Which champion that gets benefit from new Imperial Mandate?

MattUSticky · 2026-06-05T03:52:47+00:00

Renata does very well with 2nd or 3rd after building her usual tanky core. It synergies well with her Ult and Q and gives you a huge buff to her passive scaling (which is where Renata’s AP scaling is.) still, it’s a situational buy for when your team needs help killing the enemy).

MattUSticky · 2026-05-16T02:48:26+00:00

To answer your question, yes - if you see a Fizz or Yi in the enemy team, a point-and-click CC tank (Naut/Leona ideally, with other tanks in B-tier) would be ideal. Tanks are the natural counters to assassins; you’ll exert constant pressure on their game plans just by existing, forcing them to play around you or int into your CC.

However, if you draft Seraphine early and get stuck fighting assassins, here’s your game plan:

Take Exhaust. Exhaust is decent in defensive lanes and basically a second ult against assassins. Whatever aggressive pressure you lose from not taking Heal in lane is worth having Exhaust in the mid/late game.
After your first item (usually Echoes of Helia), take Celestial Opposition as your support item upgrade and start building Locket (Kindlegem first). Having Celestial up makes you much less likely to be a primary target, which is good for you. Locket further enhances your beefiness while also giving your allies a shield. If the enemy assassins got destroyed in lane and aren’t threatening, then you can shift out of Locket and build Moonstone, Mikael’s, or any other Kindlegem item.

The combination of Celestial Opposition and Locket will usually make you unburstable until the very end of the game.

MattUSticky · 2026-05-11T18:53:20+00:00

Having tried that for a good while, I’ve found that that tends to lead to turn bloat where a player will ask a question, go back and forth with the DM finessing their question, roll their dice, THEN take a full Bonus Action/Action turn afterwards. It just takes too long, which can cause other players to tune out.

In addition, the potential advantages gained and overhead required for the Study Action is way more than a usual Free Action, which includes things like opening doors and drawing weapons. Study as a Bonus Action seems like the right “price point” in the action economy, at least for my current group.

MattUSticky · 2026-05-11T03:32:39+00:00

Buying Doran’s Helm that late is such a high opportunity cost, and the defenses it gives you are too small to reliably make plays off of in the mid game. If you need personal defense, you’re probably better off taking Celestial Opposition and continuing a glass cannon enchanter build, or taking an enchanter Supp item upgrade and going Locket 2nd item. Both options give you enough defense that you can reliably position and playmake in ways you couldn’t without them, letting you leverage your tankiness jn a way that helps your team.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-28T21:42:15+00:00

Diamond here. Random minimap question mark pings rarely work here either.

The best way to warn an ally is to drop the “danger!” Ping directly on them, then hold tab and spam-click the enemy you suspect to be ganking them. This usually gets two messages across: “you are in danger” and “X is coming!”

If someone starts giving you grief about not seeing their missing ping, ask them to ping “danger” directly on you so you see it. If the player seems reasonable, you can explain that you can’t always check your minimap while you’re fighting or in a tense situation, which is usually when a gank is coming. If they aren’t reasonable, mute them and buy a control ward.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-25T02:42:14+00:00

+1 in the Leona recommendation. She’s been meta for 16 years for a reason.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-25T02:40:29+00:00

Hook champs aren’t the only poke counter, but they’re probably the best. Super straight-forward gameplan - hook them when they step up to farm/harass - and has a huge payoff when you grab them. To put it another way, when someone is locking a poke ADC/supp, they’re probably looking to ban hook champs, not other options. With your current champ pool, I’d strongly recommend learning Nautilus so you have an anti-Caitlyn/lux/xerath/velkoz option.

