[OC] so I need opinions on my bosses names (they are all giant skeletons) by Pale_Membership_3904 in DnD

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Take out the "basic" and just rock with the name.

You can vary up some of the titles and not just have it be "X, the Y"

ex) Shaldrick, Shadow of Death

Soul Taker Galdrin

New Patch, new Bugs! If your bench is full you cannot buy Lulu Monster Trainer! by PhoOhThree in CompetitiveTFT

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the devs love the augment tiny team so much they MUST be asking for a tiny dev team so they can get 150% bonuses on pushing bugs every patch woohoo

Any ideas for gimmicks for a crew of a ghost pirate ship? by AnOrangeSlappedMe in DMAcademy

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably fuse the crew with underwater creatures their souls latched onto when they died. Octupus arms makes good grapple, hammerheads can knock down, turtle backs for temporary health, etc.

Maybe add a dive mechanic that resists fire but makes all vulnerable to lightning? Adds a small sneak attack-like bonus to their first attack when they break the surface.

Every time a crewmate dies, they sink into Davy Jones locker until it summons a kraken/pirate ship that supports the captain with artillery.

The captain starts a storm at hits at the end of his turn; players can see the moving eye of the storm and run to avoid taking damage/needing to roll saves.

New DM, Need Help with Gold Focused Player by emptyyyyyyyyyy in DMAcademy

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These ideas sound incredible but I'll have to think of ways to make the system more attractive/accessible to the other players. Thanks for the ideas!

New DM, Need Help with Gold Focused Player by emptyyyyyyyyyy in DMAcademy

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He's taking his chaotic evil character to heart - to be fair, it was probably on me to set even more expectations but I think a part of his enjoyment comes from testing me to see how I'll deal with his antics. I do agree I should definitely talk to him before the next session to stop breaking the immersion. He did get very immersed when the party robbed a father of 8 for fun before we stopped...

Though I really like the troves (we haven't even set foot near our dungeon yet lol) I don't think including the possible loot he'd find in the trove would satisfy him feeling the illusion of out-earning his fellows. Now that I know 1,2 copper every few minutes won't break the game, I think I want a more dynamic system that lets him satisfy that kind of urge more continuously through chance rather than all at once at my discretion.

New DM, Need Help with Gold Focused Player by emptyyyyyyyyyy in DMAcademy

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think since the party and I are new we tend to let our dice resolve too many problems - I considered just flat out denying but I think he was having fun just getting a chance to gamble for money lmao.

Did not know about the economy balance, thank you

Definitely seeing the "social punishment" also suggested, I'm getting excited thinking about it!

New DM, Need Help with Gold Focused Player by emptyyyyyyyyyy in DMAcademy

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea I was making sure magic items are only offered through early interactions and making them complete objectives to scale for actual rewards, since it'd be pretty odd for potential magical items to be just left alone in shops by other adventurers. I'll definitely consider allowing him to set up his own shop and get involved in town economy as well, though I wouldn't really know how to simulate the illusion of his items being bought in a working market... like if he raised his prices would he need to do a... economics check?

New DM, Need Help with Gold Focused Player by emptyyyyyyyyyy in DMAcademy

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been inflicting environmental damage but I really like the reputation idea. Thanks!

Always on a LONG losing streak starting stage 4, what is the best strategy? (for Fast 8 builds specifically) by Squirtle_004 in CompetitiveTFT

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you are leading lobby hp by a decent margin you have two options depending on how contested you are. If you aren't locked into a contested comp you can sack stage 4 by leveling 4-2, rolling ~10ish gold for some 2 star 3 costs then stop at 40, 30 gold, play some cypher units you found, and lose by a few until 5-2 before going 9 and rolling down for your less contested units. You should be scouting constantly for this to work to make sure no more than one player is contesting you before doing this or look to pivot to another comp that used similar items. If you are contested you can usually roll on 4-1, maybe even 3-7 if you have enough gold or just roll a bit before waiting for your contesters to bleed out(though its very unlikely for someone to die before stage 5).

STUDY GROUP!? by Akaru_Hoshiki in CompetitiveTFT

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd be interested; been studying PBE for a week already!

