the lower levels. This is because this is the level range where people are: • • •

Getting frustrated due to other factors (such as smurfs) and quitting the game; Not at the point where they realize that leaving or AFKing in a match is hurting their teammates and wasting their time; Not aware of other problems that may conflict with League of Legends, such as internet connectivity or slower computers.

The reasoning doesn't really matter. And, in all honesty, there'll probably be some point where you need to leave or AFK in a match yourself, given enough games (I've left a game three times in about 1600 matches). If your team has more leavers and AFKers than the opposing team, chances are higher that you'll lose the match. What do you do about it? Tough it out. I know that's not a great response, but it's the only one I can give. The problem drastically diminishes as you get to higher levels and wind up against better opponents.


Bot Games (Cooperative vs. AI) Bot games (Cooperative vs. AI) place you on a team with other human allies. You'll be playing against fairly well scripted computer AI opponents. So, I'll start with the big thing. Bot games were really bad when I first started playing League of Legends. The AI wasn't very good and there was a very limited number of champions that bots could control. Both the AI and champion selection has improved since then. That said, you're still not playing against human opponents, and you're not going to learn too much in the way of advanced tactics until you do. But bot games are fantastic for learning all of the basics in a more friendly environment. There are still going to be occasional jerks in these games, but you can ignore them. Your Goal: Reach at least level 10 in bot games unless you're playing with friends. Most of the smurfs stay in the level 1-10 range (many of them dropping off because the referral bonuses only require level 10).

Play With A Patient, Experienced Friend My wife and I played through the game and had a great deal of fun doing so. You probably have a friend or significant other who plays League of Legends. Whether they're pro players or not, they're probably going to be miles better than you if they're level 30 and you're brand new. They'll be able to give you advice, especially on champions they've played, and they'll be able to help deal with smurfs. By virtue of them being in a game with you, the average level of opponents you face will be a bit higher, but this can work in your favor if it brings you out of the smurfs bracket. In the same vein, try to make friends who play League of Legends. The game is just a lot more enjoyable with friends. Having at least one other player with you will make all the difference.

Try 3v3 Twisted Treeline and Dominion These game modes are a lot less popular than the 5v5 Summoner's Rift map. This works to your advantage in having to deal a little less with smurfs. Dominion matches are usually much shorter. While they won't teach you much about the main map mechanics, they can be a good way to practice with a champion's abilities, and their length makes them ideally suited to when you can't invest much time into the game. The best part of the short length is that you won't have to put up with much from jerks.


Ignore & Report Jerks You will likely come across jerks as long as you play this game. It happens, and it's not just a low level thing. Even at the highest levels of play you'll still occasionally run across them. If you would like to ignore a player, hold down 'Tab' and click the chat icon on the far right side of the tab menu. After the game, report players who are being jerks -- they're sent to the Tribunal, a player-run justice system, and can may be warned or even banned.


The Meta - Who Goes Top, Mid, and Bot Throughout this guide, I try to be careful to avoid presenting a single team strategy as the best strategy. This is because accepted team strategies often change, and along with this, the accepted way people play the game changes. Where people go in a match and what roles they fill are all part of what many in the community refer to as 'the meta,' or metagame. So let me go forward with the caveat that this may change, and that pro teams are constantly looking for ways to shift this strategy in their favor. If you already are familiar with the terms League of Legends players use for champions, skip this section, Otherwise, read on: Fighters These are stronger, more defensive champions. They tend to be melee-range champions who deal most of their damage when they are standing next to a target. Good examples of fighter champions are Irelia, Garen, Riven, and Darius. AP Casters If you've played Mages, Wizards, or Sorceror archetypes from other games, this is what I'm referring to. AP (Ability Power) casters are champions who generally rely on spells to deal damage, and will become stronger throughout the game through a combination of Ability Power and levels (for higher ranks of spells). Their primary damage type in fights tends to be magical. Good examples of AP Casters are Veigar, Brand, Cassiopeia, and Ahri. Ranged AD These are ranged champions who deal a significant portion of their damage through normal ranged attacks and deal primarily physical damage. Ranged AD (Physical Attack Damage) champions tend to become strongest by bringing in a lot of gold, usually from consistent minion farming in the lane, and tend to be less dependent on their level to be effective than AP Casters. By the late game, a well-geared Ranged AD may be the highest damage output champions in the match. Good examples of Ranged AD are Miss Fortune, Sivir, Ezreal, and Ashe. Support/Tank These are champions who primarily contribute to their team by supporting the actions of their teammates, either with healing, shielding, vision, or crowd controls. These champions tend to be less gold and gear dependent, so they work well with Ranged AD champions as it allows the Ranged AD champion to generate gold safely without competition. Good examples of Support are Soraka, Janna, Sona, and Lulu. Good examples of tanks or initiators are Alistar, Leona, Nautilus, and Blitzcrank.


More information on these roles can be found in the Champion Roles & Recommendations section of the guide.

Fighter - Solo Top At least one player in a team should be playing a Fighter. This player should usually go alone to top lane, and may also carry Teleport to get down to the bottom half of the map quickly, particularly when taking Dragon in the early and mid game. This player normally focuses on maximizing their gold by last hitting minions in the lane. Since they'll be solo, their ability to more reliably survive gank attempts makes them better suited to this lane. An AP Carry with strong escape mechanisms can also fill this role.

AP Caster - Solo Mid At least one player in a team should be playing an AP Caster in the role of a carry. This player should usually go to mid lane. AP Casters tend to gain more from levels and higher ranks in abilities than other champions. By going solo mid, they can maintain a level advantage while they're in a relatively safe lane. Alternatively, some assassins (such as Talon) and some anti-carries or long-range poke champions (such as Urgot) can be good to send to this lane, as they can counter the enemy AP Caster.

Ranged AD & Support/Tank - Duo Bot A team should have one Ranged AD in the role of a carry. This player should usually go bot lane with a partner. Ranged AD tend to benefit more from gold income and items than other champions. For this reason, they are well suited to playing in a lane with another player who is protecting them and allowing them to farm more effectively. The second player in this lane is usually a Support, though a team may choose to put an initiator/disruptor such as Leona into the lane instead. This player is usually responsible for keeping the Ranged AD safe and opening up opportunities to harass opponents. Alternatively, some teams use a 'kill lane' setup that is designed to prevent an enemy Ranged AD from being able to effectively farm. This is usually a pairing of champions that can quickly burst down an enemy, even if they have a Support player. This is higher risk. When playing with a partner at bottom lane (or any lane), keep in mind that your personal play is usually not as important as how well you two work together.


Jungler One jungler on a team is always ideal. This player should be playing a role that is complementary to the team, such as a Fighter or Tank. The importance of having a jungler is that it allows another lane to run solo (usually top lane), allowing more overall experience and gold potential for the team. It also prevents the opposing jungler from gaining additional gold, experience, and buffs for their team by invading frequently.

Why Not Send Two Top? The most common question is why there are always two bot. After all, why not send two top instead? The answer is Dragon. By having the majority of your players near Dragon, you can more readily move to take the kill early in the game. If your opponents are taking Dragon, you have more people ready to react. This is also why having a ward at Dragon (covered in the Map Dominance section) and having a player in top lane carry Teleport (to get themselves to that ward) is important. While Baron Nashor (on the top half of the map) is important, he doesn't become available until later in the match when your team may already be moving as a group. Getting ahead in the early game is important in your lane, but huge gains are made by securing early Dragon kills.

Can You Switch This Up? Absolutely, and people do it all the time. The above lane designations work better than others, on average, but are not always the best. They're stronger if you're in draft mode and picking counters to enemy champions; however, in blind pick, there are advantages to being more flexible. After all, if you send an AP Caster to mid lane and they are guaranteed to lose the lane to an opponent that can destroy them, how does that benefit your team? Experimenting as a team is fine. Switching lanes (even during the match) to a more favorable match-up is always a good idea if it can recover a bad situation. And sending hard counters to lanes specifically to lock your enemies down early is smart play. As I said, the purpose of this book is not to tell you how your team must play in every circumstance. I want to arm you with the knowledge to make smart decisions. I felt it was important to include this section so you know what other players often expect, not because it is always necessarily the right way to play.


Ciderhelm's Champion Recommendations In this section, I want to let you guys know about a few of my favorite champions and why I love them. This is informal, but it might give you a starting point towards finding what you most enjoy. Many of these champions have a Don't Feed guide available as well.

Olaf (Jungling) Let me start by saying that Olaf is a great solo lane champion as well as he can go against a lot of champions well. However, I personally enjoy him most in the jungle. Why is he great? His ultimate allows him to ignore crowd controls for several seconds while becoming much more survivable. For this brief time, he can simply run straight through an enemy team to quickly lock down or kill an enemy carry. He is the definition of an anti-carry. This ultimate also lets him get away with all sorts of antics, such as running into the middle of enemy teams to attempt to steal Baron Nashor or Dragon, or running through their jungle to try to steal buffs without fear of being unable to escape. To be great with Olaf you'll need to become good at using his Undertow. This is his axe throw ability that deals high damage, has a strong slow copmonent, and can be picked up to dramatically reduce the cooldown. Beyond this, he is very survivable at low health due to his passive attack speed and his lifesteal and spell vamp ability. Additionally, he has an extremely strong single-target ability that deals true damage (cannot be mitigated by armor or magic resist), making him exceptionally good at dueling.

Nocturne (Jungling) Nocturne is my other preferred jungler. What makes him a good jungler? His passive and Q give him great jungling speed, allowing him to quickly clear and move on to ganking. He is generally very survivable, and if he gets unexpectedly ambushed, he has a chance to escape thanks to his spell shield. But the main thing is his ganking potential. Because his ultimate allows him to travel to a target from a significant distance away from them, he can move into a fight from locations that are less likely to be warded. Even if the location is warded and his opponents see him, he can often still cast his ultimate and engage them anyway. He's great for picking off low health players, and he's generally strong for ganks -on top of everything else -- because of his targeted fear.


Ahri (Solo Mid Ability Power Caster) Even after several rounds of nerfs, Ahri is a truly enjoyable champion for me. Here's what makes her good: Her ultimate allows her to teleport to a nearby location three times in rapid succession. This is very strong for escaping and for getting in range of an opponent, but even better for landing her other abilities. Because of her strong damage output and mobility, Ahri can not only avoid incoming skillshots with ease, she can also bring down many opponents with a full ability combo. All of her abilities are skillshots, so you have to be comfortable with this, and I recommend turning on smartcasting to play her effectively.

Urgot (Solo Top) Urgot is an odd champion and one that hasn't seen much play until recently. He belongs to a small class of physical damage spell casters, meaning most of his damage and utility comes from his spells rather than normal attacks. Even though he is a ranged champion, he has a very short attack range by comparison to other ranged champions, making him unfit to be played as a Ranged AD. All that said, most of the fun in Urgot comes from successfully landing his acid canister on an opponent who tries to move near him. If he does this, his acid hunter (Q) shots will all guide themselves directly to the target, ignoring minions or other objects in the way. The cool thing? These missiles can be fired across an extremely long range, and can even follow targets in bushes if you correctly guess where they are. Landing a canister on an enemy carry during a team fight can allow you to devastate them from a range. Add in a strong slow, a decent shield, and an extremely strong utility ultimate that allows him to initiate for his team and you have the great champion known as Urgot. If you're playing Urgot, consider cooldown reduction items such as Brutalizer and Frozen Heart. Why? With enough cooldown reduction, you can fire one additional missile while the canister debuff is still on the target. I remember dozens of kills I've gotten due to getting that one extra shot in.

Jayce (Anywhere... No, really) Jayce is a newer addition to League of Legends and I've fallen in love with him. He is incredibly versatile in that he can be effective as a jungler, as a solo top, and even as a ranged AD carry in some circumstances. He is also effective against many mid champions.


What makes him great? He is extraordinarily fast at moving across the map, he has low mana costs, and most of all, he has incredible combo potential. Check out the Don't Feed on him (either in text in this guide, or in the video on YouTube if possible). He is a very high skillcap champion. This guy is the definition of the phrase 'easy to learn, hard to master.' All of this said, his weakness is also very clear. He cannot avoid being close to enemy teams during team fights, even if he is in his ranged form. All but one of his abilities (he has nine) have a shorter range than the base attack range of most ranged AD carries. This means he can be harassed in the early game by some champions, and if he can't survive some damage, can be shut out in late game team fights more than many other champions. Even with that weakness I have had immense fun playing him.

Miss Fortune (Bot with Support) Miss Fortune is a very simple champion. She isn't the best and she can get focused down later in the game without much effort. So why do I enjoy her? She has extremely high early game damage thanks to her Impure Shots and Double Up, which can allow you to dominate lanes. She has a healing reduction that allows you to dominate lanes that have a healer like Soraka. She is also a very fast champion (provided she hasn't taken damage). Impure shots additionally makes early game farming easier since the bonus magic damage can help immensely in last hitting. Her early game farming and champion killing potential can help get her to a point where she has a clear advantage in the late game.

Sivir (Bot with Crowd Control Support) I have more consistently won games with Sivir than any other ranged AD carry. Her early game isn't the best, she has a short normal attack range, and she doesn't become an amazing farmer until a little later in the game. Why is she great? Let's start with her on-demand spell shield. Many champions telegraph when they're about to cast a spell, and getting really good with Sivir's spell shield will save you time and time again from all sorts of things. It also returns mana, which either regenerates your mana or strongly discourages your opponents from harassing you with spells. With an opponent crowd controlled near her, she can easily land both strikes from Boomerang Blade. Along with a normal attack and a normal attack reset with her Ricochet, she has incredible burst potential in the early game. 37 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Later in the game, combining this damage with an AOE crowd control such as Leona's Solar Flare or Amumu's Curse of the Sad Mummy, especially in a tight area such as the jungle, combined with her ultimate bonus on your team, Sivir can easily be damage needed to turn the fight totally in your teams favor. Team fights in the jungle are where I've picked up the most multi-kills with her. Her ultimate is also great when your not able to easily communicate with your team. Since it's a highly visible teamwide aura, it is often enough to tell your teammates to either engage an enemy team or to run away. It's pretty easy to understand.

Ezreal (Bot or Mid) A little before Pulsefire Ezreal released, I started to really take the time to learn Ezreal. He's a really fun champion both as Ability Power or as a Ranged Attack Damage carry. His primary weakness is a very short normal attack range, making him vulnerable when he moves in close to deal with opponents. Like Ahri, he's all skillshots. You simply can't play him effectively unless you're willing to accept this and learn to play. You'll also want to enable smartcasting to really get the most out of his combos. He is one of only a few highly mobile ranged AD carries (along with Corki and Tristana). His Arcane Shift blink allows him to quickly get in or out of a fight.


Summoner's Rift Guidebook Summoner's Rift is the large 5v5 game map where the vast majority of matches are played. The design is based heavily on the Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) game map, the predecessor to League of Legends. In this section, I'm going to outline the core mechanics of Summoner's Rift, including terrain, structures, and minions and monsters. Advanced players: There are several finer mechanics in League of Legends that you may not be aware of even if you've played the game extensively. I will highlight these in light orange so you can more easily find them.

Game Objectives Summoner's Rift ends in victory when a team destroys the opposing team's nexus or when a team surrenders. To attack and destroy the nexus, both towers defending the nexus must be destroyed and at least one inhibitor must also be currently destroyed. To destroy an inhibitor, all towers in that inhibitor's lane must be destroyed. Towers cannot be damaged if there is another tower further in the lane that has not been destroyed. Put more simply, a team must destroy three towers, followed by an inhibitor, followed by the two nexus towers, before they can destroy the nexus. All of these structures are referred to as objectives, because they must be taken out or the game cannot end without a surrender. Baron Nashor and Dragon, two neutral monsters I will cover later, are also considered important objectives as they have a disproportionately large impact on the game. However, killing minions and monsters (or, for that matter, other players) is not technically necessary to destroy the nexus and win the game.


Map Layout Summoner's Rift has two symmetrical halves, divided diagonally by a passable river. The team on the top right is designated as the Purple team, where the team on the bottom left is designated as the Blue team.

Each side has a team base in their corner, along with three main paths extending outwards. These paths are referred to as lanes. Players refer to these by their location: •

• •

'Mid lane' is the path going directly towards the enemy base. This is a short lane with the best access to other areas of the map. Notably, the distance between turrets is much shorter in this lane, and their attack ranges overlap, making it impossible to avoid turret attacks without special abilities; 'Bot lane' is the path that ends at the bottom right corner of the map. This lane has good access to the neutral Dragon monster; 'Top lane' is the path that ends at the upper left corner of the map. This lane has good access to the neutral Baron Nashor monster.


While the map is symmetrical, it is not mirrored in the sense that both teams have the same jungle paths and monsters near each of their lanes. For example, Blue team has access to three monster camps near their bottom lane, while Purple team has access to only two near their bottom lane. Each team has an inhibitor at the start of each lane, followed by three towers extending out towards the opposite side of the map. Behind this are the nexus and two turrets defending the nexus. Each team also has a summoner pool where players start, recall to, and purchase items from. Between these lanes and the river are areas referred to as jungle. There are a variety of different paths here, as well as neutral monsters that can be killed for gold, experience, and temporary buffs.


Fog of War In Summoner's Rift, persistent map vision is provided by the following sources: • • •

Structures; Champions & Minions; Wards, Clairvoyance, and player abilities.

At the start of the match, towers provide vision over most of the team's lanes, allowing players to safely extend to their outermost towers. Everything shrouded in darkness if part of the Fog of War, and most events that occur here will not be visible.

However, some abilities are visible even through the Fog of War. For example, Flash, Teleport, and Clairvoyance all have animations that show clearly even if they're used in an area where opponents don't have vision. Player abilities such as Shaco's Deceive are also clearly visible when used inside the Fog of War. Normally you cannot keep track of enemy items or minion kills while they're in the Fog of War. However, if you kill an enemy and their corpse is in vision, you will be able to watch what items they're purchasing while they're dead.


Bushes (Brush) Small patches of high grass are littered throughout Summoner's Rift. These patches of brush (commonly referred to as bushes) block vision to enemies who don't otherwise have a source of vision inside them.

In other words, entering a bush will immediately hide a unit, provided an enemy does not have ward, clairvoyance, or another source of vision on them. Units within the same bush can see each other. Using normal attacks and targeted abilities from within a bush will nearly always provide brief vision on the attacker. However, leaving the bush and using a normal attack or targeted ability, then immediately going back in the bush will instantly block vision again. Using many untargeted abilities such as skillshots will not provide vision on the attacker. This is not always true, such as with Morgana's persistent AOE effect, Tormented Soil. Abilities that are visible in the Fog of War are also visible in bushes.

Determining If Opponents Can See In Your Bush There are three ways to immediately know whether an enemy has vision in the bush you're currently in: • • •

If they use a targeted ability on you; If either they or their minions use normal attacks on you; If your champion attacks them or their minions without being explicitly commanded to (this will not occur if you use a 'stop' command while in the bush). 43 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

•

If an enemy who is not previously targeting you, as indicated by an orange outline covering their unit, targets you and gains the orange outline. The orange outline is semi-sticky, meaning they'll keep it even if they can no longer see you (such as when you run into a bush), so this only works if they have no outline and gain the outline while you're in the bush.

While in a bush, champions naturally stop their attacks to preserve stealth. Though somewhat illogical, your champion is aware of when an enemy has vision on them even if you -- the player -- aren't. This is why it can be helpful to idle in a bush you suspect your opponents have vision in and see if your champion starts using normal attacks on nearby enemy units.

Impassable Terrain Throughout the map there is impassable terrain that cannot be walked over. Some abilities interact with this terrain, such as Vayne's Condemn, which knocks players backwards and will stun them if they collide with impassable terrain. Some blink and dash abilities, such as Flash, and placeable objects, such as wards, can be used over impassable terrain. In many of these cases, they only need to be targeted -- and have a maximum range -- that reaches beyond the halfway point of the impassable terrain. Provided these conditions are met, the player or object can make it to the other side of the wall. Player created terrain such as Anivia's Crystallize and Jarvan IV's Cataclysm will block movement, but generally won't interact with player abilities the way impassable terrain does. For instance, Vayne's Condemn will knock a player out of Jarvan IV's Cataclysm without stunning them on the edges of it.

Gold & Experience for Champion Kills The first kill in a match is called First Blood and the killing player receives 400 gold. A champion with zero kills and zero deaths has a bounty of 300 gold when killed. As that champion kills opposing champions without dying themselves, they gain additional bounty (up to 500 gold with 4 kills). If that champion is killed while they have bonus bounty, their bounty is immediately reset. If they die repeatedly (while having no bonus bounty), their bounty will be lowered dramatically, making it much less valuable to kill them. When a player kills an enemy champion by themselves, they earn the full bounty for that champion. If a second player assists in the kill, they earn a 50% bonus bounty that does not reduce the amount of gold earned by the player who nets the killing blow. In other words, an asssist is always a net positive for the team. This assist bounty is divided equally among all teammates who assisted.


Players also earn experience for killing enemy champions. If two or more players are responsible for killing a champion, the total experience earned is significantly larger than if only one champion had participated. Experience gained for killing enemy champions is increased if the enemy champions are higher level than the killing player, and reduced if the enemy champions are lower level than the killing player.


Structures Structures are objectives that must be destroyed in order to win the game, provided the other team does not surrender. Structures grant vision in an area around them. All structures have a health pool; like other units, when structures reach zero health they are destroyed. The damage dealt to structures with normal attacks is calculated separately from damage dealt to other units. If 30% of a champion's ability power is higher than their bonus physical attack damage, they will deal 30% of their ability power in bonus damage instead. In either case, base (non-bonus) attack damage is still dealt to the structure. Since structures are immune to nearly all spells, this allows ability power casters to contribute significantly more damage than they otherwise could. Related to this, note that Armor Penetration does not affect damage dealt to structures. With the exception of the outermost tower in each lane, all structures require at least one previous structure to have been destroyed before they will take damage. Beware that structures count as impassable terrain for the purposes of player abilities. Even if a structure is destroyed, the ruins of that structure are still impassable terrain.

Towers (Turrets)

Unlike other structures, towers have significant base armor and magic resistance. However, towers have lower health pools than other structures, partly counterbalancing this. Towers also have attack damage.


The outermost towers have the lowest armor, magic resistance, and attack damage. Deeper towers have successively more armor, magic resistance, and attack damage. Towers gain a small amount of attack damage every minute, beginning at times in the game depending on which tier of tower they are. This attack damage bonus caps after a relatively small gain. Towers gain a massive amount of armor and magic resistance while enemy minions are not present. This balances the game against champions who could otherwise easily 'backdoor' a tower (the process of attacking structures while minions are not present). Towers always prefer to target the closest champion pets and minions before they will target champions. However, if an enemy champion in attack range of the tower deals any amount of damage to an allied champion, even with a pet, the tower will change targets and attack the enemy champion. Towers will not change targets unless the target is killed or moves out of range, or unless a nearby allied champion is attacked by an opponent in who is in range of the tower. Towers will not attack targets who are are untargetable, such as Fizz while using Playful Trickster. It's worth noting that an allied champion that is not near the tower can be attacked by enemy champions who are near the tower without the tower changing target. In other words, the allied player must be in range of the tower for the tower to defend them. Towers deal physical damage to their target, which means armor is effective when taking tower hits. With each consecutive attack on a single target, towers deal more damage than their previous attack. While the amount of damage they deal caps after several consecutive hits, the tower will be dealing more than twice the listed base damage at that point. The two towers protecting the nexus regenerate health if they are damaged. However, laning towers never regenerate health, meaning all damage to these towers is permanent. Towers grant 150 gold to everyone on the team when they are destroyed. Towers detect stealthed units.

Tip For Last Hitting In The Early Game When minions reach your tower, there's two basic rules to remember that will help you last hit minions for gold: • •

Let melee minions take two full tower hits, then time your normal attack to occur immediately after the second tower attack. Attack caster minions once before a tower hits, then again immediately after the tower hits them.


This works with minions that are at full health and are not taking significant damage from other sources (such as other minions). If you get enough physical attack damage you'll need to stop attacking caster minions before the tower has hit them.

Inhibitors & Nexus The inhibitors and the nexus are similar structure, in that they have no armor or magic resistance and no means to defend themselves. However, they regenerate health over time if they are damaged, meaning it can be better to ensure they are focused and destroyed rather than leaving and trying to finish them later.

When an inhibitor is destroyed, the opposing team spawns super minions instead of their normal siege minions. Destroying all three inhibitors will cause two super minions to spawn in each lane, for a total of six. Additionally, opposing minions that spawn while an inhibitor is down have increased health and damage, regardless of which lane they're in. This bonus stacks, meaning multiple destroyed inhibitors will further increase the stat bonuses to minions. Inhibitors respawn after five minutes. This is announced to both sides 15 seconds before it occurs. A player who last-hits the nexus is given 50 gold.


Summoner Platform, Shop & Obelisk The summoner platform is the area where players spawn, recall to, and shop. The obelisk protecting this area deals extreme, sustained true damage to enemies entering the summoner platform. Despite the symmetry of the map, both team's shops are closer to the top lane. The range of the shop extends in a radius outward from the shop itself, not the platform, meaning that players headed to or from top lane have a significantly larger area where they can purchase items from (that extends well beyond the platform).


Team Minions

Minions are units that are allied with either the purple or blue team. They move in a predictable path down their lanes, towards the enemy base. Minions deal bonus damage to towers, which can make it ideal to clear out enemy minions they are targeting before attacking the tower directly. Minions deal reduced damage to champions. When choosing targets to attack, minions prioritize the closest enemy minions, followed by towers, followed by the closest champion. In other words, they will not normally attack champions unless there are no other available targets. However, if an enemy champion deals damage with an normal attack to an allied champion, minions will change targets and attack the aggressor. Most abilities do not cause nearby minions to attack. However, some abilities that act like normal attacks and apply on-hit effects, such as Gangplank's Parrrlay, will cause minions to attack. Most minions increase in attack damage, health, armor, and magic resistance over the course of the game. Additionally, minions offer more gold and experience based on the game time. This is determined for each minion based on when they spawn, not when they're killed.


Minions grant vision to their team. They have slightly lower vision range than champions, meaning that a team can most likely see an enemy champion if that champion can see their minions. Since the map is symmetrical and minions spawn at the same time, it can be helpful to keep in mind that minions on opposite sides of the map are in an identical place. This is especially true for junglers at an enemy team's double golem camp. Note that minions will not engage enemy targets at their maximum vision range. All minions move at 325 movement speed, making them slightly faster than the base movement speed of many champions.

Minion Waves Three groups, or waves, of minions spawn next to the Nexus beginning at the 1:30 time marker, then every 30 seconds afterwards until the game is over. Each group corresponds to one of the lanes on the map. A minion wave normally consists of 3 melee minions and 3 caster minions. Every third wave, each lane also has a siege minion. After 35 minutes, a siege minion spawns every second wave instead. If an enemy inhibitor in the same lane is destroyed, super minions spawn every wave, but siege minions do not spawn. If all three enemy inhibitors are destroyed, two super minions spawn in every wave for every lane. 51 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Melee & Caster Minions Melee minions move into melee range of their targets to use attacks that deal physical damage. Melee minions are initially worth 20 gold in lane. Caster minions are similar to melee minions, though their normal attacks are ranged. Like other minions, these attacks are physical damage. Caster minions have higher magic resistance and lower health and armor than melee minions. Caster minions are worth the least gold in a lane, starting at just 15 gold.

Siege & Super Minions Siege minions have significantly more health than other minions, as well as a buff that causes them to take 50% reduced damage from towers. This makes them very effective at tanking towers while allied units deal damage. Siege minions are worth the most gold, starting at 40 gold. Like siege minions, super minions take 50% reduced damage from towers. These attack more slowly than siege minions but deal far more damage per hit, making them much stronger at pushing towers and even pushing back enemy champions than their smaller counterparts. Super minions have more armor than siege minions, but can have negative magic resistance, meaning they take significantly more damage from magic damage attacks than physical attacks. This being said, their health makes them more durable than siege minions regardless of damage type. Unlike other minions, super minions do not gain additional health or damage, and are typically worth less gold than other minions.


Neutral Monsters Neutral monsters are not aligned with either team. They will not attack unless they are first attacked. All monsters rapidly regenerate health when they are not in combat. Additionally, all monsters have a leash range at which they will disengage from combat and return to their starting location. Monsters attack their closest opponent. If they move beyond their leash range while moving to that player, they will begin walking back to their starting location, and will pick a target again only if attacked. If another player moves in closer to the center of the monster, they will change targets. This target change can occur up to ten times before causing the monster to avoid engaging again until it has fully reset. All major monsters increase their stats based on either the game time (Baron Nashor, Lizard Elder, Ancient Golem) or the level of the highest level champion in the match (Dragon). This will not occur while the monster is currently engaged in combat, though it will occur shortly after disengaging from combat if it is overdue.

Baron Nashor

Baron Nashor is the single most difficult unit to kill in Summoner's Rift. He is an immobile worm that can be found in the river alcove on the upper-left side of the map. He has very high health, which increases over time throughout the game. Additionally, he has substantial armor and magic resistance. His armor and magic resistance cannot be reduced through player abilities or items. He cannot be disabled in any way. 53 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Baron Nashor deals high physical and magic damage with a mix of abilities. These are: •

• • •

Wrath of the Ancients, a green spit column that hits random targets, dealing magic damage and applies a stacking debuff that increases incoming magic damage (cannot be blocked by spell shields); Voracious Corrosion, which deals physical damage and applies a debuff that reduces physical attack damage; A knockback that kicks nearby units away from him; A delayed knockup on a random target indicated by green bubbles beneath his target (move out of this).

Baron prioritizes his primary attacks on the players closest to his center. This makes it very easy to select which player will take the bulk of damage. If other melee players are low on health, they will need to watch out for when Baron knocks tankier players away from him. Baron does not prioritize his attacks on the team that engaged him. If an enemy player is closer to his center, they will take damage instead. This can be helpful to remember when team fights occur at Baron, as quick repositioning can move his damage onto opponents. Baron Nashor first spawns on the map at the 15:00 minute marker and respawns 7 minutes after he has last been slain. When killed, Baron Nashor grants 300 bonus gold to all teammates, as well as bonus experience. The player who deals the killing blow to Dragon gains an additional 25 gold. Also, all teammates who are currently alive are granted a significant ability power, attack damage, and health and mana regeneration buff for several minutes. Baron can be reset by moving out of range of his attacks or stopping attacks on him for several seconds.


Dragon

Dragon is a significant monster who can be found in the river alcove on the lower-right side of the map. He has low armor and magic resistance, but high health. His health increases based on the level of the highest champion currently in the match. His armor and magic resistance cannot be reduced through player abilities or items. He cannot be disabled in any way. Dragon uses ranged attack. When attacking, he applies a damage-over-time effect to his target called 'Dragon Burning.' This also reduces the attack speed of the target. When killed, Dragon grants 190 gold to all teammates, as well as bonus experience. The player who deals the killing blow to Dragon gains an additional 25 gold.


Blue Golem (Ancient Golem)

The blue golems are located near the river, directly across from Baron Nashor and Dragon. These camps consist of one large golem and two trivial companions. The blue golems spawn at 1:55 and respawn 5:00 after they have been killed. When killed, the Ancient Golem grants gold to the killer, as well as a buff that increases mana regeneration, energy regeneration, and cooldown reduction for several minutes. If the player with this buff is killed by another player, the buff is transferred to them with a fresh cooldown. Because of this transfer mechanic, multiple buffs from the same Ancient Golem camp can exist on different champions simultaneously.


Red Lizard (Lizard Elder)

The red lizards are located in the jungle behind Baron Nashor and Dragon. These camps consist of one large lizard and two trivial companions. The red lizards spawn at 1:55 and respawn 5:00 after they have been killed. When killed, the Lizard Elder grants gold to the killer, as well as a buff that causes the player's normal attacks to deal bonus true damage over time and slow their opponents. If the player with this buff is killed by another player, the buff is transferred to them with a fresh cooldown. Because of this transfer mechanic, multiple buffs from the same Lizard Elder camp can exist on different champions simultaneously.


Minor Camps (Double Golems, Wraiths, Wolves) Three minor camps exist on Summoner's Rift, each spawning around the 1:40 minute marker. These are all relatively weak and easy to clear. Each camp has one large minion and at least one trivial minion. The double golems and wolves respawn after one minute, while the wraiths respawn after 50 seconds. All stats on these camps, including the gold and experience gained from killing them, are determined when they spawn. These camps will retain the same stats until they have been killed. When killing the large minion in a camp, a champion will be granted health and mana based on how much health and mana they are currently missing.


Playing To Win In this section, I'm going to give you quick but very pointed tips on improving your gameplay. Read through these carefully and evaluate where your weaknesses are as a player.

Personal Skills While each tip in this strategy will help a whole team, especially if everyone practices them, they are things you are personally responsible for.

Counter In Blind Pick, you cannot easily choose counters to enemy champion selections, so this point is more oriented towards Draft Mode. In Draft Mode, you can see what your opponents are picking and you can respond by picking champions that match up well. Try to choose a champion that: • •

You are very comfortable playing; You believe will match up favorably with the champion you're most likely going to play against.

I'd emphasize the first point more than the second. If you play a champion you aren't comfortable with, you're simply not going to perform as well as one that fits like a glove. It's better to go into an unfavorable match-up with a champion you really know than go into a great match-up with a champion you barely know. Make sure you choose summoner spells such as Exhaust and Ignite to counter their most dangerous selections. In Blind Pick, make sure your team has at least one instance of each of these spells.

Rock, Paper, Scissors When choosing counters to a team there is a simple trio of attributes to keep in mind. This is: •

• •

Effective Health: Effective Health refers to your total survivability in a given situation, factoring both health and damage reduction. Champions with high effective health will tend to be survivable fighters (bruisers) and tanks. Burst: Burst refers to your ability to output a lot of damage at once. Champions with high burst tend to be assassin fighters or AP casters. Sustain: Sustain refers to an ability to stay alive over a long duration. Champions with sustain tend to be ranged AD or support.

Here's how they work together: 59 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

•

• •

Effective Health beats Burst: In other words, champions who can survive a lot of burst damage will in turn be able to counter them, either by crowd controlling them for other damage dealers (tanks), or by killing them (tanky fighters). Burst beats Sustain: In other words, champions who can kill opponents before they can recover a significant amount of health will counter them. Sustain beats Effective Health: In other words, champions who can stay sustained while dismantling an opponent over a period of time will tend to counter them.

Many champions do not fall strictly into one role, and will have at least some strength in one or both other roles. Beyond this, players may use items to cover their weaknesses (for example, building survivability to survive burst). That said, this trio is worth remembering when you're selecting champions at the beginning of the match, especially if you have a good idea who you'll be against in lane.

First Purchase: The Doran's Dilemma Throughout the Champion Roles & Recommendations section I encourage players to start with boots and 3 health potions (with an exception for support) or some sort of health sustain item. The only exceptions to this rule are when you'll have the health sustain you'll need, either from a healing ability of your own or that of an ally, or you'll be able to keep enough distance that there's no reasonable way the opposing team can harass you. Boots and health potions go beyond simply helping you escape, chase, and avoid skillshots. They also let you be aggressive and make exchanges with the opponent. In a solo match-up against a player with Doran's Ring or Doran's Blade and no ability that offers them health sustain, you can recover your health at a significant pace while they cannot. This is how "Sustain beats Effective Health" from the above section plays out: • • • •

You make several damage trades with your opponent, using health potions to recover between them; Eventually your opponent backs off at low health (if they haven't been killed or ganked already); You push your minions to their tower, causing their tower to eat up your minions, denying your opponent experience and gold; You recall and come back to lane with a Doran's (or another item), and perhaps more health potions.

When you two meet up again, the match is reset completely in your favor -- you have more experience, and now you have the same benefit from Doran's that they had in addition to your boots. Regardless of whether they picked up some sustain or boots when they went back, you came out the winner.


Doran's Ring and Doran's Blade are both very cost efficient items, providing more stats than the gold they cost to purchase. They're good items, and they're not traps. They're just not usually good first items. It should go without saying that it's usually a good idea to try and shut down a player who has a Doran's item.

Potions & Elixirs Remember to use your consumables, especially right after you've engaged in combat. Health potions that are running throughout an exchange or team fight can surprise you, especially in the early game where they have a disproportionate effect on your survivability. Beyond health and mana potions, always keep elixirs in mind. Stat elixirs are situational and should be purchased when they could significantly impact the outcome of the game. Good times to use elixirs are: 1. Immediately after the other team has completed Baron Nashor to help stand against them while they have the Baron buff; 2. Prior to a significant skirmish or team fight, such as one at or immediately prior to Baron Nashor; 3. In the early game, particularly prior to ganks that are very likely to be successful with an elixir; 4. Any time you don't have inventory room for new items (you don't need inventory space to purchase these; as long as you're alive, they will apply the buff directly to you). The Elixir of Fortitude is a particularly helpful elixir. Not only does it provide you with more health and survivability, but it recovers health (equal to the amount of bonus health gained), and it is not affected by healing reductions. This means Elixir of Fortitude can be used as an emergency heal.

Tab, Evaluate, & Invest Wisely When you press the 'Tab' key during a match, a screen pops up detailing both your team and your opponents. On this screen you can see kills on champions and creeps, giving you a ballpark measurement of how well they're doing, as well as items they're building and which summoner spells they have. This will only update based on when the opponent was last visible to your team. Tab is also a quick way of seeing who is missing. Enemies who are greyed out are not currently visible to your teammates, so a quick Tab press can tell you who you need to watch out for. When you have this menu open, look at the summoner spells your opponents have, with a special eye towards Exhaust, Flash, Ghost, and Heal. All three of these must be accounted for if you want to be aggressive. Never dive a tower or overextend attempting to kill a player who has any of these spells currently available unless you're absolutely sure you can compensate for it, as well as any other abilities they may have. 61 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Take a second to really look at their items. You can do this by targeting them as well. Do they have wards? If so, that may suggest they've been warding around your lane, or they're about to. Do they have an empty spot between two other items? In the early game, this may also suggest they've placed a ward. Are they building defensively, such as an early purchase of Null-Magic Mantle (magic resist) or Cloth Armor (armor)? Don't overestimate the damage you'll do to them if they are. Do they have a Doran's item as their first pick? This can be used to your advantage in many matchups, because it means they won't have boots and may have very limited sustain, allowing you to both close distance and escape with them in trades, and potentially allowing you to push them back to their base if you can get them low. When you're building boots, open up your Tab menu and run down the list of enemy champions. Don't buy damage-related boots if everything in your brain says you should buy Mercury Treads. In rarer cases, Ninja Tabi is a good investment. Not sure whether a Void Staff or Last Whisper are good bets? They usually are, but it's always worth checking out whether your opponents are building any magic resist or armor before putting down a chunk of money on them. The point I'm getting at is that you need to really look at your opponents. Don't just try to snowball into an amazing damage-dealing powerhouse -- thinking about your purchases and how they relate to your enemy really will have a big impact on your performance. As a related note (in terms of using the interface to your advantage), you can see which of your allies have their ultimate abilities available by looking at the green or black dot on the upper right-hand of their portrait on the left-hand side of your screen. Green means they have their ultimate and can use it.

Situational & Map Awareness (Wards!) In most cases, being situationally aware largely involves being map aware. The mini-map in the bottom right of your screen is important. Look at it. All the time. Along with the 'Tab' menu, it is a great way of seeing who is missing at any given time, as well as a great way of knowing when you can take risks because everyone is accounted for. Aside from this, being situationally aware also helps you more quickly capitalize on times when there are nearby teammates, either by helping them out while they're being attacks, or by getting in position to gank with them. Wards have a very large impact on the success of games, provided that you and your teammates will capitalize on the vision granted. Denying map awareness to your opponents through the use of Vision Wards and Oracle's Elixir, as well as general sneakiness, is also critical. 62 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Some players, such as those playing Support champions, may choose to ward more frequently than others. However, every player on a team should be willing to buy wards, especially to protect entrances to the lane they're in. Read the 'Map Dominance: Warding, Counterwarding & Clairvoyance' section of this guide for more detail on this subject.

Observe Your Opponents While you can calculate the relative power of an opponent by checking out their items and stats, you will often learn the most about how strong or weak they are by watching them. Take time to occasionally glance at other lanes, especially after dying, and run through a mental checklist: • • • • •

Does your opponent look like they're farming well? Are they being overly aggressive? Are they not taking advantage of an opportunity in front of them? Are they being too cautious, or are they being smart? Are they responding quickly to their teammates needs? Are they avoiding ganks in a smart way, and do they seem to be reacting to your allies (i.e. are they reacting based on ward vision)?

You'll learn a lot about your team by doing this. While these snap judgments won't always be correct, they can give you a good idea how things are going, especially in conjunction with a glance at their items. Just knowing when an opponent is not doing particularly well, especially if they're a counter to your own champion, can help you make decisions later on in the match.

Think About Your Opponent's Cooldowns As you develop a stronger understanding of the champions you're playing against you may also get an idea of how long their cooldowns are. For example, Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab is a devastating ability, but it also has a very long cooldown. Darius' Apprehend pull ability is also devastating, but missing it completely shuts down a major part of his kit for a very long time. Watching your opponents cooldowns and having an idea how long these are is helpful as it lets you know when you have a window to be very aggressive against them. This is especially true if you're playing champions with ranged normal attacks or abilities, as you can more quickly move in on an opponent and stay in range for longer before you need to back off.

Track Timers Track the timers of objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor, and major jungle buffs such as the golem and lizard camp if you know exactly when they were last killed. Here are the timers you need to know: 63 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

• • •

Baron Nashor spawns 15 minutes into the game. He has a 7 minute respawn timer once he's been killed. Dragon spawns at the 2:30 minute marker. He has a 6 minute respawn timer once he's been killed. Ancient Golem (blue buff) and Lizard Elder (red buff) spawn at the 1:55 minute marker. They have a 5 minute respawn timer once they've been killed.

Knowing these timers lets you move into position to take down these objectives even before they've spawned. If the other team is not tracking the timers as well, it usually means your team can take out the objective before the other team is even aware it was available again. You should also track nearby wards that you've seen the enemy place. These all last for 3 minutes. This knowledge can be helpful for your jungler or other gankers to know as they can move in immediately once a ward expires, allowing for an unexpected gank (sometimes while they're already out of positioning placing a new ward). You can also use this knowledge to decide whether it's worth counterwarding them or just waiting it out. You can check the remaining duration on allied wards by clicking on them. Flash has a cooldown of 4:10 with masteries, which can be useful to track if you want to ensure a kill. Personally, when I'm tracking any of these timers, I'll do a quick calculation in my head and type it something similar to this in team chat: "ward bot tri-bush at 14:23," with the time corresponding to when the ward expires. Having it in chat makes it easy to reference later.

Gold Matters Gold has a significant impact on the game. Between equally skilled players, the team with a significant gold lead -- provided they aren't taking stupid risks -- are favored to win. Last hit! The biggest single improvement most players can make to their gameplay is learning to effectively last hit minions, ensuring they get the bonus gold. Some champions are much easier to achieve this with (Morgana, Mordekaiser, and Vladimir being among the easiest), while others must pay far more attention to do it effectively (most Ranged AD carries). The only exception to this are champions who intentionally forgo last hitting in order to let other players get more gold (the "Zero CS Support" dynamic described in the Champion Roles & Recommendations section). Passive gold gain items work great on champions who have a natural reason to build them. For instance, Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold are great Support, Fighter, and Tank champions, but not usually a good idea on AP Casters or Ranged AD champions. Towers, Dragon, Baron Nashor, and jungle monsters all offer opportunities for additional gold gain. It's a good idea to pursue these as often as possible. 64 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

If you kill an enemy champion more than once, and they haven't killed anyone on your team, they are worth less and less gold. While you are denying them from being able to impact the game while dead, there comes a point where you're sacrificing more to kill them than you could be gaining by just last hitting minions or taking objectives. In some cases, it's still a good idea to go out of your way to kill an opponent, especially if they can potentially snowball into a powerhouse (such as Tryndamere). You're denying them experience and gold by doing so. Be smart about it. Finally, let your teammates get assists on champions you're fighting. You don't get any extra gold for killing a champion by yourself, whereas your team gets a very significant chunk of extra gold if at least one of your allies helps out. This bonus is not increased if more than one player helps out, so your main goal is to have at least one other player involved as often as possible. By the same token, don't be a nice guy and let a nearby teammate get a kill if no one will get an assist. Do everything you can to get in, even if you are going to take the kill as a result.

Avoid Unfavorable Fights It should go without saying that you don't want to get into fights you have a decent chance of losing. If you've already been killed more than once in the early game, but don't have the kills or assists to back it up, that's usually a sign that you need to focus on playing defensively. Pay attention to how you're getting killed (such as a jungler or a particularly brutal combo from your laning opponents. If your opponents are killing you, you're even less likely to be successful your next time around, as they may be gaining a level and gold advantage. Sometimes your teammates will get caught in obviously unfavorable fights. Discretion matters, but you should never do something which is likely to result in your death with little or no gain to your team. In other words, don't help when it doesn't make sense for you to help. By the same token, don't be the player who is in that unfavorable position, not only for yourself, but because your teammates may be drawn into a fight that is just as bad for them. Don't get baited into fights when you're not aware of what you're running into or where your opponents are. Some bait is more obvious than others, such as Shaco frequently running out of a bush and back towards it to draw you towards a trap. But any time a kill seems to easy, you should think it through. Avoiding unfavorable fights is a common theme and nearly everything else in this section offers you something that is technically related to this concept. All of this said, it's ok to take risks. As long as they're educated and you believe there's a reasonable chance you'll come out on top. Without taking risks you won't learn all of the things you can get away with (and the boundaries of your potential). 65 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Movement & Positioning Movement and positioning are important concepts for every player, and there's a myriad of ways to approach this, usually dependent on the champion you're playing and who your teammates are. Without going into detail on a subject that is so specific to the champion you're playing, one thing you'll need to get used to is moving between your normal attacks and ability casts. There's usually a window of time where you can safely move a little without slowing down your attacks or spells. In terms of normal attacks, you can move the moment your character has attacked a target (in the case of ranged champions, this will be when the projectile first appears in the air). Some champions have slower wind-up animations than others, so knowing exactly when you can use a move command again without accidentally canceling an attack is a matter of practice and muscle memory with your champion. Virtually all top players are constantly moving, some of whom use over a hundred movement commands every minute. This keeps them on their toes, prevents their opponents from landing easy skillshots, and allows them to position better towards their next targets (or away from potential threats) while not sacrificing their damage output. By constantly moving, they can continue to stay near -- or even ahead -of the path of the champions they're attacking, securing kills that players who aren't moving between attacks would miss. In other situations, skilled players can kite opponents, staying at a distance from them while being pursued, but still landing a barrage of normal attacks and abilities on them.

Juking Juking is when you telegraph the wrong moves to your opponents and fake them out. An example of this is running in a straight line to encourage a Blitzcrank or Morgana to use their skill-shot abilities on you, but instantly changing directions once they fire, thereby juking the ability. Faking your movements can be very effective in escaping pursuers. For example, moving into a bush while fleeing may lead someone chasing you to assume that you're going to continue running forward. However, if you wait until they reach the bush and then immediately run back in the direction you came from, you can sometimes more easily escape this way since they may need a moment to recognize and react to it. This is easiest (and often the most fun) to do with champions that can easily cross barriers in the jungle such as Gragas and Nidalee. Lee Sin is among the best champions at advanced juking, especially if he has wards or other enemy and allied targets available. Keep an eye on your potential escape routes wherever you are, and try to have at least two available.


That Awkward Moment When... ...you know you're going to die, but you still have a few seconds left. One moment you're on top of the world, the next you realize you have absolutely no possible escape unless your opponents are dumber than bricks. What do you do with your final moments? If you see their ally coming to attack you, try really hard to let your opponent kill you before their ally gets in range. Stand still or get a tower to help your opponent out. It's much better to die to a single opponent than to two or more, as it denies their team assist money. If you haven't actually been attacked by an enemy champion, but you're surrounded with no escape (such as trying to take a monster in their jungle, or being flanked in your lane), you can run straight for their tower or for a monster that can quickly kill you (such as Baron Nashor). If you're killed without being attacked by an enemy champion, you are considered "executed," and the enemy team gains nothing. Keep in mind that towers that are further in towards an enemy base deal more damage and can kill you more quickly. If you're not the only team member person trying to flee, don't move towards allied champions. Instead, actively move away from them so the enemy players are less likely to kill them as well. Or get suicidal and take out the enemies who you're most likely to be able to kill or seriously harm before dying. In most cases, you want to waste as much time of theirs as you can without sacrificing anything important. This is especially true if it distracts them from taking out your structures after a major teamfight. When you realize you're going to die, try to do something cool with it. And sometimes you'll actually live as a result.

You Have Been Slain Once you die, take a moment to check out the Death Recap (an option to do this appears near the top of your screen). This will break down the sources of damage that killed you, as well as their damage type. Taken together with what you observed from the battle that killed you, this can help you make more effective purchasing decisions for defensive items.

Calling MIA Letting your team know that an enemy is missing from your lane is often a good idea. For some teams, double pinging your lane will make that clear. In other cases, use chat to give some sort of indication that your lane is missing. This can be commonly done with "bot mia" (if you're in the bot lane) or "ss." If an opponent is constantly staying out of vision between minion waves, consider saying something to that extend in chat. 67 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

While map awareness is a personal responsibility, and some people are better at it than others, your goal is to win the game. You're more likely to win the game if you help your teammates out by letting them know about missing opponents. From a very practical standpoint, you should be calling MIA for your own benefit, even if you feel your teammates should be paying better attention to the map.

Direct Your Team Good communication on a team can significantly increase your chances of winning matchups, even when those matchups are in the other team's favor. Obviously you shouldn't berate and insult your teammates, but you can take this a step further: • • • • • • • • •

Get your team's attention regarding objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor. Do everything you can to organize people quickly to take these before the enemy team can stop you; Sometimes just attacking these objectives with teammates nearby will get their attention and get them to join in; Ask the team to group up and push an objective such as a tower, or have them group to help force a fight against the enemy team; Say when you're going to initiate a team fight, especially on champions like Amumu, so your teammates are prepared; Sometimes you can use obvious abilities, such as Sivir's On the Hunt aura, to indicate to your team that they should initiate or back off; Use the "Fall Back" ping if you think your teammates are in a bad position (but don't spam pings); If split pushing looks like a good idea, communicate to your team who should go where; Direct people to crowd control certain targets in fights (instead of placing blame for how the previous fight went); Let your teammates know about enemy wards, as well as potential gank opportunities.

Not everyone is going to respond positively to this. Be tactful, not demanding, and you're more likely to get a good reaction.

Don't Give Up Nothing is better than that come-from-behind victory. It will happen more often than you think if you really pay attention to all of your opportunities in a game. There's a difference between playing well and doing well. Players can be doing well if they're racking up a lot of kills in the early game and causing a major headache to your team. In these situations they may have a lot of gold and be in a great position to snowball. But playing well is a whole different story. Is the player racking up all those kills a melee champion investing in pure damage items, making them extremely vulnerable to being bursted down later in the 68 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

game? Are they actively farming to gain more gold, or are they simply roaming to pick up kills on opponents who aren't necessarily worth much anymore? Are they going for ideal targets in team fights and playing safe or are they getting cocky? Keep in mind that some champions, such as LeBlanc, will often have stronger early games than late game. Also, keep in mind that some champions, such as Ranged AD Carries, can become extremely strong powerhouses later in the game, and simply holding the game longer can turn it in your favor. Finally, winning a single team fight in the late game, particularly one the enemy team didn't expect (such as having your entire team hidden in a bush), can turn a game completely around. By the same token, focusing on objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor, or even stealing a Baron Nashor kill while your opponents are doing them, can also turn games around. Don't get discouraged. Stay calm and collected. You will play better. Don't surrender a game unless your opponents are doing well and playing well. If they're not playing as smart as your team, simply getting better map awareness (through wards) to deny them opportunities, in addition to toughing it out until your team can outpace theirs, is enough.

Teamplay & Objectives Slaughtering enemy champions is not your goal. Your goal is to destroy their nexus. This is achieved by destroying their inhibitors, which is achieved by destroying their towers. Don't lose sight of this.

Defend Defend your own objectives. Never give your opponents an opportunity to take an objective without losing something in return. Make them pay for it. • •

Don't go back to purchase items just because you have the money to do so, particularly if it may give your opponents an opportunity to push the tower you're defending. Don't leave your lane while it is being pushed, or for long enough that you can reasonably expect it to be pushed.

That said, there are two reasons to stop defending a tower. First, if your opponents are likely to win a fight against you and the tower is at low health, it is usually good to give up the tower and get to a safe position. Second, in rare circumstances it can be worthwhile to give up a tower in favor of locking down another objective or securing multiple kills in a teamfight or skirmish (so long as that leads to working on another objective). Be able to reasonably justify letting an opponent push your tower if you leave it for any reason. It's ok to lose first line towers if it's for a better cause, but never lose it because you're not paying attention or you want to shop. 69 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Sometimes It's Better To Wait While objectives are very important, there are often situations where you don't want to take down a tower in your lane. This is because minion waves will tend to gravitate to the mid-way point between the current tower on either side -- and if your opponent is missing a tower while yours remains, minions will spend more time on your opponents' half of the map. Here are the basic reasons not to push: • • • • • •

If you are farming very well and have been relatively safe in doing so; If you need to continue to farm but can't risk going past the river due to potential ganks; If you are effectively zoning your opponents and preventing them from farming; If your team doesn't need you immediately or if you'll be more of a benefit to your team by farming further; If allowing your opponents to recommit to another lane could cause a problem; If you don't have a place to go after you've pushed the tower.

The last point is the most important, because it relates to when you should take a tower. The worst thing you can do is take a tower early, then not be able to either secure kills or objectives elsewhere on the map, leaving you either falling behind or leeching on another lane and causing them to fall behind. Before going further, let me emphasize that taking out the middle tower is nearly always a good idea. It has too much of an impact on the map to justify waiting longer than necessary, unless you simply cannot go anywhere else with your champion and reliably pick up kills or experience. Make sure that if you take a tower, you have a short-term plan to contribute to your team (take Dragon, gank and push mid-lane, recall and gank top, etc.). That said, don't leave yourself unable to defend your lane if your opponents push! You should also take towers if you're not getting much out of your lane in the first place. If you're constantly being harassed, or your opponents are not doing a very good job farming but are making it very difficult for you (such as a kill lane with champions dedicated to taking you out rather than effectively farming), taking their tower the moment you have an opportunity can allow you to move somewhere more favorable while denying them easy shots at you. As a rule of thumb, 20 minutes is about where you should be considering taking a tower regardless of other factors, as you'll need to transition to mid and late game dynamics with your team. This isn't a hard rule, but it works. If you lose your first tower, there is a silver lining in that you can more safely farm and your jungler or other lanes may potentially have an easier gank on your lane opponents if they stick around. You can also move more freely around the map immediately afterward, which can help if your team has seriously hurt one or both other lanes and easy ganks can be set up. It's not ideal and you shouldn't 70 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

intentionally throw a tower for this reason (since it does give easier Dragon or Baron access, among other things), but it will occasionally turn games around.

Control Your Lane Extension Don't blindly auto-attack enemy minions! There's an art to controlling how far you're extended in the early game, especially in the side lanes. Here are some tips. Gain a level before your opponents by pushing hard for the first minions, especially if you know where the jungler is or you don't believe that their jungler will pose an early threat. You'll want to do this if you can follow up a brief level advantage with very strong harassment, or if losing that level advantage may make you particularly vulnerable. This is usually good to keep in mind for an early level 2 or level 6, but don't push too hard at all times for the sake of leveling. Keep in mind that minions don't spawn any more quickly, so pushing too hard won't gain anything but a very small, temporary experience advantage. You want to avoid minions reaching your tower whenever possible, not just because of the damage to the tower, but because it makes last hitting those minions far more difficult. Beyond this, if a tower helps clear minions, it can give your own minions an advantage and push the lane significantly further out as a result. Push back when your opponents are pushing so you can keep the minions off the tower, and consider a Wriggle's Lantern or Will of the Ancients if you may need to tank minions frequently in order to achieve this. By keeping minions closer to your tower without letting them get pushed back out by the tower, you put yourself in a naturally safe position near your tower. This helps a lot in avoiding early ganks from the enemy, while making ganks from your teammates a lot more likely to be successful. Sometimes you'll need to fight under your tower. This can happen if the opponents are doing a good job pushing, or if they're doing a good job harassing you (therefore making the only safe spot under your tower), or both. On many champions, you can gain higher minion kills by keeping these rules in mind: •

•

Use one normal attack on a full health ranged caster minion before the tower hits it and it should be low enough to last hit after the tower hits it (unless your attack damage is very high, in which case you should wait until the tower hits it once); Wait for the tower to hit a melee minion twice from full health, then kill it with a normal attack.

Those rules help a lot, but the situation is usually very dynamic, and minions won't always be coming under a tower at full health. You'll want to get used to ways of dealing with this on the various champions you may play. You want your minions to get to their tower, especially if the opponent is back at base. This makes it much harder for them to last hit minions for gold, and if they're back at base, loses them all of the 71 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

potential gold and experience from that wave. This is a huge hit, especially when two solo laners are against each other and one is losing waves. Keep bushes in mind. If you've got a jungler or another player looking for an opportunity to gank in a side lane, it can be to your benefit to push the minions in a lane far enough that the player can walk into one of the bushes on the side of the map without being seen. This can give them an opportunity to get close to opponents without being noticed, provided there is no enemy ward vision in the bush or the approach.

Between Minion Waves As you get more comfortable with the lane dynamics, you'll start to recognize times when a wave of your minions won't kill a single enemy minion in the next wave (either because an opponent is killing them or a tower will take out all of your minions first). In some situations, this will be a back and forth that occurs on nearly every wave, especially if both you and your opponent can clear full minion waves quickly. At these times, it's usually a good idea to leave vision range of your opponent during the wave, either by going into a bush or backing off. You won't be losing gold or experience, so this is perfectly fine. If you do this often enough, your opponent may not be able to recognize the difference between you standing back for the next wave or actually being missing. This will allow you to more effectively accomplish warding or ganking with less warning, or to simply back off to another bush where you can watch for opponents coming into your lane. One common example of how a good mid lane can use breaks in minion waves: • • • •

You push to minions to the enemy tower, perhaps after you've killed them or after they've gone back, or perhaps because you're just a very strong pushing champion; Between waves, you back off and place a ward in the top river; You arrive back in lane to push the next minion wave again; Between waves, you back off and place a second ward in bottom river.

That setup lets you place wards without losing experience or gold, and if your minions are pushed to their tower, you can see a defending player if they're attempting to react to you. Alternatively, you could use either of those opportunities to head up or down river or through the jungle and attempt to gank an opponent. Killing jungle monsters between waves can be effective, too. Both purple team's top lane and blue team's bottom lane have relatively easy access to double golems, though you'll need to make sure you can get back quickly. Mid lane has easy access to both friendly and hostile territory wraiths. This is best done while you have minion control and your opponents do not.


Press The Advantage One of the worst habits that League of Legends players fall into is seeing kills in a teamfight as the end of an event, after which they go back to base, recover health, and purchase new items. In most cases, this is the completely wrong thing to do. If you've just killed your opponents, push. It doesn't matter how much gold you just earned or how low you are on health, if you can reasonably push anywhere safely, do it. The only exceptions to this rule are in the early game where you may intentionally avoid pushing first lane towers. It sounds simple, but knowing and acting on this will put you head and shoulders above a huge portion of the League of Legends community.

React To Enemies Who Aren't There Just as important as reacting to nearby champions is knowing how to react when you know some enemy champions aren't near you at all. This is part of pressing the advantage. If your team is near Dragon or Baron Nashor and one or more members of the opposite team are on the opposite side of the map with no way to respond (no teleport, etc.), that is a great time to either force a fight or take these objectives. By the same token, don't show yourself in bottom lane later in the game when your opponents may be ready to take Baron, as that's a clear indication to your opponents that you will not be able to immediately assist your team. If you can account for their jungler ganking another lane and believe part of their jungle is available (particularly blue or red buff), invade the jungle and take it! This is risky, but often pays off as long as you can continue to account for them. If you can account for all five members of the opposing team on the map and believe you have an advantage in your lane, push to take out a tower. This is especially true at the second towers and base towers and inhibitors, where a teamfight on the other side of the map may leave these vulnerable while your opponents are distracted.

Dragon & Baron Nashor While I emphasize the importance of team objectives -- specifically, structures -- and want to discourage you from looking at killing enemy champions as the goal of the game, gold does matter. Repeatedly killing Dragon during the early mid-game, along with securing Baron Nashor, will give you a massive gold lead over your opponents (not to mention Baron's buff). Being able to take these objectives before they can respond can keep you ahead of them and in a game that they would otherwise be winning. If you're going to contest Dragon or Baron Nashor, there's a very common trap you want to avoid. Both Dragon and Baron Nashor have an outer wall around them, with their only real entrance being in the river. For some reason, players on the purple team (top half of the map) will tend to congregate around 73 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

the outer wall (inside their jungle) when an enemy team is attempting Baron Nashor. This only makes sense for a small number of champions with reliable blink or dash abilities, who can potentially move in and attempt to steal dragon or otherwise engage in a team fight. Alternatively, champions with skillshots that may hit Baron can attempt to steal the buff from here. But doing so necessarily prevents you from organizing as a team and contesting the other team in a normal team fight, unless each player without blinks or dashes burns Flash. It also isn't a good position to come in from anyway: Baron Nashor attacks the closest valid target while he's engaged, and entering a fight that close to him means his damage may be redirected to you. As a rule, a team should usually move in from the river if they're going to engage the enemy team. For Dragon, it's important to remember that he can be moved, and moving him outside his river entrance puts him out of range of most skill-shots that can be fired from the outer wall. Like Baron, this should usually be contested from the river (though players who can dash or blink over the outer wall can do so more safely here, especially if a team fight is occurring there or only a small group of enemies is working on Dragon).

Force Favorable Teamfights There are four places teamfights should occur: 1. In a lane, with the goal of defending or taking a structure, or preventing opponents from farming the minions in the lane; 2. In or around Dragon or Baron Nashor, with the goal of killing them for your team; 3. In the jungle, specifically to counter-jungle (killing their jungler or taking their important buffs) or in response to counter-jungling (protecting your jungler or your important buffs); 4. In between any of these (such as moving to the enemy team's base after successfully killing Baron Nashor). The first thing that needs to be said is that if you're engaging in team fights elsewhere, either your team or the enemy team is doing something that may eventually help them win the game, but rarely is an ideal approach to doing so. If their team is ahead and trying to engage in fights unrelated to any of the above, you're probably better off ignoring them as a team, and instead focusing on other objetives. Forcing favorable teamfights is an important concept for a team. To do this, you need to make it clear you're attempting to achieve one of the first three goals above, and you need to be ready to respond in a way that will likely result in victory for your team. The best example is forcing a Baron Nashor fight. If the enemy team has it warded, or you clearly show yourself headed to Baron Nashor, then they'll know you're there and ready to take the buff. Your team having the Baron Nashor buff, in addition to all of the bonus gold, is a huge risk to nearly any team, and they will be forced to choose whether to respond to you or whether to let you have the buff. 74 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

In some cases they won't respond to you if they know it's an unwinnable fight, and they feel they are more likely to come out on top fighting under towers (if it's your team, keep in mind that you don't need to respond to fights like this). In many cases, they'll wait until you're doing Baron Nashor and attempt to fight you during the encounter while you're already taking damage from Baron. This is usually favorable to for them unless you have lategame items that really mitigate Baron's damage output. And in other cases, they'll wait until you're doing Baron Nashor and attempt to steal the gold and buff by a well-timed Smite or other damage. Even if they lose one or two players doing this, successfully stealing the buff can turn the game around for their team. In this circumstance, forcing a favorable teamfight usually means not actually engaging Baron Nashor. Instead, you want to make it clear that -- if they don't respond -- you will kill Baron Nashor. If you can take the damage, you may even want to start attacking Baron briefly if they have vision on you, such as with a Clairvoyance (with the intent of quickly resetting the encounter) to make sure they get in to try and stop you. If the enemy responds and comes near Baron, engage in a teamfight. If you're correct that it is a favorable teamfight (after all, forcing unfavorable teamfights is usually bad unless it's a last-ditch effort), you should come out on top. And if you come out with enough health and damage, you can take Baron Nashor. The advantage to a forced fight like this is not just that you've locked down the enemy team and successfully taken Baron Nashor as a result. It also means the enemy team is crippled, likely with players still dead if it's later in the game, and this gives you an opening to make significant dents to their architecture (i.e. destroy their structures). In some cases, you can take a victory here straight to their base, saving Baron Nashor for after you've done your damage to their defenses. Baron is a well-known example, but you can force favorable teamfights anywhere, especially at towers and inhibitors that your opponents must defend. This is an especially good tactic if you're already ahead in the game, as it removes options for your opponents and gives you more dominance over the match. But be careful not to overestimate your power or overstay your welcome when you're low on health.

Inhibitors Matter, But So Does Their Nexus This is straightforward. If you're pushing into their base but feel you cannot take out their nexus (in other words, pushing to win), knock out as many inhibitors as you can. Two inhibitors down, especially on opposite sides of the base, makes it very difficult for a team to leave their base without risking their nexus (either to super minions or an easy path in for your allies). If they're resurrecting with two inhibitors down, that can be a good time to take out objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor, as it will be very difficult for them to respond (and very obvious if they do if your minions are giving vision inside their base). 75 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

The nexus and its protective towers are actually pretty easy to take down if you have minions and a good deal of damage output. This is true even with one or two of their players coming back life, provided you still have an overwhelming presence. It takes a bit before you can judge whether you can push to win, but you should get in the habit of making a real effort on it whenever its reasonably safe (instead of killing more inhibitors). Victory is achieved by killing the nexus. Don't get distracted by opponents who may be very easy kills. Stay focused on bringing down the towers and the nexus itself unless you absolutely must respond to opponents. Not pushing a nexus when you had an opportunity to will come back to bite you at least a few times, given enough games.

Pushing & Split Pushing Pushing is when you actively put pressure on a lane, usually with the goal of taking out structures. Split pushing is when a team is actively pushing more than one lane at a time. Split pushing tactic should be used when an enemy team is dead or crippled after a skirmish or team fight and there are multiple easy objectives to take. However, it can also be a great way of safely winning a game when all of your enemies are alive. Pushing and split pushing is distracting. If your opponents work best as a cohesive group of four or five players, split pushing forces them to split up to effectively respond. If they're currently attacking your tower, or getting ready to, pushing or split pushing other lanes can get the pressure off of you. Sometimes pushing and split pushing isn't distracting, especially when you're already in combat. I can't recall the number of times I've been so engaged in a team fight we were winning that I didn't realize one of my enemies was pushing down a base tower. This is a pyrrhic victory -- in other words, we won a team fight, but usually lost as much as we gained. I've learned that it's often a good idea to purposely engage in teamfights, even unfavorable ones, in order to let someone push directly to their base. Consider pushing and split pushing when you cannot effectively respond to an enemy team doing Baron Nashor or even attacking your own structures. This is risky to do, but it can pay off in the long run, especially if you can knock out an inhibitor (or worse). I recommend looking for any opportunities to split push when a game is clearly not in your favor and you've been losing team fights. It can pull out unexpected victories.

Backdooring Backdooring occurs when a team attacks enemy structures while their allied minions are not present. With towers, this is more difficult to do because the tower gains additional stats when minions are not present, but it can be done at points in the mid and late game. You will usually want to do this when there is an undefended target of opportunity (such as while an enemy team is dead). 76 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Double Explosion If you're losing, try to have a successful Surrender vote as your nexus is being attacked. If you time it right, you get two explosions. Two explosions.


Team Composition

AOE Disables/Damage When a team has at least one very strong AOE disabler, such as Galio, Amumu, or Morgana, they can line up devastating combos for additional AOE damage from other teammates. Watch out for a team that contains one of these disables, along with any other damaging ultimate (such as Miss Fortune's Bullet Time), as they can very quickly knock out an enemy team even if they're behind. AOE teams only work if a team is grouped up tightly enough that multiple important targets can be hit at once. To counter these teams, make every effort to keep your most important teammates away from each other and from other teammates, but close enough that they can immediately engage after the AOE team has initiated a fight. The jungle is a death trap when going against AOE teams, as the tighter corridors can sometimes make it virtually impossible to avoid a strong ability combo. If you have teammates who can survive an initial round of burst from the AOE champions, having them stay near each other can draw attention to them, allowing for effective counterplay once the initial volley of abilities have been used. Another good counter is the use of champions such as Janna, Alistar, and other disablers to lock down these champions as they try to initiate fights. Finally, using split pushing (covered later) and other multi-faceted approaches that require their team to split apart to deal with your team can very effectively counter teams that require their ability combo to win fights. Getting a good balance of AOE in your team to pick up at least some of the benefits of this team comp is a good idea in most match-ups.

Early Victory (Bruisers or Assassins) When a team is disproportionately comprised of either assassins (including casters like LeBlanc) or bruisers (tanky DPS with disables), this usually points to a strategy of winning the game early on. These champions excel in the early game, potentially netting several early kills in each lane and gaining early towers. However, this is a strategy that relies on snowballing an unusually strong advantage over the other team early, ideally leading to a team that will either surrender or stop trying as hard to win. Countering these teams relies on playing it unuusally safe and farming gold. You want a strong AD and/or AP carry coming out of the early and mid game -- damage in League of Legends is designed so that it will always outpace survivability, given time and smart gold investments. Non-carry champions should focus on surviving the initial burst from these champions to protect the carries. Balanced team compositions will usually win over heavy assassin or bruiser team compositions once the game reaches late game. 78 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Pushers Teams with very strong pushers such as Heimerdinger, Master Yi, or Sivir may look for opportunities to break away from their team to push lanes and structures around the map. Ideally at least someone on your team has teleport or can otherwise immediately respond when a structure is being pushed. In normal circumstances, this will usually cause the pushing player to burn important cooldowns to escape, and may potentially net a kill for your team. It may seem contradictory, but one of the best ways to counter pushers is to push down a lane hard as a team while your own lane is getting pushed. Unless the other team's pushers are significantly ahead of your own, this should eventually force them to back off the lane in order to defend. If you do this, you may be met with a team fight. To take advantage of their teammates absence and keep the pressure on them, you will most likely need to engage in a fight with their team immediately (while they're down a player).

Poking vs. Initiating Teams with strong, long-range poke abilities, such as Kogmaw's Living Artillery or Xerath's Arcanopulse, excel at saturating an enemy team with damage prior to an engagement. Teams with strong initiation abilities, such as Hecarim's Onslaught of Shadows, excel at getting full fights started. Poke and initiation both counter each other. If a team can very effectively poke another team, initiating a fight becomes increasingly less desirable as the fight is more likely to lose. However, if a team can very effectively initiate an enemy team that is trying to poke, the entire advantage of poking is removed. The effectiveness of poke is based on the range of the poke abilities and the effectiveness of team crowd controls and escapes that can be used to limit incoming initiates (Janna and Lulu are excellent at providing all three to their teams). As a rule, League of Legends has longer distance initiation abilities than poke abilities. For example, Nocturne and Pantheon can jump into fights over large areas of the map, and Gangplank can drop down a Cannon Barrage to slow opponents while allies move in. Additionally, some champions have very strong gap closers that allow them to quickly break into fights against opponents at a distance. While there tends to be better initiation potential than poke potential in the League, this is no guarantee that your team actually has a strong initiator against enemy poke, particular in Blind Pick matches. In these cases you will need to look at effective counterwarding and flanking to get in position and force fights.


Map Dominance: Warding, Counterwarding & Clairvoyance Being able to see and actively track opponents on the game map can provide a massive advantage to your team, provided your team will make use of the vision. It allows you to push, engage in team fights, and take objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor based on real information, not just perception. By the same token, preventing your opponents from seeing and tracking your team will put them at a disadvantage. I'm going to cover these concepts of map vision and awareness, particularly as it relates to warding, counterwarding, and the use of clairvoyance. Note: There are two downloadable Summoner's Rift maps that go along with this guide. You can download them in the members section!

Sight Wards, Vision Wards, Oracle's Elixir Green Sight Wards and pink Vision Wards can both be purchased from the Consumables tab in the shop. Sight Wards cost 75 gold and offer normal vision in an area around where they're placed. Vision Wards cost 125 gold and offer both normal vision and stealth detection in an area around where they're placed. With Season 3, it is now also possible to purchase a Sightstone and an upgraded Ruby Sightstone, granting a refillable stash of wards in your inventory. Both types of wards have a 3 minute duration and can be killed with 3 normal attacks. The duration of an allied ward can be checked at any time by clicking the ward and looking at the resource bar; this is a countdown timer that lists the remaining time in seconds. When placed, they are briefly visible and targetable to enemies, meaning they can be killed if nearby opponents react quickly. Wards can be placed a moderate distance away from your champion, allowing you to place them over walls. The stealth detection from Vision Wards allows them to see stealthed units, including champions and placeable objects such as other wards. However, if a Vision Ward is placed outside of a bush, that ward will not grant vision on stealthed units inside the bush, even if vision is granted in the bush through other means. Oracle's Elixir is a 400 gold consumable that grants stealth detection to the player who purchases it. This buff lasts five minutes or until the player dies. Like Vision Wards, you will need to be inside a bush to see stealthed units within the bush, regardless of whether you have vision in the bush from other sources.

Teleport & Champion Abilities Allied wards are considered valid units for the Teleport summoner spell. Using Teleport clearly gives away the location of the ward to any opponents who are paying attention to the area, but also makes the ward invulnerable. 80 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

This can be used to your advantage in securing kills on Dragon and Baron Nashor, particularly if a player on the other side of the map has Teleport available and can turn the tides of a fight in your favor. In some circumstances, it can be a good method of getting a player near the enemy base quickly to take down a structure before the team can react. There are also a few champions, such as Jax, Lee Sin, and Katarina, who can use abilities to dash to wards. If you're playing these champions it's often a good idea to carry at least one ward with you for this purpose. If you're playing on the same team as them, keep it in mind if you need to help them escape in a pinch. And if you're playing against them, you'll want to be more vigilant about destroying enemy wards when possible.

Counterwarding Warding is the process of increasing your own map vision and map awareness through the use of wards. Counterwarding is the process of removing your opponents map vision and map awareness by getting rid of their wards. Counterwarding is important so long as it offers a tangible advantage to your team. If your team will not or cannot realistically use it to their advantage, getting rid of a ward is a costly investment: if you're using a Vision Ward, you'll be paying a premium; if you're using Oracle's Elixir, you'll be putting it at risk if you move significantly out of position to destroy the ward. What amounts to a tangible advantage? In the early game it can mean being able to push and zone your opponents more effectively because they're afraid of being ganked. Being able to engage Dragon and Baron Nashor before your opponents are aware, or in such a way where they cannot guess how much health these monsters have while you're fighting, is an advantage. In this case, I recommend warding before these objectives become available in the mid and late game, as it will give you warning if a team is aware of the timer and is preparing to fight them the moment they respawn. In the early game, counterwarding tends to be specific, and pink Vision Wards are often suited to this. As the game progresses, denying more vision across the map allows your team more latitude and better opportunities, and this is where Oracle's Elixir tends to be more effective. Counterwarding is virtually always good in a game, but is often not necessary for every single ward. Don't put yourself in a position where you're being baited into bad situations by counterwarding wards you didn't need to take out. Both warding and counterwarding are mind games, and the better you shut down your opponent's vision while increasing your own, the more your team can engage based on reality while your opponents must engage based on perception.