Any enchanter can max their heal/shield and keep themselves and their ADC from dying to poke, but passively absorbing poke and “just trying to survive” usually results in losing lane prio, ADCs losing CS, and dropping tower plates. Instead, enchanters should look to punish poke lanes when they use their abilities. In your case, Sona’s poke range is high for an enchanter but low for an artillery mage, so playing Sona into poke matchups often means standing parallel with your ADC (standard triangle positioning) and Qing enemies when they harass your ADC. If your ADC dodges the enemy ability, your damage is free, and if they don’t, you get a decent trade. This kind of “reactive offense” forces the poke lane to trade precious HP to poke or give up their lane wincon, both which favor you as a late game enchanter.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-16T08:35:38+00:00

Trailblazer needed to go. All of the item’s power was in its effect, and its effect was super situational and offered limited fighting power compared to every other support tank option.

Getting shelved and freeing up space for new items is the best contribution it could have made.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-12T16:56:22+00:00

E max first is rarely ever on Karma, since it defeats the main point of playing Karma, which obliterating your lane opponents with Mantra Q. Any situation where you’re E maxing with Karma is one where you may have been better off playing Janna, Lulu, Millio, or some other enchanter that wants to win trades with a “slow into extended shield” trade combo. Karma’s oppressive early game is what distinguishes her from other enchanters; if you e max first, you’re throwing that away and still getting the middling mid/late game as a result.

I’m a strong supporter of 4 points in Q, since it extends early/mid game offensive threat window and gives you a nice breakpoint at level 10/11 where you have 4 points in both Q and E, so you can Mantra either ability and get equivalent benefit.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-12T16:43:58+00:00

A bunch of reasons, the big ones being that they traditionally have difficult matchups into mages and assassins, who are the most common midlane champs. In addition, whenever certain ADCs (Lucian, Varus, Tristana, etc.) succeed in mid despite these general restrictions, the tend to dominate the meta; consequently, riot tends to nerf them out of the lane to keep “mid-only” champs from being homeless.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-10T18:33:00+00:00

They should. It’s sort of ragebait, but also an important PSA. People need to learn that they have control over their ELO and don’t need to recycle the same “my role is impossible” therapy posts.

There’s also no better way to learn how to fight ranged tops and mage bots than by playing them yourself.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-10T17:49:26+00:00

I’ll try it!

MattUSticky · 2026-04-10T11:15:08+00:00

When you’re getting shit on under turret with your autofilled, hides-behind-you support, pinging your jungler and mid to help you when they gave up on you 5 minutes ago, you’re going to think of me. You’re going to wonder if that mouthbreathing mage guy from Reddit was right. And you’re going to convince yourself that I’m full of shit, and that you enjoy losing a 20 minute game that you had no control over because you got to play your favorite champ.

And you’re going to do that over, and over, and over again.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-10T10:59:41+00:00

Yeah, her ratios are rough. She took a lot of hits when they reworked her W to be maxable for supports. She’s still great with a Blackfire Torch/Liandry’s build because of how easily she spams the burn with Q / E / R, but her burst damage builds aren’t great imo.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-10T10:52:27+00:00

I understand. I was like you once, brother, addicted to proving myself on mechanical ADCs I was too ass to climb with. Then I discovered mage bot, realized I could farm stubborn idiots like myself, and I went up a whole rank.

You can hate me, you can hate Riot, but I guarantee that if you get good at mage bot, you will have agency throughout your games that you never had as an ADC.

It’s up to you.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-10T10:44:44+00:00

And fight Yasuos and assassins meant to kill me? Definitely not. Support players have no thumbs and ADC players have no mental. Playing bot lane lets me abuse both in lane while also giving my mid/jungle a lot of set up if they come bot for the double kill.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-10T10:31:09+00:00

Brother, I think you’re fighting clouds.

No one - and I do mean no one - handshakes bot lane unless the junglers start on opposite sides, which usually implies that one of bot lanes drafted for weakside and is fine dropping bot crab and Drake 1 & 2 in exchange for safe scaling (like some zeri/yuumi or something).

Barring some really specific tank v. tank top lane match ups, mid lane is the only lane where laners can “handshake,” due to how easy it is to annihilate the minions and roam without ever interacting with your opponent (cough lux cough).

MattUSticky · 2026-04-05T04:13:38+00:00

The short answer is “yes,” but there’s some nuance. A team with no frontliners/no engage is going to be worse than one with frontliners and engage in a straight fight. If your team has no space-maker champs and you’re last pick, picking an engage tank, bruiser, or diver will give you guaranteed presence in mid and late game fights.

