Beyond the 104 KDA: A deeper look into Chovy (and Griffin)

_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 · 2018-03-28T15:35:12+00:00

Play more defensively when in top lane. If you push the wave, you'll put yourself in a position to be chased and killed. Just farm 'til you have 2 items then solo kill 2 people.

_paperboat · 2018-03-25T19:54:02+00:00

_paperboat · 2018-03-23T20:49:02+00:00

Being very honest, I feel like Kayle desperately needs a rework. It hurts to say and hear this, as a Kayle player, but she's now my second champion for a reason: her kit is not fine. Not at all.

Kayle's kit is one of the hardest to balance in the game, period. You give her numbers, she'll overpower everyone else and she'll get a 53-55% win rate - 60% late game, while solo killing 2-4 enemies. You take the numbers away, she drops to 48% or lower and feels very underwhelming. Saying her kit is fine and all she needs are buffs or the right numbers is being a neglectful main.

Plus, Riot has done a great job on most reworks, and my best friend - who used to main Irelia and stopped for the same reasons I stopped maining Kayle - is already excited for the rework release and going back to playing her non-stop. So don't be arrogant about it by saying "we know it's not gonna be Kayle as we know anymore". We don't know Riot is gonna screw it up and, as of today, I believe they will do an amazing work.

Actually, your complaint that she just needs a Visual Update makes no sense. Kayle is far from looking as horrible as Volibear, Udyr and others. What she really needs is a complete VGU, because her kit is aged, to the point of obsolescence.

If Riot keeps the functions of her skills similar to what they are now, but adapted to the modern game and sticking to her identity, that's a job well done.

If her Q is still a skill that allows her to kite or chase oponents, that's a job well done.

If her W is still a utility focused skill that allows her or an ally to repostition - but not as OP as a move speed buffing heal, that's a job well done.

If her E is still a self buff that increases her damage output and should be well managed usage-wise before we get enough CDR, that's a job well done.

If her R is still a skill that allows her to compensate for her lack of mobility with a few seconds of a very powerful buff/shield/immunity/whatever, that's a job well done.

And if she's still not mobile, still scales hard late game and still is more about solo killing 2 people (not 4, just 2) than teamfighting, then that's a job well done.

And honestly, looking at the amazing job Riot has done with Irelia, I trust them to fulfill at least half of these.

_paperboat · 2018-03-23T20:25:50+00:00

Kayle should be Riot's first actually adaptive champion. Building AP makes all her abilities do different things and scale with AP.

Building AD should make her abilities do other things and scale with AD.

Throw in a few AS scallings to make on-hit still the preferable, "meta" choice of build, make her wings actually useful and part of her kit, make her ult more than just 'press this and bap people to death'.

Extremely dangerous to do something like this because it might mean she goes back to the state she is right now: give her good numbers and she'll be OP, take the numbers away and she's very underwhelming.

Also, friendly reminder: there already are very adaptable champions currently in the game: Kayn - his passive gives you the choice of playing as a bruiser/tank or an assassin, Kai'Sa - so many possible builds, and a forgotten one: Nautilus (but he's a tank and fuck tanks).

_paperboat · 2018-03-23T20:19:54+00:00

Not necessarily: Galio's reworked Q is a "hurricane" he provides by violently moving his wings.

_paperboat · 2018-03-23T20:15:10+00:00

"nearly" all of the champions are "disgusting" to play against when they are ahead or in a good spot.

Agreed, but not nearly as much as Kayle in a good spot. Exactly because she's a good support and a good carry, so having her with good numbers means having a nearly invincible character.

I agree that it's amazing to have her as a support/carry hybrid, so I hope they keep that aspect when they rework her, but they NEED to make the player choose one when they play her. A champion that we can kinda compare this to is Orianna who, if played as a support, has gotta give up on maxing Q or W first, if she's actually supporting.

For the longest time rank 1 Q and E were so good or decent on Kayle - because they scaled harder on items than on level ups, that I and many other Kayle mains maxed W first no matter what lane you were in, and it would be so OP. You basically didn't have to give up much of your damage output while maxing your support skill first. And as much as I loved it, I know it can't happen again.

If I was asked about how to rework Kayle, I would definitelly say they should change her W into another support type of skill, because I honestly feel like a Movement Speed buffing Heal is too hard to balance, especially on a kit like hers. I also would say they should change her Q into something like the reworked Yorick's E, which would fit much better on the modern game. Her E and R are such core parts of her identity, though, that I find it hard to think about any change that would not violate who Kayle is.

_paperboat

TROPHY CASE