Friday, July 29, 2011
Heroes of Newerth Goes Free to Play
Heroes of Newerth, a MOBA game very similar to DotA made by S2 Games has gone free to play. The game originally cost $30USD or $10USD if it was on sale for the whole game. However know their new model is similar to League of Legends that uses microtransactions and is totally free to play. Those that originally bought the game will now be considered Legacy accounts and those free accounts that either purchase goblin coins their form of RP for those familiar with LoL or reach level 5. Overall not bad, but the trip and the amount of matches to getting there should be interesting as it is unknown how long that will take. I guess the MOBA seen is heating up with more and more competition arriving with each passing day/month/year. So for those of you who play(ed) DotA or LoL and been wanting to check out HoN, now is a good time to do so.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Sony Revealed 3D Gaming TV
Sony's ever popular games console may be about to step up even further in desirability with the recently announced arrival of the PlayStation 3D TV. Sony announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo during June 2011 that they will bring the model to market alongside their existing range of 3D TVs in an attempt to take the 3D games market by storm. Sony are planning to use breakthrough technology which allows two players to see individual different game images on screen by simply pressing a button, revolutionising the existing split screen method, and opening up new potential in the ways that competitive games are played.
The out of the blue announcement firmly places 3D gaming as the one source of 3D content that has true potential to place 3D TV at the centre of our home technology needs. Watching images in 3D naturally increases the feeling of immersion, which of course is one of the key attractions of gaming in general - to take you out of this world and into another where you're in control and slap bang in the middle of the action. With video games attempting to deliver a true 3D experience unsuccessfully for many years, and the Nintendo 3DS not quite delivering everything it promised, it very much looks as if it Sony will ensure that their new PlayStation 3D TV takes the pole position in the race for the best new 3D entertainment of 2011.
Sony have stated that the PlayStation 3D TV screen size will be 24 inches and come as part of a bundle that will include various essential accessories such as active shutter 3D glasses, HDMI connector cables to hook up the PS3 to the TV, and a 3D game which first indications suggest will be Resistance 3. The glasses operate on a rechargeable lithium ion battery that according to Sony needs a 45 minute charge to give up to 30 hours playing time, plus just a few minutes charge is expected to provide a few full hours use. With a planned Autumn 2011 release date there is plenty of time for elements of this bundle to change, and it'll be no surprise to see either different or extra games included.
For anyone who's been following the progress of 3D TV technology over the last year or so, the 24 inch display size might be surprising. On first impressions it does seem on the small side given much of the focus on 3D TV has been on building and selling bigger screen models to increase the immersive feeling that's a major part of watching 3D images. But Sony are aiming this innovation at gamers who are used to smaller screens, they might be playing in bedrooms and other small spaces where standard larger 3D TVs are way too big.
At roughly £320 or around $500 the price might just about be set at the right level, though extra pairs of Sony glasses cost between around $50 - $70 as well. Early reports indicate that the picture quality delivered by the 1080p, 24 inch, edge LED lit display is strong, and other specifications of the model include a 5000 to 1 contract ratio, 2 HDMI inputs, and a 176 degree viewing angle for players. This wide viewing angle looks to be a critical element of the TV, allowing players to sit next to each other exactly as they do now to enjoy multiplayer games and yet still get the full 3D effect.
Other features include a headset port, two HDMI ports, one component port, and two speakers. All combined with an ultra thin display. But the ability for players to see different 3D images while playing the same game is of course the jewel in the crown. The technology uses what's known as quad speed frame sequential display technology, and in simple terms it works by combining the glasses with the TV to send the separate 3D images to the different players.
Most major manufacturers, and Sony in particular of course, believe that 3D games will drive the adoption of 3D TVs even higher, and this looks to be the first real effort from a major games manufacturer to try and prove that point. For an experienced gamer the PlayStation 3D TV could become one of the all time must have gaming gadgets. And for those of us who don't class themselves as hardened gamers, then this new development might be the fuel that sets us on the road. There are already over 100 PS3 3D games in circulation and if the PlayStation 3D TV is successful it will be no surprise to see that number increase substantially.
At the expected price of around $500 this option may just encourage anyone who's been sitting on the fence about buying a 3D TV to jump in with both feet. And the potential for the future is outstanding. Imagine when 3D games get to be paired with motion-sensing controls or head tracking technology, we could be facing whole new ways of gaming. Players could manipulate 3D environments with a wave of their hand. Game play and even player level creation could become far more intuitive than ever before. Should the PlayStation 3D TV be as successful as seems likely, it could open up the doorway to even more new and innovative gaming experiences.
It all sounds good, doesn't it? But there are some drawbacks. The major one is that the dual player mode will only work with 3D games that have been specially created to take advantage of it. Clearly that means that all existing games will be incompatible from this perspective, though of course you'll be able to play them as a single player in 3D. Sony will reportedly have around 100 fully compatible games released by the end of the year.
So we'll need to wait and see what further developments take place. But if the idea of the PlayStation 3D TV doesn't grab your imagination there's an alternative way to hook up your PlayStation to a 3D TV with the recently released Sony combination 3D TV/PC. Known as the Vaio All In One, the combo comes with a 24 inch, 1080p HD LCD monitor, plus a built-in Blu-Ray player. Connectivity to a PS3 is via an HDMI port. At a price of around $1400, the All-In-One could be a better option for anyone who wants to combine 3D gaming with their other online activities.
The out of the blue announcement firmly places 3D gaming as the one source of 3D content that has true potential to place 3D TV at the centre of our home technology needs. Watching images in 3D naturally increases the feeling of immersion, which of course is one of the key attractions of gaming in general - to take you out of this world and into another where you're in control and slap bang in the middle of the action. With video games attempting to deliver a true 3D experience unsuccessfully for many years, and the Nintendo 3DS not quite delivering everything it promised, it very much looks as if it Sony will ensure that their new PlayStation 3D TV takes the pole position in the race for the best new 3D entertainment of 2011.
Sony have stated that the PlayStation 3D TV screen size will be 24 inches and come as part of a bundle that will include various essential accessories such as active shutter 3D glasses, HDMI connector cables to hook up the PS3 to the TV, and a 3D game which first indications suggest will be Resistance 3. The glasses operate on a rechargeable lithium ion battery that according to Sony needs a 45 minute charge to give up to 30 hours playing time, plus just a few minutes charge is expected to provide a few full hours use. With a planned Autumn 2011 release date there is plenty of time for elements of this bundle to change, and it'll be no surprise to see either different or extra games included.
For anyone who's been following the progress of 3D TV technology over the last year or so, the 24 inch display size might be surprising. On first impressions it does seem on the small side given much of the focus on 3D TV has been on building and selling bigger screen models to increase the immersive feeling that's a major part of watching 3D images. But Sony are aiming this innovation at gamers who are used to smaller screens, they might be playing in bedrooms and other small spaces where standard larger 3D TVs are way too big.
At roughly £320 or around $500 the price might just about be set at the right level, though extra pairs of Sony glasses cost between around $50 - $70 as well. Early reports indicate that the picture quality delivered by the 1080p, 24 inch, edge LED lit display is strong, and other specifications of the model include a 5000 to 1 contract ratio, 2 HDMI inputs, and a 176 degree viewing angle for players. This wide viewing angle looks to be a critical element of the TV, allowing players to sit next to each other exactly as they do now to enjoy multiplayer games and yet still get the full 3D effect.
