League of Legends Season 4 - 2014 NA LCS Spring Power Rankings - New Kings?

So the new season started and hopefully everyone's had the pleasure to at least watch a few matches.  Today what we'll be going over is the first impressions of team's strengths and predictions for how they will place in this 2014 Spring Split and also the individual best performers/suprisers!  So without further adieu here we go!


8.  XDG
So to start it off we have the last place in our Power Rankings.  XDG has been playing the weakest in all of the teams in regards to Shock & Awe, Team Fighting Potential, and Lane Rotations.  They picked up a new Support Bloodwater and he definitely gave their Bot lane a boost from last season.  He hasn't quite made the impact needed to really carry the team to higher success yet but hopefully they will get their cohesion soon to do so.  Zuna has switched over from the ADC role to the jungle and it has proved some mixed results.  He has been pretty on point in some games but overall has been failing to really capitalize well on rotations and counter-ganks.  Next issue with this team has been Mancloud their mid-laner.  Maybe it's from the change of jungler's so that they haven't gotten their synergy down just yet but he has been pretty subpar this season.  From sporting some of the highest KDA and kills last season to a very poor performance this year thus far, he has alot to prove for himself and his team.  I expect him to improve his numbers as the season goes along but these issues are definitely the core parts for why this team has been playing poorly this Split.




7.  CLG
The team known for their "potential" has yet to quite find it yet.  Maybe when Dexter gets back and they go to their main roster that will change but I don't quite see it yet.  I see the same general gameplay that they have kept from last season.  I do think that Aphromoo is a nice pick up for their team, having the ADC mindset and really just knowing what an ADC needs/wants from their support will definitely help speed up the Bot lane synergies more quickly.  Individually this team has some great and stellar players, but when it's all put together for team play, they just don't quite have it yet.  Another sign of this team that I've been seeing is their lack of control of the game when things go unfavorably for them.  If you happened to see the TSM vs CLG match up this past week, one thing I've definitely noticed was their inability to crawl back anything from playing behind and how Hotshot really played poorly once he fell behind i.e: blowing both summoners AND ultimate when he was definitely dead for sure.  Hopefully this team can reach their "potential" and put their pieces together but as long as they can't fully capitalize on mistakes and timing, they won't improve their rankings for a bit.


6.  EG 
The CLG.eu team that is now playing in the states.  With the loss of Froggen and Wickd I feel this team kind of downgraded a bit.  But teams aren't all about having the Michael Jordan's and Lebron James in the team, so maybe they're onto something that we don't quite see yet.  As of yet, it hasn't quite showed and so far this season they haven't pulled out the big W's just yet, especially considering one of them was from the lackluster XDG.  Their new Midlaner Pobelter is known to be very inconsistent and can make some great plays here and there, but he's yet to prove that he can go toe to toe to the likes of the other top Midlaners like Bjergson and Shiphtur.  Innox also has alot to prove with his LCS season, currently ranking in the lower end of the LCS KDA, he needs to improve those numbers and increase his contribution to the team.  If not he can be looking to be cut out from this team later on.  This team's bot lane has been in my opinion the consistent ones so far and even pulling out a wild card Soraka + Urgot combo bot AND getting the win that game with that!  As long as Pobelter can continue to play well you can expect this team to improve their rankings throughout the season.


5.  Coast
After dominating the Challenger scene they have yet to find that dominance in the LCS starting off with a 2-4 record.  I wouldn't be too scared about rooting for this team because they definitely have the pieces to be a top 4 team.  I think their Midlaner Shiphtur is top notch and is capable of carrying this team on their shoulders.  Their top laner Zionspartan has also been playing pretty notably as well with some impressive Nasus play.  This team's weakness easily comes from their botlane.  WizFujiiN in my very honest opinion, has been performing like crap.  He is sporting I think the lowest KDA of the League and has been really just weight for the rest of their members to pick up.  I've seen in multiple games where they lack in Bot lane and it just puts even heavier pressure onto the Middle/Top laners to put the Bot lane on their backs and pull through.  Once this team can improve their bot game they will see improvements against the higher caliber teams, but until then, they will be plagued to pick up more wins.


4.  Curse 
Who's this team now?  So over the break Curse has gone through some major roster changes.  From last season you only see Voyboy and Cop still with this team, which are definitely great pieces to keep.  Their newer additions I think are actually an overall upgrade from last season.  The only thing so far is getting their team work down so that their team fights will improve.  Voyboy is still needing to improve his mid champion pool experience but he is definitely capable of doing so.  You can always count on Cop to just not feed and always contribute.  He is sporting the highest KDA right now with Meteos and you just know that he will perform well.  He isn't exactly the flashiest player but he always seems to pull his weight.  I can see this team maybe improving to the third spot but I don't quite see them pulling out the #1 #2 rankings until they can prove to take out the other top contenders on these Power Rankings.


3.  Cloud 9
I will call this out here just because I think the #2 team will surprise many others just like me.  It was a close call but I'm going with my gut here.  This team does very well on rotations and focusing high on objectives.  One thing that I can't seem to break though is that they win from gold advantages and just beating up on teams once they have a solid advantage.  I know this is pretty much HOW you win but I just don't really see them as a super flashy team that individually destroy every other matchup.  Objectively they are a super strong team and know how to win/close out games, but to spice things up I'm going to rank them as #3.  One thing about this team is that they are very consistent and it's very possible that they will pull out a #1 spot this season as long as people can't stop their objective control that propels them a huge advantage over others.  I wouldn't be surprised if this team won this Spring Split.


