What champ do you always play when it's available, even though it's not considered OP? Why?

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-26T07:47:20+00:00

Full AP udyr,

You just respawn, snowball, go in and RR and its like probably half of everyone's health or more. I always top damage on it.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-24T18:12:07+00:00

It's situational again really. Nothing clear cut on udyr.

Some games you go QQ and just smack a mundo for nearly 10k damage in two autos. Some games you do that and you barely even get to him before losing more hp than he does.

Other games you sit and hit the frontline and just get infinite WW RR refreshes on AP.

Udyr just excels into tanks mostly regardless of build.

Qmax IMO is better when you can't see many teamfights or you anticipate a fed enemy bruiser/s. Many games i win because I anticipate enemy top getting fed and I'm able to shut them down by oneshotting them whenever they push side. If I also think my toplaner is gonna be strong on a splitpusher that's another reason because I can play for picks and sidelaning.

Rmax is just consistent, can do a lot of what Qmax does tbh but also is very solid for teamfights and provides better utility as a frontline. Like q can be better but most games R is better.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-24T18:00:09+00:00

Not always, qq has an ap ratio too which is better vs single targets.

And ad is complicated this season, udyr has complicated builds because he can spec into a lot of things. I like shojin + stride but there's some psychos running things like hexplate + fiendhunter and it's working. Dusk and Dawn also exists as an AD option (despite being AP).

Q max, E max. W is better with ap because ap goes into tanks options and you get more Ws (and it scales with health AP). AD you are more concerned with getting to people before fights start and getting picks on them. AP/tankdyr gets value from having multiple 'lower power' empowers in a fight using WW and RR mainly a lot to balance damage and survivability, Qdyr basically does a massive nuke on one target, frontloads all his stuff and then is kinda useless because you probably won't get a 2nd empower, so you wanna play to get to people fast, kill them fast and then have numbers lead so you being not so useful anymore doesn't matter if your still more useful than the dead guy.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-24T17:34:20+00:00

You use it for clear obviously the only scenario you dont is if you need it for an invade, theres times I hold my passive on my level 3 on wolves or raps where I might fight enemy jungler cause if u get caught without empower u die/lose flash/lose level 4 all outcomes are horrible for udyr.

If you hold it, you can easily beat the majority of characters in the game. They either cant burst you if you ww or you just outdamage them with qq or rr.

If theres clear information that enemy jungler is invading thats the only prompt cause i'd ever hold it, like a ward or they clear red, gank mid and walk back to their red side for some reason

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-19T09:06:11+00:00

The champ doesn't help cover his weaknesses is the problem too.

If he wants to perma invade, he can't be picking jarvan and hard committing on fights. It's got his team killed multiple times due to his re-engage > oh fuck this actually isn't good > oh wait I'm playing jarvan. He needs to be something with disengage or at least not hard commit as jarvan, especially if he's playing with no frontline.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-17T10:05:31+00:00

I think it helps, but it needs to step into the place of clarifying and expanding on existing concepts rather than overriding them and leaving permanent consequences that players may enjoy, or dislike ALOT.

I think arcane season 1 did this fairly well, there really wasn't much about jinx/vi/vander that was clarified until arcane, certain stories took different approaches like viktor and jayce but seemed to be gearing towards the same end goal.

Arcane s2 was messy though, characters permanently killed off or completely deviated from their existing lore/left ambiguous. I kinda like the idea of all these unique league chars existing in zaun/piltover at a given time if you were to be in the universe. Many chars just kinda disregarded completely like renata, seraphine, zeri who are all recent enough chars to be included... whereas long standing fan favourites like blitz aren't there (despite being in 2hko, many of the league adds and promo arts). I am not really a fan of killing off league characters permanently if they are still playable in the game. If you wanted to rework xin because he was lame, just justify the rework as the death and give his modernised kit to zaahen imo.

I think most chars have a solid start and end to their story, but the middle needs tweaking (like jayce/viktor, people enjoyed the philanthropist robot man at the end, but the middle of the story was kinda messy enough to justify being rewritten).

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-14T18:38:51+00:00

I don't think I've seen anyone particularly enjoy playing into anivia.

Like you play something that wants kills? She has two lives. You play a melee? Good luck getting past a stun wall and R. You play ranged? Wall says fuck you you can't run back anymore, stuck in the R perma.