Other features include a headset port, two HDMI ports, one component port, and two speakers. All combined with an ultra thin display. But the ability for players to see different 3D images while playing the same game is of course the jewel in the crown. The technology uses what's known as quad speed frame sequential display technology, and in simple terms it works by combining the glasses with the TV to send the separate 3D images to the different players.
Most major manufacturers, and Sony in particular of course, believe that 3D games will drive the adoption of 3D TVs even higher, and this looks to be the first real effort from a major games manufacturer to try and prove that point. For an experienced gamer the PlayStation 3D TV could become one of the all time must have gaming gadgets. And for those of us who don't class themselves as hardened gamers, then this new development might be the fuel that sets us on the road. There are already over 100 PS3 3D games in circulation and if the PlayStation 3D TV is successful it will be no surprise to see that number increase substantially.
At the expected price of around $500 this option may just encourage anyone who's been sitting on the fence about buying a 3D TV to jump in with both feet. And the potential for the future is outstanding. Imagine when 3D games get to be paired with motion-sensing controls or head tracking technology, we could be facing whole new ways of gaming. Players could manipulate 3D environments with a wave of their hand. Game play and even player level creation could become far more intuitive than ever before. Should the PlayStation 3D TV be as successful as seems likely, it could open up the doorway to even more new and innovative gaming experiences.
It all sounds good, doesn't it? But there are some drawbacks. The major one is that the dual player mode will only work with 3D games that have been specially created to take advantage of it. Clearly that means that all existing games will be incompatible from this perspective, though of course you'll be able to play them as a single player in 3D. Sony will reportedly have around 100 fully compatible games released by the end of the year.
So we'll need to wait and see what further developments take place. But if the idea of the PlayStation 3D TV doesn't grab your imagination there's an alternative way to hook up your PlayStation to a 3D TV with the recently released Sony combination 3D TV/PC. Known as the Vaio All In One, the combo comes with a 24 inch, 1080p HD LCD monitor, plus a built-in Blu-Ray player. Connectivity to a PS3 is via an HDMI port. At a price of around $1400, the All-In-One could be a better option for anyone who wants to combine 3D gaming with their other online activities.
Battlefield 3 Classes Revealed
The new classes in Battlefield 3 merges the 7 classes that were available in Battlefield 2. The four classes in Battlefield 3 are going to be support, engineer, recon, and assault. In Battlefield 2 you had a medic class but it was hardly ever used, mainly because you didn't get any additional points for doing your task and the weapons were inadequate to defend yourself. The assault class is now the new medic, and it includes a new feature where you can remove your defibrillator and add a grenade launcher attachment instead. So now you are able to customize each class anyway you want. In previous FPS like Black Ops and Bad Company 2, when you see a player that needs to be resurrected, you can go up and revive the player whether they like it or not. In Battlefield 2 the player had a choice whether if they wanted to be revived or not, which gave them a chance to change class; this feature will be brought back in Battlefield 3. Also the defibrillator will have a longer wait time before you can revive someone again, in Bad Company 2 there were too many people being revived left and right which became really annoying.
The support class will have the ability to give out extra ammo to players who need it, and, like in previous Battlefield games, will have heavier guns like the PKM, which holds more ammo and packs more firepower than a regular assault rifle. They have also included a bipod on these weapons so that when you lay prone you'll have better accuracy when firing.
The engineer class will have the same features in Battlefield 3 like they did in Bad Company 2, anti-tank equipment, and the ability to repair vehicles. Recon will be the new sniper class, which will have team based features on it rather than having players selfishly snipe enemies from afar, but there isn't enough info on this class yet.
Battlefield 3 will include squad leaders like in Battlefield 2, and it will be a 4 man squad. Squad leaders will have the chance to create the squad and the ability to respawn someone at your location. So it is really important for the leader to stay alive and to have your team support you in order to advance through objectives.
Overall they are really making the classes team based so that you work together to accomplish objectives, instead of running around trying to get the most kills. We can expect more features to come as we get closer to the release date.
The support class will have the ability to give out extra ammo to players who need it, and, like in previous Battlefield games, will have heavier guns like the PKM, which holds more ammo and packs more firepower than a regular assault rifle. They have also included a bipod on these weapons so that when you lay prone you'll have better accuracy when firing.
The engineer class will have the same features in Battlefield 3 like they did in Bad Company 2, anti-tank equipment, and the ability to repair vehicles. Recon will be the new sniper class, which will have team based features on it rather than having players selfishly snipe enemies from afar, but there isn't enough info on this class yet.
Battlefield 3 will include squad leaders like in Battlefield 2, and it will be a 4 man squad. Squad leaders will have the chance to create the squad and the ability to respawn someone at your location. So it is really important for the leader to stay alive and to have your team support you in order to advance through objectives.
Overall they are really making the classes team based so that you work together to accomplish objectives, instead of running around trying to get the most kills. We can expect more features to come as we get closer to the release date.
Leona, the Radiant Dawn Guide
It’s that time again folks. Another champion released, which means another guide by yours truly, Enryuu. Leona is Riot Game’s idea of a female tank and quite frankly she does it quite well and meets that role requirement perfectly.
Champion Spotlight:
Abilities/Passive:
 | Sunlight Leona’s damaging spells affect the target with Sunlight for 3.5 seconds. When allied champions deal damage to those targets they consume the Sunlight debuff to deal additional magic damage. Bonus damage is 20/35/50/65/80/95/110/125/140 (upgrades every 2 levels). |
 | Shield of Daybreak Leona uses her shield to perform her next autoattack, dealing bonus magic damage and stunning the target. |
 | Eclipse Leona raises her shield to gain Armor and Magic Resistance. When the duration first ends, if there are nearby enemies she will deal magic damage to them and prolong the duration of the effect. |
 | Zenith Blade Leona projects a solar image of her sword, dealing magic damage to all enemies in a line. When the image fades, the last enemy champion struck will be briefly immobilized and Leona will dash to them. |
 | Solar Flare Leona calls down a beam of solar energy, dealing damage to enemies in an area. Enemies in the center of the area are stunned, while enemies on the outside are slowed. |
These are the runes that I run on Leona. I use Armor Penetration Marks and Quintessences on Leona to help her deal out physical damage as you will essentially be building Leona as a tank with a hint of tanky DPS. Leona’s abilities are lack luster for damage in general so having Armor Penetration over Magic Penetration allows Leona to auto squishies down within the duration of her crowd control. For Seals I use flat Armor and for Glyphs I use flat Magic Resistance. This allows Leona to be tanky early without her W ability at the early levels and even more tanky when you start putting points into Eclipse later on.
Masteries:
This is the mastery set up I run for Leona, which is a 0/21/9 build. This mastery set up is a standard tank mastery set up. I grab everything in the Defensive Tree that could help Leona survive in the lane and towards late game such as the 4% reduced damage talent Tenacity. There is no point in grabbing points in Nimbleness or Dodge as you have no real runes for that and personally I don’t like the RNG of dodge chance. I prefer the flat mitigation I get from armor over dodge chance. In the Utility Tree I grab Greed just to help with gold production on top of your gold per ten items, but if you want you can put that point into Utility Mastery for increased buff duration. Personally I feel this is worthless because Red or Blue buffs should be going on your carries and not you. They are nice to have if you get them from a kill, but in most cases you will be the master of assists.
