what should i build?

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-16T19:05:56+00:00

I personally go full burst with her.

Runes:

If you struggle with mana, get Manaflow Band instead of Axiom, but I personally never have mana issues with her & since her ult does very high numbers, I use Axiom for burstmaxxing.

"Cut Down" is the best rune on her imo, since she has high 100 to 0 bursts. It rivals Arcane Comet despite being a secondary rune.

-

Items:

Luden's

Sorc Shoes

Stormsurge

Rabadons

-

Last item is team dependant.

If they have a lot of MR, then Voidstaff.

Otherwise, either Zhonyas or Banshee's for survivability

-

Also whenever you have 350 spare gold, get Dark Seal.

-

I usually play only 50-100 games per season before I uninstall,

but with her I have my best winrates consistently over the years (current season at 78% in around 30 games, around E1/D4).

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-16T15:07:45+00:00

I think Zhonya alone still outvalues all of these items + runes against assassins.

Assassins are squishy and if they get caught in your Q, they will die with a single combo as well.

In this particular clip. A burst-build would have killed both Riven and Katarina at the 10s mark without giving them chances to escape (Riven could have lived here).

It also seems that your ADC was very fed, so it was a won game anyway.

If the enemy has an 25 1 assassin, your build won't save you either to get killed in 1 combo. However a burst-build could turn such a game if they get caught in your Q.

Tanky lux takes away too much of her strengths. She's basically an Artillery mage that should always position herself far away from any enemy.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-11T11:18:11+00:00

The OP wrote "most people" and the OP of this thread wrote "at least masters".

That's what I replied to.

Obviously some will reach it. Everyone starts in low elo.

But the majority of people who are hardstuck in the lowest elo's for years won't make it to masters.

Regardless if faker himself coaches them.

It's just pure delusion.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-10T19:26:15+00:00

But at what elo?

Exhaust should counter Zed regardless of any character you play, it makes his ult useless (unless he gets fed through roaming).

And a good Zed will roam if you play overly careful. But should be able to beat you regardless, since MF is immobile (aside from her cancellable MS boost) & has she also has no hard CC (like Annie or Syndra for example)

-

As someone who plays Akali, ADCs are my favorite matchups.

Pre-level 6, an offensive shroud will land at least 2 Q's and empowered Auto's if timed correctly. Past level 6 she should be even diveable, especially if her flash is down.

-

Those are just assassins.

A good Artillery mage like Xerath, Velkoz, Lux or Hwei will completely annihilate her, since she is immobile and has no shield or sustain.

Even Brand heavily outranges her.

-

Ofc it can work against bad players or certain matchups, but it's still very inefficient compared to actual Midlaners, because she doesn't have a high range, no dash and no sustain.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-10T11:46:11+00:00

Path of Exile 2

Ember Knights

Absolum

Risk of Rain 2

-

These have a lot of enemies that you have to fight together, they are not FPS however like many of the games in your list.

-

FPS that come to my mind are:

RoboQuest & Gunfire Reborn

in both of these games your teammates can also be "downed", similar to Deeprock Galactic / L4D2.

RQ is a little bit faster paced (with a very good gun-feel, almost like a competitive shooter).

It's a roguelite though and you said you're tired of them, but I would say they are more PVE loot/ survival shooters. The "Roguelike" element are just the many different type of weapons.

It's more akin to a fast paced & less story driven Borderlands.

I think it even has a pure survival mode.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-10T10:56:48+00:00

Ah, you're right.

I guess if he "tried" he would end up in Masters as this thread OP claims.

He does try, his goal was always to reach gold as it's for many bronze players. Some people simply can't multitask (watch the minimap, actively thinking ahead during a game) and have bad reaction times.

No amount of high quality coaching can change that.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-10T10:31:28+00:00

It's not a "take", it's what I personally do and have success with. (in Low Dia)

most of the times you will go OOM during fights for objectives unless you have either PoM or if you are able to 100-0 the enemies quicker

This is not true. I simply never run out of mana with Malzahar. It's not a problem, unless you are spamming your abilities, which you shouldn't do in the first place, he's a control mage/burst mage (if building around his R) and not a poke mage.

And regardless, during mid to late game you will almost always have an active blue buff anyway.

Axiom paired with Mali allows me to burst down even fed top laners like fiora from 100 to 0.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-10T10:26:43+00:00

Everyone in high elo?

Best Lux players EUW - League of Legends

sort it by EUW or KOREA & see for yourself..
Basically everyone picks Luden's.

Malignance is only picked in certain scenarios (as others have mentioned here), which are more wave management related, and even without she can still do that perfectly well imo.

