Sunday 30 January 2011

Patch preview review


- Doran items nerf
- Rammus changes
- Renekton buffed
- manaregen remade
- earlygame health regen nerf (?)
- RUNES NERF?!


Well, I suppose you have noticed my opinion about this patch. To me it seems that they simply don't know what to change more, so they do these... things.

First of all, Doran items nerf; I don't really understand this! They were good, yes, but anyone could get them. Their strength was in the fact they offer so much for so few. So now they cost more so people can't get a pot along. Not happy.

Next thing is Rammus - what will happen wasn't specified, but I expect nerfs. Over this week he became a small FotM, so another nerf wouln't really surprise me. I expected a Vladimir nerf instead, as he was in every single game this week and people whined about him a lot. The thing that saddens me is that Riot once said that Rammus is the perfect example of a balanced champion - well, why are you nerfing him? Because some low levels don't know how to counter him? :(

Renenkton buff is alright, I didn't see many players that would be actually gamechanging, most seemed that they didn't get a hang on him yet, which is perfectly understandable.

Next what we have here is the remaking of manareg. Every champion will have decreased mana regeneration - why? LoL is even officially called "more active", because mana is much easier to obtain and manage than in DotA. I am not comparing those, but I feel this will drastically change early games to simple autoattack fights, people will fear they won't have much mana in possible ganks. NOT happy!

And the best thing! Rune nerf!
What the fuck? So we save for them for AGES (yes, these health quints ARE quite expensive!), and they nerf them, because there was too much difference between level 1 and 30 players? That's the point! We save for them, we get results!

Sigh.
I am not happy :(

Saturday 29 January 2011

Karma, the Enlightened One pre-release review

Hello my friends!
Yesterday evening Zenon posted the classic "A new champion approaches" thread. So, let's take a look at what Karma can do! (yes, I copied the abilities).

Inner Flame (Passive): Karma gains increased Ability Power corresponding to her missing Health.


The passive is similar to Olaf's one, except she gets additional AP. I am not sure if is this going to synergize well with her, as she is a support, which usually don't try to fight at low health. It surely gives many options in the gameplay, so I don't want to throw it into the oblivion and find out it is great afterwards. Has happen before! (pun intended)

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Heavenly Wave: Karma sends forth a wave of hidden blades from her fans, dealing magic damage to units in a cone in front of her.

  • Mantra Bonus: In addition to dealing damage to enemies, Heavenly Wave will also heal allies in the cone. The amount healed is amplified depending upon the amount of life Karma, or her allies are missing

Well, I think this is fairly straightforward. About the healing, I think it will matter which will heal more, that one will trigger. So if Karma doesn't have much hitpoints, the heal will be based on the health missing of her allies. Sounds very interesting, especially during teamfights. The cone propably won't be very big, so it will most likely help melee DPS like Xin, Olaf when smashing somebody.


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Spirit Bond:
Karma bonds an ally or enemy creating a beam between them. Bonded allies have increased movement speed and bonded enemies have reduced movement speed. Enemy units that come in contact with the beam take magic damage, and champions who pass through the beam receive the same movement speed modifier as bonded champions.
  • Mantra Bonus: Karma strengthens the bond to double the effect of the movement speed modifier.

This is by far the most interesting skill from Karma's arsenal, in my opinion. It is something between Zilean's Time Warp, LeBlanc's Ethereal Chains and Guardian Wisp's Tether (from DotA, some info can be found at http://www.dota-utilities.com/2010/07/io-wisp-strategy-guide-dota-io-wisp.html). I think that when combined with good teamwork with the other player it can turn teamfights, help catching these 100hp Miss Fortunes running away from a skirmish in the forest, prepare traps (how about bonding a friend to yourself and run at an enemy to hit him with the bond?) and help in ganks. It would be also good if it is possible to bond yourself to a minion, so that you dont have to rely on people to use it effectively. So, a good trap.


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Soul Shield:
Karma summons a protective shield that absorbs incoming damage.
  • Mantra Bonus: In addition to the shield, energy radiates out from the shield, dealing damage to enemy units around the recipient.

I think Riot could have made this a bit more original, as there isn't anything really interesting about it. At least you can put it on allies, maybe even turrets, like Janna? That would be good!


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Mantra (Ultimate):
Karma empowers her next ability to do an additional effect. Mantra is available at level 1 and does not require a skill point.

I think everybody understands this, it is a bit similar to Renekton's fury (using abilities when having enough fury give bonus effects to them). Though I am not really sure about the leveling - does she have it from the beggining, and can upgrade it on levels 6, 11 and 16? Propably. Though I think it will just decrease the cooldown, like Twisted Fate's ultimate. There isn't anything really changable about it. Or, her abilites might have 6 ranks, that is also possible. She will be very dependant on the cooldown duration of the ultimate.

Also, I personally haven't noticed if she is melee or ranged! Personally I hope ranged, because a melee support would be in a very bad situation and would get focused down very fast. Yes, she will be ranged. Melee support is bad, bad.

Overally she has impressed me, and I am looking forward to playing her. She will need an AP build for sure, AD is not a way to go.

Have a nice day
your Tuna

Thursday 27 January 2011

Vandal Vlad, Lumberjack Sion... Winged Hussar Xin Zhao?


Hello, my friends! Today I bring you a fairly older thing, however I want to show you my conspiration theory; as you all propably know, on monday, Lumberjack Sion and Vandal Vlad skins came out. However, there is also another skin, not yet released. Winged Hussar Xin Zhao. I made a post about it on the official forums, and surprisingly, Ymir responded. He said he never heard about that skin. What? My guess was was that he was just Trundling me. It will come out for sure, it is already as a preview. The only question is, when will it come out, and what is it going to be like? It actually could be a legendary skin I think. I don't really expect him to have a horse, as it would be kinda weird if somebody was riding a horse and running around the Summoner's rift.

The thread can be found here: http://eu.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=107135&page=2


Wednesday 26 January 2011

Karma, the Enlightened One Sneak Peek!

Karma, the Enlightened One

So, the time has come for Riot to post a Sneak Peek of a new champion. This one is female and I can't say it would be something unexpected, as there still are still many more male champions than female ones.

Though it wasn't stated what her role will be, I think it is faily obvious that she is going to be a melee DPS, since she uses fans as her weapons. Althought I would like to see more tanks as new champions, Ezreal, one of the champion designers even stated that a "female tank" is in the making. When Riot side-mentioned that the new champion is going to be a woman, I got really pumped. However, Karma seems interesting anyway. I like that the Ionian champions are quite different from others, as they look very oriental-ish, or if not that, differently. Take Irelia for example. Or Master Yi's Ionian skin. You can clearly see some similarities.

I am interested how is she going to turn out. The concept looks good, I really hope she won't get changed in the last minute like Irelia. She looked really great, and well, you know yourself how it ended.

Tl;dr: I was expecting a tank, however Karma looks good too. Let's see.


Welcome to my blog!

Welcome!
this is my first post on the blog, I will surely add more through time, as long as you are interested! My school exams just finished, so I should have enough time to post often.

Have a nice day!
Tuna