Gaming and Technology Thoughts and Info
Champions
[First Impression] Hecarim, the Shadow of War
01 year ago
Hecarim recently joined the Fields of Justice and is the first Centaur that is released. He was revealed and playable at PAX East but for those of you who didn’t get a chance to go, then you didn’t have a chance to play him until his release at the Public Beta Environment or on the live servers. Any who, enough about that, let’s get into the nitty gritty about the Shadow of War:
Abilities
Let’s take a quick look at Hecarim’s abilities:
Warpath (Passive) – Hecarim ignores unit collision and gains attack damage equal to a percentage of his bonus movement speed.
Warpath is a unique passive that is useful early game but over time loses its shine. Since movement speed has diminishing returns, there is only so much damage you can get out of the passive as stacking movement speed turns out more detrimental then beneficial.
Rampage – Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies dealing physical damage.
Rampage is Hecarim’s main damaging ability which he can spam for good AoE damage in the lane and in team fights. Since the cooldown of the ability decreases if successfully hitting an enemy target, you can constantly spam it and with the use of a Sheen (or a Trinity Force), you can mash the ability, auto attack, mash the ability, auto attack, rinse and repeat for maximum dps. The issue here becomes keeping up, but that’s where Hecarim’s kit comes in handy and so does the slow from a Trinity Force (Phage or Mallet as well).
Spirit of Dread - Hecarim deals magic damage to nearby enemies for a short duration. Hecarim gains health equal to a percentage of any damage those enemies suffer.
Spirit of Dread gives Hecarim the sustain that he ends up having, which is exactly why he becomes so effective at jungling, laning top, or how he gets so tanky when diving towers. The fact that the ability heals him for a percentage of the damage he deals makes you want to make sure you are building some DPS along with building tanky to get the most bang for your buck for the gold you are spending.
Devastating Charge - Hecarim gains increasing movement speed for a short duration. His next attack knocks the target back and deals additional physical damage based on the distance he has traveled since activating the ability.
Devastating Charge serves as Hecarim’s main utility spell as it turns into a gap closer, an escape, or even an initiation (pre-ultimate or if your ultimate is on cooldown). It should be noted that he knocks the target back in the direction being charged from so ideally you want to try and push the enemy into your teammates, therefore making positioning a bit more difficult but not impossible. With movement speed stacking being a must on Hecarim (due to Warpath), positioning isn’t as difficult as it may seem.
Onslaught of Shadows (Ultimate) - Hecarim summons spectral riders and charges forward, dealing magic damage in a line. Hecarim creates a shockwave when he finishes his charge, dealing additional magic damage to nearby enemies causing them to flee in terror.
Hecarim’s ultimate, Onslaught of Shadows, is a unique spell that not only does damage but also serves as a crowd control ability and a good initiation in some cases. The spell has more utility and advanced techniques behind it than meets the eye due to the fact that enemies move flee in terror – away from Hecarim. This means you want to try and position yourself causing the enemy to flee towards your teammates, not away. The fear is also AoE which is nice when team fighting, especially under tight spots, as this provides multiple targets to be CC’d, giving your team the advantage.
Analysis
Hecarim seems to be a new and unique champion that has a kit which offers variety compared to the many other champions on the Fields of Justice. The champion abilities in Hecarim’s kit flow well together but this seems to be a trend that Riot seems to be following with the past few champions as well. One thing that makes him extra fun to play is the fact that he can be extra frustrating to fight against in team fights due to the constant damage, high sustain, and good initiation and crowd control abilities.
Although Hecarim can fit the role of being in top lane or as a jungler, his kit leaves him far more useful in the jungle as his ganks can be quite devastating. With the right positioning in the jungle and using Devastating Charge to initiate a fight, you can really put the enemy in a bad spot. This coupled with the constant damage and sustain from Spirit of the Dead and the constant damage from spamming Rampage (coupled with auto attacks in between), Hecarim can put out quite a bit of damage over a short amount of time. If the lane you are ganking has additional crowd control to assist you with during a gank, you can really make the pain train come to town as the enemy is likely to die if you and your teammate(s) time everything right.
