Definitely don't bother buying runes until level 20 for the tier 3s. I did just that based on advice from level 30 friends.
Another friend played 2 months before me, and I have more runes and champions than him thanks to all the IP savings. Right now his tier 1 and 2 runes are just junked, combining them yields random results.


Using ults to farm minions isn't bad play in some cases.
When I'm tower hugging against 2 champions as Irelia and they manage to amass a large enough creep wave towards my tower, I WILL use my ult to clear it to prevent potential tower loss and tower diving. That should bring most of the creeps into last hit range for me to Bladesurge around like a ping pong ball. Anyhow, ult cd is like 60 seconds and not 5 minutes.

NooOOOooooOOOoo!! My Irelia gonna get hit by the nerf stick again!! *sobs*

I thought she was balanced where she was. She's not overpicked in competitive play, nor does she dominate as consistently like Lee Sin. Now with the hit to her sustain...I can't trade with champs like Vlad no more.

Tryndamere's ult is OP. Lee Sin is OP. Oranges are OP.

Better nerf Irelia!

Irelia is item dependent, don't think you should be going full support on her. The True Damage component of Hiten Style I find is most effective early-mid game. It falls off late game when evryone has 3k health, and you have people like Tryn and Gangplank critting for a few hundred. Biggest crit I ever took was like 1k+.

I think even by going with tournament results, Irelia doesn't really shine. I think doublelift went 0-12 with her?

I agree with this. Irelia 'feels' like a very OP hero in the right hands when you're laning up against her and you don't know what to do. Her weakest phase is in fact levels 1-4 before the sustain and damage from Hiten Style kicks in, but a lot of players let themselves be zoned out by an aggresive Irelia during this phase. It's a lot like playing against Vlad where he heals up the pokes in one creep wave.

Irelia's strength is she doesn't require a good early game to excel later. She can go 0-4 and still end up a terror mid game and I do believe a lot of players have an issue with this. Once she get's her TriForce, she is a threat. And her kit is another area we hear a lot of QQing about. Hiten Style's True Damage allows her to build a full defensive build, and yet be able to deal decent amounts of damage.

On a seperate note, I tried Smartcasting yesterday as I'm practicing my AP mids. Definitely awesome for combo nuke heroes like Ryze, Cass and Veigar. Smartcast FTW.

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Added on March 23, 2012, 11:08 amWhoa, just started LoL and you went straight for Ahri. Who is considered a 'hard' champion to use. Pro!

This post has been edited by statikinetic: Mar 23 2012, 11:08 AM

I think some pages back there are people maining non-carries. Don't think it's fair to generalize everyone to say no one plays tanks. Or supports. My brother is a Soraka freak.

My fav is Leona, which is a tank. 75% win rate in ranked. Do I play her in ranked often? Yes, but only if I duo queue/5v5 premade and I can trust my carries. Because she's limited to 0 CS support, if my carry fails I have no influence on the game.

Otherwise, I usually play solo top carries to get myself out of ELO hell. Carry often and carry hard!


Anyhow, there's no perceived glory in talking about tanks. Gushing on the forums "I went legendary and aced their whole team" sounds a lot more fun than "I tanked hard and went 0-8 but with 20 assists and won the game!".

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Added on March 23, 2012, 4:21 pmDepends on the tank you are trying. general rule of thumbs is Defensive tree for masteries, flat armor seals and flat MR glyphs.

This post has been edited by statikinetic: Mar 23 2012, 04:21 PM

I prefer flat MR glyphs to address the early game issues with most tanks. Some are item dependant to be tanky, and with item priority to be HP or HP/Armor early on, MR is a big weakness in the early stages. Flat MR glyphs address this issue.

Later in the game, I feel that the difference betwen flat MR and MR per lvl at level 18 wouldn't be as significant at 3-4k HP as compared to the early game benefits.

I think we cannot generalize one game to the masses. I've seen teams with 5 carries somehow win, but until that winning consistency is established in competitive play, it won't become part of the meta.

I think only champs with a threat level (Amumu's Despair) or CC (Leona) has the option of building full tank. So the term 'full tank' is starting to become a thing of the past, as tanks are expected to retain a threat level if ignored. Tanks without a threat level will often fall off the radar, for example Sejuani once she uses her ultimate. Then she is no longer a threat, and has nothing to make enemies focus her instead of allies. More successful tanks like Nautilus and Rammus can sustain their threat level throughout the fight, either you focus him down or you live with the fact he's going to CC you every couple of seconds.

Tanks that are afraid to die/Care to much of their KDA ratio = Hopeless

Agreed on Irelia's tankiness coming from her item build. I remember the first time I played irelia and couldn't for the life of me figure out why people were calling her tanky when she isn't. Irelia is normally built tanky is because she doesn't lose her damage potential with a defensive build. Her True Damage and TriForce procs are sufficient to deal out....wait for it...TONNES OF DAMAGE! She's not a tank because of her inability to peel off enemies that dive onto your carries. That said, good luck trying to peel off Irelia with her passive and Merc Boots.

Lovely discussion on tanks going on here.

Leona, her kit needs a buff. There are several great threads on the NA forums on how she needs to maintain that threat level after she initiates. I loved the suggestion that successful Sunlight procs also reduce her CD. Makes for better synergy and keeps the threat there. One of the more fun tanks IMO and my fav. Voli is a bit different thank most tanks as he lacks hard CC. He is a bruiser/tank. His threat level comes from the damage output he brings and to achieve this he is rather item dependent. Without damage output, he faces the problem of 'Ignore Volibear'. His passive is great bait though. Pair it with Heal and troll away to tower.

