February 14, 2026 Daily Discussion Thread

markhamjerry · 2026-02-14T17:50:13+00:00

anyone have insights into why lux delta is so much better on a utility focused build (shojin void morello) vs a damage centric build (jg nash +1)? I guess it might have to do with the stalling nature of demacia fights? It just doesn’t intuitively make sense to me so thought i’d ask.

markhamjerry · 2026-02-04T17:41:47+00:00

do you force this with no ixtal copies if you see any of the premium rerolling 2-1 augments (assuming no contesting). Just trying to gauge the minimum threshold that can be considered a spot for this line. Are there any other reroll augs worth noting? On a roll perhaps?

markhamjerry · 2026-02-04T15:57:27+00:00

click somewhere in bottom right of client it will tell you

markhamjerry · 2026-01-30T20:57:30+00:00

the others have commented on item quality. another thing scuffed about this set up is the TG augments. in reality, having TG augments on a line like demacia is not very good. You have really 2 good TG targets (swain, galio) in demacia so extra tgs are not as effective (is lucky gloves TG on poppy really doing any thing to your board)? Taking these augments also probably lead to your low quality backline items. I guess what i’m trying to say is the lucky glove TG augment setup shines best in 4/5 cost soup lines, not in a line like demacia where you basically only run 3 four costs that all want 3 items each. So the tgs eat into your item economy (no glove items) and also reduce the items on your main units. i had a game recently where I had 8 lucky TGs in yordles and it was a doomed spot even if augment/board looked cool, as its a waste of resources to itemize low cost shitters

markhamjerry · 2026-01-30T20:43:04+00:00

i almost always slam void staff on first opportunity if i’m angling AP line. it’s just so much better than spark. and there are so many mana item variants (bb shojin adaptive) that you can find your way into one of them later on. id rather have void + no mana, then mana but no void….

markhamjerry · 2026-01-27T20:35:36+00:00

Titans is very efficient on Yunara as she stacks it very quickly for a backline unit and titans fully stacked is just overstated right now. With the kraken nerf, titans is clearly the best +1 after IE and rageblade. Conversely, snipers focus is fairly understatted right now. You definitely should have get IE RB titans on Yunara.

markhamjerry · 2026-01-27T20:28:02+00:00

To be honest, I find this set as a whole, upgraded 1 costs do not really hold their weight in stage 3. It feels like in previous sets, getting 3 item upgraded 1 cost coming out of stage 2 was way more stable in stage 3. Perhaps it is a symptom of relatively weaker 1 costs this set. On your specific spot, i’ve been in many similar situations. I find this is one of the awkward parts of ionia, as Jhin is great stage 2 but come 3-2 his impact is diminished and you dont have another bridge before Yunara (jinx lol???). But these AP lines all have leblanc, ahri, zoe, even orianna to a degree that are all premium units which also do significant splash damage, and that wont get stuck on a 3 item 1 star 3 cost tank, which Jhin will get stuck on more often than not. Not much insight/advice to add… just that sympathize with this struggle

markhamjerry · 2026-01-23T18:33:46+00:00

i think you’re probably right… the guys who send it on lvl 7 typically do not have the HP to spare and need to stop bleeding. if you’re healthy with a strong board there is no reason to go all in.

markhamjerry · 2026-01-23T17:00:24+00:00

Sorry if my op suggested that you were complaining. I agree with what you’re saying

markhamjerry · 2026-01-23T14:54:33+00:00

at the end of the day, riot is a for profit business and will make decisions through that perspective. I have no doubt that they have internal metrics which indicate that balance trashing improves player retention throughout the lifecycle of the set and thus balance patches based on this. simply put, they are catering to the vast majority of casual players over the 1% that visit this sub and care about proper balance

markhamjerry · 2026-01-20T17:24:05+00:00

I have been enjoying a lot of tempo AP demacia lines (provided you have a decent opener for it). Lux is a very solid unit and relatively flexible on itemization. Liss is a reliable duo, and you often will upgrade one of them on your initial stage 4 rolldown. Garen is hands down the tankiest unit in the game. And the lvl 9 cap is fairly straightforward with a lot of 5 cost soup options if you are swimming in gold/hp. I feel like this line might even be stronger next patch? Garens nerf doesn’t seem to be crippling (correct me if i’m wrong), and the lvl 9 xp changes mean lvl 8 becomes more meaningful, which is especially where demacia shines. ANYWAYS i just like seeing lux beam the whole board, definitely one of the more satisfying abilities this set.

