Lyte on Player Behavior, Matchmaking, Permabans and Tribunal-related Systems, Designing Item Icons & Reworking Champion Visuals, WCC Ticker Pre-order, New Rotation and Sale!

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PBE Update: Karma/New TF Passive, Rioters discuss Olaf, Rengar and Warwick, Champion Roles Reassessed and New Sale!

 

 

New PBE Update brings changes to Karma and Twisted Fate‘s Passive as well as a brand new feature – an Undo Last Purchase button! SmashGizmo discusses Olaf’s Combos and possible improvements, Morello reviews the state of Warwick… Read more…

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New Free Champion Rotation (Season Three: Week 24)

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This week's champion pool is kinda boring...it is free Karthus week though, that's always interesting...might want to try out Leblanc or Akali this week.

• Corki - 3150 IP / 790 RP
• Graves - 6300 IP / 975 RP
• Jayce - 6300 IP / 975 RP
• Karthus - 3150 IP / 790 RP
• Malphite - 1350 IP / 585 RP
• Malzahar - 4800 IP / 880 RP
• Olaf - 3150 IP / 790 RP
• Soraka - 450 IP / 260 RP
• Volibear - 6300 IP / 975 RP
• Zed - 6300 IP / 975 RP

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Champion rework: Master Yi, the Wuju Master

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We're reworking Master Yi in the coming patch. In addition to new sounds, voice over and spell effects, the Wuju Master is also getting a kit overhaul to combine his popular AP and AD builds into a single cohesive playstyle. Check out his reworked abilities and read how the kit plays out below.

Abilities

Double Strike

Master Yi strikes twice on every fourth consecutive basic attack, with the second strike dealing reduced damage. If Master Yi leaves combat, the counter on Double Strike resets.

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Alpha Strike

Master Yi leaps forward and strikes up to four enemies, dealing physical damage to each. Alpha Strike can crit to deal additional physical damage and will deal bonus damage to minions and monsters. Basic attacks reduce the cooldown on Alpha Strike.

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Meditate

Master Yi channels for a short duration, healing rapidly. Master Yi heals more the lower his health. While channeling, Master Yi takes reduced damage from incoming attacks. This damage reduction is less effective against turrets.

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Wuju Style

Passive: Increases Master Yi's attack damage by a percentage.
Active: Basic attacks deal bonus true damage based on Master Yi's attack damage. The passive bonus is lost while Wuju Style is on cooldown.

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Highlander

Passive: Champion kills reduce Master Yi's basic ability cooldowns. Assists reduce basic ability cooldowns by a smaller amount.
Active: Increases Master Yi's movement and attack speed while granting immunity to movement impairing effects. While active, champion kills and assists extend Highlander's duration.

Gameplay

In lane

The changes to Meditate and Alpha Strike make Master Yi a more dynamic fighter in lane while rendering him less frustrating for his lane opponents. Since Alpha Strike prioritizes nearby units instead of striking randomly, a skilled Master Yi player can carefully aim his attacks while a canny opponent can avoid damage through careful positioning. Meanwhile, the cooldown reduction from basic attacks allows Yi to Alpha Strike more often, and the bonus minion damage helps him clear waves and maintain lane pressure. Also, the changes to Meditate make it a more potent option in emergency situations, but prevent Yi from simply spamming it to top his health off every time he takes damage.

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In the jungle

To compensate for reduced early game damage on Alpha Strike, we've made the bonus damage to minions and monsters guaranteed to smooth out his jungle time. The cooldown reduction he gets from basic attacks should also allow him to Alpha Strike more often, allowing for a more consistent clear time. Also, since Double Strike now deals less damage more frequently and requires Yi to stay in combat, it should be harder for him to queue up a double attack, then come tearing out of the jungle to score a massive burst combo onto an opponent.

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Late game

As the action edges into late game and the team fights begin, the changes to Highlander start to shine. The new passive gives Master Yi the ability to stay alive in rough situations by lowering the cooldown on Meditate and Alpha Strike. The true damage on Wuju Style gives Master Yi the freedom to initially focus tankier targets while waiting for the right moment to open up on vulnerable targets. Then, when the time's right, he can open up with Alpha Strike and punish the enemy team's more delicate back line. Meanwhile, the changes to Meditate increase its lifesaving potential when he's under significant focus fire, and the added damage and crit on Alpha Strike help it scale to keep up with his basic attack damage in late game scenarios.

