League of Legends (Old)

[Ankamius]

League is getting incredibly boring and uninteresting again.

[Gammagooey]

Bluuuuh so I pretty much got dominated by a shaco counterjungling me. (i was noc) What should you do if you think shaco might be waiting at red bushes for a gank? get minigolems instead? help a lane? try to reverse counterjungle? I know wards at the jungle entrances would be really useful but I don't think that's really viable that early in the game.
Haalp

[quadz08]

I have a couple of questions. First:

In related news, I really like the Annie build I used in that game. I started with a blue crystal and 2 health pots. After my first b, I got level 1 boots and a tome. I then built the crystal into a catalyst, then a rod of ages, grabbed sorc shoes, and turned the tome into a Kage's lucky pick. (This was by level 9 or 10, I think.) I was able to then build a hat, a morello's, and a void staff before turning my kage's into a deathfire grasp to finsih out my build.

What does the site think?

Second: How does smartcasting work? I haven't ever used it, and I'm not sure how to set it up / how to use it.

[hitogoroshi]

Annie build for winners:

Dorans Ring
{Boots, Ruby, Saphire}
Catalyst
Blasting Wand
Rod of Ages
Sorc Boots

Build reactively from there

[quadz08]

so, basically what I did, except I didn't start with a doran's haha.

[pickemgenius]

so, basically what I did, except I didn't start with a doran's haha.

you can start boots+pots;sapph+pots and grab a few dorans first back. it's whatever.

[quadz08]

so, basically what I did, except I didn't start with a doran's haha.

you can start boots+pots;sapph+pots and grab a few dorans first back. it's whatever.

I dunno, I guess I'm weird, but I pretty much never get a doran's anything, on anyone. I typically start with a shield on Leona, and I think that's it, and that's mostly because I haven't been able to work out my ideal build on her. I don't like them because they don't build into anything, and I feel that if I lane decently, I can get better results from my first bluepill if I've spent my money on something more productive to my endgame build.

[Ankamius]

I'm not big at all on any Doran's Rings on Annie.

[Espeonage]

My Annie build.

RoA / Sorc Boots / Abyssal / Hat / WotA / Void / Sell Boots for Tear upgrade whose name escapes me.

With my runes and masteries 98 in both defences, decent health and heaps of damage. I'll occasionally get a QSS or a thornmail if I really need the defences but rarely.

On Dominion I get a much earlier WotA

[MrZepher]

so, basically what I did, except I didn't start with a doran's haha.

you can start boots+pots;sapph+pots and grab a few dorans first back. it's whatever.

I dunno, I guess I'm weird, but I pretty much never get a doran's anything, on anyone. I typically start with a shield on Leona, and I think that's it, and that's mostly because I haven't been able to work out my ideal build on her. I don't like them because they don't build into anything, and I feel that if I lane decently, I can get better results from my first bluepill if I've spent my money on something more productive to my endgame build.

Doran's items are good multi-stat starter items.
Doran's ring I'll only take when I'm playing somebody like Malzahar, Annie, or Swain where I'm basically waiting until level 6 so I can crush face.
The mana regen is really good too.

Building towards your endgame too early can probably leave you a lot weaker than you'd like, hence why some people will buy dorans items if they have the extra gold on their first back.
Those people are also the ones who tend to dominate their lane early on (assuming they're not already behind)

[Espeonage]

Just won 4v5 in ranked. Feels good man. I solo topped as Cait against galio. Can you say free farm.

[Staeg]

Gamma: you request a cv at red. When your spells are on CD and you're autoattacking jungle creeps, take a look around your red/other areas; you can see Shaco's JitB dust-puffs even if you shouldn't. Have a really good leash so that you are as close to full as possible. If all else fails, go farm his jungle.

Quadz: smartcasting is... when you normally cast, you press Q and then you see the range of the spell and you have to click again to fire the spell. When you smartcast, the spell is cast directly where your cursor is (a la Karthus pimple (Q), Cass poisonthingy). You can change it in menu (esc) -> key bindings.

[Gammagooey]

I didn't have anyone with cv on my team : /

and I've actually been going a bit of an odd route I think but it usually works- get vamp scepter, try to steal their wraiths while they get blue, go to wolves regardless of whether or not sucessful, then wraiths golems back and through my jungle again starting at blue. it gets wriggles a little faster and hurts the other jungler for starting at/protecting their blue and although I get pretty low by golems I can still take out everything for a boost in exp and better ganks. I probably just can't get away with that with a shaco+cv on their team though.