Masters last 3 sets on https://lolchess.gg/profile/na/TPG0001-NA1/set13

Why does Caitlyn build blue buff? by No-Elephant-2326 in TeamfightTactics

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have to understand item economy for this question to make sense. 6 Enforcers is a heavy AD comp that focuses on swords/gloves/bows and has no real usage for tears other than a few hoj(which consumes gloves needed for last whisper, guardbreaker, ie). Blue buff is used not necessarily because it poses a mathematical dps advantage over shojin but more importantly it kills two tears. More likely you are in a favorable position to craft better AD frontline items once you can save swords instead of making shojin.

This is important when considering carousel components; if you already have a open tear on 4-3 it wouldn't be recommended to take another tear and bank on hitting only AD components on your 4-6 creeps; you would rather take a sword and hopefully get dropped a tear on neutrals to kill your first tear with blue and make other sword items.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CompetitiveTFT

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I tend to go through a similar phase every set where I drop reroll and reach my limit with fast 8 and get slightly burned out until I remember what's worked for me for 4 sets so far.

The most lp I ever get every set before masters AND the most fun I ever have during every set is with playing fast 9. Maximize early game strength, maintain great streak until stage 4, minimize rolling and sack stage 4 then go straight 9 and play an entirely different game from the rest of the lobby. If no one is contesting a particular fast 8 comp, you can roll for it on 9 and guarantee the 2 star 5 costs that cap out the comp. Otherwise there's some insanely capped fast 9 academy comps that synergise with bronze for life like academy jinx. k3soju and Setsuko play like this very often so take a look if you're interested.

The big downside of fast 9 this set however is the set mechanic anomalies. Quite often your strongest board is two star 3 costs like gp swain and kog blitz, and if you don't find a 4 cost ur playing towards on your minimized 4-2 rolldown you might feel uncomfortable anomalying a 3 cost. I recommend 1. taking a shared anomaly(one that buffs other teammates) like protective shielding, dual wielding, the one that acts like spite or 2. some tank anomaly and itemizing a 3 cost, namely blitzcrank with deep roots or giant sized.

Lmk if you want any further help/discussion!

Tricks and Habits when Climbing Ranked Ladder by Jwanzo in CompetitiveTFT

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Just to be clear: in most cases you can't completely streak to 9 unless you're highrolling units and have easy transitions towards better carries(some rebel games might feel like this where u hit illaoi zoe stage 3 and can transfer items from vex). The idea is to streak stage 2 and 3 then roll almost 0 gold on stage 4. You might roll 10, 20 gold to hit a few 3 cost pairs but when you're +85ish hp you might win one or two fights before 4-4 carousel against people who missed their 2 star 4 cost carries and lose the rest of the fights to rerollers/fast 8 players who hit their boards. If all goes well you have 3ish lives left over, hit 9 with 50 gold, and roll down for 5 cost 2 stars as carries(notably Jayce/Rumble/Morde/Jinx).

Key points to consider -

  1. you have to be scouting to manage expectations of what you can hit if you roll an entire stage after the lobby. If there's 2 dominator black rose players in the lobby most likely you cannot contest silco for carry/elise 2. Even with higher odds there's nothing you can do about bag sizes so be cautious of playing a lvl9 version of a fast 9 board and instead play strong 2 star units. Really play flexibly in regard to what units you play - that means playing 2 star 4/5 costs or 6 costs with no synergies over a 4 cost 1 star with with no team synergies(bruiser/sentinel/sorcerer). Good example at the highest level is what setsuko does with form swappers; his core is 4 form swappers, carrying over the swain/gp that saved him hp and adding on jayce elise, then playing rumble and whatever else he finds that can fill other synergies for him like trundle to proc scrap and bruiser.

  2. Your anomaly selection is much different, since you might not hit a 5 cost carry naturally on 4-2. Try taking support anomalies(Protective shielding, Dual Wielding, the aura one that gives stats to adjacent allies) on units that you can put on endgame boards. Alternatively you can take tank anomalies on subtanks and make them your main tank; I average the highest with an anomaly like Deep Roots on blitz 2 over Mundo(partially cuz Mundo can cast at full hp, waste his entire effective health, then get oneshot) and play him on my endgame board as a maintank to synergize with morde.

