Good character for a total newb

[HaemishM]

I bought Irelia on sale this weekend, having only played her once or twice before. Just tried her out at lunch. HOLY SHIT. Early game, she can do some really cool things. Mid-game I got absolutely shut the fuck down by a Yi that I'd fed a bit and a Gangplank and Evlynn that someone ELSE had fed the shit out of. We ended up losing because half of our team was 3-5 levels below theirs and they stopped farming and started losing badly in coordinated team fights. I'm not sure I understand why people can't grasp the concept of "I'm 2-3 levels below the guy I'm trying to 1v1 or the entire gaggle of fuckers that are melting my face. I should probably go farm."

[Rasix]

Irelia is great once she gets that second point in W.  Safe pick top.  Just get farmed and you'll do some work.  

You should absolutely dominate Yi.  If he chooses to alpha strike you, he'll be luck to leave with half his health.  Of course once he gets his ult, he'll be using that every cool down to run away from you.

edit: where's the next sale, Riot? Lazy fuckers.

[HaemishM]

That happened a good bit early. He'd alpha strike in, I'd hit him with E, then Q, then W as he runs away. Unfortunately, my lane partner Teemo got killed a few times in addition to the death I ate at Yi's hands, and Yi just got superfed really quickly. He went wriggle's early and was able to take all my hits and heal up mid-game. By late game, he was just face-melting.

[Rasix]

Your E has a little bit of range to it, so you can actually use it while chasing.  Start the autos, W, he starts  to run, E, he gets a little distance.. Q.  Phage might be a good item after your wriggles. 

Irelia really needs top to herself.  Needs a decent amount of farm.

[HaemishM]

Ahhh, I see, I didn't get wriggles first. I went doran's blade, then merc treads, triforce.

[Rasix]

Start cloth 5 v AD.  Boot 3 against AP or when you know you're going against a heavy CC jungler.  300-350 gold is cheap, so you can always take an early back if you need one of the others.

If against AD:

Boots (maybe even an early tabi), Wriggles

AP:

Rush Wit's End.  Merc treads.  Maybe pick up a vamp scepter if you need extra sustain.

edit:
Triforce is nice on Irelia.  She makes good use of all of it. If you need to build tankier, however, sometimes it's best forgo it.  You can always build a Frozen Mallet and pick up a Wit's End for the attack speed you want.  The active on Hiten Style makes attack speed very desirable, but you don't have to go overboard. Add in a Atma's Impaler and you're very tanky and doing great damage.  Chunk those goddamn carries.  If you find that you're really scary, get a GA. That'll make 3 people look at you and back the fuck up.

[Hoax]

You should test out rushing Phage, there are some Irelia players that swear by it and some who denounce it but depending on your playstyle, rune page and masteries it might be what makes her work for you.

[Rasix]

So, just played my first game as Taric last night.   Great kit.  I had no idea what to skill first, but I suppose you're supposed to max shatter first?  I kind of had to do heal because my Ezreal liked to take bullets to the face. 

I like the kit, but it seems like he falls off a bit late game where his burst is negligible.  Early on, that burst fucking hurts.  Fun lane bully.

[HaemishM]

He is a fucking BEAST early game if your partner isn't a muppet. Late game, he can just tank the shit out of turrets and AD champs - again if your team supports you. I've played him sparingly, but some games my ability to absorb damage from people stupid enough to try to kill me first in a team fight has won games. I think I trade off the shatter and the healing when leveling - it's been a while since I played him. He won't get the kills that a Sion tank will but he is really good.

[Ozzu]

Been having some fun with Alistar lately. I've been buidling him straight tank so hp/armor/mr. You add boots of mobility and you're a fast moving, damage soaking, CC dealing angry cow person. It's good times.

[HaemishM]

I suck SO HARD with Akali. So hard. My entire day of games yesterday was just game after game of me getting fucked in the eyeholes.

[Setanta]

Pretty much sums up my experience with Akali.

On another note, I've been having fun with Volibear and Corki - I wrote Voli off a while back but now have found him great.

Corki is a beast although I've founs I need blue buff most of the game

[Rasix]

AD Sion is pretty fun.  Less fun when everyone on your team but your jungler is a complete retard and it's your first time even playing Sion. Your scaling on your Q/E is wasted, but that ult is ferocious. 

[statisticalfool]

I suck SO HARD with Akali. So hard. My entire day of games yesterday was just game after game of me getting fucked in the eyeholes.

Do you have a runepage for her?

If you don't have a runepage that is activating both of her passives at level 1, then do not play.

[HaemishM]

I have a Hybrid AD/AP/ArPen/MPen rune page that I'm considering dismantling, as it's really only been effective on about 2 or 3 champs. She was not one of them.

[Rasix]

Do mastery/rune page stats count as "bonus" AD?

[statisticalfool]

Yep, they do count.

Basically, I think it's AP quints / 7 AD runes, and the rest is up to you with both of base level offense masteries.

[Rasix]

Anyone have tips for laning against Malzahar?  I try Kennen and do OK if I rush QSS, but you gimp your damage hard. Plus, I suck with Kennen.

[pxib]

He's pretty fragile and lacks CC other than his ult, which is channeled so he can't use it to gain ground. Plink him every time he drops his traveling DOT on a minion, dodge his turrets, and keep your distance if he has a powered-up voidling. After he softens up, wait for the next time he drops his void pool thing then throw everything at him. If he drops his pool on you, make sure you're out of it fast. His ult shouldn't be strong enough to kill you by itself.

[Rasix]

Thanks, that sounds like a solid plan.  My brain just turns to mush against certain champs, and I don't get to mid a whole lot.  