One More Thing About Oracle's Elixir... Make sure you carefully check for enemy wards as you pass through a bush while you have Oracle's Elixir active. If you're moving quickly and are watching other events, you can miss wards that will only pop up for a half second or so. Be deliberative when moving between bushes to make sure you're not missing anything.

Reveal Abilities Some champions, such as Nidalee and Caitlyn, have abilities that temporarily reveal their opponents through the fog of war. This grants vision on the opponent, but it does so in a mechanically interesting way -- you can see your opponent's wards if the affected player moves in range of them. This doesn't work for all abilities that make an opponent visible, and it doesn't work 100% of the time even for abilities that do, but keep an eye out when you reveal a player with traps or other abilities.

Towers Towers are naturally defensible, providing strong area vision and high damage output. In balanced fights, towers are safe havens and fallback points that allow for extension in the area around them. Losing or destroying a tower can completely shift the balance in a match in terms of vision and map awareness. Not only do you lose the vision of the tower, but you also lose the easy fallback position that makes nearby warding much safer for your team. If you lose a tower, take extra steps to ensure you have vision in the area. You cannot safely extend until you do. On the flip side, if you take a tower, take extra steps to destroy any wards they may try to place, as this turns a large area on their side of the map into hostile territory for them. This prevents them from easily farming, can offer you more gank opportunities, and can allow your team to more easily push the next tower in their lane.

Map Zones Understanding the effects of downed towers and map vision helps to understand one of the broader concepts of map control. While the map is easily divided into two halves, it is better to think of it in terms of smaller zones. Let's say that purple team, which resides on the top half of the map, has lost their bottom lane tower. As soon as this happens, a whole region around that tower, including their blue golem buff, suddenly becomes vulnerable. Losing the vision and safety from the tower is not only a real, tangible loss of 82 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

safety, but also means that players on purple team have a lot more to fear. To counter this, they will need ward vision out to the river. Now, let's take this one step further, and say that purple team also loses their mid tower. Once this happens, the entire area between the two towers, including blue golem and the three wolf pack, is completely dangerous to purple team. They will need at least two wards to safely be in this area, and will have less time to react to them as the wards need to be placed in more tightly to cover the entrances. Losing mid tower has the greatest negative impact in terms of map zones, as it affects both red buff and blue buff, along with Dragon and Baron Nashor, and the length of the river. If you've lost this tower, you'll want to do more to recover vision in this area. If you've taken this tower, your team should usually be aggressive in asserting your presence in the vulnerable zones. Remember, this is largely a mind game, and your goal is to give them the perception you're in control of their territory. Map zones overlap each other, and are extended further depending on your vision and the champions in that area. For example, purple team's mid lane and bottom lane affect how vulnerable their blue golem buff is, and champions who can move extremely quickly can assert control over more of this territory. Response time and quickly countering players entering your territory is important to maintaining control; vision doesn't matter if you're not going to react to someone entering your territory. The main map zones are as follows: Top & bottom river. This is controlled primarily with wards. Middle, covering both red and blue buffs. Top, crossing over to red buff for purple team, and blue buff for blue team. Bottom, crossover to blue buff for purple team, and red buff for blue team. Because of the shape of the map, the second set of towers offer very little map control, even in the interior regions. If you're on the offense, this means taking down the outer towers can fairly easily give you complete map control of their territory. If your own towers have been taken, wards are usually necessary to safely move in your interior.

Who is Responsible The players responsible for warding is a team decision. However, it is very common to see Support players responsible for the bulk of warding, with a jungling champion helping out. In this setup, other 83 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

team members are usually responsible for warding and protecting their own lane, particularly if they're alone in the lane. Your opponents may choose to gank based on how ineffective they believe you will be at preventing a kill. For example, if the bottom lane is well warded by your team, even counterwarded, and gank attempts have been unsuccessful, that region is higher risk for your opponents. Even if they don't get killed themselves, they may be wasting time with relatively little to show for it. When this happens, the middle and top lanes will become higher priority, provided they aren't equally well defended. This is why it can be very important, especially in the early and mid game, to make sure you're controlling vision on areas of the map where a Support or other player may not be in a position to provide wards themselves. Keep this rule in mind: If you don't die because you placed a ward, that ward paid for itself several times over. While you may feel it is ideal to use your gold elsewhere, you should invest in wards whenever necessary.

Too Much Warding is important, but there is such a thing as too much warding. You will need to balance the contribution that more wards has to your team vs. the risk you're taking by not investing in items that benefit your team in skirmishes and team fights. Simply placing wards, particularly alone, may leave you at a distance or bad entrance to fights that may be coming up. Provided you are generating a decent amount of gold, such as with a Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold, a good rule of thumb is that you should be purchasing at least two wards when you go back to base, but may be going overboard if you purchase five, unless you've got a specific reason such as extended baron control. This is situational and it depends on whether your teammates are also helping with vision. Having vision is amazing, but if your team is losing fights without gaining objectives, it won't amount to anything. Make sure you're not hindering your team.

Dealing With Stealth Champions Before your team can carry around Oracle's Elixir in the mid and late game you may want to look for quick kills on opponents who are frequently using stealth abilities (such as Akali). If you're fairly confident you or your ally can kill these players given a few moments of uninterrupted burst, try to place a pink Vision Ward in the location they will most likely be stealthed. If at all possible, conceal this action by placing it while they don't have vision over the map (such as while your minions are pushed to their tower) and, if at all possible, before they have had a chance to see you had the ward in your inventory. 84 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Alternatively, you can just hold onto a pink ward until they're stealthing to finish them off. Since the gold return will generally be much higher than the cost of the ward, this can be a good investment if you're quick to react. As a note, Oracle's Elixir is not always best to have only on your Support in regards to stealth champions, as it can lead to a positioning issue. Support tend to have specific positioning requirements that may put them a bit away from your disruptors or carries. To actually hunt down and kill stealth champions, it helps that the players that are either being attacked by those champions or are capable of securing kills on those champions have an Oracle's Elixir running themselves.

Warding With Teammates Depending on the situation in the current match-up, you may need the assistance of teammates to effectively ward and counterward around the map. The first factor is whether the opposing team has a vision advantage of their own and whether they're quickly acting on that vision. It can be very difficult to win the vision game once your opponents already control most of the map. The second factor is how reckless your opponents are. Most advanced players will not put themselves at risk by moving blindly into the fog of war while several opponents are not accounted for. The fear of being caught out of position and being ganked is a very real thing, and it's one of the biggest advantages of denying an opponent their map vision. By mid-game, a player wishing to place wards can usually do so alone if they have already denied the enemy vision and will have some advance warning from their own vision on approaching enemies. It's also a good rule of thumb to immediately take opportunities to ward and counterward when you can see the threats on your opponent's team somewhere else on the map. This is the safest time to move around solo. However, less experienced opponents are less likely to have picked up the habit of being careful about overextending and avoiding potential traps. This will actually make it harder to safely place wards alone if you're playing a less survivable champion. On the flip side, roaming with your team is more likely to net kills on opponents who are out of position. The bottom line is that warding without teammates is safest when you already have a vision advantage over your opponent. By warding and counterwarding early and often, you can more safely maintain this advantage without needing your team to break off every time you need to refresh vision.


Protecting & Replacing Wards Once wards are out, they should usually be treated as secondary objectives. If you can defend a ward before it is counterwarded, do so. Keep an eye on wards that are protecting your lane and quickly respond if you reasonably can. It can be frustrating when an enemy counterwards you, especially in the early game. However, if the ward was necessary to your survival, or acted as a deterrant, it can sometimes be to your advantage to immediately replace the ward even if there's a very high chance they'll kill it again. For example, if a player placed a pink Vision ward in the river bush and killed your ward, placing a green Sight Ward may result in them countering you again while their Vision Ward is still active. Immediately placing a new ward can lead to two potential benefits. First, it can waste the time of a jungler or another player who is counterwarding if they choose to go back and take out the new ward; at the same time, you're aware of exactly where they are and they can't threaten another lane. Second, it can be used to bait opponents out once you're ready to defend your ward and potentially kill them.

Clairvoyance Clairvoyance is a summoner spell that grants vision for a brief time at any location on the map, regardless of your own distance from that location. This spell does not reveal stealth, but it does reveal inside bushes even when it is not cast within those bushes. Clairvoyance markers can be seen by the opposing team, even in the fog of war, so using Clairvoyance can give away an area of the map you're interested in. If you suspect an opponent is waiting in a nearby bush, such as a jungler waiting for a gank, using Clairvoyance on them may discourage them from sticking around.

The First Cast At about 8-10 seconds into the match-up you will want to cast Clairvoyance near the enemy summoner platform. This can give you an idea what starting items your opponents are choosing and may give an indication which lanes your opponents are headed to. If your opponents are moving together down one lane, that may indicate that they're going to protect their jungle or invade your own.

Chase the Jungler (Early Timers) Clairvoyance is often best in the early game when you can accurately determine where a jungler or roamer is. This is especially true against junglers with very strong early ganks. Champions have different starting preferences, including killing the red lizard or blue golem very quickly in a match. Many champions can choose either, while some champions are more limited to killing the 86 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

blue golem early due to mana constraints in their jungling route. For example, an Amumu will tend to start at blue golem due to the mana regeneration buff, whereas a Lee Sin is more flexible and may start near red or blue. Because jungling is different for every champion, and because many champions have options, there's no hard rule to tell you the best places to clairvoyance at any time. However, here's some quick notes:

Buff Check & Early Clairvoyance Strategy Depending on the jungler, choose between checking the opposing blue buff or red buff between 1:45 and 1:55. If you've used Clairvoyance on the blue buff and your team has vision around your blue buff, the enemy is most likely doing a route that starts near red. Junglers who pick up an early red buff are more likely to also go for an early gank. If the purple team (top) goes for red, expect a potential early gank at top. If the blue team (bottom) goes for red, expect a potential early gank at bottom. (If either of these are your lane and you're also providing wards, it's a good idea to ward the gank locations immediately) Consider using your next Clairvoyances at the lanes you feel are in the most danger. This is even more true if the lane you feel is in the most danger is also not warding to protect themselves (such as a solo top lane). Even though it can be frustrating to use the ability to defend players who won't ward, your goal is ultimately to win the match, and it can be worth it to compensate for them by doing this. (In particularly rough match-ups, a solo player may not even be able to move near a place where they can ward, so Clairvoyance will help them protect themselves while placing their own ward). If a jungler goes for blue golem first, watch out for a potential early gank at middle. Also, an early blue means you should use Clairvoyance again around 7:40 (shortly after it respawns) to check on their blue buff again, as they may either not have gotten to it quickly enough, or they may be taking it then.

Develop & Trust Your Gut There are no hard and fast rules to Clairvoyance, and a completely defined list of timers is as varied as the champions and situations you come across. However, get a feel for the champions you're against and when they may be moving to key locations. It may even help to play some junglers yourself to get a feel for them. Using Clairvoyance defensively is great, but it's always worth keeping in mind that the best players will often use it offensively as a means of giving their teams opportunities.


Positioning If you're checking the jungle with your Clairvoyance you have two choices. Normally you should try to check two creep camps by placing the Clairvoyance between them.

For red consider the double golems and red lizard.


For blue get the wolves and blue golem. These positions maximize your chance of catching the jungler. Your other choice is to use the Clairvoyance more directly on a major buff to get vision on any opponents that may be there. This is usually not ideal, especially since it can indicate you're looking to invade. At Dragon and Baron Nashor, use Clairvoyance in the river in such a way that you can see them and whether they're engaged, but may also see nearby opponents. If you're taking these objectives with your team, consider using Clairvoyance to check beyond the outer wall for anyone either waiting to move in to steal the kill or attempting to snipe it with long range abilities.

Against Baiting If it looks like an opponent may be intentionally baiting your teammates towards a location, quickly use Clairvoyance to see the most likely area where opponents may be hiding, particularly in bushes along the path.

Against Juking Clairvoyance is fantastic in its ability to see in bushes. Keep this in mind when an opponent is attempting to flee or juke through bushes: if your team loses vision, they cannot use normal attacks or most targeted spells. Even the briefest interruption can fully break a spell combo or prevent a killing blow. Get in the habit of using Clairvoyance before an enemy reaches a bush to prevent them from breaking vision while your team continues to focus them. (In rare circumstances you can pull this off with wards as well.)

Clairvoyance as Protection A well-placed Clairvoyance ahead of your path can give you an idea of when you can't be stopped. In other words, when enemies are not in the paths ahead of you, you can reasonably assume that you can safely move in. This is fantastic for positioning your team, but also for placing wards and counterwarding. In this role, Clairvoyance can be used to help recover safe territory for your team when you're otherwise shut down.

Requests If someone on your team is running Clairvoyance, it's often a good idea to request they use it at a location if you suspect opponents are there. This will depend on the player and whether they catch your request quickly and feel it's a good idea, but in many cases they will oblige. The spell is frequently used on educated guesses rather than hard knowledge, so occasionally directing it somewhere you strongly 89 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

feel opponents are (or want to make sure they aren't, such as at a jungle buff you're about to take) may put it to better use.


Specific Ward Locations At the beginning of a match, blue and purple team each control one half of the map. However, the hard control mechanisms are towers, which means players can move in through the jungle unless they are stopped by their opponents. Knowing that, one of the goals with early wards is to make sure you're aware of opponents who enter your jungle. This isn't always as important as using wards to protect your lane, but fortunately you can achieve both at the same time. Controlling your jungle is sectional. If your bottom lane and mid lane are properly warded, you will have warning when opponents are coming into your bottom jungle. However, if either your mid lane or top lane are not properly warded, your opponents will be able to gain access to the top jungle before your team can reasonably react. It follows, then, that failing to properly ward around the mid lane can have the greatest negative impact on the game, regardless of the impact it has on the mid lane itself. It opens up map-wide counterjungling and alternative gank routes that are harder to respond to. Effective warding involves not only becoming aware of opponents, but also having time to react to them. This is true both in defensive and offensive warding. Enough theory! Let's get into specifics on great places to place wards throughout the game. I'll be breaking these down by the area of the map you're controlling with them.


Team Warding Most of the following sections will involve protecting individual lanes. However, if your team is on the same page and you can keep a perimeter warded consistently throughout the game, there is a preferred setup for this.

Example: Blue Team (Bottom)

At top lane, the enemy tri-bush should be warded.


At mid lane, the enemy red lizard ramp should be warded, as well as the ramp behind the enemy blue golem.


At bottom lane, the ramp near the enemy blue golem exit should be warded, ideally in such a way that you can see near Dragon as well. If you're playing the purple team (top), flip each of these correspondingly. If you ward these while keeping tabs on your opponents and preventing them from pushing hard enough that they can use alternate routes, you will know when anyone is crossing into your territory. You'll still want to consider other warding options described below, particularly side bushes, but that will depend on the back and forth in your lane. This is very cost efficient and effective and gives you more options for offensive action.


Bot Lane

With limited wards, the most important single ward location for protecting the jungle is in the river, a little ways out from the lane. While you won't see players inside the gank bush, you should see them entering or leaving the bush from the river.


Warding the tri-bush is also a good choice regardless of which team you are, as it can give you very strong advanced warning on ganks, particularly from players approaching through the jungle. For the purple team, who control the top half of the map, a tri-bush ward may be the only lower river ward necessary as long as Dragon is also being warded.

Warding the gank bush itself is preferred if you either cannot safely extend into the river or your teammates may not be paying enough attention to the map to see someone entering the bush. It is also good against a team that is counterwarding, as it requires them to move to the bush itself to take it out. One final benefit is that you can see champions who are recalling from this bush, meaning gankers who are camping here will be visible. The gank bush is usually not preferred, but it works. Place the ward at the farthest point away from your tower as possible.


The side bushes can be important for warding. This is especially true if your opponents would otherwise bully and zone you by using a bush, where quickly dropping vision makes it much harder to effectively counter-attack. Warding a side bush is also good if your lane is being pushed regularly past the mid-point of the lane, as it makes you aware of players who may be attempting to capitalize on your lack of vision by sneaking into the side bushes to contribute to a gank.


Top Lane Top lane is symmetrical to bottom lane with the team positions reversed. For the blue team, who control the bottom half of the map, a ward at the tri-bush and at the entrance to Baron Nashor and blue buff can provide the greatest warning of incoming players while protecting your jungler. For the purple team, this same setup works provided your minions are regularly pushing to the midway point of the lane. In other words, it works unless an enemy can use the lane itself to get in the gank bush without you becoming aware of it. Side bushes are important if you've been pushed towards your tower and you want to push any significant distance back out while you are not aware of the location of their jungler or roamer.


Mid Lane

The most important ward spots for mid lane are at the ramps near the red lizard buff. This ward should be positioned in line with the crease in the map to provide the best vision. This covers one of the best gank routes against mid lane while also making it extremely clear when opponents are heading into the jungle.


This spot can be altered a little to see when a jungler is attacking wraiths, though this comes at the expense of some river vision.

On the opposite side of the lane, there are two solid options for warding. The first is at the bend near the other ramp, giving vision over part of the river, as well as players entering or leaving the large bushes at the entrance to the river.


The second is a bush further back, covering the corridor between the blue golem buff and three wolf pack. This is very effective, especially for teams that give the blue buff to their AP caster, as it covers the route and works against junglers or roamers.

The solo bush in the river is functional as a warning that someone is entering your jungle, though it doesn't give as much warning of intent as other ward locations. This is usually used if you're low on wards and want to cover the jungle entrances, as well as a high risk area near Dragon or Baron Nashor. Alternatively, you should ward, counterward, or clairvoyance this location as a stepping stone to ward more desirable locations.


Finally, the large side bushes can be useful to ward, especially if you don't currently have other vision near them and can't risk going into the river. These are more useful later in the game when you're anticipating team fights occurring there, or already know players are there and need to be able to target them for an initiate. If you're careful, you can place a ward into these bushes over the thick walls.


Jungle Both the blue golem and red lizard are very effective places to ward, and this is even more true if you're counterjungling.

At the red lizard, place the ward at the very end of the bush where it loops around so the ward will have vision on the monsters. It's important that it remains in the bush, though, as it prevents a player from pulling the large lizard to the bush to conceal their actions.


At the blue golem, place the ward in the middle of the bush, in such a way that it has vision over the blue golem while also having vision over all of the potential entrances.

You may also choose to ward the bush near your middle tower in mid-lane, as this gives vision over a corridor that can act as a farming location, a team ganking bush, and an escape route players may use. 104 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Dragon & Baron Nashor

When you can safely move in the river, place a ward in front of the Dragon or Baron Nashor inlet so that you can see opponents coming through the river.

If you cannot safely move in the river, or believe the opposing team may already be engaged, place a ward over a back wall. While this does not offer as much vision, it is much safer. 105 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

When counterwarding, particularly with Oracle's Elixir, always check the back wall of these inlets for enemy wards. Unless you're very confident that your opponents do not pose a threat to a Dragon or Baron attempt, such as when they're visible on the opposite end of the map, you should also have at least two wards out to give advance vision on anyone coming in.

Example: Blue Team (Bottom) Dragon

In normal circumstances, you will want wards on Dragon at the top of the ramp going up to blue golem.


Additionally, the bush that ramps up near mid lane is good.

Normally you'll want to place it higher up the ramp at mid lane, but if you can't see mid lane itself -- in other words, if you don't have vision from minions -- then you'll want to place it lower in the bush so you can see the river as well. 107 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9


Example: Blue Team (Bottom) Dragon

At Baron, you'll want wards at the tri-bush near top lane.

You'll also want a ward up the ramp near red lizard.


Though significantly more dangerous, you'll want a ward at the bend in the bush behind the red lizard wall, as this will let you see anyone attempting skillshots or waiting to jump in from behind the wall. This is usually best placed when you're falling back after successfully engaging your opponents or pushing their base. If you can place this, the ward at the ramp is less important.

Keeping in mind that the map is symmetrical, purple team (top) will mirror the locations, placing wards similar to Baron when fighting Dragon and vice versa. Dragon & Baron Nashor wards are complementary to other wards you're already placing, and in some cases may be where you've already got wards. Depending on how effective your opponents have been in the match, you may need more wards than this to safely take objectives.


Bases

If you are on the offense and taking out an enemy base, consider placing wards over the wall at points between their towers. This will help your team land skillshots and poke abilities, avoid the same, and let you know how they're shifting as a team, allowing you to more effectively choose which objectives to move to.


If you're on the defense, place wards over your wall at the same points, for all of the same reasons.

Special Cases At this point, I've covered all of the main warding spots. However, you should consider wards at any location where you believe it may give a tangible advantage to your team, or may counter a very specific play your opponents may use. When playing against champions with global movement ultimates, or abilities that allow them to travel a significant distance across the map, wards a little further out and in odd spots can be helpful.

For example, both the top and bottom lane have small pockets near the blue buff where Nocturne is in range of using his rank 1 ultimate against opponents past the mid-way point in the river. Warding the bush here can give you vision that they are likely not expecting.


Jungling, Counterjungling, and Ganking In this section we're going to cover the jungle, river, and other areas of the map that aren't part of the lanes. More specifically, we're going to start by covering 'jungling,' which is the act of leveling by fighting neutral monsters in the jungle. Then, we'll cover 'counterjungling,' which is the act of hindering an opponents who are jungling. Finally, we're going to cover jungling and ganking routes. The 'jungling' subsection is not necessary to read until you actively want to jungle, though of course you will be a more knowledgeable player if you choose to read it. The 'counterjungling' subsection is more important to read even if you're not jungling, as counterjungling is best done as a team effort. The final subsection on ganking is critical to understand no matter who you are, as it will affect every lane.

Jungling A player who chooses to jungle will usually not enter a lane until they're ganking. Instead, they will gain their early experience mostly or entirely through neutral monster camps in the jungle.

What is a Jungler's Job? A jungler's job is to facilitate victory. With very rare exception, this means applying pressure to lanes and ganking opponents, as well as disrupting the enemy jungler. This is achieved by using the opponent's lack of map vision on the jungler as a tool against them. By extension, this means controlling and knowing the enemy's current map vision through effective warding and counterwarding is integral to success, though this responsibility is teamwide. Killing jungle monsters is secondary to the role of being a jungler. However, it is important to understand the routes and importance of the monster camps as it is the primary early-game method of leveling and acquiring gold. The jungler will be less effective if the team does not understand how to facilitate them.

Why have a Jungler? Jungling allows one player to be taken off the lanes to gain experience and gold on their own. By extension, this means a second lane (usually top) becomes a solo lane, meaning one ally will be able to gain the entire gold and experience from minions in that lane. Overall, this means more gold and experience for a team. Beyond this, having one player who is not apparent on the mini-map at all times puts all enemy lanes at risk. Either they must play defensively or they risk being ganked if they overextend. Without a jungler, an enemy team doesn't even need to spend money on wards, much less worry about being overly aggressive, as they will always be aware of where there opponents are. 113 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Finally, without a jungler, an enemy team who does have a jungler has access to much more gold and experience and can easily provide buffs from both jungles to their team. In most situations, it is better to have someone jungling even if the top lane is really struggling to hold their lane. However, if the player in top lane simply cannot hold their lane and did not pick accordingly, the jungler may need to cover the lane. Please note: In some cases, players on a team may be 'roaming' even if they aren't regularly jungling. This is especially true for fast champions with exceptionally strong ganking abilities. Roamers provide the same benefits of junglers in terms of making the map less safe for opponents, but may return to lanes for farm and experience.

What is Counterjungling? Counterjungling is the act of disrupting an enemy jungler and preventing an enemy team from regularly accessing parts of their own jungle. Going into an enemy jungle is often referred to as 'invading.' Counterjungling is not exclusively the job of a jungler. While the jungler is often the most available player for counterjungling, the most effective teams have many or all of their players responsible for invading the enemy jungle regularly. The approach of using a whole team to counterjungle has been shown to be tournament-winning for pro players. I will discuss counterjungling in more depth a little later in this section.

Picking a Jungler All champions are capable of jungling. However, some champions are very inefficient at jungling, and attempting to use them to jungle will be a slow and frustrating experience. So, what makes a champion good at jungling? Here are some things to look at: •

•

•

Damage output, particularly multi-target damage. Champions who can deal significant damage will usually clear through the jungle more quickly than champions who won't, allowing them to level and gank sooner. Many multi-target spells deal reduced damage to neutral monsters, but are still helpful for jungling. Examples of champions with good jungle damage are Diana, Nocturne, and Skarner. Armor, shields or health sustain. Champions who can reduce or heal the damage they take on a regular basis will tend to be stronger in the jungle. Unlike being in a lane, you will not be able to avoid most attacks from monsters. Neutral monsters deal physical damage with their attacks, so Armor is helpful (whereas Magic Resist is not). Examples of survivable jungling champions are Lee Sin, Warwick, and Nunu. Lane ganking potential, especially prior to level 6. Champions with abilities that allow them to quickly enter a lane and unload on an opponent will tend to be strong. Champions with crowd 114 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

•

controls that will help their allies also get damage on a target in a lane are very strong, especially if they can also move in quickly. Examples of champions with great ganking potential are Maokai, Rammus, Hecarim, and Jayce. Lower reliance on mana. While junglers do have access to the blue golem buff, champions that have an unusually difficult time jungling without the blue golem buff tend to be more dangerous to play. This is because reliance on mana leaves you vulnerable if an enemy team takes your blue golem buff, and it leaves you less flexible in letting other players on your team benefit from the blue golem buff. Amumu and Fiddlesticks are both strong junglers who are vulnerable without the blue golem buff. Lee Sin is an example of a champion who is not reliant on blue buff at all (due to not using mana), though be aware that the blue buff provides increased energy regeneration and cooldown reduction.

These core attributes define how strong a jungler is within the context of jungling. Let me emphasize the importance of the lane ganking potential. If no one on your team has crowd strong crowd controls, picking a jungler without a strong crowd control is going to mean you can't gank effectively. Jungling should not be seen as a 'safe' lane, but as an opportunity to gank and otherwise affect the game in your favor as frequently as possible. As a rule, I prefer junglers who can get into a fight very quickly and also have at least one very strong crowd control, such as a knockback or fear. Jayce and Nocturne both fit this role, as do Maokai, Rammus, and many other junglers. To be clear, you also want to pick a champion who fits with your team in the mid and late game. Taking Shaco may be wonderful for jungling and counterjungling, but may fall flat in the late game when your team is sorely lacking a tank/initiator like Amumu. Anyway, not all good jungling champions have all of these attributes. We resolve this by minimizing our weaknesses and maximizing our strengths, which I'll cover soon when discussing Runes, Masteries, and Summoner Spells.

Not level 30 but still want to Jungle? Without full runes and masteries, jungling can be difficult and near impossible on some champions without help from teammates or starting in a lane. However, some champions can jungle even with this deficiency. I'd recommend Warwick for brand new players and Nunu for players who want to do some counterjungling. Note: I show initial jungle clears with both Warwick and Nunu in the jungling companion video, available on your e-book download page. Udyr, Amumu and Cho'gath are tankier picks that can jungle pre-30 as well, though I'd make sure to at least have some runes and masteries set up for them.


Runes & Masteries It's worth noting that jungling is the role that is most dramatically improved by your Summoner level. This is because, when you're facing human opponents about your level, they will have about the same potential runes and masteries (i.e. same damage and damage reduction) as you. However, the jungle does not scale down based on your summoner level, meaning you're going to fight monsters designed for higher level players. That said, the jungle difficulty was reduced in League of Legends Season 2, and you can still do it below level 30. Runes and masteries tend to be very specific to a champion. However, there are a few set guidelines that are important. Nearly every jungler will want Flat Armor 'Resilience' slotted for their yellow Seals. Jungling is hardest in the early levels, and the monsters deal physical damage with their attacks, so Resilience seals are absolutely ideal for improving your jungling play. Magic Resistance, either flat or per level, is usually safe for your blue Glyphs. If you're ganking, you're likely going to have to deal with damage from all of your opponents, including magic damage champions. Generally speaking, your red Marks and your Quintessences are going to be champion specific. You may choose Attack Speed if your champion already has a lot of base damage on normal attacks, perhaps due to a passive or an ability, or Attack Damage if your champion has an ability that grants attack speed. Ability Power and Magic Penetration may be ideal for champions who scale primarily with Ability Power and deal Magic Damage, such as Fiddlesticks. (Don't worry if this isn't too specific, I'm going to bring up a YouTube resource that gets super specific a little later) As far as masteries, this again will depend on your champion. However, if you're not absolutely sure another option is better for your champion, you should always at consider these points at the start of the Defensive tree:

This will require at least a 5 point investment in the tree (choose either health regeneration or bonus health). If you’re willing to go deeper into defensive, make sure you pick up bonus armor in the second tier, as this will also dramatically increase your effectiveness in the jungle.


This offers Armor and reduced damage from monsters. Additionally, the return damage on monsters will slightly improve your clearing time on many junglers.

Smite & What? Summoner Spells One last thing you'll want to do at champion selection is decide which summoner spells you're going to bring with you. Here are your options: Smite - Smite is absolutely not optional when you're jungling. This is true even if you're playing Nunu or Cho'gath, who each have very powerful Smite-like abilities. As a jungler, your late game role is going to be to determine exactly how much damage your Smite deals (hover over the icon in game), and then cast the spell on Baron Nashor or Dragon the moment they come below that amount of health. When it comes to Baron, games can easily be turned around because an enemy jungler managed to Smite him and steal the kill and buff for their team. It happens all the time even in the pro scene. If you're playing Nunu or Cho'gath or anyone else with a very strong nuke ability, combining it with Smite makes it even safer. Smite is also fantastic for quickly clearing through the jungle. Even though many champions can jungle without the ability, the enemy jungler can level faster and gank sooner. Again, this is true for any champion, because Smite is always good in addition to everything else. Note: While Smite is a good spell, the reason it's so important is that it can secure kills. This is important even on your jungle buffs, such as blue golem and red lizard, as a ward or even a lucky guess allows many champions to kill them over the wall, even while you're doing them. As a rule, always save your Smite until the moment Smite is guaranteed to kill the monster unless you see all of your enemies on the mini-map. Flash - Now that I'm done evangelizing Smite, let's get into your second spell. Flash is a very good idea on champions with strong initiation abilities such as Skarner, Maokai, and Amumu. The ability to instantly, unexpectedly, and reliably crowd control someone greatly improves the likelihood of success. Ghost - Ghost is exceptional if you're a champion that relies on continued normal attacks. It's also good if you're an already fast champion -- even though there are some diminishing returns at play in movement speed, going even faster and moving through units is genuinely better in many situations. For champions like Olaf or Hecarim I recommend Ghost. Even on champions where Ghost is generally better, sometimes Flash still wins out. This is true if you're going against extremely mobile champions such as LeBlanc, where Ghost won't help you at all around walls, or when you're facing off against champions with skillshots that can completely stop your initiation (such as going against Lux or Morgana, who both have bindings, while playing Rammus). It's up to you whether you still take Ghost in these situations.


Exhaust - Exhaust is your third really good option, but it does depend on you already being either very fast or very mobile. Exhaust brings a soft crowd control to your team and can allow you to gank much more effectively against fast champions or while your teammates don't have many crowd controls of their own. Exhaust is particularly effective if your opponent does not have blinks or dashes to easily get away, and even moreso if you've gotten them to burn Flash earlier.

First Item Purchases When you first get into the game, you're going to have to decide exactly what items to pick up. This can change from game to game, even on the same champion.

Option 1:

+

x5

The first big choice is whether to get Hunter’s Machete (300 gold) and five Health Potions. This item increases the damage from all of your normal attacks by 10. On top of this, it also gives you a flat 10% bonus damage to attacks and spells (not includinge Smite). This is by far the safest option on most champions. When do you get it? • • • •

If you are unfamiliar with the champion you're playing or are out of practice; If your champion lacks the survivability to effectively clear the jungle; If your champion lacks the damage or clear time to effectively clear the jungle; If you've answered yes to any of the above AND you’re going to build Wriggle’s Lantern or Spirit Stone (covered later).

Readers who’ve followed this prior to Season 3 may notice that Hunter’s Machete has replaced Cloth Armor as the choice for this option. Even though Cloth Armor still builds into Wriggle’s Lantern, Hunter’s Machete can lead to less damage taken just by virtue of killing large monsters more quickly. Additionally, Spirit Stone is a very strong option for many champions, meaning Cloth Armor is only a solid option if you’re absolutely sure you’re picking up Wriggle’s Lantern. All that said, Cloth Armor is still a choice, particularly if you’re worried about an early jungle invade.

Option 2:

or

Another choice is Doran's Blade or Doran's Ring, depending on whether you're a physical damage champion or a magic damage champion who relies on abilities. With these purchases you are forgoing items you would build towards a Wriggle's Lantern or Spirit Stone. When do you consider this option?


• • •

You are very confident that your champion can sustain through the jungle without either reduced damage or significant life steal (examples are Lee Sin and Fiddlesticks); You want initial items other than Wriggle's Lantern; You want the extra survivability and damage for early ganks.

Note: With the introduction of new items in Season 3, particularly those that stem from Spirit Stone, I do not recommend going this route unless you’re absolutely sure you won’t want increased effectiveness in the jungle.

Option 3:

+

x3

Your final option -- and absolutely not the least important! -- is Boots and three Health Potions. When do you get it? • • •

You are very confident that your champion can sustain through the jungle without armor (or you're going to get a strong leash from a coordinated team); You may want more item build flexibility or you want the option to get faster boots; You intend to gank early.

So, what about Wriggle’s Lantern and Spirit Stone?

Wriggle's Lantern Wriggle's Lantern is an item designed entirely for junglers, and is effective both for physical damage and hybrid damage champions (though tends to be less desired by ability power mages). This item offers Armor to reduce incoming damage, bonus attack damage to increase damage output, life steal to keep you topped off, and a chance to deal a huge spike of damage to minions and monsters. And if all of this wasn't enough, it also gives you free wards to place on cooldown. Make sure to read up on the warding guide for ideal placement for these, as you can help keep map vision for your team while you have this item. All of these attributes make Wriggle's Lantern a strong item throughout the game, even at later stages where it can help bring down Baron Nashor and Dragon more quickly. Wriggle's Lantern is strongly recommended as an early item unless you're either playing as an ability power mage or you are relatively sure you want to take another item route and won't be delayed too much in the jungle. One side note: Certain champions have very fast attack speeds or have abilities that reset their swing timer, allowing them to pull off multiple attacks very quickly. Wriggle's Lantern is even better on these champions as each swing will have a chance to proc the effect and it can lead to rapid burst damage on monsters. 119 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Spirit Stone & Upgrades Spirit Stone was introduced in Season 3 as a new item route for junglers. Spirit Stone offers even more damage on attacks and abilities than Hunter’s Machete, and also significantly increases health and mana regeneration. This is an ideal item route for champions who will not significantly benefit from the lifesteal of Wriggle’s Lantern. Spirit Stone upgrades into three unique items designed to benefit you when you engage the enemy team. Each of the upgrades increases damage dealt to monsters even further. Big Giant Note: Hunter’s Machete and Spirit Stone items do not increase True Damage, either from Smite or champion abilities. This means certain champions who have strong True Damage spells, such as Nunu, will not benefit as strongly from this item. The bonus will still be helpful and this is still a good item if you’re going for Spirit Stone, but do keep in mind that it wouldn’t be too bad if you forgo this item early on.

The first upgrade is Spirit of the Spectral Wraith. This grants significant ability power and mana regeneration, as well as strong spell vampirism and cooldown reduction. This item is designed for ability power mages, and will be particularly effective on those who already have short cooldowns and who synergize well with spell vampirism.

The second upgrade is Spirit of the Ancient Golem. This grants substantial health, armor, and health and mana regeneration. Additionally, it also provides 35 Tenacity, reducing the duration of most crowd controls. Tanks and fighters can easily justify this item, especially since it removes the necessity of Mercury Treads or Zephyr as a source of Tenacity.

The final upgrade is Spirit of the Elder Lizard. This grants very high attack damage in addition to health and mana regeneration. In addition, it deals true damage over 3 seconds every time you land basic attacks or non-damage-over-time abilities on your opponents. This item is a justifiable alternative to Wriggle’s Lantern, and is more effective than Wriggle’s Lantern on physical damage champions who rely heavily on their abilities (rather than their normal attacks) to deal damage.

Champion Specifics: Stonewall008's YouTube Videos At this point I've given you guidelines but they don't easily describe how Nocturne is going to jungle differently from, say, Olaf. Rather than duplicate an enormous body of work, I'm going to direct you to do a YouTube search for: 120 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Stonewall008 [insert champion name] For example, a search for Stonewall008 Jayce will pull up several Jayce videos. Choose the most recent one by date. In his movie description, he usually puts both the runes and masteries he uses, and the video will usually cover the fastest route for the first few levels of the champion. Now, a bit of caution. As he will point out, he shows the fastest route, but this may not always be the best route if you're worried about counterjungling or if you want to do an early gank on a specific lane.

Coordinated Play vs. Solo Play (Also, Communication) Jungling with a coordinated team and jungling with people who either aren't paying attention or don't know how to assist the jungler are two very different experiences and require two very different approaches. To be clear, I am not referring strictly to playing with a team vs. solo queuing, as many teams are still uncoordinated and many higher ranked solo queue groups will coordinate very well. Coordinated teams will tend to be mindful of a jungler, especially in terms of lane extension. In other words, coordinated teams will understand that having opponents near the safety of their towers makes it incredibly difficult to last hit. Coordinated teams may also understand the importance of warding and counterwarding -- and, if they're particularly good, will drop timestamps to let you know exactly what was warded and when. Additionally, they will understand the times to let themselves get pushed back by opponents, and when to push enemy minions really hard to allow the jungler to enter a side bush without being seen, or to get to a tower so you can more safely move in from behind the tower. Finally, coordinated teams will respond quickly as you enter a lane. Uncoordinated teams are a totally different beast. These are the players who will constantly be pushed to the tower, fail to ward -- or, if they ward, they will not pay attention to where enemy wards are placed or when. They will have no idea where or how far they should be pushed in order to facilitate a gank from their jungler. And if you do engage on their opponents successfully, sometimes even with a very strong crowd control, they simply won't respond. In fairness to laners, don't confuse this with not responding because they're low on health and feel they will be killed -- if the jungler has less knowledge on their opponents than the laners, the jungler may be entirely in the wrong for engaging at a particular time. Now, a lack of coordination can be fixed in a lot of games simply by communicating what you're trying to do. Let people know you need them not to push so far up, or that you want to enter a side bush, and they may help you achieve this. After all, a successful gank in their lane is likely to directly benefit them. But there are still plenty of games where you'll find teammates who simply will not facilitate ganks. And worse, these are invariably the same types of players who will complain about the jungler not ganking. In these cases, help the lanes you can, and focus on leveling and, if possible, counterjungling, warding, and 121 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

pushing objectives when possible. Even if you're dealing with a frustrating teammate who's always overextended and isn't warding, you're more likely to win the game if you ward their lane for them. All of this said, if you're rarely performing your role of applying pressure and ganking lanes when your team has them set up favorably, you are in the wrong. It's fine to miss out on a good gank at top lane because you were helping out bottom lane, but it's usually not fine to miss out on good gank in either bottom or top lane because you're doing a full jungle route instead.

Balancing Experience & Ganks As a general rule of thumb, a jungler may be a little behind the experience and level of their allies in solo lanes (often top and mid lane), but should be a little ahead allies who are sharing a lane (often the bottom lane). The factors that increase the rate of experience gain: • • • •

Quickly clearing jungle camps; Counterjungling by clearing the large monsters in enemy jungle camps*; Successfully ganking opponents*; Covering lanes (I'll talk about this shortly).

The factors that decrease the rate of experience gain: • • • • •

Idling in bushes waiting to gank; Failing a gank*; Being killed*; Traveling between lanes; Having large monsters in your jungle camps killed by other players.*

*At the risk of beating a dead horse, let me emphasize the importance of warding and counterwarding again. Items marked with * are hugely affected by having good map vision and denying map vision to opponents. As a jungler, there are tangible benefits to carrying wards and even purchasing an Oracle's Elixir. Try to keep a balance between the things that give you experience and the things that cost you experience to prevent yourself from falling behind. When possible, clear jungle camps while traveling between lanes, even if it means you're a little slower on ganking for your teammates. Don't forget about your jungle! If you have wards over enemy camps (particularly their four wraith camp), consider running in and quickly stealing their large wraith with Smite before ganking mid lane. When a nearby lane could be covered, consider going there quickly for the large experience gain it can net you.


Understanding & Minimizing Risks Let's cover some of the negatives in our previous checklist. First, a bad habit a lot of junglers get into is idling in bushes waiting for an ideal gank. This is especially bad if your opponents had a ward that allowed them to see you enter the bush (or even see you in the bush). There are circumstances where idling can be ok, especially if a successful gank is more likely to occur by waiting for them to move, or if your teammates are not going to respond to you if you go in too quickly. As a rule, idling is usually more acceptable at mid lane than other lanes since it's a very safe lane for the opponent and it's also wide enough that you may simply be unable to engage until they move. However, even at mid lane, you shouldn't wait more than 10 seconds for something to occur. In many situations, your default action going into a lane should be to directly and quickly engage them once you're in the area. This is even better when you're playing a fast champion, where opponents who see you and react reasonably quickly may still not be able to get away from your initiation. The bottom line: Don't move into a lane for a gank, then stop, unless you have a coherent reason to.

The next negative is failing a gank. When I refer to failing a gank, I am referring to walking away from a gank without a kill or assist. Why is this important to clarify? Ganking or applying pressure to a lane can often provide huge benefits to your team even if you don't kill the opponent. Burning a Flash or other summoner cooldown may, at the very least, turn the lane in your ally's favor. If their Flash is on cooldown, it also means you can attempt a gank again in the future. Deciding whether it's ok to go in a lane just to burn Flash or other cooldowns depends both on their champion, the match-up in lane between the two teams, and your own abilities. For instance, let's say Maokai enters a lane and roots an opponent; after the root, they Flash away and escape. In this situation, Maokai has only spent mana on an ability with a short cooldown, but the other player spent a critical summoner spell that won't be available for a very long time. However, let's say Skarner enters the lane and can only get damage by using his ultimate to pull them back towards teammates. Unless this is very likely to kill the opponent, it's not always good to use this simply to burn a Flash and watch them walk away, as it directly limits Skarner's ability to get ganks on other lanes until the cooldown is available again. On top of all of this, applying pressure or burning summoner cooldowns without getting a kill or assist always costs you experience. You must consider the opportunity cost -- the experience you're not gaining -- by applying pressure to the lane.


Being killed is often worse than either of the first two, but it depends on whether you gained kills or assists on opponents during the fight that killed you. Being killed in lane or in the jungle are often very different, so let's discuss them separately. First, getting ganked in a lane usually occurs because you've attempted to gank and either the enemy team did a fantastic job overpowering you (i.e. you dived their tower while they had crowd controls available), or because the enemy team's jungler (or another player) was also there and your team didn't have vision on them until it was too late. Remember, the point of a gank is overpowering your opponents to the point that they will have a difficult time reacting. Getting ganked in the jungle is usually the result of counterjungling, and almost always directly related to the opponent's map vision on your location, and your lack of map vision on them. In some cases, the jungler may try to take you on alone, especially if they see that you're at low health. In other cases, especially against coordinated teams, several players may quickly enter the jungle to shut you down when they see an opportunity. We'll discuss this a bit more in the counterjungling section. Here's a couple tips, though, for dealing with potential jungle invasions. First, pull the blue golem and red lizard into the brush nearby when attacking them. You want to be concealed, but ideally the monster will also be concealed. This does two things: It reduces the chances of them sniping the last hit on these monsters, as they must have a ward in the brush or use Clarivoyance or another ability to see; More importantly, it lets you see enemies approaching or currently inside the brush. Without this vision it is very easy to be flanked by an opponent while doing either of these camps. Second, stay on your toes! You want to be active and ready to fight or escape if necessary. If you're low, you must keep an eye on your escape routes and be aware of how you'll get out of a fight safely. This is especially true if you don't see multiple opponents who were nearby on the minimap.

The Moment to Gank While I discouraged idling a moment ago, there is one ideal moment to initiate a gank. This is right as the enemy team engages your laning allies. During this initial moment of combat, they will tend to be more focused on throwing their abilities out correctly, and at least one of them may not respond quickly as you enter the lane even if they have mini-map vision on you. This is most effective against very aggressive players, such as bottom lane carries who are regularly exchanging harassment.

Covering a Lane Occasionally your teammates will be unable to stay in their lane, either due to low health, low mana, or because they feel they need to purchase items. Alternatively, you may have just gone in and ganked an opponent in the lane, but your ally may have died or gone to critically low health during this. In some 124 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

cases, you'll want to volunteer to hold a lane for low health allies that you feel are at a serious risk (even if they don't realize it). When covering the lane there are two things you should consider. First, you can stay in and last hit enemy minions that are low. However, keep in mind the principles of controlling your lane (discussed in 'Playing to Win') and try to keep your minions pushed just beyond the reach of your allied tower, while avoiding pushing them deep into the lane. Doing this allows your ally to return to a lane that is extended safely and doesn't put them in harms way. The second option is to quickly push the minions in your lane right up to the enemy tower. This is ideal after you've killed the enemy who was holding the lane, and is even better if you have recently seen the enemy jungler (or other roamers) on the map and know you're safe to extend this far. The point of doing this is to deny as many of your minions as possible (since the tower will kill them) and use the pushing power of the tower to push the minions back towards your own base while your ally is returning.

Blue Golem Buff to Mid? A very common tactic for teams is to let the mid laner, usually an Ability Power mage, pick up the blue golem buff early in the game. This is done due to the heavy mana regeneration and cooldown reduction offered by the buff. Depending on the jungler, this usually won't be the first buff (as the champion may need it for effectively clearing and ganking early on), but may be any subsequent spawns. There's no set-in-stone requirement that the jungler gives the blue buff to mid lane, and frequently it's a better idea not to. For example: • • • •

•

If the mid lane has been dying frequently; If the mid lane is against a hard counter and will not be more effective with the blue buff; If the mid lane does not have a mana resource or has very little mana problems; If the jungler will directly and immediately benefit from the chunk of experience and the buff (such as being able to immediately gank a vulnerable lane nearby due to leveling a new ability and regenerating mana to combo). If the jungler has severe mana problems and does not yet have items to cover this (Amumu, Diana).

That said, in a majority of games it's usually better to give the blue golem buff to the mid lane. It can also be a good idea at team selection to have either the jungler play a champion that doesn't use mana, such as Lee Sin, or to have the mid lane play one, such as Mordekaiser, Vladimir, or Katarina. Keep in that the cooldown reduction from the buff means it's still valuable to champions who don't use mana, though. Most mid lane champions are not going to clear the blue golem camp exceptionally fast. Because of this, the jungler should usually help them by pulling and tanking the camp while dealing damage to bring the golem low. 125 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Let mid lane know to come and get the golem -- if they are too distracted or not responding, don't feel bashful about simply taking the golem yourself and moving on. Tanking and killing the blue golem for another player falls squarely into the category of an opportunity cost, as you're not gaining experience elsewhere, and you can wind up falling behind if you're standing around waiting on a mid lane player. Finally, pay attention to the blue golem timers! The blue golem will respawn 5 minutes after the camp is last cleared, and being nearby and ready for that respawn dramatically increases the likelihood of securing it against an enemy team. One of the major goals for counterjungling is to knock out an opponent's blue golem buff, so you should always be nervous about this being stolen if an enemy sees an easy opportunity for it (i.e. they see you on the other side of the map and know they can walk in and grab it safely).

The Pull / Leash On the subject of mid lanes working together with their jungler... While many junglers will have no problem killing the blue golem or red lizard camp their own, most junglers will come out of a full clear faster, with more health, and with a better gank capability if someone has 'pulled' their first major camp for them. Most often the mid lane will be best suited to this due to their close proximity to the buffs, but there are situations -- particularly when the mid laner is a melee champion such as Fizz -- where another player should pull instead. There are two main types of pulls. The first is a simple spell or normal ranged attack thrown to the golem, followed by the attacker immediately leaving for their lane (it's important not to stand and keep attacking as this can lead to a hard reset of the monster where it regenerates health). The second is a strong pull, where at least one player -- but usually several -- deal substantial damage to the target before leaving. This is especially good for weaker junglers or for teams who want their jungler to immediately move to lane for an early gank. When pulling like this, players should back off immediately once a lot of damage is dealt to make sure that the jungler does not split the experience of the camp to other players (when experience on a major camp is split, the jungler can sometimes be severely set back as they won't level and have a second ability immediately available).

The Value of Custom Games Any time I try a new champion or want to test a jungler before going into a game, I will first create a custom game on Summoner's Rift and run through the route on my own. The advantage of this is it helps to give you an idea of a 'worst-case' scenario -- in other words, a scenario in which you receive no assistance from teammates in pulling major buffs. This is helpful to know if, for example, your own blue 126 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

golem buff is stolen by the enemy team and you need to start on the enemy team's blue golem -- but your teammates won't assist you because of the distance this is from their lanes.

Handling a Level 1 Invasion Right as you start the game your jungle may be invaded by the enemy team. If you see Clairvoyance over your location and you don't see enemies elsewhere on the map you should assume they're going to attempt to gank you. Coordinated teams will cover the two jungle entrances on the half of the jungle where the jungler is starting to make sure no one enters unexpectedly; however, a lot of players you'll run across in solo play may completely ignore this. If an enemy team invades your jungle and your team didn't successfully engage them (either having been killed or having backed away), you need to answer three quick questions: • • •

Have they taken my buff? Do I have enough health to take theirs without assistance from my team? Did I see enough of them to know their jungle is likely available?

If you know they're all actively killing your blue buff and you have enough health, cutting across the map (not directly, so you're not immediately seen) and going directly to their blue buff often works just fine. You're out a little time but you still have the buff and early experience. The first time you're near the camp that the enemy team invaded, check to see if they left any lesser minions alive and clear them out.

The '~' Key To the left of your '1' key on your keyboard, you may notice a key that you've never, ever used before. For many standard keyboards, holding this down will allow you issue movement commands without targeting and attacking enemies. This allows you to move on top of tightly grouped monsters before attacking them or while currently engaged with them. This is important for a champion like Olaf, who may need to move to pick up his axe on the ground if he's thrown it too far. It's also useful if you're being attacked and want to get closer to a wall to flash over it.

Don't Be Nervous Every jungler will, at some point, occasionally make big mistakes while jungling. This is especially true when you're new to the role. Additionally, it can be very frustrating to be counter-jungled by an enemy team that is focused on locking you down, especially if your own team doesn't help you out. 127 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

It's totally ok. Obviously you don't want to feed, and obviously you should do everything you can to improve your performance even under these circumstances, but it's just part of the game. Don't give up on jungling because of a few bad experiences.

Counterjungling In this section I'm going to cover the concepts behind counterjungling. Counterjungling is the act of denying your opponents safety and experience in their own jungle. This is knowledge that should be taken in addition to the jungling information covered earlier, and you should also be aware of other junglers attempting this against you or your team.

Ideal Jungle Champions The number of champions that can effectively and safely counterjungle is much smaller than those who can jungle. These champions will have these three attributes: • • •

The ability to rapidly clear monsters, including their own; The ability to go toe-to-toe with enemy champions they encounter; High speed, high mobility (dashes, blinks, etc.), or both.

Shyvana fits solidly in this category, and was famously played by Moscow Five at the Kiev Intel Extreme Masters tournament specifcally for her strength at counterjungling. Lee Sin and Skarner also fall into this category, as do several other champions. You can still counterjungle with other champions, particularly those who are very fast or have strong escape options such as Nunu.

Mid Laning - Champions & Responsibility The mid lane has a strong impact on the effectiveness of counterjungling as they can be directly involved in it on three levels. These three levels are: • • •

Stealing the enemy's four wraith camp; Immediately assisting the jungler if they are engaged with the enemy jungler; Warding one or both ramps into the enemy jungle at mid lane.

If you're choosing a mid lane champion there are a couple considerations that may help: •

Champions with skillshot nukes that can quickly clear the wraith camp are good as they are significantly less risky (since they can kill the camp over the wall instead of pathing around the wall first); 128 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

•

Very strong pushers who can clear a lane in moments are also very good at quickly leaving the lane before opponents realize they're gone. This makes it easier to move in on an enemy jungler or others in the jungle.

The key to aggressive counterjungling is not just organizing times to go into an enemy's jungle, but also immediately responding the moment a fight breaks out. Pay attention to your minimap and move the moment you see a fight break out.

The Level 1 Invasion Right as the game starts it can be a good idea to immediately invade the enemy jungle, especially if you know an enemy champion is dependent on the blue golem buff and will likely be starting there (examples are Amumu, Fiddlesticks, and Diana). The goal of this invasion is to quickly and unexpectedly kill the jungler (or, more often, the first players you run into), and ideally to also steal the blue golem or other camp you're invading. What makes an invasion a good idea? Here are some factors you'll want to consider: • • • • •

You are relatively confident an enemy will be where you're invading (Clairvoyance helps!); Your team has more crowd controls at level 1 than theirs; Your team has Blitzcrank; You have already seen an enemy on the map and know their position; They have not already seen you at the time you invade.

Killing opponents in their own jungle is difficult unless you fully flank them. That's why crowd controls are so important -- you can usually burst someone down who has been crowd controlled already. Good examples of champions with strong early crowd controls are Taric, Leona, Morgana, and Lux (note that if you're dedicated to an invasion you'll want to take points in these as you commit to a fight, even if they're not ideal starting abilities for laning). I mention Blitzcrank for a specific reason -- he has the ability to immediately pull the blue golem over the wall and into a much safer spot near the river exit. If he does this right as it spawns (1:55) the enemy jungler may not have any time to react, particularly if Blitzcrank's team is there with him. A small number of other champions, such as Darius, can also move the golem over the wall. If you do invade successfully and their jungler got away without a hitch, consider immediately securing (or at least warding) your own camp to prevent them from taking your own camp. Another option is leaving your jungler behind to take their own buff and giving the major buff to another player on the team, which may allow for a much more aggressive early game from that player.


See their Jungler? Punish them! As stated several times, jungling is effective in large part because it leaves one player out of vision of the enemy team. This means that unless you're playing a very strong duelist such as Shyvana, you may run into a fight you don't want to when invading. In these circumstances, watch out for any time the jungler appears in a lane on the other side of the map (or any time you have good ward vision of their location and activity). At this point, either gank or invade their jungle and clear out at least one major monster.

Track Timers & Invade Accordingly The best teams track the timers of major jungle monsters in both jungles. This is actually fairly simple when it comes to red and blue buff, as they both respawn exactly 5 minutes after they were last killed. You will want to invade their buffs immediately once they spawn -- and ideally as a team. This is especially true if either their jungler or their solo lane rely on blue buff to be effective. If you've been successful at least once before, assume that they will be frustrated enough to get their allies in on a fight. In these cases, the jungler or another player may engage the buff while others wait in the bush to surprise enemies coming in.

Leave Someone To Tell The Story Leaving at least one lesser minion alive in enemy camps you clear is good practice, as it prevents the camp from respawning until the enemy actively goes and kills the remaining minions. This can seriously hinder experience gain over the course of a game. That said, you may also consider fully clearing a camp (such as the blue golem buff) if you're going to track the respawn timer. If you know exactly when it's coming back up and will invade and secure the buff, this is a net positive for your team while still continuing to deny their team the buff.

Jungling Routes We've talked a lot about jungling but we've been light on specific routes to take. That's what we're going to cover here. For jungling, I'm going to start by showing starting. This is important for your teammates to be aware of. After this, I'm going to show you two basic starting routes -- one that starts with an early Blue Golem buff and another that starts with an early Red Lizard buff. Let me strongly encourage you (again) to check out Stonewall008's YouTube movies for the specific champion you're playing. The routes I show you are safe and will work for high level players on all but 130 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

the weakest champions; however, Stonewall008's routes are ideal for speed and will work even if the champion is a poor jungler. The map is symmetrical so understand that positioning will be opposite for each case.


Defending Your Jungle from Invasion (Blue Golem, Full Team) If your jungler is going for an early blue golem kill, you will want to defend the entrances to that half of the jungle. At least one player, usually mid lane, should keep an eye out at the river bend:

It's important to stay near the edge of the bend for wider vision when possible. However, stay on your toes and put yourself slightly off position if you're against opponents like Blitzcrank who can land devastating skillshots on you to initiate an early gank.


Another nearby player should keep an eye on the blue river ramp:

Alternatively, this player can stay in the bush near blue golem, though this doesn't give vision over the ramp and allows enemies to move much closer before there's warning. That said, this is not a popular route to invade from because of the relatively easy escapes the defending team has from here.


Defending Your Jungle from Invasion (Red Lizard, Full Team) If your jungler is going for an early red lizard kill, you'll want to defend that half of the jungle in two key spots. The first is the tri-bush, a very solid location for vision and escapes if necessary:

This is a less common invasion route, but it still happens frequently enough that you should cover it if your jungler is starting in that half of the jungle.


The second is the river ramp near red:

This is not a safe location except for mobile or very fast champions, so you may want to go a little further back:


Early Blue Golem Route (Safest On All Champions) Killing the blue golem early is generally the safest route for a jungler in terms of guaranteeing an effective early clear without running into mana problems. Any time you're not familiar with a champion or aren't confident in your jungling, purchase Cloth Armor and 5x health potions, then use this route.

1. Start by killing the 3 wolf pack, starting with the large wolf. Allies can help if needed but do not let them pull as it's likely to either reset or deal a lot of damage to them. If you're nervous or low level, skip this and do it second. These spawn at 1:40 and you want them dead before 1:55. 2. Pull the blue golem as soon as you can after it spawns at 1:55. Use Health Potions once you lose a significant chunk of health and keep them running until you're near full. 3. Kill the four wraith camp, starting with the large wraith. After this, you can choose to go to the double golem camp (shown above), or go back to the three wolf camp if you killed it before . If you go back to the three wolf camp, follow it up with step 5 (red lizard) and finish the route with double golems. 4. Kill the double golem camp, starting with the large golem. This should level you. 136 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

5. Kill the red lizard. Go up and quickly clear the wraith camp again, then gank immediately or return to base. Note that you can do the red lizard earlier in this route, especially on stronger junglers, but saving it for last has the advantage of giving you the buff right as you're ready to go and gank.


Early Red Lizard Route (Ideal for early ganks) Killing the red lizard early is generally best on champions who don't use mana or are otherwise very strong early gankers (as defined by having a strong combo with only two abilities, such as Lee Sin).

1. Start with the four wraith camp, prioritizing the large wraith. This spawns at 1:40 and should be killed before 1:55. 2. Pull the red lizard at 1:55, ideally with the help of allies. 3. Gank a nearby lane! If you have enough health after you're done with the gank, go to the nearest monster camp and clear it (double golems for top or bottom lane, four wraith camp for mid lane). The reason for the immediate ganks are due to the red buff. It is a very strong buff in terms of securing early kills, so you don't want to waste it by continuing to jungle. This is why this route is ideal for early gankers. This also shows one of the map discrepancies your team should be aware of. A jungler who starts at red is likely to do an early gank on their half of the map, meaning the lanes near red are vulnerable. Keep 138 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

this in mind when you catch someone at red with an early clairvoyance and play more safely in your lane.

Prioritizing After Your First Pass As we talked about earlier, you need to balance experience and ganking. After your first pass, you will no longer have a set route to follow, so you'll want to kill monsters in your path. However, here's a quick set of tips: • •

• •

Blue Golem and Red Lizard are your biggest priorities in the jungle. Keep their timers in mind and get them fast when possible. The wraith camp is usually the most accessible and has the quickest respawn. While it's not the best camp, it's one you should rarely pass up. Keep in mind the enemy team may have this warded and may attempt to counterjungle at this location. The three wolves camp offers access to mid lane and is near enough to the path to the side lane that you should pick it up when you're in the area. The double golem camp is the least accessible, offering access to only a single lane; if your opponents have warded the tri-bush, this access is severely limited (unless you can get in through the side brush at the map edges). This is a good camp but if you have other options it can be better to follow up on them instead.


Counterjungling & Ganking Routes Let's get into counterjungling and ganking routes. I'll start by covering a primary jungle invasion route, then cover the main entrances and routes you'll be taking when ganking. Ganking routes that take you through the jungle are the same as counterjungling routes (instead of ganking, or before ganking, clear enemy monsters!). Make sure you download the movie on ganking included in this guide as it explains important concepts in more depth. Again, the map is symmetrical so positioning will be opposite for each case.

Early Jungle Invasion (Blue Golem) When invading the blue golem, members of the team who are ganking should go immediately down the mid lane and get into the river side brush:

You'll want to purchase items and do this as soon as the game starts to avoid potentially running past an opponent. If you've used Clairvoyance on the area around blue golem and no one is watching the next 140 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

bush, go ahead and move to the next step. Otherwise, wait here until right before 1:55 to avoid running into their mid lane (or a few seconds earlier if the jungler can destroy blue golem before you can flank them, such as a champion like Nunu). Next, fully flank around through their jungle:

Feel free to engage and kill the first person you come across if it's favorable and you feel you'll get a solid kill. There's usually no guarantee you'll successfully steal the blue golem or kill the jungler, particularly if someone sees you moving in, so don't run past easy targets.


Jungle Invasion (Red Lizard) If you've caught an opponent with Clairvoyance or you believe they're very likely to attempt their red lizard buff first -- or if you simply want to steal it before they get to it on their route -- you have two options for getting in. The red lizard buff is much easier for a team to keep vision on the entrances while still being in position for the start of the game, so getting into their jungle immediately after the game starts tends to be the best shot you'll have. That said, a team vs. team fight early in the game at red lizard can put the defending team at a disadvantage since players getting vision on entrances may be more spread apart than they would be at blue. Here's the first option:

This is also a standard route for counterjungling the red lizard throughout the game, and can be good for flanking the top or bottom lane for a good gank.


The second option for getting in is longer:

If the enemy team is likely to have two players at bottom, the purple team is slightly disadvantaged with this route as they're more likely to run into at least two players in the tri-bush. This route is also more difficult for a whole team to use as it puts at least one player fully on the other side of the map from their starting lane.


Ganking Entrances in the Jungle Each half of a team's jungle has two entrances. These entrances are the start of any flank you'll use when attempting to gank, and they're fairly interchangeable. In other words, you can do the same flank on an opponent regardless of which entrance you use, which means you should choose an entrance based on how well your opponents have been warding their lanes.


Ganking Mid Lane The mid lane is the safest lane for players and can be exceptionally difficult to move in on. While the side brush on each side can work for a gank, there's one particular route you should consider when the opportunity presents itself:

With this route, you're going around a bend at the river ramp. In game, this looks like it's flat terrain and shouldn't block vision, but it is a complete vision block, meaning an opponent extended past this point may not be able to react quickly enough to you moving in from this angle. This is especially useful for getting in on very fast champions, or champions who need to avoid minions for maximum impact, such as Rammus.


Ganking Over-Extended Side Lanes If your opponents are over-extended in their side lanes, there's a very common route used to punish them:

These locations may be warded, so either counterward or move in quickly once opponents have engaged.


Ganking Pushed Side Lanes If your opponents are getting pushed up against their tower, or if there's room for some back and forth in your own lane, a great ganking location is the the side brush:

Note that both teams are equally capable of using the side brush on both sides of the map. The concept here is simple: While your opponents lack vision at the entrance of one stretch of side brush, you move into that brush. Once they're pushed even further back, you move into the second set of brush. From there, you either gank or wait for them to extend, then surprise them with a very quick entrance. This is especially effective on champions with strong close range initiation such as Warwick and Skarner. The "!" exclamation marks indicate the break in the brush. You don't want to be seen moving into the next brush, but it can be hard to judge exactly what they have vision on. Here's a rule of thumb: Enemy champions and minions should at or further away from the end of the brush you're moving into. If


they're past that point, they may see you. Have allies push the lane accordingly when you need to move in.


Flanking Behind Side Lane Towers A particularly brutal gank involves leaving your opponents no room for mistake. This is especially strong against opponents who are pushed up to their towers, and performed better with junglers who have high Armor and/or Health to reduce incoming tower damage:

While effective, there's a lot of time invested in doing this, so steal some enemy camps either before or after you do this. It's ideal if your minions are already tanking the enemy tower so the tower doesn't attack you until you deal damage. With this, your goal is to totally cut them out of an escape, so be prepared for any crowd controls or escapes they may have and act accordingly (i.e. go further back in their lane if they may blink so they can't blink past you once you move in, etc.). The "!" exclamation marks indicate the break in the wall near double golems -- right as you cross the enemy double golems, enemy minions who happen to be passing by have enough vision range that they will see you. To avoid alerting your enemies to your presence, wait for the minions to pass. You can judge when minions pass by watching your own minions on the other side of the map, which will be at a symmetrically identical location. 149 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Stats There are a lot of stats and attributes to keep in mind while you're playing League of Legends. In this section, I'm going to cover all of the major stats you'll have to deal with, as well as their quirks and benefits. Most stats stack additively, not multiplicatively. In other words, if you have two items that grant 20% critical strike chance, you will have a 40% critical strike chance from these items. There are limited exceptions, such as percentage-based armor and magic penetration, which stack multiplicatively (thereby being less effective than they would be with additive scaling). Items with bonuses listed as "Unique Passive" always mean that building two of the same item will not contribute more of that bonus. League of Legends will calculate most stats to several decimal places, meaning having partial stats (such as 1.9% Attack Speed) will still contribute meaningfully to your damage. Some stats are only visible by pressing 'C' while in-game. Note: For readability, I've capitalized stats in their sections, but tend to avoid capitalizing them outside their sections.

Baseline Stats vs. Multiplier Stats In League of Legends, there are three main baseline stats: attack damage, ability power, and health. There are rare exceptions, such as Ryze, who uses mana in functionally the same way most casters use ability power. To be clear, I am not using the term baseline to refer to them being more or less important than other stats. These stats are considered baseline because they are increased in flat value increments. Multiplier stats increase the effectiveness of their associated baseline stats. For example, attack speed increases the rate at which you attack, which means you'll increase your damage output from attack damage in direct proportion to how much faster you're attacking. By finding an appropriate balance between Baseline Stats and Multipliers, you'll usually get more damage output than you would by just stacking one or the other. This is especially true on physical damage champions.


Normal Attacks Attack Damage (Baseline) Attack Damage increases the physical damage your normal melee attacks do. Additionally, it increases the damage of some champion abilities. Abilities that scale with Attack Damage will do so according to a ratio. For example, a damaging ability with a 0.5 ratio will deal bonus damage equal to 50% of your Attack Damage. Tip: Some abilities scale with 'bonus Attack Damage.' This refers to Attack Damage that is beyond your champion's innate Attack Damage. When you see this, it's usually an indication that the developer intends for you to use Attack Damage items (instead of, say, survivability items) to make the most use of the ability.

Armor Penetration & Armor Reduction (Multiplier) Armor Penetration causes your normal attacks and physical damage abilities to ignore a certain amount of your opponents armor. Armor Reduction reduces the opponent's Armor, causing all incoming incoming normal attacks and physical damage abilities to deal more damage (including those from allies). Armor Penetration cannot bring an enemy's armor below zero. However, Armor Reduction can. Armor Reduction is applied first. Since Season 3, Flat Armor Penetration is calculated after Percentage Armor Penetration. Because of this, both Flat Armor Penetration (ex. Brutalizer) and Percentage Armor Penetration (ex. Last Whisper) coexist nicely. Tip: Check out whether or not your opponents are building armor. If so, I strongly recommend looking at Last Whisper or Black Cleaver about midway through your item build, as this is often the most effective damage multiplier against opponents who stacks armor. Flat Armor Penetration/Reduction is more effective against champions with low armor, whereas percentage-based Armor Penetration/Reduction is more effective against champions with higher armor.

Attack Speed (Multiplier) Attack Speed determines how quickly your character uses normal attacks. You can have a maximum of 2.5 attack speed, literally meaning 2.5 attacks every second. Due to how the stat is calculated, Attack Speed is more effective on champions who already have a high base Attack Speed.


Critical Strike Chance (Multiplier) Critical Strike Chance determines the likelihood that your next normal attack will be a critical strike. A small number of abilities, such as Garen's Judgment, also benefit from Critical Strike.

Critical Strike Damage (Multiplier) Critical Strike Damage determines how much damage your critical strikes deal, based on a percentage of your attack damage. Critical strikes normally deal 200% damage, though this number can be raised with runes (Furor), masteries (Lethality), and items (Infinity Edge).

Lifesteal Lifesteal restores health based on a percentage of damage done with normal attacks and abilities that proc on-hit effects. Lifesteal is reduced by healing reduction effects.

Range Range is the distance you can use normal attacks from. Most melee champions have an attack range of 125, while a small number (such as Nautilus and Fizz) have an attack range of 175-200. Ranged AD, as well as most other ranged champions generally fall between 500 and 650 range (Kog'maw, Tristana and Twitch can go higher). Tip: Range often has a big impact on how a game plays out, especially when two opponents are laning against each other. When picking a physical damage champion to counter another champion, always consider the range difference between them.

Abilities Ability Power (Baseline) Ability Power increases the damage or effects of many champion spells. Abilities that scale with Ability Power will do so according to a ratio. For example, a damaging ability with a 0.5 ratio will deal bonus damage equal to 50% of your Ability Power.


Cooldown Reduction (Multiplier) Cooldown Reduction reduces the cooldown on most active champion abilities by a percentage. Cooldown Reduction caps at 40%, meaning a player can only reduce the abilities down to 60% of their original cooldown. Tip: Cooldown Reduction tends to be more effective on champions who already have short cooldowns. This is because having more Cooldown Reduction is more likely to allow for more spell casts in actual skirmishes and teamfights with these champions.

Magic Penetration & Magic Resistance Reduction (Multiplier) Magic Penetration causes your magic damage to ignore a certain amount of your opponents magic resistance. Magic Resistance Reduction reduces the opponent's magic resistance, causing all incoming magic damage to deal more damage (including those from allies). Magic Penetration cannot bring an enemy's magic resistance below zero. However, Magic Resistance Reduction can. Magic Resistance Reduction is applied first. Tip: Magic Penetration is a very strong stat to have, especially if your opponents are stacking magic resistance. Consider a Void Staff if your damage output comes primarily from magic damage. Flat Magic Penetration/Magic Resistance Reduction is more effective against champions with low magic resistance, whereas percentage-based Magic Penetration/Magic Resistance Reduction is more effective against champions with higher magic resistance.

Mana & Resources Most champions use Mana as a primary resource for using abilities. However, some champions use energy, health, champion-specific resources, or no resource at all.

Mana & Resource Regeneration This is the rate at which you regenerate your resource while you are not capped. Tip: If you're very dependent on a Mana or Energy, consider getting the blue golem buff on Summoner's Rift, as this will significantly increase your regeneration.

Spell Vamp


Spell Vamp restores health based on a percentage of damage done with abilities. This does not work on most abilities that proc on-hit effects. To be clear, this applies to abilities that deal all types of damage, including physical damage and true damage, not just magic damage. Spell Vamp is only 33.3% effective on multi-target spells. Spell Vamp is reduced by healing reduction effects.

Defensive Health (Baseline), Effective Health & Shields Health is your primary resource. Once this reaches zero, you will die (with limited exceptions for some champion abilities and the Guardian Angel item proc). The efficiency and effectiveness of Health is based on the type of damage you're receiving, as well as sources of damage reduction you have to counter them. Put more simply, Health becomes better and better as you acquire more sources of damage reduction such as armor and magic resistance. This is the concept of Effective Health (EH). In most cases, health shields operate exactly like Health, and will also be more effective with armor and magic resistance. True damage, or damage sources that ignore all magic resist and armor, will always deal damage directly to your Health pool. Tip: Think about Effective Health when building items. A player with 5,000 health isn't necessarily more survivable than a player with 3,000,if the player with 3,000 has significantly more damage reduction from armor or magic resistance. Simply stacking Health is not an effective strategy for survival except in rare circumstances. With high armor or magic resistance, champions with shield abilities can be unusually well suited to taking damage, especially if the shield can be re-applied fairly often. This is not just because it acts as a substitute for health, but also because you don't lose health while it's active. The practical effect of this is that shields have an extremely good multiplicative effect on your longer-term survivability and sustainability. By the same token, healing is more effective on you if you're taking less incoming damage. Keep this in mind if you have a healing heavy team and you're deciding whether to build Health or damage reduction. Finally, it's worth saying that -- in the early game -- it is virtually always better to build Health early on than it is to build damage reduction, unless you have very reliable sources of healing and won't be 154 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

dealing with much burst damage. This is just due to a stat imbalance on most characters in the early game.

Armor (Multiplier) Armor reduces incoming physical damage from all sources. Due to the damage reduction calculation, Armor will always provide the same bonus to your Effective Health, regardless of how much Armor you currently have. Tip: Even though Armor always provides the same bonus to Effective Health, that doesn't mean that it will always be the best option for increasing your Effective Health, even against physical damage opponents. Increasing your base health may have a substantially larger or smaller impact on your survivability depending on what your Armor is currently at.

Magic Resistance (Multiplier) Magic Resistance reduces incoming magical damage from all sources. Due to the damage reduction calculation, Magic Resistance will always provide the same bonus to your Effective Health, regardless of how much Magic Resistance you currently have. Tip: Even though Magic Resistance always provides the same bonus to Effective Health, that doesn't mean that it will always be the best option for increasing your Effective Health, even against magical damage opponents. Increasing your base health may have a substantially larger or smaller impact on your survivability depending on what your Magic Resistance is currently at.

Health Regeneration This is the rate at which you regenerate health while you are not at full health. Health Regeneration is reduced by healing reduction effects. Tip: Health Regeneration tends to be more important in the early game than the late game. While regeneration is nice, keep in mind that itemizing for this stat will not help much against heavy burst damage (with exceptions for champions who can gain extremely high regeneration). Health regeneration and other sources of healing are much more effective if you have high damage reduction (such as armor or magic resistance).

Tenacity Tenacity reduces the duration of Slows, Snares, Blinds, Silences, Stuns, Taunts and Fears by a percentage. The only type of crowd controls not affected are Knockups, Knockbacks and Suppression. 155 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Tenacity items do not stack with each other to provide greater reduction. However, they do stack multiplicatively with champion crowd control reductions, such as those found on Irelia, Trundle, and Mundo. Tip: You'll usually want to evaluate the types of crowd controls your opponents have available. Mercury Treads are usually a good choice for boots, but you'll occasionally come into matches where there are only a few crowd controls that will be affected.

Utility Movement Speed Movement Speed determines how quickly your champion travels over terrain. Boots contribute to your base movement speed, while percentage multipliers (such as those from Zeal, Phantom Dancer, Lich Bane, and Force of Nature) will multiply the combined effect of your base movement speed and your movement speed from boots. Tip: Movement Speed is one of the most overlooked and most important stats, especially for physical damage champions. This is because you will tend to need to catch back up to a moving opponent after your champion briefly stops due to their swing animation. With these stuttered attacks, your Attack Speed stat is generally a lot less effective, and the best way to speed your attacks up is to more quickly get back in range of the opponent. Being able to move more quickly may allow you to get kills before opponents can reach the safety of teammates or tower, or before they can simply get (and stay) out of your range.

