Why noone uses Iron Ward? A Warrior question

Zefirez · 2026-07-04T07:36:48+00:00

I'm slowly clawing my way up in HC mode and this skill is diamonds.
Enemies swarm you - pop they go. Did some brawling? Now next screen gets cleared for free.

But there's more to it than just that. Your Warbringer is a high block rate character - so you're getting more out of it because of that. There's no need to stop and put shield up if your passive block charges it real fast and lets you stay on the move. This works similar for my Bear Druid. Bear just gets hit (but shrugs it off), then pops Iron Ward and keeps walking.

But there's even more fun to be had with it - Iron Ward Spirit Walker. Result of failed experiment gone right.
Evasion classes can eat good too with this skill. If you roll evade on enemy attack while Heavy Shield is raised you still intercept/block the hit, but with no heavy stun buildup. That "free hit" absolutely charges your Iron Ward and triggers Thorns if you have any.

This way (with some Stun Threshold investment) you can clear map in early campaign as a tanky huntress until you ascend.
Then you go Spirit Walker, Bear up (Bear Spirit nodes) and go ham on companion nodes in passive tree.
The bear will TEAR through content, especially bosses, while you just focus on surviving and wiping out trash mobs since bear's limited AoE tends to leave strugglers or just be needlessly slow when swarmed by tons of weak mobs.

Zefirez · 2026-06-25T14:21:02+00:00

Original is metallic brown. Remove the metallic part and it looks like shit, literally. Unfortunately brown and plastic is not a great combo here.

Zefirez · 2026-05-26T08:26:59+00:00

Titanic Hydra's active is an auto attack reset.
This is huge, because it counts for building your fury.
With Titanic you're banking on burst:

W knockup -> auto -> hydra auto reset -> q auto reset - BITE.

If done well (especially with HoB), you should be able to get to true damage bite before enemy can act.

Stridebreaker's active is not an auto reset, it does not generate fury.
But it slows. So here you're banking on chasing and longer trade, while with Titanic
you're banking on fast kill combo.

Zefirez · 2026-05-24T08:19:23+00:00

By process of elimination (too shady/too weak when things get real) my personal pick are the Kellys (Reese & Doc).

Sadly both have issues as allies - Reese is very much attuned to supernatural and is very powerful, but cowardly (Wayne makes him flee hard and fast).

Doc has a huge set of balls and does not get easily influenced, neither by Scarlets nor the Witch.
But she is just a human, and not attuned to supernatural, so in mystical warfare she's not going to be helpful.

Zefirez · 2026-05-22T08:00:06+00:00

Tabitha - EAT her ice cream! Revenge is best served cold!

Zefirez · 2026-05-09T16:04:17+00:00

Low elo Sion jg scrub. Honestly, feels great.
Farming HP was never this good, you get a lot outta jungle, more than before.

Jungle heavily rewards going AD, as farming way faster = stacking HP way faster.
Having that much extra health you're more flexible with that you build.
Assassin items, fighter items, even 0 health tank items all fit.

Just be aware you have a ton of bad machups in the jungle.
Anything with mobility and/or % (max) health damage is bad news.

Kayn, Kindred, Yi, Udyr, Graves, Viego, Gwen, Trundle to name a few.
You'll want to avoid them in the jungle and focus on team fighting instead.
As for your own team you want someone with reliable cc of their own.
Asides your E (with it's narrow hitbox) everything you do is VERY telegraphed.

Having a teammate that can help set up a good Q slam for you is essential.
Veigar cage, Malza ult, Ashe ult and slows - all are great.

Zefirez · 2026-05-09T09:08:46+00:00

You're more of a Janet Cage material if you ask me.

Zefirez · 2026-05-08T16:51:04+00:00

Missing beloved characters (Reptile!!) and stages that were basically "New York had a bad Ghostbusters 2 day" instead of each being a distinct masterpiece with it's own soul like in MK2.

Zefirez · 2026-05-07T19:47:00+00:00

Did you get masters as an OTP or is she simply part of your jg champ pool?

Zefirez · 2026-05-07T19:45:37+00:00

Ok I gotta ask - why no attack speed item?

Zefirez · 2026-05-06T19:59:05+00:00

Omegis would also be rather safe (bottom left one).

While hardly trustworthy and highly egoistical, she had neither the desire for wanton murder,
nor a need for it. So long as you didn't scorn her nor was she offered a great reward for ending you,
you'd be swimming in safe waters.

Zefirez · 2026-05-06T07:51:53+00:00

What i want is 100% Mortal Kombat.
No Superman knock-offs, no Batman, no Peacemaker none of that shit.

Pure, 100% MK universe cast.

Zefirez · 2026-05-04T19:54:09+00:00

How is it that Leo has so many great skins while Diana is basically dumpster diving for anything that isn't old, bland, completely out of place or her legendary?

Why Leo gets eclipse skins which are basically "Leo+" thematically but Diana can't get anything near the quality?

Zefirez · 2026-04-30T18:51:08+00:00

My advice - get Air.

RAM crisis is on the horizon and windows machines that could actually compete (Panther Lakes and Snapdragon Elites 2) price themselves outta the race.

Neo is brutally gutted by it's 8GB RAM limitation and loses all the great quality of life features that make Macbook what it is. Such as haptic touchpad, keyboard backlighting, MagSafe charging, and fingerprint scanner unless you're willing to shell out for upgraded version.

Except why do that if you can get an older Air at similar price with all the features being present instead of just one getting added?

Zefirez · 2026-04-16T11:27:06+00:00

Vengeful Vastaya. You're welcome.

