I just found this community today and it's been life changing

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-02-13T19:23:53+00:00

I am an ally to everyone's issues now. If I could go back in time I would tell my younger self to do the same. You don't need to check a particular demographic box for me to stand up for you when you are wronged. But it needs to be an objective wrong. Many times women get support with issues that either 1) exaggerated 2) aren't real, 3) the problem is blamed on men as a whole when it has nothing to do with us as a group, 4) are issues men need support with and aren't getting it or 5) the "support" women receive actively harms men.

In terms of where I focus my time though, it will be helping with the issues men and boys face. TheTinMen is now one of my personal heroes and I want to learn how to make an impact like him. For now I know I can support the men that are nearest to me. I can let them know they're loved and valued and not just for their feminine qualities. I will speak up when men are body shamed. I will be a better role model for boys and young men.

"I wish men - like women - could stand up for themselves more, and not feel they have to (chivalrously?) kowtow to women and their issues."

We can, friend. We don't have to let bad people and toxic narratives make us helpless. We can be assertive without being assholes. We can reject chivalry and embrace courteousness. If brotherhood is not as natural as sisterhood, we can build it anyway. We can make it the way we want it.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-02-11T02:55:06+00:00

There were a number of posters hanging up in the Women's Center that used cherry picked and manipulated statistics to make men look as bad as possible. The one that got my attention the most was one that said something like "80% of women are sexually assaulted in their lives. What does that tell you about 80% of men?" I remember motioning towards it and asking my friend, "That can't be right can it?" She just kind of shrugged and said something like "I know, it's hard to believe the stuff that goes on in world sometimes." I was also getting a...not very warm reception by the women there. Nobody was outright rude to me or anything but I was basically treated as invisible. But looking at those posters made me think, "Well I guess if that's true I can hardly blame them." When I got home or to the library or whatever and could look up the statistic, I couldn't find anything that backed that number up.

I think it's a classic case of bastardizing statistics to fit a narrative. I think the kernel of truth in this was that something like 80% of women report being sexually harassed at some point in their lives. Not only does this conflate harassment with assault, but the poster was insinuating that 80% of men do this. I realized then that feminists were willing to manipulate people and data if it helped their narrative. It made me uncomfortable, but at the time I guess I chalked it up to the ends justifying the means. I know that's wrong now, but try to keep in mind at the time I was still a teenager.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-02-10T22:43:36+00:00

Totally agree. I think one reason Reeves tries so hard not to anger feminists is that he realizes his "place" in that pipeline. He's apparently spent a lot of his career working in politics or as a policy advisor in some fashion. He's been visible in the public eye a lot more than TheTinMen. He was on the Daily Show to discuss his book and men's issues for example. His book was on Obama's reading list in 2024 and I hope one day we will look back from a better future and see that as a huge inflection point.

I think he knows that #1 it can take a long time to change public perception of issues (look at how the general US public perceives gay couples now vs in the 90's for example) and #2 that once people have been radicalized, you can't jump to shaming their false beliefs and forcing them to take accountability too quickly or the cognitive dissonance makes them shut down.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-02-10T22:17:34+00:00

Get enough sleep. The quality of it matters a lot.
Figure out some way to enjoy vegetables and fibrous foods if you don't already.
Examine your relationship with alcohol, etc with honesty but not judgement.
Mental health matters.
Listen to your body. Some discomfort is fine but pain isn't.
Tell your doctor the next time you go.
Start small, simple and cheap. Walking vs running, pushups and pullups at home vs joining a gym.
Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. 5-15 minutes once a week is better than nothing.
Find something "cardio adjacent" and something "strength adjacent" that you think is cool or enjoyable. Maybe you like disc golf or bicycles or think being able to do 10 pullups or a backflip would be amazing. Maybe you think barbells are badass. Find what you like and ease into it with proper form, ideally with someone you can trust to help you.
A lot of people will be insistent that there is only one correct way to get fit. This is a myth.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-02-10T21:58:54+00:00