That all being said, it isn’t all gravy. Positioning seems to be very important because if you can’t chain the abilities in his kit together well, then you will be forced to pay the price, which will become glaringly apparent. An example of this would be missing your Rampage, therefore leaving you with a hefty cooldown that you’d have to wait for thus lowering not only your damage but also your sustain (since Spirit of the Dead works off of the damage being dealt during the duration of the ability). Another issue that is quite apparent with Hecarim is an enemy team with quite a bit of snare and CC. If they can’t keep Hecarim slowed or CC’d then the constant damage will prove to be quite detrimental over the course of a few seconds. This last bit is a bit of a double edged sword because one may argue that if the enemy is spending time to CC Hecarim, then the rest of the team should be free to lay waste on the opponents.
Pros
- Has a very well rounded champion kit that feels unique and rewarding.
- Serves multiple roles well (Bruiser, Tank, Jungler) allowing you to play him in a variety of ways.
- Rewarding to play if you take advantage of the advanced techniques behind his skills.
Cons
- Damage output may be a tad low in certain situations.
- Seems to be a situational pick as positioning is key and if he can’t position correctly, his effectiveness goes down drastically.
- Not as great of a jungler as other champions currently released.
Final Verdict
Hecarim is a very fun to play and quick paced addition to the Fields of Justice. In the right hands and with enough practice, Hecarim can prove to be quite deadly. His skill cap is high as the Hecarim player must learn to not only note but take advantage of all of the advanced techniques and fine intricacies within Hecarim’s champion kit. All in all, he is a fun champion that has his moments in the lime light based on team composition.
Source: League of Legends (Patch Notes)
Hecarim, the Shadow of War and Varus, the Arrow of Retribution Revealed!
01 year ago
It’s been quite the busy week recently with IPL4 and PAX East and now that both are over, it looks like summoners are in for a surprise with two new champions announced. We’ve had a nice break in between to try and catch up on some IP for those of us who are behind. Hopefully you were able to save up enough for these upcoming champions as they seem like they will be quite strong. Let’s jump right into it!
Hecarim, the Shadow of War
The next champion that is going to be released is Hecarim, the Shadow of War. He is a centaur classified as a fighter who has high mobility, excellent ganking potential, and great initiation abilities. According to Riot:
In addition to filling out his role as an initiator, Hecarim’s kit also gives him great versatility. His ability to create havoc in an enemy team by laying down area of effect damage makes him a powerful presence in a team fight. Additionally, the speed boost he receives from Devastating Charge can either serve to initiate a gank from the jungle or to escape from an enemy’s gank attempt in a solo lane. Wherever you choose to field this imposing new champion, we think you’ll be happy to have him in your stable!
His abilities were also announced (and can be found below):
Abilities
Warpath (Passive) – Hecarim ignores unit collision and gains attack damage equal to a percentage of his bonus movement speed.
Rampage – Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies dealing physical damage.
Spirit of Dread - Hecarim deals magic damage to nearby enemies for a short duration. Hecarim gains health equal to a percentage of any damage those enemies suffer.
Devastating Charge - Hecarim gains increasing movement speed for a short duration. His next attack knocks the target back and deals additional physical damage based on the distance he has traveled since activating the ability.
Onslaught of Shadows (Ultimate) - Hecarim summons spectral riders and charges forward, dealing magic damage in a line. Hecarim creates a shockwave when he finishes his charge, dealing additional magic damage to nearby enemies causing them to flee in terror.
Initial Thoughts
Every time I see or think of Hecarim I can’t help but think of Sejuani, which leads me to hope that Hecarim will hopefully turn out to be different. Sejuani, although great in team situations just felt sub parr as a pick to me due to being a slow jungler and being one that is very prone to being counter ganked and furthermore, she had very low damage output with her kit being primarily focused on heavy CC. Hecarim seems to have a mixture of some CC and self buffs along with a damage ability which leads me to think that hopefully he’ll bring some DPS to the table along with his valuable CC. According to Renekton Bot, Hecarim’s kit is going to be pretty strong unless Riot dumbs something down before his release.
Varus, the Arrow of Retribution
The other champion recently revealed is Varus, the Arrow of Retribution who will be fulfilling the role of an AD carry. His kit is one of the more unique AD carry kits, focusing on a series of abilities that combo well with one another to fully unleash the potential of the champion. He basically seems like he will be a more in-depth champion that will have a much higher skill cap when compared to other AD carries that can be played.