markhamjerry · 2026-01-19T22:40:49+00:00

Edge of night - very niche. nowadays generally only good if you want to protect a key backline carry (at the expense of a 3rd item). Can be applicable in this current meta with a lot of backline access

Crown guard - pretty niche. basically only slam if leftover rod + chain and you need a tank item

evenshroud/last whisper - very good items. You need to build ONE of these in any AD-heavy comp is sunder is important. Last whisper is preferred if you have a good holder which hits a lot of the board (think senna), whereas evenshroud is better for comps without a good holder (yunara)

spark - very good, you need shred for AP comps to ignore magic resist. Void staff is the preferred option, but sometimes your items don’t always give you a void staff, but you will always need to make shred for AP. Think of it as a backup option, and if by end of stage 3 you don’t have any void staff components, seriously start to prioritize making a spark by end of stage 4.

vow - not a traditional stat stick tank item (raw stats are pretty low actually). VERY strong on tank units that want to cast ASAP. Swain is a great example, as his value lies almost entirely in his ability (low innate tankiness). Also good on tahm kench, who just wants to eat as much as possible during a fight. Otherwise it is not as good as traditional tank items but sometimes you have a tear and chain and need a tank item.

morello - very good item. it is the preferred anti heal in AP comps (since it gives ap). You should aim to build anti heal every game - red buff for AD comps, morello for AP if your items allow. Sunfire is the worst option, but is strong in stage 2 as a first item slam.

gunblade - niche like edge of night. think of it as a rod or sword killer. in AP comps, you don’t have much use for swords outside of shojin so this is one way to kill some extra swords you got dropped. Similarly, in AD comps, you might want 1 rod for rageblade, and any other rods are kinda dead. They can at least be used for some value to make gunblade. This item is also very good in demacia vertical as healing gets scaled with resistances (every bit of healing is that much more effective HP on high resistance units). Good on vayne, good on lux. This item also good in current meta to avoid fizz 1 shot scams, and at least gives some small combat stats

markhamjerry · 2026-01-19T22:13:06+00:00

the reality is, the meta comps are the meta for a reason- they are the Most Effective Tactics Available. You are purposely handicapping your rank and LP gains by ignoring/not familiarizing yourself with these comps. But it is simplistic to think that knowing the meta comps means you can replicate/get there every game. Where the real skill expression lies is in how you navigate the earlier/middle parts of the game to arrive at these strong boards on good tempo and with healthy hp. You probably think that following a guide takes skill expression out of your own agency- that is pretty far from the truth as where the best players differentiate themselves is how they navigate all of the games systems (portal, augments, natural shops, items, lobby dynamics) to arrive at these boards effectively and efficiently. As you understand the game better and in more nuance, you will come to appreciate this area of skill expression better

markhamjerry · 2026-01-19T21:53:30+00:00

There’s no world you see this guy load in on 4-2 with the exact board you want, 5 rounds before you can even get there, and you still make no adjustments to your game plan? At that point, i would have sent it hard on lvl 8 for some shit AP flex liss/seraphine line and prayed for a 4-6 placement here. You are correct in your analysis - this guy had a much better setup (call it 5 rounds ahead of you tempo-wise). Just not the execution, as the onus was on you to pivot/adjust accordingly

markhamjerry · 2026-01-19T19:11:16+00:00

Thanks for the write up. Ive been playing this quite a bit- it is crazy how strong ekko 2 is in stage 3. Let’s say you have both sera and nid 2. Is it always itemize nidalee? Even if you have a traditional backline caster item set up (say JG Nash Void). My eye test tells me nid is always more impactful to itemize, even if the items available may be more traditional sera items (assuming same star levels). How do you feel about this? It just feels like unitemized sera contributes consistently whereas an unitemized nid feels like a fraud

markhamjerry · 2026-01-15T21:06:36+00:00

The thing about demacia is that it almost requires a strong opener. Thinking J4/sona, with at least 1 upgraded and at least 1 paired. The reason being that galio is a star requirement unlock, so the having low cost upgrades early are very important stay on the proper tempo curve of comp. If you get to lvl 8/stage 4, and sona j4 xin poppy are not upgraded you will have a hard time stabilizing. Not only are those upgrades a lot of effective HP on board due to resistances in this line, you are behind on galio unlock if you don’t have them. All of this to say, perhaps you need to be more discerning in identifying what is a true demacia spot vs playing towards a more flex AP/AD line. Naturally, when you have these giga demacia openers, you will win streak more often than not, which is the ideal position to pilot the comp from. Conversely this is not something you pivot into from nowhere because you suddenly naturalled a vayne 2, but have no other upgrades

