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Nov 28, 2014

Solo Queue FOTM Tier List - Dec - Patch 4.20

65 comments

PRESEASON 5 - December - PATCH 4.20 FOTM TIER LIST
"THE POPULAR KIDS"

Preface Chatter
Although it's not *quite* December yet, it will be soon enough. I'll update this as we go, but since a major patch just hit I figure it's about time to update the FOTM list as well. Can't be slacking now right?

I think that from now on I'll also start doing a bit of write up on some unusual stand-outs on certain champions. Although I don't expect his page to be as popular as the regular tier list, I realize that some people prefer this method of ordering champions so I'll chat about this one as well.
    If you're looking for the regular solo queue tier list, be sure to check it out via this link!
    Patch 4.20 Summary
    Buffs: Azir, Evelynn, Sion
    Nerfs: Amumu, Fiora, Gnar, Katarina, Kha'Zix, Lee Sin, Rammus, Sona, Warwick,
    Tweaks: Heimerdinger, Soraka
    Search for a champion:
    The Tier List

    God Tier [Pee Your Pants - BAN]:
    Mid-Lane Gods: Zed, Fizz, Akali, Syndra
    Jungle Gods: Warwick, Fiddlesticks, Pantheon
    AD Gods: Lucian
    Top Lane Gods: Irelia, Gnar, Akali
    Support Gods: Morgana, Thresh

    Tier 1 [Expected Powerhouses]:
    Mid-Lane: Yasuo, Katarina, Ahri, Talon, Orianna, Lux, Jayce, Xerath,
    Jungle: Vi, Rammus, Jarvan IV, Lee Sin, Udyr, Kha'Zix, Maokai, Amumu, Rengar, Master Yi, Wukong, Xin Zhao
    AD Carry: Vayne, Caitlyn, Jinx, Tristana, Corki, Graves, Twitch, Draven, Kalista
    Top LaneRiven, Jax, Darius, Rengar, Jayce, Yasuo, Tryndamere, Pantheon, Nasus, Lee Sin, Rumble, Jarvan IV, Fiora
    Support: Leona, Janna, Braum, Blitzcrank, Sona, Alistar, Nami, Lulu,

    Tier 2 [Crowd Favorites]:
    Mid-Lane: Annie, Lissandra, Ziggs, Twisted Fate, Kassadin
    Jungle: Shaco, Sion, Elise, Skarner, Nocturne, Volibear, Nautilus, Evelynn
    AD Carry: Ezreal, Kog'Maw
    Top Lane: Maokai, Sion, Wukong, Lissandra, Nidalee, Renekton, Trundle, Cho'gath, Udyr, Vladimir, Lulu, Shyvana, Olaf, Xin Zhao, Warwick, Swain, Dr. Mundo, Zed
    Support: Annie, Zilean, Karma

    Tier 3 [Playable]:
    Mid-Lane: Diana, Azir, Lulu (AP), Pantheon, Cassiopeia, Leblanc, Kayle, Nidalee (AP), Morgana, Zilean, Mordekaiser, Swain, Viktor, Brand, Vel'Koz, Malzahar, Anivia, Ryze, Galio, Vladimir, Zyra, Karma, Veigar, Heimerdinger, Karthus, Gragas, Kha'Zix, Tristana, Cho'Gath, Kennen
    Jungle: Olaf, Trundle, Kayle, Jax, Dr. Mundo, Nasus, Shyvana, Gragas, Diana, Malphite, Tryndamere, Hecarim, Aatrox, Sejuani, Zac, Nunu, Cho'Gath, Darius
    AD Carry: Miss Fortune, Varus, Ashe, Sivir, Quinn
    Top Lane: Kayle, Malphite, Azir, Ryze, Alistar, Singed, Gragas, Kennen, Teemo, Shen, Yorick, Garen, Quinn, Aatrox, Elise, Volibear, Kha'Zix, Karma, Poppy, Vi, Master Yi, Viktor, Gangplank, Zac, Mordekaiser, Talon
    Support: Zyra, Fiddlesticks, Vel'Koz, Taric, Gragas

    Tier 4 [Not Amused]:
    Mid-Lane: Elise, Wukong, Malphite, Teemo, Gangplank, Riven, Fiora, Fiddlesticks, Kog'maw, Ezreal (AP), Sona, Soraka, Janna
    Jungle: Leona, Zed, Shen, Yasuo, Fiora, Riven, Poppy, Gangplank, Malzahar, Blitzcrank, Alistar
    AD CarryTwisted Fate, Kennen, Urgot
    Top Lane: Heimerdinger, Vayne, Galio, Nunu, Soraka, Urgot
    Support: Teemo, Nunu, Volibear, Lux, Kayle, Soraka, Nautilus, Maokai, Anivia, Veigar, Gangplank, Malphite, Nidalee, Orianna, Poppy, Elise, Galio, Shen, Yorick, Lissandra, Ashe, Leblanc, Caitlyn

    Instructions and Caveats:
    • This tier list details which champions are most popular in today's current metagame, for better or for worse. Selecting a high popularity champion and doing mediocre is always favorable to selecting a low tier champion and doing mediocre for team morale.