Summoner Spells:
Flash/Ignite
I run flash and ignite on Leona. Flash is good for escaping as Leona is quite slow so a quick blink for a head start is a nice thing to have. Also Flash is great for helping Leona initiate a fight. Ignite is great for the early laning phase for picking up kills and in general nice to have for the healing debuff it provides.
Skill Order/Priority:
Skill Order 1-6:
E>Q>W>W>W>R
or
E>W>Q>W>W>R
Skill Priority:
R>W>E>Q
You definitely want to max out Eclipse or your W ability first, and then your initiation ability E for catching up to champions. However in the lane leveling up Eclipse early or not is up to you as this depends on who you are fighting against.
Items:
Whether you are soloing top or laning in a duo lane bot, your starting item is the same. Start off with a Regrowth Pendant and 1 Health Potion. This will give you both lane sustainability and will allow you to build it into a Philosopher’s Stone on first recall for your gold income. If possible you will grab both Philosopher’s Stone and Boots, but if not then Philosopher’s Stone definitely is a priority to start your gold per ten income. After buying those you should farm some more and grab Heart of Gold so that you have more passive gold farm coming in. Not to mention you get some extra health and regen with these two items. Afterwards you want to go and rush Sheen and Phage, then turn that into Trinity Force. Trinity Force is your main damage and burst, so as to make you a threat instead of someone that CCs and is then ignorable when spent. Afterwards you want to grab a Chain Vest and Negatron Cloak and start turning those into Force of Nature and Frozen Heart. Turn your Philosopher’s Stone into Shurelya’s Reverie and pick up Banshee’s Veil last for some more magic resist and health. Shurelya’s Reverie is great for helping your team escape and pick up runaways when they are just too fast. This item is great for utility and support as a tank, not only does it give health, but for Leona provides some much needed cooldown reduction. This coupled with Frozen Heart will help her greatly as her abilities are all on fairly long cooldowns. Some other items you could supplement in for health and to turn her into a tanky DPS are Frozen Mallet, Warmog’s Armor and Atmas Impaler.
Laning:
Leona in the lane is best in the solo top lane. She can hold her own here fairly well and this allows her to farm freely and quickly get her items. Leona can pretty much solo carries 1 v 1, but the only person I see her having trouble with is Akali 1 v 1. The burst is just a bit too much even with Eclipse. Leona can even handle 2 v 1 top lane if needed. As for a duo lane, she is definitely capable, but she requires a lane partner that has some form of CC as well or heavy damage. This will allow you to win your lane in duo bot as you can keep the enemies off your tower and maybe even pick up some kills for some much needed gold. This will aid you as you will most likely be giving up most of the farm to your lanemate in the duo lane versus soloing top where all the money is yours. Duo lane bot will slow your build down a bit and make you fairly squishy if things go wrong.
Whether you are soloing or in a duo lane the concepts are the same for Leona. Always initiate with your E ability and make sure that you have your Eclipse charged so that upon a successful, Zenith Blade cast, you can use Shield of Daybreak afterwards and follow up with Eclipse’s detonation effect for more burst damage. This combo is deadly early game to most squishy carry champions and even tanks if they are not careful. Some combinations you want to try besides that is to just harass with E and W to whittle the opposing players’ health pool down. This will not only let you win your lane by making them have to go back and play cautiously but may even net you a kill or assist. When you are laning and have Sheen or Trinity Force, be sure to use your Q or Shield of Daybreak on towers for pushing. Your Q ability applies extra damage to towers and coupled with Sheen or Trinity Force will do even more. Most people will ignore you because in most cases you will seem like you lack damage. But your disruption with CC and your Trinity Force procs, they will think otherwise when you take down their carries. Leona’s burst from a successful combination of all her abilities is quite deadly in a teamfight and in 1 v 1 situations. So be sure to try and land all your abilities otherwise you will just be running around waiting for your cooldowns to come back up because you failed. As for teamfights initiate with your Zenith Blade with your Eclipse charged so as to give you more mitigation. Then, follow up with Shield of Daybreak to stun the enemy you’re on, which is hopefully a carry, and if they are fairly close together use your ultimate Solar Flare to stun and slow for some decent damage. Your job as Leona no matter what is to protect your carries, while disrupting theirs and focusing theirs down. You can easily drop and die as Leona, but that is like any tank when Void Staff or Last Whisper is bought by the enemy carries. However, what matters most is if you did your job and used your abilities effectively to help your team.
Jungling:
Credit goes to Stonewall008 for this jungle guide. I will say in my opinion that Leona should not jungle, but only as a last resort as her damage is quite low and therefore her jungling is extremely slow, also this guide for jungling uses different masteries and runes then what I use for laning.
Conclusion:
Overall, Leona is a great addition to League of Legends and definitely is the female tank that everyone wanted. Leona may seem a bit underpowered due to her low base damage abilities and low AP ratios, but she brings a lot to the table for CC and as a meat shield. So if your looking for a tank that does some mediocre damage but does a lot of CC and can take a lot of punishment, then look no further then Leona, the Radiant Dawn. I hope this guide will help those that are still having trouble with Leona, so have fun on the fields of justice summoners with Leona, the Radiant Dawn the newest edition to Runeterra.
Leona, the Radiant Dawn Review
Leona, the Radiant Dawn is the newest champion to join League of Legends. Leona is the female tank everyone of the LoL community has been waiting for and is Riot Games’ take on a female tank. Now did they hit the mark in creating the female tank everyone was hoping for or did they miss the mark? Well from some player’s perspective they may say they hit the mark while others will say otherwise. My personal opinion and review of Leona simple as a female tank, I believe Riot Games hit the mark with this one. Leona is in fact a tank, she does not deal insane amounts of damage but instead disrupts enemy champions by crowd control abilities and is able to become a meat shield absorbing damage like a tank should.
Leona is capable of providing both a tank and utility to her team by just using her abilities due to her passive. Leona’s passive is Sunlight, which marks the opponent that is his with one of Leona’s abilities and if an ally hit that champion it procs causing that champion to take extra magic damage. This is great for team fights with some of Leona’s AOE abilities as well as her crowd control abilities. Leona’s kit revolves around combos and chain stunning opponents to be an effective tank. Leona is by no means an AOE CC type of tank as her ultimate has a small radius at the center that stuns the opposing champion within. Most of the time you will slow the enemy champion instead of stun them due to the ultimate itself being relatively small but big enough to still be a key ability. Leona is a great tank early on especially with her W ability, Eclipse as it gives her Armor and Magic Resistance. The AOE damage on this ability is nice as well but the resistances you get from this ability is insane making Leona a great tank similar to Rammus with little to no items early on. This allows Leona to be a great initiator in the laning phase whether in a duo lane or in a solo lane. Especially during teamfights, which allows her to continually take a beating for awhile and mitigate a lot of the damage as the armor and magic resistance is quite a large amount. This is a great ability befitting of a tank and this is what really makes Leona shine in comparison to other tanks in the game currently. Her base health and health per level is great as well allowing Leona to grab gold per ten items to make money and allowing her lanemate to grab all the minions for money at little to no cost to her early on.