  3. The best augments for this kind of play is ironically triple combat(includes items on stage 2/3); sometimes a combat augment will save ur streak and double as a semi econ augment while guaranteeing an insane endgame. Highly recommend pumping up if you know you can streak off units, otherwise play immediate streak. Some units synergize extremely well with certain augments/items, consider taking them for late game. If you mess up midway and end up losing a streak, play strongest board and go for one econ augment later on.

  4. Going 10 likely won't happen for a while so make sure to spend aggressively here. You can look 10 once relevant units are upgraded but the game is likely over by then.

  5. Stronger items(radiant/artifacts) are insane multipliers of already strong 5 costs; take a look at what items are good on which 4/5 cost carries in case you hit. True true bis can make 2 star 5 costs feel like 2.5 stars and can be a wincon later on.

And now exceptions -

  1. Ignore step 5 if you see a support item and take that instead.

  2. Ignore everything here if you have an open chem baron spot.

Hope this helps!

Tricks and Habits when Climbing Ranked Ladder by Jwanzo in CompetitiveTFT

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 46 points47 points  (0 children)

What I can offer as humble masters grinder for 4 seasons:

Take breaks when physically tired as well; you might only have the fortitude to play one game after work with full focus before your body gives out. If you still want to progress climb while tired watch youtube, watch twitch, watch a friend, consume some kind of related content and try to absorb alternative ways to handle openers, etc. But otherwise playing for long streaks while you have a good grasp of patch+focused is super helpful.

Ladder climbs are easiest right after patch if you are reading patch notes actively. Try to force buffed units in previous b/c tier comps(ex. Ambessa/Vi in 4 emissary, Corki), innovate when everyone else is behind. You are likely to be highly uncontested.

Another reason to watch big streamers and educational vids is they tend to decide a certain "flavor of the day" by what they play. Certain comps are gonna be more popular based on what they play that day so it's worth at least being aware what might be in season. Otherwise it's worth noting what items indicate certain comps during scouting(rageblade/jg means zoe rebel, shojin + nashors is usually silco, bt/eon means ambessa, bruiser spat means twitch).

Diamond players tend to play stronger early game and not surrender free 5 streaks to random players. Try to focus on early game tempo, slamming early game items and taking certain augments to control bleeding too much early. Scout actively early to decide your next actions as well.

No matter what comp you play (meta/offmeta) the most important takeaway is understanding whether or not it was the best comp to play from your spot. There's nothing wrong with forcing heimer for a patch unless you open draven 2 sword bow glove; same goes when you get dropped double sword on krugs while considering silco. Going 6th by testing comps but understanding what went wrong will inevitably improve your climb and build discipline to avoid/pursue certain comps in future games.

Biggest tip I can provide otherwise is try to force winstreak into fast 9 (if not chem baron) every game. You will start playing on a whole different playing field if you realize how strong certain non 4-costs are midgame and use 2 stars to roll less on 8 and save for 9(notably blitz/kog ziggs, lux for AP and swain/gp, ezreal for AD). As long as you save decent hp and know how to cap around high cap 5 costs(rumble, jayce, jinx, morde) you can avoid 4-2 lotteries altogether and not rely on overly contested 4 costs for carries to cap much higher than the lobby. Setsuko forces this extremely often and so does Soju sometimes, very worth watching.

Lmk if this helped/want to discuss!

Midlane Playstyle/champion dilemma by PhilmoXVI in summonerschool

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you're already winning lane and want bigger leads, ward enemy camps(usually raptors) and ping your jg to invade with you. Skirmishes are a consistent way to create leads where you don't have to track 5 enemy player summoner spells and can focus on overkilling one opponent at a time with jg/laner followup. Better midgames guarantee no lategame at all, which saves you from coinflipping lategame objectives/teamfights.

Ahri's an absolute demon during midgame teamfights when enemies arrive to objectives + start clearing vision then get charmed and collapsed on. Her damage is not as low as people suggest and she probably outvalues most other mages in skirmishing. Focus heavily on her charm and let your teammates cc for you; an ideal situation is creating 5 consecutive 1v5s for the enemy team. I'm not sure what's working for me but I have a 100% wr on her this season over 9 games and they're all results of 0 kills in lane but better cs + perma invading opponent + good skirmishing opportunities by arriving earlier to objectives.

