Re: Bot Lane Taking A Camp

I believe the Support level 2 thing is a cheese strat for Leona only.  Haven't heard of people doing it with other champions but who knows.  Leona is one of the best at doing camps.  Leona has an extremely strong level 2 and a horrible level 1.  A level 2 Thresh walking into lane isn't nearly as scary since you can actually hide behind minions and stuff.  Might work though.  But keep in mind your ADC will be the last of the four botlaners to hit level 2 so it has to be worth it.

Your guys problem was the champion choices of Ezreal and Jinx.  

I've won a couple lanes playing Jinx when chumps do Krugs and then walk into lane expecting an advantage cause that's what the pros do.  I've been pushing fast and have long range AOE attacks and a larger creep wave that I'm happy to use on people who walk into lane not having full health and are level 1 just like me and my Support.  The other two can't all in us when they don't have 100% health until they hit level 2 right?  So you just work them over and keep them from level 2 or hurt them so bad it doesn't matter.  It's a lot of fun!

And people are extra low health when they try and do it with Ezreal and a Not Leona Support.  Corki, AOE Q and true damage passive.  Nice!  Graves, AOE Q and durability passive.  Nice!  Ezreal... yeah.

So if you guys wanna do a camp with an Okay Support for it and a Bad ADC for it, I don't think it's going to be fun.  I mean, if you're facing a Vayne who can't push fast or punish you hard for it then it should be fine.  But believe me, that Jinx was drooling when you guys came to lane.  

Try and keep in mind that even if you don't get level 2 first you can still have advantages from the jungle camp.  Your level 2 minions are still alive and in the bank so to speak and the lane is pushing toward your tower.  Eventually you're going to get a level advantage.  Well, as long as you guys don't group up next to each other while Jinx rockets yah.  

I think the problem with my elise support is that I did not roam to top lane.  Anyway, sorry about inflicting that on you fellas.  Was quite awful.

I saw a new program on meteos stream I'm probably going to try out.  Built in instant replay (you get an overlayed pop up in game that you can click on to see replays).  

Looks like I need to reinstall my PBE - nov 3rd is slated as preseason release 1.  

hurm... I'm finding I'm quickly reverting to my norm even though I'm trying to add some thresh tricks to my bag.  Which is ok - I already feel pretty competent, but I'm a little bummed on how quick I'm back to default mode support.  On the bright side, elise games aside, its default try hard.

Played a ranked to get my elo decay sorted.  We won, but its was kind of excruciating.  Enemy team adc was god awful, but my team was equally awful just handing over gained leads for no reason.  My adc was pretty close to horrific - could not comprehend a twitch turning invisible.  And we had a yasuo that shit on the enemy team.  I end with an 11 k/d/a and have a pretty solid game, but it was just a bunch of dumbos on either side.  Felt like a waste of time.  Still, elo decay done, so cool.

I  installed that instant replay thing i mentioned-  pretty easy to install. Works fine.  Kind of something I doubt I'll use to much... neat anyway

If your goal was to try and use something worse than my infamous Urgot Support, you failed.  Blocking Blitz pulls with spiderlings was actually something useful so I'd put it a tier above Urgot at least.

Seriously though, I don't think it's that bad a concept.  In spider form she's fast and has really great ganks as a jungler, so roaming with Ignite would be insane!  Of course Rawr talked you into Exhaust so that was unfortunate.  Not sure if you guys did a camp first or leashed but she's probably amazing at doing one quickly and safely.

If you ever want to give it another try while I'm ADC, I don't mind a bit.  I'd actually much prefer it over a non-Morgana GP/10 rune Support to be honest.

I'm in the process of moving so I won't be playing for a while.  See you guys in a couple weeks!  Ranked decay for Plat is like 28 days right?  