Passive Gold Gain (Gold Per 10) Passive gold is gold that is earned for the player over time with no additional actions required. Runes (Avarice), masteries (Greed), and items (Avarice Blade, Heart of Gold, Philosopher's Stone, and Kage's Lucky Pick) all grant bonus passive gold. Tip: Even though each of the passive gold gain items says 'Unique Passive,' they do still stack with each other. The only thing you can't do is stack the same item multiple times for more gold gain.


A Little More Regarding Defensive Stats Defense is not intended to be more powerful than offense in League of Legends. One team has to lose, and the only way that happens is if players have superior methods of breaking through defensive items and champions. It's important to know how to do this, and to that end, here's some guidelines.

Low Health, Armor, and/or Magic Resist Burst damage exists to punish players with low health. Use it when the opportunity presents itself.

High Health High health is best countered with attacks that deal a percentage of health as damage, such as Kog'maw's Bio-Arcane Barrage or Vayne's Silver Bolts. In cases where an enemy has high health but low armor and magic resistance, their Effective Health won't be too high and it may be much easier to kill them with normal attacks than other players who have a more effective balance of stats.

High Armor or high Magic Resist Percentage-based penetration stats (Armor Penetration/Reduction and Magic Penetration/Reduction) have a dramatic impact on enemies who are stacking armor or magic resist. Additionally, any source of true damage, such as Olaf's Reckless Swing or Cho'gath's Feast, will be effective against these players.

High Health, Armor, and Magic Resist Ignore these players until everyone else has been killed unless absolutely necessary. If a champion is too bulky, it usually means they've invested an extraordinary amount into defensiveness but haven't picked up items that would make them threatening to an enemy team.

High Health Regeneration or Healing Ignite or any source of healing reduction. In a pinch, pick up Executioner's Calling, an item that grants critical strike chance and lifesteal and can be activated to reduce your opponent's healing.


Summoner Spells In the following, I will outline each of the summoner spells you'll gain access to while playing League of Legends. These are sorted by the level they're achieved. Very strong spells are highlighted in green, though some champions can make more effective use of other spells.

Recall

This spell is available immediately and does not take one of your two optional spell slots. When cast, you will begin channeling for several seconds. If you successfully finish channeling the spell, you are immediately teleported to your summoner platform, where you can shop, regenerate health and mana, and move to a new location. Recall is broken with incoming damage or crowd controls. However, in the last half second of channeling, damage will no longer prevent Recall from being successful. If you are attacked but do not take damage, such as when a shield is actively protecting you, Recall will not be interrupted. On Summoner's Rift it generally will not save time to recall to your summoner platform while you are still inside your base. However, once you are beyond your first towers it will usually save you time to cast recall. The exact distance where it is more effective changes with very fast or mobile champions.

Exhaust (Summoner Level 1)

This skill effectively shuts down an enemy champion for 2.5 seconds, slowing them, reducing their Attack Speed, and moderately reducing their damage output from any source. Because this reduces Attack Speed, this has a bigger effect on physical-damage champions who rely on normal attacks, such as Ranged AD carries or melee fighters who would otherwise easily kill you. At least one Exhaust on a team is strongly encouraged, especially if your team lacks many hard crowd controls. It can help shut down champions who become unusually strong, such as a farmed Tryndamere, buying enough time to kill them. It's worth noting that Exhaust has a short-to-medium range and is not always easy to apply if you're a long range champion. Verdict: Great spell, best at countering physical damage AD champions but still works against other champions. Good for ensuring successful ganks.


Ghost (Summoner Level 1)

Ghost dramatically increases movement speed for 10 seconds and allows you to pass freely through units that you would normally need to move around. Movement speed allows for more frequent attacks on targets that are fleeing. This ability belongs on a small subset of champions who rely on auto-attacks and are pursuing opponents who cannot easily crowd control them. Some highly ranked players use Ghost on a variety of champions, including some AP Casters, as it can help with kiting or securing kills. Outside these champions, Ghost is generally not strong enough to stay a priority pick due to the strength of other summoner spells. Verdict: Situationally good, but there are often better options. A first tier ability on specific champions such as Olaf.

Heal (Summoner Level 1) This ability heals you for a significant amount, based on your level, and heals nearby allies for half of that amount. For several seconds after being affected by Heal, any follow-up Heals will only be half as effective on that player (in other words, if a second player on your team casts it). This is a strong enough skill that you will see it even in high-level play, depending on the champions and the match-up. Heal is generally seen as a spell that Support players pick up, though this is not always the case, nor is it always the best way to play. Since Heal only heals half the amount to nearby allies, Support players may instead opt to pick up an offensive spell such as Exhaust, while having an ally in the same lane pick up Heal. Heal can be effective at baiting enemy players, especially in the early game, since it allows you to keep your health lower while still having the spell ready to fire. If opponents close in for the kill and dive a tower, the heal may completely turn the fight around. Verdict: This is a better spell than it used to be, but it is still situational. Use it only if you're sure it's a better pick than Ignite or Exhaust (or any other alternatives), or if your laning partner already has Ignite or Exhaust and you feel you won't need them.

Revive (Summoner Level 1) Use this to instantly resurrect and gain a brief movement speed bonus. In theory, it can be used to bring you back to stop an important push from your enemies after your team was wiped out. In practice, other summoner spells could have allowed you to live, and all of them bring more utility to the table beyond just this worst-case scenario. 159 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Verdict: Don't use it unless you have an extremely good reason to.

Smite (Summoner Level 1) Smite deals true damage, based on your level, that ignores Armor and Magic Resist to a target minion, monster, or pet. It is typically taken by players who spend their early levels in the jungle as it greatly increases the speed and effectiveness while clearing monsters in the jungle. It is also strong for securing major objectives such as Baron Nashor or Dragon. In most cases, Smite is best used to finish off a monster. In other words, waiting until the monster is just low enough in health that the Smite will kill it. To achieve this, hover over Smite on your interface to see how much damage it deals at your level, then select your target and watch its health bar. The reason for doing this is that it prevents the monster from being stolen by another player. It is very common for enemies to place vision wards on important monsters, allowing them to respond to you when you're killing them, and potentially allowing them to steal the buff. In cases where you see all of your enemies on the map and they won't have time to respond, you're usually safe to go ahead and use Smite right away. This gets the ability on cooldown, meaning it will become available again sooner. Consider saving Smite and not using it on jungle monsters when you know your team may do Dragon or Baron Nashor soon. It has its biggest impact on the outcome of games when used to secure these larger objectives. An argument commonly crops up that you don't need Smite to jungle. It's technically true that you don't need Smite to jungle on certain champions, but it also prevents you from using Smite to secure buffs (such as using Smite on Baron Nashor, Dragon, or the large golem or lizards in the jungle). If you don't have it, an opposing player with Smite can frequently secure these buffs even if you or your team are currently doing them. Some of the highest level tournament games have been decided on a team stealing a Baron Nashor kill with a well-timed Smite. Verdict: Necessary for competitive jungling. Don't use it if you're not jungling or roaming unless you have a very specific reason to.

Teleport (Summoner Level 1) After briefly channeling, Teleport will move you to a target tower (but not other structures), allied minion, or placeable object such as wards.


Teleport is situational, and you won't always know if it will be useful in a game before you go in. That said, it can change games, and there are some times where you should certainly consider picking it up. First, if you're in a solo lane on either the top or bottom of Summoner's Rift, it can be good to have. In the first few levels, it gives you an opportunity to head back to your base and safely get back to your lane, preventing an enemy from pushing the tower in your absence or preventing you from losing too much experience or gold. It also allows you to teleport to Dragon (or later, Baron Nashor) to immediately assist your team if a conflict starts. Second, some champions, especially pushers, can use this to get in a group of minions who have pushed into enemy territory, allowing for a very quick structure takedown before the team can respond. Alternatively, it can be kept on hand while pushing, allowing for a very quick escape when enemies respond, or to teleport to the opposite lane on the map and push once enemies have responded. It can also be used to teleport to a ward near an unprotected inhibitor, allowing for quick pushing to bring the inhibitor down. Finally, Teleport offers a quick option to get back to your base if an enemy is unexpectedly pushing structures and your team cannot otherwise respond. Teleport can be used as an escape tool. The channeling effect is not canceled if you simply take damage, meaning if opponents cannot use crowd controls such as Taunts, Stuns, Knockups/Knockbacks, Supresses, or Silences, you can teleport away from them even if they're focusing damage on you. Verdict: Situational, but definitely worth considering depending on your champion and lane.

Cleanse (Summoner Level 2) This spell removes crowd controls and summoner spell debuffs (such as Ignite or Exhaust) from your champion and dramatically reduces the duration of new crowd controls for 3 seconds. This is a strong ability to use on champions that will be focused for crowd controls and potentially locked out of contributing to their team as a result. This tends to occur more frequently on melee champions who must get in range of champions with potential crowd control to be effective. For example, Tryndamere and Master Yi are easily countered by crowd controls, and Cleanse offers a way to ignore them briefly. Cleanse also allows you to escape ganks and deaths that you shouldn't get out of, especially combined with a spell such as Flash or Ghost. Verdict: This is one of the harder spells to use effectively due to the reaction time and judgment required, but it is definitely one of the strongest summoner spells for champions who must deal with crowd controls. Strongly recommended, though Exhaust and Ignite may be better in some match-ups. 161 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Barrier (Summoner Level 6) This spell grants your champion a very strong shield for two seconds. This spell has no other effects and does not benefit nearby allies. How does this measure up with Heal? It is superior to Heal in that it potentially reduces more damage on your champion and it has a lower cooldown. It is worse than Heal in that it cannot benefit teammates and the effect is temporary. In other words, if you don’t time Barrier to block enough damage, Heal would have been superior. In most situations Heal is an unquestionably superior spell. However, there are two important exceptions. The first exception is in situations where you may consider double Heal. Because Heal debuffs all players who receive the benefit, Barrier is usually going to be stronger in a high damage situation than two Heals overlapping. The second situation is dealing with Ignite or other healing reduction effects. Because the effect of Heal is cut in half with these effects, Barrier will be more effective against incoming burst damage while they are applied. Verdict: Barrier is a niche spell that is best picked for duo lanes where Heal is already present, or picked against any type of burst damage that may rely on healing reduction to net a kill. This is a good spell but not one you should pick without a reason.

Clarity (Summoner Level 6) Clarity restores an amount of mana equal to 40% of your maximum mana. In other words, the potential effect is just as strong regardless of your current mana. All nearby allies also gain mana equal to 40% of their mana. Clarity helps out in the low levels of the game, allowing you to stay in lane much longer, especially if at least one of your abilities heals you. It can also allow for more constant harassment on your opponents. Clarity is strong before you or your allies get used to the flow of a game and pacing ability use. However, the ability has no staying power, and rarely assists in the powerful plays that shape games, such as an early gank with coordinated summoner spells. Verdict: If you're relying on this spell for your early game, you or your allies may need to reconsider your playstyle, or your runes and masteries. While it's not a terrible spell, it prevents you from using spells that are more likely to contribute to team victories. 162 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Ignite (Summoner Level 7) Ignite deals a moderate amount of true damage over 5 seconds to a target enemy. This damage ignores Armor and Magic Resist. While active, all healing effects on the enemy are reduced by 50%. Ignite can be cast on jungle monsters. However, it cannot be cast on minions in lane. This helps prevent misclicking on minions when you intend to cast it on an opponent. Like Exhaust, Ignite counters a wide number of champions, and is a staple spell that should be available to most teams. The damage is nice for early kills, but the true value of this spell in the mid and late game is often the healing reduction effect. This completely counters all forms of health gain, including healing, health regeneration, lifesteal and spell vamp. Champions who rely on these mechanics (or champions who rely on healing from a Support player) are temporarily shut down by Ignite, allowing them to far more easily be focused down and killed. Verdict: Great spell that is useful for securing kills in early engagement and ensuring a kill on a player who would otherwise be benefiting from large health gains. This should be on at least one player on a team in most match-ups.

Clairvoyance (Summoner Level 10) This spell reveals a moderate area anywhere on the map for 5 seconds, including bushes in its vision area. Clairvoyance does not reveal stealth. A clearly visible eye animation and sound occurs on the area of the map where vision is granted, and this can be seen by the opposing team. Well-timed, well-placed Clairvoyance casts can be a huge benefit to your team. The spell allows you to more easily track junglers or roamers who are not constantly in vision if you can make an educated guess as to where they might be. It can also be used to check on objectives such as Baron or Dragon to check on whether they've been defeated by the opposing team or whether the opposing team is fighting them or getting ready to. If you have Clairvoyance, consider using it in the first few seconds of a match to see their summoner pool where they start. This allows you to see which items they're purchasing and potentially get an idea of which lanes they're going to (though you shouldn't rely on the direction they're moving as a sure-fire indicator on which lane they're headed to). Beyond this, consider using your next Clairvoyance at their blue buff (or red buff) in the jungle, depending on which the enemy jungler is most likely to start (if you don't know, blue is the safer bet). For blue, you want to clairvoyance a location that covers the nearby wolves as well. If you don't see the enemy team in their jungle, they may be attempting to invade your jungle. 163 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Clairvoyance is a knowledge-dependent skill, and you'll get better as it as you learn the rhythm of the game and the champions you're playing against. You can always safely use the spell to check areas near your lane (such as the river entrance or bushes that enemies may have gone in. Verdict: This is a fantastic summoner spell. It tends to be difficult to have on damage-dealing champions who see a huge benefit from other summoner spells. For this reason, Clairvoyance tends to be picked up by Support players.

Flash (Summoner Level 12) Flash instantly teleports you a small distance in the direction of your mouse cursor. This ability can cross over walls and small barriers. It does not stop any targeted attacks or abilities currently in flight towards you, though. If this ability is targeted and has range beyond the halfway point of a wall, it is possible to blink over the wall. In other words, it can travel up to twice the normal range when passing through walls. (Note that this is also true for many champion abilities and placeable objects such as wards) Flash is an amazing tool. It can be used to escape, initiate, secure a kill, show up unexpectedly to contest an objective like Dragon or Baron Nashor, and get in range for targeted spells or skillshots. When using Flash as an escape, look for nearby walls that will act as a barrier if you Flash over them. This can put you in a position that is difficult or impossible to follow. There is rarely a good reason not to use this ability. Even champions who have built-in blink or dash abilities can benefit from Flash for all of the reasons listed above. Verdict: Flash is a must-have. The decision between which summoner spells you use usually involves Flash and something else, not Flash or something else. There are some limited exceptions to this rule.


Champion Roles & Recommendations Note: There is a companion movie to this section that covers positioning for the primary roles in team fights. This is available in your downloads section. Every champion in League of Legends is unique. Even when they share similar abilities with other champions, their specific collection of abilities and stats bring a different flavor to the game. However, it's also true that we can broadly classify champions into several categories, and this can help you more quickly pick up and play champions you're not familiar with. Here are the categories I'll be covering: Primary Roles • • • • •

Ranged AD (Physical Attack Damage) AP Caster (Ability Power Mage) Support Fighter Tank

Primary roles are generally exclusive, meaning a Ranged AD will not also be an AP Caster in a game, nor will a Support also be an assassin. That said, some champions are designed so that players can choose to play them as different primary roles, sometimes even at different points in the same game. For example, Morgana has strong support abilities such as a shield, two disables, and an area magic resist reduction on enemies. She also can dish out significant damage. For this reason, Morgana can be played as a Support or an AP Caster, though to be most effective in either she will want to commit her runes, masteries, summoner skills, and early items towards one role. When I cover each primary role later, I will provide recommended runes, masteries, items, and summoner skills. Secondary Roles • • • • • • • • • • •

Carry Assassin Pusher Poke Initiator Counter-Initiator Disruption Jungler Stealth Mobile Zoning 165 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

•

Anti-Carry

Unlike primary roles, secondary roles are not mutually exclusive. Even though some primary roles naturally lend themselves to certain secondary roles (Ranged AD, for example, are generally Carries, and Tanks are generally Initiators and Disruptors), the line is not absolute. Sivir, a Ranged AD champion, is a good example of a champion who can fulfill several secondary roles at once. She is able to be a strong Carry and Pusher, while having a moderate Poke.Nearly all champions have some crossover in what they can provide to a team. I will explain more about each of the secondary roles after covering the primary roles.

Primary Roles Before jumping into each specific role, I would strongly recommend you check out the Stats section of the guide. I cover concepts of Effective Health, Burst, and Sustain, which are important to these roles and how you choose to play them. In the Primary Roles I list examples of which champions fill those roles. This does not account for every role that champions can fill, nor do I list every champion. Additionally, my list does not correspond exactly with Riot's own listings. For example, I believe Gragas most appropriately fills an AP Caster role, though he is listed as a tank. This does not mean it's impossible to tank with Gragas (or even play him as a melee Fighter), but I made a few judgment calls based on how I see champions commonly played. If you want to think outside the box and have fun, this is a good thing! It needs to be said that the following recommendations are general, and work in most cases. Some champions are designed with very specific quirks that make my recommended item builds inaccurate. For example, you'll probably function as Ryze by building my recommended AP items, but because he scales partly off of Mana, you'll be better off looking at a specific guide for him. Many of my "Don't Feed" guides also have recommended builds for the champions, and I'd suggest checking out their transcripts in this guide or on YouTube to learn more.

All-purpose Runes, Items & Summoner Spells I'm going to get into recommended builds for all of the primary roles, but there are plenty of things that are universally good across the majority of champions in the game.

Recommended Runes for Nearly Any Champion The following runes should be some of your early Influence Point (IP) purchases. While you can certainly justify using other runes in these slots (and I'll recommend them in the role-specific sections), you will 166 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

virtually never find yourself at a disadvantage if you use these runes, regardless of which champion you're playing. Red Marks: This slot should always be offensive, and should always be role and champion specific. Yellow Seals: Flat Armor (Resilience). Armor is good on any champion, and will let you survive more harassment and incoming damage than you otherwise could. I recommend Flat Armor as opposed to Armor Per Level (Defense) because it provides a much stronger defense in the early levels of the game where you are often most vulnerable. Winning the early game often means winning the game. Blue Glyphs: Flat Magic Resist (Warding). For the same reasons as Armor, I choose this over Magic Resist Per Level (Shielding). Quintessences: Flat Health (Fortitude). Health is always a safe bet, especially in conjunction with Armor and Magic Resist. One final note about runes: I recommend both "Flat" and "Per Level" runes in several of the primary roles. "Flat" items are generally for early game dominance, but "Per Level" makes sense on champions who simply won't get as much out of their early game. With Cooldown Reduction in particular, you should take into account Cooldown Reduction items you'll get that will contribute towards your 40% cap -- in some cases, the flat runes are better at all points of the game simply because you'll be capped on the stat with a couple items.

Situational Items for Nearly Any Champion When you start a game, you should always consider Boots of Speed and three (3) Health Potions. The run speed allows you to pursue, escape, and generally stay away from other champions who also have boots. The potions help you stay alive and safe in the lane for longer, allowing you to get more experience and gold in the early game. There are limited exceptions.Support and Junglers often start with items specific to their roles. Some champions, particularly those with built-in sustain or healing mechanics, or those in a lane with someone that can heal, may choose a different item. Finally, some champions may choose Regrowth Pendant to build towards another item, and this can work since it offers health sustain by itself. On the subject of boots, both Mercury Treads and Ninja Tabi should never be overlooked when you're going to upgrade. Mercury Treads dramatically reduce the duration of crowd controls and reduce incoming damage, which is useful in nearly every game. Ninja Tabi is more specific, and is preferable when you're going against a team that is primarily physical damage but not as heavy on 167 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

crowd control. You won't necessarily pull quite the damage numbers with either of these boots that you would with damage-oriented boots, but they tend to be very strong choices in games.

There are several core, situational defensive items that you should always keep in mind, and purchase as early as you need them. Quicksilver Sash provides magic resist and can be activated to break you out of hard crowd controls such as Stun, Taunt or Suppress. Banshee's Veil grants magic resist, health, and mana, and will stop one spell every 45 seconds.This can be wonderful if an enemy team is successfully initiating on you with a specific combo (such as Flash followed up by Taunt from Galio, or a Knockup/Knockback combo from Alistar). Frozen Heart provides armor, cooldownreduction, and mana. For some champions, this is a musthave combination.Beyond these, the aura makes it a situational item that's good to have on the team, as it significantly hinders champions who rely on normal atttacks to deal damage. Guardian Angel provides armor and magic resist, and can completely turn a game around if you resurrect after they've focused you, and it has the added benefit of sometimes discouraging players from focusing you in the first place.

You may not need an expensive item if you're just trying to survive a round of burst, such as from LeBlanc. Consider simply buying a

Null-Magic Mantle or

Negatron Cloak for early Magic

Resist, and upgrade them to another item later if necessary. For Armor, Cloth Armor and Chain Vest are cheap investments that also build into solid items for any role.

Boot Enchantments With Season 3 we now have a variety of boot enchantments that we can apply to our tier 2 boots. Several of these are role-independent so let’s cover them here: The Alacrity enchantment grants bonus movement speed. This bonus is passively applied at all times and will usually average out to more movement speed than the other movement-related enchantments. There is no downside to this enchantment. 168 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

The Furor enchantment causes your normal attacks and single-target spells to grant significant bonus movement speed for 2 seconds. This movement speed rapidly decreases over the duration. This is a very strong bonus for champions that need to stick to their opponent, such as Olaf or Master Yi. However, it is susceptible to champions using smart escapes to keep you from refreshing the bonus soon enough. Though Furor’s tooltip mentions single-target normal attacks, the item still works if you have one of the Season 3 items that turns your normal attacks into multi-target attacks. The Homeguard enchantment causes you to instantly restore full health and mana while in the summoner fountain. Additionally, you gain this incredibly miraculous 200% movement speed bonus for 8 seconds when you leave the fountain. While this may seem sub-par since it doesn’t directly help you in combat, it is an amazing enchantment for rapidly getting to any lane or into the jungle. It’s great for defending your base. It’s great for those times you want to go to Baron to stop them right after you’ve revived. Homeguard is both fun and justifiable, though practically speaking, it just won’t help you at all in combat. The Captain enchantment causes champions running towards you to gain 8% bonus movement speed. Additionally, nearby minions gain 20% bonus movement speed. This is pretty good on crowdcontrol supports and very good on heavy crowd control tanks, as it allows teammates to get to you more quickly, which in turn allows you to stop the people chasing them before they die. If being near you isn’t very important to your teammates this probably isn’t the enchantment for you. The Distortion enchantment reduces the cooldown of Ghost, Teleport, and Flash by a significant amount. This is a very strong bonus but it cannot be directly compared to any other enchantment. However, any champion who relies on Flash or Ghost for initation (for example, Annie or Galio) should consider this a very high priority enchantment.

Generally speaking boot enchantments are not necessary to invest in very early in the game. However, you may choose to upgrade earlier depending on your situation (such as Homeguard being useful for quickly returning to lane).

Finding Items in the Shop In most of the core items I list throughout the following recommendations, I list the base stats that come with the item within the first sentence. These base stats often correspond to categories in the item shop. For instance, an item that grants health can be found in the Health tab in the shop. With the new interface in Season 3 you can also search for items directly. As you play particular champions, you may find other tricks that help you. For instance, on champions I play where I want to build Warmog's, I'll often click on Frozen Mallet and click Giant's Belt to find Warmog's. As you play the game and work with specific champions you'll pick this skill up. 169 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9


Ranged AD (Physical Attack Damage) Examples: Ashe, Caitlyn, Corki, Ezreal, Graves, Kog'Maw, Miss Fortune, Sivir, Tristana, Twitch, Vayne Ranged AD champions deal primarily physical damage, and often deal most of their damage through normal ranged attacks. Generally speaking, Ranged AD champions have a long attack range, allowing them to stay at a distance from their opponents. Though some Ranged AD champions are stronger in the early and mid-game, they are all very capable at later stages of the game, provided they have strong item builds and are playing smart. The most important advanced skill to learn for the Ranged AD role is positioning. Being in the middle of a fight unnecessarily exposes yourself to AOE damage and directly targeted spells that you may otherwise be able to avoid. A well-positioned Ranged AD will have at least two escape paths available regardless of where they are, and will be near their teammates without being too exposed to the enemy team. For Ranged AD, it's generally true that many fights come down to a decision on whether to focus a specific enemy dealing a lot of damage to your team, or focus down the front line of enemies so you can more safely break down the damage dealers in the rear. Evaluating when you prefer front-line targets (targets of opportunity) over when to take the more risky approach of moving into their front line to hit opponents in the rear, is important for any team. Effective Ranged AD players will be very good at last-hitting minions to earn additional gold. This skill is critically important and should be practiced in every match.


Recommended Masteries

This is an offensive Ranged AD build that should work effectively in most circumstances. You can move the 9 points in Utility to Defensive if you choose, though the Season 3 nerfs to Defensive prevent you from maxing out the bonuses to both armor and magic resist if you do this. In Utility you can also opt for increased buff durations over the regenerative consumable in the third tier. Put one point in Summoner's Wrath or Summoner's Insight if the bonus to your summoner spells will significantly help you.

Recommended Runes Red Marks & Quintessences: Armor Penetration (Desolation) or flat physical Attack Damage (Strength). Attack Damage helps with very low level last hitting, but Armor Penetration tends to be a more effective long-term choice. You can either go entirely with Desolation or Strength, or you can mix and match your Marks and Quintessences with one of each. Yellow Seals: Flat Armor (Resilience). Blue Glyphs: Flat Magic Resist (Warding).


Recommended Summoner Spells Always take Flash. Your second summoner spell will be between the following. Exhaust is typically a solid choice, especially if you're laning against another AD champion. Take Heal if you don't have a Support, or your Support does not have Heal or healing abiities. This assumes you're against someone who can harass you at range, and it isn't necessarily always the best bet even in those circumstances. Take Teleport if no one on your team has the ability and you're not playing with people you know or trust. Or, take it if you're planning on being a strong pusher. This will allow you to save your base in a pinch, and push unexpectedly (by using it to teleport to advancing minions) or safely (by having it ready to escape).

Recommended Items This is a very common build that will work for you in most situations. While I emphasize damage, make sure you consider defensive items at any point along the way, as necessary. Though I won't specifically mention a time to pick it up, a

Vampiric Scepter anywhere in this build can add some extra health.

Base Items You may want to go for any combination of the following items, depending on your champion. Start with Boots of Speed and three (3) Health Potions in most cases. Purchase Doran's Blade instead if you have a Support or another player you're confident of in your lane. If you're not going to receive consistent healing, such as from a Support player, pick up a Vampiric Scepter. Do this at any point in the early or mid game (you'll likely want it anyway, even with a good Support player).

If you want early game survivability, sustain, and Dragon control, your early game goals will be two (2) or three (3)

Doran's Blades, along with

Wriggle's Lantern. Purchase what you can afford each

time you're back. Once you have these, you'll aim for a Zeal next. This is a very cost efficient combination and provides a significant boost to your effective health, damage, and sustainability. On top of this, the Wriggle's helps you shred through Dragon (and Baron Nashor later on). However, this 173 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

comes at the cost of damage, and your most effective late game build will be delayed. I don't recommend this item setup unless you're confident your team will want to do Dragon, or you need the sustain and survivability to survive in lane, or you're good enough at last hitting to earn gold that you'll be able to more easily transition to your better items. Sell Doran's Blades when you run out of space and can purchase other major items. The worst thing you can do is sink gold into Wriggle's Lantern, but not gain a tangible benefit from it and be out a good chunk of gold.

Berserker's Greaves are a solid choice for boots unless you reasonably expect to need Mercury Treads or Ninja Tabi.

Core Physical Damage Items Infinity Edge grants a huge bonus to attack damage, in addition to significant critical strike chance. Making it even better, it will cause your critical strikes to deal a base of 250% damage instead of 200%. This should usually be your first big purchase as a ranged AD (though you may want to build a Zeal after you purchase the B.F. Sword component, as this can balance your damage a little better; You'll upgrade the Zeal to Phantom Dancer later). Bloodthirster gives significant bonus attack damage and lifesteal, and it stacks bonus attack damage and lifesteal with every minion or champion kill, up to a generous cap. If you're killed, you lose half of the bonus and must stack them again. Bloodthirster is a very strong item that you'll usually want to pick up a little later in your build. However, it can be a good early or mid game alternative for Infinity Edge if you simply don't have the sustain to stay in fights (no Support and/or lots of AOE or targeted damage in skirmishes and team fights). With Bloodthirster, you can more easily stay in longer fights. In some purely offensive builds, a second Bloodthirster as a final item can sometimes work out well, but only if you have the other core stats you need in the matchup. Phantom Dancer grants attack speed, critical strike chance, and movement speed. Since Season 3, it now also grants unit collision, allowing you to freely path through units without pathing around them. The attack speed and critical strike chance multiply your potential damage output, so these are best when combined with strong attack damage. For this reason, you'll usually complete a Phantom Dancer after Infinity Edge or Bloodthirster. Later in the game, you may choose to use an additional Phantom Dancer.


Last Whisper provides bonus attack damage and a very strong armor penetration bonus. In most match-ups, this will be the ideal purchase after Infinity Edge and Phantom Dancer, and it becomes even stronger as the game goes on and your opponents gain more armor. Pick this up if your opponents are stacking basic armor items. Trinity Force can be good on certain Ranged AD, particularly those who use abilities very frequently (such as Ezrael and Corki). The built-in Sheen, Zeal, and Phage are all decent items, though this is not a recommended item on most Ranged AD unless it is a final item.

New with Season 3 Runaan’s Hurricane grants very significant attack speed. More importantly, it causes all of your normal attacks to fire two additional bolts at nearby targets, each of which apply on-hit effects. Despite the wording, this item has no negative effect on the Boots of Furor speed bonus. This item is fantastically useful against teams who are heavily melee-oriented or are otherwise grouping up together. It is also beneficial for quickly clearing large minion waves even as a purely single-target champion (such as Vayne). Finally, champions who can apply on-hit effects with their normal attacks, such as Miss Fortune, are doubly benefitted. Sword of the Divine grants significant attack speed. When activated, it dramatically increases attack speed and guarantees you will critically strike either for the next 3 seconds or next 3 critical strikes, whichever comes first. While on cooldown, Sword of the Divine does not provide any passive attack speed, making the item effectively useless. However, killing champions significantly reduces the remaining cooldown. This item is an “all in” item that should be used when you’re relatively certain you can quickly destroy an opponent, and it’s most effective when you’re heavily invested in attack damage (as opposed to critical strike, which would provide you zero benefit while the item is activated). Pick this up if you’re willing to make high risk, high reward plays. Zephyr grants attack damage, attack speed, movement speed, and cooldown reduction. Additionally, it offers tenacity to significantly reduce crowd controls. This item is only situationally good for Ranged AD carries and I’m only including it because it’s one of a very limited number of sources for tenacity (and combined with movement speed, this becomes a sort-of-survivability item with some good damage stats). Pick this up if you feel you’re potentially going to need the tenacity to survive and you can make use of all of the stats, including the cooldown reduction. Mercurial Scimitar grants high attack damage and magic resist. Additionally, this item offers the bonus effect of Quicksilver Sash, allowing you to remove all debuffs (including Suppression) from your 175 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

champion. Like Zephyr, this is not specifically designed for Ranged AD carries (as it has a melee-only movement speed bonus), but it makes sense if you’re already going to need a Quicksilver Sash and need to worry about getting the most out of your inventory slots. Statikk Shiv increases attack speed, critical strike chance, and movement speed. Additionally, while moving and attacking you build static charges. Once you reach 100 charges your next attack will deal significant magic damage to up to four targets, and this damage can critically strike. This item has an effect similar to on-hit items (which are covered later), but benefits champions who may not be ideal for other on-hit items. Pick this up against heavy melee teams, or teams with high armor but lower magic resist. Avoid it against teams that stay spread apart or have high magic resist.

On-Hit Items (Specialized) If your champion has abilities which proc "on-hit" effects, abilities which reset your swing timer, or a very high attack speed, you may consider using On-Hit items. These are covered under the Fighters section of this guide.


AP Caster (Ability Power Mage) Examples: Ahri, Anivia, Annie, Brand, Cassiopeia, Fiddlesticks,Galio, Gragas, Heimerdinger, Karthus, Kassadin,Katarina,Kennen, LeBlanc, Lux, Malzahar, Mordekaiser, Morgana, Orianna, Ryze, Swain, Veigar, Viktor, Vladimir, Xerath, Ziggs, Zilean Ability Power casters are champions who use abilities as their primary source of damage, deal primarily magic damage, and often (but not always) deal most of their damage at a range. As their name implies, these champions often scale in damage based on Ability Power (with outliers such as Ryze, who scale differently but still function as AP Casters). These are mages and they are the most diverse group, encompassing a wide variety of playstyles. AP Casters often have ability combinations that significantly improve their performance and chances of success. For example, Ahri's Foxfire and Orb of Deception are both strong damage abilities, but they can be avoided by smart opponents. However, a successful Charm after dashing towards an opponent with her Spirit Rush ultimate, guarantees she can easily land her Foxfire and Orb of Deception, thus maximizing her damage output. As always, positioning is critical, and it is dependent on the particular toolkit your champion has. For example, champions such as Xerath and Lux benefit from being further away in a fight, but champions such as Morgana, Karthus, and Fiddlesticks must stay in the middle of a fight to be most effective with their abilities. If you're at the rear, keep an eye on your flanks in case an enemy champion attempts to approach you from this direction. AP Casters tend to benefit more from levels than from gold, though gold is certainly very important in reaching their potential. Some AP casters such as Morgana, Mordekaiser, and Vladimir are able to easily clear waves of minions and collect the gold from them, but good players on any AP champion should know how to best approach farming gold from minions.



These are standard 21/0/9 masteries. The offensive points all contribute to your damage output, whereas the utility points increase your mana and mana regeneration. Neutral buff duration from the final point in utility allows is particularly useful if you can get the blue golem buff yourself, or if your jungler is willing to provide it for you. Put one point in Summoner's Wrath or Summoner's Insight if the bonus to your summoner spells will significantly help you. For Summoner’s Wrath, move a point out of Havoc in the third tier.

Recommended Runes Red Marks: Magic Penetration (Insight), pretty much always. Yellow Seals: Flat Armor (Resilience). Alternatively, FlatMana Regeneration (Replenishment) for early game dominance or Mana Regeneration per Level (Clarity). If you're going for straight damage or do not use mana, Flat Ability Power (Potency). Blue Glyphs: Flat Magic Resist (Warding). Alternatively, Flat Ability Power (Potency), Ability Power per Level (Force), Flat Cooldown Reduction (Focus), or Cooldown Reduction per Level (Celerity). Quintessences: Flat Health (Fortitude). Alternatively, Flat Ability Power (Potency) is a fairly standard choice.


Recommended Summoner Spells Always take Flash. Ignite is usually the preferred second choice, especially if your opponents have healing mechanics that would otherwise prevent a kill. This ability works with some AP Casters, particularly those who have abilities that increase the effectiveness of healing, or those who naturally wade into the middle of fights. If your particular champion relies on an ability combo to be successful, Cleanse can be a good way of preventing opponents from locking you down before you can complete it. This should be chosen in draft mode when you know your opponents will have crowd controls to lock you down and will likely focus you. Some champions can effectively kite enemies or chase them down and quickly secure a kill. Ghost works with these. Flash/Ghost is usually best for these, though if you're really set on Ghost and you have a healing-heavy team, consider Ghost/Ignite.

Recommended Items There's quite a bit of variety to AP Casters, and because of this, there's no single build that will work across the board. In this section, I'm going to outline item choices by their stage in the game and what they offer. Start with

Boots of Speed and three (3)

Health Potions in most cases. Purchase

Doran's Ring or Doran's Shield if you have healing mechanics or need more durability in lane and have a solid escape that doesn't require boots.

Base Items You may want to go for any combination of the following core items, depending on your champion. If prioritizing a balanced approach, your first big purchase will be a

Catalyst the Protector

(combined from Ruby Crystal and Sapphire Crystal). From here, combine it into a of Ages for your first core item. The earlier you get this, the sooner you'll gain its full effect.

Rod

This approach is generally best for champions who are likely to be in close proximity to enemies, though it works well on most AP Caster champions. 179 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

If prioritizing pure damage, you have two early choices. Stacking 1-3 your favor, followed up by a

Doran's Rings can work in

Needlessly Large Rod, which should quickly be turned into a

Rabadon's Deathcap. This build will give you survivability and mana regeneration (from the Doran's Rings) while giving you plenty of damage output. Alternatively, go straight for the Needlessly Large Rod and Rabadon'sDeathcap if you're doing extraordinarily well. Pure damage is inherently risky, and that's why the Doran's Rings are recommended. Do this if you're very comfortable with the lane match-up in draft mode, or if you're playing a champion who can reliably engage and escape with little risk, either due to long range or dash or blink abilities.

If prioritizing Cooldown Reduction, you're going to want an early built into a

Fiendish Codex. This can then be

Morellonomicon (previously Morello’s Evil Tome) fairly quickly. Additionally, consider

Ionian Boots of Lucidity. This approach often works best on champions who already have very short cooldowns. The reason for this is that your champion can realistically squeeze more spells into a fight with cooldown reduction (whereas longer cooldown spells may still not be used more than once or twice in a fight, even with cooldown reduction).

If prioritizing Spell Vamp, you'll want an early

Hextech Revolver, which can quickly be turned into

Will of the Ancients. This is very strong on some AP champions, particularly those who can use abilities very frequently without worrying about a mana resource, such as Vladimir and Mordekaiser.

Core AP Caster Items Your next set of items will generally be selected from a standard pool of options that most AP Casters can benefit from. I will outline each one individually. 180 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Rabadon's Deathcap is a staple item that provides a huge boost to ability power. This should be built early, but not at the expense of other items that your specific champion may consider a core item. Aside from being very high ability power on its own, it is also a huge boost to your other Ability Power items. Archangel’s Staff grants mana, ability power, and mana regeneration. Additionally, every time you cast a spell or spend mana, you gain 5 bonus mana. This gain can only occur once every 3 seconds and caps at 750 bonus mana. Additionally, you gain bonus ability power equal to 3% of your maximum mana. At 750 bonus mana, Archangel’s Staff transforms into Seraph’s Embrace. This item grants slightly higher ability power. Additionally, it gains a new active effect that drains 25% of your current mana in exchange for a shield equal to the amount of mana spent. Depending on your overall item build this may be a very strong shield. Archangel’s Staff has traditionally been a niche item for heavy mana users and champions who benefit from large mana pools, such as Ryze. For the item to be useful a champion must have abilities they can very rapidly apply stacks with, meaning very short cooldowns with non-punitive mana costs. The introduction of Seraph’s Embrace may make this item more appealing to a wider variety of champions, but do not consider picking it up if you cannot reasonably cast enough spells to stack the bonus mana. Rylai's Crystal Scepter adds a big boost of health along with a moderate amount of ability power. The big advantage to this item is the consistent 35% slow on single-target spells (or the 15% slows on multi-target and damage-over-time spells). While this is generally a strong item, it is particularly good on champions with single-target spells on short cooldowns, as it allows for effective pursuing and kiting. Excellent item to have on a team that can secure kills on slowed opponents. Void Staff grants ability power and magic penetration. It is a relatively cheap, very strong counter to enemies who are building magic resist. This should be a core item in most full AP Caster builds, and should only be passed over if the enemy team has very low magic resist. Abyssal Scepter provides magic resist and ability power. It is another very strong option to increase your damage against enemies, and is stronger the less magic resist your opponents have. This item is a good choice if you need some extra magic resist yourself, and is especially good if you come in a relatively short range of your opponents (such as when playing Fizz) so the aura can be more readily applied to multiple opponents. All of that said, this is a strong item on tank/initiators as well, and they may provide the aura for you. 181 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Zhonya's Hourglass provides an extremely high ability power bonus in addition to bonus armor for extra survivability. Though these are nice, the on-use effect that renders your champion untargetable and invulnerable (though unable to take actions yourself) for 2 seconds is key. This can always be useful if you're getting focused down in fights. It is especially strong on champions like Morgana and Fiddlesticks, who need to move into the middle of groups of enemy champions to be most effective with their ultimates, but can use Zhonya's without canceling their ultimates. Lich Bane is a specialty item that grants mana, ability power, magic resist, and movement speed, as well as a proc that causes the player's next normal attack to deal bonus damage based on their ability power. This is an item that takes some practice to use to its potential. It is generally strong on champions who have short cooldowns, high ability power, and decent attack ranges. To use this, the player must make sure they're using normal attacks between spells, and may want to pace their spells to about 2 seconds apart to maximize the benefit (due to a 2 second internal cooldown). With high ability power, a champion can provide surprising burst to enemy champions and structures by weaving auto attacks between ability casts. Deathfire Grasp is a very strong, usable item that essentially provides your champion with an extra spell to increase your burst potential. This item is best used by champions who benefit from the cooldown reduction, and it is best used against champions with high health or low magic resist. It also has the benefit of being built from two relatively cheap base items, one of which provides passive gold gains. Chalice of Harmony and Athene's Unholy Grail offer magic resistance, basic mana regeneration, and mana regeneration based on the amount of mana you're currently missing. Additionally, Athene's Unholy Grail offers cooldown reduction and restored mana on kills or assists. Generally speaking, Chalice of Harmony is a good item for a limited number of champions who really struggle with mana conservation or benefit from magic resistance in the regular back-and-forth of the early game, such as Galio and Swain. Athene's offers a long-term upgrade that prevents the item slot from being wasted later in the game. Athene's is particularly good in situations where you do not have access to the blue golem buff that also provides mana restoration and cooldown reduction. Morellonomicon grants ability power, mana regeneration, and significant cooldown reduction. This also passively applies 50% Healing Reduction to enemies below 40% health if you deal magic damage to them. This is a must-have item for champions who benefit from cooldown reduction and are going against heavy healing champions such as Vladimir or Swain.


New with Season 3 Liandry’s Torment grants ability power and health. Additionally, it passively provides flat Magic Penetration and an effect that deals bonus magic damage over time when your spells land. This effect is based on the current (not missing) health, meaning it will deal more damage to opponents with higher health. It is stronger against opponents who are slowed or immobilized, but weaker when applied with multi-target or damage-over-time spells. This is a specialty item that is designed for champions with primarily single-target spells, particularly those with slows and immobilizes. It also works well with champions who would naturally build a Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, such as Cassiopeia. Seraph’s Embrace is covered with Archangel above.


Support Examples: Alistar, Janna, Karma, Kayle, Lux, Morgana, Nunu, Nidalee, Sona, Soraka, Taric, Zilean Support players assist their teammates in achieving victory. In the early game, they often stay with at least one other player, providing them with survivability in the form of healing, shields, buffs or auras. They may also have crowd controls, debuffs, or some damage that they can use against enemy targets. There's a term, "Zero CS Support," which refers to Support who do not normally last-hit minions for CS (creep score), instead leaving the gold to their ally in the lane. This is a very common playstyle, but the best Support players do not treat this as a passive playstyle. Instead, they may attempt to: 1. Harass opposing players with spell usage and disables; 2. Actively and inconspicuously ward and counterward when their lane partner is safe; 3. Deal damage to certain higher-health minions to allow their lane partner to more easily last hit them for gold; 4. Deal damage to higher-health minions when it may prevent minions from reaching a tower, again assisting their lane partner in more easily last hitting them for gold; 5. Heal or buff allied minions (if possible) at key moments to deny the opposing team easy last hits; 6. Last hit and kill minions themselves when their lane partner will not lose gold or experience as a result. On the final point, knowing when you can safely get farm as a Support involves understanding the lane and map mechanics. Simply because the lane partner is out of lane (at base, dead, or otherwise) does not mean that the lane is safe to be farmed and pushed, as doing so may deny that player opportunities when they return. If I sound draconian on this, I certainly don't mean to. This is how "Zero CS Support" tends to play out, but it doesn't mean it's the only way to play a Support champion, and it doesn't mean it will always stay this way. In most situations, especially in solo queue, a Support player may be best suited to placing most or all of the wards on the map (even if this is not always ideal, there are a lot of players who simply don't or won't place wards). The best Support players will be effective not just at warding great positions frequently, thereby getting vision on critical areas of the map, but also countering enemy vision by purchasing vision wards and even Oracle's Elixir. The main goals of vision are: 1. Prevent ganks on allies and unexpected team fights and skirmishes; 2. Allow for ganks and ambushes on opponents; 3. General map awareness of where opponents are, allowing for the team to take objectives the opponents cannot easily respond to. Support should be positioned away from the front lines of fights. There are limited exceptions, such as Alistar, Janna, Morgana, and Taric, each of whom have abilities that may strongly encourage being closer to the fight, if only briefly. 184 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9


In most cases, the Utility tree will be your best investment as a Support player (though for most Support champions, you should at least pick up the Cooldown Reduction from Offensive). After the Season 3 remake the Utility tree offers a lot of genuinely good options for Support players. Adjust this to your liking. Pickpocket (in the second to last tier) is only good if you can reliably land spells or attacks on opponents, so champions with easy-to-land, spammable abilities tend to be better for this (good examples are Sona and Soraka). Put one point in Summoner's Wrath, Summoner's Resolve, or Summoner's Insight if the bonus to your summoner spells will significantly help you.

Recommended Runes Red Marks: Flat Armor (Resilience) or Magic Penetration (Insight). Yellow Seals: Flat Armor (Resilience) or Gold Per 10 (Avarice). Blue Glyphs: Flat Magic Resist (Warding), Flat Mana Regeneration (Replenishment), Mana Regeneration per Level (Clarity), Flat Cooldown Reduction (Focus), or Cooldown Reduction per Level (Celerity). Quintessences: Flat Health (Fortitude) or Gold Per 10 (Avarice).


Recommended Summoner Spells Flash may not seem like a high priority summoner spell at first glance, but not having it makes you an even easier target for enemies, especially in the early game. This is an excellent escape and may be used for certain champions who need to get in close. Usually a very strong choice, though you may want to have your laning partner pick this up while you choose another spell. The reason is that the heal is more effective on them when they cast it, making it a superior choice for them if your goal is to keep them alive. In this situation, consider picking up a spell that they would have had, such as Heals in a lane as well)

Ignite or

Exhaust. (It's perfectly fine to go with two

Clairvoyance is a game-changing spell that can prevent ganks, deter nearby enemies, and give advance vision before placing wards. While it isn't always the best choice in every match-up, it's usually right up there.

Recommended Items Support players may earn less gold and experience through the early and mid game than other champions will. For this reason, items that offer passive gold gain are often a priority for Support players, as they allow the Support champion to keep in step with their allies and continue to provide vision and acquire upgrades to help their teammates. The standard starting items for this build are

Faerie Charm, three (3)

Sight Wards, two (2)

Health Potions, and a Mana Potion. This can only be purchased with two points in the Wealth mastery (in the Utility tree). There's some flexibility in here. You'll want to keep the Faerie Charm for the mana regeneration, and because it's a first step towards a Philosopher's Stone. However, you may want to go for a Vision Ward for an early counterward (allowing your jungler to more easily gank, among other things), and the money for this can be acquired by either buying only a single Sight Ward, or by giving up potions and buying two Sight Wards.That said, understand that the advantage of the initial build is that it lets you stay in the lane longer due to potions and longer ward coverage. You'll need to keep up on wards and vision and that should be a priority when going back to base. However, as early as possible (while still providing ward coverage), make sure you complete your Philosopher's Stone. The sooner you can complete it, the sooner it will start paying off.


Your mid-game item goals are Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Kindlegem. Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Kindlegem both offer cooldown reduction, but the choice in order is up to you (Boots for Movement Speed, Kindlegem for Health). From this point on, always keep an item slot available for wards and purchase them often. Purchase an Oracle's Elixir for counterwarding unless they are not warding at all, or you are being repeatedly focused and killed (in that scenario, Vision Wards can be a better choice for counterwarding).

Core Support Items Once you have boots and passive gold gain items you will need to start investing in support items based on what your team needs. As always, prioritize defensive items if they're necessary, as you won't be of any use to your team dead. Shurelya's Reverie is built from the Philosopher's Stone and Kindlegem. This item provides health, health regeneration, mana regeneration, and significant cooldown reduction. More importantly, it provides a huge movement speed boost to all nearby allies when activated. Shurelya's Reverie is strongly recommended unless movement speed is not a concern, either for pursuing, positioning, or escaping. Locket of the Iron Solari is built from Kindlegem and offers health and armor, as well as an aura that grants health regeneration to all nearby allies. Additionally, it can be activated to provide a temporary shield to all nearby allies. While the shield isn't large, it's important to remember that it doesn't need to stop all incoming damage, it just needs to stop enough of it that your team can achieve its goal. Aegis of the Legion provides health, armor, and magic resist to you, as well as armor, magic resist, and bonus attack damage to your allies. This is good item not just because of its stats but because it's built from three cheap items, allowing you to build it in small increments. Aegis is usually a strong item to have on the team, though some fighters or tanks may choose to pick it up. Zeke's Herald provides health and cooldown reduction to the user, as well as lifesteal and attack damage to nearby allies. This is good for teams who have at least one player dealing their damage primarily through normal attacks, such as a Ranged AD, but is better if more than one player uses normal attacks for damage. Note: If you've already got Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Shurelya's Reverie, this item will take you over the 40% cooldown reduction cap. As soon as possible, sell your boots for Mercury Treads! 187 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Will of the Ancients provides ability power to the user, as well as ability power and spell vamp to nearby allies. This is less directly helpful to most Support players than Zeke's Herald, but still may be a good investment if your team has a lot of outgoing ability damage, especially single-target damage. As a Support, you have other options beyond these that you may want to pick up from time to time. For example, Randuin's Omen and Frozen Heart can both be beneficial to your team, especially if no one else on your team is picking them up and you're dealing with significant incoming physical damage.

New with Season 3 Season 3 introduced some great options for Support players. Sightstone & Ruby Sightstones provide health and also offer a stash of wards in your inventory that is automatically refilled each time you visit the shop. If at all possible, the Sightstone should be picked up early enough that you aren’t spending much money on additional wards for covering your lane. Eleisa’s Miracle now offers flat health and mana regeneration. It also passively reduces your Heal, Revive, and Clairvoyance cooldowns by 20%. If you gain 3 levels while carrying the item, the item is consumed and you gain the bonuses permanently without using an item slot. If you’re relying on these summoner spells this is a must-have, especially since it builds out of a passive gold-generating item. Keep in mind that the earlier you purchase the item, the sooner it will be consumed, as early levels pass more quickly. Mikael’s Crucible grants a large amount of mana, magic resist, and mana regeneration. Additionally, this item passively regenerates mana at a rate proportionate to how much mana you are missing (in other words, missing more mana means you’ll regenerate mana more quickly). Mikael’s Crucible also has an incredible active effect: It can heal and remove most crowd controls on an ally. This item is incredibly strong in the hands of a Support who is extremely quick at targeting an ally that is being initiated on or focused down. This is strongly recommended for experienced players going against high crowd control teams. Banner of Command grants ability power and armor. Additionally, nearby allies receive an aura that increases health regeneration, and nearby allied minions deal slightly increased damage. When activated on a target Siege minion, that minion becomes significantly more powerful. Until the buffed Siege minion is killed you gain all gold it earns.


Note that this replaces the old “Promote” summoner spell and is effectively the same active effect. Like Promote, this is effective for specific pushing strategies, particularly in split pushing where an enemy team may not respond or recognize a side lane is getting pushed by a powerful Siege minion. If you have a strategy for this item, pick it up. Shard of True Ice grants ability power and passive gold every 10 seconds. Additionally, nearby allies receive an aura that increases mana regeneration. When activated and targeted on an ally, enemies near that ally will be significantly slowed. Aside from offering a strong crowd control, this item has the benefit of letting you apply crowd control to opponents without walking near them, allowing you either to move in range more easily, or to keep your distance. If high speed champions are causing significant problems in teamfights, pick this item up to help counter them. Twin Shadows offers ability power, magic resistance, and bonus movement speed. When activated it summons two invulnerable ghosts that will seek the two nearest enemy champions and apply a very strong slow to them. This is a fairly cost efficient item, though unlike Shard of True Ice, you will lose the passive gold generation when combining Kage’s Lucky Pick.

Note: Shard of True Ice and Twin Shadows are two items designed for slowing. Please be aware that the introduction of Season 3 offers players better tools for reducing the effectiveness of slows (Boots of Swiftness and the Relentless defensive mastery), so take a quick look at your opponents boots before making a decision. Also key in on whether they have Tenacity in combination with this, such as with the Zephyr or Spirit of the Ancient Golem items. These items may still be good, but you may find you’d prefer a more persistent solution such as Randuin’s Omen.


Fighter Examples: Akali, Blitzcrank, Dr. Mundo, Fiora, Fizz, Gangplank, Garen,Irelia,Jarvan IV, Jax, Lee Sin, Master Yi, Nasus, Olaf, Poppy, Renekton, Riven, Shaco, Shyvana, Sion, Skarner, Talon, Trundle,Tryndamere,Udyr,Urgot, Warwick, Wukong, Xin Zhao, Yorick Like AP Casters, Fighters encompass a wide variety of champions in League of Legends. Some deal primarily single-target damage, such as Warwick, while others deal more multi-target damage. Some bring very strong crowd controls, such as Riven, Nasus, and Tryndamere, while others bring no crowd control at all, such as Master Yi and Fiora. Not all of them are purely melee-range, as is the case of Urgot, who plays similar to other Fighters such as Yorick, but is technically a ranged champion. In the current environment, the majority of Fighters build significant survivability at the expense of damage.Melee Fighters are often in the most dangerous position in skirmishes and team fights. If an enemy team has "snowballed," or gained a significant advantage your team, the Fighter is often penalized first as they must be a part of fights but may be at extreme risk of dying. For this reason, the best Fighters will be those who will do everything they can to stay on top of their gold income by effectively last hitting minions, and will make item decisions that allow them to survive the enemy team. Only a minority may build purely offensive, and these tend to be assassins or champions with their own mechanics that help them survive or escape (examples are Fiora, Master Yi, Shaco, Talon and Tryndamere). This does not mean they should always build purely offensively, and the point is here more to illustrate how few melee champions can get away with heavily offensive builds. Melee Fighters tend to be the front line in engagements, and their goal is often to break up enemy Fighters to reach and disrupt or kill carries. That said, melee Fighters with crowd controls should learn to effectively peel opponents off their own carries as well, as this often leads to better results than simply going after an enemy carry.



This is a standard Fighter build. Since many Fighters deal significant damage through ability usage, we favor Cooldown Reduction in Offensive over Attack Speed, but you can change this depending on who you’re playing. Since Season 3, the Defensive tree is the weaker of the trees. While this build works well at keeping you in the fight, both with the slow and crowd control reduction and the survivability, you shouldn’t rule out going heavier in offensive for a 21/9/0 build instead. Put one point in Summoner's Wrath, Summoner's Resolve, or Summoner's Insight if the bonus to your summoner spells will significantly help you.

Recommended Runes Red Marks: Armor Penetration (Desolation). Yellow Seals: Flat Armor (Resilience). Blue Glyphs: Flat Magic Resist (Warding). Quintessences: Flat Health (Fortitude), Attack Damage (Strength), or Armor Penetration (Desolation).


Recommended Summoner Spells Always take Flash unless you are confident another option is better based on your champion's mechanics. If you haven't taken Flash, chances are this is the spell you're picking up. Works well on champions like Olaf. Take Teleport if you're solo laning and may need to quickly move across the map to assist teammates with team fights or objectives like Dragon. Take Cleanse if being briefly locked down is likely to either kill you or prevent you from staying in a fight. Ideal on champions like Tryndamere. Heal is a relatively solid choice, especially if you're on naturally tanky champions who will get a stronger effective benefit from using it. Take Exhaust if you're specifically using it to counter someone either in your lane or later in the match. Same as Exhaust -- take Ignite if you're specifically using it to counter someone in your lane or later in the match.

Recommended Items Fighters have a very wide variety of builds they can pursue. If you're planning on building pure damage (such as with a Tryndamere), I suggest reading the item recommendations in the Ranged AD section. If you're planning on building very tanky, I suggest reading the item recommendations in the Tank section. For specialized champions such as Fizz and Akali, you'll want to look up specific build guides for them. In this build, I'm going to outline the common "Tanky DPS," or bruiser, builds that are commonly seen among Fighters. This build works because it allows Fighters to come into the mid and especially late game without being immediately destroyed by opposing carries.

Starting Fighter Options There are three primary ways that most Fighters will start a match. For movement speed, start with Boots of Speed and three (3) Health Potions. This will let you escape opponents who would otherwise be faster, and may net you an early kill if you chase someone while you have the movement speed advantage. Afterward, you may still want to pursue either of the following options before getting into core items. 192 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

For sustain while building for passive gold, purchase a Potion or

Mana Potion. This is usually turned into a

For sustain while building Wriggle's Lantern, purchase

Regrowth Pendant and one

Health

Philosopher's Stone. Cloth Armor and five (5)

Health

Potions. Wriggle's Lantern is very common for Fighters because it offers cost effective armor, lifesteal, and damage, as well as a ward (particularly useful while solo laning).

Mercury’s Treads should be your primary boot option in most cases. By virtue of being in the front lines in skirmishes and team fights, you're not only going to potentially be hit with crowd controls, but you're probably going to take both targeted and AOE magic damage as well.

Core Fighter Items Once you have either your Wriggles and boots or passive gold items and boots, you'll want to move onto your bigger purchases. Warmog's Armor gives a massive health and health regeneration boost, and grants additional health and health regeneration for every minion or champion you kill, and when you get assists on champion kills. This is a big investment, particularly the Giant's Belt, but provides a massive boost to your survivability. Frozen Mallet provides health and bonus attack damage, as well as a very consistent slow on your normal attacks.This will help you stay on targets who are fleeing. Frozen Mallet is built from Phage, meaning the investment is a bit more palatable due to getting the partial slow even before you have the full item built. Generally not an ideal purchase if you have already purchased a Warmog's Armor (unless you really need the slow effect). The Black Cleaver gives health, attack damage, cooldown reduction and armor penetration. Additionally, dealing physical damage to an enemy champion moderately reduces their armor for several seconds. This armor reduction can stack up to four times allowing for a very strong damage reduction. Since Season 3, this item is strongly recommended for champions who can make use of each of the stats, which includes many physical damage fighters such as Olaf. Because the bonus effect is armor reduction, it will benefit teammates who also deal physical damage. 193 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Atma's Impaler provides armor and critical strike chance. Most importantly, it converts 1.5% of your maximum health to physical attack damage. This is an essential goal for champions who are aiming to be tanky DPS, and it's the reason you build Warmog's or Frozen Mallet. Warmog's and Atma's is typically referred to as "Atmogs." Atma's is often a strong choice for champions with any serious amount of health, but it is better suited to be used by champions who use normal attacks (thereby benefiting from the critical strike chance), and to champions who are dealing with heavy incoming physical damage. Maw of Malmortius can be a better choice when dealing with heavy incoming magical damage. Hexdrinker and Maw of Malmortius both grant bonus attack damage and magic resistance. Additionally, both of these items will create a temporary shield that blocks incoming magic damage damage if magicd damage brings you below 30% of your health. Hexdrinker upgrades into Maw of Malmortius. This upgrade provides higher bonus damage, a stronger shield, and slightly more magic resistance. On top of this, Maw of Malmortius grants you additional attack damage the more health you are currently missing. This special bonus makes it particularly well suited to champions who are dealing with heavy incoming magic damage, but are otherwise survivable enough that they can realistically survive at lower health to gain the benefit from the increased attack damage. Hexdrinker and Maw of Malmortius will shield the magic damage that would bring a champion below the threshold, meaning a champion cannot take burst damage that might kill them without the shield consuming at least part of it first. Because of this, the item can be deceptive to opponents who believe they can burst you down quickly. Manamune grants mana, attack damage, and mana regeneration. Additionally, you gain attack damage equal to 2% of your maximum mana. With each normal attack or spell cast, your maximum mana is increased by 4. This effect can only occur once every 3 seconds and the bonus mana caps at 750. At 750 mana, Manamune transforms into Muramana. This item offers slightly more attack damage than Manamune. It can be toggled to cause your single-target spells and attacks to use 3% of your mana and deal twice the amount of mana consumed as bonus magic damage. Manamune is a specialized item for champions who benefit from attack damage and can reasonably stack the bonus mana quickly. With the introduction of Muramana in Season 3, this item is even better for champions who rely heavily on normal attacks or single-target spells (such as Urgot).


Trinity Force works well on a number of melee Fighters, though it should not be prioritized before survivability without a very good reason. While the movement speed and on-hit slow are beneficial to most champions, the bonus damage on normal attacks after using abilities is often what determines whether this is worth pursuing. Make sure you're using abilities frequently enough to benefit from this. If you've built your starting items and core items, you then choose whether to build tankier (necessary if your opponents are packing a serious punch) or more damage. As said earlier, look at the Tank or Ranged AD sections, respectively, for further item suggestions.

New with Season 3 Ravenous Hydra provides significant attack damage, health regeneration, and life steal. Additionally, it causes all of your attacks to cleave, dealing significant damage to other units around your target. Note that this has no negative effect on the bonus from Boots of Furor. The amount of damage dealt decreases the further towards the edges of this cleave. Ravenous Hydra can be activated to deal even more damage to targets around your champion. Both the cleave and activated portion of this item benefit from lifesteal. Ravenous Hydra is a fantastic item for melee fighters who find themselves needing to go up against multiple grouped up opponents. The item is a very significant investment with no hard survivability stats (i.e. no armor, health, or magic resist), making it a high-risk, high-reward option. Mercurial Scimitar grants high attack damage and magic resist. Additionally, this item offers the bonus effect of Quicksilver Sash, allowing you to remove all debuffs (including Suppression) from your champion. Upon activating the item, melee fighters also gain significant movement speed, meaning a very quick use can allow you to stay in range of someone who crowd controlled you as a means of escape. Aside from all of the other uses of Quicksilver Sash, any fighter relying on lifesteal (such as from Ravenous Hydra) or other attack-dependent effects should consider having this item to avoid being crowd controlled and burst down. Muramana is covered above with Manamune.

On-Hit Items On-Hit items are items that apply a special bonus whenever you use a normal attack against an opponent. They are usually good on champions who have abilities that apply On-Hit effects or abilities 195 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

that reset your attack timer or cause you to attack multiple times. They can also be solid choices on champions with high attack speed. Some of these items need to be stacked several times before reaching their full effect. In these cases, consider whether you'll realistically be able to stack them fast enough to benefit you or your team. Additionally, some of these items add attack speed -- keep in mind that attack speed is more beneficial on champions who already have a high base attack speed.

Wit's End grants attack speed and magic resistance, deals bonus magic damage on hit, and increases your magic resistance by a small amount. The bonus magic resistance stacks several times. This item is great for champions who can stack it quickly while wading into skirmishes and teamfights where they're going to take a lot of focused or AOE magic damage. Because it doubles as a survivability item, Wit's End is usually a solid bet. Malady provides ability power and attack speed, deals bonus magic damage on hit, and reduces the target's magic resistance by a moderate amount. The magic resistance reduction stacks several times. Since this is magic resistance reduction (as opposed to magic penetration), teammates who deal magic damage will benefit from this effect. Consider Malady under these conditions: Each of the stats benefits you and your team has several magic damage dealers who would benefit from the applied effect. While the bonus magic damage on hit will be increased by the magic damage reduction, Malady is better if you already have another source of magic penetration, such as those provided by runes or masteries.

I'm not mentioning Wriggle's Lantern, Trinity Force, or Frozen Mallet. These have been covered previously and are not specific to champions who benefit from On-Hit items. That said, Wriggle's Lantern will shred Dragon and Baron Nashor (among other monsters) faster if you do have abilities that lend towards quickly applying On-Hit effects.


Tank Examples: Alistar, Amumu, Cho'gath, Galio, Leona, Maokai, Nautilus, Rammus, Sejuani, Shen, Singed, Volibear Tanks are champions who control skirmishes and team fights. Just as in modern MMORPGs, the tanking role is a lot less dependent on raw survivability, and a lot more dependent on the ability to control chaos by initiating and disrupting opponents. Simply being able to survive damage does not make a tank good if your opponents realize they can ignore you and go directly for higher priority targets. That said, just as in MMORPGs, survivability is necessary to being the most effective tank. Tanks are similar to Support in that they may also lane with another player in the early game, and may be best suited for ward and vision coverage if their allies are not helping with this. However, many tanks can jungle effectively (such as Amumu, Maokai, and Rammus), and many can play a solo lane effectively (such as Cho'gath, Galio, and Singed). Tanks are not absolutely necessary in a team composition, particularly with the effectiveness of survivable melee Fighter builds. However, they are still frequently used and can still be major assets to the team they're on. Because tanks must focus so heavily on balancing defensive stats, I strongly recommend reading the Stats section of this guide before tanking.



With this build, we prioritize survivability and staying power, and also invest into utility for a little bonus movement speed and summoner cooldown reduction. Each of the choices in the Defensive tree are designed to keep you alive during a brutal team fight, which is why we forgo the early health regeneration in favor of damage reduction. You may choose to move points around, either for deeper utility or to trade utility for offensive perks. I would caution that Flash initiates tend to be extremely strong on pure tanks and you won’t want to be significantly behind the other team’s initiators when it comes to initiation potential. Put one point in Summoner's Wrath, Summoner's Resolve, or Summoner's Insight if the bonus to your summoner spells will significantly help you.

Recommended Runes Red Marks: Insight is best in most situations due to the additional damage output. Though not ideal, if you're absolutely sure you want more survivability instead, go Flat Armor (Resilience). Yellow Seals: Flat Armor (Resilience). Blue Glyphs: Flat Magic Resist (Warding). Quintessences: Flat Health (Fortitude). If speed is a big issue for your champion (such as Leona), consider Movement Speed (Swiftness). 198 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Recommended Summoner Spells As an initiator, Flash is usually the single best tool available since it allows you to instantly move in and crowd control opponents before they can react. Ghost is useful on some tanks, particularly those who benefit from dramatic speed increases. For example, Singed is very potent with Ghost because he can use it to stay in front of opponents, dropping his poison cloud in their path. Teleport is a solid option, especially if you're solo laning and in the top lane. Use it to immediately and unexpectedly enter team fights, and to assist in securing Dragon. Heal can be a good option on a tank champion for several reasons. First, you will frequently be in range of other champions on your team while fighting opponents. Second, it will give you additional sustain in a solo lane, and potentially allow for baiting opponents with low health. Finally, Heal can be taken if you're filling in the role of Support on your team, especially if you don't provide any other healing to your allies. Exhaust is a good option for another crowd control on the team, and tends to work better as a tank since you're going to be in range of ideal targets. Exhaust can be useful in setting up ability combos or getting in range for them, such as with Alistar.

Recommended Items Tank builds are determined by their role in the match. Some tanks, such as Cho'gath, Nautilus, and Galio, do well in solo lanes. Other tanks, such as Leona, work well in place of a Support, and may tend to lane with a partner while not killing many minions for gold. Most tanks will also function well in the jungle. Each of these builds requires a different approach. If playing a tank in place of a Support and will need to focus on warding, read the Support section and build similarly until you have the passive gold gains and cooldown reduction (in some cases, you can go all the way with this and build primarily Support items). It's worth saying that tanks should probably be picking up wards anyway, regardless of whether there's a Support in the match doing so. If jungling, you will want to check out a guide specific to your champion to make sure you're going to efficiently and safely clear the jungle. However, a few levels in you'll have a lot more flexibility in your builds as you'll be in less danger in the jungle, so pick up on the core items here.


Starting Tank Items Most tanks will benefit from starting essentially the same way Support champions do, as the Philosopher's Stone not only provides passive gold gains, but also provides cheap survivability and sustain. When starting, purchase a purchase a

Rejuvenation Bead and

Philosopher's Stone andbasic

Mercury Treads or

Health Potions. As soon as possible,

Boots of Speed. After this, build towards

Ionian Boots of Lucidity.

Core Items Against Magic Damage Banshee's Veil provides you with health, mana regeneration, and significant magic resist, and builds from in relatively cheap increments. While spell shields are generally helpful to all champions, they can be particularly important if you're trying to initiate as a tank so you're not instantly countered as you move in. Abyssal Scepter grants you ability power and magic resistance, while providing an aura that reduces the magic resistance of nearby enemies. This is a genuine gem in the right circumstances, as you'll be making your own damage and presence more threatening while allowing your teammates to dish out more magic damage. This may encourage opponents to focus you down, which is often preferable to your teammates getting focused down while you're tanking.

Core Items Against Physical Damage Frozen Heart offers an enormous boost to armor, along with mana and coooldown reduction, while reducing the attack speed of nearby enemies. This is an amazing item to pick up if the enemy team has strong physical attack damage, even moreso if you fully benefit from the stats it offers. As with Force of Nature, you'll get the most out of this item if you also build some items with health. Randuin's Omen offers health, armor, health regeneration, and cooldown reduction, as well as a debuff that slows attack and movement speed on enemy champions who use normal attacks against you. When activated, you will dramatically slow movement and attack speeds on all surrounding enemies.


Guardian Angel provides armor and some magic resist. More importantly, it resurrects you if you die. If you provide very consistent disruption and being resurrected is likely to help you stay a part of the fight, this is a good choice.

Health Item Options These are situationally useful, but I discourage prioritizing these unless you've already got core items against your team's main threats. Sunfire Cape offers health and armor in addition to passive magic damage to nearby enemies every second. The damage isn't much, but combined with other AOE, such as on Amumu, it can be fun and occasionally effective to run around in. Frozen Mallet offers health and damage in addition to a slowing effect on normal attacks. This works on some of the slower tanks, such as Leona, and allows continued, easy disruption on targets. While Health is nice, this is not the most effective tanking item, so only consider it when the slowing effect may tangibly result in more successful skirmishes or team fights. Warmog's Armor provides a massive health and health regeneration boost. While strong, this item is not necessarily among your first items because it lacks utility and won't necessarily provide more damage reduction than core magic resist or armor items. It can also be problematic to build later because you won't necessarily get a chance to stack it. For these reasons, Warmog's is situational, but still a great way of increasing your effective health if you will realistically have a chance to stack it and already have strong magic resist and armor.

Support Item Options Aegis of the Legion is a solid, cheap choice if personal survivability isn't turning out to be a huge issue (though it will help you out with its combination of health, armor and magic resist). Shurelya's Reverie isn't a bad idea to pick up for your team, as you'll already have a Philosopher's Stone on hand, and building it gives you additional health and cooldown reduction. The on-use movement speed will help you initiate as well.

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Runic Bulwark offers a health, armor, and magic resist. Additionally, it provides an aura that grants nearby allies even more armor and magic resist, as well as a moderate health regeneration boost. This is a very straightforward item that offers pretty much everything defensive you want as a tank. Definitely worthwhile to consider, except for one caveat – the buff does not stack with Aegis of the Legion, meaning your team will only benefit from one of these items if both are present. If you have a Support player, determine if they’ll be picking up an Aegis before committing to this purchase. Iceborn Gauntlet grants ability power, armor, cooldown reduction, and a large amount of mana. Additionally, any time you use an ability, your next normal attack deals very significant bonus damage to all nearby enemies and moderately slows them for several seconds. This effect can only occur once every 2 seconds. Like Frozen Mallet this is not only designed for tanks but should work well if you want to bring more crowd control to the table and have abilities with fairly short cooldowns, allowing you to proc the effect repeatedly. As a side note, this is a great item to pick up if you’ve built Glacial Shroud but another teammate is building Frozen Heart. Ohmwrecker provides significant health, mana, and armor. Additionally, it can be activated to shut down a nearby tower’s attacks for 2.5 seconds. While this item allows for easier aggression at towers it may not be as useful in the late game when it would prevent a relatively trivial amount of damage for the overall cost of the item.


Secondary Roles As said earlier, secondary roles are not mutually exclusive. In this section, I'm going to expand on exactly what each of these secondary roles does. It will help not only understand the game and the options within the game, but the terminology that players use.

Carry A carry is a champion who can wipe out an enemy team with extraordinary effectiveness. In most cases, a carry has made damage items a primary investment and lacks the survivability of more durable allies as a result. Carries are often high priority targets in team fights, both in defending them if they're allies and killing or forcing them out if they're enemies. As a rule, Ranged AD and AP Casters can -- and often should -- be built as carries. However, champions from other primary roles can fulfill the role of carry if they're doing extraordinarily well in a match.

Assassin An assassin is a champion who can quickly engage and kill most enemies with low survivability. The best assassins have dash, blink, or gap-closing mechanics that allow them to quickly get in range, and may also have a crowd control to keep their opponent from immediately reacting. Like carries, assassins can come from different primary roles, particularly AP Casters and Fighters. Unless assassins have an extraordinary gold lead (either from champion or minion kills), they usually must transition to another role or be very careful about how, where, and when they enter skirmishes and team fights (usually to burst down a carry in the rear).

Pusher Pushers are champions who excel at rapidly clearing minions in lanes and, in many cases, at taking down structures quickly. Champions with naturally strong AOE such as Vladimir, Mordekaiser, and Morgana are good at pushing minion waves towards enemy structures quickly. Champions with abilities that temporarily increase their damage output or reset their attack swing timers are often very strong at pushing structures. Some of the best pushers, such as Sivir, are capable of achieving both quick minion clears and high structure damage. Strategically, pushing does more than take down towers and minion waves quickly. Champions who are strong pushers can force opponents to make a decision between staying and defending their structures or leaving for another objective. In the mid and especially late game, strong pushing can lock down an enemy team and force them away from objectives, including Dragon, Baron Nashor, and other structures. 203 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Two or more champions pushing separate lanes at one time is referred to as "split pushing." This can be very difficult for an enemy team to counter, as they may be unable to group together without losing structures as a result. Teleport is generally a very strong summoner spell for pushing, either for getting into a lane or quickly getting out of one.

Poke Long range abilities, particularly those that can pass through minions, are poke. Champions with these abilities can slowly saturate and damage opponents, softening them up for a team fight or harassing them to where they can be killed (or, at the very least, to where they may avoid trying to kill you). Poke abilities are spread out across a wide variety of champions. Examples are Janna's Howling Gale tornado and Kog'maw's ultimate, Living Artillery.

Initiator Champions with abilities or enough survivability that allows them to get a team fight started in a favorable way are initiators. As a rule, all effective tanks should be capable initiators, and most champions who have been designed as tanks have specific tools to initiate. For example, Amumu's Bandage Toss can pull him to enemy champions, and his Curse of the Sad Mummy ultimate can immobilize everyone around him, allowing his team to jump in. Tanks are not the only initiators, though. Many champions, particularly those with crowd controls, can be strong initiators even if they can't take much damage. For example, Ashe's ultimate, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, can stun and slow opponents at a range, allowing her team to quickly follow it up. A Morgana with a Zhonya's Hourglass can Flash into the middle of a group of enemy champions, activate her Soul Shackles ultimate, and immediately make herself invulnerable to guarantee the cast completes.

Counter-Initiator Imagine that amazing initiate listed above. Now imagine it didn't work because the initiator was instantly crowd controlled (knocked up, knocked back, silenced) and their combo was broken. Not all initiates can be effectively countered, particularly those that come in from a range (Ashe's ultimate).