2.  Dignitas 
Talk about the Dark Horse.  This team is that to me.  They have been on a huge spree lately and I feel that they isn't just a short term spurt of energy.  This team has the keys to success with Scarra playing in a season where Assassin's aren't as favored and going more to the caster/mages that he plays so well.  This team's bot lane has been pretty phenominal as well.  Imaqtpie has been pretty stellar and quite literally has been doing some heavy carrying.  His calculations on his potential and decision making has been so spot on and when anyone plays with that kind of confidence and accuracy, expect them to power through these matchups.  The rest of the team is very versatile and I see this team being able to pull wins against the #3 and even the #1 of this round of Power Rankings.

1. TSM
To wrap up these power rankings we have the #1 team of this list.  Last season they played well but I feel they were stunted by Reginald.  Nothing wrong with that, its just so hard to manage and promote your company/business AND still play at the very top level of competition.  The addition of Bjergson to the team is probably the best decision that they could've made for this team and have Regi focus full time on coaching and managing.  It doesn't hurt that Bjergson is also a stellar player as well.  They say that you're only as strong as your weakest link and since that link has been repaired you will see this team skyrocket in power.  This team has been just on point with their rotations and play making ability that I don't see any other spot for this team just yet.  The only other team that I'm worried for is their ability to close games out against Cloud 9 especially since their only loss so far is from them.  With some adjustments I can confidently say that the next time they play it will be much closer, but I expect a win from TSM.  This team has everything it needs now to be the best team in North America and I expect that from this roster.  Dyrus is always consistent, Wildturtle is just the best ADC in NA, Xspecial can carry, Bjergson annihilates, and the General is always their for his comrades.  So it is pretty easy to say for me that TSM rounds out as the #1 in this update of the Power Rankings of the 2014 NA LCS Spring Split!

Let me know what you guys of the rankings and who you all believe will take the top spots.

Top Tier List For All Roles - Top Jungle Mid ADC Support

I'm going to be giving my personal take of the top tier champions in each role.  Each role will have a Tier 1 and Tier 2.  Tier 1 meaning the best, top notch, with Tier 2 meaning very strong.  Anything below that I won't be going over as I don't think they currently give any extra reason to write about them.  So we'll start off with the top lane.

Tier 1 Top Laners in 3.14:

Shyvana - Naturally tanky, farms super easily and quickly, mixed damage so hard to itemize against her, good split pusher to draw in lots of attention, gap closer and speed.

Nasus - Late game god status if allowed to farm, both super tanky and super strong DPS, build path is very easy, if he picks up any kills by roaming on using TP to counter gank/gank he can snowball hugely.

Renekton - Great lane bully, great AD scaling so doesn't need to build much dmg to do lots of dmg, very safe laner with stuns, escapes, and ultimate that gives health/dmg.

Jax - Snowball king, once rolling it's hard to stop a fed Jax.  Little weaker early game that transitions into a hyper carry late game.

Tier 2 Top Laners in 3.14:

Singed - After getting a couple small items, he can be a huge nuissance to deal with being hard to kill with his tankiness, plus hard to catch and never easy to chase.  If fed any kills he can become a huge disruption for team fights.

Riven - Safe early, known as one of the best First Blood champions in the game.  Has arguably the best lvl 1 all in of any champ.  Generally can get 50%+ of someone's health bar at level 1 very easily and upon reaching level 2 getting an early First Blood and snowballing victory from there.

Wukong - Super strong lvl 2 all in, can be tanky while still building damage, great initiator and with gap closers/escapes can be a big team fight disruptor.


Tier 1 Junglers in 3.14:

Shyvana - Clear's jungle super fast, farm farm farm to victory.  Weak ganks but can just counter jungle and clear her own jungle before the enemy notices she cleared their camps.  Becomes a threat because outlevels your jungler and gets big with lots of gold income.  Her ganks rely on other teammates CC to make it more successful, or if the enemy is well out of position.

Olaf - Hard champ to balance, but in the right hands where he doesn't miss many axes, his ganks can be devastating.  He has good clear speeds, has sustain, and true damage.  Oh and I forgot, he can't be CC'd while his ultimate is up.  He's amazing for diving the back line and dealing significant damage especially since whoever he's on is usually not getting away.

Evelynn - Queen of the Ganks right now with how vision wards have changed.  She can sneak around pretty much undetected 90% of the game making small psychological decisions in your favor.  You can never be sure if an Eve is near you so you could constantly be thinking I probably shouldn't over extend for this kill because she might be near, letting those advantages you build goto waste.

Sejuani - Strong clear speeds, but her ganks and initiations can be super brutal.  The fact that she can initiate from such a large distance can strike fear into many opponents.  From literally an entire screen away, thinking you're safe, to realize now you're stunned with an entire enemy team closing in to punch in your face, she can be brutal to go against.  With gap closers, good solid damage, and a stun ultimate, she's a beast to compete with.


Tier 2 Junglers in 3.14

Rammus - A Rammus has had good success this patch.  One with increased gold to get to his godly armor status more quickly, to alot of the burst type champions that are out now.  He provides amazing disruption to carries that need to just get in and out of your line quickly.  His taunt never seems to be down and he can actually pull out some rough damage once his core items are set.  Plus how many times have you seen the rolling ball come at you knowing you are not getting away and these are your last few seconds of life?

Jarvan - One of the best junglers because of how strong his ganks are.  Simply landing his Flag Combo into his snare is almost always a secured kill unless you blow some major cooldowns.  He simply forces you to tango with him and if you're caught within his vicinity you will either fight the Will of Demacia or go down swinging.

Amumu - Has really strong clear speeds once his items get going.  His team fight presence is strong especially with a fight changing ultimate.  He provides constant pressure with his aoe damage and if rolling, he can single handedly win team fights.  He completely relies on landing his Bandage Toss on the enemies though, if he is off that game without landing them, then you are lucky the mummy is not on his A game.