Meh, the reason you lost the Elise game was lost was because the Blitz hook was GODLIKE at canceling Trist jumps

oh - so i found a diamond 3 fella that coached me for a few games tonight.  Put me right in my place.  I feel like most games I'm playing with goombas.  These games swapped me to the goomba role.  I did one where I supported him as thresh and another where I played adc and he showed me how he controls the lane.

His control level was MUCH more solid/consistent than mine - like I was a schleb adc and this guy got me to 2 kills like cake.  All by pressuring.  Anyway, I learned a bit.  He STRESSED that being a good thresh is NOT about landing the hooks.  Those are swell, but the control really, really comes from his flay and how u utilize that.

This is changing my build out.  I had been rushing targons for the added money.  Now, I think I'm going to leave that to very specific situations or if I'm with a kali.  This frees up some gold for either SS or boots rush.  One thing he was super good at - noting anytime the jungler was top/mid and then warding the enemy jungle anytime it was ok to do so.  We had eyes on the enemy jungler as he moved through the jungle really consistently.  

Anyway, it was cool to feel like I was really the weakest link.  I mean, not a fun feeling, but feeling outclassed is kind of what I need to kick me in the ass.  If I'm getting wrecked by higher level play, well, I know I have to work harder.

el brando is out

Curious as to why Zac jungle fell out of the meta, just decided to play him on a whim last night and he's pretty solid. He will probably be one of my go-tos when I get pigeon holed to jungle in ranked games and what not. I usually prefer it the least to support but it's pretty enjoyable.

I actually don't remember why I stopped playing zac jungle.  I was pretty pumped about him for quite a bit then he fell out of favor with me anyway.  Pre-last buff, he had the most chase potential at least with decent cc.  Also always feels pretty easy to hit his ranged cc (to me anyway).  I think for me anyway, I just got out of playing jungle for a bit and when I got back in, elise was a beast.  

Going to continue my monologue/experience re: playing with much higher elo folks as I got a few more games in.

Anyway, I'll start with what I'm up to, why, and how I got here.  So, here's the deal - each of us are in our own little bucket in league.  Games get harder or easier based on who we play with.  Those of us that play together have a good feeling of what those games are going to generally be like.  But - knowing where you fit in that little bucket means nothing with regards to where you fit into the entire league bucket.

How do I stack up against a challenger player, however, is completely out of my frame of mind (and likely yours). I don't play with challengers and at best, low diamond which doesn't really tell me a heck of a lot of how I compare.  Now, its not an arrogant sort of place I'm coming from (eg I'd totally kick this challengers arse); instead, its me wondering how specifically I'd lose to a challenger.  What are they doing that I'm not doing, etc.  That is useful - a heck of a lot more useful than feeling like i'm a pretty great support in my little bucket.  

Anyway, so, I make it a goal to try to get into a few games with folks SIGNIFICANTLY higher in elo than me (and where, ideally, I'm the only person on my team skewing the stats).  Now, when I play a game with PDT (I've played a few with just him and me recently), I know that its going to be a pain train of goons.  Meaning I will spend more than a few moments each game wondering wtf someone is doing... why... WHY.  That is roughly the divide I expect anyone would feel/experience in playing with me from a much higher elo (eg I am become PDT).  This means that playing with me should become excruciating to much higher elo.  Which translates into it not being as much fun to play with me as I'm a hindrance more than a help.

SO - there's my parameters - find someone much higher elo (Diamond 3 minimum). Do my best to make sure they can tolerate me (eg lets do the absolute best pacov can do every game even if its smeh in comparison) and learn as much as I can while making as little of a nuisance as possible. 

If you want to know what the differences between solo queue games and playing with you guys is like hit me up on Skype some time. I am at work at writing lenghty messages via smart phone is difficult. I can tell each of you what I think your problems are (I am not perfect by any means but I think I could help many of you understand your problem areas). 

Brand skin review: 

Got a game in with him. Really love the splash art. Dance and back animation are pretty sweet. No new voice over but new ability sounds that I dig. Auto attack is pretty. pillar is easily the neatest looking ability. Definitely worth a buy if you like brand. Probably of equal quality with zombie brand minus the lack of new voice over.