His abilities were revealed by the folks over at GameZone (and can be found below):
Abilities
Passive: Living Vengeance: On champion kill or assist, Varus gains 40% Attack Speed for 6 seconds. On minion kill, Varus gains 20% Attack Speed for 3 seconds.
Piercing Arrow: First Cast: Varus starts drawing back his next shot, gradually increasing its range and damage. (Second Cast): Varus fires, dealing 77 to 115 physical damage, reduced by 15% per enemy hit (minimum 33%). While preparing to shoot Varus’ Movement speed is slowed by 20%. After 4 seconds, Piercing Arrow fails but refunds half its mana cost. **This was with 3 points in it.
Blighted Quiver (Passive): Varus’ basic attacks deal 10 bonus magic damage and apply blight for 6 seconds (stacks 3 times). Varus’ other abilities detonate Blight, dealing magic damage equal to 2% of the targets maximum Health per stack (Max 360 total damage vs Monsters). **This was with 1 point in it.
Hail of Arrows: Varus fires a hail of arrows that deals 60 phsycal damage and desecrates the ground for 4 seconds. Desecrated Ground slows enemy Movement Speed by 20% and reduces healing effects by 50% **This was with 1 point in it.
Chain of Corruption: Varus flings out a tendril of corruption that deals 150 magic damage and immobilizes the first enemy champion for 2 seconds. The corruption then spreads towards nearby uninfected champions, applying the same damage and immobilize if it reaches them. **This was with 1 point in it.
Initial Thoughts
Upon analyzing Varus’ kit, my first thought is that this champion will be very combo reliant as he seems that his abilities have to flow together to really dish the maximum amount of DPS that can be dealt. This leads me to feel like he is a variant of Ezreal who differs from other AD carries with his additional utility. Players will have to really get a good feel for the champion and learn his ins-and-outs to know which ability to use when and why. A quick glance leads me to theorycraft that players will have to get stacks of Blight on enemies after last hitting a minion (you would get the faster attack speed from his passive which would allow you to stack Blight quicker) and then detonate the stacks for additional damage along with slowing and reducing the enemy’s health with his Hail of Arrows (an ability that seems like a stronger version of Miss Fortune’s “Make it Rain”). This should ideally force the enemy to retreat with low health at which point once you obtain Chain of Corruption, you can use it to finish the enemy off as an execution move. If players use Varus’ Piercing Arrow to poke and get the enemy target at lower health then pull this combo off, it should lead to a quick kill and begin snowballing from there. This is all based on speculation though so we will have to wait and see how things really turn out.
[First Impression] Lulu, the Fae Sorceress
01 year ago
The wait for a much anticipated support champion is over with the release of the new support yordle (or suppordle) – Lulu, the Fae Sorceress. Lulu has been one of the more popular champions released as many people in the league community were anticipating her release. She has also been one of the well received champions when compared to the past few champion releases. After playing her myself, playing with her on my team, and playing against her, I’ve been able to assess the champion as a whole. For those of you who are looking to learn more about her, continue reading below:
Abilities
Let’s take a quick look at Lulu’s abilities:
Pix, Faerie Companion (Passive) - Pix fires magical bolts of energy whenever his owner attacks another enemy unit. These bolts are homing, but can be intercepted by other units.
Lulu’s passive is nothing too special. It adds a small amount of damage which increases throughout the game. It should be noted that although the passive sounds like it can be quite useful, the damage that is added by the bolts is very negligible and won’t result in a game-changing amount of damage at any point throughout the game.
Glitterlance - Pix and Lulu each fire a bolt of magical energy that heavily slows all enemies it hits. An enemy can only be damaged by one bolt.
This is one of the many crowd-control abilities in Lulu’s kit. Typically its best to level this ability last since the slow it provides is sufficient and her other abilities are a bit more useful throughout the various stages of the game. Glitterlance is actually a very easy to land ability since its a skillshot that both Lulu and her companion (Pix) shoot and only one of the two attacks deal damage and slow the enemy. This gives many players a margin for error as you can shoot from two different angles and reap the same reward for either or both of the shots to hit.