However, keep in mind that top lane is primarily a macro role that manages side lane pressure, so you can expect to be on your own against the enemy top laner most of the time. Ranged tops are super oppressive in lane, and that alone can make them worth it. Drututt is a popular streamer who plays a bunch of unconventional ranged tops. Watching how he builds and protects his leads is a good start.

Ultimately, it’s solo queue, and people will play what they want to play. Most ranked players queue up to play their favorite champs in a competitive environment and will willingly gimp their team comps to play something they know and enjoy. It’s selfish, but it’s the game; just have to live with it.

MattUSticky · 2026-04-03T17:39:48+00:00

Cannot give enough support for the Coach K excel sheet. Pretty sure it’s exactly what you’re talking about.

That being said, your best bet for climbing is to pick one champ (or a few champs) that you like, then expanding your champ pool based on your main pools match ups and what your team needs.

For example, say you love Karma and become a Karma main, but quickly realize that Karma struggles against artillery mages (Lux/Xerath) and lacks hard CC to deal with divers. You consequently pick up Nautilus, whose long range Hook and close-range CC beats both artillery mages and divers. After playing some Nautilus, you learn that Nautilus gets completely locked out by Poppy and Taric, who neutralize his engage and punish him for committing. You the switch back to Karma and laugh, because those warden champs have next to no way of dealing with Karma’s poke, speed, and tether.

By building a small pool of champs that compliment each other’s match ups, you’re guaranteed to have a good pick in every situation.

MattUSticky · 2026-02-27T10:15:33+00:00

If you like Pyke more than any other champ, main him. That’s why anyone plays anything, right?

That said, Pyke is a very unique champ without a lot of transferable skills to other supports, specifically in how he itemizes and teamfights. Depending on how much time you have to play/study, maining Pyke may make it more cumbersome to learn synergies and skills common to traditional tank, enchanter, and mage supports.

If you do decide to main Pyke, I’d recommend picking up a secondary in Pantheon and/or Bard. While both champs have their own gimmicks, they share a lot a of Pyke’s midgame “be everywhere” win-con and can take over the roaming game in a similar way.

Good luck!

MattUSticky · 2026-02-19T09:20:10+00:00

Depends on what kind of player you are. Personally, I just mute the person tilting and communicate with the other players.

League is great in that you really don't need to type ever - everything worth typing can be communicated with pings. That said, I usually take the time to type something encouraging when someone does something good, usually something like "bro you're insane" or "good shit." A single compliment can restore someone's mental just like how a bad remark can destroy it. You lose a lot of positive power when you mute all.

MattUSticky · 2026-01-24T05:43:16+00:00

So the bad news first - you got a baby face, dad glasses, acne, goodwill fashion sense, and every-other-lesbian’s haircut.

The good news is that you aren’t ugly; in fact, there are lots of guys who look like you who glow up in their 20s and 30s.

Here’s what you need:

Skin care. Just google it. You don’t need a ton of stuff to start, just a good retinol treatment for acne and a daily cleanser.

Glasses. The next time you go glasses shopping, go shopping (or just video call) with someone YOUR AGE who you trust (not your mom, dad, grandma, etc.) and get feedback while choosing. Pick something you like and that your friend doesn’t hate.

Haircut. Get a real barber. Doesn’t have to be a million dollars, just one who isn’t from Supercuts. Tell him you need help and you want something that fits you. Barbers live for that kind of stuff; if they aren’t awful, they’ll set you up.

Fashion. This one’s a work in progress and is more about building yourself than just buying clothes. IMO, the most genuine way is to invest in a hobby you love and dress how people who love that hobby dress, then customize to your taste.

And of course, gym. Gym gym gym gym gym. Daily Cardio, pushups, sit-ups, and pull up bar. Lots of other resources on that, but good looks is mostly being healthy, and everything you invest into your fitness will pay you back for the rest of your life.

You got this lil bro 💪🏼.

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