Leona’s E ability is a great ability in her kit allowing her to act as the tank and initiate fights when in combination with her Q ability that stuns the opponents on next attack. All of Leona’s abilities fit well together in harmony and suit well for how a tank, at least in League of Legends should be. A tank should be able to disrupt and perform crowd control during teamfights and absorb most of the incoming damage. Leona does all this quite well, however as a trade off Leona’s abilities deal very little damage as a tank should. A tank with insane amounts of damage and survivability would be overpowered by far, take for example the recent case of this after the Alistar remake and Alistar being able to be a mage nuker. Just not good balance, while Leona is strictly a tank that deals fairly decent burst damage at the early levels but then fulfills her role well in the late game of being a tank and strictly that. However, due to the strength of Leona’s W ability, Eclipse, Leona is capable of becoming a Bruiser/Tanky DPS, but not nearly as effective as those that are meant to be. Leona has ability power ratios on all her abilities despite them being relative low ratios. This makes Leona in my opinion weak if turned into a damage dealer by some players, but also a very weak mage, but instead a physical damage dealer with a lot of ability power based abilities. This is ironic to some degree, but understandable as Leona wields the power of the sun, therefore magic damage makes sense.
For those that wish to play a champion that is a tank and has gratification in being a disruptor in team fights then I suggest playing and picking up Leona. She is a great addition to the League of Legends roster and is essentially what everyone in the community wanted, a tank. To some however, Leona may seem weak at first due to her low base damage on her abilities. This may cause some to think she is not a great tank in the sense of maintaining threat, since in League of Legends a great way for everyone to focus the tank would be to have them deal enough damage to be a threat. Otherwise, Leona fits the tank role well and is a great addition to the champion roster and like any other champion will be enjoyed by some while others will think otherwise. So try her out and see for yourselves what you think of her.
Yorick, the Gravedigger Guide
Hello everyone! Enryuu here to bring you another League of Legends champion guide. Yorick is a tanky DPS champion and Riot Games’ take on the necromancers archetype. Yorick is a neat mix of caster meets melee tanky dps. However, unlike Rumble who is similar in some regards, Yorick’s abilities scale completely off AD and is a pusher. Yorick is a great champion for lane dominance especially in a solo lane, due to his abilities and lane sustainability. Anyways enough of the chit chat and onto the guide.
Champion Spotlight:
Champion Spotlight of Yorick provided by Phreak of Riot Games.
Abilities/Passive:
 | Unholy Covenant Yorick’s takes 5% reduced damage and his basic attacks deal 5% more damage for each summon that is active. Meanwhile, Yorick’s ghouls have 35% of Yorick’s Attack Damage and Health. |
 | Omen of War Yorick’s next attack will deal bonus physical damage and summon a Spectral Ghoul that deals additional damage and moves faster than Yorick’s other ghouls. While the Spectral Ghoul is alive, Yorick moves faster as well. |
 | Omen of Pestilence Yorick summons a Decaying Ghoul that arrives with a violent explosion, dealing damage and slowing nearby enemies. While the Decaying Ghoul remains alive, nearby enemies continue to be slowed. |
 | Omen of Famine Yorick steals life from his target and summons a Ravenous Ghoul that heals Yorick for the damage it deals. |
 | Omen of Death Yorick conjures a revenant in the image of one of his allies. If his ally dies while its revenant is alive, the revenant sacrifices itself to reanimate them and give them time to enact vengeance. |
These are the runes that I am currently using for Yorick. I run Physical Damage Marks as this allows me to take advantage of Yorick’s early game harassment and makes last hitting easier. All of Yorick’s abilities are magic damage and scale off of attack damage so increasing that earlier makes him that much more deadly. I grab Armor and Magic Resist for Seals and Glyphs so that Yorick is tanky in lane so as to not feel incredibly squishy as well from the enemy’s harass. For Quintessences I use Movement Speed as this helps chase enemies down as well as run away a bit easier with or without Yorick’s Q ability up.
Masteries:
The masteries that I use for Yorick are the standard 21/0/9 build for DPS as runes cover any form of tankiness that is needed for him in the lane for the most part. Also this beefs up his lane harass by grabbing some abilities in the Offensive Tree, as well as, experience gain and sustainability from the Utility Tree.
Summoner Spells:
Flash/Ignite
Flash is a great gap closer and escape tool, making it a necessity on Yorick. Another viable option is Ghost but you already have a built in Ghost with Yorick’s ability Omen of War. Ignite is great for the laning phase as well as the late game for its healing debuff and picking up early game kills. Yorick is all about harassing the opposing player and making them pay for overextending for minion kills during the laning phase. Having ignite on hand makes this even more true by allowing you to pick up some early kills when people think they can go toe to toe with you.
Skill Order/Priority:
Skill Order 1-6:
E>W>E>Q>E>R
or
W>E>E>Q>W>R
The skill order here depends on how you laning phase is progressing. If you are being harassed quite frequently then level up E more or first. Otherwise you can split your skill points between E and W to increase your slow utility if you are not being harassed as much, therefore not requiring much lane sustainability.
Priority:
R>E>W>Q – Lane harass heavy lane
R>W>E>Q – Offensive laning for utilty
Items:
This is the end game item build you should try to shoot for. Start off with a Meki Pendant and 2x Health Potions. This will give you lane sustainability in both mana and in health if you need to use the Health Potions. After recalling the first time you should have enough for Tear of the Goddess and Boots. After that you should farm and use your abilities to get as much extra mana as possible so that on the next recall you can buy Manamune and have some decent attack damage. Next depending on how the game is going and how well you are farming and doing, you should buy Phage and start building Trinity Force otherwise you should grab Negatron Cloak or Chain Vest depending on what is needed more. After that you want to finish up Atmas Impaler or Banshee’s Veil if you need resistances more. However, if you need more health over resistances then rush for Warmog’s in order to farm it up in preparation for Atmas Impaler.
Laning:
During the laning phase as Yorick you want to harass as much as possible. Constantly you should be spamming your E and W abilities on the opposing champion(s). Make sure not to spam too often as you can easily run out of mana using these two abilities. However, you should be using it when the opponent tries to go for a last hit or gets to close to you. This will not only annoy them and push your lane, but you will also deny the opposing champion from being able to get any money unless they are very good at last hitting by the tower. In doing so you have be very careful not to get ganked by buying wards whether you are in a solo lane or duo lane. If you are soloing and have a jungle, solo top lane so you can farm as much as possible and deny the opposing team’s top solo lane. As long as you harass and use your E and W abilities properly, you should be able to either kill that champion depending how smart they are at calculating your damage output or deny them experience and money. Another thing to note when playing Yorick is if they opposing champion wasted their flash then know when to jump on top of that opportunity if they overextend with your W and Q abilities. This will allow you to not only catch up to them with your Q but also keep them slowed with your W so you will get an easy kill. Also if you know that you are going to lose a 1v1 fight then don’t be afraid to put your ultimate on yourself to add another copy of yourself, in order to increase your damage output and secure the kill. When it comes to the late game the best thing to do with Yorick is to either ult yourself and take on people with your ultimate or put it on your carry. This will allow you or your carry to come back if they die and probably kill one or two people. Otherwise, then that for team fights you want to go in and try to take out their squishy champions such as their carries. You want to be constantly on them and make sure your ghouls are constantly up so as to take advantage of your passive. This will allow you to take reduced damage and deal extra damage.
Jungling:
This is how you can jungle as Yorick, this guide is credited to Stonewall008.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, Yorick is a fun champion to play and is a interesting take on the Necromancer archetype. Yorick is great for those players that like to play tanky DPS but also like to be a champion that likes to get into the action. Yorick doesn’t bring a lot of CC to the team but still brings a good amount of utility by being able to deny farm from the opponents he faces in his lane. Therefore, if you like Necromancer in general and enjoy having a champion that is revolved around spamming abilities, then, Yorick is your go to champion.