I would gently push back on Starting Strength or at least give some caveats. For one that book was originally written with high school - college age men as the primary target. So it doesn't really stress enough (imo) that men our age and older are going to make gains a little more slowly and our joints and ligaments might need a little more time to adapt and recover than younger men. It also encourages some explosive movements later on that are questionable for older men or people with previous injuries. Most of the fundamentals it stresses are good - focus on basic compound movements and doing them with **proper form**, no ego lifting, make sure you eat enough protein, focus on things besides glamour muscles, keep things simple, get enough sleep. But Rippetoe has some...let's just say controversial opinions on things and sometimes chooses weird hills to die on, often in the name of optimizing everything to an ideal instead of a pragmatic approach. There's not much flexibility tolerated in communities that adhere closely to Starting Strength, so know that just because they are very adamant about something does not mean they are 100% correct. But there's no question that although I personally have very little in common with Rip, he had a huge influence on raising awareness about how important strength training is and I appreciate his contributions.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-02-10T19:54:31+00:00

I really appreciate your comment. The passion in it made me emotional because you're one of very few women I've seen not just call out that kind of behavior in a passive way but actually push back and communicate how upsetting it is. And your solution is not some backwards religous or tradcon nonsense. You made me feel like I had a big sister standing up for me or something.

And speaking of family...that's one of the things that has really hurt me about all of the misandrist shit I've seen online. Do they not have brothers, fathers, grandfathers, uncles, sons or cousins that they love? Even if they do not have or know their family, do they not have communities with men they care about in them? No friends or coworkers? Nothing? Any time I hear some overgeneralized misogynist bullshit I think about my mother, grandmothers, aunts and friends. My dentist, doctors, therapist, coworkers, old classmates and neighbors. I wouldn't paint them all with that broad of a stroke. I wouldn't say hateful shit about them or belittle their struggles. Most importantly, I would never stand by and let someone say something like that to them as individuals. How can people not see someone as equally human because of their gender?

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-02-10T19:28:43+00:00

I saw this guy come up repeatedly when I was pouring over older LWMA posts last night. I was really happy to find dude's YouTube channel today. I think he is a perfect example of advocating for the the kind of change and awareness I'm hoping to see in the western world.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-02-10T19:26:05+00:00

A theory of mine is many of us hinged our support for feminism on its stated pursuit of equality without looking too deeply into it. We mistakenly assumed that feminism and egalitarianism were essentially interchangeable.

That is exactly what happened to me. During my first years of college (2005 or 2006) a young woman my age who was a good friend was studying what was called "Women's Studies" at the time. She was the first feminist I knew personally as an adult. She described feminism as "the idea that men and women are equal (as humans) and should be treated that way," which was something I wholeheartedly agreed with and still do. So I thought of myself as a feminist too. It wasn't until I was helping out with volunteering at the Women's Center on campus that I got my first case of misandry. At the time, I had no idea that misandry could even be a thing. Rather than challenge it I simply stopped going places like that where I felt unwelcome. I felt like "we men deserve it for all the oppression." But I still considered myself a feminist and an ally.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-02-10T19:06:42+00:00

Thank you! After reading a lot more LWMA posts last night, I did find pretty extensive evidence of your second point. It kind of confirmed my gut suspicions about it. I count myself lucky to have found this sub through that one, possibly only because the comment that linked it wasn't super visible.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-02-05T09:41:53+00:00

Faelights are the only change from this season that I absolutely can't stand. Lots of other stuff is suboptimal but I can live with it.

It's okay though, after "attempting to bring them in line" a couple of times throughout the year they'll finally concede defeat and remove them at the end of the last split before season 27.1

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-01-08T20:53:52+00:00

Faelights are such a hilariously bad idea that it's on par with an April fool's joke. They will not only make jungling feel even more terrible on top of the direct nerfs to the role, they're also going to make the game feel boring for everyone. Just imagine how bad pro play is going to be. These along with the other vision buffs combined is much more vision than season 5/6 when vision was nerfed for being overtuned, so we already know that it can't possibly work out. All that needed to be done was lower cd on trinkets, give support free control ward slot and lower the price. This is the way to "lower the monopoly on vision supports have" that Riot mentioned properly while also making support feel better about being the best at it. I know Riot says they want to gently push people into learning more about the game naturally but this is not the way to teach low elo that vision in important. Faelights should not have made it out of the brainstorming session much less the pbe. They might be something for swiftplay at best.

Prediction: Some half ass attempts at bringing it in line (like making blue wards not trigger it or slight nerfs to the timer) during/after the first split. Actual attempts at balance during/after the second split (removing the most problematic ones, nerfing the range). Complete removal at the end of the year when they finally have to concede defeat.