Overall, the changes should help Master Yi play more consistently by combining the sustained damage of his AD playstyle with some of the nuke-and-juke utility of his AP build.

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New Free Champion Rotation (Season Three: Week 23)

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Check out this week's champion rotation!

• Katarina - 3150 IP / 790 RP
• Kennen - 4800 IP / 880 RP
• Kog'Maw - 4800 IP / 880 RP
• Leona - 4800 IP / 880 RP
• Nunu - 450 IP / 260 RP
• Riven - 6300 IP / 975 RP
• Teemo - 1350 IP / 585 RP
• Trundle - 4800 IP / 880 RP
• Varus - 6300 IP / 975 RP
• Wukong - 4800 IP / 880 RP

This week's very top lane heavy with Teemo, Kennen, Wukong, Riven, and Trundle in the mix.

Strangely, we're also sporting two AD carries, Kog'maw and Varus.

Personally I'll probably be playing a lot of Leona as I think she's probably the most fun support at the moment with her multiple CCs and innate tankiness.

If you like being sneaky, try out Teemo or Wukong; they can both be invisible for a short period of time.

Excited for this week's rotation? Comment below!

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2013 Champion Tier List - Solo Queue - Patch 3.9 Updated July

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SEASON 3 - PATCH 3.9  SOLO QUEUE TIER LIST

Preface Chatter
This tier list is coming up quite fast after the latest patch, earlier than usual. This means that I'll likely have to do another one in a week or two once the changes have set into place...anyway Patch 3.9's brought quite a few changes, including some much needed nerfs and buffs:

Nerfs: Hecarim, Kayle, Kennen, Nunu
Buffs: Corki, Malzahar, Shyvana, Ziggs
Tweaks: Brand, Draven, Jayce, Leblanc

Also in this list I'd like to note that all the AD carries seem pretty even at the moment.

The Tier List

God Tier: 
Mid-Lane Gods: Kassadin, Twisted Fate
Jungle Gods: Amumu, Fiddlesticks, Rammus, Sejuani
AD Gods: 
Top Lane Gods: Singed, Wukong
Support Gods:  Janna, Sona, Thresh

Tier 1:
Mid-Lane: Zyra, Kennen, Malzahar, Diana, Jayce
Jungle: Jarvan IV, Zac, Nasus, Hecarim, Nunu, Cho'Gath, Evelynn, Nautilus, Lee Sin, Volibear, Maokai, Elise
AD Carry: Varus, Caitlyn, Ezreal, Vayne, Draven, Graves, Twitch
Top Lane: Tryndamere, Kennen, Elise, Renekton, Yorick, Jayce, Nidalee, Irelia, Riven, Lee Sin, Udyr
Support: Nami, Taric, Blitzcrank, Leona

Tier 2:
Mid-Lane: Brand, Kayle, Ryze, Mordekaiser, Talon, Vladimir, Elise, Fizz, Ahri, Viktor, Lux, Anivia, Nidalee, Zed, Cho'Gath, Xerath, Swain, Karthus, Katarina, Evelynn, Orianna, Ziggs
Jungle: Udyr, Warwick, Shen, Kha'Zix, Nocturne, Malphite, Leona, Shaco, Vi, Trundle,Xin Zhao, Diana, Shyvana, Zed
AD Carry: Miss Fortune, Tristana, Kog'Maw, Corki, Ashe, Sivir
Top Lane: Jax, Kayle, Rumble, Ryze, Teemo, Aatrox, Kha'Zix, Vladimir, Nasus, Shen, Cho'gath, Zac, Darius, Volibear, Garen, Zed, Malphite
Support: Soraka, Lulu, Zyra, Alistar

Tier 3:
Mid-Lane: Morgana, Kha'Zix, Akali, Pantheon, Cassiopeia, Galio, Annie, Master Yi, Sion, Gragas, Lulu, Fiddlesticks
Jungle: Riven, Pantheon, Dr. Mundo,  Skarner, Jax, Kayle, Darius
AD Carry: Quinn
Top Lane:  Jarvan IV, Warwick, Fiora, Xin Zhao, Pantheon, Akali, Galio, Talon, Trundle, Dr. Mundo, Poppy
Support: Nunu, Nautilus, Shen, Morgana, Nidalee, Lux,