Tier 1 Mid Laners in 3.14

Kassadin - Pretty much a broken champion.  He's behind in your lane?  Doesn't matter, he can roam and he'll pick up a double kill bot.  From there he'll snowball and then proceed to kill you afterwards.  Last patch was actually a buff for Kassadin surprisingly and he has only gotten stronger.  Silence is such a strong CC that is often overlooked.  Have you tried to play Riven or Zed while trying to kill a Kassadin?  It can be super rough, and once you're out of CD's, he'll come chasing after you too.  He's pretty much impossible to gank past level 6 and there's no running from him either.

Ziggs - Super bully, great sieging, and man picking up those kills when you're half way across the map can be hilarious.  The major suit that fits him well with this patch is sieging well, he can constantly harass you under your tower forcing you to back and allowing his team to take your tower down along with it.  He has low CD's on all of his main abilities to constantly keep people in check.  Plus with a good Ziggs player, he can be hard to catch with his snares for you and him being able to jump away even over walls.

Tier 2 Mid Laners in 3.14

Brand - He actually pumps out alot of damage that people don't really notice and he can set up some great plays with his stun combo.  Also just the shear amount of aoe damage he's able to pull off in team fights swings fights to his favor.  Have you had his ult bounce between your duo and yourself?  If he's anyway ahead he will obliterate you instantly.  Can be tricky though since he relies on some skillshots to get his combo off but if he's on target, you'll be burnt to a crisp.

Morgana - People might not see Morgana being that strong but a well played one I see is so formidable.  Her shield blocking CC and magic damage makes most middle match ups much easier to handle than say another mage.  Also providing that shield to support your other carries or front line can be so clutch.  A good Morgana and a decent one has such a wide spread of versatality but when she's well played, she is for one, hard to get away from, and two such a clutch champion with making plays.

Tier 1 ADC's in 3.14

Sivir - The top dog of win rates right now with this patch, there's no reason why Sivir is not instantly the top tier ADC this patch.  Boasting the win rate she's at with the pick rate, it's easy to see why though.  Her kit is so good now, especially her ultimate, a free disengage to an amazing engagement.  There's not much that needs to be said about her, she's probably in line for some nerfs coming up.

Lucian - Burst damage ADC king if you ask me.  When he can Q W with auto weaves in between and take out half your health within those 3 seconds, it's no wonder why he's so strong now.  He's mobile, hard to catch, bursty as hell, and works amazing on objectives.  Sivir and Lucian are the only goto ADC's to go for right now, everyone else is trash.

Tier 2 ADC's in 3.14

Jinx - Probably the only ADC that comes near the top dogs at the moment.  She can siege well with her minigun Q and can stay that extra second or two to make sure it goes down utilising her passive to run the hell away.  She has really solid damage so dueling is not really an issue with her especially if she lands her W on a target.  It'll just mainly come down to who's ahead or not in the bot lane.  She can pick up kills and assists with her Global Execute though so she can catch up just like that!

Draven - Really good trading early game and if he's ever ahead, he's a wrecking ball to take out.  He'll bust out kills before you're able to take him down if you don't stop him early enough.  His trading potential will get out of hand if he ever gets a double kill bot with the enemy team not picking up anything.  From behind though he doesn't offer much of a threat considering he relies on snowballing and being ahead since he doesn't really bring much else to the table except maybe a few lucky snipes with his ultimate.

Varus - Varus stays relevant because of his % based damage he can do, sniping from long range, and an amazing initation tool.  Catching someone out with his ultimate is pretty much a guaranteed kill because it gives people more than enough time to take out a target.  Especially if a team is grouped up, that's where Varus can shine dealing massive damage to multiple targets on top of picking off targets that are trying to escape the fray.

Caitlyn - Will pretty much always be relevant because of her natural long range, if she pushes you out of lane and doesn't die, there's not much you can do about it.  She's great at sieging and keeping you from getting CS safely.  Caitlyn can have an easy time canceling out the other ADC if you give her the opportunity to do so.  Sadly though with the rise of the very tanky supports nowadays, she doesn't fare as well because she doesn't do well in All-In situations and relies on poking and playing it safe.  As long as Leona/Taric/Thresh are popular and used against her, she won't be as successful.

Tier 1 Supports in 3.14

Taric - Taric is just so good right now because he brings all the tools out.  More armor for your team? Check, sustain? Check, Stun/Peeling? Check, More damage? Check.  He is just naturally super tanky and can actually solo champions super easy once he gets a few items.  His only problems seem to be Annie and Fiddlesticks but besides that, he is a better pick if you're going for tanky supports such as Leona.

Leona - Leona is an initiating/peeling monster.  She allows your team to set up kills super easy and once ahead she is so hard to take down with her natural tankiness.  With the increased gold flow she can actually be a huge front line for your team and being able to safely dive with free defensive stats, it's no wonder why having an extra real front line helps her team win so well.

Thresh - Thresh has always been great but now with the increased gold flow he can fulfill his true purpose.  Being a disruptive support that can take a beating as well.  He does well with tanky items and peeling or initiating for his team.  Without the gold income he was already good enough with iniation and his lantern, but now with the added tankiness, he is one tough cookie to crack.

Annie - She will one shot your carries, pretty much enough said.  Her initiation is super scary and she is best played offensively.  She's not that great from behind because she can be squishy but when she's ahead she will go toe to toe with your AP carry no joke, no lies.

Tier 2 Supports in 3.14

Morgana - Morgana is great because so much of what is popular now has alot of CC.  Her black shield helps with preventing your teammates from getting caught and of course the magic damage absorb is helpful.  Her ultimate is kinda similar to say like a Zyra, where if people want to dive your team, you can punish them for it.  And on top of that, for initiation she will spread the enemy team like the Red Sea.  When she gets her Zhonya's she's hard to deal with with all of the tools she brings to fights.

Fiddlesticks - That annoying ass scare crow... not a whole lot needs to be said with this guy.  He's so good against assassins and all in types of champions with his foreverfear and foreversilence.  If you get initated by a Fiddlesticks chances are you or your teammate will be food for the crows.