Disruption A disruptor is a champion that can prevent other opponents from functioning at their potential in skirmishes and team fights. At the most basic level, any crowd control can function as disruption, though some champions are better at the role than others. For example, Leona has an immobilize, stun, and 204 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

AOE stun/slow that she can use in skirmishes, giving her repeated opportunities to prevent enemies from moving, casting, or attacking. Nautilus has a slow, an immobilize, and a knockup. Many tanks are able to frequently disrupt opponents in fights. However, other champions have very strong disruption abilities that can turn team fights in their favor. For example, Wukong's ultimate, Cyclone, can knock enemy champions up in the air, preventing them from moving, casting, or attacking.

Jungler Junglers are champions who gain levels, gold, and experience from killing monsters in the jungle. Ideally, these players are also helping to gank and kill opponents in the main lanes, and are potentially harassing enemy champions in the opposing jungle. Any champion can jungle, though some champions do this more effectively than others. Also, jungling is dramatically improved with full or near-full runes and masteries, meaning it is generally best achieved by players with high summoner levels (though this is less true after the season 2 rework of the jungle). Junglers are important because of their flexibility and their impact on the game. With a jungler, an opposing team must be concerned about unexpected ganks and often must invest gold in wards for additional vision around their lanes. If they don't, they will pay for it if the jungler successfully ganks them. By having a jungler, a team also has another lane with only a single player in it. This dramatically increases the experience the solo player receives (and, if played well, the gold available to them from minions). Jungling is a significantly different playstyle than laning, and I strongly recommend taking the time to research effective jungle routes for your particular champion. On YouTube, search for "Stonewall008" and look for a jungling movie related to your champion. While this won't teach you jungling inside and out, it will give you an idea how to get started. Smite is generally necessary for the most effective jungling. Because of its ability to turn games in the team's favor by securing kills on Dragon and Baron Nashor, it is better than having an ability that helps more with securing early kills. Wriggle's Lantern is a staple item for many junglers due to the armor, damage, lifesteal, and chance to deal significant additional damage to minions and monsters. Consider buying this for many jungling champions, especially if you're not totally comfortable with the champion yet.

Stealth A small handful of champions have a stealth ability that allows them to go invisible to enemy champions. Stealth has two primary benefits: First, it makes the champion much more difficult to hit with most 205 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

abilities, and impossible to hit with targeted abilities or attacks if the enemy does not have vision on them. Second, it allows for unexpected or sometimes unavoidable attacks, especially when combined with a movement mechanic such as Vayne's Tumble with her Night Hunter ultimate active, or Shaco's Deceive. Stealth can be countered by Vision Wards (the more expensive version of Sight Wards) and Oracle's Elixir, as well as certain champion abilities (such as Lee Sin's Tempest). However, even though there are ways to stop stealthers, a vigilant team with stealth champions may destroy vision wards and prioritize or avoid champions with Oracle's Elixir. Stealthed units are not targetable without vision, but most AOE attacks and skillshots will still hit the target if you can accurately guess where they are.

Mobile Mobile champions are those with abilites that dramatically increase their mobility in fights. This comes in all forms, including movement speed increases (ex: Udyr, Skarner), dash abilities (ex: Irelia, Tristana), or blink/flash abilities (ex: Kassadin, Ahri). In a class of their own are the champions with global movement ultimates -- Twisted Fate, Nocturne, and Pantheon -- who can move across huge areas of the map quickly. Mobility is strong in chasing and escaping. It is generally best at closing the gap between a champion and a high-priority target such as a carry. Mobility and positioning has a big impact on the outcome of skirmishes and team fights, and a team with a very large mobility advantage usually has an advantage in team fights since they may be more capable of pursuing fleeing opponents and escaping unfavorable fights.

Zoning Preventing or strongly discouraging opponents from entering an area, or keeping them in a favorable area, is zoning. Though important throughout the game, this often has its largest potential impact in the early game when initial gold and experience can be denied. Zoning usually occurs in one of two ways. The first way is through champion abilities. Persistent AOE spells such as Morgana's Tormented Soil and Anivia's Glacial Storm are very dangerous to opponents and deter enemies from standing in them unless absolutely necessary.Delayed effects such as Lux' Lucent Singularity and Gragas' Barrel Roll can prevent players from moving around them until the effect has expired. In the case of Ziggs, both Hexplosive Minefield and Satchel Charge act as strong zoning tools and can block map chokepoints. The second means of zoning is fairly simple, and can be achieved with any champion in the right circumstance: The risk of death. If an opponent has been harassed down far enough, or if their lane mate has been killed and they're facing two opponents, they may believe they are at a significant risk of 206 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

being killed if they stay too close. Zoning occurs if the champions with the favorable situation position themselves very aggressively, often behind the enemy's minions, so the enemy champion cannot safely approach to earn gold or even experience. Some champions are naturally good zoners. Pantheon's Spear Shot and Gangplank's Parrrley both offer short-cooldown harassment to their opponents, potentially bringing their opponents low enough after several uses that they can no longer safely move in range. Olaf's Reckless Swing is a strong deterrant to enemies who must use melee-range attacks on enemies near him to earn gold. Player terrain abilities such as Anivia's Crystallize and Jarvan's Cataclysm prevent players from easily moving in a direction. While these don't fall into the traditional meaning of zoning (as zoning usually implies active, but not forced, pressure on opponents), they're still important to keep in mind.

Anti-Carry The anti-carry is a very specialized role and is usually limited to a small number of champions. Carries are often ranged champions with enough range that they can position themselves behind the front lines of fights; they're also often champions who've invested more into damage than survivability. Anti-carries are champions who have both the damage to burst these opponents down and the ability to reach them in skirmishes and team fights. Most assassins can be played as anti-carries in most match-ups as the game progresses. However, other champions are particularly well suited to the role. For example, Olaf can be built very survivable while still providing very strong damage, and his Ragnarok ultimate allows him to ignore all crowd control, letting him run directly through an enemy line to burst down a carry. If Urgot lands his Noxian Corrosive Charge on an enemy carry, his powerful Acid Hunter attack can wreck that carry at an extreme range.


Major Patch Updates Big changes can occur in League of Legends, but these don't always make it into the guide. In order to make sure you're aware that I'm aware of these changes, I'm going to make a few notes on how the change affects you as a player, particularly in cases where I don't make significant revisions to other parts of the guide based on them.

Season 3 Patch The game has received a massive update. The game interface has been heavily updated; additionally, items, jungle camps, and summoner spells have also been adjusted. Finally, several core game mechanics have been changed. While these changes are covered throughout this guide, let me quickly recap how this changes the game: •

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One aim is for the game to be less ‘snowball’ oriented and more forgiving for newer players. Last-hitting melee and caster minions provides slightly less gold, but gold for siege minions has been increased. Passive gold gain for all players has increased. Players who pick up several kills gain a bounty much more quickly, meaning that killing them can help you get back in the game more quickly. Conversely, players who are killed repeatedly lose bounty rapidly, making repeated ganking less valuable. The jungle has been dramatically changed! It is more difficult than during Season 2 and becomes more rewarding over time. That said, the basic mechanics have been mostly left untouched, with the exception of leashing (monsters now attack the closest target rather than attempting to chase the target that first attacked them). Masteries have been updated! Overall the changes are not major and the deep points aren’t “must-haves,” but there were some points shifted around that affect hybrid builds (for example, Armor and Magic Resist are not easy first-tier grabs in Defensive anymore). Promote and Surge gone. Barrier added to Summoner’s Rift. A lot of tweaks and cooldown changes to how these work (as well as their improved versions). Make sure you read the masteries to see what the improvements do. Items, items, items. Check out the Champion Roles & Recommendations section for more information on this (be sure to check out boot enchantments in particular). I’ve listed new items at the end of each role’s item lists so you can easily find them.

Aside from this there’s been a big interface adjustment, new recommended items and item layouts, and some other quality of life changes. In my opinion, Season 3 is an excellent addition for the health of the game, but of course that is up to everyone to decide for themselves. The things that have been removed were redundant or either confusing or poor choices for players. As far as I’ve seen, the additions are all sensible choices that will be situationally useful.


Rengar, Syndra, Kha’zix, Elise, Zed Patches There’ve been several patches since our last update. Because of recent tournaments and the end of Season 2, the game-wide changes have not been dramatic, though we’re certainly expecting some huge changes with items (among other things) as Season 3 approaches. In my opinion, the biggest single addition has been the Honor system. At the end of a match, players can now give positive marks to their teammates and their opponents. Players who gain enough honor are recognized with a banner while loading into a match. Why is this big? For as long as I’ve been playing League, a good portion of the community has been unpleasant. This is especially bad for new players. While I can’t speak to the overall impact of the honor system, I can anecdotally say that I’ve noticed a decrease in jerks since it was implemented, and I’ve also noticed more compliments being given to the enemy team at the end of a match, win or lose. Twisted Treeline was just reworked into a completely new experience. On top of being a beautifully designed map, it’s also better designed for 3v3 matches (and less dependent on tanky champions snowballing). Depending on the popularity of this map, I may prioritize adding information on it to the ebook. There are a few other things worth saying: • • • •

Abyssal Scepter had a massive reduction to its range. This is now only good for champions who can expect to get a lot of close range magic damage in. Co-op vs. AI (players vs. computers) has continued to improve. It’s still not as competitive or difficult as going against good players but it’s certainly been improving. Wards now look better. Also, ward skins are now purchaseable in the shop (don’t forget to hit the checkbox to enable them after purchase!). Dragon’s damage-over-tme effect will no longer stop recalling. This is a minor quality of life fix, as you used to be unable to recall even afte Dragon had been killed until the debuff stopped ticking.

Diana Patch Not a lot to say here other than a significant Katarina and Garen rework. Garen now deals more damage in the lategame but is not quite as powerful in the early game. Katarina is a generally better champion who is less reliant on her ultimate to dish out damage, making her somewhat less easily countered by any team with a crowd control.


Zyra Patch Twitch and Evelynn have been reworked! While Twitch has traditionally been a strong champion in certain circumstances, Evelynn was in desperate need of an overhaul due to being legitimately underpowered in the game. Though not a stealth champion, Xin Zhao was also reworked and is now a much more effective champion. The quality of skins has gone up dramatically.

Pulsefire Ezreal & Jayce Patch Most of the mechanical changes to League of Legends in these patches are small (things like Ignite working on jungle monsters but no longer working on minions to prevent misclicking, etc). A lot of champion tweaks. Ezreal received a 'super-legendary' -- and extremely expensive -- skin. If you think you'd enjoy playing Ezreal (I certainly do), you may want to consider this skin, as it's very slick and sci-fi. It also grants new summoner icons and a new profile header. All that said, it's fluff and not something you need to worry too much about. Riot's 100th champion, Jayce, also released. I've fallen in love with this guy -- he's like Lee Sin, Karma, and Nidalee rolled into one. Don't Feed Ezreal and Don't Feed Jayce have both been added to the guide. Make sure you check out their movies on the YouTube channel, too.

Darius & Draven Patch Nothing too big in these patches that I'm not already covering elsewhere in the guide. A new item was released this patch, 'Athene's Unholy Grail,' and you can read up on it (along with Chalice) in the AP Caster section of 'Champion Roles & Recommendations.' Zeal and Phantom Dancer had their movement speed bonuses reduced.

Spectator Mode & Varus Patch Deathfire Grasp This item was changed so that it now provides higher ability power but no longer provides mana regeneration.


The base damage of the ability was reduced a little to 25% of the target's health, but the bonus per 100 ability power was slightly increased to 4% per 100 ability power. This is a minor tweak. What does this mean? All of the stats are now beneficial to champions who don't use mana. That's the biggest change, meaning champions like Vladimir and Mordekaiser get more benefit out of the item.

Morello's Evil Tome This now builds partly out of Kage's Lucky Pick, which means it provides a passive gold gain bonus before it's combined into the final product. The big change to this, though, is that it now has an active ability: Every 20 seconds, you can reduce a target's healing by 50% for 8 seconds. This is a big counter to healing, obviously, and should be considered against heavy healing teams or champions.

Hecarim Patch Magic Resistance & Ability Power/Magic Penetration Runes Magic Resistance (Warding) runes were reduced in effectiveness with this patch. Along with this, Ability Power (Potency) and Magic Penetration (Insight) runes were increased in effectiveness. The practical impact this has on you is that if you're very good with a particular AP-based champion, you may choose to swing your runes over to a more offensive build instead. If you're still learning a champion or getting used to their abilities, or if you're more survivability focused anyway, you're still going to want magic resistance runes.

Atma's Impaler Atma's Impaler was reduced from providing 2% of your health as damage to 1.5%. This makes it a less effective item (reducing the AD gain by 25%). However, it is still a cost effective item on champions who you'd pick it up for anyway. If you make any change at all in regards to purchasing Atma's Impaler, it will likely be choosing between Atma's Impaler and Maw of Malmortius based on whether you're dealing with heavy physical or magic damage.

Doran's Ring & Blade These items provide lower health now. Like Atma's Impaler, they're still cost efficient, and you should still pick them up in the same situations. You might lean a little less towards them if you're doing well in your lane and are choosing between going for damage or survivability.


Lulu Patch Lifesteal & Bloodthirster Several items providing lifesteal had their lifesteal bonus reduced. This affects two things: • •

Jungle efficiency, safety, and speed, depending on the champion you're playing and how quickly you are relying on lifesteal (such as an early vampiric scepter purchase); Outlier cases where a little bit of lifesteal would have been the difference between life and death.

I've already had a few deaths in matches based on these outliers, where even slightly higher lifesteal from my items would have saved me. But honestly, these were lopsided games my team was already winning fairly handily (I usually died trying to take on multiple opponents). I'd emphasize that the biggest benefit of lifesteal is sustainability over time. Unless you have extreme amounts of lifesteal, it usually won't change the outcome of a brief fight. On the subject of Bloodthirster, the item was changed so that it provides less in terms of potential stats, but also only loses half of its stacks on dying. In my opinion, this is a big improvement for nearly all practical situations.


About the 'Don't Feed' Guides The 'Don't Feed' guides are the same guides that I used to create the movie series on YouTube by the same name. When I first began the series, I intended to create extremely short mechanical descriptions of the champions, and I produced the movies very quickly. As the popularity of the series increased, and as I came across increasingly complex champions, I shifted towards creating extremely in-depth movies for each new champion. You will notice the difference as you read these guides. Some are very short (in some cases with one-line descriptions) while some are monstrously complex, getting into the finest details on how champions work. As I continue to create more 'Don't Feed' guides, I will continue to update this document. Once I have completed a sizable majority of the champions available in the League, I will go back and redo champions that deserve to be redone. The other thing you may find in these guides is a very candid, often off-the-cuff style. This is usually what I wrote into the YouTube movie information, which is where I throw my thoughts on a champion. These are purely opinion, and in some cases, they are a little dated. For example, with Graves I mused on him potentially being too powerful; since writing that, he has been nerfed fairly substantially. This happens occasionally on the newer champions, who I aim to complete shortly after they've been released. As a rule, most of the mechanical information (the gritty details on how abilities work) will remain accurate for a long time. This is because I'm careful not to be too specific with numbers on abilities I believe are more likely going to be changed with upcoming patches.


Don’t Feed Ahri http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6hsfw65qBM

Champion Notes This is the best designed champion I have played to date. She is a seriously good champion, very enjoyable, and has a lot of options in any given situation. As a solo mid, I did not find any problems playing against any other champion, and if I felt there were going to be potential issues I focused more on roaming. As a solo top, I found her farm was outstanding, allowing me to get my core items very quickly. I'd place her in league with Lee Sin in terms of having a high skillcap. There are things I can improve on with her, such as better managing the return path of Orb of Deception and landing Charm more reliably at close range (I'm personally much worse with melee range skillshots than long-range ones). I could also improve on utilizing all three Spirit Rush jumps to the best positions at all times (most times I do well, but sometimes I have to use Flash when a better jump would have secured the kill). There are a bunch of little things I can improve on as well. It goes without saying that you're going to have to land your skillshots, but smart casting and using your ult to position make this easier. So does practice. I suspect a lot of the people upset with Ahri right now simply need to take the time to get better with her shots. I would feel very comfortable maining her in ranked games. I understand that a lot of high ELo players consider her very good; I agree with them. I'd love an excuse to continue playing her while I move onto other champions for Don't Feed.

Introduction Ahri is a magic damage assassin. While her ultimate is available, she is extremely mobile. Ahri has a moderate base movement speed of 305 and an attack range of 550, placing her movement speed below other assassins and her range below the top champions. She has a relatively fast attack


animation, allowing her to last-hit more easily. She receives no increases to Magic Resist with level, keeping a consistently low 30 Magic Resist throughout the game without items.

Essence Theft (Passive) Ahri gains a charge of Essence Theft whenever one of her spells hits an enemy (max: 3 charges per spell). Upon reaching 9 charges, Ahri's next spell has 35% Spell Vamp. Ahri's passive is Essence Theft. When casting spells, Ahri gains a charge towards Essence Theft for each time her spells damage an enemy. A charge will be gained even if the spell is negated by a spell shield. She can gain up to three charges per spell cast, meaning she must cast at least 3 spells before reaching 9 charges. Once she has reached 9 charges, the orb in her hand visibly changes from blue to green, indicating that her next spell will gain significant spell vamp. Once she has cast a spell that successfully strikes at least one enemy, the spell vamp bonus will be consumed and her charges are reset to zero. With the exception of her Orb of Deception ability, this will occur even if she strikes a target with a spell shield, and she will still gain the appropriate amount of health. Smite and damage sources other than her champion-specific abilities will not consume the Essence Theft buff and cannot benefit from the spell vamp.

Orb of Deception (Q) Ahri sends out and pulls back her orb, dealing magic damage on the way out and True damage on the way back. Ahri's Orb of Deception is a skillshot that travels out to max range, then back towards Ahri. While traveling outwards, the ball deals magic damage to every enemy it hits. While returning, the ball deals true damage to every enemy it hits, ignoring armor and magic resist. If Orb of Deception hits a target at max range, it will deal both hits of damage instantly. With Ability Power prioritized throughout the game, higher ranks of Orb of Deception will kill caster minions and can potentially kill melee minions as well. The damage area of the ball is somewhat small, so positioning and targeting needs to be taken into account to maximize the effect while farming.


Orb of Deception can be an excellent spell to use when Soul Eater's spell vamp buff is available. This is because it can hit a large number of targets, and also because it benefits from the true damage, making it useful regardless of how much magic resist the targets have. Orb of Deception will burn spell shields such as Banshee's Veil while traveling outwards, dealing no damage, but will successfully deal the true damage if it hits the same target coming back. If her Soul Eater passive is charged and Orb of Deception strikes a target with a spell shield, it will not consume Soul Eater. Orb of Deception will only consume Soul Eater once it has dealt damage to at least one target. Orb of Deception has a long-enough range that it can hit Baron from an outer wall. It is also capable of hitting the dragon from an outer wall, provided he has not been moved. Orb of Deception has a relatively short cooldown and can be used multiple times in longer fights. Even though Orb of Deception is a ball of light, it casts a shadow.

Fox-Fire (W) Ahri releases three fox-fires, which after a short delay lock on and attack nearby enemies. Ahri's Fox-Fire forms three balls of energy that spin in a triangle around her and stay active for several second. A moment after being activated, these balls will fire off at the closest enemies, dealing magic damage. If an enemy champion is in range, the Fox-Fire balls will always prioritize them over minions and monsters; however, it cannot distinguish between clones such as Shaco's hallucination. Each ball targets independently of others and will go towards whatever enemy is closest to it. While FoxFire shots will all hit a single enemy in many situations, they may instead split off to multiple different units when Ahri is surrounded. If more than ball hits a single target, the first shot will deal full damage while the next two will deal half damage, combining for a total of twice the listed damage on the target. Spell shields are broken by the first shot of Fox-Fire. Depending on the timing and positioning of the shots, one or both of her follow-up shots may also be consumed by a spell shield. It is easiest to have her follow-up shots hit a target after breaking the spell shield by activating Fox-Fire prior to entering range of the enemy, or activating it at max range; however, even near melee range it is possible for both follow-up shots to deal damage. If a spell shield is broken and one or both of the follow-up shots deal damage, the first damaging shot will deal the full damage of Fox-Fire, while only a second damaging shot will deal half damage. 216 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

To maximize damage or break multiple spell shields in a team fight situation, Ahri may need to position with several enemy champions around her to better split her Fox-fire shots. In single-target situations, Fox-Fire can be Ahri's strongest ability to use for Soul Eater's spell vamp. This is because all three shots will grant health, and are considered single-target for the purposes of This buff is applied instantly without cast time and does not interrupt movement. Fox-Fire has a relatively short cooldown and can be used multiple times in longer fights. -->Fox-Fire goes on cooldown once the charges are either used or expire. Fox-Fire will not acquire targets against hidden enemies.

Charm (E) Ahri blows a kiss that damages and charms an enemy it encounters, causing them to walk harmlessly towards her. Ahri's Charm is a skill-shot ability that deals magic damage and charms the first enemy she hits in a line, preventing them from using abilities and causing them to move towards her with significantly reduced speed. If the target is otherwise immobilized, they will still be unable to use abilities but will not move towards Ahri. Charm can be used to bring players out of channeled abilities, such as Galio's Idol of Durand. Even though Charm causes an enemy to move towards Ahri, the slow and ability shut-out make it an excellent escape tool to prevent players from catching up to her or her teammates. Ahri's Charm has a moderate cooldown and may only be used 1-2 times in longer fights.

Spirit Rush (Ultimate) Ahri dashes forward and fires essence bolts, damaging 3 nearby champions. Spirit Rush can be cast up to three times before going on cooldown. Ahri's ultimate is Spirit Rush, which causes her to charge to a nearby location. Once she 217 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

lands, she will deal magic damage to the three nearest targets. If enemy champions are in range, they will be prioritized. Spirit Rush will not damage hidden targets. Multiple bolts cannot hit a single target, meaning that fewer shots will be fired if there are fewer than 3 nearby opponents. After using Spirit Rush, Ahri has a moderately long window of time in which she can activate the ability two additional times for a total of three jumps. There is a very short cooldown after each that she must wait before jumping again, though she can cast other abilities instantly. Each jump fires it's own three shots, meaning a total of 9 shots may be fired. --> Spirit Rush has a relatively short cooldown for an ultimate, and will be available in most fights and skirmishes. While the ability is available, Ahri is one of the most mobile champions in League of Legends. Spirit Rush goes on cooldown once all charges are either used or the time window to use them expires. While Spirit Rush jumps will not travel over the largest walls, it can jump over walls that are slightly thicker than the normal range of a jump. In regards to her Soul Eater passive, only the first round of shots fired from jumping will grant her spell vamp, while subsequent jumps will be counted as new spells. However, because Spirit Rush jumps are counted as new spells, each of her three jumps can potentially grant her three stacks, meaning Spirit Rush can bring her from zero stacks to having Soul Eater fully charged for her next spell.

Champion Notes & Countering Throughout the early and mid games, Ahri can be played as a very effective assassin. Though she doesn't have the movement speed of other assassins, her ultimate is up frequently and gives her mobility that is nearly impossible to get away from without hard crowd controls. Her ability power ratios are very low on a per-hit basis, meaning each shot of damage from her spells do not scale up well throughout the game. This is largely offset by the sheer number of individual hits she can get off, including two on every target from Orb of Deception, three from Fox-Fire, one from Charm, and up to nine from Spirit Rush. Both her Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire have very short cooldowns. However, it does still lag behind in the later game when against a single target, as both the Fox-Fire and Spirit Rush damage is decreased against a single target. For this reason, Ahri may transition towards the role of an AP bruiser or ranged nuker in the mid and late game unless she has had an extremely strong early game.


Ahri's main weakness throughout the game, but especially in mid and late game team fights, is in her Spirit Rush. Because there's a slight delay before the ability can be cast again, there is an opportunity for a team to crowd control her before she can move away. Even a single crowd control can be enough time to kill Ahri if the team focus fires. For Ahri, this means she may not choose to use Spirit Rush to get into the middle of a fight, but may instead skirt around the outside of a battle. And because of her Fox-Fire, Charm, and Spirit Rush hitting her nearest enemy, she can often be countered by putting someone between her and the team that can easily survive her damage or harass her out. For example, an equally farmed Volibear can form a wall that will prevent anything but her Orb of Deception from getting in the mix, while potentially chasing her entirely out of the fight or at least forcing her to use Charm against him. It goes without saying that the best possible time to kill her is while Spirit Rush is on cooldown. Watch for any opportunities to do this. Champions that can survive her burst are generally strong against her, especially those with gap closers or crowd controls. Because she's a relatively slow champion, she is easy to chase down while Spirit Rush is on cooldown. If you're chasing Ahri, try to juke an incoming Charm shot, as the slow can prevent you from catching up. Against teams with strong gap closers and chasers, it can be in Ahri's interest to save Spirit Rush specifically for the end of team fights, where she can use it either to help clean up or, if necessary, as an escape mechanism. During the early game, the first thing you should do when potentially laning against Ahri is purchase boots. Staying mobile to avoid her Orb of Deception dramatically reduces her ability to harass prior to level 6. Additionally, keeping minions between you and her, or keeping your distance, is a good idea to prevent Charm from landing on you. Ahri is difficult to harass if she has boots, and it can be very dangerous to do so near a tower with Charm available. Charm is good at pulling players near her tower, and can also be used to keep a player from getting under their tower. On this note, ganks from any jungler or roamer with hard crowd controls or strong slows can also make it virtually impossible to avoid a follow-up Charm, ensuring the kill. Do everything you can to avoid being harassed to low health during the early game. If you're against her, are at low health, and she is about to reach level 6, go back and heal. Always assume she will attempt to kill you as soon as you're at low health once she's level 6. A single successful Charm may be a death sentence to players who aren't at full health, as she can land a devastating Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire attack on you during it. If she didn't use Spirit Rush to land the charm, she may use it during the Charm to increase damage or immediately afterward to stay in range for another Orb and Fox-Fire attack as you flee. Don't check bushes if Ahri is not accounted for. Her Charm has a long enough distance that it can easily trap you from the far end of a bush without your warning. By virtue of being in a bush, this generally also means she has a clear shot for her Orb of Deception and can get in range for her Fox-Fire. 219 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Overextending is always bad, but it's especially bad when you've left your rear open to a skillshot charm. Ahri can move extremely quickly across an area of the map and performs her best with a clear Charm shot on a player who didn't see her until she blinked in range to make the shot. It's also generally true that Ahri can use her ultimate to get a clear shot for charm, no matter what the situation is. The only good time to use Flash during this is when she fires her Charm, but she may not use it after her first jump, and you won't necessarily be able to guess when she will. Your only other option is to flash immediately once she's used Spirit Rush three times in total, or attempt a blind flash in a possibly good direction if another jump will kill you. Ahri is an exceptionally good ganker and roamer at level 6, as her ultimate will be available often. Spirit Rush makes her a strong tower diver, and her mobility also lets her easily chase down low health opponents deep into their lane. Save any crowd controls and be ready to use them immediately if she's not accounted for and you're backing. If Ahri may not be able to reach a fight in time to net a kill or save a teammate, she may use flash to help get in range with her ultimate. By using flash before her ultimate rather than after, she risks wasting the cooldown, but potentially gains more damage to secure a kill by getting an extra shot of damage on her opponents with Spirit Rush. Watch out for Ahri at both Baron and Dragon, and make sure the outer walls are warded or you otherwise have Ahri accounted for. She is able to jump over the wall and harass or attempt to steal the kill, then easily get back out unless crowd control is immediately applied to her. Because her Orb of Deception can hit either Baron or Dragon from an outer wall, she may attempt to steal the buffs without risking a counterattack. For Dragon, make sure he is pulled out to the river to keep him out of range. Thanks for watching this Don't Feed! Be sure to subscribe with the button on the upper right, and check out the companion build guide with Ahri's Runes, Masteries, Items and Skills as it comes out by clicking the moviethumbnail to the right. You can also check out my previous movie in this series, "Don't Feed Nunu," by clicking the movie thumbnail in the bottom right. As always, check the movie information box below for general thoughts and series updates, and let your friends know about this series to help promote it in the League of Legends community. Also, make a post on the official League of Legends forum thread, linked below, if you really enjoy the series!



Don’t Feed Amumu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh3yle16m-U

Champion Notes For as long as I've been playing, Amumu has been considered one of the strongest champions in the league for his ability to affect the outcome of games, and is frequently banned in ranked matches. He's my favorite tank/initiator, though I do like a few others as well (Galio, Maokai, and Leona, haven't played many other tanks yet). Introduction Amumu is a tank who has very strong team fight initiation and sustained AOE magic damage.

Cursed Touch (Passive) Amumu's attacks reduce the target's Magic Resistance for a short duration. Amumu's passive is Cursed Touch, causing his normal melee attacks to debuff the target for 4 seconds with up to 35 reduced magic resistance. This does not stack, but follow-up attacks by Amumu will refresh the timer. Cursed Touch will apply through spell shields and any other shields.

Bandage Toss (Q) Amumu tosses a sticky bandage at a target, stunning and damaging the target while he pulls himself to them. Amumu's bandage toss is a skill-shot throw ability that hits the first enemy target in a line, stunning them and dealing magic damage. Additionally, Amumu will pull himself to the target he hits.


The stun can be very effective when chasing a fleeing opponent, as it prevents them from running temporarily while the team can catch up. Since this also pulls Amumu in range, getting in range can be enough to secure a kill due to his AOE damage. It can also be very effective at protecting allies who are fleeing, as the stun can be used against chasing opponents to buy time. The chasing enemy will then have to choose between continuing to chase an opponent who is even farther away, attacking Amumu and taking his AOE damage, or retreating. Bandage Toss can be useful in stopping enemies during channeled abilities and breaking ability combos. If you're going against a team with Amumu, it's important to remember that his stun can be used in melee range just as effectively. If you need to use a channeled ability, stay behind teammates or allied minions during a team fight. If you're against him during laning, try to keep minions between you and him to prevent a successful bandage toss, and make sure you stay unpredictable so he can't easily lead a shot on you.

Despair (W) Overcome by anguish, nearby enemies lose a percentage of their maximum health each second. Amumu's Despair is a toggled aura that deals base damage plus up to 2.7% his opponent's maximum health per second, without any ability power. Despair is the first if his strong AOE skills. As long as he can stay in range of members of an enemy team, he can maintain damage on them. This is frequently useful in making sure that low-health opponents cannot safely flee unless they have strong escape mechanisms. This ability has a high mana upkeep and makes it difficult for Amumu to sustain himself over long periods of time. However, if Amumu can acquire the blue buff on summoner's reach, he can run the aura indefinitely. Despair will deal damage to stealthed opponents. Additionally, silencing Amumu will not stop the aura if it is currently running.

Tantrum (E) Permanently reduces the physical damage Amumu would take. Amumu can unleash his rage, dealing damage to surrounding enemies. Each time Amumu is hit, the cooldown on tantrum is reduced by 0.5 seconds.


Amumu's Tantrum passively decreases incoming physical damage by up to 10. Additionally, he can activate the ability to deal significant AOE damage around him. The activated portion of the ability has its cooldown reduced by 0.5 seconds for every normal attack he receives. Tantrum is very significant damage, especially in the early and mid game, and especially if Amumu is ahead in gearing. If you or your teammates are near Amumu and you aren't guaranteed a safe kill on him, do not use normal attacks against. Tantrum can wreck unprepared players. Tantrum makes Amumu a very strong jungler, at least in terms of efficiently taking out monsters. Because he takes less damage on every incoming attack, he can sustain himself well in the jungle. Because the cooldown of Tantrum also reduces with every attack, most of the camps will benefit from rapid use of Tantrum. Combined with Despair, Amumu can quickly clear a jungle. However, Amumu is also a very vulnerable jungler, and he needs a team who can regularly watch out for him if he is against an enemy champion who can potentially harass him in the jungle. Amumu does not have very strong escapes and only limited single-target damage. If playing against a jungling Amumu, look for opportunities to harass him in the jungle.

Curse of the Sad Mummy (Ultimate) Amumu entangles surrounding enemy units in bandages, damaging them and rendering them unable to attack or move. Amumu's ultimate is Curse of the Sad Mummy, which immobilizes all targets within a medium range of him and prevents them from using normal attacks for 2 seconds. Curse of the Sad Mummy is a devastating initiation tool. Combined with bandage toss or flash, it is an extremely powerful initiation tool that can change the course of many team fights. Additionally, it buys Amumu a short period of time where he can use his AOE and auto-attack to soften targets around him after using it. Finally, if Amumu used Flash to move in range, he may use his bandage toss at the end of the Curse to keep a single opponent locked down even further. If playing against an Amumu, avoid staying tightly clumped with other teammates. Additionally, be very careful when you don't see Amumu, as he may be in a nearby bush or other area out of vision waiting for a good opportunity to move in. Curse of the Mummy can also be used in small skirmishes, as it can be effective in preventing a player from escaping. And in a pinch, Amumu can use it to help him and his teammates escape as well. 224 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

If going against an Amumu, don't forget that Curse is not a stun and you can use abilities while immobilized by his ultimate. Galio, for instance, can use his Idol of Durand AOE Taunt while inside Curse, negating much of the advantage of the Curse.

Countering & Champion Notes Like other tanks, Amumu is not usually going to be the most threatening player on a team once a fight has begun. However, he does dish out a lot of damage and can disrupt a team even after he uses his ultimate. While you should try to avoid focusing him down in team fights, it's also important that you don't let him damage too many players on your team at a time, and, when possible, make it difficult for him to land bandage tosses on key players.

As mentioned earlier, an Amumu is very vulnerable in the jungle. Take advantage of this by warding his blue buff and moving in immediately when he goes for it. He usually won't gank before level 4, and won't have a strong gank until level 6. However, he's still a fine jungler due to his relative speed in the jungle and his ability to earn money there without costing other teammates.


Don’t Feed Ashe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6lER4xGiB0

Champion Notes I enjoy Ashe a lot. She's a fairly straightforward champion but her gameplay places tons of emphasis on not screwing up, even a little bit. In my opinion, Ashe really suffers in the current environment due to the number of champions with gap closers and high burst, and this is even more true with each new champion they release. Even a couple months ago I didn't have as frustrating a time w/ her as I am some games now. When I say in the video that it all comes down to your team (and your own positioning), I mean that moreso than I have with other champions I've covered recently. Yes, she can keep people slowed, yes, she has her Enchanted Crystal Arrow in a pinch, but sometimes you'll just be screwed if opponents can walk past all of your teammates. I would *not* recommend her against serious opponents unless you're confident in your knowledge of most of the dynamics in League of Legends. That said, she's extremely good. In a couple days of playing I managed to pull off a pentakill, quadra kill, several triple kills, a couple baron steals and a lot of buff steals. The Crystal Arrow is fantastic, but I also should have emphasized that Hawk Shot is really a game changer, too, and gives her a utility that makes her very valuable in a good team.

Build Recommendations As far as builds, I usually started with boots and 3 health potions, or Doran's with an early return to base for boots and health pots (using teleport early). Infinity Edge is an absolute must; you may not always be able to rush it, but it is a core item and you should absolutely have it as soon as you can reasonably put it together. Boots -- Berserker Greaves, Merc Treads (if necessary), or the +3 movespeed boots; I know people dog on those a lot but every little bit counts. Defensive items were iffy -- if people can regularly reach you, chances are you're totally screwed anyway. I did pick up Banshees a few games. There's a lot of discussion about Zeal and how quickly to get it (if ever), as well as Last Whisper, and I found I preferred IE first, LW second, finished boots third, and zeal fourth, if I could. 226 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Introduction Ashe is a ranged, high physical damage champion.

Focus (Passive) While out of combat, Ashe's Critical Strike chance increases every 3 seconds for her next attack. Ashe's passive is Focus. This increases her chance to critically strike by a percentage every 3 seconds. At level 1, this provides 3% critical strike chance every 3 seconds, culminating in 18% every 3 seconds at endgame. This bonus stacks. For this reason, Ashe will begin many encounters with at least one guaranteed critical strike, and will critically strike more frequently than most other champions. Focus will help Ashe in early and mid game minion farming as well.

Frost Shot (Q) While active, each of Ashe's basic attacks slow her targets. This drains Mana with each attack. Ashe's Frost Shot causes her normal attacks to slow their target by up to 35%. This can be very effective both at chasing down players who are running away, as well as keeping close range attackers at a distance while she is moving away. This costs mana per each normal attack, and if Ashe keeps it active when she does not need the slow, she will rapidly deplete her mana reserve. Ashe may prefer only to use Frost Shot in specific situations where the benefit is nearly certain to help acquire a kill or keep her or a teammate alive.

Volley (W) Ashe fires 7 arrows in a cone for increased damage. Volley also applies Ashe's current level of Frost Shot. Ashe's Volley fires 7 arrows in a cone, dealing a base amount of physical damage plus bonus damage equal to her attack damage. Additionally, any targets hit by Volley also have Ashe's current rank of Frost Shot applied to them, slowing them. 227 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Volley begins with the very long cooldown of 20 seconds, but reduces down to 4 seconds by the final rank. At max rank, Volley can be used very frequently for strong area damage. It is also very effective at farming minions.

Hawk Shot (E) Each time Ashe kills a unit, she gains some extra gold. Ashe can activate to send her Hawk Spirit on a scouting mission. Ashe's Hawk Shot passively increases the gold she earns from last hitting enemy units by up to 5. Additionally, she can activate to fire a shot that grants vision over a large area for 5 seconds.

The vision granted from Hawk Shot does not detect stealthed units but it does give sight to bushes in the affected area. Hawk Shot initially has a short range that allows her to see in potential gank spots near her lane but not too much further. Higher ranks have a massively increased range and can be used for strong scouting in preparation for team fights or escapes. Hawk Shot has a very long cooldown, and this cooldown does not decrease with higher ranks. During skirmishes, Ashe may fire Hawk Shot before an enemy enters a bush to ensure her and her teammates do not briefly lose target on the opponent.

Enchanted Crystal Arrow (Ultimate) Ashe fires a missile of ice in a straight line. If the arrow collides with an enemy Champion, it deals damage and stuns the Champion for up to 3.5 seconds, based on how far the arrow has traveled. In addition, surrounding enemy units take damage and are slowed. Ashe's ultimate is Enchanted Crystal Arrow, a massive skill shot arrow that is fired in a line and will travel across the map until it hits a target. This arrow ignores all unit collision and will only hit champions. The champion that is hit by the Enchanted Crystal Arrow is stunned, takes magic damage, and is slowed by 50% for 3 seconds. The duration of the stun is increased by the distance the arrow has traveled before landing, maxing out at 3.5 seconds. 228 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Additionally, all champions near the target take half the damage and are also slowed by 50% for 3 seconds.

Champion Notes & Countering While Ashe is a respectable carry in her own right, Enchanted Crystal Arrow is what sets her apart as a very strong addition to most teams. If it lands in an ideal spot, it is one of the best initiations in the game. This is true both in the early game, where she can fire either to her lane or across the map to any other lane, and in mid game and especially late game, where a well placed arrow can decisively change the beginning and outcome of a fight. Enchanted Crystal Arrow is also a good escape mechanism if she is being chased. While the stun duration isn't as long when fired nearby, it can stop most aggressors, especially those who attempt to tower dive. Followed up with frost shot to keep opponents in range, Ashe can kill many opponents who attempt to flee. Enchanted Crystal Arrow has a variety of uses for sniping kills or buffs. Since the AOE damage hits all enemy targets, it can kill minions such as the blue golem, red lizard, dragon, or baron. Though Riot has marked her as a recommended champion, Ashe is extremely dependent on her team in competitive play due to her limited escape options and her need for farm. There are very few champions Ashe can go toe to toe with in a 1v1 situation before she has a significant item investment. Countering Ashe primarily involves getting past her team. As a ranged carry, she does best by positioning herself out of reach of opponents and making herself hard to reach. Assassins with strong gap closers are best suited to reaching her and bursting her down during a team fight, though nearly anyone else who can reach her will be effective against her. Don't underestimate Ashe's AOE damage in team fights. Volley is essentially a spammable AOE that can quickly turn the tide of a fight while also preventing easy escapes from those affected by the slowing debuff. Ashe is an incredible farmer, especially at late game. If you can knock her farm down in the early game, especially to a point where she cannot acquire Infinity Edge quickly, it will benefit your team. Keep an eye on her mana. Ashe players who are less familiar with her will quickly run out of mana by accidentally leaving Frost Shot active too long. Even so, Ashe does have a limited mana pool, and may not be able to use many abilities after extended team skirmishes.


If you see Ashe backing away from the minions in a lane any time after she hits 6, assume she is checking the map and potentially firing an Enchanted Crystal Arrow towards an opponent. This can sometimes be an ideal time to attack, as she may be distracted. Watch out for an Ashe with the Teleport summoner ability. If Enchanted Crystal Arrow lands from across the map and she has a nearby allied unit, she can teleport directly to the target while they are stunned and follow it up with other attacks.


Don’t Feed Caitlyn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqn1nXcYihg

Champion Notes Caitlyn is a very straightforward champion in terms of what she does and how she works (with a few small caveats on her Ace in the Hole mechanics). If you've practiced as an AD carry, it's not too difficult to pick her up, though paying attention to using bushes and trap placement will have a big impact on her success. I took out a section in the champion notes that I wasn't totally confident in, but I'll put it here: Sivir seems to be a very strong laner against Caitlyn, not necessarily because she can completely shut down Caitlyn, but because she can completely ignore her. All of Caitlyn's abilities are easy to spell shield, and traps are mana cupcakes for Sivir. The only reason I didn't leave it in the movie is because there is still a base range difference, and Sivir overcomes that only by smart use of her Boomerang and Ricochet.

Build Recommendations Standard ranged AD setup. Runes are Armor Pen/Flat Damage for reds and quints, along with flat Armor and Magic Resist in yellow and blue. 21/9/0 or 21/0/9, with an emphasis on all physical damage in offensive. Exhaust/Flash are always solid bets. Skill order is flexible on your situation, but Piltover Peacemaker loses its value later in the game compared to simply auto-attacking, so maxing it first can give it more time to shine. Infinity Edge is always a good bet. Bloodthirsters, Zeal/Phantom Dancers, Attack Speed/Merc Treads/Ninja Tabi for boots.Again, standard ranged AD items based on your situation (Last Whisper if they're stacking armor).

Introduction Caitlyn is a long-range physical damage champion with strong single target damage. 231 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Caitlyn has a slower base movement speed of 300, putting her on par with several other ranged carry champions. Her normal attack range is 650, the highest currently in the League at early levels. Her projectile speed is extremely fast, allowing for easier last hitting in lane.

Headshot (Passive) Every few basic attacks, Caitlyn will fire a headshot dealing 150% damage to a champion or 250% damage to a minion. Caitlyn's passive is Headshot. Caitlyn gains a stacking buff every time she uses a normal attack. Once she has several stacks she gains the Headshot buff, causing her next normal attack to deal significantly more damage. Headshot makes a clear sound when the buff is gained, and a clear shrapnel animation persists around Caitlyn until it is consumed. Headshot procs deal more damage to minions than champions, though the damage bonus is significant in both cases. Caitlyn gains two stacks instead of one every time she attacks from within a bush. If her next Headshot proc only requires one more stack and she fires from a bush, that shot will be a headshot. While attacking structures, Caitlyn gains Headshot stacks but will not consume the Headshot buff. Headshot will not be consumed while Caitlyn is silenced. Because it affects a normal attack, Headshot is not consumed by spell shields. While Headshots can critically strike, the bonus damage from Headshot is only applied to Caitlyn's base damage, not to any bonus damage from the critical strike.

Piltover Peacemaker (Q) Caitlyn revs up her rifle for 1 second to unleash a penetrating shot that deals physical damage (deals less damage to subsequent targets). Caitlyn's Piltover Peacemaker is a line skillshot that deals physical damage. This will hit all enemies in its path, though it deals less damage after each enemy it hits in its path, down to a minimum of 40% of the ability's damage. Once the ability has been activated, it cannot be canceled, even if Caitlyn is stunned while casting. This ability has a clear cast time and animation that allows enemies to more easily dodge it. 232 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Yordle Snap Trap (W) Caitlyn sets a trap to find sneaky yordles. When sprung, the trap immobilizes the champion, reveals them for a short duration, and deals magic damage over 1.5 seconds. Caitlyn's Yordle Snap Trap is a trap placed at any nearby location and remains active for several minutes. If an enemy walks over this trap they take magic damage and are briefly immobilized. Additionally, Caitlyn's team is granted vision on the affected player for a relatively long duration. When cast, Yordle Snap Trap briefly grants vision in a very small area around it. The trap has a very brief setup time before it becomes functional. Caitlyn's traps are visible to enemies while in sight, and will appear on the mini-map. If inside a bush that enemies don't have vision on, the trap is not visible. Only 3 traps can be active at a time. If there are already 3 traps active on the map when a new trap is placed, the oldest trap will be removed. 90 Caliber Net (E) Caitlyn fires a heavy net to slow her target. The recoil knocks Caitlyn back. Caitlyn's 90 Caliber Net is a line skillshot that deals magic damage and briefly slows an enemy hit by it. Additionally, Caitlyn is knocked back a moderate distance. 90 Caliber Net can launch Caitlyn over small walls and obstructions. The ability can be used both to get in range of a target for a kill or as an effective escape mechanism.

Ace in the Hole (Ultimate) Caitlyn takes time to line up the perfect shot, dealing massive damage to a single target at a huge range. Enemy champions can intercept the bullet for their ally. Caitlyn's ultimate is Ace in the Hole. This is a targeted ability that can be used on any champion within a massive range. After briefly channeling, Caitlyn fires a shot that deals very high physical damage to the target once it lands. While the shot is preparing and firing, there is a clearly visible red line between Caitlyn and her target and Caitlyn's team gains vision on the target. The red line indicates the exact path the projectile will 233 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

follow. If an enemy champion stands in the projectile's path, they can intercept the shot themselves and take the damage. Clones, such as Shaco's Hallucinate, can also block the effect. In other words, a champion quickly running into the red line can save another champion's life. By the same token, the targeted champion running behind an ally can have the same effect. If a target dies during the initial channeling of the ability, the ability is canceled but the full cooldown of the ability is not applied. This is also true if Caitlyn is stunned or silenced during the channel. Instead, Caitlyn needs only to wait a few seconds before attempting the shot again. In this situation, the ability does cost double the mana due to casting the ability twice. That said, if the channeling has finished and the shot has been fired, it will take the full cooldown of the ability regardless of whether it hits its target or not. In other words, if the target is killed before the shot lands but after the initial channeling completes, she will take the full cooldown.

Champion Notes & Countering Caitlyn is a very strong single-target champion, and this remains true throughout the game. Though the role of ranged AD carry is fairly straightforward, there are a few things to keep in mind when dealing with a Caitlyn. First, in terms of counters, Caitlyn is a very strong early game counter to many other ranged carries, including Vayne. Her range allows easy farm and harass and, if played well, will allow for early game domination. That said, in matchup between two ranged carries, Sivir is completely unthreatened by Caitlyn. Because of the cast time on Piltover Peacemaker and Ace in the Hole, combined with Yordle Snap Traps being visible to opponents, Sivir has no problem utilizing her spell shield in the lane to her advantage. Additionally, Sivir can harass Caitlyn with Boomerang Blade. Yordle Snap Traps are dangerous throughout the game, but can be especially devastating in the early game. Because of the vision granted and the brief immobilize, they can fully stop attempted ganks. They can also allow for an easy Piltover Peacemaker shot on a player who accidentally steps on the trap. Though they have a wind-up time, there are several places where a trap can simply be placed under a player and they will be affected by the trap. For instance, a trap placed under an allied Urgot as he swaps another player into his spot will trap the affected player. Pay attention to positioning. Caitlyn has great range on her own, but her 90 Caliber Net is not strictly a defensive ability. It can also be used as a blink to quickly get her in range of someone who is out of her attack range and at low health. 234 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Once Caitlyn reaches level 6, keep positioning in mind. An Ace in the Hole is a death sentence for a low health player, but it can be easily stopped by a more survivable champion if both players are watching out for it. If Caitlyn moves out of vision, she may be moving into an unexpected angle for an Ace in the Hole shot, so be prepared. In the mid and especially late game, team fights in or near the jungle become especially dangerous against a farmed Caitlyn. Anywhere Caitlyn can get away with staying in a bush, her sustained damage will be significantly increased due to her passive.


Don’t Feed Cassiopeia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edBoVgawifk

Champion Notes So much damage! You really can't overestimate just how powerful she's going to be if opponents let her get in range and cast spells. She is really worth playing if you just want to destroy people for a while (though it's hit or miss since there are a couple strong counters to her).

Build Recommendations Summoner Spells: Flash / Ignite Runes: AP reds, Mana Regen or Armor yellows, Magic Resist blues, Health or AP quints. Actually, do whatever you're most comfortable with as an AP caster (but don't bother with cooldown reduction; it's nice but rarely worth giving something else up for). Masteries: 21/9/0 with a focus on magic damage in offensive. Skills: I tend to prioritize R, E, Q, W, with one point in each fairly early. R, Q, E, W is also 100% fine (and often will probably be more reliable for harassment). ITEMS With items there is one rule: You should expect to take damage and be focused. Because of this, you should build to survive, not just to burst. Boots + 3 health potions, followed with 2x Doran's Rings. Sorceror Shoes unless absolutely necessary (i.e. unless you are getting focused way too hard and need mercs or ninja tabi). I'd also strongly recommend a Hextetch Revolver if sustain is any kind of issue (turn this into Will of the Ancients by mid game). From here you have some choices. Rabadon's should be important, but you can also consider these items for mid or late game: Rylai's Crystal Scepter -- Despite not getting the full slow, this gives her both survivability and extra 236 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

'staying' power. Incredible synergy for her. Get it. Abyssal Scepter -- More damage, more survivability against incoming magic damage. Great item since you tend to want to be close to opponents. Zhonya's Hourglass -- Cassiopeia isn't a combo champion and activating the Hourglass can cost you kills. However, it is still a fantastic item that will save you, and it can be particularly good at making up time if you accidentally put Twin Fang on cooldown. Beyond this, all the usuals apply. Void Staff is great if they're stacking magic resist. If you just can't get blue golem buff, consider some form of mana regeneration. Rod of Ages is decent, but you'll already be picking up a lot of survivability with a Rylai's so I don't explicitly recommend it unless you're swimming in early game money (and still expect you'll need the survivability).

Introduction Cassiopeia is a high magic damage caster who excels at demolishing mid-range and close-range targets. All of Cassiopeia's spells briefly interrupt her movement. Despite this, she excels at both slowing opponents and quickly catching up to them in combat. She uses ranged normal attacks.

Deadly Cadence (Passive) After casting a spell, any subsequent spellcasts will cost 10% less Mana for 5 seconds (effect stacks up to 5 times). Cassiopeia's passive is Deadly Cadence. If she casts a spell, she gains a buff that reduces the mana cost of new spells for several seconds. Each new cast refreshes the duration of the buff and adds a stack, up to a maximum of five stacks. At five stacks, this is a very significant reduction to mana costs. She does not need to hit a target with her spells to gain the buff.

Noxious Blast (Q) Cassiopeia blasts an area with a delayed high damage poison, granting her increased Movement Speed if she hits a champion. Cassiopeia's Noxious Blast is a skillshot that is targeted anywhere within a moderate range. 237 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

After a brief delay, a poison debuff is applied to any nearby enemies. This poison deals damage over time. The first tick of damage occurs immediately after the explosion, making it easier to time for last-hitting minions. If this poison is applied to an enemy champion, she will gain bonus movement speed for several seconds. This ability has a very short cooldown. However, applying the debuff to a target that already has the debuff only refreshes the timer and will not result in additional damage or further increased movement speed. Though Noxious Blast does not grant vision, it can be used to check if enemies are in nearby bushes as she will gain the movement speed buff. By default, Noxious Blast behaves similar to smartcast in that the ability is instantly cast on the mouse cursor without a second verification.

Miasma (W) Cassiopeia releases a cloud of poison, lightly damaging and slowing any enemy that happens to pass through it. Cassiopeia's Miasma is a skillshot that places a small poison field anywhere within a moderate range. This field is persistent and grows over several seconds. Any target in or passing through this poison field gains a brief damage-over-time effect. This effect is refreshed if the target continues to stay in the field. In addition to damage, enemies are also slowed significantly, with the strength of the slow increasing with the rank of the ability. Miasma does not consume spell shields and will still apply poison and damage to an enemy with an active spell shield. Miasma grants vision in an area.

Twin Fang (E) Cassiopeia lets loose a damaging attack at her target. If the target is poisoned the cooldown of this spell is refreshed. Cassiopeia's Twin Fang is a targeted nuke that deals significant damage against a close 238 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

range target. If Twin Fang strikes a target currently poisoned, either with one of Cassiopeia's poisons or poisons from other champions such as Teemo, the cooldown is reduced to fraction of a second. In other words, hitting poisoned targets with Twin Fang effectively means the spell is nearly instantly available again to cast, allowing it to be spammed at an extremely fast speed. While Cooldown Reduction does affect the overall cooldown of the ability, it does not have any effect on the reduced cooldown when Twin Fang strikes a poisoned target. Against poisoned targets, Cooldown Reduction will rarely provide a benefit to Twin Fang. That said, the cooldown on the ability is only reduced once Twin Fang connects with its target. Given the speed of the projectile, this means Cassiopeia can repeatedly cast more quickly the closer a target is to her. Twin Fang consumes spell shields and is fully blocked by spell shields. However, if the target with a spell shield is poisoned, the cooldown of Twin Fang will still be reduced even if the spell is blocked. However, if a target becomes untargetable before Twin Fang reaches them, such as Fizz using Playful/Trickster, Twin Fang will go on its full cooldown regardless of whether thee target was poisoned. Twin Fang has a shorter range than either Noxious Blast or Miasma, though the bonus movement speed and slow from these abilities help close the gap. This ability applies the reduced slow from Rylai's Crystal Scepter that is normally reserved for AOE and multi-target abilities.

Petrifying Gaze (Ultimate) Cassiopeia releases a swirl of magical energy from her eyes, stunning any enemies in front of her that are facing her and slowing any others with their back turned. Cassiopeia's ultimate is Petrifying Gaze. After a brief cast time, all enemies in a mid-range cone in front of her take significant magic damage. Enemies caught in the cone who are facing or moving towards her are briefly stunned. Enemies facing or moving away from her are significantly slowed. As mentioned, there is a brief cast time. This cast cannot be interrupted by normal crowd controls. However, Cassiopeia will be standing still and facing the direction during this cast, and an audible sound will precede the effect. During this split second, players may have an opportunity to react, either by turning or moving out of range by running or using movement abilities. 239 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Champion Notes & Countering Cassiopeia is an extremely strong mid and especially close range opponent. Unless she is severely underfarmed, she has among the highest sustained damage in League of Legends. It's important to emphasize, however, that she does not have the effective range of many other champions. To deal damage, she must get in range of her opponents, and then must survive while in range of her opponents. Because of her range, she is an inherently more dangerous champion to play. The upside to this risk is that she can often take out opponents even if she is focused and killed, especially if she lands a strong ultimate in the process. In many cases, she may be killed, only to be followed up by her opponent dying afterward as poisons continue ticking out. One of her great strengths is her ability to handle a two-verse-one engagement. For example, if a jungler comes in to gank at mid lane and must initiate at melee range, landing a good ultimate can allow Cassiopeia to rapidly kill one opponent and turn the fight into a one-verse-one. Alternatively, it allows for a strong and often safe escape. The core of her damage comes from Twin Fang spam. Since this can be spammed so quickly against poisoned targets, it is a requirement to set up Smartcasting on this ability to maximize damage output. Cassiopeia will put out her highest damage against opponents who are at a very close range. Because of this, consider making use of bushes and other tight spots in vision to engage people nearby. Also, her sustained damage makes her a threat against any poisoned targets, including bulky fighters or tanks. If you can't get to more desirable targets without risking your own death before you secure a kill, do not hesitate to focus heavier frontline targets. Cooldown Reduction has relatively little benefit for Cassiopeia, though having some incidentally can increase the pressure and zoning potential of your poisons. Mana and mana regeneration, on the other hand, can both be very useful stats. Even though her passive allows for dramatically reduced spell costs, this can be offset over time with the sheer number of spells she can cast. Another benefit to mana regeneration, such as the regeneration provided by blue buff, is that she can sustain harassment with her Noxious Blast poison. When possible, be sure to cast frequently enough to keep your passive fully stacked. By harassing your opponent with Noxious Blast you can bring their health down with relatively little risk to yourself. Once they're low enough, following it up with the Petrifying Gaze ultimate and a volley of Twin Fangs can net you a secure kill. 240 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

When casting Noxious Blast, lead your target and cast where they're moving, not where they currently are. A general rule of thumb is that many players will move backwards towards safety when a skillshot is cast, so dropping Noxious Blast behind a twitchy player may land shots you otherwise wouldn't make. Noxious Blast tends to be very strong for farming, and with some ability power it will be strong enough to rapidly clear caster minions. If you have the mana and regeneration, a combination of all three of her basic spells will allow for clearing even very large waves quickly. As a rule, Cassiopeia tends to be a strong farmer. Miasma is a fantastic ability both for the range, duration, and the expansion. Placed in corners or in jungle paths it can very effectively zone a player and push them to more desirable locations. For this reason, it also helps to lead Miasma even though you can reliably apply it without leading. Placing it a little beyond them will still apply the damage and slow but will also force them to travel the full length of it to get out. Miasma's overall range is very strong since it expands after it has landed. This can be useful as a decent poking mechanism when pushing, though be careful against a team with strong initiates or a Blitzcrank. One of Miasma's greatest strengths is the vision it grants. Consider whether your opponent may move out of vision, either through a bend in the map or brush, and save Miasma specifically to get vision over that area. As mentioned earlier, both Noxious Blast and Miasma serve an important role in that they both allow Cassiopeia to stay in range of opponents for her Twin Fang. While Twin Fang is her most powerful source of damage and a targeted ability that can't miss, it's potential relies completely on landing her skillshot poisons. The very best players will also learn to move between casts to make the most use out of her spells and positioning. One thing that you will need to get used to is restraining your use of Twin Fang until you are sure a poison has been applied. In most cases it will be very clear your poison will be applied, but occasionally there is a risk of targeting a player in a team fight who is not currently poisoned. Mistargeting even one Twin Fang is a massive loss in damage potential. For this reason, it's also important to refresh your poisons frequently. And occasionally you will also need to make a decision between firing off one more Twin Fang without a poison or letting a target potentially get away. The combination of poisons and Twin Fang allows Cassiopeia one other solid benefit -- she is capable of easily and quickly taking blue golem for herself with minimal risk or health loss. If you will be taking blue golem for yourself in the early game, reserve about half of your mana to make sure you won't have issues bringing it down. 241 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

When using Cassiopeia's ultimate, Petrifying Gaze, you really want to make sure it has the strongest impact possible. The two best situations to use it are when it is necessary to save your own life, and when you will stun most of an opposing team during a team fight. Team fights where both teams are engaged tend to group up more tightly shortly after initiation occurs, so holding off on it until then can be very effective. Petrifying Gaze is helpful in securing kills, though these instances tend to be very straightforward. The range on her ultimate is just a little shorter than feels natural. Because of this, when you first start playing Cassiopeia you should be conservative and wait for opponents move in fairly close before casting. Outright missing an ultimate can easily cost a fight and sometimes cost a game.

When playing against Cassiopeia there are some key things to consider. First, don't be under any misconception about her damage output. Standing near her and letting her land spells on you will not end well for nearly any champion. In a roughly equal fight, she is very likely to kill an opponent even if she is also killed. There are two lane counters to her. First, mid-to-long range champions and champions with mid range crowd controls such as Lux tend to surive against Cassiopeia. They won't necessarily win the lane without exceptional harass, but they also won't lose it. The second counter is extremely high mobility combined with a player who is quick enough to make use of it. Fizz offers an excellent example since he can also break her Twin Fang with a well-timed Playful/Trickster cast. Against Cassiopeia, simply keeping your distance and avoiding aggression tends to be the safest way to handle her in the early game. Your first purchase should always be boots when laning against her. While there's always a risk in ganking her, it should go without saying that you should never tower dive when her ultimate may be available. When ganking, try to have your team approach her from two directions to prevent her from effectively using her ultimate. Strong crowd controls are always a good idea against a farmed Cassiopeia. Keeping in mind her ability to kite and keep her distance, champions with gap closers can also be exceptionally strong for taking her down after she has used her ultimate. A farmed Cassiopeia is often going to be the single biggest threat from an opposing team. Do not underestimate her, and avoid focusing other targets before her unless necessary. If you do focus another target, be careful to keep in mind your positioning in regards to her ultimate.


Her short range often exposes her directly to your team in a way that many other carries don't need to worry about. While she is obviously a threat, this means she is also vulnerable to being taken down with quick burst damage.

Finally, it's a good idea to consider magic resistance against a farmed Cassiopeia. She will still be able to deal significant damage, but a few moments can make all the difference.


Don’t Feed Darius http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6j9V9oLUNg

Champion Notes I didn't enjoy Darius too much. He's incredibly easy to pick up kills with (and kill steal with), and he's very strong against many opponents in lane. Unfortunately he's also a very one dimensional champion with a low skill cap. He's also not too pleasant to have on your team, particularly if it starts costing your ranged carries a significant amount of gold. Build Recommendations I played Darius primarily in the jungle, though I also played several games top lane. I originally tried a variety of builds that had a lot of damage in them, but ultimately found I was most successful just building tanky to stay in fights longer. Here's what I wound up running for most jungle games: Runes: Red Attack Damage, Yellow Armor, Blue Magic Resist, Quints Attack Damage. Masteries: 9/21/0 or 21/9/0, both worked fine with little difference (though a little tankiness early in the 21/9/0 build is a must). Summoner spells: Smite and Ghost/Flash. I primarily used Ghost, but Flash is great for team initiation with your Apprehend (flash + pull). If not jungling, Ghost/Ignite would both be fine. Skills: R, then Q. I'd usually get one point in E and max W next, but against really high armor teams (malphite, etc.) I'd max E before W for the armor pen. Items: Wriggles then Merc Treads or Ninja Tabi, followed by an early Phage. I usually went Frozen Mallet just for assured slow. Beyond these items, I would hybrid between defensive items (Force of Nature, Frozen Heart depending on matchup) and offensive items (early Brutalizer, zeal/phantom if movement 244 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

speed was a real problem; if I did really well, Bloodthirster). Maw of Malmortius is *very* easy to justify. Aura/activate items are good bets if you're picking up a lot of kills. Randuin's and Aegis were both exceptional. As an odd note, with Last Whisper, maxed E (25% armor pen) and the bonus from masteries, my Armor Penetration came out to just about 60%. That's pretty serious Armor Penetration, though I wouldn't say it's a route you should often take unless they are going crazy with armor stacking.

Introduction Darius is a melee range fighter who deals primarily physical damage. He has moderate movement speed.

Passive (Hemorrhage) Darius aims his attacks strategically, causing his target bleed. This effect stacks up to five times. Darius' passive is Hemorrhage. When Darius uses a normal melee attack against a target, a magic damage over time debuff is applied to the target for several seconds. This debuff stacks several times. If an opponent has reached the maximum stacks of Hemorrhage, a plainly visible bleeding banner appears above their character.

Hemorrhage can be stacked on multiple targets. For each enemy champion with the debuff, Darius gains a small amount of bonus movement speed.

Decimate (Q) Darius swings his axe in a wide circle. Enemies struck by the blade take more damage than those struck by the handle. Darius' Decimate deals physical damage in a circle around him. Enemy champions on the outer half of the circle take significantly increased damage. Decimate applies one stack Hemorrhage to all damaged targets. Casting decimate does not interrupt movement. 245 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Crippling Strike (W) Darius' next attack strikes a crucial artery. As they bleed out, their movement and attack speed is slowed. Crippling Strike's cooldown is lower the more bloodied its target. Darius' Crippling Strike causes his next normal attack to deal bonus physical damage. Additionally, the target has their movement and attack speed slowed for a brief duration. Crippling Strike resets the swing timer, meaning that using it after another normal attack will cause him to immediately attack again. Additionally, Crippling Strike deals full damage to structures. The cooldown for Crippling Strike is significantly reduced based on the number of Hemorrhage stacks currently on the target. A spell shield will fully stop crippling strike, including the normal attack damage.

Apprehend (E) Darius hones his axe, granting him passive armor penetration. When activated, Darius sweeps up his enemies with his axe's hook and pulls them to him. Darius' Apprehend passively grants him percentage armor penetration. Additionally, Darius pulls all enemy units in a short cone towards him. The maximum distance of this pull is shorter than the normal attack range of most ranged champions. Apprehend can pull enemies over walls. Notably, it can pull the blue golem over its wall, and this will not cause the golem to reset.

Noxian Guillotine (Ultimate) Darius leaps to an enemy champion and strikes a lethal blow, dealing true damage. This damage is increased for each stack of Hemorrhage on the target. If Noxian Guillotine is a killing blow, its cooldown is refreshed. Darius' Noxian Guillotine causes him to deal a moderate amount of true damage to a targeted enemy champion within a short-to-moderate range. This damage is increased based on his attack damage, and is further increased based on the number of Hemorrhage stacks currently on his target. 246 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

If Noxian Guillotine is the killing blow, the ability is immediately available again. In other words, a successful kill with this ability removes the cooldown, allowing him to use it again at his pleasure. Noxian Guillotine will not refresh if the target has either a Chrono Shift or Guardian Angel buff. However, it will refresh on clones such as Shaco's hallucination.

Champion Notes & Countering Darius is a straightforward champion. By design, he is strongest when he can overpower his opponents before they can escape, and weakest when he needs to escape. At champion selection, strong complements to Darius are champions with crowd controls, particularly those with displacements such as Singed, Volibear, or Blitzcrank. These champions, and others like them, allow for much easier ganks and kills, and can help completely lock down any opponents trying to flee. When playing as Darius, the number one thing you must always keep in mind when making decisions is your lack of any escape tools. In other words, you are an all-in champion who will either kill your opponents or be killed. For this reason, you must have a strong enough early and mid game to be able to survive in the later game, and you should consider making gear choices that help with surviving later in the game. Beyond this, Darius is a fairly simple champion, and we only need to cover a few basic things about his abilities. Darius Hemorrhage passive is very strong, though it ticks over several seconds and it may not be immediately obvious how much extra damage you're going to deal to a target. By learning to evaluate the extra damage you'll gain from the damage over time effect, you can more safely back away from someone when they're definitely going to die. For Decimate, you will want to hit as many enemy champions in team fights as possible, as this will increase your movement speed. Crippling Strike provides very strong damage, particularly against opponents with Hemorrhage stacks built up. Any cooldown reduction will help keep the slow applied to your opponents, particularly if you apply the ability before Hemorrhage stacks are up and it will otherwise have a fairly long cooldown. How you use Apprehend will make or break your performance when playing Darius. The ability has a relatively short range and you must get used to exactly how far it is before you can play him most effectively. Along with this, Apprehend has a very long cooldown for a basic ability. 247 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Evaluate whether you can initiate a fight without Apprehend. While it's easy to pull someone in and quickly burst them, if they can then walk away from you, you'll have wasted the ability.

In quick engagements, wait to use Apprehend until a player is successfully escaping the fight. This is especially true if they use any blink or dash abilities to escape. If possible, follow this up with Crippling Strike. Apprehend pulls over walls, which makes it excellent for initiating fights, especially team fights, in tighter areas such as the jungle. If you can split enemy players apart, you may be able to significantly change the outcome of an otherwise losing fight. Darius' Noxian Guillotine is a very straightforward execute ability, though it's worth noting that it has a relatively high mana cost. If you don't conserve your mana effectively prior to an important fight, you can easily run out of mana attempting to use this ability. This particular issue makes Darius a little harder to sustain throughout the game, and makes it more important to go back after early skirmishes or team fights to recover mana in some cases. Noxian Guillotine is a very reliable ability for landing killing blows. Because of this, you should consider the effect that taking multiple kills from teammates may have on the outcome of a game. Because the player who deals a killing blow receives significantly more gold than any assisting players, you can wind up starving out other players on your team. AD carries and AP casters require gold to reach their maximum effectiveness, and in early team fights they may be sacrificing gold by leaving the minions in their lane to take part in team fights. By taking too many kills too frequently, you make yourself the primary target for an enemy team. Because you can be shut down with hard crowd controls and focused damage, this can easily turn into a lost game if your other carries simply haven't had a chance to accumulate gold.

When playing against Darius, the best thing you can do is beat him at champion selection. Darius is strongest against opponents who he can kill quickly. He is strongest against champions who cannot escape him. And, as a champion, he is strongest when he can get in range of opponents. For these reasons, mobility and crowd control are by far the most important ways of countering Darius. Mobility is important in any 1v1 scenario. If you're going against Darius in lane, or will be a soft target if he gets in range, you will be greatly benefited by having at least some mobility, whether that be from very fast movement speed, dashes, or blink abilities.


Crowd controls work in 1v1 scenarios as well. Anything that will physically stop or dramatically slow him will prevent him from being effective. Since he will often need to run directly towards you, skillshot crowd controls such as Morgana or Lux' bindings are also very effective. Crowd controls are also important in team fights or any situation where you want to prevent an ally from being attacked by Darius. In other words, mobility is important on a personal basis, but as a team, you should also have crowd controls. The key thing with using any mobility or crowd control abilities is not to use them until they will actually ensure an escape. Simply flashing away from Darius, but him pulling you back in with Apprehend, will be a wasted Flash. Instead, wait for Apprehend if you can, and then use your abilities to escape. Along with this, keep in mind that Apprehend has a very long cooldown, and if he's used it in the last few seconds he simply won't be able to use it again soon. During this time, you're usually safe if you have higher movement speed than him. One final note on champion selection -- mobility is important, but simply being at a distance from Darius will go a long way towards preventing an unfavorable exchange. Many melee champions simply cannot exchange hits with Darius and come out on top, so consider taking a range champion, particularly with harassment, to counter him in lane. As a team, avoid grouping too closely together in team fights, as a Decimate that hits multiple players, thereby applying Hemorrhage to them, will dramatically increase his movement speed. Finally, watch out for tight corridors where you may be vulnerable to being pulled over the wall with Apprehend. In these places, stay closer to the side where you have vision or are less likely to run into an apprehend.


Don’t Feed Diana http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWUEggHhRp0

Champion Notes Enjoyable champion. Very straightforward in terms of her overall capabilities. As with Ahri, some people are going to be bothered that I refer to Diana as an assassin since she can be built as a bruiser as well, but regardless, you're still going to want to play her similar to an assassin in most situations. Unusually durable. Between her shield and her high base health, she can actually survive better than many assassins, but she lacks the escape tools many of them have.

Build Recommendations I've played her both as a pure Ability Power caster and as a semi-hybrid with attack speed items such as Malady, Gunblade, Rageblade, and Nashor's Tooth. Both work and are genuinely fun, but the Ability Power caster route was more consistently successful for me. My recommendations will be for Ability Power. Summoner Spells: Either Ghost or Flash, plus Ignite. Smite instead of Ignite if you're jungling. Runes: Ability Power reds, Armor yellows, Magic Resist blues, Ability Power reds. Masteries: 21/9/0 with a focus on magic damage bonuses. You can go 21/0/9 if you don't mind losing the defenses, but keep in mind you'll very frequently be in melee range with high damage opponents. Skills: W Q W E for starting in jungle, otherwise R, Q, W, E, with an early point in E. ITEMS You're either going to get merc treads or ninja tabi in most games. However, if you're constantly roaming to pick up kills, using early mobility boots can be a great help in picking up kills without losing much experience. As far as items, here are the core items (roughly in the order you want them): Catalyst the Protector, then Rod of Ages. Rabadon's Deathcap, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, and Lich Bane. Lich Bane is a huge item 250 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

for her no matter how you build her, but it does require some Ability Power to be really strong. I also firmly believe in Gunblade just due to its slow, but this is your decision. Void Staff for opponents with lots of magic resist, Abyssal Scepter if you need some of your own or they haven't built much magic resist. Athene's Unholy Grail is fantastic for her if you're not getting the blue buff regularly, but it's an expensive diversion from her core assassin items so you'll want to secure the blue when possible.

Introduction Diana is an assassin who excels at quickly moving in on targets and locking them down. Her damage is dealt at a close range and she is relatively survivable. She deals primarily magic damage.

Moonsilver Blade (Passive) Gains Attack Speed. Every third strike cleaves nearby enemies for additional magic damage. Diana's passive is Moonsilver Blade. This grants her bonus attack speed. Additionally, after landing two normal attacks she will gain a bright glow, indicating her next normal attack will also deal bonus magic damage in an area around her. This will expire if she does not land her third normal attack quickly. This AOE damage does affect structures, though structures will only take half damage. Because this AOE is centered around her, Diana must move closer than her normal attack range when attacking Inhibitors and the Nexus for her passive to deal damage to them.

Crescent Strike (Q) Diana swings her blade to unleash a bolt of lunar energy that deals damage in an arc before exploding. Diana's Crescent Strike is a curved skillshot that can be directed at any location within a set range. Enemies it passes through are dealt magic damage. All targets struck by Crescent Strike are debuffed with Moonlight, making them visible for several seconds even if they are otherwise in the fog of war. However, this debuff does not reveal stealthed enemies. Crescent Strike always hooks to her right side. 251 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

The ability has a brief cast time, interrupting movement. The ability has a very short cooldown at maximum rank.

Pale Cascade (W) Diana creates three orbiting spheres that detonate on contact with enemies to deal damage in an area. She also gains a temporary shield that absorbs damage. This shield is refreshed if her third sphere detonates. Diana's Pale Cascade grants her a shield. Additionally, it summons three orbs that circle Diana. If an orb strikes an enemy it deals AOE magic damage in a small area. If all three orbs are detonated before they expire, her shield will be fully refreshed. Spell shields will block all explosions if they occur simultaneously. However, if at least one explosion occurs before the others, subsequent explosions will not be blocked by a spell shield. Pale Cascade will damage stealthed opponents. The cast for Pale Cascade is instant and does not interrupt movement.

Moonfall (E) Diana draws in and slows all nearby enemies. Diana's Moonfall pulls all enemies in a close range towards her and applies a significant slow to them. Moonfall can pull opponents over walls. Additionally, it will break channeled abilities. The ability has a brief cast time and does interrupt movement.

Lunar Rush (Ultimate)

Diana teleports to an enemy and deals magic damage. Lunar Rush has no cooldown when used to teleport to a target afflicted with Moonlight. 252 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Diana's ultimate is Lunar Rush. When cast, Diana dashes to a target enemy within a moderate range, dealing magic damage. If Diana is already in melee range of an opponent, she will dash behind her target. If the target has been previously affected by the Moonlight debuff from Crescent Strike, Lunar Rush will not be put on its full cooldown, allowing for it to be cast again very quickly. Additionally, all Moonlight debuffs currently active, regardless of target, will be removed and they will no longer be revealed through fog of war. Both Crescent Strike and Lunar Rush can reach Dragon and Baron from their outer walls. The full cooldown for this ability is very short for an ultimate.