Tier 4:
Mid-Lane:  Lissandra, Syndra, Veigar, Kog'maw, Zilean, Leblanc, Tristana, Janna, Ezreal, Heimerdinger, Karma
Jungle: Rengar, Olaf, Master Yi (AD), Tryndamere, Gangplank, Fiora, Blitzcrank, Alistar
AD Carry: Urgot
Top Lane:  Rengar,Gangplank, Shyvana, Olaf
Support: Kayle, Elise, Maokai, Yorick, Lissandra, Karma, Ashe, Zilean, Leblanc, Fiddlesticks, Ryze, Caitlyn

• Heroes in BOLD I will talk about shortly
• Heroes in Italics may be over/undervalued, but aren't/haven't played enough for me to make a better judgement.
• Within each tier the champions are strongest from left to right, but within a tier each champion's strength is relatively close. This is especially true for Tiers 2 and 3 where these heroes are ALL highly playable and player dependent on how strong they are in-game.

Click Here for a description of the tiers

God Tier: These champions are almost impossible to keep down. If your team doesn't make it a priority to shut down these champions and shut them down hard, even if they lose their lane, lose in CS, and it's their first time playing the champion, they can be a massive nuisance for your team. On the other hand, if they're actually good at the champion...that's when it's time to throw in the towel.

Tier 1: These champions generally do very well regardless, and have some sort of advantage over most other champions. When they do well, their team does well. Even when they don't do well, their team still has a good chance of a comeback victory by utilizing one or more aspects of their late game utility.

Tier 2: This is the Tier of balanced champions where Riot shoots to place their designs. These champions generally do well in their own right, and are very strong picks with a good chance of winning. However, they're not overpowered by any means and do have their weaknesses.

Tier 3: These champions can still do very well, but tend to need a little more snowballing to get rolling. Even if they get an early lead, it's still very possible to turn the tides on them with just a mistake or two. They may also have some weaknesses that can be capitalized on.

Tier 4: These champions are either underpowered or offer less reward than other champions for the same amount of effort. These champions basically start winning from the get-go or get made fun of for the rest of the game. They need gold to do their job correctly, and if they don't get enough of it, they become sandbags for the enemy team to punch. Chances of a comeback with one of these champions feeding on your team is almost none.