    Champion Explanations
    • Akali [God Tier Mid] - Akali's snowballing potential is insane, and her double Q proc is almost certain death for the majority of squishy mid laners. The only way to really counter her is to have a few members of your team carrying pink wards (especially your jungler during ganks). In solo queue, this kinda of selflessness and coordination is hard to find. 
    • Gnar [God Tier Top] - Prior to Patch 4.20 Gnar was extremely powerful, and although he's been nerfed since then remains a top contender. Although he's not quite as faceroll as before, a good Gnar still does extremely well throughout the game and can tend to be a bit of an annoyance. 
    • Jinx [Tier 1 ADC] - With the other strong AD carries nerfed, Jinx is starting rise in popularity again, especially with her extreme long range AOE attacks and passive that allows her to quickly snowball teamfights as long as she has a strong front line.
    • Kalista [Tier 1 ADC] - The potential for Kalista is immense when combo'd with a strong melee support. In solo queue, the most popular supports are currently Thresh and Janna though. Picking up these champions and throwing them into the middle of the enemy team doesn't work quite as well as if you have a Alistar or Braum, which is likely why she's trending towards a lower win rate in solo queue.
    • Lissandra [Tier 2 Top] - With nerfs on Ryze, Lissandra is rising to the occasion when teams require (or feel they require) a strong AP caster top lane.
    • Lucian [God Tier ADC] - Although nerfed repeatedly, Lucian remains a crowd favorite pick and highly feared in solo queue. While he isn't as faceroll as before, his potential still remains high to snowball a game to victory providing the user has good mechanics.
    • Pantheon [God Tier Jungle] - The new jungle changes have been extremely kind to him, and given his ability to kill Dragon extremely early, his ban rate is quickly rising.
    • Rammus [Tier 1 Jungle] - The new jungle isn't quite as kind to the turtle as they were to Pantheon, and he suffers from poor clear speeds. This, combined with the nerfs this patch have dropped him out of the public eye. However, his ganks are just as fearsome as before, and sometimes worth a ban.
    • Ryze [Tier 3 Top/Mid] - After the last patch's nerfs on Ryze, he's quickly fallen out of favor and is borderline a troll pick nowadays.
    • Vayne [Tier 1 ADC] - Nerfs on Tristana have given Vayne new power as the go-to hyper carry. This combined with the fact that Lucian's been nerfed several times over means that it's safer to pick Vayne and farm into late game..
    • Warwick [God Tier Jungle] - The new jungle and jungle items basically make Warwick an unstoppable beast at the moment and the QQ on him is high. He'll likely be nerfed very shortly,
    • Zed [God Tier Mid] - Zed is an extremely high skill, high reward champion. His ability to take out a single champion is high, and there's nothing worse than getting ulted and combo'd by a Zed only for him to blink back to his shadow safely as you wait for his impending ult to kill you. Although finding a good Zed at most Elos is a rarity, on the occasion that you do go up against one, it's very demoralizing.
    Disclaimer:
    • The purpose of this list is for discussion and to provide a starting point for hero selection.
    Agree? Disagree? Comment below!






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    65 comments:

    1. This is dedicated to NA right? Because I think i am one of the few that play irelia in LAS

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    2. Weird,I haven't seen morgana support for a few weeks now, not sure why but she was hella popular at start now almost non-existent again since pre-season

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    3. still don't understand why mundo is tier 3,while garen is tier 4. With the recent buff i think that garen is now one of the best tank in the game.

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    4. SSJSuntasticNovember 28, 2014

      She's still the 5th most banned champion on the rift at the moment.

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    5. SSJSuntasticNovember 28, 2014

      This is across NA, the EU servers, and the South American servers.

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    6. garens horrible yeh he is tanky but he is completly ignorable

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    7. He's good against melee champions, but lacking mobility to vs ranged champions or high-mobility bruisers.
      Some good Garens I saw took Boot of Swiftness and TBC/BoRK and can do pretty well.