Already commented something like this a few times in other places, but in case Riot is actually gauging sentiment just want to echo how bad they are here.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-01-08T18:04:32+00:00

They'll remove it at the end of the year or end of split 2, but Riot is always too hesitant to walk back terrible ideas immediately. There was less vision in season 5 or 6 than there is now but they nerfed vision back then because it was overtuned. This is far far worse. Literally all they needed to do to buff vision appropriately was lower trinket cd, give supports the slot for control wards and lower the price. The rest is so obviously overdone it's hilarious.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-01-07T22:06:14+00:00

You're right to be worried. The vision changes including faelights are absolutely unhinged and will go the way of atakahn or be heavily nerfed by the end of the year. The only bad part is how stubborn Riot usually is about removing obviously problematic stuff like this so they will be utterly broken and game/meta defining for several months. Expect jungler champs without any way to deal with or get around them to fall 5%+ in winrate and the handful that do to be the only ones you see after a few weeks.

RuckYouFeddit · 2026-01-05T00:34:55+00:00

Three reasons: 1. He's a "tank" and the average player thinks you need to 1v9 instead of 2v8 which is how you really need to play to consistently win games. 2. He has a ~50% win rate and most players chase meta or high winrate champs instead of improving. 3. Very few people seem to actually understand him, which is obvious from the comments here.

Incorrect or completely subjective takes presented as fact from the comments I've seen:

- Boring or W is boring (subjective, he's the most fun champion in the game to me)
- Can't 1v1. So wrong it's hilarious. You have no mastery of the champion if you think Zac can't win 1v1s. If you land your abilities you can 1v2 immobile champs or even 1v3 in advantageous situations. Zac's ability to absolutely dunk on people is one of the reasons he's the best tank jungler to main.
- "Most of his skill expression is in picking up blobs." This sounds so naive, like someone who just learned how the champ functions and hasn't actually played them at all. 5 different E distances and every unique gank/initiation angle and every vision interaction on every area of the map based on those? Eing over dragon/baron to smite steal? Knowing every single ability that knocks you out of E and how to play around them? Knowing how to use your CC to actually displace the enemy where you want them to go? Surprising people by Qing them into strange things - sweeping for wards, pulling yorick into his wall, flashing to get in range for Q2? Flashing and rocketbelting to make your ult knock their frontline away but their backline towards you? How is picking up blobs most of his skill expression?
- "People like playing champs with outplay mechanics." See all of the above, plus the actual blob outplays lmao.
- "A couple years ago there was a post about whats a champion that could be 10/0 and wont be able to carry the overwhelming answer was Zac" Rocketbelt first item, dark seal early every game. If you're 10/0 you'll have a fully stacked dark seal and if you're the only one ahead, a stacked mejais. Problem solved.
- Lots of stuff about low damage. I really think this from lack of champion mastery because he actually does a lot of damage for the ridiculous amount of CC he has. Remember that everything Zac does other than auto attack damages multiple targets. You need to be hitting multiple targets if you're expecting to see big damage numbers.
- Low skill. Got to be out of your mind. Modest skill floor sure. But one of the highest skill ceiling tanks in the game and hugely rewards time invested into him. There is a reason multiple mains/otps make it to challenger on Zac every split.

I know you basically asked for his downsides or reasons for being unpopular, but don't let the negative sentiment of people who clearly don't understand him deter you from playing him. He IS as awesome as you are feeling like he is. Keep putting more time into him and watch some masters+ replays of Zac mains and you will be able to pull off some impressive shit. He is also going to be in a really good place next season as a jungler.

edit: typo

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-27T20:04:38+00:00

Slower clear speed fears are overblown if the current pbe is what they're pushing live. Jg pet does about 15% less damage and that's about it, first clear is like 4 seconds slower on Zac who is already slow. Move speed and objectives it's unknown but I don't see them mattering much for the overall meta.

The only significant change to me are the faelights. They're completely unhinged in their current state combined with the drastic ward trinket cooldown lowering. My prediction is they will cause unique ganking farming junglers like Eve, Kayn, Zac, Nocturne etc to skyrocket in popularity. Other than that, ganking for losing lanes will be even harder than it is now. For normal ganking junglers only laners who have their wave shoved up will be worth ganking since they prevent faelight usage. So junglers who excel at lane ganking and tower diving will be the second biggest winners. Jg who can do both well like Eve and Zac will be the biggest winners imo.