This newest Irelia nerf has my top lane a little shakey as well.  Having decent success with GP again.  I love with this all of these sustain item nerfs they end up making champs with heals or innate sustain abilities a lot stronger in lane.  Why touch Irelia and not Yorick? Heh.  Nidalee is still Nidalee.  

[HaemishM]

So Lee Sin... fuck me. The burst damage I can do with him is hysterical, especially against a bad team. He's a really really really good jungler. I just played a normal draft game my first game with Lee jungling, and all but 1 of my early ganks succeeded, by level 10 I gave up the jungle altogether and was rolling. 8/3 and made the other team surrender soon after 20.

[MrHat]

So Lee Sin... fuck me. The burst damage I can do with him is hysterical, especially against a bad team. He's a really really really good jungler. I just played a normal draft game my first game with Lee jungling, and all but 1 of my early ganks succeeded, by level 10 I gave up the jungle altogether and was rolling. 8/3 and made the other team surrender soon after 20.

I ban him every game.  When you play vs. a good Lee Sin, the game is not fun.

[Rasix]

He's pretty much an autoban from me as well.  If there's any chance I'm playing top or mid, I just don't want to deal with it.  If I don't dodge the Q, I'm dead.   You just can't get lazy with your warding, but even if you aren't, there's just too many angles he can come from.

However, I would like to play him top or jungle.  I've only gotten a custom practice game in with him, but flying around with that Q was a lot of fun.  Just a crazy kit.

edit: Heh, although at this ELO, about 2/3 of the Lees I encounter, just feed. 

[HaemishM]

I've busted up some bad Lee's top with Wukong, who can decimate Lee if fed the least little bit because of his CC. I was just amazed at how good his early jungle is. I might try to play him top lane as well to see how he does there. He feels very similar to Wukong but with a lot more burst and less CC. I played him in a Dominion game after my initial SR game with him and he lagged behind in K/D because both Wukong and Ashe would CC me first, then pulverize me. But if he lands that Q, somebody is probably going to die.

[Rasix]

I've busted up some bad Lee's top with Wukong, who can decimate Lee if fed the least little bit because of his CC.

That's funny, Lee Sin is considered a counter to Wukong due to his E.

[HaemishM]

Probably depends entirely on if Lee gets the E off or not. If he gets knocked in the air before it happens either by Wu's W or ult, Lee is quite possibly toast.

[Rasix]

 

Hrmm? Wu's only knock-up/cc  is the ult.  Lee in a lot situations should be able to avoid most of the ult damage by either using safeguard to a minion/ward or kicking Wukong away.  

The E is a reveal, and then a slow.  Just means that the decoy is going a lot less useful if used to get away.   Or if you decoy into a Q->E, the cripple will negate a lot of that.  Plus that damn shield and sustain.  

It's not an auto-lose, as you've said/demonstrated, Lee just makes a lot of your tricks useless.

[HaemishM]

I forgot the W isn't the knock up, that's Xin Zhao. I've played all 3 in the last 24 hours, my thinking is muddled.

[Rasix]

Just had a miserable game with Lee Sin top.  Got shit on by a Xin Zhao of all champs.  That lvl 2 combo, ouch.  Entire team was awful, but man, one of my worst games in a long time.

Doing pretty well with Olaf, however.  So effective against just about any melee top.  I'm a little lost with him out of lane, but laning phase is solid.

[MrHat]

Just had a miserable game with Lee Sin top.  Got shit on by a Xin Zhao of all champs.  That lvl 2 combo, ouch.  Entire team was awful, but man, one of my worst games in a long time.

Doing pretty well with Olaf, however.  So effective against just about any melee top.  I'm a little lost with him out of lane, but laning phase is solid.

I think he's getting a bit buffed too, Xin I mean.

[HaemishM]

Bought Swain the other day and tried him out at lunch. Got zoned hard in mid by a pretty good Teemo. Near as I can tell, Swain is about waiting until they get near and then turning on the ult, then peppering them with your other abilities. He doesn't seem to have a lot of burst damage otherwise. Am I off base here?

[Rasix]

Swain is about playing pretty passively until 6.  However, with Teemo, if he tries to auto attack you, that puts him in range for your E.  You could keep whittling him down with that.  Blind shot, unfortunately, out ranges everything but your W.  You can do a lot of damage if you land your W, because then you can just put your E on him, followed by a laser bird, turn on the ult, and ignite.  They'll just have so many dots going on them that even if they manage to run, you're going to get the kill.   

What sucks about Swain is he's an absolute mana hog.  You're so dependent on blue buff.  Even then, it's no problem at all going OOM.  You're always totally spent after a team fight.   Plus your range is really low. 

Rush RoA.  Consider an early revolver/WOTA for even more sustain.    As Swain you can just be this super tanky mage that puts out a lot of sustained damage during fights.  Can play him either mid or top with ease.  You'll surprise a lot of people with Swain, and really push people that tower dive.   

Just bought Riven.. yay.  Seems like she might be fun to play here and there.

[Mosesandstick]

I think Riven is one of the best designed characters in LoL, she's pretty damn fun.

[Rasix]

Ziggs on sale.  I think since I like Gragas, I'll enjoy him as well.  They have similar pokey play styles, with Ziggs being more spammy, and Gragas having greater survivability and sustain.

[HaemishM]

I went ahead and bought Ziggs since he was on sale and played him in a blind game. Absolutely ate up a very stupid Veigar early game, enough that he switched lanes with an Urgot, who did a much better job of zoning me and not dying. I ate a few of my patented stupid deaths in the game, but considering it was my first try with him ever, I did good at 5/6/5 with a team win. He can put out some mega motherfuck damage, especially early and I LOVE the ultimate firebomb screaming mimi from the sky.