Kayle, the Judicator - Champion Spotlight
Kayle is undergoing a remake and Riot Games’ Phreak has kindly provided for us a preview and champion preview for Kayle. The rework is a bit interesting as her passive is remade and some her abilities have been remade. Her passive now shreds armor and magic resistance that stacks. Her Reckoning now has a lower damage amplification but now has increased missile speed and flow, her heal is nerfed a bit but the movement speed boost is a bit more now. Her Righteous Fury ability is pretty good now in the fact the splash damage and range is a bit higher but the AP ratio got nerfed as a result. Overall the remake seems interesting, but only time will tell.
Wukong, the Monkey King Gameplay Preview
Riot Games just released a teaser video displaying and announcing his ability kit. Wukong is definitely going to be a fun champion to play, seems like a well done mischievous, tricky monkey that fits the folk lore behind the title of “Monkey King.”
Well hope you all enjoyed the video and look forward to his release and playing as much as I am.
Wukong, the Monkey King Animation and Champion Reveal
The animations and actual champion model for the newest champion to be revealed is Wukong, the Monkey King by Riot Games. So enjoy the teaser video for as long as it stays active on youtube and I hope you’re excited for this champion as much as I am.
Leona, the Radiant Dawn - A New Champion Approaches
Lore:
On the upper slopes of Mount Targon, the warriors of Rakkor live and breathe only for war. However, Targon’s peak is reserved for a special group of Rakkor who answer to a “higher” calling. Members of this group, called the Solari, retire their mantles of war, choosing instead to devote their lives to reverence of the sun. According to legend, the Solari were formed by a warrior who could call the raw might of the sun down upon his enemies in combat. He claimed Mount Targon’s summit, the point on Valoran closest to the sun, for his solar devotion, a tradition which generations of Solari have preserved to this day. Though they maintain their reverence, no other warrior possessed the gifts of the founder – until Leona.
Leona’s parents were traditional Rakkor, both bred for the heat of battle. To them, Leona was a problem child. She was capable of fighting as fiercely as any other – including her childhood friend, Pantheon – but she did not share their zeal for killing. She believed that the true worth of a soldier lay in her ability to defend and protect. When it came time for her Rite of Kor, a ceremony in which two Rakkor teens battle to the death for the right to bear a relic-weapon, Leona refused to fight. For this, the Rakkor leaders ordered her execution, but when they tried to strike the fatal blow, sunlight burst forth, bathing Mount Targon in light. As it faded, Leona stood unharmed and her executioners lay unconscious around her. The Solari immediately claimed Leona, demanding that her sentence be repealed. She donned the golden armor of the Solari and they bestowed upon her the sword and shield passed down from the ancient sun-warrior of legend. The Solari helped Leona focus her abilities, and when she was ready she left to join the League of Legends.
“The sun’s rays reach all of Runeterra, so too must the image of its champion.”
- Leona
Abilities:
Shield of Daybreak – Leona charges her shield with the power of the sun causing her next melee attack to deal additional damage and briefly stun the target.
Eclipse – Leona raises her shield granting her additional Armor and Magic Resistance for 3 seconds. When the effect ends she deals area of effect damage and increases the duration of the defensive bonuses by 3 seconds if she damages an enemy.
Zenith Blade – Leona throws a blade of sunlight that deals damage to all enemies in a line. Leona teleports to the last enemy champion hit by this attack.
Solar Flare – After a brief delay, Leona calls down a beam of solar energy dealing damage and slowing enemies. Enemies in the center of the beam are stunned instead of slowed.
Sunlight (Passive) – Leona’s abilities mark the target with sunlight. Allied champions that damage marked targets deal additional damage and consume the mark.
Looks like the true female tank will soon be upon us! I will be posting a review for both Leona and Yorick after testing both thoroughly after the patch and release of Leona.
Yorick, the Gravedigger Review
The patch has been released and changes have been made to Yorick as he was deemed underpowered by Riot. I will review Yorick now pre-patch and post-patch as I have played him in both instances. Yorick, the Gravedigger is supposed to be Riot Games’ take on a fan favorite, the necromancer. Yorick is a bit unique in being a tanky DPS as he has 2 ranged abilities, but is also a melee champion. Yorick’s abilities are also unique in the fact that upon use, Yorick summons ghouls which are minions that take damage over time. However, unlike minions gain a portion of Yorick’s health and attack damage and prioritize champions over anything else. This makes pushing a bit difficult for Yorick as there is always a chance his minions will cause the tower to target Yorick over the ghouls. This makes the player have to be cautious and aware of what is happening with his ghouls.
| Unholy Covenant Yorick’s takes 5% reduced damage and his basic attacks deal 5% more damage for each summon that is active. Meanwhile, Yorick’s ghouls have 35% of Yorick’s Attack Damage and Health. |
| Omen of War Yorick’s next attack will deal bonus physical damage and summon a Spectral Ghoul that deals additional damage and moves faster than Yorick’s other ghouls. While the Spectral Ghoul is alive, Yorick moves faster as well. |
| Omen of Pestilence Yorick summons a Decaying Ghoul that arrives with a violent explosion, dealing damage and slowing nearby enemies. While the Decaying Ghoul remains alive, nearby enemies continue to be slowed. |
| Omen of Famine Yorick steals life from his target and summons a Ravenous Ghoul that heals Yorick for the damage it deals. |
| Omen of Death Yorick conjures a revenant in the image of one of his allies. If his ally dies while its revenant is alive, the revenant sacrifices itself to reanimate them and give them time to enact vengeance. |
As for Yorick in a duo lane, the mana costs and his ghouls lose their strength and purpose. The ghouls are easily CCed and easily killed when there is another person in the lane. This causes Yorick to become a squishy melee champion that can only harass and poke for minimal damage. This eventually leads to him running out of mana depending on how often he casts as the abilities for ranged harass for Yorick is relatively expensive. Overall pre-patch Yorick felt underwhelming and was a fun concept but it slightly fell flat with the mana costs and the fact his ultimate deteriorated over time similar to his ghouls. For an ultimate this shouldn’t happen as it makes the ultimate not fun to use and a waste of mana as it will never reach its effect as it can be easily killed on top of the deterioration.
Post-patch Yorick feels more like a bruiser as the Necromancer archetype Riot Games was shooting for. Yorick’s abilities still feel like you have to wisely choose when to use his abilities as you put more ranks into it. But, they feel a bit better cost for use wise then pre-patch as before you would run out of mana a bit quicker then needed as you need to juggle your ghouls to make use of your passive. The increase to his mana per level for base stats also help to increase his mana pool despite how small to be able to throw out another spell cast if needed compared to pre-patch. Yorick’s W getting increased range for casting helps for harassing even if it was only by a small amount. The change to ghouls being immune to slows and taking 50% reduced AOE damage helped a lot as well. This allows his ghouls to survive a bit which is the main part of his kit and actually be able to be useful harass on champions. However, to some extent this helped the duo lane greatly for Yorick and jungling, but made his solo laning a bit OP. Yorick can not only deal damage and harass well by poking with his ghouls but sustain very well in lane now. He is by far no immovable object like Warwick or Udyr but definitely very strong in lane. Overall the buffs were necessary but I believe that decreasing the cost of his abilities and increasing his mana per level was a bit unnecessary. One or the other I believe would have been fine for buffs along with the rest. Therefore, Yorick is a good tanky DPS now if not a hair OP.
