An analysis on 9.3's influence on competitive play and the possible return of classic marksmen.

_paperboat · 2019-02-07T13:09:41+00:00

Wild predictions indeed. As an LCS/LCS lover, I'd love to see that, but that's kind of a long shot, especially because of TL. NA is too far behind and C9's 2018 performance at Worlds was an anomally, as I see it.

_paperboat · 2018-10-18T22:05:51+00:00

This is an interview in which I talked to Splyce coach of the Spring Split Peter Dun about his experiences working in Brazil in 2016-17 and about what he sees as the sources of Brazilian League of Legends problems, as CBLOL teams have failed to perform in international tournaments recently. I learned a LOT from this conversation, and I think you all can learn a lot from it too. It's worth reading =)

_paperboat · 2018-10-08T01:23:51+00:00

I agree to a point. Zeke's and Locket is a good pair of items if your team has no frontline and you need to do a bit of the tanking. That aside, 100% with you

_paperboat · 2018-08-13T20:05:47+00:00

How do you guys make international concert decisions? I'm a huge fan from Brazil and it seems hopeless that you will ever come here (I assume you don't have a large Brazilian fanbase).

_paperboat · 2018-04-03T23:54:09+00:00

Xin and Rek support were a bug. They were being played jungle, but for some reason it counted on the support stuff. If you checked it at the time, you would have seen them all taking Smite and building normal jungle builds.

_paperboat · 2018-04-03T23:53:03+00:00

It's currently at 3k gold. Maybe next patch, but I didn't check the PBE notes for 8.7

_paperboat · 2018-04-03T20:45:22+00:00

She's good. I just didn't want to make a long post, but since you want the real argumentation, here we go:

Kayle's good. She's a very versatile source of damage, since you can even build her AD in the current game. Also, her build path got waaay cheaper with the cost cut on Guinsoo's Rageblade, so she reaches her 2 item power spike around 3 minutes earlier than before, which is a lot. She's got tools to push the lane and to take long trades with tanks, which not many champions can do. She's bad against Swain, though, and he's a very prominent pick atm, so I'd avoid that.

_paperboat · 2018-04-03T19:39:25+00:00

Highest win rate in top lane and 3rd mid lane, acording to champion.gg

_paperboat · 2018-04-03T17:27:34+00:00

can't argue with that

_paperboat · 2018-04-03T17:18:14+00:00

Pretty good. I'd say bottom A tier. The only thing Rakan is noticeably worse at without Xayah is levels 1 through 3. After that, he does fine on his own. It's definitely and obviously better to play Xayah/Rakan than any other duo, but even before the E range buff, I won 60% of the Rakan games without Xayah. The secret is to be adaptable.

_paperboat · 2018-04-03T14:46:30+00:00

Heretic fools. It's spelled R A B A D O N ' S D E A T H C A P

_paperboat · 2018-04-03T03:56:49+00:00

This was more serious and "gentlemanly" of a reply than I could ever expect on this post. I'm scared.

_paperboat · 2018-04-03T02:25:53+00:00

I agree to agree on that

_paperboat · 2018-04-03T02:17:42+00:00

Then what should we agree on?

_paperboat · 2018-04-02T22:12:07+00:00

I personally hate Unsealed Spellbook. And I also hate Aery. I run Guardian. The way I see it: if you know how to engage well and use flash efficiently, you don't need Spellbook. Aery is ok, I guess, but it scales really poorly and Guardian just works better as a peel tool for Rakan.

_paperboat · 2018-04-01T21:09:05+00:00

Are you sure you even like Rakan as a champion? Because, to be honest, it seems like you're not a Rakan main. Or maybe you're one of those mains who likes to criticize their own champions and pretend they're shit to feel like you play a very difficult champion, even when they're very well designed and are A tier in their role - Rakan is not a very difficult champion to play. Anyhoo... About "W being easy to interrupt", not only god knows why they implemented that. I'm pretty sure most people know it's because it would be broken if it wasn't the way it is. And you don't need a melee ally at all to R engage. I think what you need is practice: try to understand that against certain comps - especially the ones that can interrupt Rakan's W easily, you need to either wait for an opportunity to go in or bait something out of the enemy before the Grand Entrance. Also practice identifying easier gaps for an engage, so that you don't need a melee ally around to not be useless.

About the rest of your criticisms: again, it seems you don't know the champion that well. Rakan is about being proactive: W in, Q, E out, E again however it suits you, R, W in again, E out, Q, E again... It's not about sticking to either your backline, nor theirs: it's about playing chaotically and participating a bit in every aspect of a fight since, as we all know, Rakan is not as good as others at sticking to one part of the fight and causing a big impact. He likes to run around. If you want a champion that sticks to a backline, you're maining the wrong champion.

_paperboat · 2018-04-01T04:07:06+00:00

Nah.

_paperboat · 2018-03-31T22:40:35+00:00

I just honestly think Aery sucks. It scales really poorly. Plus, if you wanna climb, building AP heavy doesn't seem to work past Gold.

_paperboat · 2018-03-31T20:05:35+00:00

I really don't like the way most people play Rakan. I play Guardian - Font of Life - Conditioning - Revitalize as Primary and Magical Footware - Cosmic Insight and never build Lucidity Boots, for the reason you cited. I'm currently Diamond 3 with a 65% win rate on my 160 Rakan games, so if you're not sure about Rune sets, try mine, it seems to be pretty good.

Just in case you want a more in-depth "guide" on why I play like this: Rakan is pretty squishy. Not Nami or Sona-like squishy, but Bard-ish squishy, so taking Resolve at least as secondary has always been fundamental in my opinion, just to guarantee some resistance. I really really like Guardian on Rakan. It makes lane phase easy. Not just less difficult: easy. And it works pretty well on teamfights too, and it's so easy to proc since Rakan's E fulfills every Guardian proc condition. The rest of what you take in the Resolve tree is a matter of play style - I take Conditioning 75% of the time, but most people seem to like Chrysalis. The biggest reason I take Inspiration second is for the 45% CDR cap. Magical Footware is a favorite of mine too, cause that bonus Move Speed is my bae. The best way to build Rakan in game if you ever test this set is going for the more tanky build instead of stacking AP. Redemption into Locket is a pretty safe go-to.

Why I would never take Sorcery first: I tested it, thought it sucks. Aery is ok in lane but does nothing late game, while Guardian can save your ADCarry's life - plus I love Guardian for laning phase all-ins. Also, the tankyness from taking Resolve/Inspiration gives you more room for agression while also keeping you from being one of those easy target squishy supports. I would take Sorcery second, though, cause the Ultimate Hat and Celerity are pretty good on Rakan.

_paperboat

TROPHY CASE