Whimsy - If cast on an ally, grants them movement speed and ability power for a short time. If cast on an enemy, turns them into an adorable critter that can’t attack or cast spells.
Whimsy is one of Lulu’s highly useful spells that serves multiple purposes. If cast on an ally, the movement speed can serve as a gap closer and as an escape, which gives the spell excellent utility. Furthermore, depending on who it is cast on, the extra ability power can be very useful as well as it will increase the damage output of someone like that AP carry on the team. If cast on an enemy, the ability is very similar to a Mage’s Polymorph or a Shaman’s Hex ability for those of you who have played World of Warcraft (I just went there). The upside here is that damage doesn’t break the CC on the enemy target so it prevents players from using any ability to help themselves or their teammates. If timed right, this can be very crucial in lane and in team fights. It should be noted that summoner’s are NOT effected by this CC so don’t expect to Whimsy an enemy jungler to prevent him from smite-stealing an objective, they will still be able to do it!
Help, Pix! - If cast on an ally, commands Pix to jump to an ally and shield them. He then follows them and aids their attacks. If cast on an enemy, commands Pix to jump to an enemy and damage them. He then follows them and grants you vision of that enemy.
This ability is Lulu’s bread and butter. Help, Pix! is very similar to Janna’s shield except with the additional component of aiding their attacks. This ability, unlike Janna’s shield can also be cast on an enemy to deal additional damage and also grant vision (which can come into play in various different forms). The thing that makes the ability so appealing is that it serves as a double steroid, as it not only shields your teammate but also increases the damage they put out (albeit not by much but any damage beats none). Paired with Whimsy in the current meta-game, AD carries will love to play with a good Lulu supporting them as it really allows them to dish out a good chunk of damage.
Wild Growth (Ultimate) - Lulu enlarges an ally, knocking enemies away from them and granting them a large amount of bonus health. For the next few seconds, that ally gains an aura that slows nearby enemies.
Wild Growth is an awesome ultimate that Lulu players will find new uses for almost every game! The utility it serves can be used both offensively and defensively, which makes the spell perfect and fun to use in a variety of different situations. Is the AD carry in your lane about to die? No problem! Wild Growth them and not only will they gain health but enemies near them will be knocked away and any enemies that close the gap again will be snared! It can also be used on your initiator in team fights to go in there absorb an even larger amount of damage while snaring/CC’ng everyone around them allowing them to be even more obnoxious than normal.
Analysis
Lulu, the Fae Sorceress is a much anticipated champion that can not only play as an excellent support but can also be played as an AP carry in mid lane or as an AD carry (to a lesser extent in my opinion as her base AD is just too low). With three out of her four abilities having more than one use, she can be a very complex character to play that can be very rewarding in a variety of different situations. Based on your play style and that of your teammate(s) you can change the way you want to execute exchanges and therefore become an unpredictable and very frustrating champion to play against.
Although she can be played as an AP mid or as a jungler as well as a support, I find her to be most effective when being played as a support. She seems to be best used in the support lane due to the steroids she can provide an AD carry as well as the fact that she can provide an insane amount of CC to help secure kills for her teammates. In the process, you can gain a large number of assists and score an item and possibly a level and CS advantage for your teammates as well. Furthermore, the fact that her abilities have multiple uses, you can vary your play style to throw off the enemy and therefore always have the element of surprise as a card up your sleeve.
Despite, all the positive things Lulu has going for her, it isn’t all gravy! She is still a situational pick due to the fact that you need to have teammates that will really take advantage of what Lulu has to offer. If your teammates can’t do that, than there is no reason to pick Lulu over the other champions that have been playable in the fields of justice long before her. Furthermore, champions with a high amount of sustain really give Lulu a run for her money as they become increasingly difficult to lane against unless you are extremely coordinated – even then, it will be an uphill battle.
It should be noted that for those of you who chose to play Lulu as a support, you should get comfortable with her abilities very quickly as she feels like a mixture of a number of champions that are already released. Her Help! Pix is similar to Janna’s shield and her Whimsy provides a quick CC or gives a speed boost similar (although not quite the same) as Nunu’s Blood Boil. The abilities are half similar half different to give Lulu a familiar touch but one distinctive enough to warrant to pick her in certain situations over other champions.