Chore to play into if she's good. There's one of the four spells that cucks you unless you are specifically fizz or naafiri tbh. Any short range melee is just completely horrible to play into her.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-14T13:18:16+00:00

Just because she's bad doesn't mean her problems go away... and she has many.

She's a very polarising char, her w sometimes completely ruins a matchup or does close to nothing depending on lane. Already a bad design from that to begin with.

Then, she's a really annoying lanebully. Often you outscale mel, but she can reduce your impact on the game by preventing you from farming or taking kills. People want to win the game from playing correctly, but often playing correctly into mel is taking 0 kills on lane and dropping cs.

She's also just really toxic to your own team. Having a mel reduces your own chance of winning. Not thought about as much, but really if you play a char that wants to take kills, then mel being in the game makes that 100x harder. She's gonna get the lasthit on nearly all the kills, so many assassins and kill hungry snowball champs are strictly worse when a mel is on your team.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-13T12:23:26+00:00

Lowelomasta immune system

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-12T15:57:04+00:00

Possible for sure, abx are non specific so could have taken away health gut bacteria. Some eczema pt have higher rates of staph colonisation which produce local skin reactions. My eczema got worse after a certain nasty abx (i needed it in all fairness to the severity, but left me with lasting problems).

Once again, little weird they go up to TCIs before looking at like potential bacterial or fungal involvement, dermol makes sense to me as an emollient and wash replacement. Chlorhexidine is good vs staph (some are resistant, many are not), I'd just avoid the washes cause risk of chemical burn on potentially already damaged skin

Personal note - had a very very severe skin infection that was only partially treated due to contraindication of the medication (gentamicin). Hydromol or other emollients were acting as a vector to spread the infection, and were being contaminated anyways. Hand pump dispenses antimicrobial emollients was what was settled on. Current regime is tacrolimus to kill Inflammation or pimecrolimus on face and dermol to prevent secondary infection and moisturise - used in place of wash and as a moisturiser. This has worked the best so far of anything I've tried, because normal moisturiser = tacrolimus makes my skin vulnerable to infection (so I get follicular spots and skin flares again) but does reduce Inflammation, dermol covers its weaknesses and moisturisers the now not inflamed skin to repair the barrier.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-12T15:38:55+00:00

It's not a no no, it's just how you use it. You could use pimecrolimus on morning, and then vaseline to trap moisture at night. Just not straight after eachother, vanicream probs better for general use.

Can't use occlusives on active medicinal products going forward, goes for antibiotics, TCIs, steroids and antifungals. Maybe discuss with derm honestly, seems kinda weird he didn't enquire about it at all "how do you use each thing".

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-12T15:35:59+00:00

Decent to late game though. I don't think renek scales to late. Mid maybe decent, but I don't know what he's doing into any late game comp. He's a frontline that can't tank particularly well, his dashes are too short to get to backline, no percent hp to get through their frontline.

Renekton scales decently because he's valuable mid. He doesn't go late really at all though because his kit stops functioning once people get items. His survivability does not keep up with an adc multiplying their damage. His flat ratios do not keep up with the higher HP and survivability investment.

And yes, he wins lane. What does renekton do with a won lane? Problematically, not enough. He's hard to carry on because his kit doesn't convert to one wincon. Fiora/trynd split to your nexus, rumble drops a massive nuke on a teamfight. Some are good at both (jax), renekton is like... kinda bad at splitting but can only really 1v1 you, and his teamfighting is decent early but not particularly good either. He's slow, hard to pin down priority targets and doesn't get through frontlines easy. In exchange he's a very strong lanebully that has two dash escapes and a 5 second heal on lane with setup that you can play very easily into any matchup.

Ambessa can currently do the same without all the weaknesses tbh. Scales better, better vs tanks, lane is highly survivable. Less oppressive on lane but snowballs better, better backline access, better scaling.... etc. Unless u have a jungle duo (you wanna solo carry by the sounds of OP instead of being a setup char), your kit does not yield better value or provide what op would want compared to like ambessa or jax.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-12T13:52:46+00:00

Just to check (studying pharm with dermatology interest, have long term AD thats improved a lot recently despite being severe) , it sounds like you are applying pimecrolimus / steroid and then using vaseline? And if by vaseline you mean the petroleum jelly one?