Well that's my list of top tier champions in this patch so far.  Hope you enjoyed it!  If you have any comments let us know what you think is strong this patch?  Or even who needs to be buffed or brought in line with the others!  Until next time, thank you all!

My Little Break - End of Season Pushing

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to let you know I'll be getting back to writing again.  With the end of the season and me wanting to push the ranks hard I was pretty much grinding every spare moment I had to a higher rating.  So for the results for Season 3, being my first season started and queueing up ranked a few months ago, I hit Platinum III.  Wasn't too bad.  I was hoping to get Diamond or even Plat 1 but on the last night I got demoted to Plat 4 and had to get back to 3.  I had a pretty bad string of games that I think only won about 2 out of 12 games so that just put me really behind.  Things happen though!

Hopefully you are all enjoying the off-season as much as I am.  The games are definitely more relaxed and more chilled now that the season is over and to be honest, people are much less anal about the games.  I haven't had the pleasure of playing that much since the season ended but I'm looking to get more practice in, maybe a couple games a day to keep a sharp mind on things.  I actually had a period of time where I didn't play for just 2 days and I felt weird playing again.  It was hard to CS, the range of the champion felt off, everything.  I guess that's how it feels when you're grinding like crazy for a week and then you take a little break haha!

But this will be a short one today.  Hopefully all your ranked games went well.  You can let me know how your experiences were for Season 3, some highlights or what you achieved.  Until next time guys, see you soon!

Oh here's my LoLKing for reference: http://www.lolking.net/summoner/na/38281967

Chapter 1 Bot Lane - Best ADC for Ranked Solo Queue

Hello everyone, this will be part of a series of Articles that I will be writing about relating to all the Lanes and Positions in League of Legends.  The first chapter is about the Bot lane and more specifically the ADC's.  Later on I'll move throughout the other lanes to give a little insight about strengths, tips, and when to choose your laners.  So without further ado, here we go!

So you're thinking of which ADC Marksmen to go with and you want one that is overall the strongest pick for your team.  One thing I can tell you is to play within your comfort zone and don't attempt to play a champ for the first time in a Ranked game.  Not only will you likely not play as well but you'll also be bringing down 4 other people if you don't get it within the small time window of a match.  Besides from that though, practicing certain champs makes decisions smooth and second nature.  For me, I used to hate playing Caitlyn.  I thought the playstyle was too simple and there wasn't a good skill cap with her... but when I kept trying her out again, I found all the little things that you're able to pull off with her... like the E->Q Combo but also doing it from different angles... which leads into a quick E->R Combo which I've started to do to quickly get out of Line of Sight of a certain enemy to snipe down my main target.  

Here is my list of champs that I feel are strong ADC/Marksmen right now, what they bring to the table and how they match up with your team comps, and also with practice will bring you good results.


Caitlyn 
Pros - Strong pusher/sieger, safe lane bully and ability to poke, very safe farming/fighting with her range and overall toolkit, hard to escape her especially with her ultimate.  

Cons - Inability to carry hard or really catch up if playing from behind, ult not that usable if enemies charge in on you, lower DPS than many other popular ADC's with the lack of a steroid so she relies on her range and poke before going all in.  

Caitlyn is a very popular pick with today's matchups mainly because of her very good range and relative good early farming/bully status.  Her base range is the highest of all ADC's and when utilized properly(which it will be in most higher levels of play) she can be a huge nuissance to play against in lane.  She adds in protection for her lane with traps and has a great disengage tool with her Yordle Snap Trap [ E ].  Her Piltover Peacemaker [ Q ] has a 1300 range and a relatively low mana cost which allows her to constantly poke hard in her lanes and forces her enemies to cower in fear of getting hurt more.  

My recommendations to use her are actually in many situations.  If you're a first pick ADC then there's almost no wrong in ever picking her first.  She doesn't necessarily have any real counters so that's why she's so safe.  She's strong against many of the very popular picks today like Ezreal, Corki, and Vayne so you can definitely use her skillset against those champs.  

Tips - Her traps grant temporary vision use it for checking bushes.  Her traps grant true vision on the target so if a ward is near them with this debuff, you can kill the wards.  Fight in and out or bushes to increase your Headshot [ Passive ] up after and make it harder to hit you.  Use your 90 Caliber Net [ E ] to jump through thin walls like Dragon/Baron walls and also to help chase.  

Ezreal 
Pros - Good Poker, very safe champ because of short CD "Flash", passive % Attack Speed steroid when you land your abilities, Global Ultimate.

Cons - Once caught he is in trouble, must land abilities to deal good damage, all of his abilities are skill shots so if you miss them your influence on the game diminishes.  



Ezreal has always had high popularity because of how safe of a carry he is and because of how versatile he is.  He can be ran as an AP champion that has good poke and burst outside of being a physical damage dealer.  His Mystic Shot [ Q ] has a range of 1100 and a very low mana cost which allows you to constantly poke on targets or comfortably use it to secure your CS.  He is also a hard champion to dive onto because of his innate ability to escape with his Arcane Shift [ E ] being a built in "Flash" on a very short cooldown.  

My recommendations on using Ezreal would be if your team doesn't have that much peels for you or if you're facing a strong all in team.  He's also a safe choice against Thresh/Blitz because when timed properly you can use your Arcane Shift [ E ] to avoid both of their hooks.  He doesn't necessarily counter any other ADC's really but when used properly and when you land most of your [ Q ] 's you will definitely be able to poke out most of your opposition.  Your hardest opponents will be between Graves, Draven, and Caitlyn so unless you're confident in your skill shots, be wary of this match up.  Since Ezreal has very good burst and poke, he pairs well with poke supports like Zyra, Sona, and Thresh.  