Pros
- Has a very well rounded champion kit that feels familiar and different at the same time.
- Can adapt to different play styles and situations since three out of four of her abilities have multiple uses.
- Rewarding to play if you take advantage of situational opportunities and her kit.
Cons
- Hard to master due to the variety of different uses of her abilities.
- Seems to be a situational pick due to her design.
- Although she can serve multiple roles, she only seems to play effectively as a support.
Final Verdict
If you play support and are interested in mastering a very complex champion then Lulu is going to be perfect champion for you. For those of you who are casual players, Lulu will be amazingly fun to play due to her kit. She’s definitely worth buying and playing!
Source: League of Legends (Patch Notes)
[First Impression] Fiora, The Grand Duelist
01 year ago
It’s been two weeks since the release of Nautilus and everyone knows that means it is time for another champion to be released. This time, the new champion (Fiora, The Grand Duelist), was leaked early when discovered on the Public Beta Environment. Many people are hoping Fiora will be the answer to the qualms of being a melee Attack Damage (AD) Carry as they feel that Master Yi’s kit just doesn’t leave him to be a viable champion in many scenarios. With the release of patch , Fiora has become available and after many games as her, I was able to gather my thoughts on her.
Abilities
Let’s take a quick look at Fiora’s abilities:
Duelist (passive) - Fiora regenerates health over 6 seconds each time she deals damage. Striking champions will cause this effect to stack up to 4 times.
Fiora’s passive is what gives her the ability to sustain herself during the laning phase. She gains health regeneration anytime she does damage and it stacks up to 4 times. After a few attacks, you regenerate enough health to keep you in the lane. The tricky part about the passive though is getting the attacks off and not taking much damage in return – thus allowing you to get ahead in health. Since she is a melee champion, depending on who you are facing in the lane, this might not be as easy as it may sound.
Lunge - Fiora dashes forward to strike her target, dealing physical damage. Fiora can perform the dash a second time within a couple seconds at no mana cost.
This is Fiora’s main utility spell that allows her to either close the gap in on the enemy or escape by dashing to a less threatening target amidst combat. What makes this unique from other spells similar to it is the fact that you can dash twice consecutively – allowing you to stick to your target better or use the ability more creatively to get away by gaining further distance. It should be noted that the escapes are very situational as you need an enemy target to dash to otherwise you can’t use the ability.
Riposte - Fiora’s Attack Damage is increased. When activated, Fiora parries the next basic attack and reflects magic damage back to the attacker. Works against champions, monsters, and large minions.
Riposte is Fiora’s main damaging ability as it grants a passive attack damage increase and when activated reflects the next basic attack in the form of magic damage back to the attacker. If timed correctly this ability can counter the abilities of many champions such as Nasus’ Siphoning Strike. With some practice and familiarity of not only Fiora but other champions as well, you can counter and really hurt in the laning phase, which will end up snowballing into the team fighting phase.
Burst of Speed - Fiora temporarily gains additional Attack Speed. Each basic attack or Lunge she lands during this time increases her Movement Speed. Killing a champion refreshes the cooldown on Burst of Speed.
Burst of Speed is Fiora’s primary steroid that not only grants additional attack speed but gives her a movement speed increase to help her stick to the target. The ability works well with her kit as the increased attack speed allows her to maintain her passive and dish out more consistent damage with the passive from the Riposte ability as well. With on-hit effects (either from items or from the Lizard buff) or life steal this ability turns out to be more effective as well.
Blade Waltz (ultimate) - Fiora dashes around the battlefield to deal physical damage to enemy champions. Successive strikes against the same target deal less damage.
Blade Waltz is Fiora’s ultimate and to many it may seem similar to Master Yi’s Alpha Strike to a certain extent. Fiora attacks the target for a few seconds dealing damage and if multiple enemies are around, you do damage to all that are near one another. During the duration of this ability, Fiora cannot be targeted which is an upside to using it.
Analysis
Fiora plays much like a combination of previously seen champions in the Fields of Justice. When thinking about it champions such as Master Yi and Xin Zhao come to mind. Her kit is designed well and her abilities seem to compliment one another. Although this is the case, her damage overall seems to lack and unless she has a significant lead over the champions she is facing, she doesn’t become much of a threat, which is very unfortunate.