Champion Explanations

• Brand - Brand's always been a powerhouse in terms of damage, and deals a decent amount. The main reason why his strength fell was a mixture of AD burst assassins coupled with people getting used to dodging his skillshots and damage. However, with the minor buffs, Brand's definitely been brought back into spotlight with heavy nerfs on a lot of other champions across the board. I think we'll definitely see a comeback. Luckily I have Zombie Brand waiting...
• Corki - Corki's buff was pretty decent, and I think he's very on par with other AD champions now. With his reduction in playability for the last few months, I think he's also got a decent surprise factor in place.
• Draven - Nerfs hurt. He's still viable.
• Ezreal - Although a fed Ezreal is strong, we can't really say he's any better than any other AD carry at the moment. This tier's all pretty even...
• Fiora - Fiora's numbers are actually a lot better than I initialy gave her credit for. With the continual nerfs on tank items across the board, her ability to win trades with pure damage has increased, and while she's not overpowered by any means, she's at least playable against some common top lane champions.
• Hecarim - Continual minor nerfs have brought him down from overpowered to viable. He's still good, just not an auto-ban.
• Kassadin - Kassadin is seriously overpowered right now. With Nunu nerfed, you'll be seeing more twisted fate and kassadin bans for sure. Even if you shut him down, he'll always come back with a vengeance. 
• Leblanc - She did get some changes, but she's still not popular, and her late game still isn't that good without some early snowballing. Plus her waveclear is still pretty bad, which doesn't work well in the current meta.
• Malphite - Malphite's been getting some very low playability lately...of course with AP mages all the rage lately it's no wonder, but I think his ultimate is still very good.
• Malzahar - I know I've owed you guys an explanation on Malzahar for a while now, and I've been putting it off since I knew he was insanely strong, but I couldn't really explain why. Here's what it is in a nutshell: His poke has always been good, and his voidlings are strong. But the reason why he's REALLY good is because he has the ability to kill almost any tank in 2~4 seconds seconds flat with his W + R combo, and his E can chunk half of a squishy's life by itself. With that amount of peel and continuous damage, he's pretty much a one-man army. After soloing a Nautilus, Leblanc, and Shen simultaneously, you'll understand what I mean when I say he's ridiculously strong. 
• Nautilus - After the initial wow factor when he came back into play, people are now back to being cautious of his ganks, and are willing to flash to prevent a hook. He's still a pretty slow jungler, and easily counterjungled. Although he's good, without some ganks he falls behind other junglers quickly...his ultimate is still insanely good though.
• Nunu - He was nerfed. Still playable, but no longer Nunu Norris.
• Rumble - I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so...Rumble simply isn't as good as he used to be, and the stats prove it as he stands at a 50.08% win rate - hence he'll stay in Tier 2, the balanced tier.
• Shyvana - Her buff was pretty decent, and I think she's viable now. Pretty simple character, so it's really a matter of numbers.
• Tryndamere - Top lane Tryndamere...I considered putting him in god tier, but after all the complaining I get about Wukong I'm a little hesitant (seriously, Wukong has the second highest win rate in the game and there are still people who don't believe me when I say he's op?) Anyway, Tryndamere's trading power is decent, his sustain is good, and his pushing power is insane. Even if you manage to beat him once or twice in trades early on, unless you can build enough health to sustain through his invulnerability and enough damage to kill him through his lifesteal, his late game is an unstoppable pushing force.
• Twisted Fate - He's still good, but I'm considering moving him down...a lot of champions that counter him are becoming FOTM, and with teleport becoming a popular summoner mid lane he's losing some effectiveness via getting counter-ganked. He's still real good though, just with his wave clear, sustain, and ability to stun from jumping outside of ward range.
• Vayne - Draven nerfed you say?
• Viktor - Okay, Viktor's pretty decent, I'll accept that he's playable since his CCs are good and he does have the ability to 100-0 an enemy champion even if he misses his laser. I still think he's unreliable, but his damage is definitely there and his AOE is hard to outdamage in tight quarters.
• Wukong - Out of all the flack I get on my tier list I'd say that Wukong by far gets me the most moans and groans. I'm not sure why I still have to explain why he's OP, his trades are good, his initiation is good (really, who's going to get an oracle for Wukong?) and his ultimate is insanity. He's had a top 5 win rate for 4 patches in a row, and currently holds the #2 spot in win rates. When he becomes the #1 ban in LCS and gets nerfed by Riot, I expect some humble e-mails admitting the monkey's power.
• Ziggs - Ziggs got so many buffs, I mean wow. I still don't think he's OP by any means, but anybody against a Ziggs with blue buff and some CDR certainly will, I may move him up in the future, but he's still pretty squishy and can be unreliable in a pinch.

Disclaimer:

• The purpose of this list is for discussion and to provide a starting point for hero selection.

Agree? Disagree? Comment below!

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2013 Champion Tier List - Solo Queue - Patch 3.10 Updated August

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SEASON 3 - PATCH 3.10  SOLO QUEUE TIER LIST

Preface Chatter
I've got a little time on my hands so I'll pop up this tier list less than a week after the patch is released. Since it's still early, there will likely be a Patch 3.10 v2 Tier List released at a later date.

Nerfs: Elise, Fiddlesticks, Karthus, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Zac, Ryze
Buffs: Ashe, Malzahar
Tweaks: Ryze, Thresh
Reworks: Master Yi

The Tier List

God Tier: 
Mid-Lane Gods: Kassadin
Jungle Gods: Amumu,  Jarvan IV, Fiddlesticks, Rammus, Sejuani
AD Gods: 
Top Lane Gods: Singed, Wukong
Support Gods:  Janna, Sona

Tier 1:
Mid-Lane: Zyra, Kennen, Malzahar, Twisted Fate, Diana, Jayce
Jungle: Master Yi,  Zac, Nasus, Hecarim, Cho'Gath, Evelynn, Nautilus, Lee Sin, Volibear, Maokai, Shyvana
AD Carry: Caitlyn, Varus, Vayne, Graves, Tristana, Miss Fortune, Ezreal, Kog'Maw, Quinn, Corki, Draven, Twitch
Top Lane: Tryndamere, Master Yi, Kennen, Renekton, Yorick, Jayce, Jarvan IV, Nidalee, Jax, Elise, Irelia, Riven, Lee Sin, Udyr
Support: Thresh, Nami, Taric, Blitzcrank, Leona