Champion Notes & Countering When playing as Diana, she can be built as a heavier fighter or as a glass cannon. In both cases, though, you will want to treat her as an assassin when possible, using her mobility and burst to quickly bring down vulnerable opponents. She is exceptionally strong against opponents with low Effective Health. Throughout the early game, aggressively knocking out squishy opponents will work to your advantage. In team fights, it can be good to move in unexpectedly from behind opponents to knock out an enemy carry before they can respond. All of this said, her mobility will do her no favors against opponents that can simply stay and fight her. Be careful against equally geared duelists. In other words, survivable melee fighters who also have strong damage and burst will usually be favored in a head-on fight. Diana's main weakness is her mana consumption. When playing her, you will want to either have control over the blue golem buff or build items to help with this. When you're farming a lane or jungling past level 6, use your Crescent Strike skillshot to hit targets, follow this up with an immediate Lunar Rush dash, and finish with the Pale Cascade AOE. However, be careful about doing this if unnecessary, particularly if you may need to engage in a team fight soon.

Let's talk about her abilities. Her Moonsilver Blade passive strongly increases the potential of her normal attacks. Make sure you're weaving normal attacks in as you use your abilities. Additionally, Moonsilver Blade is a core part of her farming potential, both in the jungle and in lane, so position yourself to make use of the cleave.


Crescent Strike is a decently powerful ability, especially since it removes the cooldown penalty for Lunar Rush. However, the curve on it means you must also be careful not to overshoot the ability, as it may entirely avoid a target in your path. Get used to aiming it directly on where you expect your target to be. Diana can be zoned and effectively prevented from farming in lane due to her short range. In later fights, she may not be able to engage immediately if strong fighters are prepared to knock her out. In both cases, Crescent Strike may be the only tool available for farming and harassment. Pale Cascade is core to her ability to survive in melee range. Consider waiting until you're actually taking damage before activating the ability, as this will ensure you reduce even more damage. This is especially important when jungling. Use discretion when activating Moonfall. It does not deal any damage and should not be used as part of a combo unless it's necessary. Instead, wait until enemies are moving away from you to force them back in range. Moonfall has a short range and, just as importantly, has a brief cast where Diana must stand still. This can make it frustrating to try and land against fast champions. If you need the slow, use it more quickly against champions who can easily move away. Moonfall is also fantastic for knocking champions out of channeled abilities. If your teammates are near a champion such as Nunu, consider using your Lunar Rush dash and an immediate Moonfall to break a channeled ultimate early. Lunar Rush is straightforward in functionality, but there are a few things you need to consider as it relates to Crescent Strike. First, Crescent Strike has a relatively short cooldown, especially at higher ranks. As often as possible, especially in chases against higher health targets, you will want to wait until Crescent Strike is active again before firing Lunar Rush again. That said, landing Crescent Strike only once effectively gives you a double dash if they move out of range after your first dash, such as with a blink. Quickly evaluate whether the second dash will kill the target or whether they'll get away if you don't use it. Often it's better to put it on cooldown in these circumstances. Since the full cooldown for Lunar Rush is very short, it will likely be available for your next important fight even if you've put it on cooldown recently. By definition, Lunar Rush is not an escape ability as it requires an enemy target. However, it can situationally be used to escape or reposition onto jungle monsters, enemy minions, or enemy champions who are positioned poorly. If you want to engage on a champion but may need to back off quickly, consider your surroundings first for any opportunities to get out.


One last thing: Crescent Strike has the distance to reach both Dragon and Baron Nashor from the outer wall, and Lunar Rush can then be used to engage them. Consider this if you see low health opponents or have an opportunity to steal the buffs.

When countering Diana there are a few core things to keep in mind. If she's laning, you can either take a bruiser against her, or you can take a strong ranged harasser. For her to effectively farm in the early game she must move into melee range of minions. Use this opportunity to lock her down, particularly before level 6. Her burst damage potential is high, and she will be able to continually lay out burst damage until she runs out of mana. This makes her very dangerous to softer targets such as carries, and her ability to quickly get on top of them is dangerous. However, champions with the Effective Health to survive her burst damage will generally do well against her, especially if they have strong damage output of their own. In other words, duelists and heavy fighters tend to hold their own against her, as do some of the beefier Ability Power carries. Another thing to keep in mind is her initiation range isn't very high, and there's a brief delay before she can pull targets closer to her. Very fast champions, or fast champions with crowd controls, should have no problem backing off an unfavorable fight against her. Diana is very sticky once she's on you, and her ability to double dash will get her on all but some of the most mobile champions. If you need to, use Flash immediately before she can Lunar Rush to you. Another thing to consider is trying to juke her Crescent Strike. Since the ability always hooks right when she's facing you, juking left can reduce the chance of it hitting you. Watch your positioning when attempting to secure a kill on Diana. Her only serious escape option is Lunar Rush, and this can only be used in situations where she has an enemy in the path she wants to get out. A teammate coming from behind to help secure a kill can wind up costing the kill instead. Additionally, don't fight in a populated jungle if you can avoid it. Watch her mana. Unless she's built mana items, being at low mana is very likely to prevent her from sustaining damage or a long chase. You are much safer when she's low on mana, and your team should consider invading the jungle to deny her the blue golem if she's relying on it.


Don’t Feed Darius http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6j9V9oLUNg

Champion Notes I didn't enjoy Darius too much. He's incredibly easy to pick up kills with (and kill steal with), and he's very strong against many opponents in lane. Unfortunately he's also a very one dimensional champion with a low skill cap. He's also not too pleasant to have on your team, particularly if it starts costing your ranged carries a significant amount of gold.

Build Recommendations I played Darius primarily in the jungle, though I also played several games top lane. I originally tried a variety of builds that had a lot of damage in them, but ultimately found I was most successful just building tanky to stay in fights longer. Here's what I wound up running for most jungle games: Runes: Red Attack Damage, Yellow Armor, Blue Magic Resist, Quints Attack Damage. Masteries: 9/21/0 or 21/9/0, both worked fine with little difference (though a little tankiness early in the 21/9/0 build is a must). Summoner spells: Smite and Ghost/Flash. I primarily used Ghost, but Flash is great for team initiation with your Apprehend (flash + pull). If not jungling, Ghost/Ignite would both be fine. Skills: R, then Q. I'd usually get one point in E and max W next, but against really high armor teams (malphite, etc.) I'd max E before W for the armor pen. Items: Wriggles then Merc Treads or Ninja Tabi, followed by an early Phage. I usually went Frozen Mallet just for assured slow. Beyond these items, I would hybrid between defensive items (Force of Nature, Frozen Heart depending on matchup) and offensive items (early Brutalizer, zeal/phantom if movement speed was a real problem; if I did really well, Bloodthirster). Maw of Malmortius is *very* easy to justify. 256 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Aura/activate items are good bets if you're picking up a lot of kills. Randuin's and Aegis were both exceptional. As an odd note, with Last Whisper, maxed E (25% armor pen) and the bonus from masteries, my Armor Penetration came out to just about 60%. That's pretty serious Armor Penetration, though I wouldn't say it's a route you should often take unless they are going crazy with armor stacking.

Introduction Draven is a high physical damage carry. He has moderate attack range and movement speed, though he can gain bursts of movement speed through the use of one of his abilities.

Wicked Blades (Passive) Draven's Critical Strikes deal bonus physical damage over time. Spinning Axe also causes this effect even if it does not Critically Strike. Draven's passive is Wicked Blades. When Draven critically strikes an opponent or lands an attack modified with his Spinning Axe ability, a brief damage-over-time effect that deals physical damage is applied to the enemy. This damage over time effect can overlap, meaning multiple critical strikes or spinning axe attacks in a short period of time will deal more damage than a single application of the effect.

Spinning Axe (Q) Draven's next attack will deal bonus physical damage. This axe will ricochet off the target high up into the air. If Draven catches it, he automatically readies another Spinning Axe. Draven can have two Spinning Axes at once. Draven's Spinning Axe grants Draven a buff. While the buff is active, his next normal attack is modified to deal significant bonus physical damage and apply the Wicked Blades debuff. The bonus physical damage benefits from lifesteal. If Draven misses his opponent with the normal attack, such as while blinded, the Wicked Blades debuff is still applied and the axe still bounces back. The moment a normal attack modified by Spinning Axe strikes a target, the axe then bounces back towards a location on the ground. This location is marked with a clear indicator, and is visible to both allies and enemies. 257 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

If Draven is at this location when the returning axe lands, he regains the Spinning Axe buff and his next normal attack will again be modified. In other words, Spinning Axe can constantly be refreshed. While standing still, the location that the spinning axe falls to is random and will be either directly on top of Draven or to either side of him. However, if Draven is moving at the time the modified normal attack strikes an enemy, the location for the returning spinning axe is placed in a path based on his travel direction and movement speed. This means a Draven who retreats after throwing an axe will have the axe land behind him, whereas a Draven who chases will have the axe land in front of him. The axe will bounce back to a location even if the original target of the normal attack died before the attack struck. The Spinning Axe buff stacks twice and one stack is removed as he throws a normal attack. Practically speaking, this means he can modify two normal attacks in quick succession and will have two landing indicators to watch out for. This also means that, during fights, he can summon a third spinning axe while at least one of the others is in flight. Both Spinning Axe stacks are refreshed if the ability is off cooldown and activated, meaning it can be used while running between fights to avoid losing stacks. Additionally, it will automatically refresh while Draven is attacking structures, even though Spinning Axe will not deal bonus damage and will not bounce back. The bonus damage on Spinning Axe benefits from lifesteal. This ability does not interrupt movement.

Blood Rush (W)

Draven gains increased Movement Speed and Attack Speed. The Movement Speed bonus decreases rapidly over its duration. Catching a Spinning Axe will refresh the cooldown of Blood Rush. Draven's Blood Rush dramatically increases his movement speed for a brief moment. This movement speed bonus rapidly diminishes over the duration. Additionally, he gains significantly increased attack speed for a longer duration. 258 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

The cooldown for Blood Rush is fully reset if he catches a Spinning Axe, meaning he can instantly activate the ability again. This ability does not interrupt movement.

Stand Aside (E) Draven throws his axes, dealing physical damage to targets hit and knocking them aside. Targets hit are slowed. Draven's Stand Aside is a line skillshot that knocks enemies a short distance to the sides of it's path. Additionally, this deals damage and briefly slows opponents. Stand Aside can break channeled abilities. This ability has a cast time and briefly interrupts movement.

Whirling Death (Ultimate)

Draven hurls two massive axes to deal physical damage to each unit struck. Whirling Death slowly reverses direction and returns to Draven after striking an enemy champion. Draven may also activate this ability while the axes are in flight to cause it to return early. Deals less damage for each unit hit and resets when the axes reverse direction. Draven's ultimate is Whirling Death. This is a skillshot that sends blades in a straight line across the map, granting vision and dealing physical damage to enemies they pass through. The damage is reduced with each subsequent enemy struck, down to a moderate base minimum. If these blades strike a champion or reach the end of the map, they will slow down and turn around. From this point, they constantly adjust their direction towards Draven's location, following his movement. While returning, they will reset back to their full damage and can deal damage to targets hit by the initial pass a second time. Enemies with a spell shield can block the damage from one pass, but will also cause blades on their first pass to turn aruond and will take damage from the second pass. Enemies can only be damaged once while the blades are heading out and once while they are heading back. 259 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

If Draven dies before the blades start returning, they will not return to him even if they pass through enemy champions.

Champion Notes & Countering When playing as Draven, there are a few things to keep in mind. Thanks to Spinning Axe and Wicked Blades, Draven's normal attacks are extremely powerful even at an early level. He is one of the strongest sustained damage champions in the league. However, his attack range is not exceptionally long, which means ranged opponents who are already at a distance from you can usually keep their distance from you even with your Blood Rush movement speed boost. For this reason, early game harassment is often going to rely on poor positioning from your opponents or good coordination with your Support. Because of his range and his lack of sustainable long range poke, a Draven player must constantly be aware of when they're pushing too far in team fights, particularly when it leaves them vulnerable to burst and crowd control. All normal carry stats are very strong on Draven. Attack Speed and Critical Strike increase the damage from his passive, where Attack Damage and Life Steal are both unusually strong on his normal attacks due to Spinning Axe. If you can partner with a player who increases Attack Speed, such as Nunu, this will allow you to focus in other stats. Spinning Axe is the core of Draven's kit, with two other abilities directly dependent on it for him to reach his maximum potential. The first thing to say is that the bonus damage from landing Spinning Axe is very, very strong. When possible, you do want to be engaged in the minigame of throwing axes, particularly when farming minions. However, be careful against skillshot champions, particularly in the early game. If you're too focused on catching axes, they will be able to easily determine where you'll next run to and land their harassment on you. One thing you can do when attacking minions in the early game is to throw your axe, then move backwards as the attack strikes, so the spinning axe will fall behind you. This allows you to very safely pick up the axe again. Unfortunately, catching axes can often be a direct hindrance to securing a kill. This is especially true while chasing an opponent, as axes may frequently stop in positions that are not directly along your path to an opponent.


And in team fights, reliably catching axes is often secondary to your positioning or your need to focus on other events. With very high attack speed and only one axe active, you may not be gaining much if anything by moving out of position to catch an axe instead of continuing normal attacks uninterrupted. Because of this, you must learn to evaluate when you should ignore axes. If you will secure a kill with another attack and you don't absolutely need either Spinning Axe or Blood Rush, it's almost always a good idea to go for that kill and ignore an axe that is out of your path. In team fights, never lose focus on the actual fight just to watch your axes. When fighting structures, remember that your Spinning Axes are refreshed by attacking the structure. However, throwing a Spinning Axe at a nearby minion and catching it is helpful to do every few seconds to benefit from the attack speed from Blood Rush. When using Blood Rush, keep in mind that a single Spinning Axe can refresh it. For this reason, feel free to use it while running across the map. Additionally, you will need to get used to reactivating Blood Rush frequently after Spinning Axes. It is nearly spammable when you're catching axes, and is an enormous boost to your damage output. As a note, this is also very helpful when fighting Dragon and Baron Nashor. Don't use Stand Aside for damage in the early game unless you're sure you won't need the slow or knock-aside from it. Even so, it is a relatively weak damage ability and the cooldown and mana cost are prohibitive, so consider harassing with other tools unless necessary. Combine Stand Aside and Blood Rush to escape from enemies more effectively. Whirling Death, Draven's ultimate, is fairly straightforward. During team fights it can be used to saturate an enemy team with damage, especially if they're packed together in tighter areas such as the jungle and will take both hits. During fights, use it on low health opponents just as they leave your normal attack range or use escape abilities. Because the blades are quick, it's better to aim them closer as it's much harder to dodge at close range. Whirling Death is great for long range snipes on low health targets. If you don't have vision, guess where they're recalling or moving and snipe. This can be easier when done from base and directly down the length of a lane.


When playing against Draven it's ideal to bring long range champions, particularly those with slowing mechanisms. While Draven is an extremely potent enemy, he cannot effectively harass opponents who are at a distance. For crowd controls, slows and silences are both very effective against him as they both disrupt his Blood Rush movement speed. Since Draven's Wicked Blades apply a damage over time effect that lasts several seconds, you can deter him from attacking a tower by baiting him into attacking you first. The tower will immediately attack him if you're in range and he moves in while you're still taking damage. It goes without saying that you should avoid recalling or moving in obvious places while you're at low health. Draven must move relatively close to opponents he's attacking. Because of this, he is very vulnerable to flanking and burst-heavy champions with gap closers. If you're playing a fighter with a gap closer, consider focusing him down. Armor is very effective against all of his abilities, and Thornmail is situationally effective due to his complete dependence on strong normal attacks.


Don’t Feed Ezreal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgafvJXO3wE Champion Notes All skillshots! I've spent a lot of time practicing AD Ezreal, but to my surprise I came to find I enjoyed AP Ezreal quite a bit more in favorable matchups. My only gripe with AP Ezreal is he's extremely easy to lock down in his lane due to his inability to effectively push or quickly farm. Very little is more frustrating than last hitting with AP Ezreal on minions that were pushed up to your tower with someone's AOE.

Build Recommendations I rarely mention items in these movies, but you'll notice I brought up Lich Bane. This has a huge impact on his power as an AP carry, as it effectively turns his 0.2 AP scaling Mystic Shot into a 1.2 AP scaling shot. Some Ezreal fans will wonder why I don't mention Sheen for AD, and it's because I'm not confident this is a very strong item by comparison to just working on your Infinity Edge early on. Let's get into my recommended builds. For the first time ever, I'm going to try to cover both AP and AD builds in here.

ABILITY POWER CARRY (Solo Mid) Runes: Red Magic Pen, Yellow Mana/5, Blue/Quint Ability Power. Skill Order: W, then E, then Q, then prioritize R, W, E, Q. Summoners: Flash/Ignite. Items: Boots/Pots to start. Early items should be 2x Doran's Ring (for the mana regen and health), Sorc 263 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Shoes, Rabadon's Deathcap, generally in that order. Lich Bane next. Options at this point are Void Staff, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, and Deathfire Grasp. Zhonya's Hourglass is a great item to buy time until your next burst of abilities. While CDR is mathematically amazing for both AD and AP Ezreal, your goal is to burst your opponents down in one round. If you're just not going to be able to do that, consider CDR items. Make sure you get blue buff whenever possible.

RANGED AD CARRY (Bot w/ Support) Runes: Red Attack Damage, Yellow Attack Damage or Armor, Blue Magic Resist, Quint Attack Damage. Skill Order: R, Q, E, W. I know there's some discussion on it (especially if you can't land Qs), but honestly, in most cases it's better to improve your Qs and your combo harass with E. The reduced cooldown on both Q and E have a big impact on your performance. Let's talk about W. Some players do max this first or second even as AD, the reason being that the Attack Speed reduction is very strong if you're in an auto-attack standoff with an opponent. If you do go this route, you *must* pay attention to your mana, as a single W will knock off up to ~15% of your mana pool (just under the cost of your ultimate). Summoners: Flash/Whatever. Ignite, Exhaust, Heal, Teleport are all fine. "But Ezreal has Flash already," you say. Flash is broken good and having two is better than one. (I frequently Flash/E for a huge distance gain) Items: Standard ranged AD getup. Boots/Pots or Doran's depending on whether your partner can keep you alive before you go back. First items Infinity Edge, Vampiric Scepter, and Zeal (usually around that order). Bloodthirster instead of IE in situations where the sustain is more important, but you'll still want IE later. Last Whisper if they build a lot of armor. Trinity Force is an ok item but you have to be genuinely good about kiting, and you have to get lucky on Phage procs to make it worth it. It doesn't add up damage-wise to Infinity Edge and the core AD setup, even on Ezreal. If people are going to stick on you like glue anyway, don't bother with Trinity.

Introduction Ezreal is a high mobility ranged champion who can be played effectively as either an Attack Damage carry or an Ability Power carry. He has long range abilities and a moderate attack range. He deals damage primarily through skillshot abilities.


Rising Spell Force (Passive) Hitting a target with any of Ezreal's abilities increases his Attack Speed by 10% for 6 seconds (effect stacks up to 5 times). Ezreal's passive is Rising Spell Force. When Ezreal successfully lands a spell, he gains an Attack Speed bonus for several seconds. This bonus stacks several times. Ezreal's Essence Flux and Trueshot Barrage abilities will grant multiple stacks if they land on multiple opponents.

Mystic Shot (Q) Ezreal fires a bolt of energy which reduces all of his cooldowns by 1 second if it strikes an enemy unit. Ezreal's Mystic Shot deals physical damage to the first target it hits in a line. This damage scales very well with Attack Damage, and also scales slightly with Ability Power. Mystic Shot applies on-hit effects. If Mystic Shot hits an opponent, all of Ezreal's cooldowns are reduced. Mystic Shot has a long range. Additionally, the ability has a short base cooldown.

Essence Flux (W) Ezreal fires a fluctuating wave of energy, dealing magic damage to enemy champions and reducing their Attack Speed, while increasing the Attack Speed of allied champions. Ezreal's Essence Flux is a mid-to-long range skillshot that deals magic damage to any enemy champions in a line. This damage scales only with Ability Power. Essence Flux gives bonus attack speed to allied champions who are hit, while reducing the attack speed of enemy champions who are hit.

Arcane Shift (E) 265 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Ezreal teleports to a target nearby location and fires a homing arrow which strikes the nearest enemy unit. Ezreal's Arcane Shift blinks him to a nearby target location. If enemies are near his new location, the closest enemy to Ezreal will be dealt magic damage. This damage scales with Ability Power. Arcane Shift can cross over most terrain.

Trueshot Barrage (Ultimate)

Ezreal channels for 1 second to fire a powerful barrage of energy missiles which do massive damage to each unit they pass through (deals 8% less damage to each unit it passes through). Ezreal's ultimate is Trueshot Barrage. After a brief cast time, this ability fires a global skillshot that deals magic damage to all enemies in a straight line. Additionally, vision is granted to an area around the projectile. Each enemy struck reduces the damage dealt to future enemies, down to a moderate base minimum damage. This ability scales with bonus Attack Damage and Ability Power. This ability has a relatively short cooldown for an ultimate.

Champion Notes & Countering When playing as Ezreal, here's what you need to know. Your best lane allies are champions with strong disables, as they allow you to more easily land skillshots. Alternatively, Soraka is very strong for her constant mana supply. The Rising Spell Force passive will usually stay active during fights. However, when attacking structures, remember to use abilities to keep stacks. If no enemies are nearby, use Essence Flux on allies to keep stacks active for longer, or consider using your ultimate down lane. Weave Mystic Shot between normal attacks for a large burst of additional damage. Mystic Shot is a bread-and-butter ability when playing Ezreal as an Attack Damage carry. If an enemy champion is approaching you in a staright line, use this while backing off for additional damage.


Essence Flux has a punitive mana cost, so avoid overusing or overleveling it unless you're playing him as an Ability Power carry. Keep in mind that it does not damage minions. Additionally, don't forget to use it on allies to keep passive stacks up and benefit their damage output. In most cases, Arcane Shift should be saved for either escaping or securing a kill on a fleeing opponent, but should rarely be used just for its damage output. Against opponents with gap closers, such as Jax, wait until they've used the gap closer before using Arcane Shift, ensuring they remain at a distance from you. Trueshot Barrage is ideal when teams are grouped up, particularly in tight corridors. This is more likely to happen when the enemy team is initiating a fight against your team. In smaller fights, it can be useful to save your ultimate until the end of the fight, when an opponent may have escaped at low health or when you're relatively certain it will kill. Trueshot Barrage can be effective at clearing minions down a lane when cast straight down the lane. This is much more effective with Ability Power builds. Ezreal's can rapidly combo all of his abilities, including his ultimate, to devastate an opponent. This is best done if you can surprise your opponent by Arcane Shifting from fog of war, potentially reducing their reaction speed. Ezreal tends to be strongest in the early and especially mid game, but falls off in the late game unless he's done well until that point. Focus on improving your play in laning and smaller skirmishes to excel with him.

When playing against Ezreal, there's a few things to keep in mind. Consider taking mobile champions, particularly those with short-cooldown blinks or dashes. This can force Ezreal to use Arcane Shift to immediately reposition, denying him an escape. Since Ezreal requires a clear path to land his Mystic Shot, counter him in a duo lane with a skillshot champion like Blitzcrank, who can deter him from moving away from minions. When played as a solo Ability Power carry, consider champions that are hard to land skillshots on, such as Katarina. If you can avoid his skillshots, harass him as frequently as possible to deny him safe farm.


In team fights, tanks, fighters, and support should body block him from clear shots on softer targets. This can force him to reposition or get caught out of position with Arcane Shift. Watch out for tight entrances, and avoid staying grouped up to avoid an ultimate hitting your whole team. If you need to recall, move into fog of war and to a location where he is unlikely to land a blind ultimate.


Don’t Feed Fizz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clHYLLICm74 Champion Notes Slippery Fizz. Without a doubt, the single most gratifying thing about him is Playful/Trickster and its ability to anger people and get you out of crazy situations. The second most gratifying thing about him is the bleed that kills people who think they might get away. Fizz was enjoyable but I felt his farm in a lane was very weak and made him very, very easy to harass. It gets better as the game goes on, but he can really be locked down in farm against good players or a good comp. Jungling, on the other hand, was fantastic with him -- I didn't get many clips of jungling games because they were also the first games I played (i.e. the games I don't use on new champions b/c there's not much good footage). Aside from AP, which is most of what this movie shows, I dabbled in AD, hybrid, and tanky DPS -- Fizz functions very well with all of them.

Build Recommendations I will specifically cover AP Fizz in a solo lane. As stated, he works fantastically in a variety of roles. Runes: Magic pen reds, Armor yellows, AP blues, AP quints. I tended to go for that early burst simply because I could so easily get away from most incoming damage. Masteries: I went 21/9/0 with an emphasis on AP and Magic Pen in Offense. I also got 2/3 Armor and 2/3 MR, as well as the +30 health and prereq in Defense. The defensive points gave me a little more lasting time in the lane and help offset the lack of MR from runes. Skills: Either Playful/Trickster at level 1 if you're laning against an opponent who can easily zone/harass you, or Seastone Trident under any other circumstance. Beyond this, get 1 point in Urchin Strike, then always prioritize Seastone Trident, then Playful/Trickster, and save more ranks in Urchin Strike until last. Ultimate always a priority. 269 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Summoner Skills: Whatever you want. Flash/Ghost both have strong uses on Fizz, as does Ignite (to really just piss people off when combined with Seastone Trident). Haven't used Surge much to know if it's good at the expense of another ability. Cleanse is probably a good bet as it gets rid of his only real weakness in heavy team fights. I personally tended to use Ghost or Flash in combination with Ignite. Gear: Boots/Health Pots or Doran's first, Rod of Ages after tier 1 boots, Deathcap after this. Once you're done with these, build whatever you feel is best against the team you're fighting (more AP, more survivability, etc.). It was the single most effective build I found for AP Fizz. I tried lots of other things, including my Gragas go-to of 3 Doran's Rings and Deathcap, but Fizz really benefits from the Rod of Ages benefit due to his need to stay in range and last long enough to get back out.

Introduction Fizz is a highly maneuverable champion with abilities that deal primarily magic damage.

Nimble Fighter (Passive) Fizz's dexterity allows him to ignore unit collision and take less physical damage from basic attacks. Fizz's passive, Nimble Fighter, allows him to pass through all units without collision. In other words, where other champions may need to path around nearby minions, monsters, or champions, Fizz can simply walk through them. Additionally, Nimble Fighter reduces incoming damage from auto-attacks by a small, flat amount.

Urchin Strike (Q) Fizz strikes his target and runs them through, dealing magic damage and applying on hit effects. Fizz's Urchin Strike is a targeted ability that causes Fizz to dash a set distance. This can only be activated once he is within a range where the dash will definitely hit his target; however, if he is any closer than max range, he will travel past the target until he reaches the full distance of the ability. Urchin Strike deals his attack damage to the target, in addition to bonus magic damage. It also applies on-hit effects.


Urchin Strike is an excellent gap closer against targets who are at a distance. It can also be an excellent escape mechanism against targets who are in melee range, especially if Fizz can position himself to travel in a beneficial direction. In regards to passing over walls, Urchin Strike has a specific tweak. The ability will pass over walls if he has not reached his target yet; however, if he has already reached his target and still has more distance on the dash, the dash will no longer go over walls. In tight areas, this can be used to his advantage by allowing him additional burst without putting him out of range of his target.

Seastone Trident (W) Fizz's Trident causes rending wounds in his opponents, dealing magic damage to the target based on their missing health. Fizz's Seastone Trident passively causes his normal melee attacks to bleed for additional magic damage over 3 seconds. The magic damage dealt is equal to base damage plus a percentage of the target's missing health; in other words, the damage dealt is significantly more powerful against a target at low health. If he strikes a target that currently has the bleed effect applied, he will refresh the duration. Every tick of damage dealt is calculated on it's own; in other words, if a target has high health when the bleed effect starts, but rapidly loses health, the bleed will deal more damage with later ticks. The passive component of Seastone Trident is excellent for harassing or sustained combat, as well as netting kills on fleeing opponents. Since Urchin Strike applies on-hit effects, Fizz can land this bleed on a low-health opponent by using Urchin Strike, helping to ensure a kill. When Seastone Trident is activated, Fizz's normal melee attacks deal additional bonus magic damage on-hit and temporarily debuff the target with grievous wounds, reducing healing on them by 50%. The active component is excellent for last hitting minions during the laning phase. It's also excellent for providing burst on enemy champions. In some cases, he may wish to save the active component for opponents who reach low health and may attempt to heal themselves to prevent death. Both the passive and active effects of Seastone Trident, combined with the passive damage reduction Fizz receives from Nimble Fighter, give Fizz excellent jungling speed.

Playful/Trickster (E) 271 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Fizz hops into the air, landing gracefully upon his spear becoming untargetable. From this position, Fizz can either slam the ground or choose to jump again before smashing back down. Fizz's Playful/Trickster ability combo vaults Fizz into the air at a nearby location, temporarily making him untargetable. While in the air there is a half-second window where Fizz can activate the ability again to launch himself a little farther in any direction, dealing damage to nearby enemies when he lands. If Fizz does not activate the ability again, he will drop to the ground beneath him, damaging enemies but also slowing them. When Fizz vaults himself into the air, anything currently targeting him is canceled. This includes spells that are in-flight towards him, as well as normal attacks. If timed well, Fizz is extremely good at avoiding harassment spells, such as stuns that must travel towards him. While in the air, skillshots passing through him will also not land on him. If Fizz is chasing an opponent, avoiding critical crowd controls can secure a kill. Vaulting will also stop incoming tower attacks. This can allow Fizz to effectively tower dive or harass players under a tower. Because of the bleed from Seastone Trident, Fizz may need to briefly pause before activating Playful/Trickster under a tower so a tick of the bleed will not cause the tower to immediately retarget him. Playful/Trickster is excellent at covering distance. However, because maximum distance has two smaller hops, it is limited to jumping over smaller walls that the individual hops can handle. Combined with the Urchin Strike dash, this ability gives Fizz enormous mobility. The ability can be used to help Fizz get in range of a distant or fleeing opponent to use Urchin Strike, and can also be used to immediately dash away from a target he hits with Urchin Strike. While the damage of Playful/Trickster increases with each rank, the relative power of the ability remains the same at all ranks. Higher ranks dramatically reduce the cooldown of the ability, though, and it can be used several times in team fights at later ranks. Playful/Trickster can be a good farming ability at later ranks if Fizz has built ability power. The AOE will kill caster minions and deal significant damage to other minions.

Chum the Waters (Ultimate) Fizz unleashes a magical fish that latches onto enemies or hovers over terrain, slowing champions if it is latched on to them. After a brief delay, a shark erupts from beneath the earth, dealing damage to enemies around the fish and knocking them aside. 272 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Fizz's Chum the Waters is a long-range skillshot that fires at a champion or location. After 1.5 seconds, a shark comes out of the earth, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies, knocking up an enemy if the fish is attached to them, knocking back other nearby enemies, and slowing all affected enemies by a significant amount. Getting into more detail on the mechanics, Fizz fires the fish towards a target location. If the fish comes close to any enemy champion in its path, it attaches to them. Otherwise, it will reach it's location and leave a circle on the ground. Even if the fish has stopped on a location, it will still attach to any player who runs over it before the shark comes. The player the fish is attached to is slowed. Vision is granted to the area around the fish, allowing it to see in bushes or other hidden areas. As the shark comes out, a much larger area of vision is briefly granted, and this is not obstructed by barriers.

A fish in a bush is not visible to anyone outside the bush, even when the aura extends significantly outside the bush. Additionally, there can be a delay before a fish fired from a bush is visible to enemy champions who don't have vision inside the bush. Chum the Waters is a high-damage ability that can significantly alter skirmishes and team fights. Though it can be used immediately at the start of a fight, it is often best saved for key moments where it can best disrupt a team. The slow is strong, and the relatively quick cast on the ability is great at disrupting players that are either attempting to flee or chasing your own teammates. Chum the Waters is very effective in tight areas, especially in the jungle, as it's much harder to avoid and can potentially affect more players. It is also fantastic when used after disabling abilities and ultimates from other champions.

Champion Notes & Countering Fizz can be built and played effectively in a number of different ways. While his abilities suggest building him as an AP caster, he can also be effective as an AD champion; this is in part due to his effective gap closers and his Seastone Trident damage buff. His Urchin Strike also benefits directly from his attack damage as it will deal the physical damage as well as any on-hit effects. Watch what he's building to get an idea how to counter him. Fizz is very effective in a solo lane, especially against a champion who has abilities with travel time that he can avoid with Playful/Trickster. He works in a duo lane as well. That said, he has excellent jungling capabilities on top of all of this. If he jungles, he may prefer to wait until at least level 3 or 4 before ganking due to the benefit of having all of his active abilities ready. 273 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Countering Fizz comes down to harassment and crowd control. In the early game, Fizz will have extreme difficulty farming if he is constantly harassed from a range. While Playful/Trickster can help him, it has a long cooldown and high mana cost in the early game. Slows are not too effective against Fizz as his abilities still allow him to get a strong distance between himself and his opponents. However, hard crowd controls are very effective, and he has no recourse against them unless he has built tanky. Don't ignore his burst potential, though. If he and his teammates have taken off a significant chunk of your health, he may be able to jump in and quickly finish you off, either immediately or over time with his Seastone Trident bleed. Chasing Fizz is not always a good idea, especially if you can't account for his teammates. Only ever chase him if you are absolutely sure you can net the kill on him or you know there won't be any serious risk in attempting to. Keep in mind that Fizz can use his cooldowns as they come up to quickly deal burst damage and apply his bleed while still avoiding a lot of incoming damage, so long chases can be to his advantage.


Don’t Feed Galio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3a16Fhpc0

Champion Notes Galio is a fantastic champion, being a strong burst caster (or tank if you really need) and simultaneously being stellar at locking out enemy burst casters. I actually worked on this guy because I looked up "Don't Feed Galio" on my channel and realized I had never made a movie for him. I used to play him enough that this surprised me. I'm not very good w/ shields as far as personal play. I mention in the guide that you should shield yourself prior to ulting in most cases, but I didn't do that terribly often because I didn't want to fumble up the ult itself. Be better than me! Build Recommendations The following is for building him as an Ability Power caster, not as a tank. Summoner Spells: Flash / Ignite Runes: Ability Power reds, Armor yellows, Magic Resist blues, Ability Power reds Masteries: 21/9/0 with a focus on magic damage in offensive (though 9/21/0 can be good if you need to be tankier) Skills: R, Q, E, W under normal circumstances. However, his abilities are situational and you may want to prioritize them differently (i.e. you've been killed early and are being harassed, get more points in shield, etc). One point in W is necessary early regardless. ITEMS Merc Treads or Sorc Shoes. Merc Treads are nice for the minor bonus AP they add on top of everything else, but they're not a be-all end-all choice for you since Tenacity will do nothing to stop people from instantly breaking your ultimate. Up to you. Are you getting blue buffs? If not, you need at least a Chalice, if not an Athene's Unholy Grail, unless you can safely move in melee range and normal attack minions to kill them (usually not possible). Prioritize 275 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

these. Otherwise, at least one Doran's is usually smart for mana. You'll want some tankiness, but how much is up to you. Rod of Ages is a great early tanky item, especially the Catalyst the Protector component. However, Abyssal Scepter is also strong, and may be enough for what you need. From this point on, you choose whether you're going tankier or more ability power. Rabadon's Death Cap and Void Staff are strong next choices for straight ability power. Zhonya's Hourglass and Guardian Angel are good for a bit tankier. For super tanky, as necessary, consider either Force of Nature or Zhonya's/Thornmail. In the end, he's pretty flexible in builds, but the thing you have to respect is that you'll be in melee range when you want to deal your burst. Either kill your opponents quickly or be able to survive them long enough to get your next round of burst out.

Introduction Galio is a high magic damage champion who brings excellent utility to his team. He has a moderate movement speed and uses melee range normal attacks.

Runic Skin (Passive) Galio converts 50% of his total Magic Resistance into Ability Power. Galio's passive is Runic Skin. With this, he gains bonus Ability Power based off a significant percentage of his Magic Resistance. Abilities and items that reduce magic resistance also reduce Galio's ability power.

Resolute Smite (Q) Galio fires a concussive blast from his eyes, slowing and dealing damage to enemies caught near the impact point. Galio's Resolute Smite is a skillshot that is targeted anywhere within a moderate range. On impact, it deals AOE magic damage and slows nearby enemies. Casting this ability interrupts movement.


Bulwark (W) Galio shields an ally Champion, increasing their Armor and Magic Resistance, and restoring Galio's health each time that Champion suffers damage. Galio's Bulwark grants an allied champion dramatically increased Armor and Magic Resitsance. Additionally, each time the buffed ally takes damage, Galio is healed. Each heal provides less healing than the previous heal. Note that Bulwark heals from all sources of damage, including each tick of damage from damage-overtime spells. When applied to himself, the bonus magic resistance from Bulwark works with his passive to increase his ability power. Casting this ability is instant and does not interrupt movement.

Righteous Gust (E) Galio claps his wings, unleashing a gust of concussive wind that damages enemies and leaves a directional draft in its wake that increases ally movement speed. Galio's Righteous Gust is a line skillshot that passes through enemies, dealing magic damage. Additionally, a gust of wind remains over the path, temporarily increasing the movement speed of any allies while they move over it. Casting this ability interrupts movement.

Idol of Durand (Ultimate) Galio assumes the form of a statue, taunting nearby enemies and storing concussive energy as they attack him. Galio then bursts from his statue shell, releasing the stored energy to damage surrounding foes. Galio's ultimate is Idol of Durand. After a very brief cast, Galio begins channeling. While channeling, he takes significantly reduced damage and all enemies within a moderate distance of Galio are taunted. The channeling can be broken early by Galio or by crowd controls. Champions with crowd controls on their normal attacks, such as Udyr, can break his channel while taunted. 277 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Tenacity and other crowd control reductions will release players from the taunt before the full duration of Galio's channeling. Also, if the channeling ends early, taunted players are immediately released. When the channeling ends, Galio deals magic damage to all nearby enemies. This is equal to a base amount, plus an amount based on the number of normal attacks he has taken during the channel. Note that the damage dealt is completely unrelated to the taunt, and simply being in the area when the channeling ends will cause you to take damage. Spell shields can block the initial cast of Idol of Durand. Alternatively, spell shields can block the damage at the end of the channel if they are used after the taunt occurs.

Champion Notes & Countering Galio is an outstanding counter to most ability power champions who rely on burst damage to rack up kills. This is for four reasons: First, he has the option of building early magic resist. Coupled with his shield, he can usually survive even the strongest burst combos. Second, he can be built as a burst caster himself while still maintaining the survivability against opponents. Assassins who rely on damage output and prioritize it over survivability may be quickly brought down. Third, he is able to quickly clear minions in his lane, allowing him to push a lane quickly. Because of this, his opponents are either locked into defending their lane at the expense of kills elsewhere, or giving it up. Finally, even if he's harassed or killed early, he may still be able to catch back up and handle burst champions by the mid and late game. Because of his melee range normal attacks, Galio may find he needs to use abilities to effectively clear minions in lane without taking enemy harassment. This is very easy to do after a few levels by combining his Righteous Gust with a follow-up Resolute Smite. With ability power and higher ranks, he will be able to clear much of a minion wave with by casting either of these abilities by themselves. That said, mana can be an issue. The blue golem buff is very strong on him, as are items like Chalice of Harmony and Athene's Unholy Grail. Resolute Smite and Righteous Gust offer an extremely strong chasing and retreating combo, as he can speed up his allies while slowing chasing enemies. Resolute Smite is even stronger in tight areas of the jungle where it is hard for an opponent to dodge the shot without losing significant ground. 278 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Finally, make sure to use Resolute Smite and Righteous Gust to help bring opponents low in the early game, especially if they try to exchange with you. While Galio doesn't have the strongest burst, he can easily pick off opponents who have lost part of their health to unfavorable exchanges. Bulwark offers very strong healing. One of the best ways to make use of it is to draw minions or monsters to attack you. In lane, this can mean going ahead of your own minions in their path as enemy minions approach, or using a normal attack against a champion. Alternatively, pulling small jungle camps is a quick way to benefit from the healing. Use Bulwark on allies who are taking damage, either from the enemy team or because they're tanking Dragon or Baron Nashor. Also, make sure to use Bulwark on yourself before casting your ultimate to benefit from the reduced damage and healing during the channel. Remember that Bulwark increases magic resist, which in turn increases your ability power due to your passive. For this reason, it can be helpful to activate on yourself even in relatively safe engagements. Galio must also be in close range to his opponents to make use of his Idol of Durand ultimate. Getting a good position for his ultimate can be difficult. Watch when allies use initiating crowd controls or slows to get in position. Alternatively, consider waiting in a bush. Flash is always very strong for quickly getting on top of enemies. During large team fights, enemies will tend to group up after initiation, so waiting to burn your ultimate can sometimes be better. Keep in mind that the taunt component of Idol of Durand is totally separate of the damage component. Cancel your ultimate early to deal damage to opponents who would otherwise be able to get out of before the duration ends. Idol of Durand is a game-changing ultimate. Simply having it available is a fantastic deterrance to enemy teams, so it's not always good simply to use it if you won't be able to follow it up by taking objectives.

When playing against Galio, understand that he has core weaknesses that can be exploited. First and foremost, Galio's ultimate is a huge contribution to winning mid and late game team fights. Consider champions who can very easily break channeled abilities, either from a long range or through normal attacks that will still go through while taunted. Second, Galio can become very survivable against magic damage opponents without sacrificing much damage potential. However, placing a physical damage champion against him in lane, particularly from a 279 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

range, can be devastating in the early game. Champions who can easily slow an approaching Galio are also preferred. Mercury Treads are excellent against Galio, as they reduce his damage, reduce the duration on his slow, and most importantly, reduce the duration of his taunt. If he attempts to channel his full ultimate, there's a brief window where players with Mercury Treads can use escape abilities to escape. As necessary, pick up either Banshee's Veil or Quicksilver Sash to break his initiation. One more thing about Idol of Durand -- it is best used with Flash. Watch for his Flash cooldown and try to force him to use it to escape in early and mid-game so he cannot use it to initiate. If you're being chased by Galio, wait to use escape abilities until he casts Resolute Smite. Without landing the slow from this ability, Galio may have extreme difficulty catching up.


Don’t Feed Gangplank http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrlu-JdyO8k

Champion Notes YARRRR! Very strong burst and a fairly interesting champion. He's getting his Raise Morale nerfed today, but it shouldn't be a huge deal. My games with him generally started very well, tapered off mid-game depending on how bursty my opponents were, then became very strong in the late game; this may mean I need to adjust the item builds I'm working with for a little more health and survivability sooner. Either way, he's a beast of a champion.

Introduction Gangplank is a melee champion with powerful ranged burst damage. He deals primarily physical damage.

Grog-Soaked Blade (Passive) Gangplank's basic attacks and Parrrley apply a poison that deals magic damage each second and slows movement speed. Lasts 3 seconds and stacks up to 3 times. Gangplank's passive is Grog-Soaked Blade, which causes his attacks to deal a small amount of additional magic damage each second over 3 seconds and slow the target by 7%. Grog-Soaked Blade can stack up to 3 times, increasing both the damage and the slow, and the cooldown is refreshed by additional attacks. If Gangplank is able to stay in melee range of a target and continue attacking them, he can keep them perpetually slowed. While Gangplank is quite capable in a lane, Grog-Soaked Blade is an excellent addition to his early jungling potential if he chooses to jungle. This is because he can keep his additional damage rolling on the higher-health targets and kill them much more quickly than normal.


Parrrley (Q) Gangplank takes aim and shoots an enemy unit with his pistol. If he kills it, he gains extra gold. Gangplank's Parrrley is a single, ranged shot on a very short cooldown. This ability deals a base amount of physical damage plus additional damage equal to his normal attack damage. When he kills a target with this ability, he gains up to 8 bonus gold. Though Gangplank's normal attacks are melee range, this ability is mechanically similar to an autoattack. It will apply his Grog Soaked Blade passive and can critically strike. It gains bonus damage from Sheen. Finally, it is affected by items like Thornmail and benefits from Lifesteal. However, Parrrley cannot be dodged and is not prevented by blinds, and is blocked by both Banshee's Veil and Pantheon's Aegis Protection. Parrley offers incredible burst damage and can be used to effectively harass or kill targets throughout the game. If Gangplank cannot safely get in melee range of a fight, he can still make effective use of Parrley. Since Parrley applies Grog Soaked Blade, it is a good precursor to a gank. Because of the bonus gold, Parrrley is always very strong for farming, and places Gangplank in the top tier of champions in terms of gold potential.

Remove Scurvy (W) Consumes a large quantity of citrus fruit which clears any crowd control effects on him and heals him. Gangplank's Remove Scurvy heals him and removes most types of crowd control effects on him, including Supression effects. It will not stop knockups, knockbacks, or pull abilities. Remove Scurvy is simple in concept, but it is a signature ability that makes him very hard to effectively lock down. Due to a relatively long cooldown, the best counter to Remove Scurvy is having a crowd control ability on reserve until he activates it. Alternatively, using refreshing AOEs such as a slowing AOE on the ground or Ashe's Frost Shot.


Raise Morale (E) Gangplank fires a shot into the air, increasing nearby allied champions' increased attack damage and movement speed. Gangplank's Raise Morale passively increases his Attack Damage and Movement Speed. When activated, Raise Morale grants substantially higher Attack Damage and Movement speed for several seconds, while also granting half the effect to nearby allied champions. Though the passive effect is technically disabled during the active, there is no additional downtime associated with activating it, and it is effectively always a buff to use the active when it is available. Gangplank may use this to help push towers, both solo and when teammates are around. Additionally, it is very useful at all stages of solo and team fights, and especially useful to chase down fleeing opponents if a fight turns in his favor. This ability should also be used when jungling and when it can benefit lane harassment. In a pinch, Gangplank can use Remove Scurvy to clear crowd controls and Raise Morale to quickly get away from a bad situation. Combined with Ghost, this can be even more effective.

Cannon Barrage (Ultimate) Gangplank signals his ship to fire upon an area for 6 seconds, slowing enemies and dealing random damage in the area. Gangplank's ultimate is Cannon Barrage, a large area of effect ability that slows all enemies within it and randomly drops cannonballs throughout the effect that deal damage on impact. This ability can be used on any location in the game map, regardless of Gangplank's current location. Cannon Barrage can be used to very effectively ensure kills for his teammates when team fights are occurring in the early and mid game. Alternatively, it can be used to help his teammates get away from otherwise-assured death. If an enemy champion at low health flees beyond the range of him or any of his allies, Cannon Barrage can be used to kill them. Alternatively, it can be very effective at cutting off an escape they may be using, forcing them to choose between taking the damage and slow or attempting to come back towards their enemies. In team fights, Cannon Barrage can be used to provide additional damage in a stationary fight or force movement on the part of the team taking damage. If used once Gangplank's enemies are low, it can help prevent them from escaping while helping to net kills.


Cannon Barrage is excellent at providing assists and potentially kills for fights he is not otherwise involved in. Since it can also quickly clear out minions, it can provide additional gold in lane fights or remove minion protection from his opponents.

Champion Notes & Countering Gangplank has flexibility and the ability to stay at a range and offer support to his team at a distance if he has fallen behind in a game or if he simply cannot survive the melee pressure from an enemy team. However, he is still best used when he can provide these benefits to his team and stay in a team fight. If against Gangplank, put pressure on him when he enters the fight. Never underestimate the potential damage of Parrrley. It has enormous burst potential and can be used to annhilate opponents who are at low health. In the early game, a lucky crit with Parrley can kill you even when you think you're safe. When fighting Gangplank, avoid relying on crowd control to net the kill. He'll just eat some oranges and be k.


Don’t Feed Garen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG0SjvGqHQA

Champion Notes I tried out Garen as tank, off-tank, and carry. I found offtank and carry to be most effective, since he could be ignored pretty well if he built full tank (and using my ult to net kills would sometimes be bad for the team since our carries could use the gold). I look at several guides on mobafire and solomid and the wiki when researching these champions, and I have to say that the top rated crit guide on Mobafire was the most enjoyable (I won't speak to the effectiveness in high elo games).

Introduction Garen is a fast, survivable melee champion. He deals primarily physical damage, though he has one highdamage magic ability. He does not use any resources to cast abilities and is only limited in ability usage by his cooldowns.

Perseverance (Passive) Garen will regenerate .5% of his maximum health per second after not receiving damage for 7 seconds. Garen's passive causes him regenerate a half percent of health per second once he has not taken damage for 7 seconds. This allows Garen to sustain himself for long periods of time in a lane by simply stepping back to recover health more quickly. If Garen is regenerating health nearby, ranged attacks and harassment can stop his passive.


Decisive Strike (Q) Garen's next attack strikes a vital area of his foe, dealing bonus damage and silencing them. Garen's Decisive Strike increases his movement speed for 4 seconds and causes his next melee attack within 6 seconds to deal additional damage and silence the target for 2.5 seconds. This ability also resets Garen's swing timer, which means that he can activate this ability immediately after an auto-attack for added burst damage. Decisive Strike is an excellent initiation tool due to the strong silence and the speed boost. Garen can use the speed either to get in range of an opponent, or to stay in range of an opponent he's already near. The silence, while being helpful for a variety of reasons, also prevents an opponent from using flash or other blink abilities to escape. Decisive Strike can be used against structures. Due to the relatively high damage output of the ability, Garen can deal substantial burst damage against undefended towers.

Courage (W) Garen's kills increase his armor and magic resistance. He may also activate this ability to give himself a damage-reducing shield. Garen's Courage ability passively increases his armor and magic resistance by 0.5 every time he kills an enemy unit. This bonus caps at 25 Armor and magic resistance. When activated, Garen creates a shield that reduces all incoming damage by up to 36% for 3 seconds. This can allow him to safely initiate some fights or stay in combat, and can help with surviving tower hits.

Judgment (E) Garen performs a dance of death with his sword, dealing damage around him for 3 seconds, and reducing the duration of slows by 50%. Garen removes any slow effects on him at the start of the dance. Garen's Judgment causes him to whirlwind, dealing high physical damage every half second for 3 seconds. Additionally, Garen will remove all slows when he begins this and any slows applied during the whirlwind will have their duration reduced by 50%. Each tick of damage from Whirlwind can critically strike, increasing the bonus damage the ability gains from his attack damage; watch out for a Garen with high attack damage and critical strike chance as this 286 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

can greatly increase his damage output with Judgment. This ability deals half damage to minions, but can still be used to very effectively farm minion groups throughout the game. Combined with the damage reduction from activating Courage, Garen can use the slow removal of Judgment to effectively escape. If Decisive Strike is also available, it will make it even easier for him to get away from dangerous situations. Garen can cancel this ability early. This ability cannot be interrupted by stuns, silences, or taunts.

Demacian Justice (Ultimate) Garen calls upon the might of Demacia to deal a finishing blow to an enemy champion that deals damage based upon how much life his target has missing. Garen's ultimate is Demacian Justice. This ability deals a base amount of magic damage, plus additional magic damage based on the amount of health his target is missing. This is a basic execute ability which is designed to allow Garen to effectively kill targets with low health. If you're at low health, avoid letting Garen get close to you. If you've been marked for Demacian Justice, it is possible -- but difficult -- to avoid it by flashing or breaking line of sight immediately. As a general rule, keep the execute in mind when deciding whether to back off in an engagement with him, as you'll want to leave a little earlier. Because Demacian Justice is magic damage, Garen may choose to target champions who have lower magic resist.

Champion Notes & Countering Garen has a primary ability combo that makes him very dangerous. In particular, an auto-attack and Decisive Strike can silence a player in melee range while making sure Garen can follow the target if they flee. Followed up by Judgment, the player Garen is pursuing will take most, if not all, whirlwind damage. And if you think about attacking him, he may also use Courage for the additional damage reduction. While Garen can do this anywhere, players can easily move away from him if he is nearby to avoid taking the initating decisive strike. For this reason, Garen often prefers to stay in bushes. This brings us to the number one rule of Garen. Don't go near the bush. Any bush. Ever. Unless you can see Garen on your mini-map, assume Garen is inside every bush on the map. If you must pass near a bush to gain experience, you should have flash, ghost, or an ability that can quickly move you away. If none of these are options, you should have boots. Alternatively, you can use ranged skillshots, wards, or vision-granting abilities such as clairvoyance to check bushes. 287 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Don’t Feed Gragas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtq-XphVGP8

Champion Notes Gragas is one of the champions I have enjoyed more over the last two years. While I play him exclusively as a burst AP caster in this movie, which I feel is usually his best role, he can be played as a tank and an AD fighter with limited success due to his Drunken Rage buff and his lowcooldown dash. He's also a bit buggy. I didn't get into his bugs because they're hard to pin down mechanically, but it's all sorts of small things. For instance, his Happy Hour passive buff will occasionally read out as an entirely different ability. Charging occasionally fails midway for no coherent reason, and if it brushes against a wall in the wrong way he essentially stuns himself for a moment. Sometimes his barrel (like Anivia's shot) is not visible either to the Gragas player or their opponent. And you can screw up his run animation. He's just an old champion. His mechanics are a frankenstein mix. But he's a genuinely good and enjoyable champion, especially if you're comfortable with skillshots and like burst champions.

Build Recommendations Runes: Red Magic Penetration, Yellow Clarity (mana regen / 5), Blue Force (AP / 5), Potency Quints (flat AP). Masteries: 21/0/9 with all of the caster perks in offensive, mana and buff duration in utility. Summoner spells: Ignite/Flash. Teleport occasionally in place of Ignite. Skills: R - Q first. You always need at least one point in E and W early, but which you choose to max after Q depends on your game situation. Normally I'd max E, but if I felt a team would punish me if I got close, I'd focus on W for a little better laning (and damage reduction when I did get in close, again helpful if a team was going to punsh me). 288 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Items: Any standard caster build will work, though you absolutely must consider survivability against some teams. Boots: Sorc or Merc Treads (usually Merc Treads). First big item: Rod of Ages or Rabadon's or 2-3 Doran's. Honestly, I lost nearly every game I prioritized early Doran's, and I usually did well in games where I prioritized Rod of Ages and/or Rabadon's. Everything from here on out is a decision based on what they're building. Do you want CDR and aren't getting blue? Get CDR from items (Morello's gives you Kage's for a bit, Glacial Shroud/Frozen Heart are good against highly physical teams). Do they have a lot of magic resistance? Void Staff. Need to survive incoming burst? Zhonya's is great. Against heavy magic teams, Abyssal Scepter has strong synergy, especially since you are more likely to be in range to apply the debuff. Deathfire's Grasp is amazing, btw! If you're not already used to this for burst casters, start practicing now. With Gragas, a Deathfire Grasp can be the difference between annhilating someone in an instant or waiting several seconds while they shut you down or escape. If you can get this early, do it!

Introduction Gragas is a magic damage caster with strong burst damage potential and an assortment of buffs and debuffs. He has an average 315 movement speed. Unlike many magic damage casters, he has a melee range normal attack.

Happy Hour (Passive) On ability use, Gragas takes a drink restoring 2% of his max health over 4 seconds. Gragas' passive is Happy Hour. Any time Gragas uses an ability, he briefly gains health regeneration equal to a very small percentage of his maximum health.


Barrel Roll (Q) Gragas rolls his cask to a location, which can be activated to explode or will explode on its own after 5 seconds. Enemies struck by the blast have their attack speed lowered. Gragas' Barrel Roll is a skillshot that is targeted on any location within a very long range. Once cast, a barrel rolls to that location. After several seconds, the barrel explodes, dealing high magic damage and temporarily reducing the attack speed of nearby opponents. Once the barrel reaches it's targeted location, Gragas can activate the ability again to explode the barrel early. The cooldown on this ability is independent of how long the barrel stays active, meaning there is no penalty for keeping the barrel active instead of exploding it early. However, he must explode an active barrel before he can throw another. This ability has a short cooldown at max rank.

Drunken Rage (W) Gragas guzzles down brew from his cask for 1 second, restoring his mana. After finishing, he becomes drunkenly empowered, increasing his damage dealt and reducing damage received. Gragas' Drunken Rage is a channeled ability with a short cast time. At the beginning and end of the channeling, Gragas gains a small amount of mana. If Gragas successfully channels the ability without interruption, he gains a large Attack Damage boost, in addition to damage reduction, for a relatively long duration. With cooldown reduction, Gragas can keep this buff active permanently.

Body Slam (E) Gragas charges to a location and collides with the first enemy unit he comes across, dealing damage to all nearby enemy units and slowing their movement. Damage is split among units hit. Gragas' Body Slam is a wide skillshot that causes Gragas to dash in a direction. Body Slam can be cast short of its potential range, causing him to move a shorter distance. Stuns, slows, and snares will not normally stop him while he is currently charging. However, this dash is immediately stopped if he collides with enemy units.


If this dash collides with a unit, he deals magic damage equal to the base damage of the ability, plus a combination of ability power and attack damage. Enemies hit by Body Slam are also slowed. If he collides with multiple units, the damage dealt is divided among all targets. However, the ability has a fairly high minimum damage that it will always deal against targets, and the ability power bonus is applied after this. Putting this another way, if Body Slam hits multiple targets, the minimum damage can override the base damage and the bonus from attack damage. Since ability power is added after this, it's correct to say that Body Slam reaches a point where it only scales from ability power, not attack damage, against multiple targets. This ability can cross over walls. Additionally, it will hit stealthed units and the dash will be stopped if this occurs. Higher ranks of this ability increase Gragas' movement speed while charging. This ability has a short cooldown.

Explosive Cask (Ultimate) Gragas hurls his cask to a location, which explodes on impact, dealing damage and knocking back enemies caught in the blast radius. Gragas' ultimate is Explosive Cask. This ability is cast on a target location within a long range and deals a large amount of magic damage to all nearby enemies. Additionally, this explosion knocks enemies back a set distance from the center of the impact. This means that enemies at the edge of the impact will not be moved as far as enemies near the direct center. However, the knockback distance is still significant even at the edge. Explosive Cask cannot move enemies over terrain, though the knockback does ignore player-made terrain. Explosive Cask provides a significant area of vision on the target location.

Champion Notes & Countering When playing as Gragas, you'll need to understand how to best utilize all of his utility. Though he's got an odd mix of abilities, it's best to think of him as a pure skill-shot champion who can deal high bursts of magic damage.


At champion selection, consider playing with champions with hard crowd controls. Anything that prevents a player from moving will dramatically increase the likelihood of landing ideal Explosive Cask ultimates. His Happy Hour passive should not be considered a serious form of sustain, as any amount of harassment or burst can counter its effects quickly. However, you should still keep it in mind when laning for long periods of time, as the health regeneration can help in these situations. It's also a good idea to remember while damage over time effects such as Ignite are applied, as the small amount of regeneration will occasionally be the difference between life and death. Barrel Roll serves three fundamental purposes for Gragas. First, it is a primary source of burst damage. When aiming the ability, keep in mind that it has a relatively slow projectile speed and enemies can easily dodge it at longer distances. Try to use it on closer enemies, or on enemies that have been slowed by your body slam or by a teammate. Waiting a few moments to ensure your target is slowed is almost always better than firing the barrel immediately and missing. The other value of this burst damage is that it allows Gragas to farm minions very effectively, even at a distance. Second, he can use it to effectively zone an area and prevent enemies from going near the area. When using it to zone, keep in mind that you don't need to immediately explode the barrel. Third, it is a very strong source of long range poke, allowing him to contribute in standoffs when he otherwise does not want to move in closer. When using Barrel Roll in team fights, keep in mind that it significantly slows attack speed, and therefore makes champions who benefit most from normal attacks, such as ranged AD carries, ideal targets. When fleeing from opponents, barrels dropped in the path can either discourage opponents or deal significant damage to them. Over longer chases, particularly between teams, this can soften opponents until you are ready to turn around and fully engage them. When dropping barrels in the path of a pursuing opponent, consider casting it immediately after you use body slam to gain distance. Drunken Rage defines Gragas' playstyle. The ability is always beneficial, in that it activates his passive and has no cost associated with it. However, there's a couple caveats. This ability is easy to cancel during the channeling, but doing so removes both the bonus attack damage and the percentage damage reduction. It's very hard to use the ability effectively inside a team fight, and doing so right when you need to jump in will cost you valuable time. Not having it ready will reduce the damage on your body slam, since it scales partly from attack damage. More importantly, you won't have the damage reduction going into the fight. 292 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Without cooldown reduction, the ability has a downtime even if you're constantly keeping it active. For this reason, having some basic cooldown reduction will go a long ways towards maintaining 100% uptime on the buff. Outside of this, make sure you're casting it as frequently as it benefits your health and mana, and try to estimate when fights are about to occur so your buff can already be active going in. Don't overestimate the damage reduction on Drunken Rage. While it is helpful, it is not a suitable replacement for defensive items if you intend to be in range of high damage carries. One last note on Drunken Rage. The ability gives a huge amount of bonus attack damage. This can make it good for last hitting minions when you have the opportunity, but it can also net some damage on nearby champions once you move in range. It's not much in terms of overall damage output, but it's often free damage. The main thing to keep in mind with Body Slam is that it will be stopped by minions, monsters, or champions in its path, and the per-unit damage will be significantly reduced if you collide with multiple targets. The nice thing about it is that it's a wide skillshot and therefore is easy to hit an opponent with. The downside is that it's a wide skillshot and easy to hit an opponent with. In other words, it's not too difficult to land in close proximity to a single enemy, but it becomes much harder when other units are anywhere near the path you want to travel. If you miss your target, you can wind up significantly out of position. This is where the movement speed gained by higher ranks of this ability comes into play, as it makes it harder for opponents to dodge the ability. Additionally, don't forget that you can limit the distance you travel by targeting a closer location. For these reasons, positioning is always important, whether you're using it to get near enemies or escape. Try to always consider your location and your open routes with Body Slam. While Body Slam offers significant damage and allows you to get in range of a target, you must be judicious when you use the ability. By using it, you are committing to a fight that can be hard to get out of. Make sure that you're willing to do this, and consider whether you can still take advantage of the long-range poke offered by more barrel rolls before engaging. Body Slam provides a strong slow to affected targets, even at lower ranks. This can make it a strong ability when attempting to chase down an opponent, but it also makes landing his Barrel Roll and Explosive Cask much easier. Use this ability before either of those when facing opponents who would otherwise do a good job avoiding them. Keep the slow in mind in terms of protecting your teammates, particularly other carries.


When farming minions or jungle monsters, consider using a Barrel Roll first to kill the weaker enemies before using your body slam. This can increase your damage output on the surviving targets. Gragas' ultimate, Explosive Cask, is straightforward. It offers very strong burst damage and can knock enemies out of position. There are two good ways to use the ability. The first is as a final cast to ensure a kill on a low-health opponent. You should only ever do this when you are confident that the burst will kill them or, in the early game, prevent them from staying in the lane. The second way to use this is to deal damage while knocking an enemy in a favorable direction for you or your team. When attempting to flee opponents, this can be fairly easy to aim as simply dropping it behind you or your teammates can break off the chasers. However, it's much trickier getting used to the projectile speed and targeting at a further distance. Depending on your opponents reaction time, movement speed and any movement, dash, or blink abilities they have, landing an Explosive Cask that knocks them in the direction you want can be incredibly difficult. In these situations, try to know what your opponents have available and get an idea whether they've been good about avoiding other skillshots, such as your barrel roll. The knockback from Explosive Cask can work against the abilities of many allied champions, such as AOE ultimates that rely on keeping enemies in a small area. If you fail to land the cask in the right spot, you can wind up creating a much bigger distance gap that allows an opponent to freely escape a situation they wouldn't have escaped had the cask never been thrown in the first place. For these reasons, the basic rule of explosive cask is that you shouldn't use it for positioning unless you're relatively certain that you'll either land it correctly, or that landing it incorrectly won't cost your team important kills. With ability power, this can reliably clear out most or all minions in a wave. While this may not always be the best use, especially given the power of Barrel Roll in this same purpose, it can be useful when opponents are pushing a tower. By killing minions and knocking opponents towards the tower, you can guarantee tower damage on the champions pushing.

When playing against Gragas, there are a few things you'll need to remember to be most effective. At champion select, the best options for dealing with Gragas are champions who either have high enough survivability to survive Gragas' burst and harass, or who have the mobility to avoid his skillshots, or who have spell shields to block his abilities. 294 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Champions with immobilizes or other hard crowd controls, such as Ryze or Morgana, are also very effective at preventing Gragas from benefiting from his Body Slam dash. In lane, pick up boots and health potions against Gragas. His skillshots are well telegraphed and easy to avoid, but boots allows you to do so closer to him where there is less delay between a barrel cast and its explosion. Spell shields and abilities that quickly move your champion are always strong against Gragas because of the high damage of his abilities and how much time you're given to react to them. The travel time on barrel roll makes it particularly easy to avoid them if you're quick. During the laning phase, and any time there is a standoff or a fight is about to occur, watch for Gragas channeling Drunken Rage. He does not gain the bonus attack damage and damage reduction if he does not complete the channel. Use any kind of harassment or skillshot against him during this to force him to either cancel the channel by moving, or to deal extra damage to him when he can't avoid it. Gragas reaches his damage potential by being close to opponents. He achieves this by successfully landing Body Slam. There are two ways to handle him if he attempts to come into a fight too quickly. The first is to avoid letting him land his charge on champions, or making sure that there are enough units around that the damage from his charge is dramatically reduced. If you can fully avoid the charge, you can knock him out of position, and this can be especially useful when there are nearby towers. The second is to quickly burst him down once he's moved in. Only do this if he is a primary threat to the team and has been building heavily for damage at the expense of survivability. His Drunken Rage damage reduction does offer him more survivability, but it is not by itself enough to allow him to survive focused damage from an enemy team. Body Slam offers Gragas his best escape. However, it can be completely negated by blocking his path. When ganking or attempting to secure a kill on him, do everything you can to cut off his best routes by physically blocking the path. The same concept goes for keeping Gragas away from carries. If you're playing a bruiser or tank, positioning yourself between Gragas and your carries can ensure he will not be able to reach them directly. Try to anticipate Explosive Cask. If Flash is available, or you have any other abilities that can quickly move you, either avoid the cast altogether, or if you can survive the damage, get to a position where the Cask will knock you even further away from your aggressors.


Don’t Feed Graves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crftg_31j58

Champion Notes Holy balls, what a good champion. Outstanding burst damage. I'm a little surprised that Riot managed to make a champion carry what is essentially a shotgun, and have it look and feel right while having no randomness associated w/ it. I'm not sure if he's really balanced or not, and this is why I was fairly non-specific with numbers (I'm only specific w/ numbers on champions who feel balanced and have been around/tuned a lot already). The buckshot math right now is 1x damage for one shot, and .35x damage for each additional, making a maximum of 1.7x damage if you can land all three shots. Not 3x damage, but still extremely good for an ability that already does fine damage. Most ranged AD carries have a more difficult early game, whereas this guy has an amazing early game that carries into an amazing endgame, and he has a stronger farm ~15 minutes into a game than any champion I've played. Because of his early burst and potential for early kills, I started going Bloodthirster first in my later games because that gave the biggest bang for my buck, followed by Zeal, then Infinity Edge. Is this the best route? Up to you. It worked great for me.

Introduction Graves is a ranged physical damage champion with strong anti-melee burst.

True Grit (Passive) Graves gains increasing armor and magic resistance the longer he remains in combat. Graves' passive is True Grit. This grants him a small bonus to his Armor and Magic Resist for every second he remains in combat, stacking up to 10 times.This continues stacking as long 296 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

as he is dealing or receiving damage within a 4 second window. For this reason, Graves may choose to auto-attack more frequently to keep the bonus rolling, and can become harder to kill as a chase drags on.

Buckshot (Q) Graves fires three bullets in a cone, damaging all enemies in their paths. Graves' Buckshot fires three shots in a cone. Each of these shots pierces all targets hit. Since all three shots begin at the same location, enemies near Graves may get hit by more than one shot, though each of the shots that land beyond the first deal significantly less damage. Despite the reduced damage on the additional shots, getting hit by multiple shots can be brutally damaging, and it's important for players who cannot sustain the burst to avoid getting in melee range of Graves where he can easily land all three shots. Buckshot makes Graves one of the few ranged carries who can effectively defend himself against melee champions. Watch out in the early game against Graves. Even champions who can normally harass effectively may find it's not a good idea to do if it involves getting near him. Buckshot is Graves' primary source of burst damage and it has a relatively small cooldown. Beyond being major burst damage against Champions, it is also outstanding at clearing minions quickly, especially in mid and late game when Graves has basic damage items.

Smoke Screen (W) Graves fires a smoke canister at the target area creating a cloud of smoke. Enemies inside the smoke cloud have reduced sight range and Movement Speed. Graves' Smoke Screen is an area of effect ability that deals a small amount of magic damage and slows targets in the area. After the ability lands, a temporary cloud persists in the area, and any enemies who are caught in it or enter it lose all vision to everything outside the effect. Enemies caught in this can, however, still see any opponents who are attacking them. Stepping out of the Smokescreen immediately removes the effect. Smoke Screen can be used both to chase and to flee thanks to the slow and the vision reduction. Additionally, it can be used on opponents as one of Graves' allies enters the area to gank, temporarily preventing affected enemies from being aware of the newcomer. Finally, it can be useful in preventing a champion from using an ability that requires a specific target.


Due to the AOE damage, Smoke Screen can be followed up by an immediate Buckshot to quickly clear minion waves if Buckshot will not kill the minions by itself.

Quickdraw (E) Graves dashes forward gaining an Attack Speed boost for several seconds. Hitting enemies with basic attacks lowers the cooldown of this skill. Graves' Quickdraw causes him to dash forward, temporarily granting him dramatically increased attack speed. While this ability has a long cooldown, each of Graves' normal attacks will reduce the cooldown by 1 second. Quickdraw travels over units and can go over barriers such as small walls. This can be effective in escaping and also in disorienting an enemy. Graves may use Quickdraw to immediately close the distance between him and a target and land a Buckshot where all three shots land on the target. Against an opponent who cannot effectively counter him, this can be devastating as it keeps Graves' in range with increased attack speed, after dealing a large burst with Buckshot. If playing against Graves, make sure you are prepared to take his damage if you go near him. Quickdraw can be used to help Graves push towers. However, attacks on towers do not reduce the cooldown of Quickdraw. For this reason, Graves must choose whether to take the tower down faster and potentially not have Quickdraw available for an escape, or whether to play it safe but not get as much damage on the tower.

Collateral Damage (Ultimate) Graves fires an explosive shell dealing heavy damage to the first champion it hits. After hitting a champion or reaching the end of its range, the shell explodes dealing damage in a cone. Collateral Damage is Graves' ultimate. This fires a shell in a straight line, dealing massive physical damage to the first Champion it hits. On impact, it will also explode in a cone behind the champion, dealing very strong damage to everything behind them. If the shell does not hit a champion while in flight, it will still explode into a cone once it reaches its' max range.


Collateral Damage is a devastating skillshot that can be used effectively both in close range and at a distance. Though the single target damage of this ability is strong enough to warrant using it to net kills, it is also extremely effective in tight team fights. For example, Graves can stay to the side of a team fight and look for an angle that affects the most teammates; alternatively, he may get a very clear shot on most of a team simply by firing on their initiator or tank.

Champion Notes & Countering Despite being a ranged AD carry, Graves is an extremely potent champion at close range. For this reason, don't let him get close to you, especially if you are also a ranged AD carry. When possible, keep damage and pokes on him until he must use his Quickdraw as an escape, then finish the job. Graves is not a particularly fast champion. Though he has Quickdraw, this has a relatively long cooldown and covers a small distance. Smokescreen is also a long cooldown. He may build Phage, Trinity Force, or Frozen Mallet to help slow opponents, but it's generally true that you can keep your distance from him if you need to, especially if you have an escape mechanism of your own.

Don't get overconfident. Graves is very good at punishing mistakes, and he may only need one solid opportunity to seriously hurt or kill an opponent.


Don’t Feed Hecarim http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvcdVyAk5pY

Champion Notes The more I checked out his mechanics, the more impressed I was with his potential. The main thing to note is that spell shields (i.e. Banshee's Veil) won't stop his abilities, and I can't believe this is intended, especially on his ultimate where a spell shield is broken but won't block anything. We'll see if that changes down the road. Build Recommendations I played him in a variety of roles, but primarily as a jungler building a hybrid of damage and survivability. I also played him as a pure tank, which also worked well. His first pass through the jungle is the roughest, but by level 5 he is very good both in and out of the jungle. I'll say upfront that Phreak posted a surprisingly good build both in terms of masteries and itemization in his champion spotlight, and while it's not the only good way to build him, it certainly works. Runes: Red attack damage, yellow armor, blue magic resist/level, and movement speed quints. Masteries: 9/12/9 with armor pen in offense, health and minion damage in defense, and movement speed/buff duration in utility. Summoner Spells: Smite/Ghost. Skills: R - Q - W - E, with a point in E as soon as I needed to gank (usually level 4). Items: My early goals were a Wriggle's Lantern, Merc Treads, and a Sheen. If I really needed more survivability, I'd go Phage first. Aside from that, I was most successful when building an Infinity Edge as my first huge purchase. This is unusual for many champions, but for Hecarim every single component synergizes well with his role and his abilities. Beyond this, Hexdrinker/Maw of Malmortius against magic heavy teams, or an Armor item (occasionally Atma's) against a physical heavy team.


Introduction Hecarim is a fast, highly mobile melee champion who deals primarily physical damage. Three of his abilities deal area damage, and all of his abilities can be cast while moving without interrupting movement.

Warpath (Passive) Hecarim ignores unit collision and gains attack damage equal to a percentage of his bonus movement speed. Hecarim's passive is Warpath. Hecarim ignores unit collision, meaning he can move freely through units without pathing around them. Additionally, Hecarim gains a significant percentage of his bonus movement speed as attack damage. This only applies to movement speed beyond his base speed, such as movement speed provided by items and abilities. If he is slowed below his base movement speed he will not receive an attack damage bonus.

Rampage (Q) Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies dealing physical damage. Hecarim's Rampage is a full-circle AOE that deals physical damage in a small area around him. This ability has a short cooldown. If he hits an enemy unit with the ability, he gains a buff that decreases the base cooldown of the ability. This buff can be stacked twice, dramatically reducing the cooldown of the ability. While a spell shield will block the damage from this ability, Hecarim will still gain a stack of the buff for successfully breaking the shield. This ability deals half damage to minions.

Spirit of Dread (W) Hecarim deals magic damage to nearby enemies for a short duration. Hecarim gains health equal to a percentage of any damage those enemies suffer. Hecarim's Spirit of Dread creates a temporary aura around him that deals magic damage 301 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

over its duration. Additionally, Hecarim heals a percentage of the damage his opponents take while they are within the aura. This healing is derived from all sources of damage, meaning that damage from other abilities, items, summoner spells, and other champions will count towards the healing. Hecarim is limited in how much he can heal from minions. This cap is relatively low, and is shared among all minions he deals damage to. Spirit of Dread ignores spell shields.