The biggest thing going for her is her Riposte which if timed well can counter a slew of champions, Nasus being shown in the Champion Spotlight, but others as well such as Poppy. Her passive is a bit lackluster as the extre health regeneration only helps in the laning phase but is easy to counter as it isn’t a significant amount of health regeneration. Some well timed damage on Fiora will still leave her hurting to a point where the regeneration won’t be enough. Her Lunge does serve its purpose of closing the gap, better than you’d expect since you can use it twice. During the laning phase, the ability serves as an excellent escape as you can usually Lunge to enemy minions behind you (given the right situation) to gain some distance on your opponent. During team fights, its a great way to get in but usually not optimal as an escape.
Last but not least is Blade Waltz which after quite some testing seems to be a pretty lack luster for what it does. Although the animation seems pretty cool, the ability just doesn’t do enough damage. Its almost as if its better used to avoid getting hit for the few seconds that you do use it for. With the right buffs, the ability might be more useful but in its current state it doesn’t do much.
Mastering Fiora’s mechanics can be quite difficult as they are more situational when compared to the kit other champions come with. The level of difficulty leads to a higher reward if played right but more often than not, it will just lead to more frustration. She seems to be outshone by a variety of other champions in the current state so if you enjoy playing her, I’d be on the look out for some buffs in the near future.
Pros
- Has a very well rounded champion kit.
- Can be played as a top lane champion or a jungler.
- Can counter a slew of champions if used right.
- Rewarding to play if you take advantage of situational opportunities and her kit.
Cons
- Ability mechanics make the champion very difficult to master.
- Seems to be a very situational champion that is more often a poor pick compared to other champions.
- Her passive and ultimate in their current state are rather weak.
Final Verdict
If you really like her kit and enjoy playing champions that are difficult to play and hard to master than Fiora is right up your alley. As mentioned before, her abilities are very situational and she is more often a weaker pick when compared to the vast array of champions available to play. In its current state, I’d recommend holding out to see if she gets buffed or just play other champions instead!
Source: League of Legends (Patch Notes)
Public Beta Environment Patch Reveals Next Champion – Fiora
01 year ago
Tnomad over from State of the League recently discovered an upcoming champion that will be hitting the Field of Justice. Apparently the champion was discovered when patching the Public Beta Environment client where a slew of files labeled with the word “Fiora” were discovered. By patching and messing around on the Public Beta Environment, Tnomad was able to obtain a slew of information about the upcoming champion which can be found below:
Abilities
- Duelist (Passive): Fiora regenerates health over 6 seconds each time she deals damage. Striking champions will cause this effect to stack up to 4 times.
- Lunge (Q): Fiora dashes forward to strike her target, dealing physical damage. Fiora can perform the dash a second time within a couple seconds at no mana cost.
- Ripost (W): (Passive) Fiora’s Attack Damage is increased. (Active) Fiora parries the next basic attack from a champion or monster and reflects magic damage back to the attacker.
- Burst of Speed (E): Fiora gains Attack Speed for a couple seconds. Each basic attack or Lunge she lands during this time increases her Movement Speed, stacking.
- Blade Waltz (R): Fiora dashes around the battlefield striking random champions dealing physical damage. Successive strikes against the same target deal less damage.
The champion to me seems like a mixture of Irelia, Xin, Master Yi, and Moobeat from Surrender at 20 seems to think she resembles Riven to an extent. By reading her abilities it seems that her sustain will be good and she seems to be a melee champion (from her attack animations) that will have several steroids and decent sustain. Her ultimate seems to be very similar to Master Yi’s Alpha Strike except that it seems to scale with Attack Damage instead of Ability power.
This wasn’t the only information revealed though by Tnomad as he managed to extract more information which can be found below:
Playing as Fiora
Fiora’s passive grants health regeneration whenever she attacks. The bonus stacks against champions so don’t be afraid to fight small skirmishes and trades.