Tips - Starting a team fight with your Ultimate gives you a quick 50% Attack Speed boost to ramp up your damage very quickly.  Your Arcane Shift [ E ] is an auto attack reset.  Use your Essence Flux [ W ] to give attack speed boosts to your teammates in team fights and tower sieges.  Use your [ Q ] to check bushes, you will see a passive buff gained by you if you hit a target.  


Jinx 
Pros - High DPS with her [ Q ] passive increasing her Basic Attack speed up to 130% at Rank 5, strong poke with [ W ] with an amazing built in slow, great siege potential, can have up to 700 basic range,  Global execute [ R ] .  

Cons - No escapes so relies on good team peeling and her [ E ] to get target's off her, assassins like Fizz and Zed see her as fish food, once caught she isn't really getting out.  


Jinx is the newest champion to the League of Legends lineup and she has been extremely popular because of her all around toolkit.  She has the ability to poke, chase, set up traps, and execute people around the map.  Her Zap! [ W ] has an amazing 1500 range which sets up for some amazing long range poke but it's a little harder to land considering it hits the first target in it's way and shows a line before it starts to shoot.  It does make for a great way to check bushes since it grants true sight as well.  

My recommendations on when to choose Jinx are when you have a team that has the ability to peel for you.  Without any escape, once a Fizz or Zed gets in range of you, you will most likely be deleted from the game unless you're just that far ahead.  She works well against the ever popular Caitlyn and pairs well with supports that can help you set up kills like Thresh and Leona.  A good combo is when those supports land their stuns, you place your traps down to root them longer, then Zap! [ W ] them to keep them snared for as long as possible.  Early on she's weaker against the higher burst or more all in champs like Corki, Ezreal, and Vayne, but after some items you can definitely go toe to toe with any of them except for maybe Vayne if you're on equal footing.  

Tips - Follow up your team with your [ E ] to lock down targets for kills.  Her [ R ] can be used to snipe Dragons/Barons, you just need to use it to hit a champion and the splash damage can potentially steal it.  Her [ W ] and [ E ] are great ways to check bushes.  


Corki 
Pros - Very strong early burst damage with AA [ Q ] / + AA combo, passive true damage that also allows for easier early CS, pokes well at 6+, best user of Trinity Force since he's able to refresh the Spellblade buff, hard to itemize against his damage since he does similar physical and magical damage.  

Cons - Relies pretty heavily on landing his abilities to deal his large potential damage, long cooldown his his escape Valkyrie [ W ], if he needs to kite targets off him his Gatling Gun [ E ] gets rendered pretty useless for an armor shred, need to be careful about using Missle Barrage [ R ] charges before fights since he will need them for team fights to keep up the Sheen procs.

Corki regained his popularity with his recent mana cost buffs but mainly with the Trinity Force changes.  These were just enough to bring him back in line in terms of strength compared to the other common ADC's used lately.  Having great siege and poke potential, it's no wonder why he's such an easy candidate to choose.  

I would recommend picking Corki with a stun/displacement support since it allows him to line up his burst and damage much more easily.  Supports in this genre would include Leona and Thresh.  He does have the ability to work with many other supports like Zyra and Sona since he can poke very well with them.  Corki also boasts a very strong midgame so he is a good pick vs say a Tristana who is known for having one of the weakest mid games but you will need to take advantage of this before a Tristana is able to rack up kills and the items that allow her to be a huge terror late game.  Corki doesn't really have a hard counter but I'd say a Caitlyn can be tough if you get bullied out early.  

Tips - Only use your [ W ] offensively if you're winning the team fight for sure, it has too long of a cooldown to be used again as an escape within that fight.  Receiving Blue buff reduces the Cooldown and reload time of his [ R ] so he benefits greatly from both Red and Blue.  

Vayne 
Pros - God like late game damage, % true damage!, amazing chaser, great duelist, high outplay potential, great kiting/self peeling capability, great scaling from mid game forward.

Cons - Weaker early game with high reliability on auto attacks, needs to hit her power spikes in order to give a good fight back, many popular current ADC's can bully her early on, relies on getting at least 3 attacks off in a row on a target to do considerable damage.

Vayne had a huge surge of popularity once Draven got a nerf and it is to no ones surprise considering her kit.  She has a Steroid in her Tumble [ Q ] and Final Hour [ R ] , % based true damage, and a stun if aimed properly.  She can also be a pest earlier on with her built in invisibility in her [ R ] when most people can't afford early stealth detection items.  Another thing that makes her so strong in skirmishes is that she's already such a strong duelist, that you usually need a numbers advantage to safely take down a Vayne.  

I enjoy picking Vayne against High HP team comps.  If the opposing team has a very tanky top laner and a tanky jungler, I look for times when I can choose Vayne.  She's a risky first pick champion because there are plenty of ways to counter her and most formidable teams will look to shut you down all game and not allow you to reach your late game status.  If Caitlyn is open I'd recommend to not choose Vayne unless you're very confident in your other laners doing well and allow you to catch up later in the game.  Vayne can work with quite a few supports as well, my favorite probably being Thresh to really help you set up those kills.  If you're against a Caitlyn, then depending on their support, you may want a sustain duo buddy.  

Tips - If mana is not an issue, doing a quick AA -> Tumble/AA -> Condemn combo will get a silver bolts proc off and do considerable damage in a trade where they can't retaliate very well against.  You can Tumble [ Q ] out of Jarvan's ult, Anivia's wall, and through a line of minions that are blocking you. 


Twitch 
Pros - Great scaling into late game, amazing aoe damage with his Ultimate, stealth to sneak up on people!, enjoys extended duels since Expunge [ E ] at 6 stacks does ridiculous damage. 

Cons - Countered by pinks and oracles since he needs stealth to position well into fights, weak to assassins since he has no escape, nerfed his early game recently so needs a few levels to be a real bully.