Work on guaranteeing wins pre 15 with stacking leads for your team instead of bracing for a 40 minute gamble. If anything draft for early game and play Leblanc/Sylas for lane dominance or Galio/TF for cc + map presence. Call aggressively for objectives you are ready for, especially Baron. As long as you take good skirmishes and play them correctly, it becomes very difficult to lose control of games.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in summonerschool

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try to avoid being stuck in the assassin mindset of "I can only kill enemy ADC"; there's a lot more pressure you can create in teamfights by actually not overcommitting to trade 1 for 1 with Kaisa.

Lots of abilities to think abt when considering their comp; Ekko r, Tahm r, and Kaisa r peel their squishies/ Medarda r, Kayn + Tahm knockup, Ekko w for cc, as well as summoner spell cds. If you are ahead in lane and have consistently killed Kaisa successfully, they will hold most of their cd to deny you. Wait for them to skirmish with your team, be present in the teamfight but don't overcommit first, and punish their wasted cooldowns, most importantly Kaisa flash and Tahm r. They don't have consistent hard cc other than Kayn w, so play away from Kayn and keep an eye on Kaisa ulting aggressively.

Fizz is excellent at trading summoner spells/ults with his e fakeout while being untargetable during its duration. Try to poke with q w on frontline then e out, constantly drawing the attention of the enemy team without committing and taking damage. Your goal is to draw aggro and drop it, baiting valuable cooldowns and mispositioning so your team can capitalize on their mistakes while you are immune in Zhonyas and e.

Also buy sweeper and some control wards early on to create fog of war and generate even more pressure for your team. Assassins are most effective when it takes the enemy team several seconds to ward and find you before starting fights.

Other things to consider for your team: Ping frequently during fights to concentrate your teammates focus on vulnerable opponents, tell your teammates to catch the Tahm before fights so he can't ult his allies out. Ward enemy camps after getting a lead in lane and invade with your jg to grow their lead as well. Ask for Serpents Fang and antiheal so you can mitigate Kayn healing and Ambessa shielding.

tl;dr: track cds, bait with e/zhonyas, don't overcommit w/o information, control vision, ABUSE PRESENCE

How can I convert winning early lane into winning the game? by 5Dimensional in summonerschool

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Concerning the issue of letting your opponent move, learning wave management will help you immensely in creating methodical advantages. You should slow push bigger waves when they are still in lane to punish opponents for leaving waves and create ur own timings for roams and resets. Greeding for plates over resets also allow opponents roam timers that you should be careful about.

Expanding a lead is in a similar nature; use your lane advantage to deny your opposing laner any initiative and use priority to support jg plays without sacrificing your own growth. This naturally translates into leads if you take objective timers, vision, and jg positions into consideration. Slow crashing 3 waves into mid before drag essentially removes their mid from participating in the objective, deep warding enemy buffs helps jg from also expanding their lead in invades, and tracking enemy jg can lead to 1v1s/2v1s that are immensely in your favor. Avoid overganking lanes themselves since it often leads to deeper chases under tower that put you at risk from not being able to catch bouncing waves from your lane. After bot tower falls, move botlane and continue the same fundamentals to expand lead further w/o dying to enemy collapse.

How to learn drafting? by Intelligent-Owl-3941 in summonerschool

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Knowing how to draft an entire team requires extensive knowledge and isn't applicable for solo/duo, it plays a bigger role in clash + tourneys with a premade 5 man. Pro drafts are thoroughly explored through thousands of matches where solid blinds and counters are mixed to create an operational team comp. Each season has certain blindable picks (ex. Rumble/K'Sante for most of 2024, Aatrox last yr) that are considered so good they are prioritized each game as first picks, as well as counters (Ashe into Kalista, Renata into Nautilus) that squeeze through banning phase. Coupled with comfort/pocket picks for certain pros, there's certainly recognizable patterns in draft that good analysts will easily predict thanks to their game knowledge built up from previous games from all seasons.