Tier 2:
Mid-Lane: Lux, Brand, Kayle, Annie, Fizz, Mordekaiser, Talon, Vladimir, Ahri, Viktor, Elise, Anivia, Nidalee, Zed, Kha'Zix, Cho'Gath, Swain, Orianna, Xerath, Katarina, Evelynn, Karthus, Ziggs
Jungle: Nocturne, Elise, Udyr, Aatrox, Nunu, Shen, Kha'Zix, Warwick, Malphite, Leona, Shaco, Vi, Trundle, Xin Zhao, Rengar, Diana, Zed
AD Carry:  Ashe, Sivir
Top Lane: Kayle, Rumble, Swain, Teemo, Aatrox, Kha'Zix, Vladimir, Nasus, Shen, Cho'gath, Zac, Darius, Volibear, Garen, Zed, Malphite
Support: Soraka, Lulu, Zyra, Alistar

Tier 3:
Mid-Lane: Morgana, Lissandra, Ryze, Akali, Pantheon, Cassiopeia, Galio, Sion, Gragas, Lulu, Fiddlesticks
Jungle: Fiora, Riven, Pantheon, Dr. Mundo,  Skarner, Jax, Kayle, Darius
AD Carry:
Top Lane: Rengar, Fiora, Shyvana, Warwick, Xin Zhao, Ryze, Nunu, Pantheon, Akali, Galio, Talon, Trundle, Dr. Mundo, Poppy
Support: Nunu, Nautilus, Shen, Morgana, Lux, Fiddlesticks, Nidalee

Tier 4:
Mid-Lane:  Syndra, Veigar, Karma, Kog'maw, Zilean, Leblanc, Soraka, Tristana, Janna, Ezreal, Heimerdinger
Jungle: Tryndamere, Olaf, Gangplank, Blitzcrank, Alistar
AD Carry: Urgot
Top Lane: Gangplank, Urgot, Olaf
Support: Kayle, Malphite, Gangplank, Elise, Maokai, Yorick, Lissandra, Karma, Ashe, Zilean, Leblanc, Caitlyn

• Heroes in BOLD I will talk about shortly
• Heroes in Italics may be over/undervalued, but aren't/haven't played enough for me to make a better judgement.
• Within each tier the champions are strongest from left to right, but within a tier each champion's strength is relatively close. This is especially true for Tiers 2 and 3 where these heroes are ALL highly playable and player dependent on how strong they are in-game.

Click Here for a description of the tiers

God Tier: These champions are almost impossible to keep down. If your team doesn't make it a priority to shut down these champions and shut them down hard, even if they lose their lane, lose in CS, and it's their first time playing the champion, they can be a massive nuisance for your team. On the other hand, if they're actually good at the champion...that's when it's time to throw in the towel.

Tier 1: These champions generally do very well regardless, and have some sort of advantage over most other champions. When they do well, their team does well. Even when they don't do well, their team still has a good chance of a comeback victory by utilizing one or more aspects of their late game utility.

Tier 2: This is the Tier of balanced champions where Riot shoots to place their designs. These champions generally do well in their own right, and are very strong picks with a good chance of winning. However, they're not overpowered by any means and do have their weaknesses.

Tier 3: These champions can still do very well, but tend to need a little more snowballing to get rolling. Even if they get an early lead, it's still very possible to turn the tides on them with just a mistake or two. They may also have some weaknesses that can be capitalized on.

Tier 4: These champions are either underpowered or offer less reward than other champions for the same amount of effort. These champions basically start winning from the get-go or get made fun of for the rest of the game. They need gold to do their job correctly, and if they don't get enough of it, they become sandbags for the enemy team to punch. Chances of a comeback with one of these champions feeding on your team is almost none.