Lee Sin and Udyr are more tanky DPS than tanks. I guess another part of what makes a tank is their initation skills. Leona's Zenith Blade, Amumu's Bandage Toss, Rammus' Powerball, Singe's chase and toss.


@moodswingfella,

Don't worry if you have bad KDA ratio as a tank, it doesn't affect your IP or EXP gain. I think.
As a tank, it's okay to die. In fact, you are expected to die first. Something is wrong if you're in a teamfight with full HP and everyone is ignoring you. Knowing your team position and when to initiate is perhaps one of the most important tank-playing skills you will require. Your initiation timing is everything.


Advice to the newer players :

"Don't chase Singed"

Speaking of Ryze, been playing him for about a week. Played him when I first started playing and was underwhelmed by him and his close to uesless ultimate. Never picked him again.

But now, oh my. Put him in the right hands with enough farm to cover the early game weakness....and later in the game he comes this walking blue god. What a difference some playing experience makes. Because of him I've started playing AP mid rather than solo tops.

Ryze scales off mana so he is one of the few AP heroes I don't go Deathcap. Early Tear is absolutely necessary, core items would be BV and Frozen Heart. Round it off with Void Staff and WotA (WOTA + the ultimate is OP!).

Agree that Cass and Brand shuts him down early game. But Ryze's early game is his weakest and it's best to be passive until you've farmed up your core items. Cass is seriously good, but has a high skillcap to play. Ahri too. If you want to play AP casters with high skillcaps that are borderline OP, Cass and Ahri says hi.

My other fav AP Mid is Kennen. Devastating in teamfights. And whoever he lanes against, he may not win but he definitely won't lose either. As for AD range mid, I think Caitlyn can be seen going mid in some games as her range allows her to farm and harass most AP casters.

Because Singed kills heroes usual a poison trail behind him. It's an embarrassing way to die. Usual scenario :

1. Newbie sees Singed at half HP and chases him.
2. Singed runs off with his poison trail on.
3. After chasing awhile, newbie notices his HP has gone from full to less than half.
4. Newbie turns back. Singed activates MS boost and chases newbie.
5. Newbie gets tossed by Singed.
6. An ally has been slain.
7. Newbie's teammates starts to question newbie's sexual orientation and parents' marital status.

I'm on an Irelia spree before the incoming (And undeserved!) nerfs this Friday.

Played against a good Ezrael with a support Blitz (0 CS, camping in bush for pull opportunities) top lane yesterday as Irelia. Made life difficult but good practice to keep my CS score up. 100+ CS in 15 minutes, 200+ in 30 minutes and 300+ by the time the game ended in 44 minutes. I'm gonna miss Irelia.

This post has been edited by statikinetic: Mar 28 2012, 11:14 AM

Dafuq....Inb4 ELO 2600

I'm just waiting to go Lulu + Chogath.

"I'm tanking coz my size is so big they can't click on my teammates!!"

I think the phrase "Ryze's early game is his weakest" should be read as "His mid and late game are stronger than his early" rather than "Ryze is weak early game".

That said, champions like Cass and Ahri are more damaging with an early blue buff because they can outrange Ryze all day long. Ryze should be getting blue buff AFTER he farms up his Tear. As that sustained spell nuking will build up his mana pool.

Ryze is a walking blue god late game. Especialy if there is another AP hero to go double WotA. Double WotA and Ryze's ult is just broken OP.

Definitely Smartcast on Ryze, it makes landing the spell combo much easier. Farm up the Tear as your first priority so every spell cast adds to your mana pool. Keep in mind the range of your Q is the longest among all your spells, otherwise you will find your combo limited by range. Other AP mids dominate your early because they outrange you. Against a shorter ranged nuker like Annie, you will be able to stand your ground until lvl 6.

Summoner spells are totally up to personal preference. I prefer running Teleport. Allows me to spam, pop back and return to lane without missing a creep. Also allows me some map control. I can Teleport top or bottom lane if they keep their bush warded for a surprise gank, they won't expect me coming after seeing me continually farming mid.

This is more my personal style of playing Ryze.

Skill build : Max Q, then W and lastly E. Pick up your ult at lvls 6, 11, 16. Pick up one level of W at lvl 2 and one level of E at lvl 4.

A brief walkthrough on early game which is his weakest :

Early game objective : Rush up a Tear.
Starting items : Sapphire Crystal + 2 Health Pots
Target Gold : With a S.Crystal, you will need roughly 600 gold to compete your Tear.

Start passively to gauge your opponent. Look at their summoner skills and starting items. If they start Doran's Ring, consider harassing as they do not have regen. If they have multiple pots, your call. Last hit and farm. Don't overextend.

When you hit 600 gold, considering Recalling for an early Tear. But if you have more than half HP and Mana, consider trading with your opponent. You are going to recall anyway, might as well force them to recall or lower their HP. If they are passive and won't trade, zone them. When your creep wave is about to hit their tower, recall.

Once you have your Tear, spend every moment farming up the mana bonus. Use your Q constantly to last hit and harass. Your Q should never be off cooldown for more than a few seconds. Consider ganking top or bottom lane.

Ryze scales on mana, not AP. Ryze is laughable if he goes AP.

The amount of damage gained from mana vs cost as opposed to the cost and damage gained from AP.

Amplifying Tome: 25 AP for 435g
Sapphire Crystal: 200 Mana for 400g

The Amplifying Tome adds 5 damage to his Q, his main damage skill.
The Sapphire Crystal adds 20 damage, making mana 4 times as effective than AP, along with the fact you have a much larger mana pool to cast your skills.


The gold you spend on Rabbadon is better spent on WotA for spell vamp or on Void Staff for the MPen.