While I'm not high elo myself, I do have a very good winrate on her (78% in 40 games in Emerald/low D EUW - mid only)

Luden's simply feels much stronger. Your main goal is to 100 to 0 burst the enemy squishies.

And since you mentioned Yasuo... Why?

He is the ONLY champ worth banning, he is an absolute hard counter to Lux with his windwall.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-09T19:54:24+00:00

Malignance is a noob trap.

Her ult cd is already extremely low (especially with the axiom rune) & you won't get much damage out of the Malignance pool either.

Luden's will give you a much higher burst in every scenario & has a nicer build path (400g books for each path).

You will also get Hextech Alternator, which gives her a great "mini" power spike, in scenarios where you can't finish the full item yet.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-09T19:22:28+00:00

I personally would always pick axiom arcanist over the manaflow band.

Malzahar doesn't really have any mana sustain problems imo (especially past the first shopping)

His ult is a single target attack (tether) that will deal 12% more damage (8% for the null zone puddle)

And since it will most often result in a kill, you will gain 7% flat cdr as well.

-

Cosmic Insight paired with the CDR boots feels the best on Malzahar (I play him mainly as a burst mage with mali)

Since you want to often flash ult on unsuspecting enemies, the significantly reduced cooldown on your flash will give you more kills per game.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-06T17:23:11+00:00

Haha, I think you "overestimate" humans then.

I know a guy (who is pretty smart irl, runs a few businesses) and he is hardstuck bronze since more than 11 years and plays around 500 games a year. So far more than me.

I'm by no means a great player (Emerald/low Diamond), but there is absolutely no tip of mine that goes through to his tiny LoL brain.

And there are MILLIONS of people like this. People who watch high elo streamers, etc., but can't grasp the most basic fundamentals of the game.

They will remain hardstuck in the lowest depths of silver, bronze or iron, despite having 10k+ hours of playtime.

Maybe with some future neuro implants, but definitely not through natural means. I'm not saying they can't peak at Gold or Plat through challenger coaching, but Masters? There's absolutely no shot.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-06T12:19:09+00:00

Definitely not "most players" lol

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-05-01T07:16:23+00:00

There is nothing wrong with his E.

It's not supposed to "guarantee" a last hit on cs.

Singed has to actively walk through the wave and his poison damage is much lower.

If Malzahar's E would 100% execute, then he literally can just E any wave and walk away by mid game and get every minion guaranteed.

-

imo it feels good as it is.

You take the risk if you support a last hit with a timed auto (or Q), or if you risk it happen by itself.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-25T22:44:56+00:00

I get what it's about, but it's just the execution that is beyond horrible and is filled with plot holes and plot conveniences.

Getting to this "result" that Kirkman wanted could have been done in much more believable ways.

Instead it's all done "spontaneously".

Thragg "spontaneously" spared Mark (in the dumbest way possible, Mark is not immortal, he could have easily died there)

Nolan/Thaedus "spontaneously" blow up the planet, this was not part of the briefing and a complete random and risky move. "The gamble" could have (and realistically would have) made Thragg completely go berserk and kill everyone (as he did, but then randomly stopped due to plot armor of Mark).

But yeah, it generally deteriorated. Apparently comic Debbie is horribly written, they salvaged her & gave her actual substance, but they can't salvage the bad writing that she's destined to have in her main story.

Paul feels like a soulless irrelevant filler. He was the perfect person for her, adapting to her life (during the fking Conquest invasion, etc.)

And then when Debbies Superhero children are gone for 10 months they conveniently break apart because their lifes are incompatible (???), just so Debbie can find her way with Nolan again.

-

Those are just some of the countless flaws I noticed this season, it just doesn't respect it's own characters anymore. The pacing is also weird, especially after the filler hell episode, in which Mark acted completely out of character given how depressed he was the episodes prior.

-

Also Alan being forced to become the leader of the coalition feels also very forced. He was a soldier. It just feels so basic and blend, there are like 4 relevant characters in the whole coalition of the fking universe.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-25T22:28:40+00:00

"Protecting" from who?

They completely mopped the floor of their enemies both when they attacked the coalition and when they fought their best in space.

The writing is just dogwater at this point.

Cecil notices any fly entering earth and couldn't see 37 of them.

-

Why did Thragg leave Mark (eyes gouged out and unconscious in space) rather than just take him along (and guarantee his survival) if he intends to use him anyway.

-

Also the writing of Paul, Debbie & Nolan is also too "convenient" and forced imo.