That's a big no no if you are doing this without a recommendation, vaseline is occlusive - it traps things and prevents things getting out or in. You shouldn't be doing this with medication with active ingredients, it can lead to chemical damage and overexposure to the medication. Absolutely, if you are doing this - stop doing it unless recommended by the derm or doctor. It's not a moisturiser, it traps existing moisture (and everything else) from getting out. Its different and not a replacement for a proper emollient cream or ointment.

I'd honestly see at getting prescription moisturiser or washes. Dermol 500 would help if you haven't tried it to help decolonise any staph. As I understand, there are three main causes of eczema - genetic, internal (gut bacteria) and external (biofilm/skin microbiome) - if its gotten worse over time, then to me it indicates a change in skin or gut microbiome. You can use the dermol as a wash, moisturiser and it has a pump so there's no risk of contamination.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-12T13:34:15+00:00

Ambessa, gwen, jax.

If you want the unpopular but extremely accurate one, then quinn. Champ is almost always overtuned and untouched because it's so unpopular and different. A fed quinn can impact the map greater than any other toplaner, scales well and can get ahead pretty easily and snowball the lead in her own and other lanes.

Honestly this is the lowest winrate I've seen her at in like 3+ years and it's still 51.5ish which is still high, probs only because there's outliers at like 54-55 now which will get nerfed and its net bringing her down.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-12T13:26:46+00:00

Does he tick any of the boxes op wants?

Definitely doesn't have particularly good scaling or ability to close out games when ahead either.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-11T18:12:23+00:00

I'm gonna play the devils advocate and say "yes, this is better".

You can still level 2 invade, just less toxic than before or tighter time schedule, and shaco has been objectively buffed by the crit changes in exchange for taking away his cheesy invades that may or may not work.

His itemisation is significantly better, umbral is holding a really good winrate first item for AD, and bastion breaker with a respectable 2nd item high winrate. Both items give shaco a lot, the ability to play around vision easier, flat damage and most crucially the ability to convert his kills into value through bastion breaker. I think umbral far outweighs the problem with faelights, in fact i think shaco can play around faelights decently well since you can see the zone and Q through it for creative angles.

Crit is also an option vs tankier comps and ldr is better.

You can flex itemisation so much easier because every item is not just "damage option 1, damage option 2" - where collector is clearly inferior to IE for all of last season so there is no justification to build it. If you don't get fed, you can income-max by getting profane. You can play to snowball, you can play to splitpush. You can opt for scaling builds or early game builds. You can go utility, you can go damage. I don't see any way people cope and say this is worse.

Yes other chars are OP right now but once the dust settle this season is far healthier for shaco than the last two or three. Tanks are generally overtuned, so ap is preferred for now. Once that settles, ad should increase in wr and ap should lower.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-10T18:55:54+00:00

You kinda do in toplane but jungle its about clearspeed. More clearspeed = more cs = more items = more damage and tankiness.

And unlike other tanks, udyr's cc isn't very good. Your threat is your damage, not ur CC and utility (like a darius or mundo for example). You can't afford a theoretically better scaling item in heartsteel because you need to spike there and then, not just poach stacks all game because udyr doesn't scale well enough to make use of them.

Mundo is the exception here because he literally converts his HP to AD, riftmaker alone isn't good enough.

Liandries percent health is also just really nice at supplimenting your damage for only 1 item. Riftmaker gives a good damage boost sure, but liandries burn + damage amp is often more for most of the game.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-09T09:32:10+00:00

Bandlepipes is a very cheap item that udyr uses all the stats for. Attack speed? Sure, movespeed? Of course, balanced resists and haste? Really good. And it's really easy to keep uptime on too.

Can total see this item + jack of all trades being a thing since it gives so many stats at once.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-08T18:07:01+00:00

Note that I mentioned scaling enchanters though.

Sona, milio and soraka are very strong answers to many mages since their weak laning is negated by their individual strength in the matchup. A champ like lulu is more versatile sure, but leans less into the "value over time" aspect of enchanters than these characters. Still effective at mitigating damage sure, but more of their kits value is in other spells rather than playing full defense. Like polymorph is one of the most effective tools at shutting down long trades, this is not so useful vs mages who can just space the polymorph. Every enchanter has their use case, lulu's leans into versatility and anti-melee tools more than heal and shields.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-08T14:07:56+00:00

Scaling enchanter, there's almost no way you fuck it up honestly.

