Dipping the Toe Back In

And almost had it cut off.

With Izlain’s inadvertent prodding and poking I re-downloaded League of Legends. It’s always hard returning to a game you haven’t played in a while and especially so when it is a game that changes frequently. There is a relearning period where not only are you remembering the basics of how to play, but  alsohow and which systems have modified since you had it “on farm”.

I quit League of Legends in 2013 right around the time I made this post. I was determined to play ranked games and climb out of bronze and I was playing daily. Ultimately the frustration of having less than 1 in 5 games being “fun” is what did it for me. You aren’t just fighting champions – often you are fighting the community. It’s 45+ minutes every time you fight either. As I have less time to game, I want to get as much out of my gaming as possible. 20% uptake was a bad average.

That being said, I missed the game and reading Izlain and chatting about it made me boot it back up. And like an old friend who you haven’t seen in a while, there was a comfort immediately, and also a curiosity. “What have you been up to?”

The Summoner’s Rift map rework is beautiful. I don’t know when they changed the style but I love it. I immediately jumped into some bot games with my favourite top laners (Wukong, Zac, and Rumble) and it felt good but I was definitely rusty.  Finally played a normal 5v5 versus real people and I really sucked. My Rumble was off, missing a lot of my ultimates (I had huge winrates with Rumble when last I played). I was laning against Aatrox (a natural counter to Rumble – this was Blind Pick so I didn’t really have a choice)  and with a Jarvan IV jungle (grr) it was a bad combination for me. Still, I played safe but had crappy farm and ended up 1-2 after laning phase. Thankfully we had a good team that carried me and I happily sacrificed myself in team fights (focus the worst player, right?) and my team would mop them up. I also had 1800 RP left so I immediately bought the new Rumble skin. It is so slick, especially after spending so many hours staring at the old, crappy Rumble skin.

compliments of Moobeat at Surrender at 20

I missed the thrill of PVP.

I have a lot of practice to catch back up where I was and a lot of learning the new matchups and how my favourite champs have changed, but I’ll be playing semi-regularly. If you want to keep up with my games you can here at LoLKing (I have thick skin, ridicule away!) and while I think I’ll avoid ranked I’m definitely going to keep my pool of champs small this time around. Less is more, right?

In the meantime, if you have any tips on what are the right websites to follow for guides (I am so out of the loop on what to buy) and/or other good sites to catch me up on what I have missed in the League of Legends world, please point me to them!

Feel free to add me if you play : Summoner name is Couchon.

 

3 comments / Add your comment below

  1. I added you and checked your history, I see that you’ve played days I have but apparently we haven’t been on at the same time.

    I usually go to MOBAFire for a quick look at how most people build a champion, but they recently changed the recommended items for everyone, and I mostly find that they work pretty well. I do have some of my own opinions, but in some cases Riot and I saw eye to eye on item builds.

    I made it into Silver back in season 3. When Season 5 starts officially (it’s still preseason right now) I am aiming for Gold. I think I can make it, but we’ll see.

    Zac is currently underpowered, and not used hardly at all. Rumble is still good but man I can’t use that ult to save my life. I have found most success in the top lane with Wukong, Maokai, Shen and have a few others that I use on occasion.

    Glad you decided to give it a go again. Hopefully we’ll get on around the same time soon. I typically play evenings from 8pm to whenever I need to get to bed, and that’s PST. I’m not sure of your time zone. Perhaps that’s what’s throwing us off of being online at the same time.

    1. I am EST so that is probably where our disconnect is. I am an early riser now too, so late nights are hard to do =) It will happen some random weekend though no doubt.

      Nice to hear Riot fixed their own recommendations, I’ll try those. I was used to LOLKing.net ones that I felt pretty good about.

      Damn, I was LOVING Zac before I quit – perhaps why he was nerfed, heh. Was having a lot of good games with him in ranked too. He is frustrating to play against with the mobility and revival.

      How to you Maokai top? I have tried that in the past, he is one of my favourites thematically (I used to support with him!) but I sucked at jungle so I couldn’t play him in ranked.

      I’m so far behind on champ changes =) I have a lot of catching up to do, I’ll just bail on Zac for now – I have a lot of other top champs I enjoy. Thanks for the tip.

      1. Maokai top is easy mode imo. Rod of Ages for health/mana + some AP and then pretty much straight tank items. His AP scales really well and he can clear waves as good as most mid laners. I start with the sapling toss to have some range (and vision in bushes) and then max his Q. It’s knockback + slow helps if you need to run or to slow runners. Sapling also slows and his W roots so you can lock down whoever you want. Plus his ult cooldown is ridiculously low so you always have it for damage soak plus the AOE.

        Last night I played Pantheon top and wrecked, was 12/1/5 at the 20 minute surrender. I like champs who have CC, mobility and tankiness (either built-in or through items). For instance, when I play Wukong or Panth who aren’t inherently tanky I build them with a brutalizer and tank items and can usually outplay whomever I face. Their ults also help with team fights. Also, the current meta is to run teleport and whatever you want for summoners (I use flash) because of the global pressure you get with tele.

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