Overall, a good addition to League of Legends, and a great champion befitting of the Necromancer archetype. If built tanky DPS then he can do his job as a bruiser and go for the carries and definitely take them out, however building him as DPS is also viable but making him fairly fragile. If someone wants to play a Necromancer in League of Legends, Yorick definitely is a champion one should check out as he is a fun champion to play, yet different from the standard Necromancer commonly seen in games.
Orianna, the Lady of Clockwork Guide
Hi all! Enryuu here to bring you another guide for League of Legends and I apologize for the delay of this posting. The guide will revolve around on how to play Orianna, the Lady of Clockwork. Orianna is a support nuke mage. Orianna’s abilities are a bit different from her mage counter parts because all the abilities revolve around her ball. This ball is similar to a pet that you need to keep track of based off location so you can deal damage. This adds for more concentration and intuitive gameplay by making the player aware of his/her positioning to maximize his/her damage output. In this guide I will be explaining how I play Orianna, which is more of a mage nuke instead of as a support as I prefer to deal damage.
Champion Spotlight by Phreak of Riot Games.
Abilities:
 | Clockwork Windup Orianna uses her ball as a focus for her spells and attacks. Orianna’s ball automatically returns to her if she is too far away from it.Orianna’s autoattacks deal additional damage plus 20% of her Ability Power in magic damage. Subsequent attacks against the same target within 4 seconds deal an additional 15% magic damage. This bonus stacks up to 3 times. |
 | Command: Attack Orianna commands her ball to fire toward a target location, dealing magic damage to targets along the way (deals less damage to subsequent targets). Her ball remains at the target location after. |
 | Command: Dissonance Orianna commands the ball to release a pulse of energy, dealing magic damage around it. This leaves a field behind that speeds up allies and slows enemies. |
 | Command: Protect Orianna commands her ball to attach to an allied champion, shielding them and dealing magic damage to any enemies it passes through on the way. Additionally, the ball grants additional Armor and Magic Resist to the champion it is attached to. |
 | Command: Shockwave Orianna commands her ball to unleash a shockwave, dealing magic damage and launching nearby enemies towards the ball after a short delay. |
Runes:
These are the runes I use for Orianna. I take Magic Penetration Marks, Ability Power per Level Seals and Glyphs, 2x Flat Ability Power Quintessences and 1 Magic Penetration Quintessence.
These runes allow for Orianna to deal the most maximum damage possible, but the drawback is being squishy and having poor mana regeneration making you extremely reliant on blue buff or on mana ability power items such as Rod of Ages or Archangel’s Staff.
Masteries:
I build Orianna using standard caster masteries going 9/0/21 grabbing Archaic Knowledge for Magic Penetration in the Offensive Tree and grabbing Utility Mastery in the Utility Tree as well as Blink of An Eye for increased buff duration and reduced cooldown on Flash.
Summoner Spells:
Flash/Ignite
Ghost/Flash is another set up one could use as a squishy caster to allow for more escape potential. However, I feel that Ignite will net you some good early kills whether you are in a duo lane or solo, while your W makes up for not having Ghost as a summoner spell. Flash allows you to pull of some nice escapes as well as some good initiations on champions as well as catching up to them.
Skill Order/Priority:
R>W>Q>E
Level 1-6:
Q>W>W>E>W>R
Items:
These are the end game items that you should have by the end of the game with substitutes being made depending on what you need and the team composition of the opposing team. The first item you should start off with is a Mana Crystal and 2x Health Potions. This will give you some lane sustainability and a bigger mana pool to allow you to cast and harass bit. This will aid you in your farming and is a good item to start into for turning it into Catalyst of the Protector on your first trip back. Grabbing Catalyst of the Protector as soon as possible is great for lane sustainability, which helps further with creep farming and gives Orianna a nice bump in health. Afterwards you should back and grab boots and finish off Rod of Ages as soon as possible so that you can let its passive kick in. Sometimes however it is best to instead go quickly for a Rabadon’s Deathcap and grab a Needlessly Large Rod instead. This allows for a quick AP boost and increases your burst damage significantly, but that all depends on how you game is progressing. After Rod of Ages or Rabadon’s Deathcap buy a Void Staff then begin finishing off Zhonya’s Hourglass and Lichbane in whichever order is necessary. Lichbane synchronizes greatly with Orianna’s passive due to the proc effect of Lich Bane when you cast your spells. Another good item in place of Lichbane is Will of the Ancients for Spell Vamp and Ability Power for yourself and your team. Ionian Boots of Lucidity are the best boots in my opinion for Orianna because she requires cooldown reduction to be effective since this allows her Q ability to be on a 3-4seconds cooldown if you are cooldown reduction capped.
Laning Phase:
During the laning phase Orianna should be harassing every now and then with her Q due to it being a low mana cost ability. This should be used to harass minions as well as the champions if possible. This will help Orianna with last hitting with her passive a bit. It takes a bit to get the hang of Orianna’s auto attacks on top of her passive’s damage for last hitting minions for farming. Therefore, I believe you should practice this to maximize your farming capabilities early game as it gets extremely easy to clear creep waves at higher levels with her W ability maxed out. The best way to harass in lane is to first Q to move the ball into position and then staying relatively close so as to move your ball in short distances so the enemy champion can’t easily dodge the ball. This will allow you to hit them with your W as it has a fairly short radius. If you are getting harassed don’t forget to use your E ability to bring the ball back to you for damage if possible, otherwise use it for shielding yourself and giving yourself bonus armor and magic resist so the damage being dealt to you is minimizes as much as possible. Always remember this as Orianna is a very squishy champion like any other caster especially with this guide and rune page. Keep an eye on your mana as you harass and strategically plan whether you should go all in or just harass in lane for kills. Orianna can deal a surprising amount of burst so once you learn how much damage you can deal you will be grabbing kills easily and escaping with your life intact in no time. Towards end game the best combination I found to use Orianna’s abilities in is to initiate with Q then use her ultimate for a quick CC and burst damage followed up with her W for more burst damage. Then, if there is anybody in line with your ball for damage from your E ability use that for even more damage. In most cases you should have landed yourself a kill on a squishy AD Carry or AP Carry or brought most of them to low health for your team to finish off. This guide pertains to you grabbing a solo lane so you become the AP Carry for your team as well so be sure to call for a solo lane. If you are in the side lane this laning phase portion doesn’t change much but you may need to play a bit more defensive and supportive.
Conclusion:
Overall Orianna is a high skilled cap champion that takes a little while to get used to. But once you get the hang of her you will be enjoying her mechanics and dealing damage like an AP Carry and aiding your teammates to victory.
League of Legends Champion Splash Art
Some possible League of Legends skins for champions. One has already been confirmed which is Viking Tryndamere. These others are speculated leaks. So take these with a grain of salt.
Viking Tryndamere
Commando Lux
Executioner Mundo
Yorick, the Gravedigger A New Champion Approaches
Lore:
The work of gravediggers is essential amongst the living, but invaluable in the Shadow Isles. There are many shades of death there, and each is embraced rather than feared or reviled. One can only ascend from one state to the next with the magical aid of a skilled professional. At the end of the first Rune War, Yorick Mori made his living as a gravedigger. His family owned and maintained the Final Rest Memorial, one of the oldest cemeteries in Valoran. The shovel he employed for his work had been passed down for generations. Each gravedigger taught his son that this shovel was imbued with the spirit of every forefather, and that those spirits would protect him during the long lonely nights amongst the tombstones. To his eternal regret, Yorick died without an heir, bringing the proud Mori line to a close. His body was interred with his shovel in the family mausoleum, and the Final Rest Memorial soon fell to ruin. Death, however, was not the end Yorick had expected.