[Nuwen]

Don't buy any rings if you plan to build RoA, unless your flash is burned hella early by a gank and you end up in base too early for a full catalyst. Rings are a "fuck I'm behind now" purchase on Annie. Casters who benefit from ring(s) are those who build a deathcap as their first major item, like Gragas, Brand, and Ori.

My Annie build:

boots -> buy catalyst (don't base for components, ffff) -> buy RoA (basing for just the AP wand? Pffft, buy 2 wards with your cata and farm the whole thing fastfast) -> upgrade boots if any tower is under 1/3hp or dead; farm AP wands(860/1600) if lane phase looks cozy.

I buy merc treads on Annie nine games out of ten.

Level 2 boots are meaningless in the mid lane, but essential to get around the map appropriately. Don't bother upgrading unless you or your opponent loses outer pieces of map control.

Add 110g to each and every purchase for a ward and pot.

[JDodge]

http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends ... aron_buff/

useful numbers for all!

[Staeg]

Yeah. Don't try anything that gets you to below half hp when there's a shaco on the enemy team.

[quadz08]

so, basically what I did, except I didn't start with a doran's haha.

you can start boots+pots;sapph+pots and grab a few dorans first back. it's whatever.

I dunno, I guess I'm weird, but I pretty much never get a doran's anything, on anyone. I typically start with a shield on Leona, and I think that's it, and that's mostly because I haven't been able to work out my ideal build on her. I don't like them because they don't build into anything, and I feel that if I lane decently, I can get better results from my first bluepill if I've spent my money on something more productive to my endgame build.

Doran's items are good multi-stat starter items.
Doran's ring I'll only take when I'm playing somebody like Malzahar, Annie, or Swain where I'm basically waiting until level 6 so I can crush face.
The mana regen is really good too.

Building towards your endgame too early can probably leave you a lot weaker than you'd like, hence why some people will buy dorans items if they have the extra gold on their first back.
Those people are also the ones who tend to dominate their lane early on (assuming they're not already behind)

I tend to just play conservatively until 6 when using Annie. I'm aware I'm not scary at first. I make up for it by making my first ap item a kage's lucky pick, and keeping that around as long as possible.

[MrZepher]

I didn't have anyone with cv on my team : /

There's your problem.
You need to make sure you have map awareness of not just your jungle but their jungle, especially is they have a jungler who can put pressure on you in your jungle.

It sounds like what you took was your superior route (vamp scepter and small camps)
Superior routing puts you ahead and keeps your health pretty high, but the tradeoff is the time you're spending in the jungle keeps you out of the lanes you would otherwise be ganking. This is true with Udyr and Nocturne, where if I see them starting with a vamp scepter, I know they'll be in their jungle until they hit level 5/6, and I can easily keep track of where they are in their jungle without a CV.
Also, if you're doing an odd jungle like Ezreal or something, your only viable choice is superior routing. The only exception I've seen is heimerdinger who can let his turret tank for him lol.

[Morthas]

I just had a 2 hour game. Exhausting as fuck. Atleast I got 500 ip for a single game in the end

[SpyreX]

Someone want to explain runes to a newbie? I'm starting to get other things buts runes are scary

[xRECKONERx]

Someone want to explain runes to a newbie? I'm starting to get other things buts runes are scary

First rule: don't even fucking bother with them until Level 20 because anything other than Tier 3 runes are shit.

Second rule: there are two basic rune pages you can setup, one for AP champs and one for AD champs. Once you get to that point, you can get two basic rune page setups from someone.

Essentially runes are there to give you a little bit of an edge in early game. They're especially useful for junglers who need more survivability/whatever.

[inHimshallibe]

Disagree. Tier 1 Runes are worth it for the grind.

[hasdgfas]

Also there are some special Harrowing runes right now that are "Tier 2.5". They're

slightly

worse than Tier 3s for probably less than half the cost. Definitely worth it.

[hitogoroshi]

Spy, I'll requote my rune guide I posted earlier:

A lot of the right advice has already been said, but I'll take a stab at it too because I have some side comments:

Marks (Reds)

: IMO the worst designed runes. The fact is, you basicially just grab the penetration that'll help you more. Most of the reds are just awful. A jungler might grab attack speed, but it's not worth it for a laner since attack speed is a dirt cheap stat.