      And the important point is, I think usually people reacts to "buff" slower than "nerf" , so the impression that "Garen is so-so" still exists for a while.
      (It did take a while for Ziggs, Ryze, Tristana, ... to shine after a few buffs)

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    8. I also use gnar, and yes, he is quite more fun to play, but i feel irelia is like, safer and more effective in general, but that just me playing both, I also have like 300 more games with irelia that with gnar

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    9. Not that I play him or anything, but why is kennen not ever played?

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    10. Whats the difference between this list and other list you have? Why morgana is god tier there and only tier 1 in other list?

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    11. The champs who deserve 2 tiers higher: Velkoz T3, Heimerdinger top T4 and mid T3 (at least T2), Fiora-Malza Jung T4 (at least T3), Malphite T3 (even Teemo and Singed), Nunu and Nasus T3 Jung, Annie T2 (at least T1)...
      The champs who deserve 1 tier lower: Jax, Yasuo and Rammus.
      I personally love this list, it's plain fun and just show how people are slow to react to meta changes when a champ has been OP or UP for too long...

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    12. Only his ult really doing damages in tf, forcing you to use zhonya (even more than morgana) and he is squeashy as hell (for a top laner it's often a team disadvantage, a bit like teemo, but with a less annoying kit). He is a good counter to Riven and Darius, but Teemo, Jayce or Lissandra do the job better :S

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    13. With the new jungler meta, she will appear more often as she will be less on the ban radar (There is WW/Pant to suppress, and Akali-Kata growing again with the nerf to mana-using Mid). I expect her to appear again in ranked...but yes she is less undisputed than before after her dmg nerf.

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    14. Yasuo a tier lower? He's still banned on almost every game. If anything, I think Zed should move lower. He doesn't get banned as much.

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    15. MasterOfMetalNovember 29, 2014

      zileanm..... lol, you might want to fix it, t3 mid

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    16. SSJSuntasticNovember 29, 2014

      Zilean hasn't been played nearly as much after his passive was nerfed.

      ReplyDelete
    17. SSJSuntasticNovember 29, 2014

      Zed is the second most banned champion in the game right under warwick at the moment.

      ReplyDelete
    18. SSJSuntasticNovember 29, 2014

      This is a list based on common perception.Some people just want to know what everyone else thinks is true, and it's helpful to know who you'll be facing on the rift.

      ReplyDelete
    19. MasterOfMetalNovember 29, 2014

      no no, I was pointing out a typo

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    20. my shirt is red :ONovember 29, 2014

      Why do you think that Kayle jungle is so low? With sustain junglers so strong, the new chilling smite item to help with her weak ganks, godlike waveclear, tower pushing potential, and utility ult, I would place her higher.

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    21. Zilean 2 tiers higher than nida?

      just can't get it, why?

      ReplyDelete
    22. SSJSuntasticNovember 29, 2014

      I think you're looking at support nidalee

      ReplyDelete
    23. SSJSuntasticNovember 29, 2014

      Oh gotcha, fixed

      ReplyDelete
    24. thunderman1165November 29, 2014

      This is why I want to play more Zed... (with reference to his explanation)

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    25. Wow really? I don't see the point of banning Zeds since I rarely see a good Zed. Well, ignorance is a bliss and statistics don't lie. But why is Zed so banned when you can just get a QSS.

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    26. I gotta say kalista is god tier. She's getting picked all over the place due to her wombo, damage, dueling, and pushing potential. If you know the slightest thing about positioning then kalista games should be free wins for you

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    27. thunderman1165December 01, 2014

      Really really high skill, more so than Vayne. Extremely hard to always keep track of dashes, especially in team fights. But I do agree, definitely very strong.

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    28. thunderman1165December 01, 2014

      Most people apparently have trouble remembering that. ;)

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    29. Captain BananaDecember 01, 2014

      The point of banning Zed is that when you find a good one then you are not in a good place.

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    30. Ceramic RabbitDecember 01, 2014

      How is Kog'Maw lower than Ezreal? Serious question because he was god tier a few patches ago and ezreal was considered trash.

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    31. But a good Zed is like 1 out of 10 or something. I'd rather ban someone like Fizz or Akali just because, well, you know.

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    32. low objective control, doesn't really fit as a bruiser or tank like people prefer junglers nowadays, and the fact that this is FOTM would be my guess. people don't really think "ooh, kayle" when they go jungle, they choose kha, lee, ww, panth, etc.