OK - so, step 1 - find someone that fits that criteria.  I'm focused on support nuances only (eg don't teach me how to adc better, teach me how to be a better support), so hopefully I can find someone that is an excellent support or adc.  After doing some research, I came across this reddit site:

A place to meet people who play League of Legends - Reddit

After searching for a bit, I literally found someone saying they were diamond elo and wanted to work with a Plat or > support to help them get better at support.  I mean... the post literally said exactly what I was looking for.  So, I add the guy and he comes online later.  I hit him up and tell him I saw his post, I feel like I'm a decent support but I'd like to improve.  We hop on voice chat an immediately get into a game with him as draven, me as thresh.

Now, I'm setting myself up at a slightly bigger disadvantage as I'm playing a little bit off.  By that, I mean I'm a little nervous and not as comfortable due to playing with someone brand new and the big disparity in elo (guy peaked high diamond 1 and is currently diamond 3).  So, I'm a little sheepish and not as decisive as I'd normally be in game 1.  

Anyway, so the first thing he calls out is me having very weak lane control. He says its not about landing hooks as thresh - forget that crap.  Its about presence and your flay.  This guy seems to process the map information at a much higher rate than I typically do.  1 slight mistep from the enemy adc or support and he already has in mind exactly what he and I should have done (eg guy was just slightly too far head, I should be wailing on him and setting up a flay while he lands 2-3 AAs).  It seems like really basic stuff, but he's seeing all of these very specific things for both roles.  Me, I know if I set something up and my adc is a crap and gets no damage in, etc.  This guy is on top of that, very briefly saw the enemy jungle at mid and is thinking about that, etc.  Its just all at a higher speed that I usually function at.  He's got an incredible understanding of wave management (I have a decent understanding - he is managed precisely down to the creep level) and is easily the most mechanically talented player I've played with.  

Think of all of your general league knowledge for whatever role.  Now, assume there are about 10 things you should be doing to probably do not.  This guy seems to know those 10 things and you can pick up on them.  But of course, its crap I didn't know I wasn't doing, so it wouldn't even occur to me.  That's kind of what the whole experience has been.  Good pacov support in my bucket is bad pacov support at higher bucket.  

I'm trying to track all the things I'm learning.  Alot of the focus is moreso on getting good wards in the enemy jungle more frequently and swinging the lane control wisely (not via hooks - you still go for hooks ofc).  My need to upgrade relic shield has dropped off almost entirely as it can disrupt my adcs flow/control of the creep management - I instead look for a boots 2 rush or just stick with SS on 1st back.  My ballsy all in plays that would work in my bucket don't pan out as well (we generally got kills based on my adcs high skill cap or me setting up added damage with a flay/hook combo).  I'm sticking with a more common rune page including AD reds (not my adcs suggestion, just what I swapped to running).  

So, more about the guy I've been playing with. As I mentioned, he peaked around high diamond 1 and plopped down to Diamond 3 after a bit.  Not sure if he's playing a bunch of ranked lately.  The guys very direct and blunt.  Which is good as long as you don't get pissy and treat things like they should be - a learning opportunity.  He's a pretty arrogant guy (guess he's a master tier starcraft II player as well).  He seems to get kind of trolly and lean towards troll, but he's not a dick - eg he knows I'm trying to get better and learn, so he doesn't really berate poor play on my part, but he definitely calls it out.  He described the difference between diamond 3 and diamond 1 as much a difference between bronze and lower diamond.  More or less made it sound like there's a whole new world from d3-d1.  He queues up with some challenger players on a regular basis and seems to be able to hold his own for the most part.  Says he can play pretty much any champ (seems very adept), but is an adc main.  Interestingly or maybe not, his draven didn't really wow me.  He was perfectly competent and played well, but only a few flashy plays here and there.  Mostly just AMAZINGLY good cs and traded pretty close to perfectly well.