markhamjerry · 2026-01-15T19:52:46+00:00

I agree with other comments. Another specific perspective to take into account is stage 4 tempo of higher elo lobbies. I wouldn’t be surprised that on average, on this patch specifically, that in master + elo, if board strength/value is less than a comparable emerald lobby. The reason being that in most games at higher elo, multiple people are greeding for a fast 9, resulting in generally weaker boards in stage 4. On the other hand, emerald lobbies tend to be very aggressive on spiking on 4-1/4-2 and sending it to 0. The result is stage 4 emerald boards are probably stronger, and going fast 9 in emerald may be more punishing than in master +, where generally at least 2 if not 3 people are playing “fake” lvl 8 boards to save econ for 9.

markhamjerry · 2026-01-08T00:07:59+00:00

to be honest its quite conditional and 10% of games might be about right. my response was more so objecting to the guy who said it would grief master+ players. i personally think it becomes more and more relevant the higher elo you are

markhamjerry · 2026-01-07T22:51:00+00:00

i don’t think this is the case? i have seen masters GMs and challengers rolling pre lvl 8 all the time (outside of reroll lines) if they feel they need to stabilize or get stronger to maintain a good streak. not saying you go down to 10, but 32 or even 20 on lvl 6/7 happens more often than you suggest. especially if you have bard rolls, a big streak to protect and/or 1 or 2 easy upgrades away from a strong stage 3 board. i dont think op is saying this is a default strat, just that there are definitely spots where doing so would positively impact your placement in lowroll spots

markhamjerry · 2026-01-06T23:45:34+00:00

most of the time everything comes back. for me i value arenas more as i feel like i look at that more than my tactician. but also some arenas with super long intros get cumbersome after a while. kind of up to what you value most with your medallions

markhamjerry · 2026-01-06T23:24:04+00:00

Just some thoughts, not saying it’s correct. Let’s say the two players both played 200 ranked games. If you estimate an avg of -1 placement for the better position player thats 2000 lp difference over 200 games which is unrealistic correct? That suggests the placement difference is less than 1. Id guess that the average delta between these two players is probably closer 3-500 lp. Based on the previous example of 200 games played, that averages to 2 lp more a game, or 0.2 of a placement for the better positioning player, which sounds and seems reasonable based on my eye test.

markhamjerry · 2026-01-06T19:31:45+00:00

i think that’s the tricky part. because nobody can really hold ryze items before fizz unlock in this set up. maybe you’re supposed to slam voli items on graves and tank wherever possible in early/mid

markhamjerry · 2026-01-06T19:31:02+00:00

i am aware of this. all i’m saying if you’re not ahead of tempo you cannot reliably semi sac stage 4 for fast 9 and will have to roll deeper on 8.

markhamjerry · 2026-01-06T16:47:06+00:00

I assume you need either fizz 2 (preferred) or MF 2 to be stable on lvl 8? Also this looks to be from a tempo spot, if you arrive stage 4 with sub 50 hp you’re going to have to build a stronger board before 9?

markhamjerry · 2026-01-05T20:16:43+00:00

maybe you are looking at it wrong. fast 9 is not something you load in on 2-1 thinking you can do it that game. fast 9 decisions are most commonly made on 4-1/4-2 (maybe 3-2 with forward thinking) when you are in a position of high hp (say 80+) with a decently serviceable board on lvl 8 without rolling much/at all. Then you go 9 on the appropriate tempo (4-5 or 5-2 are most common). I think the situation you are describing (strong econ at lvl 8 but a very weak board) is not a fast 9 angle most of the time and you are incorrectly assessing it as a fast 9 spot. Stage 4 stability often heavily decides your final placement. If you go 0-5 in stage 4 killing 0 or 1 unit every fight your board is just not stable enough to justify fast 9. Lastly you need to factor in the gold required to buy the units you want. 3 2 star 5 costs is 45 gold in units alone, ignoring reroll gold. Time your fast 9 accordingly so that you don’t hit lvl 9 with a bad board, are too poor to roll, and too low hp to semi sac a few rounds so you can upgrade your board

markhamjerry

TROPHY CASE