I feel that Twitch is one of those sleeper champions.  He isn't picked as much anymore but he is such a strong champion.  Even though his most recent nerf toned down his early level bully capability, he still ends up being the same just after a few levels.  He shines in skirmishes and team fights when multiple targets are grouped together.  Popping your ult at the right time is probably one of your most important decisions to make in the match since you can single handedly take down an entire team yourself.  His Spray and Pray [ R ] also triggers all your on hit abilities so your passive poison stacks will be on everyone to Expunge [ E ] on.  

Twitch is my goto choice when I see an enemy Vayne or Ezreal on the opposite team.  As long as I have sufficient support/peeling from my team then I confidently will choose Twitch.  He's weaker against assassination teams that can get the jump on you and take you out so if you see your mid line up not being favorable against that Fizz or Zed, you may want to opt for a different ADC.  Twitch pairs really well with a poke suport like a Sona/Zyra and also works great with Thresh/Leona. 

Tips - His poison passive lasts for 6 seconds, so look to get an auto attack then you can back off, throw your [ W ] down and hit as many auto attacks as you like then Expunge [ E ] for some huge damage.  Twitch isn't as much to play if you have an Eve on your team so the enemy carries alot of pink wards :(.  Your [ R ] gives you massive range where you can take down a tower without it being able to hit you back.  You can also use your [ R ] to hit both Nexus towers at once when you line them up.  



So there is my list of the best ADC's to use for solo queue.  If you have other opinions let me know!  Follow for my next articles to come up about the other lanes!

NACL & More S4 Changes - New League of Legends Updates

NACL

Some of you may not have heard but there's currently a new Challenger league called the North American Challenger league.  Teams are invited to play in an 8 - week season to play for a total prize pool of $35,000 which would split up like this for the teams:

1st -  $10,250
2nd - $6,250
3rd/4th - $4,500
5th/6th - $2,750
7th-10th - $1,000

Here is the current breakdown of the conferences:

Elder Lizard Conference
1.	Team Coast				10-0
2.	Team Curse				7-2
3.	COGnitive Gaming				3-7
4.	Velocity eSports				2-8
5.	Infinite Odds				2-10

Ancient Golem Conference
1.	compLexity Gaming				9-2
2.	Napkins in Disguise				5-3
3.	Curse Academy				4-5
4.	To Be Determined				4-6
5.	Gold Gaming LA				4-7

Source

Currently Team Coast and Complexity are showing the most promise thus far going 10-0 and 9-2 respectively with honestly no signs of slowing down.  With these two just recently having their match up, it looks like Coast is swimming through the competition so far.  

The next match will be between Velocity Esports (VES) vs compLexity Gaming (COL) on 10/28/2013 @ 5 PM PST.  You can check out their streams at Twitch or on Azubu .

You can find more information on the NACL @ NACL Gamepedia and @ NACL Home Site


Season 4 Changes - 

So there's another set of changes coming to Season 4 and with much anticipation, it is about supports!  Finally supports are getting the love they need by increasing their gold income and to be honest, really being an actual 5th player on the team, not just your ward/oracle bot.  Xelnath posted on reddit with an overview of whats to come here reddit post link.

To give you a TLDR and point out the most important notes here is what's to come:
- Largely increased gold income for players that don't last hit ie Supports
- Bonus XP for Junglers and Laners that fall behind
- Capped warding for players (so it's not 99% up to the support to provide vision)
- Trinkets! (which will provide vision in 3 varied ways)
- Improved masteries to share gold in lane(targetted at supports)
- Better GP/5 items that more match the flow of games for supports
- Assists that will give you more gold as you keep racking up more assists vs kills!

On top of all of these changes to optimize the support playstyle, they will be reworking alot of the support abilities since they have been tuned to be useful without a major gold income.  Things like more speed with Nami, more AD with Janna's shield are the first ideas to come out.  This will definitely create more diversity on the Rift and we can be excited to see what special niches your favorite supports will fill out!

Some supports that I see that will be exceedingly powerful unless they change their ratios and abilities around?

1.  Leona - She is already pretty beastly with everything she brings to the table.  After a little bit of levels to her W and maybe 1 defensive item, she is a mad peeling machine that becomes a formidable off-tank as well.  Adding real gold income into that and build some real items?  Woo.. you're gonna have a tough time getting the "Radiant Dawn" off ya.

2.  Janna - Have you faced a decent Janna in ARAM?  The amount her shield absorbs when maxed and with AP items is absurd... add in real Cooldown Reduction and some AP.. the ADC Marksmen that you thought you were blowing up is actually going to live through your burst AND some.  She's already amazing at peeling, but then the super shields on top of that?  If you're against her you will have a super rough time.

3.  Taric - Yes, good ol' Taric.  Our favorite Gem Knight who has fallen out of flavor will definitely come back swinging with a big punch.  If you haven't faced a properly played Taric then you're lucky.  He is actually alot scarier than most people give him credit for.  He brings alot of buffs that are very strong to team fights that is almost as good as having the Baron Buff.  Heals, stuns, armor reduction on enemies, bonus power to team... without the proper tuning I guarantee you he will be a wrecking force that is one, really freaking tanky, and two a great true support.


So these are some of the changes coming to Season 4, what do you think of the changes?

League of Legends - PBE Updates!

In case you haven't been keeping up to date on the upcoming changes, no problem!  Here is the newest in changes that are coming to the PBE and possibly soon to live!

Also things that are highlighted as green can be seen as a buff, things highlighted in red as a nerf, and things in blue are about the same, just retuned.