Devastating Charge (E) Hecarim gains increasing movement speed for a short duration. His next attack knocks the target back and deals additional physical damage based on the distance he has traveled since activating the ability. Hecarim's Devastating Charge dramatically increases his movement speed, with the bonus increasing periodically over the course of several seconds. While the buff is active, his next normal attack will cause him to trample over his target, then pull them forward with him. This attack gains a base amount of bonus damage, plus additional bonus damage based on how far he has traveled from where he activated first activated the ability. Once Hecarim attacks, he immediately loses the bonus movement speed. Because Hecarim first moves over his target, it is possible for him to use this ability to dodge point-blank skillshots from the target. Once Hecarim begins the attack that knocks an opponent back, there is a brief window of time where an opponent can still flash or use other blink abilities. If the opponent does so, they will be knocked away from Hecarim based on their new location. This effectively means that a well-timed Flash or blink ability will create a very large distance gap between Hecarim and the opponent. Devastating Charge is not affected by spell shields in any way. Devastating Charge resets Hecarim's swing timer, meaning it can be used to quickly deal additional damage. The bonus damage is effective against structures.

Onslaught of Shadows (Ultimate)


Hecarim summons spectral riders and charges forward, dealing magic damage in a line. Hecarim creates a shockwave when he finishes his charge dealing additional magic damage to nearby enemies causing them to flee in terror. Hecarim's ultimate is Onslaught of Shadows. When cast, Hecarim jumps to a nearby location, dealing a small amount of magic damage in an area around where he lands. Any enemy units in this area are briefly feared, moving in a straight line away from Hecarim's location. While in flight, Hecarim is completely immune to disables. However, the ability cannot be activated if Hecarim is already crowd controlled. Hecarim can travel over walls with this ability. There is also a wide skillshot component to Onslaught of Shadows. When cast, spectral riders charge in a straight line towards the location cast. These will always travel the maximum potential distance of the ability, meaning they can travel past where Hecarim lands. Any enemy units in this path are dealt a moderate amount of magic damage. As a note, Onslaught of Shadows does not appear to function correctly with spell shields at this time. The ability will instantly consume spell shields, but spell shields do not block any part of the ability, meaning the damage and fear are still applied.

Champion Notes & Countering When playing against Hecarim, there are a few primary things to keep in mind. In Draft Mode, there are several ways you can counter Hecarim. First, champions with very strong slows, such as Nasus, are good at countering not only his damage, but his ability to initiate or escape with Devastating Charge. Exhaust works for this as well. Additionally, hard crowd controls and strong duelists that can go toe-to-toe with Hecarim are ideal. Most of Hecarim's attributes revolve initiating and, when necessary, escaping. However, champions that can handle him without needing to back off themselves will do well. Don't get greedy in your lane! Because of his Devastating Charge and Onslaught of Shadows ultimate, once Hecarim is level 6 he can quickly get into a fight from positions beyond your normal warding areas. Once you see him, it may be too late to back off even if you do so immediately. If Flash is available and you need to escape from Hecarim, try to wait until he attempts to knock you back with Devastating Charge. If timed well, the knockback can move you even further in the direction you flash, completely negating the ability. As of the time this video was made, Hecarim has two initiating abilities that cannot be blocked by spell shields. This may or may not be intended, but for as long as it is the case, understand that Banshee's Veil 303 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

will not counter him as effectively as other items, such as movement-speed, slowing, or pure survivability items. Never underestimate Hecarim's ability to catch up to you. Unlike similarly fast champions such as Rammus, Volibear, Skarner, and Singed, Hecarim also has a gap closer with his ultimate. Don't forget that he cannot be disabled while in flight, and make sure you save any hard crowd controls until after he's landed. Unless Hecarim is a primary target and is carrying his team or making it impossible for your team to acquire kills, don't focus him until their damage dealers have been handled. Because of his Spirit of Dread aura, he has enormous healing potential while his teammates are dishing out damage. If you do need to focus him down, try to do so after his aura expires or when you're otherwise not taking much damage.

When playing as Hecarim, you'll need to get used to his mobility and your options for initiating or disrupting opponents in fights. Hecarim is a strong harasser, in that he can quickly move in, deal damage, and move out. While laning, this is particularly easy when facing opponents without hard crowd controls, and Hecarim should put pressure on opponents as frequently as his cooldowns are available, provided doing so will not return more damage back to him. Timing and positioning of Spirit of Dread is important to maximizing the health gained from the ability. It can be useful to wait until you have stacks of Rampage before activating the ability, as the cooldown reduction on Rampage will allow you to heal from damage dealt by multiple Rampage swings. In team fights, saving the ability until you've already taken significant damage and your team is laying down damage on your opponents can offer outstanding results, particularly if the enemy team continues to focus on you while it's active. This is especially true if you've built him tanky. With Devastating Charge, you will ideally want to you'll want to get familiar with the duration of the movement speed buff. In many cases, you will want to get behind your target's path and knock them back towards you, so knowing exactly how long you have to achieve this is helpful. When choosing between two targets to knock back, it can be better to choose an opponent who does not currently have Flash or a blink ability available. If you can fake out a Flash or blink from one opponent but knock back another, that's even better. With Onslaught of Shadows, keep in mind that it can be used just as well to escape as to initiate. However, the ability has a very long cooldown, and using it as an escape can have a severe impact on your ability to engage in team fights successfully.


Onslaught of Shadows does not deal much damage unless you've stacked ability power. Because of this, it can be better to save it in smaller fights until it's necessary, and make sure to use it in larger fights for the flee mechanic.


Don’t Feed Jax http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xhm33LphTs

Champion Notes I finished Don't Feed Jax shortly after he was reworked. Riot decided he needed a few buffs in the Ziggs patch, and the mechanical changes aren't in this video. Here they are: -Counterstrike can be canceled early to stun immediately -Counterstrike deals a bonus percentage of damage based on the number of attacks dodged, up to a maximum of 100% bonus damage -Counterstrike reduces damage from AOE There were a few other small numbers buffs as well, though they don't affect the content in the video. There are a few other things that I need to cover that aren't in the video. First, Jax may be reworked slightly again, particularly his ultimate and some quality of life issues (I just read these posts as I was finishing up the video). Let me cover a few ability notes: 1. Jax used to gain run speed if he needed to move to reach his target after Leap Strike. I could not reproduce this with the new patch. The mechanic may still be there but I tried a number of scenarios with no success. 2. Using his Empower with his Leap Strike is a sure hit. You can activate abilities while he is Leap Striking, by the way, so you can use anything in-flight. 3. Empower won't go on cooldown until it's consumed. 4. An empowered attack is completely consumed by spell shields (not just the bonus damage).

Build Recommendations As far as runes/masteries/etc., I generally followed advice on solomid. Because of the shortage of space for this movie field (given how much I took up w/ the notes above), I'll link you directly to Dyrus' guide 306 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

which is partially updated at this stage: http://solomid.net/guides.php?g=10154

Introduction Jax is a survivable melee range champion who deals a mix of physical and magic damage. He has a relatively high base movement speed of 325. He begins the game with 30 magic resist and continues to gain a small amount of magic resist per level.

Relentless Assault (Passive) Jax's consecutive basic attacks continuously increase his Attack Speed. Jax's passive is Relentless Assault. Every time he uses a normal melee attack he gains a temporary attack speed buff. This buff can stack several times. In other words, Jax will attack significantly faster as long as he continues to use normal melee attacks in quick succession. This attack speed bonus is effective against structures.

Leap Strike (Q) Jax leaps toward an enemy and strikes them with his weapon. Jax's Leap Strike causes him to jump to any mid-range target, including both enemy and allied champions and minions, and objects such as wards. If the target is an enemy, Jax will deal physical damage, which scales both on bonus attack damage and ability power. Jax is still vulnerable to abilities and attacks while jumping, and spells in flight will not be disjointed. Knockbacks and knockups in particular are effective against him and will prevent him from reaching his target. Additionally, Leap Strike acts similar to a dash ability, and skillshots can still hit him in flight. Traps like Teemo's mushrooms or Caitlyn's Yordle Snap Trap will often, but not always, be triggered as he passes over them, though they will not prevent him from reaching his destination. Spell Shields block the damage from the Leap Strike but do not prevent the jump itself. Higher ranks in this ability dramatically reduce the cooldown. At max rank, this ability is available very often. 307 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Empower (W) Jax charges his weapon with energy, causing his next attack to deal additional damage. Jax's Empower causes his next normal melee attack to deal additional magic damage. The extra damage scales on Ability Power. Empower causes his swing timer to reset, meaning he can use it immediately after another normal melee attack to attack again very quickly. The bonus damage from Empower is not consumed when Jax attacks structures. However, the swing timer reset still allows Empower to be used to more quickly take down towers. Empower consumes spell shields, blocking the bonus damage of the attack. Higher ranks in this ability dramatically reduce the cooldown. At max rank, this ability is available very often.

Counter Strike (E) Jax's combat prowess allows him to dodge all incoming attacks for a short duration and then quickly counterattack stuning all surrounding enemies. Jax's Counter Strike causes all incoming normal attacks to be dodged for a brief period of time. While active, Jax has a clearly visible spinning animation above him. When the dodge bonus wears off, all nearby enemies take physical damage and are briefly stunned. The damage scales on bonus attack damage, and bonus damage is granted for every attack he dodged during the wind-up. Abilities that are mechanically similar to normal attacks, such as Gangplank's Parrrlay, are also dodged. Tower attacks are not dodged.

Grandmaster’s Might (Ultimate) Every consecutive third blow deals additional magic damage. Additionally, Jax can activate this ability to unleash his inner strength, increasing his Ability Power and Attack Damage for a short duration. Jax's ultimate is Grandmaster's Might. After two normal melee attacks, Jax gains a brief buff causing his third normal melee attack to deal bonus magic damage, scaling with Ability Power. This bonus is passive and Jax does not need to activate the ability for this to occur. 308 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

The bonus damage every third attack is not blocked by spell shields, but will proc items like Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Jax can proc Grandmaster's Might while attacking towers, granting him the buff. However, the tower will not consume the buff. When activated, Jax gains significant bonus attack damage and ability power for several seconds. This bonus is increased by his bonus attack damage and ability power, respectively.

Champion Notes & Countering Jax is an extremely capable fighter, and there are very few champions who can win a melee fight against him without exceeding his level or itemization. There are some general rules, however, that will help win matches against Jax. Like other melee fighters, countering Jax is most easily done by keeping him crowd controlled and at a range. Consider spells like Exhaust, and consider taking a ranged champion to counter him in a lane. If you have flexibility in your lineup, champions with blinks, very high movement speed, and slows or snares all dramatically reduce Jax's effectiveness. In the early game, Jax does not have sustain beyond potions or lifesteal he may bring to the lane, so it may be possible to use this to your advantage with enough harass. While he can stay at a range and Leap Strike to last hit minions, he does so at a significant mana cost and is still vulnerable to being attacked. There are two primary keys to dealing with his Counterstrike ability. The first and most obvious is not to use normal attacks against him during this period, as it will not damage him and will increase the damage he deals at the end. Second, save any blink or dash abilities until he activates the ability, allowing you to avoid the follow-up stun. Watch out for Jax taking minion aggro before activating Counterstrike. This can be an effective way of increasing his damage output, as the extra dodged attacks increase the ability's burst potential. As soon as Jax reaches level 6, his power in skirmishes and 1v1 fights dramatically improves. By the mid and especially late game, both Leap Strike and Empower may have very short cooldowns depending on which skills he's maxed. This can make it very difficult to get away from him, but also very difficult to fight him 1 on 1. Transition to more favorable team fights when possible, prioritize movement speed if he's a serious threat, and don't extend too far beyond the safety of towers or teammates.


In team fights, Jax can seriously disrupt players who are too close together with his Counter Strike stun. Watch out for activation and stay apart from teammates to avoid having too many people affected by the ability at once. While Jax may have significant lifesteal or spell vamp, he will still be susceptible to burst damage unless he has built significant survivability items. Consider focusing him down with spells, or focusing him once Counter Strike's dodge bonus ends. As a hybrid champion, Jax can very effectively build a wide variety of items depending on the circumstance. Keep this in mind, and check out his items to see what he's most vulnerable to throughout the game. If playing Jax, keep an eye on minion waves and nearby wards whenever you're extended beyond your towers. This will help in using Leap Strike for a clean escape from a gank. Additionally, having a Wriggle's Lantern or ward available in your inventory allows for an effective ward and leap strike combo to gain some extra distance. In the early game, be careful about how you use Leap Strike. Unless you absolutely need to use it to get in range for a gank, save it until after you've already gotten in range. Enemies may blink or use other abilities to escape the stun at the end of Counter Strike, so keeping Leap Strike available specifically to catch them for the stun can be very effective.


Don’t Feed Jayce http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5tvsMj4NG0 Champion Notes Extraordinarily cool champion design in my opinion. This is a champion I'd love to invest a few days/weeks into to really learn to play at an exceptional level. You have to be willing to take the time to develop some muscle memory -- don't expect amazing until you're familiar and able to chain his abilities together well. Jayce is the highest skillcap champion in League of Legends. This statement is probably going to annoy some people (Lee Sin, Nidalee, Karma fans), but from a technical standpoint, Jayce simply has more options available to him at any given time than any of these champions. This doesn't mean you have to master him to be competent (heavens knows I haven't), but it does mean that we're going to see some incredible pro plays out of him in the future.

Build Recommendations I've played extensively as a Ranged AD, Jungle, and Solo Top. The build below is pretty flexible for any of these roles. Summoner Spells: Either Flash or Ghost are necessary. Both doesn't hurt either. Ignite is great since Thundering Blow has a tendency to nearly, but not quite, kill your opponent off. Exhaust is fine, too. Smite if jungling. Runes: Attack Damage Reds & Quints, Armor or AD yellows, Magic Resist or CDR blues. Masteries: 21/9/0 with a focus on physical damage bonuses. Feel free to put even more points in offense for CDR or damage. Skills: E first is usually strong since it offers two escape mechanisms. Otherwise Q for damage/kill potential, or W for jungling. Beyond this, I found the most effective priority was R, Q, E, W if I was very mobile and ganking, and R, Q, W, E as ranged carry. ITEMS No set item build, but here are great items on him. Merc Treads or Ninja Tabi for bruiser, +3 or +5 movement speed boots for high mobility. High speed boots were the turning point from where I was trudging along with Jayce to where I started doing very well with him, simply because I could reliably get to fast targets and combo them backwards for a kill. 311 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Early Wriggle's Lantern for jungle or solo top. Wit's End is pretty solid as a survivability/Attack Speed choice. Phage, and even Frozen Mallet or Trinity Force, are great in any Jayce build as long as the slow effect will actually net you kills you wouldn't otherwise get. Because of the W attack speed buff, proccing the slow from these items is *very* reliable, and really makes you an impossible-to-flee target by all but a half dozen champions. (Phage is great, Sheen is pretty good, and Zeal is ok, making Trinity Force an overall decent purchase if the circumstance presents itself) Brutalizer for damage or Glacial Shroud / Frozen Heart for tanky. You'll want one because of the cooldown reduction, but you don't necessarily want both unless you start off very well. Bloodthirster is better than Infinity Edge for carrying, just because you pump so much damage out with abilities. If you're really going for hyper carry, get an IE anyway. Last Whisper for being a total jerk. It stacks multiplicatively with your AR reduction transform buff, so it's not going to be a full 40%, but it's still a very nice way of wrecking higher armor opponents.

Introduction Jayce is a highly mobile multi-role champion capable of engaging both at a distance and in melee range. He deals primarily physical damage with his abilities. In his ranged form, he has a relatively short attack range compared to traditional ranged AD carries. However, he has responsive normal ranged attacks that allow him to quickly attack while moving. He has a moderate movement speed, though this can be dramatically increased through the use of two abilities. Though he is relatively easy to pick up and play at a competent level, he is an extremely high skillcap champion. Jayce transforms between Hammer and Cannon form by using Transform abilities bound to his ultimate key. These are his only abilities that share a cooldown, they cost no mana, and they are useable at level 1 without investing a point in them. They do gain additional bonuses if the player invests points in them at the normal ultimate levels of 6, 11, and 16. Hammer and Cannon form have entirely different abilities. For this reason, we'll first going to cover his passive, then we'll cover his ranged Cannon abilities, followed by his melee Hammer abilities, and finish with a variety of effective ability combos he can use.


Be aware that leveling an ability in his Cannon form will level the corresponding ability in his Hammer form. Hextech Capacitor (Passive)

Jayce gains 40 movement speed for 1.25 seconds and ignores unit collision each time Transform is cast. Jayce's passive is Hextech Capacitor. When Jayce uses either of his Transform abilities, he briefly gains bonus movement speed. During this time, he ignores unit collision, allowing him to pass freely through units without pathing around them.

Transform: Mercury Cannon (Ultimate)

Jayce's Transform: Mercury Cannon switches him from melee Hammer form to ranged Cannon form. The first normal attack fired while in Cannon form applies a brief Armor and Magic Resist reduction to his target. This reduction effect benefits attacks and abilities from his allies. The Armor and Magic Resist reduction from this ability does not stack with itself. Additionally, Jayce will lose the bonus to his next attack if he switches to Hammer form before using a normal attack. Casting this ability does not interrupt movement. This ability has a very short cooldown.

Shock Blast (Q)

Jayce's Shock Blast is a long range skillshot that deals AOE physical damage around the first target it hits in a line. If Shock Blast does not hit a target, it will instead explode and deal damage once it reaches maximum range. If Shock Blast is fired through Jayce's Acceleration Gate, an ability we will discuss later, it will travel much faster, reach a further maximum range, and deal significantly more damage. This bonus range is the same regardless of where the Acceleration Gate is placed. 313 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Shock Blast grants very brief vision in an area where it lands.

Hyper Charge (W) Jayce's Hyper Charge ability temporarily increases his Attack Speed to the hard Attack Speed cap of 2.5 attacks per second. This persists for three normal attacks. The damage these normal attacks deal is dependent on the rank of the ability. Initially, each normal attack deals slightly less than his listed attack damage, but by later ranks each attack deals more damage than his listed attack damage. The Hyper Charge buff persists even if he switches to Hammer form, meaning it is possible to use rapid melee attacks if desired. If used immediately after another normal attack, Hyper Charge effectively allows for four very rapid attacks. Hyper Charge attacks are capable destroying a newly placed enemy ward before it falls out of vision. Casting this ability does not interrupt movement.

Acceleration Gate (E)

Jayce's Acceleration Gate is a line field placed within a moderate area around him. This field persists for several seconds and will dramatically increase the movement speed of any allies, including himself, that pass through it. The movement speed bonus rapidly falls off. An ally can benefit from the Acceleration Gate multiple times while it is active. Alternatively, staying in the field will keep the movement speed bonus capped. Acceleration Gate grants vision in a small area along it's path. As mentioned earlier, Acceleration Gate dramatically increases the effect of Shock Blast. Casting this ability does not interrupt movement.

Transform: Mercury Hammer (Ultimate)


Jayce's Transform: Mercury Hammer switches him from ranged Cannon form to melee Hammer form. While in this form, Jayce passively gains bonus Armor and Magic Resist. The first normal attack he lands while in Hammer form will deal significant bonus magic damage. This damage is effective against structures. Jayce will lose this bonus if he switches to Cannon form before using a normal attack. If you're not using pure smartcasting, the ability ranges for all Hammer Form abilities are colored gold. Casting this ability does not interrupt movement. This ability has a very short cooldown.

To the Skies! (Q)

Jayce's To the Skies causes him to jump to a nearby enemy. When he lands, he deals AOE physical damage and applies a strong slow to nearby targets. It's important to note that To The Skies brings Jayce to the location an enemy is when the ability is cast, not where they are when he lands. This means an enemy who blinks or otherwise moves out quickly enough will not be affected by the damage or slow, even if they were the initial target. Jayce can jump over walls when using this ability.

Lightning Field (W)

Jayce's Lightning Field is an activated AOE aura around him that deals periodic magic damage over the course of several seconds. Unlike his other abilities, this damage scales from ability power. Lightning Field will persist even if Jayce switches to Cannon form while it is active. Ranks in Lightning Field also cause all of Jayce's normal melee attacks to return a small amount of mana. Casting this ability does not interrupt movement.

Thundering Blow (E)


Thundering Blow deals magic damage to a melee-range target. Additionally, it knocks them back. The magic damage consists of a base damage that scales with bonus attack damage, plus bonus damage equal to a percentage of the opponent's maximum health. This damage is capped against monsters. This ability also stuns for a very brief moment. The knockback from Thundering Blow can knock an opponent over a wall.

Champion Notes & Countering Jayce's strength lies in combining his abilities from both his ranged and melee form. We're going to cover a variety of effective ability combos in this section, though understand that the very best Jayce players will be able to chain their abilities together to perfectly handle each unique situation. With Jayce's combos, understand that his Q and E abilities, along with his Transform abilities, are what mechanically drives them and makes them interesting. However, the W abilities -- Hyper Charge and Lightning Field -- only deal with increasing damage output. Because of this, I never include Hyper Charge and Lightning field in the following combos for the sake of clarity. As a player you will need to use them as often as is reasonable, when mana permits. Let's start with some very basic combo examples. Don't worry, we'll get into bigger ones soon.

By alternating Transform: Mercury Cannon and Transform: Mercury Hammer, Jayce can more quickly move across the map. Jayce can gain a very large movement speed bonus by using Acceleration Gate and immediately following it up with using Transform: Mercury Hammer. As suggested by the ability mechanics, dropping an Acceleration Gate and following it up with Shock Blast will lead to a more devastating shot. For initiating fights, Jayce can use To the Skies to jump to an enemy minion or champion behind his target, immediately following it up with Thundering Blow to knock his target back towards his teammates. Alternatively he can save an ally who is being attacked by using To the Skies on the opponent and Thundering Blow to knock the opponent further away. This can also be used simply to harass an enemy in lane, especially if combined with normal attacks and Hyper-Charge. 316 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

For escaping from a fight when an enemy uses a gap closer to reach you, cast Transform: Mercury Hammer, followed by To the Skies to apply a slow, and finishes with Thundering Blow to knock the slowed target away from you. While jungling, Jayce can use either Shock Blast or Acceleration Gate to gain vision on monsters on the other side of a wall, then immediately follow this up with Transform: Mercury Hammer and To the Skies to jump over the wall. This allows him to reach monsters more quickly than walking around the wall. This same technique can be used to quickly jump onto monsters while fleeing opponents in the jungle. When jungling, consider taking your first point in W. An ideal early combo is Hyper-Charge, followed up with Transform: Mercuy Hammer, followed up with Lightning Field for area damage. This will allow you to quickly clear jungle camps.

Let's get a little bit more advanced now. When counterjungling, Jayce can use Transform: Mercury Hammer, followed up with an immediate Thundering Blow to knock blue golem over it's wall and To the Skies to jump to the new location. The Transform is important because it provides the ignored unit collision from his passive; without it, Jayce's To the Skies will normally not make it over the wall due to the position of the blue golem. The positioning on this is difficult to pull off. The advantage of this position is it allows you to kill the enemy blue golem from a position that is far safer if you need to escape.

Let's go back to initiating fights. Against a single opponent, Jayce can initiate without minions if he starts in Cannon form, casts Transform: Mercury Hammer, then immediately casts To the Skies on his target. Because of the movement speed and ignored unit collision from his passive, Jayce can then walk through the slowed target and knock them backward with Thundering Blow. This can be further augmented if Jayce firsts uses Acceleration Gate either at the start of the cast, or over the location where he will jump to. The bonus movement speed allows him to more easily get behind his target for the knockback. Now let's add terrain and fog of war to the equation, keeping in mind that Jayce's Q and E in Hammer form can cross terrain and his Q and E in Cannon form grant vision. Jayce can use Shock Blast or Acceleration Gate, depending on range and circumstance, to get vision on an enemy he suspects is inside a nearby bush. Once vision is granted on the enemy, he can immediately Transform: Mercury Hammer and To the Skies onto the target. After moving through them, he can then knock them back over the wall with Thundering Blow, completely separating the two champions. 317 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

This will be useful both for initiating fights by knocking enemies into our team and away from their escape, or for Jayce to use for his own escape. Keeping in mind that these are individual abilities, understand that even the chains can be chained together, especially if Jayce has the cooldown reduction to allow for rapid transform casts.

Let's go back to our early example of knocking an opponent away from us and turn it into a full kiting combo. As the player uses their gap closer, Jayce casts Transform: Mercury Hammer, followed by To the Skies, followed by Thundering Blow. At this point, Jayce begins running in the opposite direction of his slowed opponent. As soon as Transform: Mercury Cannon becomes available, he casts it, immediately followed with Acceleration Gate for more range. At this point he can rinse and repeat the combo if the opponent is still chasing, or he can change it as the situation requires.

Instead of kiting, let's look at his chasing potential, with our opponent attempting to return to their base. To catch up to them, Jayce casts Acceleration Gate, followed by Transform: Mercury Hammer. As he moves in range, he casts To the Skies and does some quick repositioning to use Thundering Blow. At this point Jayce is ahead of his target in their intended path. Instead of running back to the target, Jayce casts Transform: Mercury Cannon to start dishing out damage as the enemy moves through. Once again, rinse and repeat. For the kiting example, you can save the Transform Mercury Hammer until you're in range of the target to make use of unit collision. This is better if they're very fast champions. However, it may delay switching back to Cannon form a little.

Again, in all of the combo examples, we've left out the use of our Hyper Charge and Lightning Field abilities, as well as normal ranged and melee attacks. These are very important for adding to your combos for additional damage, so you'll need to remember to bring them in.


Having map vision is critical to playing Jayce well. To the degree possible, using wards and an ally's Clairvoyance can allow for more consistent kills or escapes. Watch your mana. While Jayce does not use much mana on a per-cast basis, extended exchanges between champions can drain his mana. Running out of mana moments before you'd land a kill is brutal. While you have amazing combos, be judicious and learn what you can actually get away with. Don't forget your normal attacks, especially if you are built for damage. While combos can be great, interrupting your normal attacks to get them off isn't always going to kill your target sooner. Consider initiating your combos to finish opponents off.

Let's also go over a little more of his ability usage. It seems logical that Acceleration Gate should be placed in front of you, especially if you're firing a Shock Blast through it. However, even though it's a bit trickier, it's usually a better idea to place it to your side so that the gate extends in front of you. This is because the gate creates an active path you and your allies can run along. While on this path, your movement speed buff stays refreshed, so you get more movement speed for longer. For Jayce, this is a very slight benefit. However, if you're ganking a lane from the river and your allies are behind you, you're also creating a long path they can run on to catch up. Shock Blast and Acceleration Gate are interchangeable in granting vision. Shock Blast has a longer range and wider area of vision but it lasts for a much shorter duration. Accelerateion Gate, on the other hand, lasts much longer and covers a longer area, but removes a very strong movement speed buff if placed just for vision. If you're ganking top or bot lane from the river, dropping Acceleration Gate into the side bushes helps to completely remove the brush advantage from your opponents while allowing your teammates to run very quickly through them. It was already mentioned in the mechanics section, but keep in mind the ability for Hyper charge to quickly destroy wards even at level 1. If you're laning and your opponent is likely to ward near you, try to stay nearby and keep vision in the bush. This is especially true if you're laning with a support player and your opponents may try to ward a side bush near the minion waves. One final note: To the Skies applies a fairly strong slow to opponents. This slow can help land your Shock Blast skillshot.


Jayce suffers from short range on his normal attacks and all but one of his abilities, meaning he is virtually required to get into your team's range to make use of his kit. Make sure you prioritize crowd controlling him immediately if possible, and burst him down. All crowd controls, including movement speed slows and silences, are effective against him. If you don't have much in terms of crowd controls, high damage can do the trick as well. Once Jayce engages in a fight he has a few seconds before he can easily escape the fight again, and his escapes are movement speed bonuses rather than dashes or blinks. At champion selection, consider champions with instant or very fast movement abilities, such as blinks or dashes. If you're quick, this will allow you to avoid the damage and slow from his To the Skies initiate. If going against him in lane, also consider a champion with longer range. Jayce's Shock Blast is his only long-range ability, and his normal attack range in Cannon Form leaves him at a disadvantage against many ranged champions. Position yourself behind minions so that Shock Blast cannot easily be used to harass. Jayce completely lacks built-in health sustain, so consider harassing him over a longer period of time before closing in. If you're going to be exchanging with him, consider either playing or laning with a highsustain champion. Understand that Jayce's combos allow him to close fights that are in his favor. If he maintains a gold or level advantage, he may become a very high priority threat. In a 1v1 fight, the best single way to counter him is to outdamage and/or outsustain him to the point where he cannot effectively combo you without puttin himself at serious risk. Jayce's Thundering Blow knockback has an animation that must partially complete for the ability to fire. If laning against him or attempting to escape him, try to immediately break vision as he moves in range, as this can cancel the ability.

Look at his build to determine his threat. If he is built with high survivability, he will be a strong initiator and disruptor for his team. Since many of his abilities scale with bonus attack damage rather than his full attack damage, his damage will be hampered going this route. But if he's built primarily for damage, he will be far more vulnerable to being crowd controlled and bursted down, especially if he attempts to close in at melee range. Watch for a damage-built Jayce to put themselves out of position by coming too close to opponents in a skirmish or teamfights.



Don’t Feed Kog’maw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyYG2qYdm7g

Introduction Kog'maw is a long range, high damage champion. Kog'maw benefits strongly from attack speed, and may choose items that increase his physical or magic damage or carry proc effects. If Kog'maw is giving your team issues, it's a good idea to glance at what items he's building throughout the game to have an idea how to counter his attacks.

Icathian Surprise (Passive) Upon dying, Kog'Maw starts a chain reaction in his body which causes him to move faster and detonate after 4 seconds; dealing 100 + (25 x lvl) true damage to surrounding enemies. Kog'maw’s passive is Icathian Surprise. When Kog'maw dies, he has four seconds to continue to move around before exploding on all targets around him for moderate true damage. While Kog'maw players should never intentionally die, good Kog'maw players may realize when they are certain to die and get in a position where they can exact revenge.

Caustic Spittle (Q) Passive: Increases Kog'Maw's Attack Speed. Active: Kog'Maw launches a corrosive projectile which deals magic damage and corrodes the target's Armor and Magic Resist for 4 seconds. Kog'maw’s Caustic Spittle is a relatively short range missile that reduces the target's armor 322 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

and magic resist and deals magic damage. This can be used when enemies are nearby or to assist in lasthitting minions in the early game. Caustic Spittle also passively increases Kog'maw’s attack speed.

Bio-Arcane Barrage (W) Kog'Maw's attacks gain range and deal a percent of the target's maximum health as magic damage. Kog'maw’s Bio-Arcane Barrage temporarily gives Kog'maw a much longer attack range. Additionally, normal attacks will temporarily deal bonus damage to their target equal to a certain percentage of their health; at max rank without items, Kog'maw’s auto-attacks will deal 6% of their target's maximum health as magic damage per hit. This works well with Caustic Spittle's passive increase to attack speed, as well as any other attack speed increases from items. Even though this can potentially deal more damage to high-health players, it's still very effective on low-health players, particularly those who haven't built much magic resist. The other key feature to Bio-Arcane Barrage is the additional attack range. Kog'maw has a relatively short attack range, which is a huge weakness for him. While this is active, his attacks reach very far and he can stay safely out of reach of most champions. Countering Kog'maw in the early game comes down to waiting out his Bio-Arcane Barrage range buff and then taking advantage of his short attack range.

Void Ooze (E) Kog'Maw launches a peculiar ooze which damages all enemies it passes through and leaves a trail whichslows enemies who stand on it. Void Ooze is a puddle of puke Kog'maw leaves in a line in front of him. This deals damage when cast and slows any enemies hit by it or attempting to cross it for 4 seconds. This can be used defensively to slow enemies chasing him, or it can be used to chase enemies, or it can be used to cut off an escape route for enemies.


Living Artillery (Ultimate) Kog'Maw fires a living artillery shell at a great distance dealing damage and revealing targets. Additionally, multiple Living Artilleries in a short period of time cause them to cost additional mana. Kog'maw’s Living Artillery is a very long-range, skill-shot nuke with an extremely short cooldown. This ability deals AOE damage in a small radius and temporarily grants vision where it is landing. Additionally, targets hit by Living Artillery are revealed for four seconds, making it impossible for them to hide by running in a bush or breaking line of sight. As a skillshot with travel time, Kog'maw players will need to guess where their enemy is going to move to land shots. Because many players instinctively move back when they hear the shot being fired, Kog can be very effective by simply aiming right behind where a player is standing; this allows him to hit the opponent if they move backward or don't move at all, and can have the added benefit of forcing a good opponent to move closer to them for other attacks. As with most skillshots, having boots can help a lot.

If multiple enemy champions are grouped up, Kog'maw can stand back and deal massive damage with little risk. This ability makes Kog'maw excellent at chasing down fleeing opponents and killing players who would have otherwise gotten away. If you're being chased, remember that Living Artillery is a skillshot and you should try to be unpredictable as much as possible. When going down a lane, juke left and right as much as possible, but never get yourself trapped on the edge where Kog'maw is virtually guaranteed to hit you. Kog'maw can also use this ability to poke at players under or behind towers without risk of taking tower damage himself. This can be effective in saturating an enemy team with damage before a tower push occurs. Living Artillery is mana expensive, especially if used quickly. Each cast within 4 seconds will cost him an additional 40 mana, capping at 200 mana per cast. This means Kog'maw must choose between rapidly firing at extreme mana costs or pacing himself and potentially allowing an opponent to get away.

Champion Notes & Countering Kog'maw is a glass cannon. While his abilities and damage output are amazing at a distance, he is vulnerable to champions with strong gap closers and high burst. If he is a serious danger to your team, do your best to flank him or kill him in team fights early, and always make sure you're trying to avoid Living Artillery. 324 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Don’t Feed Lee Sin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7B-0y3xcPg

Champion Notes Lee Sin has a high learning curve and a high skill cap. I played him for two days, really enjoyed him, but it took me a while to even be competitive with him. I can definitely improve on this champion in the future. The video took an extraordinary amount of time to edit, and unfortunately I had to cut a lot of clips out in order to do the examples in the most visibly clear way. I'd recommend Lee Sin for anyone who has the patience and desire to do well with him. He's not as powerful as he used to be, but he's very, very good at what he does. If you played a Prot Warrior in WoW during Cata, this is kind of like that in terms of mobility.

Introduction Lee Sin is an extremely mobile champion who deals mostly physical damage. Lee Sin operates on an Energy resource, not a mana resource. His Energy rapidly regenerates over time. Lee Sin has two core abilities that can reveal stealthed opponents. Lee Sin's non-ultimate abilities are each combo abilities, meaning they have an initial use, then a different use if cast again in 3 seconds. Since his abilities can be used to form several combos, not just with themselves but with his other abilities, this video will first explain his skill functionality, then several potential combos he can use.


Flurry (Passive) After Lee Sin uses an ability, his next 2 basic attacks gain 40% Attack Speed and return 15 Energy each. Lee Sin's passive is Flurry. Every time Lee Sin uses an ability, his next two normal attacks within 3 seconds gain 50% attack speed and return 15 Energy. Due to the energy return, this passive is essential to Lee Sin's ability to rapidly use his abilities over any extended period of time. Though he can use most of his abilities twice in immediate succession, he may pace himself between the second activation to gain more hasted attacks and energy. Pacing his abilities dramatically increases his effectiveness both in the jungle and in a lane. Additionally, Lee Sin may choose to use abilities when attacking towers to gain the haste, even if the abilities do not deal any damage to a target.

Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike (Q) Sonic Wave: Lee Sin projects a discordant wave of sound to locate his enemies, dealing physical damage to the first enemy it encounters. If Sonic Wave hits, Lee Sin can cast Resonating Strike for the next 3 seconds. Resonating Strike: Lee Sin dashes to the enemy hit by Sonic Wave, dealing physical damage plus 8% of their missing health. Lee Sin's first combo ability is Sonic Wave and Resonating Strike. Sonic Wave is a skillshot that deals physical damage to the first target it hits and reveals them, even if they're stealthed, in a bush, or out of line of sight, for 3 seconds. Sonic Wave can be used to last hit minions at a distance if Lee Sin cannot safely get into melee range. Additionally, it can be excellent for checking bushes for enemies. Sonic Wave can be blocked by spell shields, but is not affected by Morgana's Black Shield. Resonating Strike is the follow-up ability to Sonic Wave. If Sonic Wave has hit a target, Lee Sin will be able to charge them while they are revealed, dealing physical damage and an additional amoung of damage equal to 10% of their missing health. This ability can be used at a very long range, meaning if a target has been hit by Sonic Wave and attempts to flee, they may not be able to get far enough away to avoid Resonating Strike. Because of Resonating Strike, it's best to be careful about your positioning once you've been marked by Sonic Wave. If you can surround yourself by other teammates or a tower, it may discourage Lee Sin from 326 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

using Resonating Strike. Additionally, if you've been marked, be ready to use any crowd control or strong burst abilities immediately if Lee Sin charges you.

Safeguard / Iron Will (W) Safeguard: Lee Sin rushes towards a target ally, shielding them both from damage. If a shield is broken, half the Energy cost is returned. After using Safeguard, Lee Sin can cast Iron Will for the next 3 seconds. Iron Will: Lee Sin's intense training allows him to thrive in battle. For 5 seconds, Lee Sin gains Lifesteal, Spell Vamp, and Armor. Lee Sin's second combo ability is Safeguard and Iron Will. Safeguard causes Lee Sin to dash to a target ally unit, granting both Lee Sin and his target a shield. Unlike Sonic Wave, this is not a skillshot. Aside from helping teammates, Safeguard can be extremely effective at getting Lee Sin out of dangerous situations, especially when combined with wards. If Lee Sin has wards or a Wriggle's Lantern on him, hey may have placed one or be ready to place one to charge if there are no other allies in range. Wards placed over the edge of walls in the jungle or in a base make excellent Safeguard targets since they stop most players who are chasing. Safeguard can be cast on himself if Lee Sin is looking for the shield or simply using it to activate Iron Will. For 3 seconds after using Safeguard, Lee Sin may use Iron Will on himself. This ability gives him up to 25% Lifesteal and Spell Vamp, in addition to an Armor bonus. While helpful in combat, Iron Will also gives Lee Sin very strong sustainability. Even after taking very significant damage in a team fight, Lee Sin can quickly recover his health on minions and monsters with by activating Safeguard and Iron Will. Combined with Lifesteal items, Lee Sin has very little need to return to base except when purchasing items.

Tempest / Cripple (E) Tempest: Lee Sin smashes the ground sending out a shockwave that deals magic damage and reveals enemy units hit. If Tempest hits an enemy, Lee Sin can cast cripple for the next 3 seconds. Cripple: Lee Sin cripples nearby enemies revealed by Tempest, reducing their Movement and Attack Speed for 4 seconds. Movement and Attack Speed recover gradually over the duration. Lee Sin's third combo ability is Tempest and Cripple. 327 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Tempest deals AOE damage to all targets in a medium range, revealing them for 4 seconds. This will affect all currently stealthed champions. While it won't affect wards, it will de-stealth Teemo mushrooms as well.* Because of the range of the ability, Tempest makes Lee Sin excellent at bringing enemy champions out of stealth and forcing them to fight on even ground. If Tempest has hit at least one enemy, Lee Sin will be able to cast Cripple for 3 seconds. Cripple causes all enemies hit by Tempest to have their movement and attack speed dramatically reduced for 4 seconds. This reduction will recover over the duration, meaning it will be stronger right after it hits than right before it expires. Like Safeguard and Iron Will, Tempest and Cripple help Lee Sin in the jungle and with overall sustainability, due to the AOE damage from Tempest and the reduced incoming damage from Cripple.

Dragon’s Rage (Ultimate) Lee Sin performs a powerful roundhouse kick launching his target back, dealing physical damage to the target and any enemies they collide with. Enemies the target collides with are knocked into the air for a short duration. This technique was taught to him by Jesse Perring, although Lee Sin does not kick players off the map. Lee Sin's ultimate is Dragon's Rage, a roundhouse kick that deals significant physical damage and knocks his target back. Any enemies that the knocked back target collides with also take the damage and are knocked up in the air. If the target is killed by the ability, no knockback will occur. Dragon's Rage is very strong for ganking players and preventing them from getting away. Because of the collision mechanic, it is also excellent in team fights, especially when either the target knocked back or any targets knocked up are using combos or channeled abilities. A well-placed Dragon's Rage that hits multiple targets can easily turn a team fight around. Dragon's Rage is also excellent at stopping a group of opponents chasing him or his teammates, especially through the jungle where it may be easier to hit all chasers with a single kick. Finally, Dragon's Rage can be great at getting a ranged carry out of the back of a fight and forcing them into the main battle. Like other champions with knockbacks, using this ability poorly and knocking an enemy champion away from the team can easily cost his team a kill. Lee Sin should be absolutely sure a kick will kill his target if he uses it without positioning for it first.

Champion Notes & Countering 328 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Lee Sin can very effectively combo his abilities together. Here are som examples of things Lee Sin can do. First, and often the most common in early game, Lee Sin can mark a target with Sonic Wave, charge to them with Resonating Strike, then immediately charge back out with Safeguard on an allied unit to prevent retaliation. Second, as mentioned, Lee Sin can make us of wards by rapidly placing a ward over a wall and Safeguarding to it. Alternatively, he can kill a low-health target behind an enemy tower and Safeguard back to a ward he's placed nearby to safely get out. Third, Lee Sin may Safeguard to a friendly target who is either near an enemy or has no minions between them and the enemy, allowing him to safely Sonic Wave/Resonating Strike to the enemy. Fourth, Lee Sin may move in melee range of a target and use Sonic Wave on them, marking them. If they choose to flash away, he can use Resonating Strike to get back to them. Alternatively, Lee Sin may move in melee range of a target, use Sonic Wave to mark them, use Dragon's Rage to knock them back, then use Resonating Strike to move immediately back to them. Fifth, Lee Sin may use Sonic Wave on a target, then immediately use Resonating Strike to charge them, followed up with a rapid Tempest/Cripple to slow them. While they're slowed, he can move behind them and Dragon's Rage them back towards his team. Alternatively, Lee Sin may Safeguard to a target who is already behind the enemy, Sonic Wave them, Dragon's Rage them towards his team or away from his escape, then Resonating Strike to them. This can be even more effective with a stealthed ally that the enemy is not aware of. These are just examples, and Lee Sin is enormously flexible in his options in any given situation. While Lee Sin is very mobile and able to get out of many rough situations, he is ultimately a melee champion who needs to stay in range of fights to have a real contribution. In a 1v1, if a player has both a gap closer and better damage and survivability than Lee Sin, they may be able to kill Lee Sin simply by saving the gap closer until he safeguards to flee; keeping fights away from walls makes this easier. In team fights, he may be more easily focused if necessary. Chasing Lee Sin can be extraordinarily difficult. If there are softer, easier targets, go for them. Lee Sin is is naturally survivable, but he may burn his Safeguard to save a teammate, putting himself in a situation he cannot quickly get away from. Try to avoid getting hit by Sonic Wave. However, if you do get hit, wait three seconds or until he's used Resonating Strike before using Flash or other escape mechanisms so he cannot immediately get in range of you again.



Don’t Feed Leona http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1J_F6Wi-Kk

Champion Notes I was pleasantly surprised by her. I knew she could be annoying, but I didn't realize how effective she was at locking down targets and disrupting teams. Her short cooldowns (benefited even more with cooldown reduction) let her be extremely annoying while avoiding the huge "let's wait a minute for my ult" problem that Amumu runs into. Among the tanks I've played, Leona may be the best yet for initiation and sustained disruption. She is heavily skill-shot oriented though, so be warned. The very last clip is a nod to Fortify, the summoner spell on Riot's cutting block. Per the rest, there were only a couple games where I wound up with a disproportionate number of kills to assists (one of them being where I'm solo top and went 10-4 before they conceded). Most of what's in this video is me helping others acquire kills, and me occasionally snagging one for any of a variety of reasons (shield going off, player getting away, or accidentally on my part).

Build Recommendations Runes: Magic Pen reds, Dodge (or Armor if you don't have Dodge) Yellows, and Cooldown Reduction (or magic resist) blues, along with Movement Speed quintessences. Masteries: 9/21/0, with an emphasis on getting CDR and Magic Pen in offensive and also the Dodge run speed in Defensive (only if you've got Dodge runes as well). Skills: First point in Shield of Daybreak because this can be used not only for initiating but also escaping at low level (whereas Zenith is strictly initiating, not escaping). After this, one point in Zenith Blade, then maxing Eclipse and Zenith Blade, in that order. Ultimate is always priority. Gear: Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold are very early purchases, along with boots. I'll tend to get 331 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

either merc treads or cooldown reduction boots, though let me emphasize that cooldown reduction boots are nearly always the better choice (you can get tenacity from upgrading Philo Stone later if necessary). Heart of Gold isn't actually necessary as it may be more prudent to just move to another item. It seems unusual for a tank/support with all magic damage, but Phage/Frozen Mallet are very effective purchases, and I nearly always get them. Leona has a problem staying in range, which is why I get movespeed quints, and why I go w/ Phage/Mallet early. Also, Glacial Shroud for the cooldown reduction was good, and Frozen Heart was a sensible upgrade against AD heavy teams. Force of Nature was another purchase I usually didn't get to but strongly recommend for mid-late game because of the additional movement speed (and the great itemization all around).

Introduction Leona is a tank with multiple crowd controls who deals moderate magic damage. She is exceptionally good at initiating team fights and disrupting opponents.

Sunlight (Passive) Leona's damaging spells affect the target with Sunlight for 3.5 seconds. When allied champions deal damage to those targets, they consume the Sunlight debuff to deal additional magic damage.

Leona's passive is Sunlight, which causes any target hit by any of Leona's spells to be temporarily debuffed with a faint yellow aura. If one of Leona's allies attacks a target affected by Sunlight, the debuff will be removed and between 20 and 140 magic damage will be dealt to the target, depending on Leona's level. The Sunlight debuff cannot be consumed by Leona, only by her allies. The magic damage dealt is affected by the allies’ magic penetration. Multiple targets can be affected by Sunlight at a time if hit by any of her AOE spells.

Shield of Daybreak (Q) Leona uses her shield to perform her next autoattack, dealing bonus magic damage and stunning the target. Leona's Shield of Daybreak causes her next normal melee attack to deal significantly more 332 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

damage as magic damage. Additionally, this ability stuns the target for 1.25 seconds. This ability resets her swing timer, meaning it can be used immediately after another attack for added burst damage. Shield of Daybreak is excellent both for initiating and for escaping or helping an ally to escape. It is also effective against structures, allowing her slightly more damage while pushing.

Eclipse (W) Leona raises her shield to gain Armor and Magic Resistance. When the duration first ends, if there are nearby enemies she will deal magic damage to them and prolong the duration of the effect. Leona's Eclipse is shield that grants Leona dramatically increased Armor and Magic Resist for 3 seconds. Once the shield expires, she deals magic damage to all enemy targets in a wide area around her. If even a single enemy is damaged, the Armor and Magic Resist bonus continue to benefit her for 3 more seconds. This ability provides a large burst of AOE damage that can help clear minion waves or deal damage to players who are staying just out of range of Leona.

Zenith Blade (E) Leona projects a solar image of her sword, dealing magic damage to all enemies in a line. When the image fades, the last enemy champion struck will be briefly immobilized and Leona will dash to them. Leona's Zenith Blade fires a spell effect in a straight line, dealing magic damage to all targets hit. Additionally, Leona will pull herself towards the last champion she strikes with this ability, immobilizing them for 0.5 seconds. Zenith Blade will pull Leona regardless of most conditions. For instance, Banshee's Veil and Morgana's Black Shield will not stop the pull, though it will stop the immobilize. A champion in stealth and even a target who dies from Zenith Blade will still bring her to their position. Even if Leona has been stunned or snared after the cast, she will still be pulled towards the target. That said, Zenith Blade's pull effect is strictly limited to champions. Even player-like pets such as Shaco's Clone are unaffected by the ability. While this ability will never latch onto minions or monsters, it can be helpful both in last hitting, both against groups of minions or against low-health minions Leona cannot get near. Zenith Blade can be useful in juking away from a potentially dangerous situation. 333 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

At certain points in the game, a combination of Eclipse and Zenith blade can clear minion waves.

Solar Flare (Ultimate) Leona calls down a beam of solar energy, dealing damage to enemies in an area. Enemies in the center of the area are stunned, while enemies on the outside are slowed. Leona's ultimate is Solar Flare. This is a long range skill shot that deals magic damage in a moderate area. Any enemies near the center of this effect are stunned; enemies near the outside of this effect have an extremely strong slow applied to them. Finally, Solar Flare grants sight to the affected area for several seconds. Solar Flare has a relatively short cooldown by comparison to other tank-initiators in the League, and will be available for skirmishes and team fights. Unlike several other tank-initiators, Solar Flare has the added benefit of being cast at a significant range, giving her the option of using it to initiate a fight or helping teammates escape tight situations. However, Solar Flare has a delay when it is cast before the effect occurs, meaning Leona must predict any movements her opponents may make before casting. Because of the burst of the ability, Leona can also use this ability to snipe fleeing opponents.

Champion Notes & Countering Leona has a potent toolset, allowing her to continuously disrupt an opposing team during skirmishes. There are a few things to watch out for to help counter her effect on your team. First, she has a primary combo that she will use throughout the game. This is Eclipse, followed up by Zenith Blade, then Shield of Daybreak. With this combination, she will pull herself towards a target, stun them or someone near them, and Eclipse will explode during this process. If she is confident she can stay in range, she may delay the use of Shield of Daybreak until at least one normal melee attack has occurred or until she needs it. In the early game she may use this simply to harass opponents or allow her laning partner to jump in and get damage on their opponents. In this case, watch out for the activation of Eclipse. Unless she is fleeing, an Eclipse cast is a sure indication she is about to get in range of either minions or enemy champions. Because she's a skillshot champion, do your best to juke away from a potential Zenith Blade cast the moment you see or hear Eclipse, or when you feel she's about to combo.


Like other initiators in the laning phase, Leona may choose to stay in a bush so you are unable to see the activation of Eclipse. If this is a problem, either occupy the bush or use wards. Alternatively, Leona may use Shield of Daybreak if an enemy is already in range of her, then follow it up with Zenith Blade as they flee. While Leona can solo lane, she is very effective when paired with a high-damage player in a lane. Leona's initiates can be very strong. Leona's ultimate is powerful and on a short cooldown, but the area affected is not too large. Stay spread out as much as possible to mitigate the potential impact on your team if she has a successful ultimate. Because of the delay on Solar Flare, juking can be especially effective if you suspect she's going to cast it soon. Leona has relatively weak Ability Power scaling. For this reason, she is likely to build either for cooldown reduction, which is enormously beneficial to her disruption potential, or either to improve her support or tanking ability. Leona's biggest single weakness as a champion is her speed. While she does have a number of options to lock champions down, she cannot permanently lock down a champion who is significantly faster than her; they will eventually break free. For this reason, Leona may wish to build items that either improve her speed or help slow her opponents. If you're playing against a Leona, don't get too close to her, and avoid situations where you can easily be hit by her ultimate, such as in tighter areas in the jungle. A well-played Leona adds a lot of crowd control to a team, generally enough that the team can get away with fewer direct crowd controls on their other champions.


Don’t Feed Lulu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t51zjipmHzY

Champion Notes Correction: Glitterlance will not always hit a target Pix is applied to. If the target is currently in motion, a Glitterlance will miss if it is not fired towards them. (Thanks Marky92) Very fun champion, she reminds me most of Janna and Orianna. A good Lulu player also reminds me of a good Soraka, in the sense that the lane is pretty much untouchable if she's supporting and both players are smart. That said, I'm not a very good Lulu player (and readily admit it, as Support is my weakest role). Check out http://www.learntheleague.com to learn about my complete League of Legends book! Lulu is really flexible, in the sense that she can fill most roles pretty well. However, whether she's playing as a zero CS support, ap caster, or tank (or heck, anything else), her abilities are still fundamentally support spells, so I'm comfortable just calling her support.

Build Recommendations I played her primarily as support, though I ventured a little out of the way to play her as an AP carry in one game and as an aura tank in another. For the following recommendations understand that they're for playing her as Support: Runes: Magic Pen or Flat Armor reds, Gold (Avarice) yellows, Magic Resist or CDR blues, Health or Gold (Avarice) quints. Masteries: 0/21/9 for tankiness and mana or 9/0/21 for more harass, mana, CDR, and extra gold. Summoner spells: Flash and Clairvoyance/Heal/Exhaust/Ignite. Your choice. Skills: R, E, W, Q, with one point in Q very early. 336 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Items: Start with 3 green wards, mana regen component of philo stone, and however many health potions you can afford (depends on masteries). Build Philosopher's Stone, then boots, then Heart of Gold. Buy wards each time you're back at base. After this, build either CDR boots or Merc Treads depending on the enemy team. From here, build Shurelya's Reverie and Randuin's Omen or Locket of the Iron Solari. Or Aegis, or anything else that you feel will help your team more.

Introduction Lulu is a ranged caster who specializes in buffing allies and debuffing opponents. She has a moderate attack range. Additionally, she has a slow base movement speed, though this can be temporarily increased with one of her abilities.

Pix, Faerie Companion Pix is a wild Faerie that accompanies Lulu. Pix will fire a barrage of magical energy at targets that Lulu attacks. Lulu's passive is Pix, Faerie Companion. Pix normally hovers around Lulu, though he can be moved onto either allied or enemy champions or minions with her Help Pix ability. When Lulu or an allied champion with Pix uses a normal attack, he will follow this up with three normal attacks that deal magic damage based on Lulu's level. These attacks can be intercepted and will deal damage to the first enemy unit in their path. While Pix is attached to an allied champion, the allied champion will be credited for last hits that occur as a result of his attacks. Pix will not attack if abilities such as Parrrlay are used. While his damage increases based on Lulu's level, it will provide more damage output based on the attack speed and magic penetration of the host champion. Pix will return to Lulu immediately if the unit he is on moves a signficant distance away from Lulu. Attacks from Pix will not break spell shields. Additionally, his attacks are not affected by blinds on the host champion. Pix will not attack structures.


Glitterlance (Q) Pix and Lulu each fire a bolt of magical energy that heavily slows all enemies it hits. An enemy can only be damaged by one bolt. Lulu's Glitterlance is a pair of mid-to-long range skillshots that fire from both Lulu and Pix. Both shots are targeted simultaneously towards a single location. Glitterlance shots pass through units and do not diminish in strength by doing so. Enemies hit with Glitterlance take magic damage and are briefly slowed. The slow is extremely strong, but decays rapidly over its duration. An enemy can only take damage from a single Glitterlance, meaning landing both skillshots on an enemy will not result in more damage. If both Glitterlance shots hit at once, a Spell Shield will consume both charges. However, if one shot lands more quickly than the other on a target with spell shield, the damage and slow from the second shot will not be blocked. This can more easily occur if Pix and Lulu are not equally distant from their target.

Whimsy (W) If cast on an ally, grants them movement speed and ability power for a short time. If cast on an enemy, turns them into an adorable critter that can't attack or cast spells. Lulu's Whimsy operates differently depending on whether it is cast on an allied or enemy champion. When cast on an ally, Whimsy dramatically increases movement speed and grants bonus ability power for several seconds. When cast on an enemy, Whimsy polymorphs them briefly and slows them by a flat amount. While polymorphed, an enemy cannot attack or cast spells, but they can still move freely. Whimsy will interrupt channeled abilities.

Help, Pix! (E) If cast on an ally, commands Pix to jump to an ally and shield them. He then follows them and aids their attacks. If cast on an enemy, commands Pix to jump to an enemy and damage them. He then follows them and grants you vision of that enemy.


Lulu's Help Pix places Pix on an allied or enemy unit, usually on the far side of the unit from where Lulu is standing. Like Whimsy, this ability operates differently depending on whether it is cast on an ally or enemy. When cast on an ally, Help Pix provides a shield to the ally. Even if this shield is broken early, Pix will remain on the ally for the normal duration of the shield. When cast on an enemy, Help Pix deals magic damage to the enemy and grants vision on them for several seconds. While the damage and vision from casting on an enemy is blocked by spell shields, Pix will still move to the target.

Wild Growth (Ultimate) Lulu enlarges an ally, knocking enemies away from them and granting them a large amount of bonus health. For the next few seconds, that ally gains an aura that slows nearby enemies. Lulu's ultimate is Wild Growth. When cast on an allied champion, this ability knocks back enemies around that champion. For several seconds, the champion grows in size, gains bonus health and is given an aura that dramatically reduces the movement speed of nearby enemies. The knockback has a relatively short range, though it can knock enemies over very small walls. Spell shields will prevent the knockback from occurring, but will not also prevent the slowing aura. The bonus health increases the champion's maximum health, while also restoring an equal amount of health. Once the effect wears off, the champion retains the health restored. For nearly all purposes, this bonus health can be considered a single-target heal, with the benefits being that it can be used while the target is at full health and it cannot be reduced by healing reduction effects such as Ignite. This ability can be cast on champion clones such as Shaco's Hallucination. It's worth noting that, during one of our testing games, Lulu's ultimate would consistently fail to provide the persistent effect. In several follow-up matches, we could not replicate the issue, but there may be some bug or mechanic that causes the ability to fail periodically.


Champion Notes & Countering Despite her multi-use skills, Lulu is a fairly simple champion to understand. All of her abilities can disrupt opponents, keep allies alive, or initiate fights. In most cases, she will be able to do all three at the same time. While Lulu does not have sustain, a combination of well-timed shields and health potions will dramatically increase how long her or any of her allies can stay alive in lane. Because of her ability to slow you and either polymorph you or grant a speed bonus to her or an ally, attempts to secure a kill can be frustrating and often impossible against a good Lulu. To counter her, you'll want a combination of sustain and long-range poke abilities. If you can keep yourself near full health through her harassment, you will deny an easy kill on yourself. Poke and longrange attacks let you get some counterplay and slowly wear down Lulu or her allies, especially when the shield is on cooldown. Once she or her allies are low enough, you can more reliably move in for a kill. It's usually a good idea to identify if she or a nearby opponent do not have health potions to sustain themselves, as these are ideal targets to soften up. On that note, also keep an eye on Lulu's mana pool and take advantage of the situation when she's low. Keep in mind that Lulu can only shield one ally and can only polymorph one opponent. Unless you're confident you can quickly burst through the shield, consider targeting any unshielded opponents instead. Baiting polymorph, especially right before an ally enters the lane to gank, can greatly improve your odds of a successful kill. Watch out for Pix on nearby allies or enemies. While you may be unable to avoid a Glitterlance cast, it may be a good idea to change your position in relation to Pix to prevent other allies from also being hit by the same cast. Lulu is a good addition to ganks in any lane as she can polymorph and slow opponents, or use her speed boost to get in range very quickly for a slow. If you can't account for her on the map, be careful. Don't invest too much effort chasing down a Lulu unless you're very confident that you'll kill her quickly and won't be diverting your attention away from more important opponents or objectives. All four of her abilities excel at getting her out of a pinch, even against some of the very best chasers. If you do need to kill her, get behind her in her escape route so you have more time to damage her.

Lulu is a high skillcap support champion, meaning to play at her potential you'll need to dedicate time to learning to best use her abilities. Getting used to the relationship between Help Pix and Glitterlance is critical. While Pix is on an enemy, remember that Glitterlance will always hit -- because of this, it can sometimes be helpful to apply Help Pix, despite the shorter cast range, on an enemy who would otherwise dodge Glitterlance. 340 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Keep in mind that Help Pix effectively gives you a new position and angle for Glitterlance casts. Good Lulu players will always keep this in mind and will be able to reliably line up Glitterlance shots on enemies that would otherwise be beyond her own reach. Great Lulu players will also find times where both Glitterlance bolts will be able to hit unique targets in the same cast. Separate of Pix, make sure you're keeping Help Pix on hand if you're dealing with a champion who may use stealth or may be running for the cover of a bush to escape. The vision offers a very significant counter in these situations. Help Pix has a relatively short cooldown, and with cooldown reduction and mana it can be kept on herself or an ally nearly all of the time. Keep this in mind and don't forget to use it if the survivability will help. Using Whimsy effectively is also important to understanding Lulu. While placing wards or moving around the map, the speed boost of Whimsy allows you to do so more quickly with a lower likelihood of enemies responding quickly enough to do anything about it. At lower ranks, using Whimsy on herself or an ally can be better than polymorphing an opponent when attempting to secure a kill, provided your ally will react immediately to the bonus movement speed. It is also excellent throughout the game when applied to an initiator to allow them to get in range of their opponents quickly. If you're really in a pinch, make sure to cast Whimsy on yourself before casting other abilities, as the bonus ability power increases the strength of each of her other abilities. Using the polymorph on enemies becomes more important as the games goes on, as it helps disrupt players from using critical abilities in team fights and skirmishes. It is also stronger if multiple allies need to stay in range or get in range of an opponent; this is because slowing the target will allow more players to initiate than speeding up one ally. Using Whimsy as a polymorph also tends to be superior in situations where both sides are somewhat stationary and movement speed won't come into play. This does depend on how much an ally would benefit from the bonus ability power, though. Whimsy has a relatively short range, which means using it as a polymorph against enemies requires you be somewhat close to them. If you know that your team will benefit from a Whimsy cast in a team fight, try to stay nearby. The last thing you want to be doing is using Whimsy on yourself to get in range of a fight you could have been in from the start. Learning the best situations to use Wild Growth will dramatically improve your Lulu play. While it can be reserved as an emergency heal, it's often better to use it strategically to make better use of the full duration of the slowing aura. Wild Growth can be very effective at keeping ranged carries alive, especially if melee opponents attempt to dive at them. It is best to use the ability once opponents are already in melee range to make use of 341 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

the knockback. The carry should often consider making use of the slowing aura to kite away from opponents who are still pursuing them. The ability can also be good on initiators such as tanks, particularly if they're near opponents who will be interrupted by the knockback. In some cases, you can even use this to move opponents a small distance towards your team. Wild Growth can also be strong on anti-carries or melee champions that need to stay glued to an opponent. Even though the ability knocks back, the persistent slowing aura will help stay in range of the enemy. While these situations make sense, the rules to using Wild Growth are not set in stone. If any player on your team is being focused down by opponents and poses a serious threat to them, using this ability on that player can change the dynamic of team fights. Both Wild Growth and the shield from Help Pix are more effective on allies who have stacked armor and magic resistance. While this won't always determine who the best players to apply these to are in team fights, it's good for teammates to be aware of when making defensive item choices. In addition to this, it's a good idea for anyone laning with you to pick up healing potions. If you use the shield from Help Pix to block incoming attacks and spells, some health potions can help you or your teammate last a very long time in the lane even if you're being harassed.


Don’t Feed Maokai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xswNvHWoLQM

Introduction Maokai is a tank. He is a relatively slow champion.

Sap Magic (Passive) Each time a spell is cast near Maokai he draws energy from it, gaining a charge of Magical Sap. When he has 5 charges his next melee attack energizes Maokai, healing him for 7% of his max HP. Maokai's passive heals him for 7% of his maximum health on his next auto-attack every time 5 spells have been cast near him. This can make him extremely survivable against champions with spammy abilities. As much as possible, deny him the opportunity to auto-attack.

Arcane Smash (Q) Maokai knocks back nearby enemies with a shockwave, dealing magic damage and slowing them. Arcane Smash is a short range knockback. This can interrupt certain abilities such as Katarina's Death Lotus. This ability has a quick cooldown and can be used frequently. 343 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Twisted Advance (W) Maokai dissolves into a cloud of arcane energies. He regrows near a target enemy, dealing damage and rooting it in place. Twisted Advance is a targeted charge ability that roots an enemy for 1-2 seconds. While charging, Maokai cannot be targeted. This is not a skillshot, and Maokai being in range of you guarantees he can land this. At max rank with a 2 second immobilize, this is very dangerous.

Sapling Toss (E) Maokai flings a sapling that deals area damage on impact. The sapling then wards the nearby area. When enemies approach, the sapling attacks enemies with an arcane blast. Watch out for Saplings. These are little minions he tosses out that deal damage to targets they land on and will chase any enemy who comes near them, exploding for additional damage. Watch your positioning and try to avoid being closer to these than other minions. If you're fast enough, you can simply outrun them if they're chasing you. Saplings have a 35 second duration and grant vision to wherever they are. For this reason, Maokai is also able to use them as wards for nearby bushes, giving him additional vision. Well-placed Saplings can make it extremely difficult for his opposing team to flank in team fights.

Vengeful Maelstrom (Ultimate) Maokai shields his allies by drawing power from hostile spells and attacks, reducing nontower damage done to allied champions in the area. When Maokai ends the effect, he unleashes the absorbed energy to deal damage to enemies within the vortex. Maokai's ultimate ability, Vengeful Maelstrom, is a targeted AOE effect. Any of his allies are protected from 20% of all incoming damage while within the circle. As long as Maokai has mana he can sustain this ability; when he chooses to cancel it, any of his enemies inside the circle will be dealt a certain amount of damage, plus an additional bonus amount based on the damage the circle absorbed from his allies. While his ultimate is powerful, it's very important to remember that you do not take constant damage or suffer any other negative effects until he cancels the effect. While you don't want to stick around unnecessarily, it can be to your advantage to either push his team outside of the protection of the circle. Alternatively, it's often better to just not allow team fights to take place near the circle at all.


Vengeful Maelstrom has a relatively short cooldown and may be used both in defending and pushing towers in succession.


Don’t Feed Miss Fortune http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lOCssWOwC8

Champion Notes Miss Fortune has been a lot of fun. I enjoy her speed, but she is lacking the options of both Ashe, Caitlyn, and other AD carries. That said, she does so much damage...

Introduction Miss Fortune is a fast, high damage champion that deals sustained physical damage and some burst magic damage.

Strut (Passive) Miss Fortune gains an additional 25 movement speed after 7 seconds of not being attacked, increasing each second up to 70 maximum bonus speed. Miss Fortune's passive is Strut. After 7 seconds without being attacked, her movement speed will increase dramatically. Deal any type of damage to her to stop this, especially if you're being chased. If you want to land your skillshots on Miss Fortune in the early game, attempt to land an auto attack first.

Double Up (Q) Miss Fortune fires a bullet at an enemy, damaging them and a target behind them. Miss Fortune's Double Up ability is a physical attack that hits a target and bounces to a second target behind the initial target, dealing even more damage. Double Up acts like a normal attack and can apply on-hit effects. However, the bonus damage from Sheen or Trinity Force is only applied on the first target. 346 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Against a Miss Fortune, do not stand directly behind your minion waves. This makes landing Double Up exceptionally easy for her. You should watch out for Miss Fortune attempting to put a minion directly between you and her in the early game, as this will often mean she is preparing to use Double Up.

Impure Shots (W) Miss Fortune passively increases damage dealt to a target with each strike. This ability can be activated to increase Miss Fortune's attack speed and cause her attacks to lower healing received by the target. Miss Fortune's Impure Shots ability causes her to deal an increasing amount of bonus magic damage on a target every time she attacks. This is a passive ability. Try to avoid being in situations where she can easily attack you mulple times in succession. Impure Shots also has an active component, which temporarily increases her attack speed by up to 50% while decreasing the healing received and health regeneration of targets she hits by 50%. This can dangerous against champions with high health regeneration. However, it can also be a very effective way of preventing much of the benefit of healing potions in early games. If you need to use a health potion in the early game, make sure you don't let her get in range of you. Because of the attack speed bonus, Impure Shots can be used to devastating effect against unguarded towers. Temporarily leaving a lane undefended against her can cost you a tower, so be careful about moving away from a lane she's in.

Make It Rain (E) Miss Fortune unleashes a flurry of bullets at a location, dealing waves of damage to opponents and slowing them. Miss Fortune's Make it Rain is a relatively short range AOE that deals magic damage and slows affected enemies. This ability also grants vision to the area, allowing it to be used to see inside bushes.

Bullet Time (Ultimate) Miss Fortune channels a flurry of bullets into a cone in front of her, dealing large amounts of damage to enemies. Miss Fortune's ultimate is Bullet Time, a channeled ability that deals massive, sustained magic damage to all enemies in a cone. 347 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Combined with AOE crowd control, such as Galio's Idol of Durand or Miss Fortune's own Make It Rain, this ability can cause serious damage. Avoid grouping up in places where your team can be easily controlled. Bullet Time is especially effective in the jungle and areas where a team must pass through a chokepoint. Additionally, it passes through barriers, meaning she can fire on players defending towers, either from directly on the opposite side of a wall, or from the flanks, where weakened players may be attempting to return to base or stay behind more survivable teammates.

Champion Notes & Countering Like many carries, Miss Fortune may stay out of sight, waiting only until a fight has been initiated to get involved; she is especially capable of flanking and getting involved quickly due to her passive movement speed. If she is the largest threat to your team, pay attention to where and when she enters the fight and immediately counter her: Bullet Time can be stopped by crowd control abilities, forcing her to move, or killing her. Preventing her from getting into a good position and not allowing battles to take place to her advantage is always good practice. Miss Fortune's biggest weakness is high burst champions, particularly those with gap closers. Once she has taken damage, she has few effective escape mechanisms.


Don’t Feed Morgana http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQH4xc0E4FA

Champion Notes AP caster! Let me start by saying she is probably one of the most irritating champions to solo queue with due to the sheer number of pubs who think Tormented Soil presents a ripe opportunity for stealing easy farm. Thank you, Soraka, real helpful.

Build Recommendations Runes: Magic pen reds, flat mana regen yellows, flat cooldown reduction blues, health quints. Armor and flat magic resist yellows/blues wouldn't be bad bets, but I found her ability to recover health lessened the need. Masteries: 9/0/21 with an emphasis on magic pen in offense and cdr/mana regen in utility. Masteries could be completely reworked as soon as tomorrow, so this'll be dated very soon (sorry!). Skills: First point in Tormented Soil if I was solo laning mid or top, first point in Dark Binding if I was duo laning. Tormented Soil immediately helps w/ health recovery as necessary and it can be effective even at low ranks for farming in the right situations. Dark Binding, on the other hand, can have a huge impact on a level 1 gank or saving you or a teammate from one. Tormented Soil maxed first after this. An early point in Black Shield (by level 4). Maxing out Dark Binding vs Black Shield came entirely down to whether I was playing really defensively or not -- in almost all circumstances I maxed Dark Binding before Black Shield, only changing this if I knew someone on the opposing team (my lane or otherwise) was getting out of control. Ultimate always maxed when possible. Gear: Usually Doran's first, only occasionally boots/health pots (such as against a brand). Keep in mind she has spell vamp, so Doran's helps keep her alive often as much as boots and health pots can. Rod of Ages was virtually always my first purchase after basic boots, and I'd wait for the investment. Depending on my gold when I returned to base after this, I would either get Sorc shoes next, or a Needlessly Large Rod towards Rabadon's. Either way, I'd usually get Rabadon's and Sorc Shoes next. 349 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

After this, it was a question of Glacial Shroud, Banshee's, or Zhonya's. Take your pick based on your situation. Zhonya's can be safely used during her ultimate. Morgana can perform well in a number of roles and I didn't get a chance to try them all. This was what worked well for me in these games.

Introduction Morgana is a magic-damage caster with strong AOE damage and disables.

Soul Siphon (Passive) Morgana has Spell Vamp, healing herself whenever she deals damage with her spells. Morgana's passive is Soul Siphon. This grants Morgana between 10% and 30% spell vamp, depending on her level. This passive helps her sustain herself throughout the game, limiting her need to return to base.

Dark Binding (Q) Morgana releases a sphere of dark magic. Upon contact with an enemy unit, the sphere will deal magic damage and force the unit to the ground for a period of time. Morgana's Dark binding is a skillshot spell that hits the first enemy in a line, dealing high damage and immobilizing the affected enemy. The enemy is not stunned and can still continue to use non-movement abilities and attacks. Dark Binding will hit stealthed enemies or enemies hiding in a bush. If Morgana fires the spell and spell stops before her full range, it has definitely hit an enemy. For this reason, Dark Binding can be effective at scouting bushes. The Dark Binding projectile has a relatively slow speed, and it is possible to juke it when at a distance from Morgana.

Tormented Soil (W) Infects an area with desecrated soil, causing enemy units who stand on the location to take continual damage. 350 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Morgana's Tormented Soil is a targeted AOE puddle that deals magic damage every second to all enemies who remain on it. This puddle lasts for five seconds. Additionally, enemies who remain on it have their Magic Resist reduced a small amount every second. This is a cumulative effect, meaning enemies who stay on Tormented Soil can lose a significant amount of magic resist. The Magic Resist reduction can bring enemies below zero magic resist, causing them to take more than the stated damage of abilities. Morgana can be very effective by following up a successful Dark Binding cast on an enemy champion with a Tormented Soil underneath them, maximizing her damage by preventing the enemy from moving. Even as an AOE spell, this can be devastating harassment against a single opponent. Tormented Soil makes Morgana an excellent farmer. In the early game, a rank 3 Tormented Soil will kill caster minions in the back of each minion wave. In most minion waves, the puddle can be positioned so it hits all minions.

Black Shield (E) Places a protective barrier around an allied champion, absorbing magical damage and disables until penetrated or the shield dissipates. Morgana's Black Shield is a shield that Morgana can place on any nearby champion, including herself, that absorbs a set amount of magic damage. While this ability is active, the shielded champion cannot be disabled. This ability lasts 5 seconds or until the shield has been depleted. Black Shield is very useful both in keeping Morgana and her allies alive. Even though the shield blocks magic damage, it will still block physical-damage crowd controls. Used at the right time, it can negate critical crowd controls her opponents must land. It is especially useful when placed on initiators or interruptable champions, such as Katarina during her Death Lotus.

Soul Shackles (Ultimate) Latches chains of energy onto nearby enemy champions, dealing initial damage to them and slowing their move speed by 20%, and then echoing the pain 4 seconds later and stunning them if they remain close to Morgana. Morgana's ultimate is Soul Shackles. When in a moderate range of at least one enemy champion, Morgana can activate this ability to create chains between her and all nearby enemy champions. This deals magic damage immediately upon activation, and slows the affected enemy champions. 351 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Any Champions Morgana has stayed in range of after 3 seconds take a second burst of magic damage and are briefly stunned. Soul Shackles can be combined effectively with Dark Binding, either by using Dark Binding to get in close against an enemy or Soul Shackles to slow them for an easier Dark Binding shot. Soul Shackles can be effective at splitting a team up during a skirmish or forcing a player to use a specific escape route. Because taking the full effect can be devastating, players may attempt to avoid it by taking the fastest or most effective route out of it. Depending on positioning, the most effective escape from Soul Shackle can leave an enemy team split up or a specific player out of position and ready to be killed by one of her allies. Soul Shackles cannot be activated unless an enemy is within range. This gives the ability an added quirk - If Morgana can activate the ability but she does not see enemy champions nearby, it means an enemy is either stealthed, in a bush, or nearby out of sight. If activated, the ability will work against these champions. Soul Shackles is not channeled. Disabling Morgana will not prevent a Soul Shackles cast from completing and stunning enemy champions. Killing her, however, will.