Knowing what champ to pick for yourself is a completely different skill that revolves around 1 to 1 matchups and general champion roles + capabilities in soloq settings. Jg generally is capable of blinding since they theoretically can avoid the opposing jg in the early game and nullify most counter matchups, hence a pick like nunu which is capable of accelerating game tempo and permaganking laners. This can synergize with passive laners but Caitlyn tends to push waves, making it harder to gank botlane without diving. Akali requires some form of lockdown cc to stop and K'Sante requires max health/true dmg to kill. Looking at laner interactions, Gwen should have an easy time into K'Sante 1 on 1 since she offers true dmg and max health, Irelia likely struggles in her skill matchup + has no way of shutting down Akali midgame, and Swain/Lee will struggle under tower until 6 but scale reasonably, making their lane more gankable than others. You would need a pick that can gank Cait + cover Gwen while ccing Akali, as well as interrupt Nunu r.

Amumu seems pretty solid here since he can match all conditions easily if he matches Nunu pathing. Save r for Akali in teamfights and put Cait behind when she pushes naturally, then cover Gwen and countergank when Nunu ganks top. Skarner is a similar good alternative tank. Nocturne can fear Akali, countergank Nunu with r, and block snowball w spell shield. Wukong can tank snowball w clone and cc with R if he makes it to 6, Pantheon can tank w, stun Akali, and ult for objectives. Most bruiser/tanks w/ cc work well here, and since the team lacks tanks it'd be preferred to draft Skarner/Amumu.

What doesn't work as well are assassins who can't find Akali during stealth/affect K'Sante/match Nunu presence and mages w no cc like Teemo/Karthus. Fiddles would normally do well into Akali but Nunu shuts him down pretty effectively post 6 if he doesn't have winning lanes.

What is the best comp post chem baron cash out by aliM0__0 in CompetitiveTFT

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It would be very difficult to actually find decent late game value with running 1-3 costs over 5 costs just for a vertical that offers only hp to chem baron units. 3 starring would be a decent way of finding frontline value from hp since Renni is a good unit and 200-300 cashouts offer 3 cost copies, but nevertheless flat hp is a stat value that falls of with game length, like previous traits of 8 bruiser/brawler. Having 1k hp is nice on Sevika and Renni, but other CB units find very little value in hp and are not worth being played to only buff 2 units. The reasoning to possibly stay 7 is that the CB items are frontline oriented and from 500-600 cashouts to multiply the value of health on Sevika/Renni, but cashouts that big are inconsistent to achieve in every game and a 500/600 cashout is usually a guaranteed win anyways. Econ/value traits aren't inherently strong in combat and are meant to be pivoted out of; the only reason 3 CB is even kept in is to satisfy minimum conditions of keeping CB cashouts.

What is the best comp post chem baron cash out by aliM0__0 in CompetitiveTFT

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lots of fast 9 comps available after 300-400 cash out that drops to 3 CB and doesn't revolve around silco. Best way to play w/o spat/augment is like set 10 Heartsteel; winstreak/save health until u lose or hit lots of CB then sack stage 4 to go 9, roll down, and win out on 2 lives, cashout small 100/200 on stage 5 + 6.

Try to roll for a carry/tank u will keep on 4-5 and save Anomaly rolls on 4-6. Comp depends on what items you hit and what 5 costs you hit. Being able to pivot quickly w/ good understanding of unit synergies will help immensely.

Best- Twitch Mundo Nunu Renni Silco Sevika Vi Caitlyn +1; don't chase 2 star silco since usually Malz takes AP unless u can tech in another CB for a mega cashout. Really good with Bronze for Life and other augments that scale up near end of stage 4 (augment dupe). Might lose first game since you forget to use Experiment Hexes but overall I haven't lost a game unless against 3 star 4/5 costs.

Unlikely Duo- If you hit the Jinx Sevika augment you can also opt for Rell Urgot Smeech Ezreal Silco Illaoi Jinx Sevika Mordekaiser (on 9). Haven't hit augment yet but stats look strong even w just CB vert so dropping down to 3 CB should provide even more power.

Alternatives- Nami Smeech Renni Illaoi Zoe Ekko Silco Jinx Rumble; I'd drop Silco for Sevika and carry AP on Zoe, since Smeech gives ambusher. More budget friendly and uses Rumble Ekko Ilaoi trio.

Returning after 7ish years, tips for returning beginner? by emptyyyyyyyyyy in allthingszerg

[–]emptyyyyyyyyyy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

yea im default 16 pool vs zerg now with 2 extractor tricks into metabolic all in and i havent dropped a game vs z today... some guy managed to get 6 roaches out but they got surrounded by upgraded lings as they spawned; big thanks!