Ahri

Fox-Fire [ W ]
- Now costs 50/50/50/50/50 mana decreased from 60/60/60/60/60
- Enemies hit by multiple fox-fires now take 30% damage from each additional fox-fire beyond the first decreased from 50%

Charm [ E ]
- Added to the tooltip: "Orb of Deception's true damage is also increased by this effect."
- Added to the tooltip: "Enemies hit by Charm take 20% more magic damage from Ahri for 4 seconds."
- Now costs 85 mana decreased from 90

Spirit Rush [ R ]

- Now deals 70/110/150 damage increased from 70/105/140

- Damage now scales with 0.3 increased from 0.25












Corki

Missle Barrage [ R ] 
- Now deals 100/180/260 damage decreased from 120/190/260
- Cooldown is increased to 2/2/2 from 1.2/1.2/1.2 seconds

Fizz

Seastone Trident [ W ]
- Scaling of additional magic damage on hit decreased to 0.15*AP from 0.35*AP

Heimerdinger

-Base Mana Regen per 5 seconds is now 6 reduced from 7
-Base Damage is now 53 increased from 49.24

-Base Damage now scales with 2.7 reduced from 3

-Base Mana now scales with 40 reduced from 65

-Base Armor is now 10 increased from 7

-Base Health Regen per 5 seconds is now 0 reduced from 4.5

-Base Health Regen per 5 seconds now scales with 0.6 increased from 0.55

-Base Mana Regen per 5 seconds is now 0.6 reduced from 0.65

-Tips - Added: 'Spreading out Hextech Micro-Rockets leads to more reliable damage and more efficiency against multiple targets,but focusing it creates the biggest impact.'

Techmaturgical Repair Bots [ Passive ]
- Heimerdinger gives nearby allied H-28G turrets and Champions increased health Regeneration

H-28G Evolution Turret [ Q ] 

- Can hold 1/1/2/2/3 Kit(s) at once increased from 1/1/2/2/2
- Deals 12/22/29/36/42 (+0.125*AP) magic damage each attack

Hextech Micro-Rockets [ W ]  

- Rocket damage now scales with 0.45 reduced from 0.55

- Champions and Monsters hit by more than one rocket take 20/20/20/20/20% magic damage

- Max rocket damage added - 108/162/216/270/324

- Now costs 70/80/90/100/110 Mana decreased from 65/85/105/125/145

- Range is now 1525 increased from 1000

- Cooldown is now 11/11/11/11/11 increased from 10/10/10/10/10

CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade [ E ]  

- Slows their Movement Speed by 35/35/35/35/35% 

- Slow duration is now 2/2/2/2/2 seconds changed from 1/1.5/2/2.5/3

- Stun duration is now 1.25/1.25/1.25/1.25/1.25 seconds 

- Now costs 85/85/85/85/85 Mana changed from 80/90/100/110/120

- Range is specified to be 970 

- Cooldown is now 18/16/14/12/10 increased from 13/12/11/10/9

UPGRADE!!! [ R ]

- H-28Q Apex Turret: Beam now deals 225/300/375 increased from 200/250/300
- H-28Q Apex Turret: Now scales with 0.8 decreased from 1

- Hextech Rocket Swarm: Each rocket now deals 130/180/225 damage 

- Hextech Rocket Swarm: Champions and Monsters hit by multiple rockets take reduced damage, max 500/690/865
- CH-3X Lightning Grenade: damage dealt now specified to be 150/200/250

- Now costs 100/100/100 Mana increased from 90/90/90

- Cooldown is now 100/85/70 changed from 120/105/90

Kassadin

- Base Magic Resist is now 30 decreased from 31.25

- Base magic Resist no longer scales with levels

Null Sphere [ Q ]

- Now deals 80/115/150/185/220 magic damage decreased from 80/130/180/230/280

- Now silences the target for 1.5/1.8/2/2.3/2.5 seconds changed from 1/1.4/1.8/2.2/2.6

Riftwalk [ R ] 

- Now deals 80/105/130 Damage increased from 70/100/130

- Now scales by +0.6*AP decreased from +0.8*AP

- Tooltip now says: 'Additionally, each subsequent Riftwalk within the next 8 seconds costs 100 additional Mana and deals 50/55/60 (+0.1*AP) additional damage, stacks up to 10 times.'

- Added to the tooltip: "If Kassadin hits an enemy champion with Riftwalk, it refunds 50% of the cost."

Kennen

Mark of the Storm [ Passive ]
- Now lasts 6.25 increased from 5 seconds
- Stun's duration is now specified to be 1 second

Lighting Rush [ E] 
- Movement speed now increases by 335 changed from 100% of his base movement speed

Lee Sin

Tempest/Cripple [ E ] 
- Range is now 425 increased from 350














Leona

Solar Flare [ R ]
- Now costs 100/100/100 mana decreased from 100/150/200













Lux

Final Spark [ R ]
- Range is now 3340 previously stated 0













Master Yi

Meditate [ W ] 
- Now costs 50 mana decreased from 50/65/80/95/110

Morgana

- Base range now 450 increased from 425

Tormented Soil [ W ]
- Damage taken by enemies on the cursed ground is now 23/36/49/62/75 increased from 20/32.5/45/57.5/70












Shen

Shadow Dash [ E ]
- Range is now 600 increased from 575










Shyvana

Flame Breath [ E ] 
- Basic attacks to debuffed targets are now capped at 100 against monsters

Sivir

- Base damage now scales with 3 increased from 2.9
- Base attack speed is now .658 increased from .625
- Attack speed gained per level is now 1.6% increased from 1%

- Magic rating is now 1 decreased from 2

- Difficulty rating is now 3 decreased from 5

Ricochet [ W ] 

- Tooltip now says "Sivir's next 3/3/3/3/3 basic attacks bounce to nearby targets, dealing physical damage to the first target and (60/65/70/75/80% of total Attack Damage) physical damage to each subsequent target."

- Added to the tooltip "Only the first target is affected by on-hit effects. Each target may only be hit once by each Ricochet."