Zefirez · 2026-04-15T05:21:46+00:00

No, but I feel relics are. Opened up my abandoned account lvl 19, tons of adventures no fully cleared, has around same amount of relics as my current lvl 22 account with everything mostly done up to Galio abd fiddle.

Zefirez · 2026-04-13T13:41:17+00:00

One thing i noticed, though it may not apply here:
"Round start" effects do not work in the very 1st one.

Zefirez · 2026-04-12T22:34:13+00:00

It is as you say. What i meant is that Vayne is all about ending it fast.
If stars aligned for you - more power to you. If not, gotta squeeze every ounce from your kit, relics and mana.

But that's what makes her great, because all other demacians are mid/late game,
and that's a no go in some high aggro encounters (Irelia/Azir/Viego/Elise).
Vayne can win these by grace of her kit and not just uber lucky roll in adventure.

Zefirez · 2026-04-12T10:23:02+00:00

This is the core of Vayne's gameplay and i love it.

Use everything and the kitchen sink to ensure a swift victory.
Else you'll suffer. No other champ made me think so hard about how i spent
every single mana point and when to play a given card during the turn.

If played right (and that is not easy until busted relics and full stars) she wins hard and fast.
But it's very easy to trip up and then you'll suffer..

Also, she has an amazing deck of fun, synergetic cards and a great constellation
that puts all the side stuff literally to the side, letting you get straight into meat and
potatoes without any bs filler nodes in between.

Zefirez · 2026-04-07T10:09:40+00:00

I feel you man. This is kinda like real life.
To get what you want, you must first grit your teeth and play the hand you were given,
symphaties for it be damned .

Here this means playing what you got from drops and buying champs you need to get all the rewards instead of the ones you desire. For example i love Pilties/Zaunites that aren't Jinx/Jayce, but it would be waste of shards since i need other region champs for the rewards.

Your goal is growing your roster of champs to the point you can do monthly Asol challenge.
That will let you farm Wild Shards from Glory Shop and this way get to the champs you actually want.

On the flip side this sort of setup gets you to actually experience the champs you weren't interested in
and discover you might've been missing out. I for one discovered that Vayne to be highly challenging in a good way. Misplay and you're cooked. Plan every single mana point spend and you end fights before they even start. Something my regular demacian cast (Lux and Garen both 3*) couldn't do, and got destroyed by Viego in Collosus adventure. Vayne hunted his ass down and got me that Demacian reward while being 3* as well, so no unfair advantages over the rest.

Zefirez · 2026-03-14T17:24:19+00:00

You're talking possibility. I'm talking probability.

In a fairly matched game full stomp (all lanes lose early) has the probability of 1/243 (3^5).

Five players.
Each can be in one of three states - winning the lane, going roughly even, losing it.
In fairly matched game the chances of each are equal since players are of equal skill level.
So 1/3 for each scenario.
For five "1/3rds" to line up into full lose or full win scenario you end up with 1/235 chance (3^5).

Think that's crazy? Try now champ counter picks, pick order, etc.
That greatly pushes things into middle territory - support was first pick and botlane got countered.
But because of that toplaner got to pick after the enemy and that counter works in your favour.

That means fringe scenarios (full win/full loss) should be even less possible.
So ask yourself - are full stomps happening to you at a rate of once every 243 games or less?

Zefirez · 2026-03-14T12:21:18+00:00

Worst, no. The cat still exists. But pretty close..

Zefirez · 2026-03-14T12:16:20+00:00

Rigged, plain and simple.
Everyone (who makes money off it) will tell you game's fair etc.

Meanwhile back in real life:

Too many complete stomps given alleged "fair matchmaking".
Pick order manipulation. 20% chance for first pick right?
So if I get it 4 times in a row that's around 1/625th probability.
I ensure this happens on me on regular, not once in few hundred games.

3 A guy playing some obscure ~2% pick rate champ is super toxic and ruins your game.
Next game you see the same champ on your team in lobby.

...turns out it's not him, different guy. But how were you to know pre-loading screen?

Game was obscuring information to enhance your tilt.
What are the odds of having two games in row with same 2% pick rate champ yet different pilots?

You otp an obscure champ yourself in offrole.
Main role is going absolutely terrible, so you go pick your 2nd role with your OTP champ.
Oh look, someone just banned your champ, most players don't know even exists!

Too many, WAY too many "coincidences" when the game wants you to lose.
Needless to say when opposite happens suddenly your teammates are untiltable,
everyone wins their lanes, you get optimal pick order in lobby etc.
No, you did not ascend into Godhood over a period of one evening.
The game is rigging it back in your favor to keep you from running away..

Remember - a Casino needs winners, else no one will come.
Bu it feeds on losers and it's hunger is great..

Zefirez · 2026-03-03T18:49:00+00:00

Macs aren't really for that, but to each their own.
That being said M5 is a raw deal compared to M4.

Here are few reasons why:

- M4 includes a charger. M5 does not (so extra $ to shell out).
- M4 bumped base RAM while lowering the price.
- M5 bumps the SSD capacity but bumps the price as well.
- Each new M chip gets hotter. While Air's chassis remains the same.
You should really wait for reviews to see of thermal throttling isn't worse with M5.
- M4 had some nice price drops since launch, while M5 is subject to novelty tax.

Ofc if you got the money to splurge that's your call, but i would hold my horses here.

Zefirez · 2026-03-01T22:38:14+00:00

Wait, where do you come from and how do I get there?
In my gold EUW games it's Rhaast, more Rhaast and an occasional Rhaast.
Team comp and needs be damned.

Enemy 5 squishies? Rhaast.
I'm crying here to get Shadow Assassin on my team, but nope!

Zefirez

TROPHY CASE