Yorick emerged on the haunted shores of the Shadow Isles – not quite dead, definitely not alive – still clutching his beloved shovel. He soon learned that with it he could act as a ferryman for the Isles’ undead denizens, helping them climb death’s many-tiered ladder. This proved a curse, as a gravedigger must “bury his quota” before he too can ascend, or so the legend goes. No one knows what “his quota” is. Yorick dug tirelessly, waiting in vain for the day when he would be freed of his burden. As decades turned to centuries, the shame of his failures came to a head. He returned to Valoran to find his corpse, convinced that salvation might be buried with it. When he arrived, no trace remained of either the mausoleum or the memorial. Hope nearly lost, he discovered the League of Legends, and there saw an opportunity to immortalize the family name he allowed to be forgotten ages ago.
“Die first, then we’ll talk.” -Yorick
Abilities:
Omen of War: Yorick’s next attack will deal bonus physical damage and summon a Spectral Ghoul that deals additional damage and moves faster than Yorick’s other ghouls. While the Spectral Ghoul is alive, Yorick moves faster as well.
Omen of Pestilence: Yorick summons a Decaying Ghoul that arrives with a violent explosion, dealing damage and slowing nearby enemies. While the Decaying Ghoul remains alive, nearby enemies continue to be slowed.
Omen of Famine: Yorick steals life from his target and summons a Ravenous Ghoul that heals Yorick for the damage it deals.
Omen of Death (Ultimate): Yorick conjures a revenant in the image of one of his allies. If his ally dies while its revenant is alive, the revenant sacrifices itself to reanimate them and give them time to enact vengeance.
Unholy Covenant (Passive): Yorick’s attacks deal more damage for each summon that is active. Meanwhile, Yorick’s ghouls deal some percent of Yorick’s Attack Damage and have some percent of his total health.
Orianna, the Lady of Clockwork Review
Hello all, I apologize for the delayed post but I’m here to bring you another review of the newest champion released by Riot Games. Orianna, the Lady of Clockwork previously known as Orianna, the Clockwork Girl, however some legal issues arose there so the naming had to be changed a bit. Orianna is a magic casting support/nuke champion. She is capable of bringing a lot of support as well as nuke potential of a mage depending on how she is built. Orianna is a bit different from your typical mage and adds a bit of a new gameplay experience and mechanic to the game. Orianna’s abilities revolve around her “ball” as it is named, which isn’t a pet by any means. The ball is like another champion that can’t be targeted in a sense or a pet you have to keep an eye on. Wherever the ball is, is where Orianna’s abilities will occur at, which adds a bit more to your gameplay experience by making you pay attention a bit more to not only your own positioning but the ball as well. This adds a bit more of a intuitive gameplay experience and one where you have to focus a bit more then normal.
The fact you have to pay attention more allows Orianna to be a fun and unique champion despite some of the abilities being similar to other current abilties or a small new spin on older ones. Overall it makes Orianna different from a typical support and mage as its not all about point and click with her. Orianna also can be considered a range DPS of sorts for a mage as her passive allows her auto attack damage to scale a bit higher then a typical mage. Her passive is effected by ability power and the amount of times you auto attack the same target within a certain time period. This allows her to auto attack and synchronize well with a hybrid build path or a lich bane/sheen build path opening up unique builds to take advantage of certain abilities and her passive that comes with her kit. Orianna’s first skill allows her to move her ball which thankfully is on a relatively low cooldown once you are rank the skill up allowing for almost constant movement of the ball. Orianna’s second ability allows her to have a speed boost and slow area of effect, which takes Nasus’s Wither ability and makes it used here for enemies and the opposite in a speed boost for allies. This is one of the abilities that I mentioned earlier that takes a small spin on older abilities and makes them a bit different. This ability however has a small radius and I believe it could be enlarged a bit but I don’t know for sure how balanced that would make it or not. The radius seems awfully small for it though, I believe the range is a mere 200 radius if that. Overall the ability is not bad and I like the design of the bubble that is created to show the area of effect of the skill because it is shaped similar to a cog in a clock. Orianna’s third ability allows her to recall her ball to herself or put it on an ally giving them increased armor and magic resist while on them and a shield for a brief period of time. Shields seems to go hand in hand with support as it seems like no new champions are being given any kind of heals lately as it adds to passivity of gameplay. This move is pretty neat as it requires positioning to be useful but the shield and travel time of the ball can make or break a save, which makes Orianna a little less of a desired shield support champion as compared to those that have instance shields like Morgana, Janna, and Karma. Orianna’s ultimate is the most unique ability that adds a bit of flavor to the game and takes a new spin from other similar abilities. This ability is similar to a gravitational pull in a sense where Orianna can pull enemies towards the ball similar to a suction effect. This is a nice AOE ability and takes a spin on older abilities such as Blitzcrank’s grab and Urgot’s ultimate as a pull and swap effect.
Overall, Orianna is a champion that is both fun as support and as a mage. Riot adds a bit of a twist to the gameplay of this champion by adding in the ball mechanic and how it revolves around her skills. Orianna is still new and there are some bugs retaining to her gameplay, but overall its not an unpleasant experience by far and is a champion support and mage players should give a try. Orianna is also a good champion for new players to learn in order to grasp a better understanding of positioning for other champions that require it to be effective. So all in all nice job Riot on a well done champion that is fun despite using old mechanics and could still use some minor tweaks at least from a player’s perspective but is nonetheless fun and enjoyable to play.
Vayne, the Night Hunter Guide
Hello folks. It’s that time again, another champion was released by Riot Games, which means another guide by yours truly. The newest champion is Vayne, the Night Hunter who is a ranged physical damage carry/assassin. Vayne isn’t the most unique champion designed by Riot, but her playstyle and ability kit make her pretty fun and unique in her own way. Vayne is a little bit different from the typical physical damage ranged carry champion as she has true damage in one of her abilities which really helps define her role in the current meta game as a tank destroyer. Anyways enough banter and onto the guide.
Champion Spotlight by Phreak:
Abilities:
 | Night Hunter Vayne ruthlessly hunts evil-doers. She gains 40 Movement Speed when moving toward nearby enemy champions. |
 | Tumble Vayne tumbles, maneuvering to carefully place her next shot. Her next attack deals bonus damage. |
 | Silver Bolts Vayne tips her bolts with a rare metal, toxic to evil things. The third consecutive attack or ability against the same target deals a percentage of the target’s maximum Health as bonus true damage. (Max: 200 damage vs. Monsters) |
 | Condemn Vayne draws a heavy crossbow from her back, and fires a huge bolt at her target, dealing damage and knocking them back. If they collide with terrain, they are impaled, dealing bonus damage and stunning them. |
 | Final Hour Readying herself for an epic confrontation, Vayne gains increased Attack Damage, stealth during Tumble, and quadruple the bonus Movement Speed from Night Hunter. |
Rune set 1.
This is my first rune set that I sometimes use, which consists of Armor Penetration Marks and Quintessences, Dodge Seals, and flat Magic Resist Glyphs. Vayne is a physical damage dealer, so having more base armor penetration is the best way to do more damage, having dodge runes allows some survivability along with the flat magic resist rues. You are however pretty frail with this rune set, but it’s all a matter of preference of starting items and whether you want to do damage or survive.