Champion Notes & Countering Morgana can be a strong harasser in the early game in either a solo or duo lane. She only needs to land one Dark Binding, followed up with Tormented Soil, to deal significant damage to her opponent. Unless you have a strong early-game crowd control, it's best to be careful about Dark Binding casts and stay behind creeps. In the early game, any time Morgana casts Dark Binding there is short window of time where she can be harassed. Additionally, if you have decent burst from a range, you may be able to harass her immediately after she casts Tormented Soil on minions as long as you can take a Dark Binding without a concern. It's important to remember that Black Shield is only effective against magic damage, not physical damage. It will not help against towers, and it doesn't do anything about physical damage champions. If you see Black Shield active on her or an ally, do not hesitate to continue dealing physical damage to them. Black Shield lasts for five seconds but has a much longer cooldown. When possible, simply save your crowd controls and burst until Black Shield expires. If you have a crowd control available, such as the stun with Annie's passive, try to bait Morgana into using Black Shield without firing your crowd control.


Both Soul Shackles and Dark Binding can punish players who chase her into poor positions, especially under towers. A well-placed Soul Shackles can stop multiple aggressors under a tower, breaking up an attempted gank or push. Soul Shackles is a game-changing ultimate. It's very strong when following other AOE disables such as Amumu's Curse of the Sad Mummy, Leona's Solar Flare, or Galio's Idol of Durand. When possible, save escape mechanisms such as flash or other mobility spells to avoid taking the full duration of Soul Shackles. Watch out for Morgana using Flash or coming in from the rear to get in position. Though Morgana is an AP caster, her ultimate forces her to the middle of team fights to most effectively use Soul Shackles. While she can build to be very survivable, it can be a better idea to immediately focus her down as she moves into your team, thereby preventing her from finishing the Soul Shackles cast. This can be a good idea anyway since her abilities have relatively short cooldowns, especially with cooldown reduction.


Don’t Feed Nautilus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PR-hMPkR_g

Champion Notes Fairly straightforward champion. I played him primarily as a tank and a jungler, though I did do well with him top lane when I tried him out there. I also built him primarily tanky, and I know people have been successful with more AP heavy builds, so he has some versatility in that regard. In my opinion, he's not quite a Leona or Amumu in terms of playstyle. He's a fantastic initiator and can pull off some very solid ganks, but his kit is somewhat more disjointed than either of the other two. He plays very similarly to both when played as a tank. Build Recommendations Painfully slow champion. I had my most success building boots of mobility and ganking very frequently in the early game (while the move speed 5 boots knock off when you get in combat, once you're in you're usually able to lock someone down long enough for a kill). But all that said, don't take my advice as the be-all, end-all -- I have more to contribute with him in terms of mechanics than I do in recommended builds. Here's how I built. Let me stress that this is *NOT* the only way to play this guy, and I tended towards very tanky for my team. Heavier on AP works, and I've seen it work. Masteries -- 21/9/0 or 21/0/9, your call, but the offensive is prioritized around AP and casting buffs. You can go more defensive if you want, but he does decent enough damage that it isn't bad to improve on it w/ masteries even if you're tanking. Runes -- Magic pen reds, flat armor yellow, flat magic reset blue (CDR optional), and health or movement speed quints (if you're planning on move speed 2 boots such as merc treds, CDR boots, or sorc shoes, use move speed quints). Summoners -- Smite and Flash or Ghost for jungling. Skill order -- W or E first depending on how you're jungling. Both W and E are good skills to max first and second, and you can choose which you want to, but generally the W was my choice because it 354 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

dramatically increased survivability and made jungling much faster. One early point in Q, usually level 4 unless I was ganking sooner, and saved that to max last. Ult always priority. Items -- How I built, generally Cloth Armor + healing pots first for jungling, then boots (sometimes move speed 5 as my first core item followed up by immediate ganks; you can see this in some movie clips; ganks must be successful or you're going to be hurting). Heart of Gold and Philosopher's Stone for early gold and tankiness. From there, I'd prioritize a Frozen Heart unless the team was very heavily magical, and a Force of Nature if the team was magical. Generally speaking, you have options (Randuin's, Shurelya's, or any of various tanky options). Though his shield scales on Health, keep in mind that Armor and Magic Resist both have big impacts on its effectiveness as well. Health is fine to build but don't get trapped into thinking you must build it to scale your shield. Both Rod of Ages and Zhonya's are excellent examples of items you should consider for more damage, since both improve your survivability as well. Rylai's is a safe bet as well (by the same token, for more tankiness and CC, Frozen Mallet is often a good choice).

Introduction Nautilus is a melee-range initiator with several forms of crowd control. His base movement speed is among the slowest in the League. Additionally, he has a very slow melee swing animation. His attack range is slightly longer than that of many other melee champions.

Staggering Blow (Passive) Nautilus' basic attacks deal bonus physical damage and immoblize his targets. This effect cannot happen more than once every few seconds on the same target. Nautilus' passive is Staggering Blow. On his first normal melee attack against a target, he deals additional physical damage and briefly immobilizes them, preventing them from moving. Staggering Blow cannot be triggered on the same target again for several seconds. Cooldown reduction does not reduce this time. However, Nautilus can switch targets and apply the effect immediately without regard to the cooldown on previous targets. The bonus damage is not effective against towers. Staggering Blow will consume spell shields and the enemy with the shield will not be immobilized. However, they will still take the increased damage from the melee attack. 355 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Dredge Line (Q) Nautilus hurls his anchor forward. If it hits a champion, he drags both himself and the opponent close together. If it hits terrain, Nautilus instead pulls himself to the anchor. Nautilus' Dredge Line is a wide skillshot that can latch onto enemy units or vertical terrain. If Dredge Line hits a unit, both he and the affected unit will be pulled towards each other, stopping once they meet near the middle. Additionally, the affected unit will take damage and be briefly stunned. If the unit he hits has a spell shield or Morgana's black shield, they will not be affected by dredge line. However, Nautilus will still pull himself halfway towards them. If the enemy unit is killed by Dredge Line, Nautilus will pull himself all the way to their location. If Dredge Line hits vertical terrain, including standing and destroyed structures, he will pull himself to the anchor's location. Dredge Line has a significantly shorter cooldown after being used if it lands on terrain. If he is near the edge and glances off terrain while traveling, he will stop short of his destination. Dredge Line does not latch onto player-made terrain, such as Anivia's Crystallize, and the ability will pull himself over these obstacles if it successfully lands on a unit or terrain.

Nautilus can cast other abilities while being pulled with dredge line.

Titan’s Wrath (W) Nautilus surrounds himself with dark energies, gaining a shield that blocks incoming damage. While the shield persists, his attacks apply a damage over time effect to enemies around his target. Nautilus' Titan's Wrath is an activated shield that absorbs incoming damage. The amount of damage this shield absorbs is increased based on his bonus health. While the shield persists, Nautilus will apply a strong, but very brief damage over time effect on any unit he uses normal melee attacks against. This deals magic damage and is increased based on his ability power. Units in close proximity to the affected unit will also have the damage over time effect applied.


The damage over time effect has no effect on towers, and attacks on a tower will not apply the effect to neighboring units. When activated, Titan's Wrath resets Nautilus' swing timer, allowing him to more quickly use a follow-up attack. A spell shield will block one application of the damage over time effect, but follow-up attacks during the same Titan's Wrath shield will apply the effect.

Riptide (E) Nautilus slams the ground, causing the earth to explode around him in a set of three explosions. Each explosion damages and slows enemies. Nautilus' Riptide fires small aoe explosions outwards in three rings. Enemies hit by these take magic damage and are briefly slowed. While the slow is relatively strong, affected enemies rapidly regenerate their movement speed over the duration. Enemies can be hit by multiple explosions, but they take significantly reduced damage from later explosions. Riptide is fired from the location where it is cast, meaning that they will not have a greater total range if Nautilus is moving.

Depth Charge (Ultimate) Nautilus fires a shockwave into the earth that chases an opponent. This shockwave rips up the earth above it, knocking enemies into the air. When it reaches the opponent, the shockwave erupts, knocking his target into the air and stunning them. Nautilus' ultimate is Depth Charge, a targeted ability that chases a champion. While traveling towards a champion, enemy units take magic damage and are knocked up. Once the charge hits the target champion, a final explosion occurs and the target takes significant damage, is knocked up, and is briefly stunned. Depth Charge begins moving slowly, but rapidly accelerates towards its target. If a target moves a significant distance away on the map, such as with a teleport or recall, the spell stops functioning. Depth Charge does not path around terrain. According to a developer, it is technically possible to outrun Depth Charge for 5 seconds and the spell will fizzle. We were not able to confirm this. 357 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Champion Notes & Countering When playing against Nautilus, there are some things to understand. Nautilus can be a strong ganker, and the width of his Dredge Line allows for relatively easy pick-up of champions he has a clear shot of. Don't offer him an easy shot. You can use minions to block you, move in the small area between a tower and the terrain, or try to skirt around corners. All of these will greatly reduce the chance he can successfully land Dredge Line on you. His crowd control is not indefinite. Since his abilities have relatively long cooldowns, even with cooldown reduction, there are usually openings in his combo where you can walk away provided you have abilities to more easily allow this. Try to wait until he has used Riptide, and only move after a half second once the waves are beyond where you'll be running. This will help you avoid taking multiple hits from the ability and allow for an easier escape. Nautilus is naturally very slow. While he can build to minimize this weakness, it may be in your interest to consider movement speed items that naturally fit into your build to maximize this weakness. Don't trade melee hits in a 1v1 with Nautilus unless you're sure you'll come out on top. Because of his Titan's Wrath shield, he will dish out significant damage while mitigating a good chunk of it at the start. If you don't manage to break the shield, he'll have a few seconds to extend the duration of the damage over time effect by slowing and disabling you with his other abilities. That said, if you've seen his Titan's Wrath expire recently, there is a relatively long cooldown before he can use it again, and that may be an ideal time to get some damage on him. In team fights, the main thing to watch out for is the initiate. His Dredge Line can very easily peel someone off or bring a key player closer to his team if given the opportunity. Once a full skirmish or fight has begun, try to identify the obvious Depth Charge target -- he may try to go for either a very high priority target, such as a carry, or a target in the rear that will cause other champions between him and them to be knocked up. Once you've figured out who that is, avoid the path the Depth Charge will follow. The shield from Titan's Wrath provides a constant, draining AOE on grouped up opponents. There are three ways to counter this. First, you can break his shield quickly, either through natural AOE damage or by focusing him down. Second, you can spread apart to avoid multiple people taking too much damage. And third, you can refuse to play on his terms, using his slow speed against him to stay away from his melee hits. 358 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

When playing as Nautilus, there are a few key things to learn and get used to. First, and at a very basic level, look for opportunities to use melee attacks against multiple opponents during fights. If laning, the passive can be very helpful for last hitting minions. In team fights, the immobilize can be very helpful, and switching targets to apply it briefly to other targets can be a good idea. Dredge Line is a wide skill-shot. This helps in clear spaces with the right angle, as it can allow easy pickups of enemy champions. However, it can be difficult to use in crowded areas, as it can easily latch onto nearby units or terrain in its path. Look for opportunities to use Dredge Line on terrain, either to hook ahead of an enemy's path to ensure your slow, or to escape during long chases. Structures are ideal grabbing points in many situations because they are unlikely to glance. Dredge line, followed up with Staggering Blow and Riptide, allows for fairly potent crowd control, and the combo is fairly natural to use. Additionally, the use of Titan's Wrath during this can net you a good chunk of damage, especially against an opponent in a lane who must break the shield if they want to counter you with any damage. Depth Charge also makes a fantastic opener for this combo, making Dredge Line very easy to land. If you've got the survivability to outlast incoming damage, consider saving your Titan's Wrath shield until after any initial area damage in team fights. This will ensure the shield isn't popped and you don't lose the AOE Damage Over Time without them consciously focusing you.


Don’t Feed Nocturne http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uenimJYvaaU

Champion Notes Nocturne was a good champion, very much an assassin though I did build him a few times to survive in melee range (frozen mallet, though I know a few people prefer atmogs on him). I really didn't know much about him or his potency prior to doing these games. Great jungler, one of the better ones I've played, and very strong early ganking potential. He really punishes people who overextend in their lanes.

Build Recommendations My build for these games generally all started with Wriggle's Lantern and boots, and usually had Bloodthirster early. I used Ghostblade a few games as well, but generally went for Bloodthirster first. If I was getting away with kills without survivability or was significantly ahead of them I'd go for more damage items; if not, a phage at the very least for some more survivability. A couple games I was totally locked out by teams that stayed very, very tightly grouped and used their CC's the moment I got in.

Introduction Nocturne is a high physical damage assassin with a limited crowd control.

Umbra Blades (Passive) Every 10 seconds, Nocturne's next attack strikes surrounding enemies for additional physical damage and heals himself for a certain amount per target hit. Nocturne's basic attacks reduce this cooldown by 1 second.


Nocturne's passive is Umbra Blades. After 10 seconds, Nocturne's normal attack will deal 120% damage to all surrounding enemies and heal him for a small amount per enemy struck. The 10 second timer is reduced by 1 second for every normal attack he deals. This ability provides excellent burst damage. Because of the reduced cooldown per normal attack, it becomes dramatically better with higher attack speed. Umbra Blades also makes Nocturne an excellent jungler, both due to the healing and the AOE damage.

Duskbringer (Q) Nocturne throws a shadow blade that deals damage, leaves a Dusk Trail, and causes champions to leave a Dusk Trail. While on the trail, Nocturne ignores unit collision and has increased Movement Speed and Attack Damage. Nocturne's Duskbringer creates a trail in a line, damaging enemies hit. While on this trail, Nocturne has increased movement speed and attack damage, and can pass freely through units. Additionally, any champions hit by the initial cast will continue to create a trail of their own for several seconds when moving. If Nocturne can hit an enemy champion with Duskbringer, it becomes very difficult for them to get away without using crowd control or some sort of flash ability, since Nocturne can follow the trail they leave behind with a major movement speed increase, and won't be affected by any minions in the path. The additional attack damage Nocturne gains while standing on the Duskbringer trail is substantial. Even without the speed bonus, Duskbringer is great to use for the additional damage when staying in a small area. This is true both when fighting champions and when taking out targets such as towers, dragon, or baron. Duskbringer has a big impact on Nocturne's jungling potential. Because of the area damage of the ability, in addition to his increased attack damage and his Umbra Blades, Duskbringer is usually ideal to pull a jungle pack with, and will often be the first point a jungling Nocturne should pick up.

Shroud of Darkness (W) Nocturne empowers his blades, passively gaining attack speed. Activating Shroud of Darkness allows Nocturne to fade into the shadows, creating a magical barrier which blocks a single enemy ability and doubles his passive attack speed if successful. Nocturne's Shroud of Darkness passively increases his attack speed. Additionally, it can be activated to provide a 2 second spell shield that will block a single incoming spell. 361 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

If the Spell Shield is consumed by an enemy spell, Nocturne temporarily gains twice the attack speed provided by the passive effect. Shroud of Darkness gains the most passive attack speed with the first point spent. For this reason, one point invested early can be a good idea, especially for a jungling Nocturne.

Unspeakable Horror (E) Nocturne plants a nightmare into his target's mind, dealing damage each second and fearing the target if they do not get out of range by the end of the duration. Nocturne's Unspeakable Horror deals magic damage to a target for 2 seconds before briefly fearing the target. This ability is broken if his target gets out of range. Unspeakable Horror is extremely dangerous because it buys time for Nocturne to continue attacking his target, but also makes it extremely easy for him to land Duskbringer if he hasn't used it yet. If targeted by Unspeakable Horror, do everything you can to get out of range of him. If you have any kind of slow or crowd control, use it to get more distance. If you can Flash or have another blink-like ability, use it. Simply breaking vision, such as by running in a bush, will not break the effect. Because of the counters, Nocturne may choose to wait until a player has used Flash or another ability before entering into a fight to make sure he can get Unspeakable Horror off. In the jungle, Unspeakable Horror can be used to temporarily damage and crowd control targets such as blue golem, red lizard, or the large wraith.

Paranoia (Ultimate) Nocturne reduces the sight radius of all enemy champions and removes their ally vision in the process. He can then launch himself at a nearby enemy champion. Nocturne's Paranoia temporarily removes allied vision from all enemy champions, causing their vision to be strictly limited to what they can see nearby. This also reduces their own vision radius substantially. During the effect, Nocturne can activate Paranoia again to charge across a long distance towards a single enemy champion that he can see, damaging them and putting him in melee range of them. Paranoia is extremely effective at killing players who are alone, over-extended, or fleeing at low health. If Paranoia has not been used recently and you cannot account for Nocturne, you should assume that he 362 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

will be ready to engage you immediately if you make a mistake. A 2v2 lane fight in your favor can instantly become a 3v2 without warning. Paranoia is also good to cast immediately after someone has used their escapes to get away from Nocturne or to break Unspeakable Horror, as this immediately puts him back in range. At the first rank, Paranoia has a relatively limited range and some well-placed wards can prevent him from getting in range without being seen. However, you should also watch out for the jungle pocket near each blue golem pack, as he can punish anyone over-extending if they come past the river. Later ranks of Paranoia have a much larger range. Paranoia does not need to be followed up by a charge. In some situations, Nocturne's team may benefit from casting Paranoia even if Nocturne is not in range to charge. For instance, Paranoia can allow for easily killing a tower without warning, or getting players to back off a tower they're attacking because they're nervous about Nocturne or his team attacking during Paranoia. Champion Notes & Countering The key to countering Nocturne is not presenting easy targets to him. If you are in danger of Paranoia, stay near a tower, or stay with higher-health teammates until they go to a safe spot, or make sure you're out of the enemy team's vision. If Paranoia is cast and a teammate is at low health, go towards them under the assumption they will be targeted. If you're at low health, alone, or are otherwise in danger of being killed by Nocturne, immediately back towards the tower or teammates. If Nocturne is a serious threat, the best single counter to him is to stay grouped up as a team through the mid and late game any time he's alive and Paranoia hasn't been cast for a while. While he excels at assassinating players, he leaves himself very vulnerable if he charges into a group of players. Focusing Nocturne down the moment he enters a fight is a quick way of eliminating his threat to a team. Like many melee champions, chain crowd controls can easily lock him down. Don't use blinks or flashes during Paranoia. Wait until he is in range of you, and ideally until he has cast Unspeakable Horror, then move away. In large team fights, especially in mid and late game, Nocturne may wait until people are fleeing before using Paranoia. Keep this in mind if you're attempting to flee a fight.


Don’t Feed Nunu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUAld2S_Mhg

Champion Notes Bush surprise! I had a few enjoyable moments with him, particularly that quadra kill at the end of this movie (kicking myself that I didn't go after Wukong for the penta). To me, the great moments always had to do with his ultimate and whether I could complete the cast. Nunu is one of the simplest champions in League of Legends -- he is super 1-dimensional. He is effectively a tutorial-mode champion who I can really see as being ideal for new players (which doesn't make him bad in more competitive matchups by itself, don't misunderstand). There is a decent skillcap on being really effective with his ultimate, and his Blood Boil benefits from players getting used to smart casting.

Introduction Nunu is a high mobility champion that can be played effectively as a tank, support, damage dealer, or a hybrid of these. He has strong buffs and debuffs built into his ability kit.

Visionary (Passive) Nunu can cast a spell for free after 7 attacks. Nunu's passive is Visionary, which allows him to cast any spell without using mana after seven normal attacks. This buff clears if Nunu dies before utilizing it.


Consume (Q) Nunu commands the yeti to take a bite out of a target minion or monster, dealing heavy damage to it and healing himself. Nunu's Consume causes him to attack a target minion or monster, dealing a large amount of true damage that ignores Armor and Magic Resist. Additionally, Nunu is healed for a significant amount of health. The healing component of consume scales well from ability power and can be very powerful if he has AP items. Consume is very strong in the jungle, where it effectively acts as a second Smite on a much shorter cooldown. Nunu can consume player-owned minions as well, such as Annie's Tibbers.

Blood Boil (W) Nunu invigorates himself and an allied unit by heating their blood, increasing their Movement and Attack Speeds.

Nunu's Blood Boil is a targeted ability that significantly increases the attack and movement speed of an ally for 15 seconds. Though he can target this on himself, if he chooses to use it on an allied champion or minion, he will also gain buff on himself. Blood Boil lasts as long as its base cooldown, allowing Nunu to keep it up permanently provided he can sustain the mana. With high Cooldown Reduction, Nunu can keep very high uptime on two allies other than himself.

Ice Blast (E) Nunu launches a ball of ice at an enemy unit, dealing damage and slowing their Movement and Attack Speeds for 4 seconds. Nunu's Ice Blast causes him to throw a snowball at an enemy, dramatically slowing their movement speed and decreasing their attack speed for 4 seconds. This has a good range, and can be used both to pursue enemies and prevent enemies from coming into range of him or his allies. With cooldown reduction, this debuff can be kept active permanently. The ability does benefit from Rylai's Crystal Scepter for a stronger slow. 365 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Absolute Zero (Ultimate) Nunu begins to sap the area of heat, slowing all nearby enemies. When the spell ends, he deals massive damage to all enemies caught in the area. Nunu's Ultimate is Absolute Zero. This ability is an AOE effect that dramatically slows all affected enemies and reduces their attack speed. After channeling for 3 seconds, the spell will end, dealing extremely high magic damage to all enemies still within the effect. This damage scales extremely well with ability power. Absolute Zero can be stopped early with hard crowd controls. If the ability is stopped early, it will still deal damage, but considerably less than if it had finished channeling. Nunu can also cancel the effect himself for reduced damage, and may choose to do so when it becomes clear that his targets will escape the area before the channeling would normally complete.

Champion Notes & Countering Nunu is marked as a recommended champion by Riot. With high sustainability and survivability, and his ability to get away from bad situations, he is a forgiving champion. On top of this, he's good at supporting his teammates, both in helping them get kills and helping them escape, and he can do this even if he's doing poorly in the game. On the whole, he is one of the better picks for new League of Legends players. Watch out for Nunu's item build. He can go for serious damage through ability power and magic penetration, which makes him more of a threat but much easier to kill, provided he is bursted before he can consume a minion. If Nunu has masteries and runes built for this role, and has some basic mana regen or the Clarity summoner skill, he can be an extremely good harasser in the early game. Alternatively, he may go for more of a support role, building cooldown reduction and support items with survivability. By doing this, he is much less of an initial threat in fights, but can sustain his buffs and debuffs far more effectively. In the early game, Nunu is best harassed by AD carries who can stay just beyond the throw range of his Ice Blast. Continually harassing him as he comes near minions will prevent him from building Visionary stacks for free spells and help deplete his mana, as well as his health. Throughout the game, do everything you can to secure a kill on Nunu before he can get in range of minions or monsters that could potentially heal him. Pet champions like Annie should avoid summoning their own minions unless the risk is necessary. 366 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Nunu's ultimate is extremely dangerous but also very easy to handle. If possible, have at least one person on your team responsible for saving a hard crowd control for immediate use when Nunu begins channeling his ultimate. If you don't have an immediate interrupt, don't forget that he can cancel his ult early if he chooses, so prioritize getting out of the area immediately. Also, be careful not to facecheck bushes or run into melee range of Nunu unless you have a clear escape, such as a blink, or you can crowd control him. An Ice Blast combined with being near the center of his ultimate can make it impossible to get out of the area otherwise. Against competent players, Nunu won't see many opportunities to finish his ult and deal full damage to multiple players. Instead, it may ideal for him to look for places where his ult can help secure kills or initiate a fight by forcing the enemy team out of position.


Don’t Feed Olaf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKG19hIjTWU

Champion Notes Olaf is my personal favorite champion. I don't play him as much as I'd like, as I prefer to go into games and choose a champion that complements what other players have chosen, and this usually means a ranged carry or a tank. (Well, I don't play him as much now due to the DF series). He's an amazing troll champion because he takes virtually no risk of being trapped if his ultimate is available, and that's why I frequently have videos of stupid Olaf tricks on this channel. In my opinion, his primary weakness is that he is difficult to play effectively due to his Undertow. Missing or consistently overshoot targets will cost you kills, where other champions don't require as much. Also, while he is a relatively strong ganker and can be decent in the early game, he has a weak mid-game depending on his build and how much the other team cares about locking him down. He does have a strong lategame, though, when games get to that point.

Introduction Olaf is a fast, high damage melee champion who deals physical and true damage.

Berserker Rage (Passive) For each 1% of health missing, Olaf's attack speed is increased by 1%. Olaf's passive is Berserker Rage. This ability causes him to attack 1% faster for every 1% of health he is missing. Because of this, he becomes much more damaging at low health.


Undertow (Q) Olaf throws an axe into the ground at a target location, dealing damage to units it passes through and slowing their movement speed. If Olaf picks up the axe, the ability's cooldown is reduced by 6 seconds. Olaf's Undertow causes him to throw an axe to a target location, damaging and slowing all enemies hit. Additionally, Olaf can pick the axe up by running over it, reducing the cooldown by 6 seconds. The axe very briefly grants vision in the area it lands. While Undertow makes Olaf an excellent chaser, it is a skillshot, and it is one of the harder skillshots to use effectively because it only applies a 2.5 second slow but has a 10 second cooldown. To be most effective, an Olaf player needs to not only pick up the axe after each throw to reduce the cooldown by 6 seconds, but also needs to land each axe throw on the target to keep them from escaping. If Olaf can continually strike you with Undertow and can pick up his axe, you will be continually slowed. If you are being chased by an Olaf and have some distance on him, change directions when he has thrown an axe at you. If you can make a serious course change, do so. The goal is to make it harder for him to pick up his axe and continue pursuing you. Additionally, if you have a gap closer and have a serious chance at killing Olaf without his Undertow, wait until he has thrown it towards you and immediately jump to him and keep the fight on him, preventing him from picking up the axe. Olaf has a predictable path he needs to follow when ganking if he is relying on Undertow. Because he needs to pick up the axe, he must throw it in a direction he will be running while pursuing you. In other words, he is a true chaser, not a flanker, and will often benefit most from coming at you directly rather than from behind. This certainly doesn't mean he won't come from behind if it's a relatively assured kill or he is flanking into a lane where his teammates have hard crowd controls. If you flash away from Olaf, immediately juke or he may land yet another Undertow on you. In melee range, Undertow is brutally effective since Olaf can target it directly in front of him, deal damage to all targets in front of him, and instantly pick the axe back up without moving. With cooldown reduction, Undertow has effectively no cooldown, often deals more damage than auto attacks, and hits all targets. Because of the melee range strength of the ability, Undertow is part of what makes Olaf a very effective jungler. It also makes him a very effective ganker.


Vicious Strikes (W) Olaf's attack damage is increased, based on his health, and he gains massive lifesteal and spell vamp. Olaf's Vicious Strikes temporarily grants him a flat amount of attack damage, plus additional attack damage equal to 1% of his maximum health. Additionally, he receives between 9 and 21% lifesteal and spell vamp. This ability can dramatically increase his attack damage, depending on how he is building. Combined with other sources of lifesteal and his passive that causes him to attack faster while at low health, Vicious Strikes can often mean the difference between life and death and can completely turn around fights that look like they are lost causes. Because Olaf's Undertow is based on attack damage, using Vicious Strikes also increases the damage of Undertow. Vicious Strikes can be effective for pushing towers due to the additional damage.

Reckless Swing Olaf attacks with such force that it deals true damage to his target and himself. Olaf's Reckless Swing causes Olaf to deal a substantial amount of True Damage to a target at the cost of some of his own health. Since True Damage ignores all armor and magic resist, this ability is excellent against any champion stacking those stats. However, it is a substantial amount of damage on its own, and can be used effectively on any target who happens to be in melee range of Olaf. Olaf generally should not use Reckless Swing at low health, for the obvious reason that he can wind up helping to kill himself. However, in a 1v1 battle, Reckless Strike is safe to use if Olaf is sure it will kill his opponent, as it cannot be used if he does not have the health to spend. Where Undertow is very effective for farming in the jungle, Reckless Swing is excellent at last hitting minions in the laning phase, provided Olaf has some basic health regeneration. It is also excellent harassment due to the relatively low health pools of most champions in the early game.

Ragnarok (Ultimate) Olaf is immune to disables, has increased armor penetration and reduces incoming damage.


Olaf's ultimate is Ragnarok, which grants him between 5 and 8 seconds of immunity to all disables except silences and blinds, and reduces incoming damage by up to 40. Additionally, this ability passively increases his Armor penetration by between 10 and 30 points. Ragnarok has a variety of uses, depending on what Olaf's role is on the team. First, it makes him an excellent initiator, since he can run into a group, take quite a bit of damage and get the group focused on him so the rest of the team can jump in. Second, it allows him to knock out specific players in team fights. Since Olaf can effectively get to any target he needs without fear of CC, he is often very effective by focusing on the single most dangerous opponent, such as an ranged AD carry hanging behind the team, and burning them down. Even if he fails to kill his target, it will most likely be because they fled the fight, still giving your team an advantage. It's worth noting that Olaf can effectively counter many seriously fed opponents by doing this. As long as he can survive to reach, harass, and ideally kill a strong opponent, he can turn a game around -- even if he dies in the process. Third, it's fantastic for solo'ing opponents who may use stuns or other crowd controls to turn the battle in their favor. Used at the right time, Ragnarok can guarantee a kill. Fourth, it's a great escape mechanism, especially combined with a speed enhancer such as Ghost or Youmou's Ghostblade. If Olaf is surrounded and likely to be CC'd, he can use Ragnarok to get out of most situations. Ragnarok is best saved for when it's needed. This can be immediately on initiating a fight, but often it will be after a fight has already begun or even when Olaf needs to fall back. Ragnarok's damage reduction and CC immunity, combined with Vicious Strikes and Berserker Rage, make Olaf extremely deadly and survivable at low health. If you're going to kill Olaf, your team must absolutely commit to killing him, not leaving him at low health, or he can completely turn a fight around. Ragnarok cannot be activated while he is disabled. Because of this, commiting to kill him may involve chaining crowd controls.

Champion Notes & Countering Unlike a handful of other melee champions, Olaf does not rely on his ultimate to be effective. He can be effective throughout the game if he is good with his Undertow. That said, if Olaf is locked out early he will have a difficult time recovering, and may only be effective for the brief periods his ultimate is available. 371 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Olaf can build a variety of ways depending on the game he's in. Watch for Olaf players who build health items such as Phage and Frozen Mallet sooner, as their damage will be lower until they can acquire Atma's Impaler. Additionally, an Olaf who builds primarily damage items, such as Youmou's Ghostblade, can be brutally effective in the early game, but have a window where they're also very vulnerable to being bursted down. Take advantage of this. Like many junglers, Olaf is ready to gank just a few short minutes into the game, after a pass of only a fewminion camps. Don't overextend if you don't have wards.


Don’t Feed Rumble http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgK8rY1sOHg

Champion Notes Had a lot of fun with this class. He wasn't a total game changer late game no matter how I played him, but he was excellent in the early and mid game. He probably ranks in the top 5 "most infuriating to lane against" category.

Introduction Rumble is a quick, highly survivable magic damage champion who is able to constantly harass champions in the early game without much risk. He has strong sustainability and very few champions are capable of fully countering him through the early game. Rumble uses a unique resource, Heat, to determine whether he can use abilities and how effective his abilities will be. Each of his abilities costs 20 Heat; if he is above 50 Heat, his non-ultimate abilities are significantly stronger. Four seconds after using an ability, he will rapidly cool off.

Junkyard Titan (Passive) `Every spell Rumble casts gives him Heat. When he reaches 50% Heat he reaches Danger Zone, granting all his basic abilities bonus effects. When he reaches 100% heat, he starts Overheating, granting his basic attacks bonus damage, but making him unable to cast spells for a few seconds. Rumble's Passive is Junkyard Titan, which causes him to become silenced for 6 seconds while he cools down if he reaches 100 Heat, but also causes his melee attacks to deal significantly more damage during this 6 seconds. The 6 second silence cannot be reduced by crowd control reduction items such as Mercury Treads.


Flamespitter (Q) Rumble torches opponents in front of him, dealing magic damage in a cone for 3 seconds. While in Danger Zone this damage is increased. Rumble's Flamespitter is a flamethrower that deals conal damage in front of him. This deals half damage to minions and requires he be facing his intended targets through the duration. Above 50 Heat, this deals an additional 30% damage. While Flamespitter is a straightforward ability in concept, it is one of his most powerful harassment abilities. Though it deals relatively low damage per tick, it ticks 6 times over the course of 3 seconds. Additionally, it can be used very frequently. If you are caught in Flamespitter and know you will be unable to get away, you can use the positioning requirement of the ability to your advantage. If your nearby minions are at low health and he is trying to farm, move away so he must choose between damaging you or last hitting minions; if your minions are at higher health, move on top of them to help push the battle back towards the safety of your tower without giving him easy last hits. And, if you simply cannot get away from the Flamespitter, deal as much damage as you can to Rumble during the duration to discourage him. That said, do your best to avoid getting caught in many Flamespitters during the early game. Boots can help, as well as having ranged champions with strong harass in the lane with him. As a minor note, Flamespitter does not have a visible animation for players who don't have vision on him. This means that you can sometimes deal damage to players near a bush without them being aware of it. There is still a fiery animation on the affected champions that you should watch out for.

Scrap Shield (W) Rumble pulls up a shield, protecting him from damage and granting him a quick burst of speed. While in Danger Zone, the shield strength and speed bonus is increased. Rumble's Scrap Shield is a 2 second shield that blocks a certain amount of incoming damage and dramatically increases his movement speed for 1 second. Above 50 Heat, both the shield strength and move speed bonus are increased by 30%. Because of the speed bonus, Rumble may use this in conjunction with Flamespitter to increase his harassment potential. Because of its short cooldown, this can be a very effective ability to chase with. In some cases, this shield triggering Overheat can net you a kill during a chase due to your ability to stay in range and your extra auto-attack damage.


As with all shields, this can save Rumble's life in near-death situations. It is rarely a good idea to towerdive a low-health Rumble unless you are absolutely sure you can net the kill, because he can either quickly move away from you or he can stay alive long enough to kill you first.

Electro Harpoon (E) Rumble launches a taser, electrocuting his target with magic damage and slowing their Movement Speed. A second shot can be fired within 3 seconds. While in Danger Zone the damage and slow percentage is increased. Rumble's Electro Harpoon is a skill shot slow. Once fired, Rumble has 3 seconds in which he can fire it a second time without any Heat penalty. Rumble can fire the second shot even if he is currently overheated and silenced. This ability stacks, meaning you can hit the same target twice for an additional slow. While these are additive slows, meaning landing it twice on one opponent is very good, Rumble gains a 30% increase to this slow while he is above 50 Heat. This 30% is not additive, meaning it is not an extreme slow, but it is still very effective. If the Electro-Harpoon hits his target twice, the duration of the first slow will be refreshed. That said, Rumble does not need to hit the same target twice. Instead, he may choose to slow two targets separately. Like Scrap Shield, this can be used very effectively in chasing, but also defensively to help get away.

The Equalizer (Ultimate) Rumble fires off a group of rockets, dealing magic damage in a line and creating a wall of flames that damage and slow enemies. Rumble's Ultimate is The Equalizer, a ranged ability that fires rockets in a line beginning at a point of Rumble's choosing and in a direction of his choosing. This is achieved by a mechanic where Rumble chooses a start location and drags his mouse cursor in the direction he wishes the rockets to land before releasing. The Equalizer deals massive magic damage on impact, leaves a ground AOE that deals damage every second, and slows enemies on the charred ground significantly. It can be used effectively in team fights by keeping opponents from escaping too quickly, blocking escape routes, and controlling jungle chokepoints. It can be used in netting early kills as well as punishing players attempting to kill you or your teammates.


The Equalizer has a long cast range. Do not underestimate the effectiveness of this ability in team fights, and try to avoid closed-in battles where a combination of his Ultimate and Flamespitter can severely penalize your team. If the Equalizer has not been used recently and you may need to back out of a team fight, try to keep at least two escape routes available in case one is cut off. Unlike Rumble's other abilities, this receives no damage from being above 50 Heat. Because of this, it can be a good idea for Rumble to use this early in a fight to avoid overheating issues.


Don’t Feed Sejuani http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNP_8_nds4k

Champion Notes Sejuani has a very clear role as a tank and initiator, both in the early and late game. She has a lot of usefulness as a jungler, where she can roam and gank, but I personally didn't see much use for her in a lane (someone at high ELO might prove me wrong on this statement). Her early jungle is a little rougher than some other champions but it picks up quickly. I found her to be unusually enjoyable, but I also enjoy tanks like Amumu and Leona.

Build Recommendations I tried a few builds on her and they all worked decently well. What I settled on was 9/11/9, with both Barbed Armor and the bonus health perks in Defensive (along with magic pen in offensive and buff duration in utility). For runes, I did a standard Magic Pen (Red), Flat Armor/Magic Resist (Yellow/Blue), and Health Quints. Run speed Quints worked well, too, but you're more vulnerable in your early jungle doing this. For skills, Flash was a little better than Ghost in my games, and Smite is always a must-have for jungling. I went W-Q-E for my first three levels, then prioritized W and E until both were finished, with Q finishing last. W isn't super important but it has a huge impact on your jungling speed, and I felt that was worth it. Items: A lot of options, including Frozen Mallet and Frozen Heart (on a frozen champion?). Sunfire cape and other tanky things all work for her. I didn't build her as a bruiser at any point, and can't speak to the effectiveness of doing so. I usually built GP5 health and regen items, but only finished Shurelia's when I finished either. Honestly, as a tank you have a lot of options with what you do, and you should choose based on what you're against. In my personal opinion, her AP ratios don't justify investing anything serious in AP. Rylai's I don't think is worth it (all of your spells are AOE, so you take a big penalty on that).


Introduction Sejuani is a tank and initator with very strong slows. She has a base movement speed of 315. She is one of a limited number of champions who begin the game with a base of 30 magic resist, but also increase their resist per level.

Frost (Passive) Sejuani's basic attacks apply Frost, reducing enemy Movement Speed by 10% for 3 seconds. Sejuani's passive is Frost. When she uses a normal melee attack against a champion, the Frost debuff is applied to them, slowing them by a small amount. This debuff does not stack. Spell shields do not block Frost from being applied through normal attacks.

Arctic Assault (Q) Sejuani charges forward to deal magic damage and apply Frost to enemies. Sejuani stops upon colliding with an enemy champion. Sejuani's Arctic Assault causes her to dash a short distance. Upon reaching the end of the dash or colliding with a champion, all nearby enemies take magic damage and have the Frost debuff applied to them. Minions are also knocked back. Sejuani can use this ability to cross over many walls with ease. Sejuani can choose to do a shorter dash by targeting the ability closer to her. This can be useful in minion and monster farming. Stealthed opponents are hit by Arctic Assault and stop her dash. Additionally, clones, such as Shaco's Hallucination, can block Arctic Assault as well. Even though her normal attacks apply Frost through spell shields, Arctic Assault will not apply Frost through a spell shield.

Northern Winds (W) Sejuani summons an arctic storm around her which deals magic damage to nearby enemies every second. Damage is increased against enemies affected by Frost or Permafrost. 378 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Sejuani's Northern Winds is a short to mid range AOE effect that lasts for several seconds, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies. This damage is increased slightly by Ability Power and also by a percentage of Sejuani's maximum health. This damage is significantly increased on targets with the frost debuff currently applied. Because her Arctic Assault dash applies frost to targets, a quick follow-up of Northern Winds helps both against champions and while farming minions and monsters.

Permafrost (E) Sejuani converts Frost on nearby enemies to Permafrost, dealing magic damage and increasing the Movement Speed reduction dramatically. Sejuani's Permafrost converts the Frost debuff on enemies to a new debuff called Permafrost. This instantly deals magic damage and massively slows affected targets for several seconds. Higher ranks of this ability dramatically increase the strength of the slowing effect. Permafrost cannot be activated unless an enemy is affected by Frost. That said, Sejuani can be a fairly significant distance away from targets affected by Frost and still activate the ability. While Permafrost is active, Frost cannot be applied. Northern Winds gains the same bonus damage from Permafrost that it gains from Frost. Permafrost can be activated regardless of whether Sejuani has vision on a target affected by Frost. This includes stealthed targets. Permafrost can be used as the last component to an effective escape combo. By using a normal melee attack against an opponent, then using Arctic Assault, Sejuani will still be in range to activate Permafrost, stopping most pursuers.

Glacial Prison (Ultimate) Sejuani throws her weapon, stunning the first enemy champion hit. Nearby enemies are stunned for a shorter duration. All targets take magic damage and are affected by Frost. Sejuani's ultimate is Glacial Prison. This is a long-range, skill-shot ball of ice that will travel in a path until it reaches max distance or collides with a champion. In either case, it will explode, dealing magic damage to all enemies in a significant area. This also briefly stuns all enemies. If the ability collided with a champion, that champion will be stunned for a longer duration. 379 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Glacial Prison applies Frost to all affected enemies. At maximum range, it reaches just beyond Sejuani's Permafrost range, meaning she will need to move towards the affected targets to activate Permafrost. This can be useful for escapes. Glacial Prison will hit stealthed opponents. Additionally, Glacial Prison will collide with clones, such as Shaco's Hallucination.

Champion Notes & Countering Sejuani is an excellent initiator, making her a dangerous ganker throughout the game. Along with this, she is a strong jungler, putting her in an ideal position to roam and gank from an early point in the game. Like all initiators, countering her effectiveness means map vision and map awareness. Place wards at routes you're vulnerable to. Do not underestimate her ability to lock you down during a gank. Even a Flash is unlikely to keep you out of range more than a couple seconds with a Permafrost debuff applied. In other words, do not overextend and watch your positioning at all times. Though she is capable of ganking earlier, Sejuani's initiates are dramatically improved once she reaches level six. Because of the long range of Glacial Prison, along with the fact she doesn't need to directly land it on a champion to stun them, she can use this to initiate at a distance. Following this with an Arctic Assault and Permafrost can shut down an escape. It goes without saying that players shouldn't stay tightly grouped while her Glacial Prison is available, especially if her team can follow it up with additional AOE ultimates. This being said, it's important to remember Glacial Prison is her only hard crowd control. While she has a very strong set of slows and can pursue fleeing enemies, these do nothing against opponents who commit to a fight and area in a good position. Against a team with Sejuani, it is best to simply commit to fights. It is unlikely you will be able to flee while she is still alive and nearby, but she also lacks strong burst damage outside of her Glacial Prison. Because she cannot disrupt or interrupt spells and attacks without her ultimate, it can be best to simply ignore her until higher priority targets have been killed. That said, while built with survivability, she can do an effective job blocking routes and preventing players from getting in a good position. She can also ensure an escape for her teammates with her slows, giving her added utility to the team. In any tight area, such as the jungle, her abilities all shine, as she can cross over barriers and deal her full AOE to grouped up players.


As a Sejuani player, keep Arctic Assault and Glacial Prison off cooldown until you are assured of landing it. Arctic Assault has a long enough cooldown that you rarely get a second chance with it. Failing to apply it, especially during a gank, can easily cost you an assured kill. If possible, try to land a normal attack and permafrost first, then use Arctic Assault only if they use Flash or another blink to retreat.


Don’t Feed Shyvana http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77gTQlJw5gw

Champion Notes I'm a dragon! I didn't get to play as many games as I normally do while preparing one of these videos, but I also couldn't use as much footage as I had because there were so many details that were easiest to show in a custom game. The champion is a lot of fun -- though she's mechanically pretty complex, in practice she's not too hard to get used to because her dragon form feels pretty natural.

Build Recommendations As far as builds, I tried a lot out, some of which were recommended here. Hybrid, pure AD, tanky, etc., and they all seemed to work. I also jungled, solo top'd, and went bot w/ other players. Ultimately, I settled on a recommendation from a Shyvana I played against that usually priorotizes Wit's End and Phage quickly. Boots I would go Berserker when I could, but most often Merc Treads due to my need to not only stay in melee but also stay in range (the tenacity was a big help). As far as extended items, Lifesteal of any sort (wriggles, bloodthirster, etc) was very good; very occasionally Black Cleaver was good. Sunfire cape and Atmog's in a couple games as well, after the core items. All in all, I considered Wit's End and Phage important, but not absolutely necessary. Madred's should be great if you can afford it early. (What I don't recommend: Tiamats. Theoretically it should be awesome on this champion, but the range is so small and it is so situational) Alternatively, I did a little spying on Splug's profile, who has also been playing a lot of Shyvana and been very successful with her. He seems to go for Phage and Frozen Mallet relatively soon, with an early Zeal/Phantom Dancer. Merc Treads and the occasional Bloodthirster. First item purchase was usually Doran's Shield unless I was very confident I was going against a caster. For masteries, 21/0/9 heavy in offensive worked well (don't bother w/ the crit damage increase), but I settled on a tankier 15/6/9 build that went for the low-hanging armor and magic resist in defensive. 382 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Summoner spells were exhaust and ghost or flash, almost exclusively, unless I was jungling. Lacking either as a jungler (where I would pick up Smite) was a huge hindrance.

Introduction Shyvana is a melee champion whose abilities deal a mix of physical and magic damage. Shyvana uses a single resource, Fury, and this is used only for activating and sustaining her ultimate ability. As such, Fury only becomes available once she has acquired her ultimate ability. Fury is gained slowly over time, even while dead, and a small amount is gained for every normal melee attack.

Fury of the Dragonborn (Passive) Shyvana's melee attacks enhance her abilities. Shyvana's passive, Fury of the Dragonborn, causes her normal melee attacks to uniquely affect each of her abilities. Additionally, Shyvana's ultimate, Dragon's Descent temporarily alters her other three active abilities. For this reason, this video will first cover her ultimate, then will cover the effects of her passive and her ultimate while covering her normal abilities.

Dragon’s Descent (Ultimate) Shyvana transforms into a dragon and takes flight to a target location. Enemies along her path take damage and are knocked toward her target location. Shyvana's ultimate is Dragon's Descent. This ability passively increases her Armor and Magic Resist. When activated, Shyvana is transformed into a dragon and flies forward towards a target location, dealing magic damage to all enemy targets in her path and briefly pulling enemy targets in the direction she is traveling. While in her dragon form, the bonus Armor and Magic Resist from her ultimate is doubled. Dragon's Descent can only be activated once Shyvana has 100 Fury. Once activated, she will rapidly lose Fury until she reaches zero, at which point she will revert back into her normal form. Because Shyvana gains Fury from normal melee attacks, she can prolong her time in Dragon form by continuing to attack targets. Dragon's Descent can be used both for initiating and escaping. However, it can be used in a variety of ways mid-combat, in particular to stop runners, deal damage to a single enemy or a group of enemies, or pull enemies towards a desired location. 383 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Dragon's Descent is excellent at peeling chasers off one of her allies by moving them away, and the additional survivability granted by using it can help her to either stay in a fight or get out herself. Because Dragon's Descent is very effective at keeping you somewhere you don't want to be, try to keep yourself positioned safely out of her reach. When diving towers, be cautious of her using her ultimate to keep you from escaping the tower. Shyvana can use Dragon's Descent instantly once she reaches level 6, as putting a point in the ability grants her an initial 100 Fury. The ability can pass over walls, and can carry enemy players over walls if positioned well.

Twin Bite (Q) Shyvana strikes twice on her next attack. Shyvana's Twin Bite causes her next normal melee attack to strike twice. Additionally, this ability resets Shyvana's swing timer, meaning she can use it immediately after another normal melee attack to provide a total of 3 attacks in succession. Twin Bite's additional attack triggers on-hit effects, such as those provided by items like Wit's End or The Black Cleaver. This allows stacking effects to rapidly apply to a target and allows for increased burst damage. Twin Bite also grants Fury twice. Only the first attack of Twin Bite can critically strike. Aside from the useful burst in solo and team fights, Twin Bite is excellent at helping bring down towers. Fury of the Dragonborn, Shyvana's passive, causes all of her normal attacks to reduce the cooldown of Twin Bite by 0.5 seconds. This means that Shyvana can use Twin Bite more rapidly while consistently melee attacking targets. Though Twin Bite is effective against structures, her normal attacks against structures will not reduce the cooldown of Twin Bite. While in Dragon form, Twin Bite will cleave, dealing attacks to all targets in front of her. All of the targets affected will have on-hit effects applied. Because Twin Bite attacks increase Fury, landing Twin Bite can dramatically increase the longevity of dragon form by recovering a large amount of Fury instantly.

Burnout (W) Shyvana surrounds herself in fire, dealing magic damage per second to nearby enemies and moving faster for 3 seconds. The movement speed reduces over the duration of the spell. Shyvana's Burnout causes her to deal magic damage in an area around her and dramatically increases her movement speed for 3 seconds. The movement speed bonus is moderately reduced every 384 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

second she remains spinning. Burnout is not channeled, and Shyvana can move, attack, and cast while it is active. Fury of the Dragonborn causes all of her normal attacks while using Burnout to extend the duration of Burnout by 1 second, granting up to a maximum of 6 additional seconds. In other words, Shyvana can keep the ability active for up to 9 seconds if attacking a target to increase the duration. While Burnout does not deal damage to structures, attacking structures will increase the duration of the ability. For this reason, Shyvana may wish to go to the rear of a tower when attacking to allow Burnout to damage incoming minions while she is attacking the tower. Burnout can be used as a limited escape mechanism. However, it is much stronger in chasing, as she will be able to benefit from the prolonged duration while continuing to attack a target. Along with her other abilities, this can be used effectively in the early game jungle if she chooses to jungle. It can also be used to harass or farm in some circumstances while laning and in the late game.

While in Dragon form, Burnout will leave scorched earth wherever she has traveled, leaving a patch of fire for 5 seconds that will deal magic damage to enemies who path over it. Burnout will continue to stay active while switching in or out of Dragon form. For this reason, it can be a good idea to trigger Burnout immediately before activating Dragon's Descent, leaving a massive burning trail in a line where opponents may be. This ability can also be used to more effectively escape with Dragon Form, as the damage from the trail may deter attackers.

Flame Breath (E) Shyvana unleashes a fireball that deals damage to the first enemy it encounters and leaves cinders on the target that reduces their Armor for 4 seconds. Shyvana's Flame Breath is a skillshot fireball that deals magic damage to the first enemy it strikes in a line. Flame Breath also debuffs the target, reducing their Armor by 15% for 4 seconds. Fury of the Dragonborn causes normal attacks striking a target with the armor debuff to deal 15% of Flame Breath's damage as extra magic damage. Both attacks from Twin Bite will deal this bonus damage if used on a debuffed target. Flame Breath can be used during the laning phase to snipe last hits on targets she cannot easily get near. It can also be used effectively while engaging higher health minions, monsters, or champions, to provide 385 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

quick burst by landing the fireball on an enemy in melee range and immediately following it up with Twin Bite. Flame Breath is also useful for quickly checking small nearby bushes. Though neither the spell nor the debuff grant vision, if the spell stops short it is a sure indication that an enemy is in the bush. While in Dragon form, Flame Breath shoots out in a cone, debuffing all targets in front of her. Combined with Twin Bite's cleave in Dragon form, this can provide massive burst in a close-quarters team fight. Unlike the single-target version of this, the conal flames continue traveling past enemies they've hit, allowing Shyvana to saturate a wide area with the attack.

Champion Notes & Countering As a general recommendation, Shyvana is an excellent champion for players who need to learn to stay in fights rather than immediately run out. Though Shyvana is complex, there are a few simple rules to understanding her. First, her Dragon form is essentially her team fight form. While it can -- and should -- be used to secure kills in 1v1 situations and small skirmishes, being in Dragon form defines her role in many large team battles, in mid and especially late game. While all of her abilities help her excel in 1v1 situations, her Dragon form abilities transform them into AOE and strongly encourage her to stay in the fight. Second, Shyvana always wants to be in melee range of at least one opponent and consistently using normal melee attacks unless fleeing. Countering her means making use of blinds, exhausts, or abilities that either keep her away from you or get you away from her. If you cannot take her 1v1, do anything that prevents her from auto-attacking you. And in team fights, try not to group too closely together or get in a position where she can easily pull team members towards undesirable positions. Third, Shyvana's Twin Bite gives her a lot of build options, and you'll need to watch out for exactly what she's building at any step of the way. She can be effectively played to suit most roles, but Twin Bite strongly emphasizes any items that are proc-based. Wit's End is very, very good because it disproportionately increases her damage output while adding to her already-strong survivability. Phage is frequently used as well, providing her a high chance of slowing one or many targets with a single use of Twin Bite. Fourth, Shyvana is naturally very tanky, especially once she acquires the Armor and Magic Resist from her ultimate. However, she has very little long-term sustainability without a significant item investment, and her lack of crowd controls can leave her vulnerable to being kited. Finally, while Shyvana is capable at jungling and Riot has said as much in their official video, she is not a strong ganker until she reaches level 6, and this is further hindered by losing a summoner spell to 386 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

accomodate Smite. If you choose to jungle with her, make sure your lanes have crowd control available if they're looking for early ganks.


Don’t Feed Sivir http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkR2kvjmmv0

Champion Notes Sivir is a seriously good champion. Once I got used to her spell shield and started using it well, I performed better w/ her (in terms of wins, kills, and team contribution) than I have with nearly any other champion. Very strong multitarget, pretty good poke, and very strong farm.

Build Recommendations Runes: Armor Pen for either Reds or Quintessences, Attack Damage for the other. Yellow Armor, blue Magic Resist. Masteries: 21/9/0 with Physical masteries in offensive and Armor/MR/Health in Defensive. Summoner Skills: Flash and Teleport/Exhaust/Heal/??. If you're going to get opportunities to hit undefended lanes, Teleport is excellent. Exhaust is always good, Heal is good especially if your support has Exhaust already. Skill Priority: R, Q, W, E, with your second skill being one point in E. Items: Sivir gets away with being more AD-centric than some ranged AD carries, but you'll still want attack speed. My general build was boots + 3 health pots, BF sword, then Bloodthirster OR zeal, then vamp scepter/Infinity Edge if I didn't get a Bloodthirster. Once I have an IE or BT, turn Zeal into Phantom Dancer, then build another straight AD item, either Bloodthirster or Last Whisper if the enemy team is stacking any significant armor. Once the next AD item is built, another Zeal. Defensive items at any time you need them. If your team can keep people off you, watch your positioning and stay offensive.


Introduction Sivir is a ranged, physical damage champion who specializes in multi-target damage and pushing objectives. She has a relatively short attack range for ranged carry, as well as a relatively slow projectile speed. She has a moderate run speed, which can be temporarily increased with her passive and her ultimate.

Fleet of Foot (Passive) Sivir gains a short burst of Movement Speed when she attacks an enemy champion. Sivir's passive is Fleet of Foot. When one of her normal ranged attacks strikes a champion, she briefly gains a dramatic movement speed increase.

Boomerang Blade (Q) Sivir hurls her crossblade like a boomerang, dealing damage each way. Sivir's Boomerang Blade is a line skill shot that damages all enemies in its path. Once it reaches max range, it returns to Sivir, continuing to damage enemies. The return path of Boomerang Blade moves towards Sivir's current location, not the location it was originally cast from, meaning Sivir can alter its path by moving. Each target hit by Boomerang Blade takes less damage than the previous target. Spell Shields will block either the outgoing or returning damage from the ability. However, if a spell shield blocks the outgoing damage, the Boomerang Blade will still deal damage to the target if it moves through them while returning.

Ricochet (W) Sivir's next basic attack will bounce between targets, dealing reduced damage with each successive hit. Sivir's Ricochet causes her next normal ranged attack to deal bonus damage and bounce to several nearby targets. Like Boomerang Blade, each bounce deals less damage than the previous bounce. Ricochet resets Sivir's attack animation, meaning it can be cast immediately after another normal ranged attack to more quickly attack again. 389 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

The first Ricochet hit functions similar to a normal ranged attack, dealing on-hit effects and benefiting from lifesteal. However, bounces only deal damage and do not benefit from on-hit effects or lifesteal. Ricochet can be cast while attacking structures, and the additional bounces will still occur. However, Ricochet will not bounce from enemies to structures. While Ricochet hits can land on champions, they are not guaranteed to hit nearby champions. Ricochet bounces do not affect spell shields. Ricochet has a very short cooldown at higher ranks.

Spell Shield (E) Creates a magical barrier that blocks a single enemy ability cast on Sivir. She receives Mana back if a spell is blocked. Sivir's Spell Shield is a temporary buff that blocks the negative effects of a spell used against Sivir. If Spell Shield successfully blocks a spell while active, Sivir is granted a significant amount of mana. Spell Shield will stop most AOE spells, skill-shots, and targeted abilities. It can also be activated prior to running onto a trap to negate the effects and return mana. Baron Nashor's spells can be blocked with spell shield. If Sivir has Banshee's Veil and Spell Shield active at the same time, both shields will be consumed by a single spell. Spell Shield can absorb more than one spell, provided multiple spells land on Sivir in the same moment. When this happens, all spells are blocked, but mana is only gained once. It's important to note that spell shield stops negative effects on Sivir, but doesn't block spells from occurring. For example, AOE spells will still deal damage to other players without a spell shield. Charge and dash abilities will generally still move an enemy to Sivir. Spell Shield will stop most spells that it seems like it should stop, but there are exceptions and special mechanics. Because there are too many spells to cover here, I strongly recommend looking at other Don't Feed guides to learn how each champion's spells are affected.

On The Hunt (Ultimate)


Sivir leads her allies into battle granting them increased Movement and Attack Speeds for a period of time. Sivir's ultimate is On the Hunt. When activated, Sivir gains significant attack speed, with nearby allies gaining a lesser attack speed bonus. Additionally, both Sivir and allies gain a significant movement speed bonus. This bonus lasts for several seconds. On the Hunt does not need to be cast while Sivir is in range of allies. Once it has been cast, Sivir can move into range of allies and they'll gain the buff. Allies who have On the Hunt do not need to stay in range of Sivir to maintain the buff.Killing Sivir does not remove On the Hunt from her allies.

Champion Notes & Countering When playing as Sivir, there are a few things you'll need to learn. First, learning to use Sivir's spell shield will dramatically improve your performance and potential throughout the game. One key to using Spell Shield effectively is timing and reaction. If you see a spell or ability coming, quickly blocking it is essential. It's worth noting that Spell Shield blocks abilities of all sorts, including physical damage abilities, not just ability-power nukes and crowd controls. The second key with spell shield is general game knowledge. While you can use spell shield to block anything that's obvious, it may not be wise to use it immediately in every situation. For instance, against a Caitlyn, you can very easily gain mana back by running over one of her traps with Spell Shield active. However, if you're low health, you may be opening yourself up to an immediately Ace in the Hole ultimate or piltover peacemaker that will kill you while your Spell Shield isn't available. Once you're very solid on your reaction times and you know when its safe to use spell shield, baiting out spells can be effective for getting mana back or putting an enemy spell on cooldown. This can be especially effective against champions who telegraph their abilities while casting, such as a Taric or Blitzcrank. Understanding and using Boomerang Blade in a smart way can also dramatically increase your potential. Players who are hugging one side of a lane can be very easy to hit with Boomerang Blade if the blade is fired from the center of the lane and Sivir moves towards their side while the blade is in flight.


Whenever possible, try to stay away from minions when using Boomerang Blade so the potential damage isn't reduced. Staying at one edge of the lane, such as in a bush, can allow clearer harassment shots. Before team fights, especially near towers in the later game, Boomerang Blade can be an effective poke tool to soften enemies before engaging. If your enemy has a sliver of health left and you simply can't get in range to attack them one more time, use Ricochet on an enemy between you and them to allow for a potential jump to them. Sivir is best matched in a lane with a champion who has a hard crowd control, such as Taric. Hard crowd controls often guarantee she can get her full combo off, including Boomerang Blade, Ricochet, and at least two normal attacks. On a team, AOE crowd control ultimates such as Cassiopeia's Petrifying Gaze, Galio's Idol of Durand, and Leona's Solar Flare can dramatically improve Sivir's performance. By forcing players to stay near each other, even briefly, a full Boomerang Blade and potentially two Ricochets can quickly soften a team. Timing On the Hunt is different depending on the situation. Since it applies to teammates when you move in range of them, it is often a good idea to use it right before entering a team fight that is already occurring to help yourself get in position more quickly. Your allies will get the majority of the buff this way. By the same token, if you want to help an ally who's being chased, using On the Hunt to get yourself in range of them sooner, while still giving them a few seconds of the buff, can be smart. On the other hand, if you have a significant advantage over an enemy team, saving On the Hunt for chasing them down to secure any stragglers can be a good idea. And if you're at a significant disadvantage in a team fight or skirmish, using it to help change the tides or assist in potentially escaping can be good. Though Sivir has some weaknesses in early game farm by comparison to other ranged physical damage carries, this is very quickly made up for as she gains ranks in Ricochet and Boomerang Blade. By the early mid-game, using Ricochet and Boomerang Blade on a line of minions moving towards your position in lane can immediately clear the lane and easily net you the last hits and money from the lane. This also makes her an excellent pusher. As always, if pushing hard into enemy lanes, have enough vision or map awareness to have warning on when you'll need to leave. The Teleport summoner skill can be very strong for this. Once up against towers Early and mid-game team fights can quickly wipe out Sivir's mana pool, even if Spell Shield has been used effectively. While this deficiency largely disappears in late game, keep an eye on your mana before going into fights where you may need to use On the Hunt or Spell Shield to escape.


Don’t Feed Sona http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJJ_jwLWekE

Champion Notes This is the first Support I'm adding to the series. I played Sona a lot when I started the game because she was brand new back then. There have been fairly significant changes to her since then (Power Chord being the big one). I haven't played Karma and really haven't played much in the way of support in the last year, so I won't speak to her effectiveness in comparison to other support classes.

Introduction Sona is a support champion who provides unique auras that benefit nearby allies. Sona's auras have an immediate effect when activated, a passive effect that lasts two seconds after the aura is deactivated, and a special bonus applied to her Power Chord. While she will not always have all auras active, she can keep more than one up at a time by rapidly switching between them.

Power Chord (Passive) After casting 3 spells, Sona's next attack deals bonus magic damage in addition to a bonus effect depending on what song Sona is currently playing. Power Chord is Sona's passive. After casting three spells, Sona's next normal attack will deal significant additional magic damage, as well as apply a unique effect depending on the last aura activated. Power Chord can be dangerous, especially at low levels, and Sona may prepare a Power Chord prior to the beginning of the laning phase to deal additional burst in an early battle. When Power Chord is available, a colored white aura will appear around Sona's midsection. The bonus damage from Power Chord will affect towers. 393 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Sona will not automatically attack enemies she comes in range of while Power Chord is ready.

Hymn of Valor (Q) Sona plays the Hymn of Valor, granting nearby allied champions bonus Damage and Ability Power. Additionally, casting this ability sends out bolts of sound, dealing magic damage to the nearest two enemy champions or monsters. Sona's Hymn of Valor is her blue aura. When activated, this aura will fire a beam at the two closest enemies. If champions are within range, Hymn of Valor will prioritize them over any minions. This aura passively increases the attack damage and ability power of nearby champions. If this ability is the most recent aura cast and Power Chord is active, Power Chord will gain the effect of Staccato and deal triple the bonus damage. This ability is a basic nuke that can be very effective at last hitting minions and harassing opponents. If playing a pure Support role, Sona may choose to keep this active to help another champion in the lane get last hits on minions. This ability can be very damaging if Sona has built for Ability Power.

Aria of Perseverance (W) Sona plays the Aria of Perseverance, granting nearby allied champions bonus Armor and Magic Resist. Additionally, casting this ability sends out healing melodies, healing Sona and a nearby wounded ally. Sona's Aria of Perseverance is her green aura. When activated, this will heal both Sona and a nearby champion as well as give them a 3 second increase to armor and magic resist. The target that is healed is prioritized for the champion with the lowest percentage of health remaining. The aura passively increases bonus armor and magic resistance for nearby champions. If this ability is the most recent aura cast and Power Chord is active, Power Chord will gain the effect of Diminuendo and cause her target to deal 20% less damage for 4 seconds. Diminuendo can be helpful in knocking out the burst potential of high-damage champions, including casters and AD champions if they're in range, but also initiators who move in close. For Sona to heal the target she intends, she may need to move into specific positions to avoid other teammates who are in less immediate harm but are also at low health.


Aria of Perseverance leaves a very visible beam, meaning Sona can give away the location of hidden allies if she's not careful. Aria of Perseverance receives very little benefit from Ability Power. Support Sona players who want more effective healing may instead focus on cooldown reduction and mana regeneration.

Song of Celerity (E) Sona plays the Song of Celerity, granting nearby allied champions bonus Movement Speed. Additionally, casting this ability energizes nearby allies with a burst of speed. Sona's Song of Celerity is her purple aura. When activated, this will provide a 1.5 second movement speed increase to her and her allies. This aura passively increases movement speed for nearby champions. If this ability is the most recent aura cast and Power Chord is active, Power Chord will gain the effect of Tempo, which slows the target by 40% for 2 seconds. This can be excellent when chasing to ensure a kill for your team. Song of Celerity is very effective at allowing her team to both escape and chase opponents very effectively.

Crescendo (Ultimate) Sona plays her ultimate chord, forcing enemy champions to dance and dealing magic damage to them over time. Sona's ultimate is Crescendo, which fires music in a wide area in front of her, damaging opponents and causing them to dance for 1.5 seconds. This is effectively a stun. Crescendo has a relatively short distance and has travel time, so it is more difficult for Sona to use this to try to stun people escaping a fight. However, it is excellent in controlling a fight that is centered on her team, and can be an excellent escape to get away from multiple opponents safely.

Champion Notes & Countering While Sona can rarely determine the outcome of a game if her teammates aren't playing smart, she also has a relatively easy time staying alive, doesn't need much gear, and can greatly benefit a team of smart players. For these reasons, Sona can be a good champion for newer players who are still learning the 395 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

game, and especially for players who are playing with more experienced friends.


Don’t Feed Tryndamere http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0x9kGsGLWg

Champion Notes This champion was more interesting than I originally expected him to be. While he's relatively simple to play (and play decently well) with, there's a lot involved with managing his health and fury. I didn't mention this in the video, but I'd also add that there's a strong benefit to using Bloodlust before Undying Rage, not just using it afterward. This is because you'll instantly gain 50-100 Fury just from using Undying Rage. You shouldn't use it if the cooldown of Bloodlust will prohibit you from using it again at the end of Undying Rage, provided you're concerned about dying, or if you're going to burn Undying Rage at the same time anyway.

Build Recommendations I've seen a number of different Tryndamere builds, and tried a number of them as well. The ones I was most successful with almost all involved Berserker Greaves, Bloodthirster, and Zeal at an early point (Bloodthirster fast if I earned significant gold early). I also went beefier in a number of games, and there should be a few clips mixed in with Mercury Treads (even though I don't use them most of the time, there are some teams where you'll just need to). I do these guides and learn champions in normal matches, so there wasn't much counter-picking going on, and Exhaust was iffy, so I got away with pure damage builds where I think I'd be more cautious in draft mode games.

Introduction Tryndamere is a high physical damage, melee champion. He does not use a traditional resource system, but scales in damage based on both Health and Fury, a red bar underneath his health. 5 Fury is gained for each normal attack, 5 extra Fury is gained if the attack critically strikes, and 10 extra Fury is gained for any unit killed. Tryndamere can have a maximum of 100 Fury. 397 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

The rate of Fury Tryndamere gains scales both on critical strike and attack speed, and to the degree it helps him with killing units, attack damage as well. Because of these factors, Tryndamere benefits strongly from all forms of attack scaling.

Battle Fury (Passive) Tryndamere gains Fury for each attack, critical strike, and killing blow he makes. Fury passively increases his critical strike chance and can be consumed with his Bloodlust spell. Tryndamere's passive is Battle Fury. This increases his critical strike chance by a small amount per Fury he has available. At maximum Fury, this provides a 35% chance to critically strike.

Bloodlust (Q) Tryndamere thrives on the thrills of combat, increasing his Attack Damage as he is more and more wounded. He can cast Bloodlust to consume his Fury and heal himself. Tryndamere's Bloodlust passively increases his attack damage, and also increases his attack damage by a small amount per 1% of his missing health. The passive effects of this ability cause Tryndamere to be stronger at lower health. Combined with the critical chance gained by staying at high Fury, Tryndamere is deceptively dangerous at low health. Bloodlust can be activated, consuming all of his current Fury to heal himself. This heals for a base amount, plus an additional amount per his current Fury. In a tight situation, Bloodlust can be activated with no Fury for a very small heal. Both the increased damage and the heal from Bloodlust make Tryndamere a strong jungler, able to more effectively burn through difficult camps and sustain himself to immediately help gank in the lanes. Bloodlust also makes Tryndamere excellent in a solo lane due to his ability to sustain himself over time with the healing.

Mocking Shout (W) Tryndamere lets out an insulting cry, decreasing surrounding champions' Attack Damage. Enemies with their backs turned to Tryndamere also have their Movement Speed reduced. Tryndamere's Mocking Shout causes all surrounding enemies to have dramatically decreased attack damage. Any enemies with their backs turned towards Tryndamere are also dramatically slowed for 4 seconds. 398 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Mocking Shout is one of the stronger slows in League of Legends, and it makes Tryndamere a great ganker while also allowing him to stay range if he is slowed as well. If making the decision between whether to stay and fight against a Tryndamere or flee, understand that he may very well be able to continue dealing damage to you if you turn your back unless you can also stay out of range of the shout. However, the Attack Damage reduction should not be ignored, either in a 1v1 against a Tryndamere or team fights where Tryndamere can hit most or all of a team with the shout. Mocking Shout cannot be activated unless Tryndamere can see a champion in range.

Spinning Slash (E) Tryndamere slices toward a target unit, dealing damage to enemies in his path.

Tryndamere's Spinning Slash causes Tryndamere to spin towards a location, dealing damage to all enemies in the path. This ability ignores collision. Spinning Slash is effective as both a gap closer and a fleeing mechanic. It can be used to cross over many walls and other terrain. Spinning Slash is often used to immediately close the distance between Tryndamere and an opposing champion, either to initiate a fight or to chase someone who has used a blink ability. Combined with Mocking Shout, this can be very good against opponents fleeing, or simply to harass while in a lane.

Undying Rage (Ultimate) Tryndamere's lust for battle becomes so strong that he is unable to die, no matter how wounded he becomes. Tryndamere's ultimate ability is Undying Rage. When activated, Tryndamere receives up to 100 Fury and becomes immune to death for 5 seconds. During this time, he cannot go below 1 health. He can activate this ability when stunned, silenced, or suppressed, making it difficult to rely on crowd controls to burst him before he can activate the ability. Undying Rage defines Tryndamere's playstyle in the midgame and especially lategame. Due to Bloodlust, which increases his attack damage based on missing health, and Battle Fury, which increases his critical strike, Tryndamere is most powerful while he remains at or near 1 health. Undying Rage is also effective very early in the game to tower dive low health opponents and survive long enough to get back out of the tower's range. Towards the very end of the duration of Undying 399 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Rage, Tryndamere may use Bloodlust to heal himself and, if has the gear, use normal attacks to lifesteal health back, so that Damage Over Time effects such as Ignite don't kill him. Once Tryndamere reaches level 6, never assume you can kill him quickly, especially if it involves tower diving him.

Champion Notes & Countering Tryndamere can completely destroy players on an opposing team during Undying Rage if he isn't countered. Left unchecked, he is one of the strongest champions in the League. However, there are ways to counter him at each stage of the game. First, if playing in a Draft Mode, make sure you're choosing summoner skills to help. The single most important ability is Exhaust. Ignite may also be helpful, especially against a less experienced Tryndamere, as the effect will continue dealing DOT damage after Undying Rage ends. When possible, you'll also want champions with crowd controls; since Tryndamere uses normal attacks for his damage output, champions with blinds can be as effective as many other champions who provide crowd controls. Second, Tryndamere still needs farm. His sustain is based on generating Fury to use Bloodlust for healing himself; he generates Fury based on being in melee range and attacking minions or players. The key to breaking his early farm in a lane is dealing enough burst to him that he cannot safely get in melee range to generate Fury from minions. The degree to which you can effectively prevent him from healing himself will determine his strength in the mid game. Third, Tryndamere is devastated by all forms of crowd control, but is particularly vulnerable to strong slows in team fights. In the mid and especially late game, you can remove even a very fed Tryndamere's effects by preventing him from getting in range of anyone on your team when he is using Undying Rage. This is where Exhaust comes in, but also any other slows or stuns that will keep him at a distance. Tryndamere may use either Cleanse or Quicksilver Sash to break these if necessary, and may choose to go for items like Mercury Treads or Cloak and Dagger to decrease the effectiveness of crowd control. Tryndamere is one of the few melee carries who can get away with building more directly offensive items with little penalty. Part of this may mean Lifesteal items such as Bloodthirster. This makes it especially important to keep at range during Undying Rage, so you can make sure he remains at low health once Undying Rage ends, ideally allowing you to easily nuke him from a range. It goes without saying that you want Tryndamere using Undying Rage. Against a good Tryndamere, you should always burst him to the point of using it, then immediately focus damage on other targets and stay away from him if possible. While many teams make the mistake of burning all their crowd controls and burst on Tryndamere at the start, not realizing he can activate Undying Rage while crowd controls, other teams make the mistake of ignoring him altogether, allowing him to kill off members of their team 400 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

without even needing to burn Undying Rage.


Don’t Feed Urgot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZiozOpFjpA

Champion Notes Champion is absurdly fun, I had no idea how cool he was until I started playing him. Since I didn't say it in the video, I'll add a quick suggestion -- if you think you may lane against Urgot, you really should consider purchasing boots with your starting income. Urgot is slow, so it not only helps avoid his skillshots, but also get away from him. One thing Tashim (one of the people I play with) and I started doing was swapping players onto Caitlyn traps. You'll seee it occur when I swap Ashe at the tower. Kind of dirty.

Introduction Urgot is a ranged physical damage champion. While he can provide high burst damage, he brings substantial utility to his team.

Zaun-Touched Bolt Augmenter (Passive) Urgot's attacks reduce his targets' damage by 15% for 2.5 seconds. Urgot's passive causes targets he attacks to deal 15% less damage for 2.5 seconds. Because of this, Urgot may choose to attack high-damage targets during team fights. Combined with other damage reduction effects, such as Maokai's Vengeful Maelstrom or the summoner ability Exhaust, this can significantly blunt an opponent’s damage.

Acid Hunter (Q) Urgot fires an Acid Hunter missile that collides with the first enemy it hits, slowing the target if he has his Terror Capacitor up. Acid Hunter missile-locks on enemies affected by Noxian Corrosive Charge.


Urgot's Acid Hunter is a skill shot missile that fires directly towards the mouse cursor, using the same functionality as smart casting. While this ability does not apply other on-hit effects, it still applies Urgot's passive to the target it strikes. Though this ability is relatively weak at first, it dramatically scales in damage through each rank. In the early game, try to avoid becoming an easy target for Acid Hunter shots. As a skill shot with relatively long range, this can be used effectively over terrain or to land shots in bushes.

Noxian Corrosive Charge (E) Urgot launches a corrosive charge that damages enemies in an area and reduces their armor. Urgot's Noxian Corrosive Charge, though, will make this difficult. This is a skill shot ability that drops a cloud of poison on the ground, granting temporary vision to the affected location. Any target hit by this cloud has their Armor reduced and receive physical damage over 5 seconds. More importantly, though, any target hit by this ability can be targeted by the Acid Hunter missile. By mousing over a target affected by the charge and seeing the targeting reticule, Urgot can fire his Acid Hunter at large distances and over terrain. If the charge is followed up quickly, Urgot can get multiple Acid Hunter shots on his target before the effect expires. The combination of Corrosive Charge and Acid Hunter make Urgot brutally effective in the early game. If he lands even a single Acid Hunter, this can allow him to get a kill. Be very, very careful to avoid Charges, and if you get hit, you may want to immediately get out of his vision to help avoid further Acid Hunter shots. Though the damage output is not as dangerous in the later stages of a game by comparison to hard carries, he brings other utility to teams by that point.