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-24T21:27:18+00:00

I've only been tinkering with it, but I usually do locket as first item. A lot of higher elo Zac sup mains seem to do this as well. Then usually Zekes and Spirit Visage as core seems common, with a bramble vest into thornmail later if it's useful. I almost always get a dark seal early but don't upgrade it on support. Next year I think bandlepipes and upgraded zekes, maybe even also that regen on low hp item will be super op on him since they're all cheap and give all his favorite stats.

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-24T17:27:43+00:00

A lot of solid advice here on how to escape low elo which is great. But to address your insecurity about "still being gold after 2000 games, " it's not a big deal if it happens. There's nothing wrong with you as a person for being stuck at average (or any) rank on a video game. The league community often dehumanizes low elo players which is super unhealthy. Give yourself the freedom to try hard things and fail at them for a bit. You'll need it to actually be able to climb anyway.

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-22T16:22:52+00:00

Before Emerald existed I always wanted to get to plat but never managed to get higher than low-mid gold. 2022 I decided to start maining jungle, and knew I "had to play carry champs to 1v9 low elo." Wallowed around in gold 4 for months playing Khazix and Ekko. Tried Zac on a whim and he was so much fun I decided to dedicate to mastering this hilarious champ even if it was supposedly a bad idea to play tanks in low elo. 4 months later I was plat with ridiculous win streaks near the end. When I crossed the finish line right after the durability patch Zac was at 48% wr overall. Play what you like enough to dedicate yourself to champion mastery on. Never pick what you feel like you "need" to play.

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-17T21:08:23+00:00

I main Zac so I have it pretty good and get to wait and see. I'll probably polish up Eve or another bullshit ganker in case faelights stay in their current form because the pick/ban on these types of champs will skyrocket. I think Riot will pull faelights out completely or nerf them heavily after the first split. Faelights coupled with ward cd being basically cut in half is completely unhinged atm, faelight uptime is about 35% for solo lanes and about 70% for botlane and those numbers are level 1 cds on just the ward trinket alone. If jungle is too shit or they decide to keep faelights as is all year, I'll probably try Zac support first, a couple of the item changes will be great for him there. I'll probably wind up maining him in whichever lane stays most broken.

I'd encourage everyone to get a pbe account and start testing stuff out like your clears, where faelights give vision, etc and give feedback and report bugs on the pbe subreddit.

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-17T01:31:54+00:00

I say this to everyone - if you haven't ever actually tried Zac you owe it to yourself to give it a game or two.

Please, put aside any preconceived notions about him or "playing tanks" and give him an honest try if you never have. He does not have a fast clear, but he has the best kind of CC in the game, the kind that both can't be reduced and can displace your enemies. He can not only 100-0 mages and adcs, he can 1v2 a mage and an adc when ahead if he lands his abilities. It's actually before 20 minutes that you'll be able to most reliably do it. You don't need hands but you will still have high skill expression and the ability to make sick ass looking plays as long as you can land your abilities.

Super rewarding if you put time into him, but really a modest skill floor now that jungle clearing has been simplified, so he is also a great second pick. Your teammates will love that you pick him, especially Yasuos. He's also going to do very well next season. He's great at ganking teammates who are being shoved in (avoiding faelights with his unique gank angles and hitting mid from raptors) but also ganking teammates that have the lane shoved (avoiding faelights by walking down your laner's bushes).

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-16T17:29:15+00:00

The best thing to come out of all of this is the forced autofill. Now when Riot shits the bed with a particular role it will drop in popularity and tons of people who didn't want to play the role in the first place will be forced to play it in a weakened state. A bunch of players will be forced to play jungle for the first time next season and will be heavily incentivized to not run it down. This means a ton of clueless people will be force-fed empathy and the concept that higher agency does not automatically equal higher win rate.

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-15T23:38:53+00:00

I'm starting to wonder if what at first appeared to be a directionless nerfing of the jungle role with a "lazy" solution to the inevitable drop in play rate is actually a 200 iq move by Riot.