Rune set 2.
This is my second rune set that I use sometimes depending on how I feel and team comp. This one is a bit more on the safer and tankier side of things. The runes are 9 Armor Penetration Marks, 9 Flat Armor Seals, 9 Flat Magic Resist Glyphs, 1 Armor Penetration Quintessence and 2 Flat Health Quintessences. The health gives you a bit more of a health pool to work with early game in order to harass due to Vayne’s aggressive playstyle. This comes at the sacrifice of more damage by removing 2 Armor Penetration Quintessences. Also you get a bit more reliable mitigation and sustainability by having armor runes over dodge runes. This removed the RNG aspect of dodge runes since in masteries that I will get to next you don’t go into the defensive tree. But you can go tankier and put 9 points in the defensive tree and grabbing Strength of Spirit if you like playing a less fragile ranged champion.
Masteries:
These are the typical masteries I use when playing Vayne. I go 21/0/9 grabbing a point in improved ghost since it is one of my summoner spells. The main difference here from my mastery build and the mastery page that Phreak uses in the champion spotlight is that I don’t put a point in Archaic Knowledge for the extra magic penetration. This is mainly because I don’t build Madred’s Bloodrazor like Phreak did in the champion spotlight which deals magic damage so having a point here would benefit you more if you went that build route. I however concentrate more on damage and critical strike damage in general and play Vayne like a typical AD Carry would be played item wise. I have tried both mastery versions and I prefer this build over Phreak’s as all of Vayne’s abilities physical damage so magic penetration isn’t really needed. I would go into more detail as to why I choose which point in each mastery but these masteries are pretty much standard on AD carry champions so not really going to go into much detail as these are used commonly.
Items:
These are the two end game item builds I use typically for Vayne. Usually my game ends before I get to this point, but the damage output you can get from these two builds are phenomenal.
The first build focuses on abusing Tumble and your other abilities to proc Trinity Force. This gives you a little extra burst damage and allows you to push the towers effectively by taking chunks out with the Trinity Force proc. This build also gives you a bit of extra movement speed to help you in catching up and running away from your opponents. The other nice thing about this build is that you get a slow from Trinity Force which allows you to continually pummel your opponents and take advantage of your W ability and the true damage behind it. This also gives you a bit more utility by giving you a slow to allow you to stick on your opponents but allow your teammates to catch up to that opponents as well. This build also offers Vayne some extra survivability by giving health and a slow from Trinity Force which is a trade off by giving up a bit more damage output.
The second build focuses more around a carry build and allows you to take more advantage of your W ability and the true damage proc. This build focuses on heavy damage and gives you a bit less survivability but gives you extreme damage and carry potential. This build solely focuses on obliterating and heavily crushing your targets with damage. You will probably have somewhere around 300+ damage with this build allowing for your critical strikes to literally 2-4shot squishy targets with no armor mitigation. The attack speed will help you in that regard as well as proc your true damage. However you lose out on utility for straight up damage numbers in this build.
In the end these two builds can decimate opponents as long as your teammates are there to support you as Vayne is more of a 1v1 type champion so don’t expect any crazy AOE damage from her. Vayne is all about decimating and destroying that single opponents you set your eyes on first then moving onto the next one until you get that ace or you die.
Skill Order/Priority:
Offensive:
R>Q>W>E>
1-6 Skill Order:
Q>W>Q>E>Q>R
or
Q>W>E>Q>Q>R
Defensive/Utility:
R>Q>E>W
1-6 Skill Order:
Q>E>Q>W>Q>R
These are the skill orders I use depending on how I feel like playing that game and how the game is going. Typically I use the more offensive approach and grab a point in each skill by 3 and then going the offensive skill order approach maxing Q then W then E.
Summoner Spells:
For summoner spells I use Ghost and Flash.
The main reason is because Flash gives you an escape mechanism since you don’t really have any. Ghost is mainly for another escape mechanism since your passive isn’t very useful outside of chasing opponents. Ghost therefore is useful for helping you catch up to those opponents with ghost on top of your passive or to help you get away.
Alternative summoner spells you could use in place of Ghost is Exhaust/Ignite/Cleanse.
Laning:
For laning Vayne makes a viable solo lane champion as well as someone who can handle duo lane fairly well. I believe she is best fit for a solo lane so it allows you to get the level advantage and gives you ganking potential with a higher success rate.
At the start of the game depending on who you are fighting you can start off with either Boots and 3 Health Potions or a Doran’s Blade. Doran’s Blade gives you health and some extra damage for harassing purposes. However you sacrifice lane sustainability because you will have to return if you get harassed too much. Lately I have preferred starting with Boots and 3 Health Potions so you can stay in your lane and farm a bit longer.
While in the lane you should be focusing on constantly harassing your opponent when you can with Tumble and playing as aggressive as possible with the least amount of damage taken as a result. This should all be done while you are farming and getting last hits as well. You should therefore have either more or be on par with your opponent’s creep score for minion kills in farm. Don’t forget that Tumble resets your attack timer as well so you should be auto attacking your opponent then Tumble then auto attack again to proc your W. Another trick to use is to deny your opponents by harassing and pushing them further back from experience range with your E skill. Definitely whether you are laning or in a teamfight be sure to time your attacks and skills to deal the most damage possible on top of your W. This will make your presence known and instill fear into your enemies.
After farming for awhile depending on what your laning opponent is looking like and how you are doing in the lane, on first return you should be able to buy a couple of Doran’s Blades or Boots and another Doran’s Blade. With any extra gold buy some Health Potions and some Wards.
Afterwards start saving up to buy a BF Sword, or a Sheen depending on which route of the build you are going. Another option would be to buy a Zeal as the increased attack speed as well as movement speed should help you out in the lane. Afterwards finish off your BF Sword and turn it into an Infinity Edge or you should be buying more of the components for Trinity Force. If you are going the offensive build by mid game you should have Infinity Edge, Berserker’s Greaves or Mercury Treads, Zeal or Phantom Dancer and be on the road to building Bloodthirster and the remaining items as you see fit. The defensive build at this point in mid game you should have Trinity Force, Infinity Edge and one of the two boots mentioned previously then building up Phantom Dancer and the other items accordingly.
When it comes to the end game and teamfights be prepared to stand in the back and wait for your turn to go in. You are a weak and fragile champion so remember that and remember to focus one opponent down at a time from afar. Use your Tumble to dodge and to run away. Use it for damage as you kite, but don’t ever use Tumble to roll into the enemy and start a fight. Your ultimate and Tumble is a great combo to use as it gives you both extra attack damage but a stealth on your Tumble.
Conclusion:
Overall Vayne is a great champion, a little unoriginal in ability concept but a good carry champion in general. Vayne is a bit unique and makes a great option to choose over other carry champions for her true damage in the current tanky DPS metagame. Vayne however is extremely fragile despite the crazy damage output she has. Therefore be sure that when you pick her to play aggressive but also safe so as to minimize your damage intake while maximizing your damage output. If you’ve played a physical range carry champion or have played Ashe and are fairly good with her or any other, then Vayne should be no new concept to you. Vayne is all about position and remembering you are the carry but are also fragile. This will allow you to play her the most effective way that I’ve seen and experienced despite the builds being expensive. But, damage and destruction never came cheap, so have fun and hunt the noobs while you still can because Vayne with this build and guide you’ll always be on the hunt for more blood.
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