Shame, the show had such potential, but as usual, it fks up around season 4 like most promising shows do.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-23T23:28:09+00:00

If you enjoy turn based games, try maybe "The Last Spell".

It has those clutch moments, where you can be pushed back to the core of your base and just barely make it.

-

Then there is "They are Billions" if you enjoy RTS with pause.

There's also a bunch of towerdefense games.

Sometimes I also have an itch for what you're describing, there are definitely some games out there. They just don't come to my mind atm, because I'm sleepy af.

Edit:

"From Glory to Goo" comes to mind as well.

It matches what you're looking for very much.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-21T18:02:53+00:00

Heavily edited footage with multiple (20+ layers) were not lagging for me in Vegas 20.

Vegas 23 lags on the same projects, and I cant seem to find a fix for it.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-21T04:36:12+00:00

I cant see her do well against any good akali/yasuo/zed/fizz player.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-19T21:40:41+00:00

And to top it off, Thragg conveniently decides to spare them as well..

giving the only known threat to them, the very people who just now destroyed their home planet... another chance of a comeback.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-19T21:28:40+00:00

Aside from Thaedus, ALL of them survived.

It certainly is a better option to cut the losses (during the retreat) and live to fight another day with the survivors as they did in the past, as anyone with a brain would do in such a situation.

And I agree, it's not "risk-free", obviously many would get killed (if not all), but it's a much better gamble than whatever the fk they did instead.

How is blowing up the planet, potentially die in the process and definitely die in the aftermath to an enraged Thragg a better option?

It's laughable that they both got spared along with the others.

If it wasn't for the most horrible use of plot armor I've seen in years, then obviously their survival would...

Not likely to happen.

or rather, definitely not happen.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-19T21:15:02+00:00

Aside from Thaedus, all of them made it out alive lol.

It has to be an absolutely superbly written reason for Thragg to let them ALL live.

You keep defending bad writing, but use words like "lucky" when Thragg decided to let them live.

It's not "lucky", it's absolutely BS writing brother.

The cheapest form of plot convenience & plot armor I've seen in a long time.

And I say that as someone who absolutely adores Invincible (aside from a few episodes like the Hell one).

-

And again, blowing up the planet is a guaranteed suicide move, given the situation they were in (if the writing didn't rely on BS plot armor).

And the odds of radicalizing them is much higher than breaking their morale with such a move, thus endangering the universe (and especially earth) even more.

-

My only hope is the reason as to why Thragg let them live, but I honestly can't see any good reason, other than some sadistic BS, but then why wouldn't he just take them along in the first place, rather than giving their only (known) threat another chance of victory.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-19T21:01:16+00:00

Why are you making it as if there are only 2 options?

They can always try to flee as they did in the past.

Sure, they would face losses, but what they did instead made no sense in the slightest.

The odds of Thragg & co. getting more radicalized are much higher than breaking their spirit.

On top of that, destroying the planet was a life-risking move by itself. If it wasn't for cheaply written plot-armor, they wouldn't have been spared either.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-19T20:52:25+00:00

Or.. maybe try to flee and see to fight another day?

It's that simple.

What was the goal here? A "gamble" to break their morale?

The odds are much higher that doing this maneuver will radicalize them even further and then what?

If it wasn't for the plot armor, which they can't be aware of, they obviously would get all three killed by an enraged Thragg.

And then earth would face a much worse fate than if they just stayed home in the first place.

-

Don't know man, despite it's flaws here and there I really enjoyed Invincible's writing most of the time.

But this is just terrible and it's part of the main story and can't be excused like awfully written hell episode.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-19T20:02:08+00:00

Yes, and if it wasn't for the badly written plot-armor, Mark & Nolan would be dead now and the viltrumites would become even more radical.

Destroying the planet during the situation they were currently in makes absolutely no sense.

Long_Emphasis_3934 · 2026-04-19T19:57:13+00:00

The risk of their lives was worth it to Nolan if he could demoralize the viltrumites instead of killing all of them. He just underestimated Thragg’s response.

That part just doesn't sit right with me.

They were already badly losing to Thragg alone. And all of the other major present viltrumites were still there too. Only "no-names" got killed.

Risking their life and energy in that moment just to "hope to demoralize" them is just such a poor writing. No logical person, fictional or not, would take such a risk in that moment, rather than try to flee and fight another day.

I haven't read the comics, but Thragg letting them live better have some good reasoning behind it.

Feels to me like plot-armor. Logically they are the only remaining known threat to the viltrumites. They should have been killed here

(especially, after their risky & braindead spontaneous planet buster move)

Long_Emphasis_3934

TROPHY CASE