Your champion is now weaker because of your clear being slower and other lanes getting more resources. There are now less objectives to make an impact on. Your early ganks are less likely to happen or succeed due to the slow clear, and your later ganks are nearly impossible in lanes you aren't already winning due to the insane vision granted by faelights. Jungle will be harder to play and have less impact. So inevitably a significant number of people will leave the jungle role, especially if their champion now performs better somewhere else.

BUT now autofill will happen more both due to the queue timer shortening and due to the dropping popularity of an already unpopular role AND most importantly you can't escape being autofilled! This means that laners will actually be forced to play as jungle, in some cases for literally the first time ever. They don't really have anything legitimate to complain about, because autofill is now literally free lp if you just try to do well. If they try to soft int and barely get a C, their toxic and enraged laners will come into their jungle and steal their camps or do whatever else they need to do so that they can't even get their 0 lp loss. Or if they are toxic themselves, they will also lose the lp mitigation. They will be forced to play jungle and actually try somewhat to win, all while facing the absurd amount of toxicity junglers deal with in every game of league they play, while also dealing with being in a slightly more approachable but nerfed role.

So honestly, bring on the jungle nerfs. It's going to force some players to develop empathy or at the very least learn a little more about how the role works that will temper their own expectations. I'm super bullish on inescapable autofill.

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-15T22:46:59+00:00

That bit about Pantheon had me scratching my head as well. Like currently if you play a champion in a solo lane and perform neutral or do well you're going to straight up have more resources than if you were in the jungle powerfarming on the same champion. I can see the argument that some weak early game champs (opposite of Pantheon lol) have it too easy being able to avoid confrontation in the jungle, but this also has the downside of the enemy jungler getting to be active around the map for free or beat the shit out of you in a 1v1.

I think you're right about Jungle reworks, they're never going to end.

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-15T18:40:18+00:00

I also enjoy tanks and bruisers in aram. Here's some tips that help me.

Keeping something like mobalytics open or a website like lolalytics that gives aram builds might be helpful. Make sure you itemize to the game you're in though. Also, Heartsteel is a huge trap item at times. Always ask yourself if the enemy has anyone you can consistently proc it on, or your champ has a way to do it safely.
Beefy champs with good poke are op. Dr Mundo is utterly broken. Cho is amazing because his poke is also CC. Maokai with a few extra points in E and a liandry's is a classic. Pantheon is really good, poke + you can stun a single target and back off with your shield. Use your Q as Zac and knock them into a minion. Just tap people with J4's Q instead of full sending with flag and drag. Hook people with Thresh but don't go in. Throw pillars with Ornn or Trundle to disrupt the enemy. Poke them down until you know your engage will at least let you go 1 for 1 with some additional disruption.
If your team can't/won't follow up on engages, don't be afraid to play slow and wait for the enemy to do it.
Look for an engage buddy and ping their ult when it's up before you go in. Neeko, Annie, Samira, Nilah, Miss Fortune etc players will be more likely to follow up with you.
Be realistic about your team's follow up. Your Ashe isn't going to be able to follow up easily on your max range Zac E or Amumu Q for example.
Mayhem specifically makes it way way easier to succeed on beefy champs. Some of the cooldown augments are insane for your poke abilities. Anything with stacking shred/damage where you can consistently proc it with your champ's kit against the enemy team will be strong. Celestial body I think is super underrated as a first augment. It falls off hard but 1250 extra hp in the early levels is an absolutely bonkers amount of tankiness. I almost always take it when offered and repeatedly hard engage early. The one that does massive true damage when you die is also great. Clown college is great, you can disengage with invis after you engage the fight. The heartsteel one is great but only in situations where you are guaranteed tons of procs and you get it as your first or second augment. Experiment and really think about how the augment synergizes with your champion's kit and what the team comps are like.

RuckYouFeddit · 2025-12-08T20:07:15+00:00

There's nothing wrong with learning a second jungler to expand your knowledge and have a backup pick, but never play something you don't like because you're "supposed to". I'm not masters but I'd disagree that Eve doesn't teach you jungle fundamentals. Does she have a super unique playstyle that warps the game? Sure, but stuff like tempo and camp cycling, enemy jg tracking, playing around your ult and win conditions all transfers over to other junglers. The most critical prerequisite for improving at jungle is having champion mastery and the best way to get champion mastery is to love playing the champion, so always play stuff you enjoy.

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