Champion Explanations

• Aatrox - (Jungle) Aatrox Jungle is fairly strong, with a decent early game and good gap closer. He does seem to be a bit lacking in the meat shield department, but his passive makes up for it somewhat and he still works well if you have a tanky top and support.
• AD Carries - I feel like all the AD carries are very even now in terms of sheer numbers. The only difference is in their range and kits, and that of course depends on the match-ups and player mentality. After the Draven and golem nerfs, the only imbalanced picks bot lane are the supports.
• Ashe - Minor buff, was nice, but nothing to write home about.
• Elise - Major nerfs to her ganking and chasing potential, and her poke/harass potential was diminished greatly as well. She's still really strong, but definitely has a steeper learning curve in terms of when to trade and use her skills now. Her jungling strength was also slapped down by the rappel nerf.
• Fizz - Fizz gets a lot of notice, since when he snowballs, he snowballs HARD. However, he still suffers from the same things that other melee glass cannons suffer - if he fails gimping the ad carry in the initial burst, he's a sitting duck with no CDs or health to survive, although building RoA can help.
• Jarvan IV - After the repeated nerfs to other junglers, Jarvan's rising back up into powerhouse status.
• Karthus - Karthus nerfs hurt him a decent amount, and was aimed mostly at his late game face-roll suicidal dominance. He'll come back eventually when we least expect it, but he's subpar at the moment in terms of sheer numbers.
• Lissandra - Lissandra is...okay, she's got a safe laning phase and a decent ultimate, but because she places herself directly in harm's way to deal her damage, if the team can't follow up on it then she dies very quickly. Her laning phase is good and her potential is high, but you need to also need good follow-up.
• Lux - She'll always fluctuate between Tiers 1 and 2 just like AP Nidalee. Her potential level is very high, but so is her failure level. She needs to be placed on a team that's willing to wait for the perfect time to strike, and not initiate directly after she misses both her CCs...which teams tend to do for some strange reason...
• Master Yi - Master Yi is OP right now. AP Yi is dead, but his AD counterpart has been buffed to a whole new level. He's definitely not god-tier since he's counterable with the right team (think Malphite/Jarvan/Rammus), but his damage, clear speed, and ganking strength is pretty slick. His rework has also brought back the most hated strategy since Season 1...backdoor splitpush Yi.
• Nunu - Nunu's a little meh right now. It's not as fun to invade when the success rate is diminished by the nerfs.
• Rengar - I'll give credit when credit is due. His early game is very strong, and his mid-game is also very strong. However, if you can wait him out until late game, his build options limit him to either a glass melee fighter or a tanky fighter with tiny burst output. He's alright, but I think he won't be amazing until the rework.
• Ryze - His tweak was indeed a nerf. His ability to trade is very limited now compared to before.
• Shyvana - Her buffs have made her very strong...for those of you who doubt the strength of junglers without CC, just think back to the month after M5 made Shyvana a top pick last season.
• Thresh - Thresh is still a play-maker, but his tweaks have made him more fragile during his jump-into-the-fray mode. Janna and Sona are really much more consistent picks in terms of safety and utility.
• Twisted Fate - His nerfs definitely hurt his overall win rate by quite a bit, and the nerf on his pick-a-card has diminished his ability to mind-game. However, in terms of sheer damage he was untouched, so his mid-game ganking burst and late game utility are still good.

Disclaimer:

• The purpose of this list is for discussion and to provide a starting point for hero selection.

Agree? Disagree? Comment below!

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Champion Spotlight: Master Yi Post-Rework

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Check out Riot's newly updated Master Yi Champion spotlight narrated by Phreak below!

Whether you prefer to tear up the jungle or dominate a solo lane, this Master Yi Champion Spotlight is full of tips and tricks to help sharpen your game.

Master Yi's heavy-hitting nukes, sustained DPS and reflex-driven defensive abilities make him the ultimate high-risk, high-reward champion. He excels at fast, brutal ganks as well as diving into fights to assassinate targets before withdrawing with his impressive suite of escape tools. He's also got intimidating cleanup potential thanks to the extended duration on his ultimate when he scores a kill or assist.

Learn how to prove you're a true Highlander in this edition of the Champion Spotlight, featuring Master Yi tactics, masteries and more.

I am REBORN!

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A spreadsheet of champion skills and their cooldowns

type='html'>I compiled a spreadsheet of all champion abilities and their cooldowns. Karma and Udyr are technically incorrect, since Karma can level her skills to 6 and Udyr can level his R to 5, but the patterns of CDR as you level continue for the last levels.

If you find a mistake, PLEASE tell me in a comment to this post!!!  Even if it's just a typo.

 Things you might want to do with this spreadsheet:

• Just study it.  Get a good idea of what champions' cooldowns are.
• Learn the names!  (This is half of why I made it, since I'm trying to learn ability names more for shoutcasting.)
• Present the information visually using a Python script or something.  Still not exactly sure the best way to do this, but I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out.  (This is the other half of why I made it.)

Here is a link to the form, which you can copy and paste if you want.