Terror Capacitor (W) Urgot charges up his capacitor to gain a shield. While the shield is active, Urgot gains slowing attacks. Part of his additional utility comes in the form of Terror Capacitor. This is a 7 second shield he applies to himself that prevents a certain amount of damage. While this shield is active, he can slow any target he lands either normal attacks or his Acid Hunter missiles on by up to 40%.


Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser (Ultimate) Urgot charges up his Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser, swapping positions with the target. His target is suppressed for the duration of the channel. He gains increased armor and magic resistance after the swap. Urgot's ultimate is Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser. This ability allows him to swap places with a nearby enemy after 1 second. During the 1 second channel, Urgot gains additional Armor and Magic Resist, and his target is stunned and suppressed. Once the swap has completed, the target is slowed by 40% for 3 seconds. The Position Reverser can be used to bring targets into range of his towers, allowing for unexpected burst damage. Be very careful any time you are fighting Urgot near a tower.

Position Reverser can also be fantastic for avoiding ganks. When attacking Urgot, keep an eye on his possible targets for swapping and be prepared to either crowd control him during the swap or immediately change directions to follow him. This ability makes Urgot a fantastic initiator in team fights, and can be used over terrain. Be careful if you see an Urgot but cannot account for his teammates on the mini-map. In games with coordinated teams, Urgot can be especially effective when coupled with other champions that can provide support and crowd controls when Urgot initiates. In these situations, Urgot can surgically remove champions from the enemy team before the real fights even begin. This is especially dangerous to watch out for as an initiator for an opposing team -- if you have a charge or other gap closer, you can be pulled even further back and killed before your team can reach you if you're not careful.


Don’t Feed Varus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvrskcqZazw

Champion Notes Varus is a great champion in terms of his combination of utility and carry potential. You have to be very smart about positioning to be effective with him, but I'm hesitant to call him a high skill cap champion on this alone (since positioning is something you learn independent of champions). That said, he's also a skillshot champion, and he has room for amazingly skilled players to pull off amazing plays (particularly with blight stacking on multiple opponents). I played Varus primarily as a ranged AD carry, and I feel this is his only strong role. While he does scale decently off AP, a quick look at the math led me to feel it just isn't enough to justify how much he loses from not going AD. I'll be pleasantly surprised if some players do pull off an effective AP build on him, though. Phreak mentioned playing him at mid. I don't see a reason to do this, though it obviously does give him a big edge. Varus does fine in a duo lane with a support.

Build Recommendations Anyway, standard AD setup (mix this up how you like): Runes: Red Armor Penetration or Attack Damage (Armor Pen helps later, Attack Damage helps last hitting earlier), yellow Armor or Attack Damage, blue Magic Resist, Attack Damage quints. Masteries: 21/9/0 for duo lane, with an emphasis on physical damage in offensive and health/armor in defensive. 21/0/9 for a solo lane where you'll be getting blue buff, with the utility points going towards buff duration. Summoner spells: Anything + Flash. I never found a must-have second spell for Varus, and generally could make use of Teleport/Ghost/Ignite/Exhaust/Heal all fairly well. The Ignite/Exhaust were less critical because I number of engagements were long range where I was out of range to use them. 405 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Skills: R, either max Q or W first (with at least one early point in the one you don't max first), and max E last. Q is better for poke and positional damage, W is better for longer engagements and skirmishes, particularly when your Q is very likely to pass through minions before reaching your target. Both are very justifiable. (In all honestly, you could get away with maxing Q/E first with W last, it merely alters how you use your abilities and what the ideal positioning is for them; W is nice because it's not position dependent) Items: All the standard Ranged AD Carry items. If you're very ability-dependent, your item choices can go heavier in straight attack damage rather than scaling through crit or attack speed (i.e. a Bloodthirster can be better than an Infinity Edge if you're primarily using abilities for damage). Anyway, consider Infinity Edge, Phantom Dancer, Bloodthirster, Last Whisper (if they have any appreciable armor), and certainly at least one survivability item around your 3rd or 4th item depending on who you're against. Remember that positioning is everything, so a survivability item plus a movement speed item (like Phantom Dancer) helps quite a bit. As far as boots, Mercury Treads are a very solid bet if the opposing team will lock you down with crowd control. I found myself countering a number of teams with Ninja Tabi while I was playing, and this worked out well particularly when I went up against enemy AD carries.

Introduction Varus is a ranged champion who deals primarily physical damage while providing utility to his team. He has a moderate movement speed and a quick attack animation.

Living Vengeance (Passive) On kill or assist, Varus temporarily gains Attack Speed. This bonus is larger if the enemy is a champion. Varus' passive is Living Vengeance. When Varus kills a minion, he gains a small amount of attack speed for a short duration. When Varus kills or receives an assist on a champion, he gains a larger attack speed bonus for a longer duration. This overwrites the minion bonus, and cannot be overwritten by the minion bonus. These bonuses do not stack.

Piercing Arrow (Q) 406 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Varus readies and then fires a powerful shot that gains extra range and damage the longer he spends preparing to fire. Varus' Piercing Arrow is a line skillshot that passes through units. This deals high physical damage, but the damage is significantly reduced for every unit it passes through, until it reaches a base minimum damage. This ability can be cast immediately or after a delay. If Varus delays firing this, the range on the ability rapidly increases. While pulling back, Varus moves more slowly and cannot use normal attacks or cast other abilities. If Varus delays firing the arrow, it deals more damage, up to a maximum that is significantly higher than the normal damage of the ability. If Varus delays firing for several seconds, the ability is canceled. He regains part of the mana cost. The cooldown for Piercing Arrow does not begin until the previous Piercing Arrow has either been fired or canceled. If Varus delays firing, the ability can be canceled and put on it's full cooldown if he is silenced or otherwise disabled.

Blighted Quiver (W) Varus' basic attacks deal bonus magic damage and apply Blight. Varus' other abilities detonate Blight, dealing magic damage based on the target's maximum health. Varus' Blighted Quiver passively provides bonus magic damage on his normal attacks. Additionally, Varus applies a stack of Blight to opponents with each normal attack, which stacks up to three times. If any of his other abilities strike an opponent with Blight stacks, each stack of Blight will deal damage equal to a percentage of the target's maximum health. Blight can be stacked on multiple opponents. Blight stacks last several seconds, and the duration of each stack is refreshed by new attacks. If one of Varus' other spells is blocked by a spell shield, Blight stacks are not consumed, and will remain active until they expire or until Varus hits the target with another spell.


Hail of Arrows (E) Varus fires a hail of arrows that deal physical damage and desecrate the ground. Desecrated ground slows enemies' Movement Speed and reduces their healing and regeneration. Varus' Hail of Arrows is a long-range skillshot that deals physical damage in an area. Additionally, the area gains a persistent slowing and healing reduction aura for several seconds. Spell shield will block the initial damage from the spell, though the slow and healing reduction will still affect the target.

Chain of Corruption (Ultimate) Varus flings out a tendril of corruption that immobilizes the first enemy champion hit and then spreads towards nearby uninfected champions, immobilizing them too on contact. Varus' ultimate is Chain of Corruption. When cast, the first enemy champion in a long line is dealt magic damage and briefly immobilized. As soon as Chain of Corruption strikes an enemy champion, any enemy champions around the location where the first player was hit will have visual chains connecting them to that location. After a brief delay, they will also receive damage and be briefly immobilized. However, if the champions who are chained quickly move away from the location of the first affected player, they will not be affected. Note that this is location-specific, not related to the champion who was hit -- in other words, if a player with high tenacity breaks free early and moves away from their allies, this will not prevent the chains from hitting their allies. Tenacity also has no affect on the speed at which the ability spreads. Chain of Corruption can spread from newly affected champions in the same way as the initial chain, though it will never go back to a previously affected champion. If a champion is immune to crowd control, Chain of Corruption will fail. Spell shield will break both the initial Chain of Corruption and secondary spreading in most cases. However, in one of our test matches, spell shield twice failed to stop the initial application of Chain of Corruption. We were unable to repeat this in later tests, but there may be a bug causing this. Chain of Corruption provides vision on affected targets.


Champion Notes & Countering For Varus to reach his potential, he must make effective use of his spells. Since three of his core abilities are skillshots, and the other ability relies on those three, you will need to both understand his abilities and be consistent about landing them. Before going further, it needs to be emphasized that Varus is one of a limited number of hard carries with no strong escape mechanisms in fights. For this reason, positioning in smart places, particularly places where you are protected from flanking or have an escape path, is critical. This positioning also means that you should consider targets of opportunity before considering players in the back line during team fights. While you should take advantage of enemy carries who are out of position and expose themselves to your damage, it's usually better to clear out high priority threats who are in range of you before attempting to move past the front line to damage hard carries. Beyond this, he also generally will not measure up against other skilled AD carries with equal gear, particularly those with dashes or blinks who will avoid some or all of his skillshots. This is due to his lack of a steroid ability -- or, in other words, an ability that dramatically and persistently increases his damage per second. Fortunately, this is where his Chain of Corruption ultimate comes into play. While the ultimate isn't too strong in terms of changing the outcome of 1v1 fights, the root makes it far more likely that early and mid-game team ganks will be successful. Along with this, Varus has excellent farming potential, not just from his passive allowing for easy last hits, but also his ability to snipe out minions he can't safely get near with Piercing Arrow. Provided he has the mana, a combination of Piercing Arrow and Hail of Arrows can quickly clear out full minion waves, or at the very least, leave them low enough that he can quickly last hit the remaining minions. It is critical for Varus to make use of both his farming potential and team gank potential in order to stay a step ahead of the opposing team's AD carry. This will allow him to not only offer his utility to his team but also provide the full effectiveness of other AD carries. Because of the importance of positioning, his gold income has a direct impact on his ability to pump out damage on heavier fighters so his team can more quickly shut down enemy carries. At champion selection, the best complements to Varus are champions with hard crowd controls, particularly crowd controls that are not skillshots. This is largely because Varus can follow these up with Chains of Corruption to dramatically increase the length of time where a player cannot move from a position. 409 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Additionally, champions who can peel enemies off Varus or otherwise buy him time to live are ideal. While this is true for all teams with a hard ranged AD carry, it is important to understand that Varus may simply be zoned out of a fight by bulky champions with gap closers or crowd controls if teammates do not assist. Let's get into the abilities a little bit, starting with his Blighted Quiver since that affects how he uses his other abilities. The passive component of Blighted Quiver is fantastic for last hitting minions. While it's entirely possible to last hit without taking a point in this, you will last hit better with it, and you should consider taking at least one point early. Beyond this, you need to discipline yourself to using abilities after you've got Blight stacks on opponents. The burst damage on this is very significant. A master Varus player will be able to identify situations where they can benefit from stacking Blight on multiple targets, and alternate skillfully between them to make sure the stacks don't fall off.

His Piercing Arrow is a very strong ability, but you need to get used to weaving it in between your normal attacks for extra damage. As a general rule, it's not good to pull it back at any point while champions are still within normal attack range, as you are preventing yourself from using your own normal attacks or spells by doing this. The cooldown on this ability means you may not get an opportunity to use it twice in quick fights. For this reason, consider saving it until you have Blight stacks or until an opponent is fleeing. Piercing Arrow loses a lot of damage when it passes through other units. While it won't always be possible to avoid this, it's useful to consider when you're considering when to fire the shot, particularly if new minions are just approaching. Drawing the arrow back often only makes sense when an enemy is fleeing or otherwise won't be in range of you, or you want to utilize the long-range poke, or you want to last-hit minions at a distance when you're being zoned. You will need to lead your opponents a little with the shot, but the projectile is very fast and can be hard for an opponent to dodge. You can also use it to clear full minion waves if you combine the drawn back shot with Hail of Arrows. One last thing: When drawn back, Piercing Arrow has a long enough range that you can snipe Dragon from the outer wall even if he's been pulled into the river. In the early game you will need to choose how to best approach harassment. For more frequent exchanges between champions, Blighted Quiver can be a stronger ability than Piercing Arrow. Piercing


Arrow, on the other hand, excels at early game poke, particularly if your opponents let you get positions to hit them clear of minions.

By midgame, you need to consider when to use Piercing Arrow poke and when you should be using it strictly to proc Blight stacks. Hail of Arrows has two great perks to it. The first is that it has a very long range, which means it's usually easy to put in the path of a player who is fleeing and has just left your attack range. The second is the AOE healing reduction. This is a fantastic counter to heavy healing teams, particularly those who also have a lot of melee. Consider waiting on using this ability until enemies have committed to a location, then dropping it on that location. Beyond this, Hail of Arrows is great to leave behind you if you're fleeing opponents, particularly in bushes or other tight chokepoints. The damage on Hail of Arrows can be higher than Piercing Arrow if the Piercing Arrow must travel through several enemy units before damaging the intended target. Keep this in mind, particularly if you want to quickly burn Blight stacks but don't want to immediately use Piercing Arrow. On the subject of Blight, if multiple opponents have Blight stacks, using Hail of Arrows can be easier than Piercing Arrow to proc several at a time from a distance. As mentioned earlier, Varus' Chain of Corruption ultimate is very strong for group ganks and kills. It's generally a solid team fight skill, but it works much better against melee-heavy teams. Chain of Corruption works very well in conjunction with Hail of Arrows against healing-heavy teams. Locking them into the healing reduction for a few seconds while laying down burst from the team can help net solid kills. Chain of Corruption is a long range shot, but do make sure you're close enough that you're going to land the shot even if they move away from you. Missing Chain of Corruption locks out your core utility contribution to many fights. As a rule, try to land Chain of Corruption on targets that are already crowd controlled and unable to move.

At champion selection, the best champions you can choose against Varus will have some sort of blink or dash abilities, as well as hard crowd controls. Additionally, champions less reliant on healing mechanics will be less punished by his Hail of Arrows, so consider Support champions such as Lulu and Janna.


Champions with instant silences are brutal at countering Varus, as it can immediately stop the cast of Piercing Arrow and leave it on its full cooldown, potentially leaving him without an ability to proc Blight stacks. If you're laning against him in the early game, take a champion with high mobility or a spell shield. Most other AD carries can go toe-to-toe with Varus in early fights, provided you dodge at least one skillshot in the process. Try to take this advantage and harass early, but don't do so if you may come out too low to stay near minions. By getting zoned, you open yourself up to Piercing Arrows that aren't hitting minions, meaning they're dealing at or near maximum damage. For this reason, boots and health potions are ideal, as it lets you be more aggressive early and recover from it if the exchange leaves you lower than you need. Watch out for Blight stacks. While these are on you, his next spell will deal a lot of bonus damage. If you are fleeing and significantly beyond his attack range, make very hard 90 degree turns to fake Varus out. Piercing Arrow is a very fast projectile, so you really need Varus to miss it rather than attempt to dodge it once it's been fired. If you are reliant on healing and need to deal with Varus, watch out for his Hail of Arrows AOE and move immediately out of it. Varus can be completely zoned out of a teamfight by aggressive fighters, particularly those who can also avoid at least one of his skillshots in the process. If Varus is carrying the opposing team and is a significant threat, look for any opportunity where he is out of position. Take advantage of this immediately by focusing damage on him. Consider having at least one player ready to flank him from an unexpected path during team fights. Keep in mind that Chain of Corruption will immobilize you, but it won't prevent you from attacking or casting abilities. If you can ignore the relatively low damage from the ability, you may not need to worry about avoiding chains if you. Varus will punish melee heavy teams, and many AOE team comps. As with many other champions, watch out before you engage in tight areas such as jungle chokepoints.


Don’t Feed Vayne http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yH06YfJjm8

Champion Notes Pretty good champion, definitely a much higher skill cap than the abilities would make it appear.

Introduction Vayne is a fast, high damage champion who deals primarily physical damage but also deals some true damage.

Night Hunter (Passive) Vayne ruthlessly hunts evil-doers. She gains 30 Movement Speed when moving toward nearby enemy champions. Vayne's passive is Night Hunter, which causes her to gain 40 movement speed when running in a direction towards a visible enemy champion. This allows her to chase effectively.

Tumble (Q) Vayne tumbles, maneuvering to carefully place her next shot. Her next attack deals bonus damage. Vayne's Tumble causes her to roll a short distance in the direction of the mouse cursor. Additionally, once she has finished the roll, she gains additional damage on her next attack. Tumble can be used to avoid skillshots, and can pass directly under some skillshots. 413 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Tumble can be used to help chase down a fleeing opponent. Additionally, it can be used to help escape dangerous situations, though the cooldown does not begin counting until Vayne has attacked a minion or waited six seconds, making it difficult to use more than once in tight spots. Finally, Tumble is effective at last hitting minions in the early game due to the bonus damage. Vayne cannot Tumble over walls or other terrain. The bonus damage from Tumble does not apply to attacks on structures.

Condemn (E) Vayne draws a heavy crossbow from her back, and fires a huge bolt at her target, dealing damage and knocking them back. If they collide with terrain, they are impaled, dealing bonus damage and stunning them. Vayne's Condemn is a large crossbow bolt she fires towards an opponent. When it hits, the target is knocked back; if they are knocked back into a wall, they are impaled, stunning them for 1.5 seconds. Though simple in concept, this ability has a huge impact on whether Vayne is effective or not. If you're in danger of being killed by a Vayne, always keep her in a position where a Condemn will knock you farther away from her and her team. Tumble and Condemn have enormous synergy. Tumble allows her to get into positions where she can Condemn a player against a wall easily. Never assume you're safe just because Vayne is closer to a wall than you are, because she can simply Tumble out and Condemn in. This is also effective in chasing and fleeing, as she can tumble forward to condemn an opponent into a wall. Condemn will stun targets against structures and ruins such as towers, but not against player terrain such as Anivia's crystalize.

Silver Bolts (W) Vayne tips her bolts with a rare metal, toxic to evil things. The third consecutive attack or ability against the same target deals a percentage of the target's maximum Health as bonus true damage. (Max: 200 damage vs. Monsters) Vayne's Silver Bolts is a purely passive ability that causes every third consecutive attack on the same target to deal up to 8% of a target's maximum health as True damage. The animation for this is very clear: Two silver rings will stack around her target before the third shot. This ability can make it obvious who Vayne is focusing during team fights, so keep an eye on teammates if you have defensive abilities. 414 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Silver Bolts can make Vayne more effective against high-armor or high-health champions than other ranged carries. However, as a carry, she may still prefer softer targets who are a greater threat to her team. Silver Bolts can be an effective tool for minion farming. This can be combined with Tumble for a large damage attack which ensures a kill.

Final Hour (Ultimate) Readying herself for an epic confrontation, Vayne gains increased Attack Damage, stealth during Tumble, and triple the bonus Movement Speed from Night Hunter. Final Hour is Vayne's ultimate. When activated, Vayne gains additional movement speed when pursuing targets and additional attack damage for 8-12 seconds. Finally, her Tumble also causes her to stealth for 1.5 seconds. Though the movement speed and attack damage are core, the stealth on Tumble adds the most versatility. The stealth occurs before the Tumble motion occurs, which means she has several options for ambushing, including moving out of bushes and splitting a fleeing opponent off from their team by moving ahead and condemning them back. Additionally, this prevents her from taking targeted attacks while she cannot be seen, and can be effective in a pinch to juke or escape opponents. The damage bonus on Final Hour allows Vayne to deal substantial additional damage when attacking structures.

Champion Notes & Countering Vayne does not have any skillshots. However, both Condemn and Tumble have high skill caps, meaning Vayne is deceptively difficult to play at a very high level with. While Vayne is an excellent chaser, her movement speed does not benefit her when she is fleeing if there are no enemy champions in her path.


Don’t Feed Viktor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq2L76E0-l0

Champion Notes I didn't have many good games with Viktor, and those who've been following my stream know that I have a few complaints about him. That said, his ultimate and his Death Ray are pretty solid abilities, and I won't speak to whether he's overpowered or underpowered or where he fits in the current balance -- that's really up to the high ELO players. His Gravity Well is situationally good as well, especially for escapes. Anyway, I used both the Power Transfer and Death Ray augments extensively in the games I played. I did better on average with Death Ray just because I could actually unload damage, but my late game was usually more dangerous by going glass cannon route, especially since Power Transfer required me to stay in tight proximity to enemy champions. Basically, you can't get away with it if you're the only person on your team that's snowballing.

Build Recommendations I don't have much advice on builds for Viktor because -- again -- I didn't have many good games with him. The best games I had were straight Rabadon's/Death augment and spell pen boots, along with flash/ignite summoners, and prioritizing my E, then Q, and lastly W for abilities. 21/0/9 masteries with a focus on all the AP options as well. The games where I went Power Transfer weren't all bad. The speed boost really is nice. For kicks I did Support Viktor with the Gravity Field augment, where we did surprisingly well. This was a Leona-style role where I played disruption rather than nuker.

Introduction Viktor is a mid-range, magic damage champion with strong AOE damage and utility. 416 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Viktor has a base movement speed of 310 and an attack range of 525, placing him as a mid-speed champion with decent auto-attack range. He has among the lowest mana regeneration rates in the League. He has a base 30 Magic Resist and this does not scale with level.

Evolving Technology (Passive) Viktor starts with a Hex Core that provides him with stats and can be upgraded in the store to augment one of his abilities. The Hex Core can only be upgraded once, and cannot be sold back to the store. Viktor's passive is Evolving Technology. When he starts the game, one of his item slots is already filled with an item called the Hex Core, granting him 3 additional ability power per level. While at the store interface, Viktor can click the Hex Core to choose between three upgrade options called Augments. Each upgrade offers unique stats and affects one of his three non-ultimate abilities. Each augment will be covered with their affected ability. The Hex Core cannot be sold or removed from his inventory in any way. Once upgraded, Viktor's staff will change colors and he cannot change the Hex Core again.

Power Transfer (Q) Viktor blasts an enemy unit dealing magic damage, returning a portion of the damage dealt as a shield. Viktor's Power Transfer is targeted, mid-range spell that deals damage to a target. Once the projectile reaches its target, it returns to Viktor, granting him a temporary shield based on the listed damage of the ability. Power Transfer does not need to successfully damage a target for the spell to return and grant him a full shield. If the projectile hits a target with a spell shield or even a target that dies before it can deal damage, Viktor will still gain a full shield. However, a disjointed cast, such as when Fizz uses Playful/Trickster, will completely end the spell, preventing Viktor from gaining the shield. The yellow Hex Core augment for Power Transfer increases his health and health regeneration. Additionally, any time Power Transfer is cast, Viktor briefly gains dramatically increased movement speed. Unlike the shield, the movement speed increase is instantly applied simply by using the ability on a valid target. 417 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

For clarification, Power Transfer does not need to finish casting, such as if the targeted dies before the cast time completes, and Viktor will still gain the movement speed buff. In this situation, Viktor gains run speed without spending mana or putting Power Transfer on cooldown.

Gravity Field (W) Viktor conjures a heavy gravitational field that slows any target in its radius. If enemies stay too long within the radius of the device, it gets stunned. Viktor's Gravity Field is a slowing field placed on the ground within a moderate range. Enemies within the field gain a rapidly stacking slow effect, resulting in a stun if they remain within the field for 3 stacks. If placed within a bush, the effect is visible to players outside the bush. This ability can fully block the path in tighter corridors, such as those in the jungle. Spell shields will prevent a player from being stunned in a Gravity Well. The player will still take two stacks of the slow, but the third application that would stun the player consumes the spell shield and is blocked. If the player stays in the same field after it consumes their spell shield, they will build slow stacks again but will reset again without a stun. In other words, a player with a spell shield is slowed but cannot be stunned by a Gravity Well. The blue Hex Core augment for Gravity Field increases his mana and mana regeneration and grants him cooldown reduction. Additionally, it dramatically increases the range from Viktor where a Gravity Field can be placed.

Death Ray (E) Viktor uses his robotic arm to fire a chaos beam that cuts across the field in a line, dealing damage to any opponents struck in its path. Viktor's Death Ray is a line skill shot that is fired in a direction from any nearby location. All enemies in a small area around where the line travels are dealt magic damage. Once the Death Ray has begun, Viktor can move freely while it is firing. This is targeted by clicking a start point and dragging in a direction. Though he can only begin the Death Ray in a medium range of himself, the ray can fire significantly beyond this point, making it useful as a long range poke and damage dealer. Death Ray grants vision, allowing it to be used for scouting bushes and hidden locations at a distance. Additionally, Death Ray does not grant vision of Viktor to enemies hit by the ability while he is in a bush. 418 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

With ability power prioritized throughout the game, Death Ray can be a strong tool for farming, able to kill caster minions instantly and deal significant damage to other minions. The red Hex Core augment for Death Ray grants additional Ability Power. Additionally, it adds a damageover-time effect to Death Ray, causing it to deal a percentage of the original damage as bonus damage over several seconds.

Chaos Storm (Ultimate) Viktor conjures a singularity on the field which deals magic damage and briefly silences enemies. The singularity then does magic damage to all nearby enemies every second. Viktor can redirect the singularity. Viktor's ultimate is Chaos Storm. This is an area-of-effect spell that is cast on a location within a moderate range of Viktor. When it is cast, it deals a burst of magic damage to all affected enemies and briefly silences them. Once cast, Chaos Storm will remain active for several seconds. During this time, the storm will continue to deal a small amount of magic damage every half second to any enemies who remain under it. Any enemies affected by the storm for the full duration will take very significant damage. Chaos Storm is a mechanically complex skill. Once it has been placed, the ability can be frequently redirected without regard to range while it is active by using the ultimate again and selecting a new location. The storm moves faster the closer it is to Viktor, but can still go to extreme distances in some circumstances. If Chaos Storm is initially placed near an enemy champion, it will latch onto them and automatically follow them unless redirected. This will occur even if the champion was stealthed when the ability was placed, or goes into stealth during the ability, making it very easy to track an escape. If Chaos Storm is not initially placed near an enemy champion, it will not automatically latch onto enemies that cross its path while it is active. The silence and initial burst will not apply to champions moving in range once it has already been cast. The storm grants vision over a small area. If the storm is cast within a bush and enemies do not have vision over the bush, enemies will be unable to see the storm for the full duration, though parts of the animation will still be visible while the storm is dealing damage. This remains true both if they walk into the bush or if the storm is redirected out of the bush once cast. \


Champion Notes & Countering Viktor is versatile in how he builds throughout the game and it is generally a good idea to check out whether he's building heavy ability power or more survivability and sustainability. Aside from dramatically increasing his per-cast damage, Ability Power builds have the advantage of providing him with an easier farm. However, they leave him vulnerable to burst damage in team fights, a significant issue due to his relatively short spell ranges that encourage him to be closer to potential threats. If Viktor has a strong early game and prioritizes Ability Power, it is strongly recommended that you build health, magic resist, or both. Survivability builds generally increase his ability to stay in fights but come at a cost of providing relatively little beyond the utility of his spells and damage from his ultimate. While the Power Transfer augment can make him a brutal opponent in extended 1v1 engagements, it is generally acquired in the early mid game where it may be more difficult to find many 1v1 environments. One of the biggest keys to shutting down Viktor lies in managing his early game and sending the right opponent against him. While he can effectively harass and zone players with his Death Ray, a player with boots may find this easier to avoid. His weakness is in his Power Transfer. In quick single-spell exchanges between casters, particularly in the early game, Power Transfer will rarely shield him quickly enough that he hasn't already taken the full damage of the enemy's spell first. Beyond this, many champion spells simply have a longer range than Power Transfer, putting Viktor in a position where he has no counter at all beyond Death Ray. Champions such as Kassadin can quickly and easily zone Viktor. Viktor is a far stronger champion with the blue golem buff, allowing him to more consistently poke laning opponents at a distance with Death Ray and keep enough mana on reserve for Gravity Field if a gank is attempted. Do what you can to prevent him from acquiring the blue golem buff. Without the augment, Gravity Well has too short of a range to use offensively in many situations. Viktor may wait for another crowd control or slow to be applied by a teammate, guaranteeing the slow is applied. That said, Gravity Well is outstanding at stopping aggressive opponents. This is true during any chase, especially in the jungle, or ganks at his lane. It is a strong deterrant from enemies with gap closers. If Viktor is doing particularly well, he can use it to zone opponents from getting into their minions, and can be good to slow or stop tower pushes throughout the game. In team fights, understand that Viktor can be devastating, especially to players that are grouped tightly together. His Chaos Storm, Death Ray, and Gravity Well all significantly alter the dynamics of team fights. Avoid having too many people grouped up too tightly.


Watch out for Gravity Well being applied on or near carries or other critical players in these encounters. If the team fight is going poorly, a well-placed Gravity Well can often allow a clean escape for a team by forcing opponents to choose to go through the well or around it. If Viktor is a serious threat to your team, keep in mind that he must stay within a moderate distance of players in any fight to get his full damage out. You can either burst him down or wait for him to get out of position chasing low health targets.


Don’t Feed Vladimir http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NUTPytYOFM

Champion Notes He's not what he used to be, but he's loads of fun in the right matchups. I chose to work on this champion specifically because you guys requested him so frequently, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how cool he could be. He's one of the few champions where I felt like a penta-kill was around the corner in every fight, and even though I didn't get one, he still had a huge impact on the team battles.

Build Recommendations For Masteries, I went 9/0/21 with an emphasis on CDR and Ability Power, and avoiding the mana-related perks. CDR has a big impact on his abilities in fights and skirmishes since they're already at short cooldowns, so you really can squeeze more casts in during fights by having it. For Runes, I went Insight magic pen reds always. For yellows, either health/level or flat armor (armor if you're likely to go against a physical player in lane is better). Blues are 9x ability power, or 8x CDR and 1x ability power (8x gets you ~5% so you'll still cap at 40% w/ items). Quints are either flat Ability Power or 6% spell vamp (totaling 9% spell vamp with masteries, making Tides of Blood spam viable right off the bat). Summoner was almost always Teleport and Flash, though this had more to do with my preference for top lane than anything else (teleport gives dragon control and gank opportunities, a couple of which are shown in the video). If you're mid or bot, Ignite/Flash can be good.Summoner heal gets a big bonus from his stacked Tides buff, so you can very easily justify heal/flash as well. In game, I almost always maxed Q first, E second, and W last, with one early point in W. Ultimate whenever you can, as always. Q is not only great for last hitting (whereas E is great for destroying creep waves quickly), but it comes down so much in cooldown with ranks that it gives amazing sustain. Items: Boots and 3x health pots, or occasionally Doran's Shield if I was going against a strong physical harass in lane. Will of the Ancients was virtually always my first big purchase, and it's easy to build 422 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

towards quickly. Lucidity for CDR I found better than Sorc shoes, but others disagree -- your call. Rabadon's or Rylai's are both fantastic next purchases, in either order. Zhonya's is a very solid pick too if you know you're going to be a high priority for the other team.

Introduction Vladimir is a magic-damage caster with strong sustainability and durability. He has moderate base run speed and a relatively short attack range. Vladimir does not use mana or energy as a resource. Instead, two of his spells cost him health and one returns his health.

Crimson Pact (Passive) Every 40 points of bonus health gives Vladimir 1 ability power and every 1 point of ability power gives Vladimir 1.4 bonus health (does not stack with itself). Vladimir's passive is Crimson pact. This grants him bonus ability power based on his health and bonus health based on his ability power. This does not stack with itself. For example, bonus ability power gained from health through his passive will not also grant him more health. This passive means that health and ability power items are more cost effective for Vladimir, and he may take this into consideration when gearing.

Transfusion (Q) Vladimir drains life from his target. Vladimir's Transfusion instantly deals magic damage to a target. This is followed by blood moving from the target to Vladimir. Once this reaches him, he is healed for a set amount that scales with ability power. Though spell shields will block the damage of the ability, Vladimir will still gain health back. The cooldown on this ability is dramatically reduced by level.


Sanguine Pool (W) Vladimir sinks into a pool of blood becoming untargetable for 2 seconds. Additionally, enemies on the pool are slowed and Vladimir siphons life from them. Vladimir's Sanguine Pool causes him to turn into a pool of blood, briefly becoming untargetable. While in this state, he can move freely, slowing enemy units he passes over and dealing periodic damage based on a percentage of his bonus health. He cannot cast any abilities until the effect ends. To use this ability, he must spend a significant percentage of his remaining health. Note that this is his current health, not his maximum health. While in the pool, he is healed for a percentage of the damage he deals to targets. In other words, he can recover health if he is hitting units with the ability, but will not recover health if he is using the ability strictly as an escape mechanism without hitting opponents. Becoming untargetable means targeted spells that are in flight will be disjointed, completely ending them. Skillshots such as Morgana's Dark Binding will pass directly through him without impacting. While in pool form, Vladimir will not be targeted by towers or normal attacks from enemy champions or minions. However, damage over time effects such as Ignite will continue to damage him while in the pool, and some area effects such as Veigar's Event Horizon will still affect him. Channeled effects such as Fiddlesticks’ Drain will also continue to function. Sangunine Pool also has one more important caveat. If it is used immediately after casting Transfusion, he will disjoint the blood returning from the cast, preventing him from receiving the heal. Sanguine Pool applies both its damage and slowing effect through spell shields, and does not consume them.

Tides of Blood (E) Vladimir unleashes a torrent of blood, damaging surrounding enemies. Additionally, multiple Tides of Blood in a short period of time cause them to cost additional health and deal additional damage, and increases his healing and regeneration by 8%. Vladimir's Tides of Blood fires projectiles at all enemies within a moderate range. Upon hitting them, they take magic damage. Tides of Blood costs a flat amount of health. Each time he casts it, he gains a stacking buff which increases his healing and regeneration, including healing from abilities.


Each stack also increases the damage of the ability and the health cost of the ability. This stacks a maximum of four times. Tides of Blood will hit stealthed targets, as well as targets within nearby bushes, clearly indicating their location. Tides of Blood cannot kill Vladimir, and can be cast even if he cannot afford the health cost. If this occurs, he will be brought to one health.

Hemoplague (Ultimate) Vladimir infects an area with a virulent plague. Affected enemies take increased damage for the duration. Hemoplague deals additional magic damage after a few seconds to infected enemies. Vladimir's ultimate is Hemoplague. When cast on a location, all nearby enemies are debuffed for several seconds. While debuffed, these targets take significant additional damage from all incoming attacks and abilities from Vladimir and his allies. After the debuff expires, all surviving enemies will be dealt a large burst of magic damage. Hemoplague can only be blocked by spell shields when it is initially cast. Activating a spell shield when Hemoplague explodes will not prevent damage.

Champion Notes & Countering Vladimir is an extremely survivable champion in his lane. Right out of the gate, his Transfusion allows him to sustain himself. Since it costs him nothing and does a moderate burst of damage in the first few levels, he can use it to effectively last hit low health minions. To counter him in the early game, look for an opportunity to seize the advantage through effective burst and zoning. If he cannot comfortably stay in range of minions and cannot safely build stacks of Tides of Blood, he will have a far more difficult time recovering his health than he normally will. In the early levels, his Transfusion has a long enough cooldown that shorter-cooldown harass spells or auto-attacks with a moderate range can punish him. Also, the moment you see him cast Transfusion on a minion, immediately move in range and counterattack him. If you can pressure him into using Sanguine Pool, he will not only lose health but also lose his strongest escape in the lane, allowing for a more effective gank. Avoid pushing minions to his tower while you have a lane advantage. A large group of minions means he will gain excellent farm and likely recover most of his lost health with little risk. 425 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

That said, pressing an early game advantage over Vladimir does not lock him out of the game as much as it does with other champions. Vladimir is one of the strongest farmers in the game, and basic spell vamp is enough for him to recover more health from casting Tides of Blood than he spends on it. Multiple stacks on Tides of Blood can allow for him to clear full minion waves in just a few seconds. In other words, he can sustain and heal from minion waves by rapidly clearing them, without needing to worry about a resource like mana. By the same token, his best farm occurs by pushing the lane and potentially overextending, which can lead to good opportunities for a gank. Sanguine Pool can be a daunting escape, but keep in mind that it does cause significant damage to him if he uses it without moving into enemies. If possible, use an ability such as a targeted crowd control to encourage him to pool, then follow it up with another crowd control. Don't forget that damage-over-time effects such as Ignite work, and a welltimed Ignite before a pool can wreck his health returns. Aside from that, be careful not to waste abilities when Vladimir is pooling, as he cannot be effected by an enormous number of the abilities in League of Legends. Don't be put off by Vladimir's high health. Unless he has also built high magic resist or armor, he can still be burst down relatively easily in team fights, if necessary. He may build Zhonya's or other items specifically for avoiding this. All that said, Vladimir is ultimately a pure AOE champion with only one moderate single-target nuke. His Hemoplague is devastating, especially when combined with AOE ultimates and abilities from other champions. Watch out that you're not grouping too closely to each other, and avoid fights in tight areas such as the jungle. Watch for his build. A Vladimir who builds cooldown reduction and items like Will of the Ancients is going to have a lot of sustain and quick farm, but can more easily be bursted than a Vladimir with high health items such as Rylai's, or a Vladimir with Zhonya's. As Vladimir, there are three main things you must learn. First, take the initiative if you can. In a lane, you are strongest when you are able to maintain stacks of Tides of Blood and can stay in range to recover health with Transfusion. However, you cannot easily get back into lane dominance if you're already being zoned. Identify quickly whether you can zone an opponent or at least keep them from being aggressive, and consider using some early Transfusion casts for harass instead of last hitting. Second, try to judge your Sanguine pool casts. Making the wrong decision can kill you. As a general rule, try to use Sanguine Pool to avoid heavy CC's or skill shots that are likely to kill you. Never overestimate Sanguine Pool as an escape when considering whether to overextend. Damage over time effects are their most deadly while you're in Sanguine Pool and at low health, simply because you're also prevented from casting other abilities to recover your health. 426 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Finally, learn to manage Tides of Blood stacks. You can keep it stacked when minions are not around, but it's better if you do so closer to its expiration than spamming it the moment its off cooldown. This helps keep you at a little higher health. By the same token, you want to judge when team fights are about to occur, or when there's about to be a big wave of minions you want to clear in a nearby lane. When this occurs, begin stacking Tides of Blood as fast as possible while moving towards them.


Don’t Feed Volibear http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyGkdC1wNIA

Champion Notes My games were hit or miss with Volibear. I guess you could say I was a bi-polar bear! He was enjoyable but I felt he was very specialized to certain types of teams -- as I said in the movie, he'd be a lot better in draft mode where you have some idea of who you're up against. His lack of a strong escape mechanism, combined with his complete inability to close in on many champions without a summoner ability, or move-speed items like Shurelya's, or QSS, etc., made him frustrating in a number of games. (I particularly liked my game with Ezrael/Vayne/Riven/Talon, with an exhaust to really send the message home that I would never get near them until they made a mistake; my score was good and I believe we won, but I did not enjoy the game) I tried Volibear as a jungler, as a bruiser, as a pure tank, as a pure warmogs-stacking monster, and as a support tank. I never did an Ability Power or spell vamp build for him, so I won't speak to its effectiveness. I found I performed best with Warmog's, Atma's, and Shurelya's Reverie as my core items, and I rarely went far beyond this build as the games didn't last long enough. Shurelya's was a huge benefit. I saw a Solomid recommendation to pick up Wit's End, though I only tried this a few times.

Build Recommendations As always, this section is opinion, and is not included in the movie because it won't always be true, nor is it likely to be the best way to play this champion in many situations. Check out solomid.net, mobafire, and leaguecraft for guides and information when picking up a champion! I will cover how I played him successfully as a bruiser. The following works for laning or jungling. Runes: Armor pen or Attack Speed reds (both are effective, I might give an edge to Attack Speed depending on items). Armor yellows, flat magic resist blues. Health or Movement Speed Quints (both are good for him; I would only get Movement Speed if I had the speed bonuses from masteries as well).


Masteries: 0-21-9 was my go-to build for a beefier role on my team or as a jungler. The 21 points in defensive are fairly flexible, just make sure you get the health, armor and MR perks and the 21 pointer. When I wanted to dish out more damage, I'd go 21-9-0 with an emphasis on physical damage in offensive and picking up the health perk in defensive. Skills: W first in most cases. If I knew I would not be getting near minions or champions in my lane early, I'd go for Majestic Roar as my only escape, just so I could more safely stay in XP range. W is always priority from then on, with E secondary, and one early point in Q at level 2 or 3 but maxing it last. Ult whenever it's available. Summoner Skills: Flash. After this, I tended to go with Ghost or Heal. In hindsight, I should have made more use of Exhaust and/or Cleanse, and I'd recommend giving them a try. Use other summoner spells situationally. Gear: If I had Movement Speed quints and bonuses from masteries, I would get boots and health pots at the start. Otherwise, I would almost always get a rejuv pendant and a health pot to start. If you can get an early Warmog's or at least a Giant's Belt towards one, do it! Otherwise get a Philosopher's Stone, then boots (if you don't have them), and then Warmog's. After Warmog's you can choose to either go straight for Atma's (if incoming physical damage is more of an issue than getting in range of your target) or Shurelya's Reverie. Boots can safely be Merc Treads (any CC/slow heavy team), Lucidity (CDR is great for disrupting teams, and this goes well with Shurelya's), Berserker Greaves are not bad.

Introduction Volibear is a very durable melee-range champion with moderate crowd control.

Chosen of the Storm (Passive) Volibear heals rapidly for a few seconds when his health drops to a critical level. Volibear's passive is Chosen of the Storm. When Volibear drops below 30% of his maximum health, he automatically heals 30% of his maximum health over 6 seconds. Unless a healing reduction is applied, Chosen of the Storm can be looked at as a straight additional 30% health. Though this ability scales in effectiveness off his health, it can be important for Volibear players to keep Effective Health in mind and understand that both Armor and Magic Resist also improve his survivability in regards to this passive. 429 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

When the heal occurs, a visible debuff appears that indicates the cooldown before the passive becomes available again. If Volibear dies, this debuff is cleared. However, even without the visible debuff, the cooldown still continues, and both Volibear and other players should be aware of this if he has recently died. Chosen of the Storm has a relatively long cooldown, though it is in line with many ultimates and may be available for many or all team fights and skirmishes in the mid and late game.

Rolling Thunder (Q) Volibear drops to all fours and runs faster. This bonus speed increases when chasing enemy champions. The first enemy he attacks is thrown backwards over Volibear. Volibear's Rolling Thunder causes Volibear's next normal melee attack to deal additional damage and fling the target behind where Volibear is currently facing. Additionally, Volibear will receive a very significant run speed bonus if moving towards an enemy champion. Volibear does not gain any movement speed when moving towards stealthed enemies or enemies hiding in a bush. However, if a visible enemy he is chasing runs into a bush, he does not immediately lose his run speed buff. When Volibear begins his fling, there is a brief window of time where the fling has been initiated but a champion can still finish casting blink abilities. If this occurs, an enemy may blink away from Volibear, wasting the cooldown, but still be flung behind Volibear. For this reason, do not attempt to use blink abilities when Volibear is at or near melee range and Rolling Thunder is off cooldown; instead, wait until you've been flung, then go in a better direction. The bonus damage from Rolling Thunder is effective on towers, though he cannot fling towers behind him. Because Rolling Thunder deals bonus damage and acts as a brief crowd control, using the ability on targets who are already in melee range and unable to escape can be effective. Activating Rolling Thunder does reset the swing timer so he can immediately get two attacks in by using the ability.

Frenzy (W) Volibear's repeated attacks grant him additional Attack Speed. Once Volibear has repeatedly attacked three times, he can perform a vicious bite on his target which deals increased damage based on the target's missing health. 430 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Volibear's Frenzy causes him to passively gain attack speed after every attack, with this bonus stacking up to three times. Frenzy stacks will build up while attacking structures. The attack speed bonus only lasts for a few seconds. Once it has been stacked, a red paw will appear above his head. While the red paw is visible, Volibear can activate Frenzy to deal physical damage to a nearby target, plus bonus damage equal to a significant percentage of his health, plus additional damage for every percentage of missing health his target has. In other words, this ability is an execute-style ability that deals more damage based on his own health and is even stronger on opponents who are at low health. Activating Frenzy does not consume its stacks and he continues to retain the attack speed bonus. However, the activated component of the ability has a very long cooldown and can only be used 1-2 times in most skirmishes. If Volibear is not in danger of immediate team fights or skirmishes, Frenzy can be very effectively used for killing higher health minions and monsters.

Majestic Roar (E) Volibear lets out a powerful roar that damages and slows enemies. Minions and monsters are feared as well. Volibear's Majestic Roar deals magic damage and dramatically slows all nearby enemies for a few seconds. Additionally, minions and monsters are feared for the duration. Majestic Roar has a slightly longer range than either Rolling Thunder or Frenzy. For this reason, it can be useful to help get in range of a fleeing opponent to activate either of these abilities. If Volibear can definitely catch up to an opponent using the runspeed bonus of Rolling Thunder, he may instead save Majestic Roar for immediately after the toss has occurred, to ensure that the enemy cannot flee. Majestic Roar is Volibear's only escape mechanism, as it is the only tool that he can rely on to get distance between an enemy and himself. It is a better tool for helping his allies escape an opposing team, though, as he can charge towards chasing enemies to apply the slow. Volibear is a strong disruptor because of the synergy between Rolling Thunder and Majestic Roar. The fear on minions helps reduce damage he takes while ganking or harassing in a lane. It is also very helpful for jungling, especially when combined with Frenzy. The fear on minions has one other quirk -- it will fear clones, such as Shaco's hallucination, immediately distinguishing the real player. 431 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Thunder Claws (Ultimate) Volibear channels the power of the storm causing his attacks to blast his targets with lightning that bounces to other nearby enemies. Volibear's Thunder Claws causes his normal melee attacks to shoot out chain lightning for 12 seconds. The first charge hits his attack target with bonus magic damage, and this then chains to three unique targets in succession, dealing magic damage. Thunder Claws can be very effective in skirmishes and team fights because of the raw multi-target damage being dealt. Though Volibear cannot control the unique chain lightning hops, it appears to always prioritize nearby champions over minions, making it useful even in large groups of minions. Because Thunder Claws has a decent jump range, it can be used to kill enemies who've gone just out of range, by simply activating the ability and attacking approaching minions or nearby enemy champions. Even in a 1v1 situation, the bonus damage from Thunder Claws makes it worth activating if the outcome of the fight is uncertain or the burst would be beneficial. Thunder Claws will not jump to stealthed targets and targets hiding in a bush. While this ability does scale from ability power, it can be more cost effective to acquire Attack Speed instead, as it can be more beneficial to sustained DPS.

Champion Notes & Countering There are a number of things to keep in mind when countering Volibear. If Volibear gets to less than half health during the laning phase and you can safely harass him to burn his passive, this is usually worth the investment to prevent him from being overly aggressive. Alternatively, keeping him at this health while waiting for a gank, then bursting him before his full heal can occur is also effective. Don't be baited by a low-health Volibear who hasn't burned his passive, especially if he has health items. Volibear cannot be effective unless he can reach his targets. While his Rolling Thunder speed boost does help him in many situations, it simply is not effective against high-mobility champions, especially champions with blinks or significant speed boosts. He also has a serious problem chasing players with decent crowd controls or skill-shot slows or snares. Volibear may purchase items such as Shurelya's Reverie to help with this, and his team may help him break in towards enemy champions. Volibear is still strong at peeling off players on a team who are not as mobile, and this benefit alone can be very effective. 432 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

For this reason, it is important to remember that you don't have to run faster than the bear, just faster than a less-important teammate. Keep in mind that Volibear only has his Majestic Roar as an escape mechanism, and the max range on this ability is relatively limited. A ranged carry with Phage, Trinity Force, or Frozen Mallet can secure a kill on a fleeing Volibear relatively easily. Champions like Ezreal and Caitlyn can kite Volibear indefinitely with no risk to themselves if they're careful. In a 1v1 or team fight where Volibear is a serious threat, pay attention to whether his passive is available and his health is low enough that it is about to go off, then use a healing reduction effect such as Grievous Wounds or Ignite. Additionally, bursting him immediately at 30% health before many healing ticks get off makes him much easier to kill. Because of his mobility strengths and weaknesses and his passive, Volibear is better suited to draft mode games than blind pick games. He is a very strong pick against champions he can consistently get in range of that don't have built-in healing reductions. And if you're counter-picking a Volibear, champions with blinks are your safest bet. The final thing to keep in mind with Volibear is his Frenzy. While he has strong AOE damage, his signature ability is this execute ability, and it can be extremely dangerous if he has built any significant amount of health. If you are at low health, do everything you can to stay away from him for a few seconds until his red paw falls off; by doing so, you not only save yourself but can potentially save other teammates since he will need to build stacks again.


Don’t Feed Xerath http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOAqhUqDFJI

Champion Notes In my opinion, this is a fantastic example of a snowball champion. I found that he rides a line between being a team-destroying siege tank and an assist-bot who has to play it safe. As I mentioned in the movie, this line was pretty easy to distinguish by simply looking at whether I could one-shot caster minions (if not, I was falling behind). All the games I played w/ him were fun, though, and he's definitely a well-designed champion. (Sad that I'll have to move past him for the next DFs)

Introduction Xerath is a long-range magic-damage caster. He is very cooldown and mana-dependent.

Ascended Form (Passive) Xerath feeds on arcane power, making him increasingly resilient to physical harm. He converts 15% of his Ability Power into Armor. Xerath's passive is Ascended Form, which causes him to gain 15% of his ability power as Armor. Though the extra survivability is good, it generally should not discourage players who deal physical damage from attacking him as it benefits their team.

Arcanopulse (Q) Fires a long-range beam of energy, dealing magic damage to all targets hit. Xerath's Arcanopulse is a long-range burst of lightning that shoots in a line directly in front of him. This ability deals damage to all targets hit. Though the cast is quick, opposing champions will see a brief red indicator warning them of the direction it will be shot. 434 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Aside from securing kills, Arcanopulse is an excellent harassment ability. It has enough distance to fully cover the distance between walls in a side lane. If you will likely be laning against Xerath, consider taking boots as your first item and staying in motion throughout the laning phase. This will dramatically increase the difficulty of landing his Arcanopulse on you. Arcanopulse is a strong farming ability, especially if Xerath snowballs and can maintain enough ability power to one-shot caster minions.

Locus of Power (W) Xerath immobilizes himself near a source of magical power, increasing the range of all spells and granting him bonus % Magic Penetration. When the effect ends, Xerath's Movement Speed is increased for 2 seconds. Xerath's Locus of Power causes him to anchor himself to the ground for up to 8 seconds and gain a massive range bonus on each of his other abilities. While in this form, Xerath immobilizes himself, though he can still be knocked back and moved by enemy champion spells. When Locus of Power expires, he gains a 2 second movement speed increase. Locus of Power is a fairly straightforward ability. However, it defines his playstyle, as it allows him to act as extreme-range artillery. To benefit most from Locus, Xerath will not want to reveal his location before the bombardment begins. This prevents players from easily focusing him or using gap closers to reach him, and allows for unexpected burst damage. To achieve this, he may use bushes, where he can safely poke at towers. Alternatively, he can go entirely to the other side of terrain or into the jungle, or just stay farther back in a lane than any teamfights. Map vision is extremely effective both for Xerath and for teams trying to counter Xerath. If playing xerath, make sure your team is placing wards; if playing against Xerath, place wards but also make a strong effort to counterward. While mana can be an issue for Xerath, Locus costs him no mana and may be used freely aside from the cooldown. During Locus, Xerath is extremely vulnerable to skillshots, especially skillshots that can travel over minions.


Mage Chains (E) Deals magic damage to an enemy and marks them with Unstable Magic. The next spell Xerath strikes this enemy with stuns them for 2 seconds. Xerath's Mage Chains is a moderate range spell which deals magic damage and debuffs the target for 3 seconds. This debuff causes Arcanopulse and Arcane Barrage, his ultimate, to stun the target for 1.5 seconds if they land while it is active. Mage Chains is targeted and is not a skill shot. It also has a shorter range than his other abilities. Because Mage Chains can hit a little harder against a single target than Arcanopulse, he may use it as a single-target nuke when other abilities are on cooldown, but doing so means he may not have it available when a stun combo would net a kill. Mage Chains has a small travel time, which means Xerath cannot instantly fire off a stun combo before you can react. If you see Mage Chains fired, be very, very careful to avoid his other abilities.

Arcane Barrage (Ultimate) Calls down a blast of arcane energy, dealing magic damage to all enemies in an area.May be cast up to three times before going on cooldown. Xerath's ultimate, Arcane Barrage, is a long-range skill-shot artillery blast that can be fired up to 3 times within 12 seconds before going on cooldown. Arcane Barrage also temporarily grants vision around the area he has fired. This ability has a relatively short cooldown of a minute at rank 3. With cooldown reduction, this can be reduced to 36 seconds. Though he can't necessarily use it twice in most team fight situations, it does allow him to safely use it for farming minions and monsters between team fights. With Locus active, Arcanopulse and Arcane Barrage have identical range limits. If you can see the end of the Arcanopulse line shot, you can use that to determine how far away to stay to avoid his ultimate. This ability is especially destructive in team fights, to deal damage to players who are grouped up as well as snipe players attempting to leave. Combined with Arcanopulse, Xerath can effectively fire on ranged carries behind team fights while he stays away himself. If you haven't seen Arcanopulse fired recently, assume it is available. Do not underestimate the burst potential of the ability, and watch out for a combo where he applies Mage Chains then rapidly fires an Arcane Barrage. It is much easier to land an Arcane Barrage than Arcanopulse, and landing the Barrage makes it easy to land the arcanopulse.


Finally, don't forget that he gets three casts within 12 seconds. This is not an insignificant amount of time, and he may kill you with an unfired shot if you stick around.

Champion Notes & Countering Xerath is extremely vulnerable to being bursted down if players can get in range of him. As mentioned earlier, he is vulnerable to skillshots while in his Locus form. Xerath also has a limited burst potential; once he has fired off his Arcane Barrage, he must wait several seconds between each Arcanopulse, and longer between Mage Chains. In other words, if he doesn't kill you with his initial barrage, he doesn't have much to follow up with, so take advantage of this. The other thing to watch out for is Xerath running low on mana. With low mana it is very difficult for him to perform combos. Take advantage of this.


Don’t Feed Master Yi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w35-cYbSJp8

Champion Notes Such a good champion against poor team comps or teams with poor coordination, but I found he was completely unable to enter team fights against serious opponents. That didn't necessarily mean the game was lost, but I wouldn't try this champion in any serious setting unless the opposing team simply didn't have much crowd control. Definitely good for new players, though, so he belongs in the recommended category.

Introduction Master Yi is a very fast, high-damage melee champion.

Double Strike (Passive) Master Yi strikes twice every 7th attack. Master Yi's passive is Double Strike which causes him to swing twice every 7th attack. If laning against a Master Yi, watch out for him attacking minions to gain stacks, then quickly landing a double strike on you or a teammate.

Alpha Strike (Q) Master Yi leaps across the battlefield with blinding speed, dealing magic damage to multiple units in his path with a chance to deal bonus magic damage to minions. Alpha Strike is one of Master Yi's signature abilities. This ability causes him to strike four enemies in rapid succession.


Alpha Strike is targeted on an enemy within a moderate range of Master Yi. During Alpha Strike, Yi cannot be targeted or hit with skill shots or AOE damage. However, targeted spells, such as Taric's Dazzle, that were in flight towards Master Yi prior to Alpha Strike will still land on him once Alpha Strike has finished. After Alpha Strike has finished, Master Yi will usually be in melee range of his initial target. While this makes it an excellent gap closer, allowing him to easily get in range of someone he is chasing, it can also be used against him. If a Master Yi is frequently targeting you with Alpha Strike, quickly running, flashing, or using an ability to reach your tower will cause him to reappear under your tower. Followed up with any type of hard stun or crowd control, this can net you a kill. The final component of Alpha Strike is a chance to proc a large burst of magic damage on minions and monsters. This proc can occur on every non-player target the Alpha Strike hits. This ability makes Master Yi an incredibly good gold farmer. This often means Master Yi will be able to build strong items sooner than many other champions.

Meditate (W) Master Yi rejuvenates his body by focus of mind, restoring health and increasing his armor and magic resistance for a short time. Master Yi's Meditate is a channeled ability which regenerates health and temporarily increases armor and magic resistance by a large amount. Watch for Master Yi stepping back to his tower to quickly regenerate health during the laning phase. Because of the health regeneration and damage reduction, Master Yi can use this to survive abilities or sustained damage from enemies that may look like guaranteed kills. The best way to counter this is a hard stun, silence, fear, or other crowd control ability.

Wuju Style (E) Master Yi becomes skilled in the art of Wuju, passively increasing the power of his physical attacks. Activating Wuju Style doubles the passive bonus damage for a short time, but the passive bonus is temporarily removed after the effect wears off. Master Yi's Wuju Style provides a passive physical damage increase. If activated, Master Yi temporarily gains double the passive damage; however, once the temporary effect wears off, Master Yi will receive no additional damage until the ability is off cooldown. In other words, Master Yi can choose to take a temporary damage buff with a long-term damage penalty. 439 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Highlander (Ultimate) Master Yi moves with unparalleled agility, temporarily increasing Master Yi's movement and attack speeds as well as making him immune to all slowing effects. Additionally, killing a Champion refreshes all of Master Yi's cooldowns. Master Yi's Highlander is his second signature ability. This ability dramatically increases his movement and attack speed. Additionally, it causes him to be immune to all slowing effects. Finally, if he kills a champion during this temporary buff, all of his cooldowns are reset and become available to him again. If he gets an assist on a champion, his cooldowns are cut in half. In conjunction with Alpha Strike, Highlander makes Master Yi an extremely good chaser. The movement speed bonus is also excellent for getting out of a tight spot. Highlander makes Master Yi an excellent choice for taking down undefended towers and structures. This is because he can quickly get in or out of the area with the movement speed bonus, and because the attack speed helps him rapidly damage the structure while he is there. Always be careful about leaving undefended lanes and openings for Master Yi to exploit. When Master Yi kills a champion his cooldowns are reset. This includes the Highlander cooldown itself, meaning if he chases someone and kills them while under the effect of Highlander, he can use the ability again to get back out or simply continue the fight. While Alpha Strike is helpful to have refreshed, Wuju Style is perhaps an equally important ability to watch out for. If a Master Yi kills a player with Highlander active and Wuju Style active, Wuju Style's passive will kick in. This means Master Yi will temporarily have the effect of both Wuju Style's double damage active and the normal damage passive. This effect cannot be stacked multiple times, but at max rank, this is a very significant attack damage buff. During Highlander, Master Yi cannot be slowed. This can be frustrating, but it suggests a solution to Master Yi. Master Yi has no built-in defenses to hard crowd controls, particularly stuns. Master Yi can be devastated by a stun heavy team, even if he is well geared and has been effective through the early and mid game. Though an unchecked Master Yi can wipe out a new team in a group fight, a few well placed crowd controls and a team paying attention when he enters the fight can completely negate his effectiveness. But, as mentioned earlier, this makes it especially important to watch your undefended lanes, because Master Yi players may avoid team fights in favor of low-hanging fruit.


Don't Feed Ziggs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9HfWqz9tno

Champion Notes Ziggs is a complete blast to play. As those of you who watch the streams know, I had an immense amount of fun playing him, and there's all sorts of things he can pull off. He's fairly simple to jump into, but I place him firmly in the high skill cap category -- I guarantee you'll see some pro players pulling off amazing stunts with his Satchel Charge in the coming months.

Build Recommendations For masteries, 21/0/9 with an emphasis on Ability Power and magic damage bonuses in offensive along with mana and neutral buff duration in utility. For runes, magic pen reds (insight) for sure, then all your other slots are completely flexible. Know you'll be getting blue or otherwise won't have cooldown issues? Go for Ability Power. Want cooldown reduction or mana regen? Get them. He can be built effectively with any of these. Armor/Health/MR is fine as well, in a pinch. Summoner skills -- I personally went teleport and flash nearly every game. In theory, teleport is a great skill because it gives you total map control -- you don't need to get to a lane or right in a fight, you just need to get generally on that side of the map for your ult in many cases. In other words, even wards just at dragon or baron you have nearly full map coverage. But Ignite is fine, of course, as are other options, and I'm only explaining the logic of teleport, not necessarily saying its best! As far as abilities, I always maxed Q first, E second, and W third, with one early point in W. Ultimate always prioritized over the others. And for items, you've got lots of flexibility! I typically went Boots+3 health pots to start, got 1-3 dorans if I went back early, rushed Rabadon's Deathcap. After this, I'd go for some more AP items such as void staff (if they had high MR). Morello's is a good bet for cooldown reduction unless you reliably have blue buff and another source of CDR. Will of the Ancients I wasn't a huge fan of because a) all his spells take an AOE penalty on spell 441 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

vamp and b) if someone got in my face I was usually dead before spell vamp would pay off. When I used Zhonya's Hourglass I frequently saved myself, so a huge recommendation for that. And as a late game item, I strongly recommend Lich Bane, it is absurd what it can pull off. Get survivability items anywhere you need to, especially a Rylai's and/or Banshee's in a pinch.

Introduction Ziggs is a magic-damage caster. He is a relatively slow champion, though his normal ranged attacks can be thrown unusually far for a caster. With the exception of his passive, all of Zigg's abilities deal area damage.

Short Fuse (Passive) Every 12 seconds, Ziggs' next basic attack deals bonus magic damage. This cooldown is reduced whenever Ziggs uses an ability. Ziggs' passive is Short Fuse. After several seconds, Ziggs gains a buff that causes his next attack to deal bonus magic damage, which is increased both by level and ability power. The cooldown on this ability is significantly reduced every time he uses his other abilities. This damage is not considered a spell, and is not blocked by spell shields. However, he will not consume the buff and deal bonus magic damage while silenced. This bonus damage is effective against structures. For this reason, Ziggs may use abilities to reduce the Short Fuse cooldown even if they will not hit enemies.

Bouncing Bomb (Q) Ziggs throws a bouncing bomb that deals magic damage. Ziggs' Bouncing Bomb is a skill-shot throw that deals AOE damage. Ziggs can choose to cast the ability anywhere within a moderate range. Once cast, the bomb will arc into the air as it travels towards the location. This arc can easily go over large terrain, but can also easily go over enemy champions within the path.


Once it reaches its destination, it will have shorter follow-up bounces. The distance of these bounces is determined by how far he initially threw the bomb, meaning bombs thrown farther away will bounce significantly farther than bombs thrown nearby. At maximum range, bombs can be thrown beyond his vision range. The bomb can explode and deal its damage at any point along the path. This occurs when it collides with either an enemy or vertical terrain. If it misses these targets, it will explode once it stops bouncing. Bouncing Bomb has a very short cooldown.

Satchel Charge (W) Ziggs flings an explosive charge that detonates after 4 seconds, or when this ability is activated again. The explosion deals magic damage to enemies, knocking them away. Ziggs is also knocked away, but takes no damage. Ziggs' Satchel Charge is an explosive charge that is cast on a nearby location. While active, the charge grants vision in a small area around it. After several seconds, the charge will explode, dealing damage to all nearby enemies. Ziggs can activate this ability to explode the bomb more quickly. In addition to the damage, Satchel Charge also knocks all enemies within its radius away from it. This interrupts channeling abilities. If Ziggs is near his own Satchel Charge, it will knock him back, but he won't take damage. The distance he is knocked back is significantly larger than the distance enemies are knocked back. The distance of Satchel Charge's knockback is determined by the proximity to the charge. Being closer to the center of the blast results in a much larger knockback than being at the outer edge. While airborne, Ziggs is vulnerable to abilities such as knockbacks and knockups, and these can prevent him from reaching his destination. Also, while airborne, Ziggs can cast his other abilities. Against melee opponents, Satchel Charge can knock Ziggs and his opponent in opposite directions, allowing for a very strong escape. If placed within a bush, enemies who do not have vision will not be able to see the area indicator of the effect if they approach it. Even though this ability can be activated a second time to detonate it more quickly, only the first cast will reduce the cooldown of his Short Fuse passive. Even at higher ranks, this ability has a relatively long ability for a non-ultimate ability. 443 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

The ability will not go on cooldown until the bomb has been detonated.

Hexplosive Minefield (E) Ziggs scatters proximity mines that detonate on enemy contact, dealing magic damage and slowing. Ziggs' Hexplosive Minefield places small mines in a circular area near him. After a very short activation time, they will damage any enemies currently on them or any enemies who cross over them. If an enemy crosses over a mine, they take damage and are briefly slowed. Multiple enemies in activation range of the same mine at the same time will all take damage from its explosion. If an enemy is affected by more than one mine, all follow-up mines only deal half damage to that target. Mines expire after several seconds. Spell shields operate normally against mines, fully blocking the damage and the slow. However, if multiple mines are detonated instantly, such as a minefield thrown onto a player with a spell shield, the shield will block all of them. If the same target hits any new mines once the shield is down, the first one will deal full damage, while only the later ones will deal half damage. Hexplosive Minefield briefly grants vision when cast. Vision is also briefly granted on players who take damage from a mine. Each individual mine is visible to enemies unless it is not in vision, such as those within brush. To conceal mines in brush, Ziggs can cast Hexplosive Minefield onto nearby impassable terrain. All mines that spawn on this terrain will be destroyed, and, if placed well, the only mines that spawn will all be hidden in the brush.

Mega Inferno Bomb (Ultimate) Ziggs deploys his ultimate creation, the Mega Inferno Bomb, hurling it an enormous distance, Enemies in the primary blast zone take more damage than those further away. Ziggs' ultimate is Mega Inferno Bomb. This ability can be cast at any location within an extremely long range. Once cast, a bomb quickly travels across the map towards the target location. When the bomb impacts, massive AOE damage is dealt to all enemies within its radius. Enemies on the outside of the impact take partly reduced damage. 444 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Shortly after casting, the impact target becomes visible to all enemies.

Champion Notes & Countering There are several things to keep in mind when countering Ziggs. If playing draft mode and potentially laning against Ziggs, look for champions who have long-range harass and high mobility or speed. This will allow you to more easily avoid all of his abilities, while potentially allowing you to push Ziggs out of lane and deny experience or farm. Zilean, for instance, can do a good job at early counter-play due to his Time Bomb range and Time Warp speed bonus. As a general rule, champions with dashes and especially blinks are better to have on the team opposing Ziggs. This allows you to more easily escape and dodge his abilities, but also lets you close in on Ziggs. As powerful as his damage potential can be, he is extremely vulnerable if players reach him. If Satchel Charge is on cooldown, that is an ideal time to engage him. This is doubly true if Hexplosive Minefield has also been placed recently, as it will leave him without any escape options. Do everything you can to avoid being displaced or slowed by either ability as you look for an opportunity to engage. Without early counter options for Ziggs, try to stay at an angle away from minions to make it harder for him to land his bouncing bomb on you. The further you are from him, the harder it is to be hit by his bombs, as they slow down significantly before exploding provided they don't hit anything in their path. And, of course, make it a priority to buy boots to avoid his abilities. Ziggs is a strong zone control champion. Both his Satchel Charge and Hexplosive Minefields can block chokepoints, including tight areas in the jungle. Even if a team can safely ignore the damage from either of these abilities, the associated knockback and slow from them can physicall prevent entry. In a lane, this zone control can be used to Ziggs' advantage. By using Hexplosive Minefield, he can push a champion towards a more favorable location for his Bouncing Bomb tosses. Beyond simple crowd control and zoning, it's important to note that Ziggs is extraordinarily strong in any team fight, and becomes more effective the more tightly his opponents are grouped. Aside from all of his abilities being AOE, his mines will also proc on all grouped enemies when they activate. By slowing grouped enemies with mines, he makes it even easier to land a Mega Inferno Bomb on them. Ziggs synergizes amazingly with other champions who have AOE ultimates, including Galio, Amumu, and Vladimir. Using these abilities together can devastate an enemy team in seconds. It's worth noting that Ziggs does extremely well against a team currently doing Baron. This is because these teams will often be more tightly grouped with a narrow chokepoint of escape. By placing a minefield at or near the entrance, all of his other abilities can become effective at quickly demolish 445 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

several opponents who may also still be getting attacked by Baron. With teammates who have AOE abilities, a Baron fight can quickly and easily be turned in Ziggs' team's favor. And, barring the ability to enter a team fight, he can attempt to snipe the kill on Baron with Mega Inferno Bomb. In the later game, Ziggs can become a structure demolitionist. Because his passive scales with ability power and works against structures, he can deal large bursts of damage instantly to structures during a push. This is especially true with some Ability Power items and a Lich Bane, along with well-timed casts of abilities to proc the passive and lich bane in quick succession. As a Ziggs player, there are a few things to learn to be most effective. Because of the physics involved, Bouncing Bomb needs to be handled differently than most skill-shots. It's important to keep in mind that the initial throw can easily go over enemy champions if you target a location beyond where they are, and can easily fall short if you fire aim it too close. One key to reliably landing Bouncing Bomb is to know where your opponents are most likely going to move. If they're engaging you, under-shoot the bomb. If they're moving away, you'll want to shoot out a little farther so the bomb doesn't fall short. In either case, a quick player who anticipates the move may be able to dodge it. This is especially true if they can use dash abilities to quickly reach you or another target. There are two other things that increase the likelihood of landing a bomb. Tightening the area a player can move with Satchel Charge or Hexplosive Minefield can make it easier to land the shot. If they do move into the minefield, the slow will make it easier as well. The other thing is to use minions and even terrain to your advantage. Since these are more reliable targets for collision, bombing them when an enemy is nearby can increase the chance to land the bomb. Satchel Charge is another key ability that you'll want to master. The best Ziggs players will be those players who can use the charge not just as a simple interrupt, escape, reposition, or zoning tool, but to pull off a combination of these in ways that dramatically alter the dynamics of fights. The Hexplosive Minefield is an extremely good tool for zone control and keeping opponents where you want them. Despite the relatively low damage numbers per mine, Hexplosive Minefield is often extraordinarily good damage in team fights, where bombs can hit multiple people, and the slow can guarantee follow-up from other abilities such as Mega Inferno bomb. The minefield can be very effective at securing a kill on an escaping player. It has a decent range, which often allows it to be cast in the path of players who are running away, guaranteeing they will either run over them taking damage from most of the mines while being slowed, or will turn around and potentially be easier to hit with bouncing bombs.


That said, the minefield is also a defensive tool, and using it too soon can prevent you from using it to save yourself or a teammate in a fight. Players with a dash or blink ability may choose to immediately close the distance on you once your mines have been used elsewhere, and they will not need to fear one of your largest sources of damage. Very good opponents may even bait you into using the minefield, ready to instantly move off them towards you before the mines activate. Ziggs is an exceptional farmer. At early levels, the combination of Hexplosive Minefield and Bouncing Bomb can clear caster minion groups and can help clearing the other minions as well. By later ranks and with some ability power, bouncing bomb can clear these alone, while minefields can help clear up others. In either case, be careful about mana usage with minefield as it can be taxing, and bouncing bombs may be enough. Ziggs gains a dramatic benefit from having the blue mana and cooldown reduction buff gained from the large golem. While you can wait on a jungler to help you acquire this, you can also do it on your own after a few levels. This is because Bouncing Bomb can be cast frequently, and the monsters in the pack can be kited through a minefield, taking the full potential damage of the entire minefield. In general, Ziggs does fine clearing camps in the jungle. Thanks for watching this Don't Feed! Be sure to subscribe with the button on the upper right. Check out my previous movie in this series, "Don't Feed Vladimir," by clicking the movie thumbnail on the right. I regularly stream League of Legends and other games right here on YouTube. Make sure you like me on my new Facebook page and follow me on Twitter. As always, check the movie information box below for general thoughts and series updates, and let your friends know about this series to help promote it in the League of Legends community. Also, make a post on the official League of Legends forum thread, linked below, if you really enjoy the series!


Don’t Feed Zilean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jc7bZZlGIo

Champion Notes He can be one of the most frustrating champions to play against, especially when you don't know his abilities and how to counter them.

Introduction Zilean is a fragile but fast magic champion.

Heightened Learning (Passive) Increases experience gain of all allied champions by 8%. Zilean's passive increases experience gain for all allied champions by 8%, no matter where they are on the map, while Zilean is alive. This means enemy champions will level faster, all else being equal. Watch out for a team with Zilean reaching level 6 and acquiring ult abilities before their opponents.

Time Bomb (Q) Places a bomb on any unit, allied or enemy, which detonates after 4 seconds, dealing area of effect damage. Zilean's Time Bomb is a debuff placed on a friendly or enemy target that will explode after 4 seconds dealing significant AOE damage to enemies around the target. Though shields such as Banshee's Veil, Sivir's Spell Shield, and Nocturne's Shroud of Darkness will prevent the application of the bomb, they will not prevent the damage from a bomb that has already been applied. 448 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

Time Bomb will explode instantly if the target dies before 4 seconds. If a Time Bomb is applied to you during the early game, you will not be able to avoid the damage. Instead, make sure to move away from your lane partner to avoid dealing damage to them. Additionally, it can be useful to stay near your minions and let the bomb explode on them, helping to push the battle back towards the safety of your turret. Time Bomb has a high mana cost. If you can outlast his harassment in a lane, he will become much less threatening.

Time Warp (E) Zilean bends time around any unit, decreasing an enemy's Movement Speed or increasing an ally's Movement Speed for a short time.

Zilean's Time Warp is a targeted speed modifier. If cast on an ally, this will increase their speed by 55%.If cast on an enemy, this will slow their speed by 55%. Because of this ability, it is rarely effective to chase Zilean past his team.

Rewind (W) Zilean can prepare himself for future confrontations, reducing the cooldowns of all of his other abilities. Zilean's Rewind ability causes all of his current cooldowns to reduce by 10 seconds. This effectively means he can apply two bombs immediately after each other. If Zilean places a bomb on a target that already has a bomb, the first bomb will explode immediately. Additionally, Rewind greatly reduces the time Zilean needs to wait between Time Warp, allowing him to quickly buff the speed of two allies, reduce the speed of two enemies, or buff one ally and reduce the speed of one enemy.

Chronoshift (Ultimate) Zilean places a protective time rune on an allied champion, teleporting the champion back in time if they take lethal damage. Chronoshift is Zilean's signature ability, allowing him to place a 7 second buff on an ally that 449 | L e a r n t h e L e a g u e Update 9

resurrects them if they die. This effect occurs before any other sources of resurrection occur, including Guardian Angel and Anivia's Rebirth. Chronoshift, along with Time Warp, make Zilean and his laning partner very poor targets to attempt to kill under a tower. Do not be baited by the possibility of what appears to be an easy, quick kill. Additionally, Chronoshift, along with Time Warp and a short cooldown time bomb, allow Zilean or his allies to tower dive effectively in some situations. Combined with a Guardian Angel, it can be very time consuming to kill Zilean or his allies. Because of this, you may need to be selective on who you target in team fights. Either attempt to kill Zilean and force him to use his Chronoshift on himself, or take out his weakest allies. Any hard stuns or silences, combined with high burst damage, will have a dramatic impact on your ability to affect a team with Zilean. It goes without saying that once Zilean has used his Chronoshift, he and his teammates are completely vulnerable to being killed. Take advantage of this.


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