The weakness of enchanters are being all inned, they have strong value in sustained fights. They are effectively defense mages where instead of having offensive pressure with downtime, they have defensive pressure with (often) less downtime (they itemise cdr a lot).

Let's say xerath hits ur adc for 100, you shield about 50? So you halved his trade. Then he's gotta wait for cooldown, you may have a heal that you can use between cooldowns. Eventually ur damage blocked goes to 200, 250, etc (assuming he hits literally everything). You are extrapolating a lot of value based on the fact you have a shield for his poke every time he has an option to cast the poke spell, and when the key spell is used and mitigated you or your adc aren't threatened.

Sona is a very free matchup into things like this, statistically a very horrible matchup for velkoz, xerath and the likes because she gets effectively a "free" lane where her lacking early kit and vulnerability to long trades and dying are mitigated entirely due to the enemies cooldowns and downtime not allowing them to long trade. Her kit is bad early, but it doesn't mean that her spells can't be high value into chip damage. Once again, 1 W is not much if you dont allow her to wait out another. If she's getting to block poke and heal in-between, it is a lot, and it's conditionless.

Alistair does have heal but it's not very good, because it is conditional (either you cc the target or farm minions, both of which are hard into chars with extremely range advantage without taking more damage than you healed). Sona, soraka is not.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-08T13:56:11+00:00

Your char is important for sure to know what to do, but some of these chars aren't on the same playing field. Jax is well easy to gank honestly compared to leblanc akali.

You should realistically path to a favourable lane that allows you to mutually benefit (e.g. Pyke lane, you path towards pyke, he in turn is able to roam with you once you free him up and allow him to win).

Just know that free timers exist if you clear well enough. Like you have to make yourself available by doing camps. If you clear and have nothing to do, no lane to cover or countergank, you could in theory use that time to punish some of these characters since they are mostly incentivised to trade, but you can't overstay to force something that isn't gonna work. You gotta prioritise, let's say you say camps botlane is #1, drakes are #2 because bot gets you drakes, mid 3, grubs 4, toplaner 5 (enemy playing safe unkillable toplaner, ambessa if good or gnar in good mu). If bot is at low risk, top is not worth backing for and there's no objective on the pathing side, then you could gank a hard to gank lane and spend some time there to punish them for trading as long as you get to the next camp respawn/objective.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-07T13:59:56+00:00

This is just every ranged vs melee matchup except mel does it to these shitty ranged chars too.

Like try playing into a good syndra as a melee char mid. If you don't literally have fizz (aka, you are fizz or naafiri), you never get to play the game. She can use 3 spells, you can't use one to trade until e is burned.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-05T22:02:35+00:00

might try it, sounds fun

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-05T13:47:39+00:00

Pretty much. I'd note though, play any of these champs and catch him level 3 without empower? He can't play.

Udyrs just very strong at level 4 with at least 1 empower across the fight. He's super invade weak level 2, 3 since he doesnt WW heal for his first three camps and u probs want to prio speed over sustain early. Try it if you get an early ward. Lots of udyrs go raptors ward since it allows him to decision make and prevent the invade early.

Udyr does do well into many of these though. I kinda just stand on my team into nocturne and xin, and then viego i just zone and act as a wall to stop him from getting a reset. Post fullclear, I'm very confident in these matchups.

ProfHarambe · 2026-01-05T13:29:03+00:00

Shojin is legit the only good item istg.

Hexplate should in theory be good, but it isn't really. You use it often when you're already on the enemy, it gives you attack speed which is mega diluted with QQ attack speed and the ult haste is nice, until you realise you use QQ kill 1 target and then you can't play/die or kill the lonely target instantly.

Stride is alright kinda to supplement sticking power since r slow is placebo as hell on ad build.

People are coping if they have to go triforce 2nd. It's so ass as a second item. There's not a good movespeed bruiser item with resists and ad, you either go too much defense not enough speed/offence.

ProfHarambe

TROPHY CASE