The Batting Cages

[Kaden]

A forum to talk about which champions you're working on or practicing with. Good place to ask for advice on specific mechanics, builds, or tutorials.

[John Doe]

I've found out that I suck at ranged AD carries. The only one I'm decent with is Ashe, but she's a pretty common pick so I need to learn others. I used to play Corki a lot, but I haven't in a while. I also own Tristana, but am very mediocre with her. I have Ez too, but there's a lot of carries that are just better all around, plus I'm not that good with him.

So between Corki, Ez, and Trist who should I try to learn? Any advice for the three?

[Kaden]

I say Corki. He does so much damage and farms so well. He just strolls into a fight and rocks everyone's world.

[Kaden]

I've been working on three champions pretty slowly. Gragas, Maokai, and Alistar. Of those, I think I have the best handle on Ali.

Amusingly, they all fit into that same category of Tank AP/Support.

[Jonathan Meer]

I'm fiddling with Akali at the moment (I've been playing Ryze and Ashe and other supremely easy champs too much). There's a TON to keep in mind all at once.

But damn if she's not hella fun. That ult is sick-nasty. Still getting a feel for when I can afford to jump in and when I...can't.

Also, I've seen some really cool things with using the stealth field at tower to get free hits in on champs.

[John Doe]

I was thinking Corki too. He has a lot of spells that help him survive (Q and W) as well as his E which is hilarious in team fights. I'm trying to "master" 9-10 champs before season 2 starts (whenever that is).

My line up looks like: Heimer/Brand, Malzahar, Ashe, Corki, Jungle Xin Zhao, Garen (yeah I know), Shen, Singed, and Soraka.

With that line up of champs I pretty much cover every niche that needs to be filled.

I could use help with Xin Zhao. I'm never consistent with him because I'm never sure if what I'm doing is right or wrong. Any suggestions?

[Kaden]

For Xin, max E first, then W, then Q, taking a rank of each early.

Go Wriggles, boots (whatever you want), Ghostblade or Black Cleaver, then Banshee's. If the game's still going on, go more tank or more AD. Whichever you feel like.

Every now and then in the lane, E onto someone and then just walk away. Screw with their heads. It's fun. Once you hit 6, you can kill most champs with impunity by just dashing in and killing them.

[Orion]

I've been playing Maokai and found I'm not as bad with him as I first thought. I'm also trying to get back into the support groove, playing Janna, Soraka and Taric more often.

[John Doe]

For Xin, max E first, then W, then Q, taking a rank of each early.

Go Wriggles, boots (whatever you want), Ghostblade or Black Cleaver, then Banshee's. If the game's still going on, go more tank or more AD. Whichever you feel like.

Every now and then in the lane, E onto someone and then just walk away. Screw with their heads. It's fun. Once you hit 6, you can kill most champs with impunity by just dashing in and killing them.

Why do you max E first?

[Kaden]

Reduced cooldown, increased slow percentage, increased damage. It actually does a nice bit of damage early in the game, but Xin simply has to have it up as often as possible otherwise he's just too easy to kite.

It almost makes for a crazy AoE nuke once you can E > R.

[John Doe]

That's what I thought. I pretty much leveled my skills in that order anyway, but now I'll actually feel good about it.

[Super Buu]

Any tips for Malzahar? He's an asshole and I fell in love with him as soon as I played him. My Mal Skillz are .... serviceable, but I'd like to get better.

[Kaden]

The biggest thing for Malz is probably learning the timing on your silence. It does a significant amount of damage, but is a really wonky skill-shot to learn. Other than that, just be judicious about the placement of your pool and the timing of your ultimate. If you know someone has a stun, don't drop it unless you've seen them burn the cooldown.

One thing to be especially careful about it trying to ult someone with a stun. If you run at a Sion and ult him and he gets his stun cast before getting suppressed, the travel time will mean you get about one tick of damage before being stunned out of the ult. Super gay.

Also, early game, if you drop your pool and someone walks off of it before you ult them on top of it, don't just ult anyway. Wait the 12 seconds and try it again for your full combo. Suppressing them on top of that % health damage is huge.

[John Doe]

The biggest thing for Malz is probably learning the timing on your silence. It does a significant amount of damage, but is a really wonky skill-shot to learn. Other than that, just be judicious about the placement of your pool and the timing of your ultimate. If you know someone has a stun, don't drop it unless you've seen them burn the cooldown.

One thing to be especially careful about it trying to ult someone with a stun. If you run at a Sion and ult him and he gets his stun cast before getting suppressed, the travel time will mean you get about one tick of damage before being stunned out of the ult. Super gay.

Also, early game, if you drop your pool and someone walks off of it before you ult them on top of it, don't just ult anyway. Wait the 12 seconds and try it again for your full combo. Suppressing them on top of that % health damage is huge.

Ignite works wonders with Malz. You CAN pop Ignite while channeling your ult without canceling.

The best thing you can do is lead in with your silence. Silence the guy you want to ult, then put your pool down > ult > ignite. If you CAN try to pop E on him too (BEFORE you pop ult). That'll just damn near anything.

[Tyr]

Ignite works wonders with Malz. You CAN pop Ignite while channeling your ult without canceling.

The best thing you can do is lead in with your silence. Silence the guy you want to ult, then put your pool down > ult > ignite. If you CAN try to pop E on him too (BEFORE you pop ult). That'll just damn near anything.

If you do this, for the love of God, micromanage your guy closer to the target than needed. If your character has to move to use Ignite, it cancels.

[Ashe]

If you do this, for the love of God, micromanage your guy closer to the target than needed. If your character has to move to use Ignite, it cancels.

This. If you have told your character to ult from outside its range, he'll move to the absolute edge of ult range, then when you try to ignite, you'll take a step and cancel your ult, since its a shorter range.

As far as your silence goes, you get double damage if they are in the middle. You see those orbs that start at both sides and move to the middle? That's where the damage is. So try to catch them in the dead center if possible for max effect.

[Orion]

Any tips for Malzahar? He's an asshole and I fell in love with him as soon as I played him. My Mal Skillz are .... serviceable, but I'd like to get better.

Level his E first. It's amazing for lane domination and you pretty much don't need a mana item since you get it back when it jumps to a new minion/champion.

[John Doe]

His E is also the easiest harass ever. It's the equivalent of Zilean bombs easy.

[Super Buu]

Awesome tips all round, thanks.

[Jarka]

Fucking carries, how do they work?