Blade Waltz deals a lot of damage, but if you save it for when the enemy team tries to attack you it also save you from taking a lot of damage. (sic)
Playing Against Fiora
Save disables for when Fiora activates Burst of Speed-it only lasts 3 seconds and Fiora needs to deal a lot of damage while it is up to be effective.
Fiora is really sticky when she has access to Lunge, but after she casts it twice it has a fairly long cooldown which can be exploited.
Recommended Items
Summoner’s Rift
Doran’s Blade, Guardian Angel, Infinity Edge, The Bloodthirster, Mercury Treads, Youmuu’s Ghostblade
Dominion
Prospector’s Blade, Infinity Edge, The Black Cleaver, Mercury Treads, Youmuu’s Ghostblade, Kitae’s Bloodrazer
Update
Two Fiora skins have been discovered as well and posted on YouTube. Check out the video below:
Source: State of the League, Surrender at 20, YouTube
[First Impression] Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths
01 year ago
As everyone already knows, Riot Games released patch v1.0.0.134 for League of Legends, which came packed with the new Defense of the Ancients (DoTA) inspired champion; Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths. For those of you who have played DoTA in the past, you may find an uncanny resemblance in Nautilus’ kit with that of Tidehunter. The new champion is an Ability Power (AP) based tank with heavy Crowd Control (CC) abilities. He is said to play similar roles to that of Amumu, Leona, Maokai, and to a lesser extent, Sejuani.
After playing a good amount of games as Nautilus in both Dominion and Summoner’s Rift, I can safely say he’s a fun champion to play with heavy utility that he can provide to his team. His kit as a whole is easy to learn as his abilities flow together very well and conclude to a variety of different combos and possibilities. With so many different situational uses of his abilities and a variety of different combos that can be performed, it should be noted that it will take quite some time to master and use Nautilus effectively. Nonetheless, there’s a unique charm to be able to hook someone in or hook to someone (with the use of terrain) then unleash a cumbersome amount of CC on them to really annoy them and allow your team to pour a bunch of damage on them.
Abilities
Let’s take a quick look at Nautilus’ abilities:
Staggering Blow (Passive) – Nautilus’ first basic attack against a target deals bonus physical damage and immobilizes the opponent briefly. Staggering Blow cannot trigger on the same target more than once every 12 seconds.
The passive allows the player to temporarily root a target with the first auto attack on the target. The ability has a 12 second internal cooldown but the thing to note here is that it is per target, which opens up an array of interrupts during a team fight. If you immobilize one target, you still have the opportunity to just attack another to immobilize another enemy while fighting multiple enemies at once. This actually provides more utility and is a better use of taking advantage of his passive.
Dredge Line – Nautilus throws his anchor forward. If he hits an enemy, he’ll drag himself to his target and his target to him. If he hits terrain, he’ll drag himself to the terrain and the cooldown is reduced.
This ability seems to be Nautilus’ bread and butter. It opens up an array of endless possibilities that allows users to pull off a variety of different useful moves in multiple situations. It is very similar to Blitzcrank’s Rocket Grab ability with the exception that you meet the opponent hooked halfway and vice versa. Not only that but it adds extra utility into the mix allowing Nautilus to hook onto terrain such as walls and pull himself towards that instead. What makes it even more powerful is that fact that if you hook onto terrain it has a lower cooldown as well. The ability serves as Nautilus’ main gap closer and can be seen as an escape and anti-escape mechanism for the champion.
Titan’s Wrath- Nautilus places a shield on himself that absorbs additional damage based on his maximum health. While the shield is active, Nautilus’ attacks deal damage over time to units around him.
Titan’s Wrath is Nautilus’ primary defense mechanism and serves as an excellent tool to toughen him up. The bonus damage will help one kill minions faster but the AP scaling is relatively low for the ability (with a scaling of 0.4 per AP). Where the ability really shines is the additional damage absorption based on his maximum health. Here, the ability currently scales at a whopping 10% of his maximum health, which can really toughen him up if you build items that provide a large amount of health.
Riptide - Nautilus slams the ground, causing the earth to ripple out in waves. Each wave deals damage and slows the targets hit. This slow decays over time. Multiple waves that hit the same target deal reduced damage.