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    33. Al NicholsonDecember 03, 2014

      Bumped Voli jungle down to tier 2, Top down to 3, and support down to 4?

      Looks like the thunder bear isn't getting any more love.

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    34. I really expect to see Aatrox rise like crazy soon. He's a very strong jungler atm with his early dives, and near infinite sustain in the jungle.

      ReplyDelete
    35. Naughty NautilusDecember 04, 2014

      Whoa why Wukong top moved down from god to t2?
      As for Akali in God tier, I think her real killing potential doesn't shine much until 6, like Diana.
      Nothing really else I argue with (except for my dear Ahri no longer considered god tier for this list).

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    36. Elvin KaliikaDecember 04, 2014

      Shaco tier 2 made me frown a bit, as he is the king of counterjungling. And with the new jungle routes, it's a walk in the park to steal the enemy buffs.

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    37. its fotm

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    38. In Brazil, Soraka is tier God of supports.

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    39. DivideByInfinityDecember 04, 2014

      In other words Soraka is subpar?
      Carry on

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    40. DivideByInfinityDecember 04, 2014

      I'm just happy my favorite champions don't seem to be getting nerfed.
      Well, I bet fiddlesticks will feel something in this next patch, but I'm not sure.

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    41. Akali top God? Really? WTF

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    42. João VítorDecember 05, 2014

      Still mad about Kabum rekting Alliance's face?


      move on, man

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    43. Josh ThurlowDecember 05, 2014

      It's a FOTM list. More people play Ezreal.

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    44. If I recall correctly, they've already nerfed his silence skill (just a bit). Fiddle is balanced now, not much synchronized with certain items (like Ryze with Tear & FH), so I think no need to nerf.
      (And with 3 ban slots , people can avoid some champions if they really hate to face them)

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    45. #1 that's a normal game
      #2 you played against a sona velkoz(?) lane

      Soraka is decent but is outclassed by Sona, Janna, etc and doesn't give that much other than heals

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    46. Soraka is currently pick/ban just like warwick in higher elo i dont quite understand why shes so far below :P

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    47. + I'm currently very surprised by the fact that Kha'zix (or just Nerf'zix) and his best friend rengar both stays up ahead of elise :P both kha and rengar lacks sustain in new jungle and their ganks arent strongest except for rengar after lwl 6 but if he gets invaded early he will be behind whole game... Elise in my point of wiew has risen to be quite a troublesome with new jungle items and enchantments. she can take juggernaut or magus enchantment based on which she needs more and just destroy enemies. (I'm main of Kha and rengar but after the nerfs i tested all my junglers and came to this conclusion)

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    48. Shivin DevgonDecember 06, 2014

      Congratulations you won a normal game in bronze. your champ is truly extremely op and has "ridiculous" sustain/harass.

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    49. most top laners can't even kill her early game and if they can it does not take the fact away she is an ap- assassin with 3 gap closers its like katarina supp she finds a way to get back in the gaem

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    50. Marcos XotokoDecember 07, 2014

      the roam potencial is insane

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    51. André CardosoDecember 07, 2014

      I thought the same then I tried her out and its amazing how hard u can carry with her top. She snowballs so easily and unlike most top laners she can roam just as easily. Play TP though.

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    52. I will try it... I often play with my BRkaiser in top... it can be a good experience.
      Sou brasileiro se houver algum br ae

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    53. Riven is fuking mega op now. I used to win solo top lane easily with darius, just a bit less easily with jax. now she horribly outdmges both (even darius!!!) at every stage of the game. You can even get first kill, she scales so hard that a full rotation of her just kills you when she reach lvl 6, no matter what, and you can do nothing because she jumps in and hard cc you killing you in 3 sec. Monstrous. Need a hard nerf, especially to shield that makes her fukingly unkillable while building just megadmg.

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    54. Actually it was Sona/Yasuo (he should have wrecked our lane with his absolutely destructive early game) That was just the most recent example I had on hand, normally when I play a health regen/AP focused soraka I ALWAYS carry my ADC and we always win lane at least, and she offers long ranged poke, AOE CC, and god-tier heals that just keep coming.

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    55. Congratulations you made a comment that didnt add anything to the conversation at hand. good4u buddy.

      Also, dont put words in my mouth fucker. I questioned why she was tier 4, I didnt say she was a god. That was just the most recent game I had played with her, I normally carry my ADC and win lane when I play Raka like this.