Seals (Yellows)

: If you have a mana bar, mana regen per level runes are AMAZING. Don't get flat mana regen runes - they cross over at

fourth

level. Garbage. Armor yellows are nearly required for junglers, and are good even just for laners who want some beef. Dodge runes are an acceptable replacement, but ONLY if you have the Nimbleness mastery. Having one without the other is silly, but the two of them combined can be pretty effective. If none of this interests you, CDR yellows are one of the very few out-optimal runes that are still worth taking (in my opinion, at least.)

Glyphs (Blues)

: Fuck I love blues. Blues are the perfect example of what all runes SHOULD be. There are lots of viable blues and it's down to your personal preference. Best of all, as Shanba rightly points out, blues matter little enough for your jungle that even junglers get in on the fun. CDR blues are awesome - I'd avoid scaling CDR, since the crossover isn't until 13. Scaling AP blues are also incredibly useful for AP characters. Don't get flat AP blues - crossover is 5.8, and most AP characters won't be ganking until ult anyway. Magic resist is really powerful, and the crossover level is smart enough (9.9) that both flavors are viable. Flat MR blues will give you a HUGE edge laning against a caster mid. Scaling MR blues are great for a tank worried about slot panic - resistance without clogging a slot is always cool.

Quintessences:

In the old days, HP quints were so dominant that there was no point having other quints. Those days are behind us now, and while health quints are still very powerful, there's room for others. Good replacements include flat AP(the best gold value per rune in the game), AD (but only if you're running 21 in offense), Magic Pen/Armor Pen...lot of room for personal preference. Really, take whatever quint you want. But start with HP because it's a great baseline.

So I'm level 20+ and ready to start this rune thing. What do I do?

You're going to start by picking your 'main' to rune for. Sure, you may play quite a few, but you want a character or set of characters in mind when you rune. Don't make your first a jungler - jungling requires you to be pretty good at reading the gamestate, and it's not a good first thing to rune for.

Then, it goes like this: (remember, when I say "buy a rune", I mean buy a full set of 3/9).

Step One: Buy flat HP quintessences. (Greater Quintessence of Fortitude)

They're no longer the best quints always and forever, but they're GOOD on everyone, which makes them great start quints. You'll be using them on multiple pages. Once you've got a more robust set of other colors, you can get other quints.

Step Two: If you have mana, get Mana regen/level runes. (Greater Seal of Clarity)

There was a GIANT nerf to mana regen yellows (and a buff to base mana to compensate.) Guess what? Mana regen yellows are still

fucking awesome

. If you don't have mana, you can wait on your seals for a while.

Step Three: Get the appropriate red: Either Magic Pen or Armor Pen. (Greater Mark of Insight/Greater Mark of Desolation)

Pretty self-explanatory.

Step Four: Get some nice Glyphs.

Glyphs are awesome, and there are lots of choices. If you use AP and have good ratios, get AP/level (Greater Glyph of Force). If you frequently solo mid/top and don't use AP, get flat Magic Resist (Greater Glyph of Warding). If you're a tank, get scaling Magic Resist (Greater Glyph of Shielding). If none of these things describe you well, go for CDR (Greater Glyph of Focus).

Step Five: If you didn't get Mana regen seals, get another seal.

If you run (or plan to run at 30) the nimbleness mastery, the Dodge seals (Greater Seal of Evasion) are best. Otherwise, pick either Armor (Greater Seal of Resilience) or CDR (Greater Seal of Focus.) Note that Focus seals are STRICTLY WORSE than Focus Glyphs - that's why you don't generally take out-optimal runes. But yellow CDR is still decent if Armor/Dodge/Mana Regen are all somehow not doing it for you.

Congrats! There's your first runepage. Now time to get a second one to expand your horizons...

Step Six: Get the red you didn't get in step 3.

Step Seven: Get Mana regen/level seals if you haven't already.

Step Eight: Get scaling AP blues if you haven't already.

And you should have two pages that look like this:

Page One: Armor Pen / mana if you need it, other seal if you don't / Choice Glpyhs / Flat HP quints

Page Two: Magic Pen / mana if you need it, other seal if you don't / scaling AP glyphs / Flat HP quints

From there, you're on your own, but this is a very good start for runes.

[xRECKONERx]

Rune Page 1
Armor Pen Reds
Armor Yellow
Scaling MR Blue
Flat Attack Damage Quints

Rune Page 2
Magic Pen Reds
Scaling Mana Regen Yellow
Scaling Ability Power Quints
Movement Speed or Flat AP Quints (Or 2 Move, 1 Flat)

These are the rune pages I'm going for right now and they're working beautifully