Riptide is Nautilus’ Area of Effect (AoE) ability which sends out a wave around the champion damaging and slowing opponents around him. Riptide really helps Nautilus and his teammates stick to targets allowing the maximum amount of damage to be done. With its 10 second cooldown and the slow going from 30% at rank one to 50% at rank five, it really forces enemies to position themselves carefully when engaging in combat with Nautilus. If you manage to catch a group of them, chances are they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon unless they blow some cooldowns to do so.
Depth Charge (Ultimate) – Nautilus launches a depth charge towards a target that picks up speed as it travels. This charge knocks up all enemies it encounters while traveling and explodes on impact, stunning the target and launching them into the air.
The amount of crowd control this ability offers can be just downright brutal. Since it knocks up all enemies it encounters and stuns the opponent targeted, if used correctly, it can turn the tide of a team fight. Typically when you think about positioning in a team fight, the person you would want to CC the most is likely the squishy target that is hiding behind the meaty champions of his team. This is exactly the person you would want to target with Depth Charge as it will not only stun them but knock up all enemies along the path to the target (likely the majority of the teammates as they will be protecting the target). When paired with Nautilus’ Riptide and Dredge Line, the combination can be devastating for any team to go up against.
Analysis
Nautilus plays like a variety of champions as mentioned before such as Amumu and Leona but happens to do it in better way. Using Dredge Line (Q) to close the gap between him and his enemies, popping Riptide (E) for an AoE slow, using Titan’s Wrath (W) to absorb damage while dishing out extra damage over time (DoT) effects, all while alternating the use of his Staggering Blow (passive) to immobilize enemies can prove to be deadly. Coupled with a well-timed Depth Charge, you can really bring its a great recipe for serving some punishment.
The initiation is great and the sheer amount of CC brought to the table helps Nautilus and his teammates stick to their targets consistently and/or force them to blow cooldowns quickly, both of which result in a win/win situation. What makes Nautilus very effective at the role of a tank is not only the fact that he brings so much CC to the table but the fact that enemies have a reason to focus him (to stop him from constantly CC’ng them). That’s exactly when the high scaling absorption on his Titan’s Wrath comes in handy as it makes him extra tough to take down, buying his teammates time to dish out the damage they would need to.
It isn’t all just gravy when playing Nautilus though as he comes with his fair share of downsides as well. His jungle clear time isn’t as fast as some of the other junglers out there so if you jungle, you (and your team should be helping here) need to make sure that you don’t get counter-jungled as falling behind on levels will really hurt you leaving you more vulnerable to taking damage when out-leveled. Since your primary role is one of an initiator and tank, you need to be able to tank the damage necessary to be able to do that and if counter jungled, your ability to take hits goes down drastically. If you aren’t jungling, then this downside doesn’t effect you but it should be noted that if you aren’t jungling, you are really losing out on the ganking potential the champion has, which is another downside. Furthermore, his AP ratios are relatively low so the amount of damage you put out is in turn also relatively low (although it should be noted that it is steady damage which adds up over time).
Given all of the pros and cons, Nautilus is still a fun champion to play that allows players to get innovative and use the different skills in his kit to really put together different combos to successfully fulfill initiate, CC, and tank for his team. His ideal role would be to be a jungler as you can take advantage of the large array of ganking tools his abilities bring to the table but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him as a support or a solo top lane champion as well granted that other champions similar to him are seen doing the same.
Pros
- Brings a large amount of crowd control to the team.
- His kit offers players excellent ganking tools.
- Endless array of innovative uses for his abilities that will make him fun to play for a long time.
Cons
- Relatively slow jungle clear time.
- Low AP scaling makes his damage unappealing.
- Low base starting stats compared to others who fulfill this role.
Final Verdict
All in all, Nautilus is a fun champion to play that brings a lot to the table. His abilities allow for a variety of different combos and players can get really innovative with him here. Players who take the time to practice and perfect playing Nautilus will feel accomplished as they will reap the benefits of being able to turn the tides of team fights constantly. He’s easy to learn and hard to master which for many summoners is a great reason to purchase a champion as it will be well worth the purchase. Furthermore, Nautilus is able to do everything that players would want to do with the last champion released with a similar role, Sejuani but with more ease, effectiveness, and more fun.
Source: DeviantArt, League of Legends (Patch Notes), Surrender at 20