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    56. Why didn't you even finish your Frost Queens Claim? It is very important. Why warmogs? Your health take for W is still percentage and your Q is flat with a small ratio meaning you will easily deal more damage to yourself than you will be able to heal without a good amount of AP.
      Either way, soraka is just ok. She doesn't bring as much to the table as the other supports. Her heals are good, equinox is decent despite its long ass cooldown and unreliability (not every champ needs spells and with enough movespeed, they can make it damn near useless), but nothing else. Sona, Janna and Nami do way more while being similarly squishy. On a side note, why is there only one dude on your team who has tier 2 boots at 24 minutes in?

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    57. He got some tweaks, no real nerfs though.

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    58. Yeah he seems pretty solid right now.

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    59. she roams better mid seeing as she can access top and bot alot easier.. akali is much better suited mid because of her burst potential against squishes where as you'd see alot of tanky bruisers stop

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    60. Kenneth VelezDecember 13, 2014

      Could you put in Yorick Jungle? I've been recently trying it out and minus the whole no hard cc thing for ganking he has a decent clear time, plus if you are smart with your little living deads, you can take basically no damage, the build is a basic Yorick build just with the Stalker Blade or the Trailblazer with the Juggernaut or the Warrior enchantment, depending on whether you want damage or tankyness, personally I prefer Juggernaut because Yoricks passive is already making him take reduced damage (alot of reduced damage with 40%cdr if you get there), now add a bunch of tenacity and even more health to the bulwark!

      Anyway after the jungling item is build, or about halfway through building it because it's a tab expensive, I get a Tear of the goddess it's just plain old normal Yorick from there, good luck with this pick, I've have some fun games with it, however I havent really tried it much in ranked que, because I main top lane, I was just stuck with jungle one game and I really wanted to play Yorick.

      Good luck on the fields of justice!

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    61. I went for the warmogs early because I was rushing health regen and 10% of 2000 still leaves me with more health than 10% of 1000, it was really just something to get me through the laning phase. The item order I wanted to run with this was grab my health and mana regen after my sightstone, so I can finish frost queens claim by mid game, and finish my chalice afterwards. Basically like this: Basic Sightstone->Warmogs->Frost Queen's Claim->Boots of Mobility->Athene's Unholy Grail->Ruby Sightstone->Rabadon's Deathcap

      Basically I wanted health and mana regen for the early-early mid game since base values are normally enough to get you through that and this would let me spam my abilities, but mana is still a huge problem (and health since my heal costs 10% max health). Then I can start buying more AP items to make my heals scale into the mid-late game better, since my nasus and swain have a lot of natural sustain, but vi and ez didnt.


      It was great because Yasuo and Vel'koz HAVE to step into my Starcall range in order to use their skills, so Chalice let me constantly spam it, and Warmogs+Starcall+Chalice kept my mana and health high enough that after every little and big skirmish I could keep harassing from a distance while healing ezreal. If it had gone into lategame, my plan was to build a decent chunk of AP afterwards to make sure I stayed relevant.

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    62. No offense, but you shouldn't really be telling people what to build or lecture on which champs you think is "OP". Not a single person on either team has over 100 CS at 24 minutes in, so you're playing with ~500 MMR kids.. just saying.

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    63. I'll give it a try soon. But I think this game screenshot is not very convincing. Some people already pointed out, I just want to add a few comments:
      - top lane Nasus won easily (why Aatrox built Statik? BoRK against Nasus much better)
      - mid lane Swain stomped Velkoz completely (VK took Exhaust in case of assasins but not very useful against Swain sustain damage)
      - jungler opponent is a failure as well (Vi doesn't even need to gank - by lv10 both top and mid are strong enough to 1v2)
      - bot lane: Yasuo is weak early and against 2 range champs with short CD pokes?

      Probably your opponent team are trying out new champions and even new builds/masteries/runes. It's normal game and pre-season, afterall.

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    64. Like I told the guy before you, do NOT put words in my mouth. I NEVER said she was OP. This was (as I feel like I've said a thousand times already), the most RECENT example I had at the time. I picked up Soraka right after her rework, and I do reasonably well every time I play her. I don't think she should be tier 4, but I don't think she's OP either. Why the fuck does everyone think I'm saying she's a god or something.

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    65. I won't deny it, this is a horrible example, it's just the most recent example I had on hand at the time I posted it. I already noted what their team and my team did wrong, and I've grown a lot in League since this game. I got the idea for a health regen soraka from a friend in Gold III who was playing her there, and he told me it was fairly strong, so I decided I'd work out my own heath regen soraka and as a result I'm pretty pleased with it.

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