Twisted Treeline Strategy Guide

Hello there summoners! With the announcement of the Season 2 rewards and War Hero Janna dangling in front of our eyes, it's no wonder that so many players are throwing themselves into the Ranked 3s queue to try and improve their end of season rewards.

Outline:

1. FAQ
2. Tier List
3. General Strategy
1. Jungle Timers

Twisted...

FAQ:

Q: What are the breakdowns for each (important) division?

A: Gold: 1450, Platinum: 1650, Diamond: 1850

Q: Can I just join a gold ranked team and get the rewards?

A: No, you must WIN at least 5 ranked games in that specific queue WITH that specific team. There may be an exception for players who joined teams before September 1st, but better safe than sorry.

Q: Do we need a jungler?

A: If you mean do you need a player running smite, then *no*, but you MUST clear jungle and secure buffs to win. Most top teams do run a jungler, but it is perfectly possible to get to gold without one (perhaps easier as well). Personally I've done both, and having a jungler requires more effort, but has a higher payoff.

Tier List:

Although a good team with bad heros will beat a bad team with good heroes every time, this tier list was written by Såm, a player ranked 2050 in twisted treeline whose team is 32-0...so I figure he knows what he's talking about.

Last updated 9/26/2012

My...what big tiers you have

Tier God : 

God AP : Rumble, Gragas

God Carry/Bruiser : Jax, Darius, Rengar

God Jungle : Lee Sin, Shyvana

Tier 1:

AP Carry : Singed, Cassiopeia, Kennen, Zyra, Diana, Katarina, Cho-Gath, Nunu

AD Carry/Bruiser : Yorick, Pantheon, Renekton, Tryndamere, Olaf, Jayce, Shen, Warwick

Jungle : Dr. Mundo, Riven

Hybrid : Poppy, Kayle

Tier 2: 

AP Carry : Brand, LeBlanc, Sion, Ahri, Fizz, Morgana, Mordekaiser, LuLu, Malphite, Teemo, Eve

AD Carry/Bruiser : Garen, Nidalee, Skarner, Jarvan, Udyr, Irelia, Fiora, Trundle, Volibear, Wukong, Ezreal, Xin Zhao, Gangplank

Jungle : Nocturne, Rammus, Shaco

Hybrid : Akali

Tier 3: 

AP Carry : Karthus, Swain, Amumu, Annie, Orianna, Galio, Vladmir, Ziggs, Malzahar, Maokai, Ryze, Fiddle, Karma, Soraka, Janna

AD Carry/Bruiser : Graves, Talon, Vayne, Miss Fortune, Natilius, Corki, Hecarim

Jungle : 

Tier 4:

AP Carry : Anivia, Kassadin, Heimerdinger, Zilean, Lux, Veigar, Viktor, Twisted Fate, Sona, Taric, Xerath, Alistar, Sejuani

AD Carry/Bruiser : Nasus, Caitlyn, Kog'Maw, Urgot, Tristana, Blitzcrank, Sivir, Leona, Ashe, Twitch, Varus, Draven

Jungle : Master Yi

Description of tiers: (Also by Sam)

Tier God : Champions that are really all around strong. If you play against one! Good Luck! 

Tier 1: Champions that are taken most of the time, really strong picks. These are generally the most banned champions.

Tier 2: Just under tier one, these champs are very good, common picks. You will see them banned after T1. These champions fullfil their roles well.

Tier 3: You will rarely, if ever, see these champs banned but they are still good. Not the best, but still good and worthwhile. 

Tier 4: Ehhh... I recommend not to pick these. There are just so many better champs... Just saying!

General Strategy (Back to SSJSuntastic!)

Picks: To start off with, be sure to get a good mix of heroes with some that deal AP damage, and some that do physical damage. Have at least one or two heroes that can clear waves quickly, and at least one hero with either sustain or range. If you choose to have 3 melee bruisers with no sustain, you may end up with a 1v2 lane that's completely useless.

A jungler is optional, but if you have no jungler be sure to pick two heroes that have good synergy in lane.

Pre-creep spawn: Generally you have two options; either find the enemy team and fight, or clear a jungle camp as a group. I suggest you don't try the two big buffs in the center of top jungle right away, unless you have Nunu with smite. Waiting in your base doing nothing is a pansy move.

Laning Phase: Controlling the center is crucial, unless you have extremely good map awareness and like to play extremely passively. Pushing the lane and ganking/clearing jungle is how you'll win laning phase/gain an advantage. Be sure to keep CSing though. If you push the wave and don't manage to clear anything/slay any heroes you'll lose your advantage.

If you're not running a jungler, placing your dual lane top or bottom doesn't make a huge difference, just decide who you want to shut down/counter and arrange your team accordingly. If the enemy team has a jungler and you don't, be sure to ward up and gank them often for free kills, or be out-leveled very quickly.

Pushing Towers: It's almost always better to go clear jungle after killing one or two of the enemy rather than trying to push a tower. The waves clear very quickly and the towers have retardedly long range. The fountain is also way too close to the enemy nexus, so enemies can easily run in and out for a quick recharge and continue defending.

Jungling: Beware the wraiths...you'll learn which camps will give you great benefits and which camps will spank you back to base relatively quickly. Always be sure to control dragon, and don't give them red for free. Dragon is extremely powerful on this map and has an extremely short respawn time. It gives 280 gold per person, which is almost the same as an ace, minus opportunity costs.

Jungle Timers

Unit Name	Spawn Time	Respawn Timer
Twisted Treeline
Lizard Buff	2:10	4:00
Dragon Buff	4:40	5:00
Other Top Buffs	1:55	3:00
Top Small Camps	1:40	:75
Mid Small Camps	1:40	:75

Conclusions:

Practice makes perfect in Twisted Treeline! The map is much more difficult to navigate than Summoner's Rift, has a ton more walls/juke points, is very fast paced in the beginning and even more frustrating to face a turtle in the end.

Overall, I can't say it's a balanced map, but definitely the fastest way to get to gold from ground 0! Good luck in the jungles of Twisted Tree line summoners!

Did you just say...twisted?