- Cooldown is now 9/8/7/6/5 increased from 7/6/5/4/3

- Mana cost is 40 decreased from 50

Spell Shield [ E ]

- Mana regain is now 60/75/90/105/120 decreased from 150/150/150/150/150

- No longer has a mana cost

On the Hunt [ R ] 

- Now has a Passive "Sivir gains 40/60/80% Attack speed while Ricochet is active."

- Active: Sivir rallies her allies for 10/10/10 seconds, granting all nearby allies an initial 60/60/60% Movement Speed bonus that reduces to 20/20/20% after 4/4/4 seconds

- No longer has a mana cost

- Cooldown is now 100/80/60 decreased from 100/90/80













Skarner

- Base Attack speed is being reduced by 1%

Crystal Slash [ Q ]

- Mana cost is being reduced from 20/22/24/26/28 down to 16/18/20/22/24

- The slow is being moved to Fracture

- When target is hit, it applies an attack speed buff for 6 seconds that stacks up to 3 times 4/5/6/7/8

Exoskeleton [ W ]

- Attack speed bonus is removed

- Cooldown being lowered from 18 seconds to 14 seconds

- Max movespeed being increased from 15/17/19/21/23 to 24/28/32/36/40 and ramps up over 3 seconds

- Duration will remain at 6 seconds

- Shield value being increased from 70/115/160/205/250 to 75/125/175/225/280

- Shield AP ratio being increased from 0.6 to 0.8

Fracture [ E ]

- Mana cost reduced from 50/55/60/65/70 to 30/35/40/45/50

- Heal portion removed

- Targets hit are slowed by 30/35/40/45/50% for 2.5 seconds

- Missle range increased from 800 to 1000

- Missle width reduced from 120 to 90

Impale [ R ]

- Now roots targeted champion during the windup animation

- Now works more consistently

Soraka

Wish [ R ] 
- Now costs 100/100/100 mana decreased from 100/175/200














Syndra

Unleashed Power [ R ]
- Added to the tooltip : "Unleashed power manipulates the three Dark Spheres orbiting Syndra, in addition to Dark Spheres previously created."
- Minimum total damage is now 270/405/540 (+0.6*AP)













Tryndamere

Spinning Slash [ E ]
- Cooldown on crit is reduced to 1 second decreased from 2 seconds
- Added to the tooltip: "This effect is doubled against champions."












Viktor

Chaos Storm [ R ] 
- Now costs 100/100/100 mana decreased from 125/175/225

Xerath

Ascended Form [ Passive ]

- Tooltip now states "Xerath feeds on arcane power, making him increasingly resilient to physical harm. He converts 15% of his Ability Power into Armor."

- Mana regeneration is now 40(+5 per level) changed from 12% base mana

Arcanopulse [ Q ] 

- Now fires a long-range beam, without Xerath charging prior to it

- No longer says "Charging the spell increases its range"

Locus of Power [ W ] 

- Renamed back to Locus of Power from Ascension

- No longer says "Stationary artillery mode that shoots four times before going on cooldown"

- Tooltip now says "Xerath immobilizes himself near a source of magical power, increasing the range of all his spells and causing his magic damage to ignore 16/22/28/34/40% of his target's Magic Resist.  Lasts 8/8/8/8/8 seconds or until toggled off. When the effect ends, Xerath's Movement Speed is increased by 35/35/35/35/35% for 2/2/2/2/2 seconds"

- No longer has a mana cost

- Range now states "0"

- Cooldown is now 20/16/12/8/4

Stasis Orb [ E ]

- Now deals 85/120/155/190/225 damage decreased from 100/140/180/220/260

- Scaling is back to +0.45*AP decreased from +0.6*AP

- Stun duration changed to "between 1 and 2 seconds" changed from 1/1.3/1.5/1.8/2 seconds

- Added to the tooltip: "The longer Stasis Orb travels the longer it's stun lasts."

- Range is increased to 1050 from 1000

- Cooldown is now 15/13.5/12/10.5/9 changed from 13/12.5/12/11.5/11

Ascension [ R ] 

- Arcane Barrage now deals 125/175/225 damage decreased from 150/200/250

Zed

Death Mark [ R ]

- The shadow now lasts for 6/6/6 seconds

- Now spawns a Living Shadow at his starting location, instead of behind the enemy champion

- Added to the tooltip: "Reactivating Death Mark during this time will cause Zed to switch positions with the Living Shadow created by Death Mark."












Zyra

Deadly Bloom [ Q ]
- Range is now 800 decreased from 825

Rampant Growth [ W ] 
-  Now grants 2/4/6/8/10% Cooldown Reduction decreased from 4/8/12/16/20%
- Range is now 850 increased from 825

There will also be new skins and some visual upgrades on some champs like Haunting Zyra, a Sivir Visual upgrade, Sultan Gankplank, Officer Vi and such!  Here are some pics of what's coming!  Oh yes, new Turret Range Indicators!

Haunting Zyra

Sultan Gankplank Splash

Officer Vi Model

New Tower Range Indicators

Don't forget there are some Legacy Skins that will be available this Harrowing the list is:

- Mundo Mundo

- Pumpkinhead Fiddlesticks

- Kitty Cat Katarina

- Zombie Ryze

- Lollipoppy

- Nosferatu Vladimir

- FrakenTibbers Annie

- Definitely Not Blitzcrank

- Bewitching Nidalee

- Haunting Nocturne

- Headless Hecarim

- Haunted Maokai

- Underworld Twisted Fate

- Headmistress Fiora

- Pirate Ryze

- Zombie Brand

Don't miss your chance to get these skins!  You can check out youtube by typing in these names and a Spotlight will show up like Kitty Cat Katarina .  Also there will be mystery gifting when you gift a mystery gift, your purchase unlocks a random skin for a champion yur friend owns!  This includes legendary or ultimate skins!

If I missed some things let me know!  Also what do you guys think of the new changes?