And here are examples of what you might want to do to present the information visually:

Obviously more text is required for these, but you can at least automate the cooldowns section with some creative copy-pasting and Adobe InDesign.  (I actually made these images in Photoshop, but it's silly to do that without a better automated process, especially considering cooldowns are subject to change every single patch).
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Free Champion Rotation

This week's free champion rotation has been posted. These champions will become free to play starting tomorrow August 6th.

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Free Champion Rotation

This week's free champion rotation has been posted. These champions will become free to play starting tomorrow August 6th.

New Free Champion Rotation (Season Three: Week 23)

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Check out this week's champion rotation!

• Katarina - 3150 IP / 790 RP
• Kennen - 4800 IP / 880 RP
• Kog'Maw - 4800 IP / 880 RP
• Leona - 4800 IP / 880 RP
• Nunu - 450 IP / 260 RP
• Riven - 6300 IP / 975 RP
• Teemo - 1350 IP / 585 RP
• Trundle - 4800 IP / 880 RP
• Varus - 6300 IP / 975 RP
• Wukong - 4800 IP / 880 RP

This week's very top lane heavy with Teemo, Kennen, Wukong, Riven, and Trundle in the mix.

Strangely, we're also sporting two AD carries, Kog'maw and Varus.

Personally I'll probably be playing a lot of Leona as I think she's probably the most fun support at the moment with her multiple CCs and innate tankiness.

If you like being sneaky, try out Teemo or Wukong; they can both be invisible for a short period of time.

Excited for this week's rotation? Comment below!

New Free Champion Rotation (Season Three: Week 22)

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The new Champion Rotation has been released on the Korean site and this week's free champion rotation will consist of the following:

Aatrox - 6300 IP/975 RP
Akali - 3150 IP/790 RP
Dr. Mundo - 1350 IP/585 RP
Ezreal - 4800 IP/880 RP
Master Yi - 450 IP/260 RP
Miss Fortune - 4800 IP/880 RP
Morgana - 1350 IP/585 RP
Orianna - 4800 IP/880 RP
Sona - 3150 IP/790 RP
Swain - 4800 IP/880 RP

Once again, a solid pool of ARAM goodness in this week's rotation!

This week's team has a strong assortment of AOE and CC abilities with Morgana, Miss Fortune, Sona, Swain, and Orianna in the pool.

In terms of assassins, Akali's the only true assassin in this rotation, although you could make a case for Master Yi or Aatrox.

If you're planning on jungling, I'd say that Dr. Mundo is really your best bet, although Aatrox or even Master Yi could do in a pinch.

Most people will probably opt to play Ezreal as the AD carry this week, unless they want to be pretty...

My personal favorite champion in this pool is probably Ezreal, since I'm a big fan of skillshots...although I suck at them I feel like they leave more power open to skill, which I like to imagine I have.

What do you guys think of this week's rotation? Comment below!

Champion rework: Master Yi, the Wuju Master

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We're reworking Master Yi in the coming patch. In addition to new sounds, voice over and spell effects, the Wuju Master is also getting a kit overhaul to combine his popular AP and AD builds into a single cohesive playstyle. Check out his reworked abilities and read how the kit plays out below.

Abilities

Double Strike

Master Yi strikes twice on every fourth consecutive basic attack, with the second strike dealing reduced damage. If Master Yi leaves combat, the counter on Double Strike resets.

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Alpha Strike

Master Yi leaps forward and strikes up to four enemies, dealing physical damage to each. Alpha Strike can crit to deal additional physical damage and will deal bonus damage to minions and monsters. Basic attacks reduce the cooldown on Alpha Strike.

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Meditate

Master Yi channels for a short duration, healing rapidly. Master Yi heals more the lower his health. While channeling, Master Yi takes reduced damage from incoming attacks. This damage reduction is less effective against turrets.

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Wuju Style

Passive: Increases Master Yi's attack damage by a percentage.
Active: Basic attacks deal bonus true damage based on Master Yi's attack damage. The passive bonus is lost while Wuju Style is on cooldown.

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Highlander

Passive: Champion kills reduce Master Yi's basic ability cooldowns. Assists reduce basic ability cooldowns by a smaller amount.
Active: Increases Master Yi's movement and attack speed while granting immunity to movement impairing effects. While active, champion kills and assists extend Highlander's duration.

Gameplay

In lane

The changes to Meditate and Alpha Strike make Master Yi a more dynamic fighter in lane while rendering him less frustrating for his lane opponents. Since Alpha Strike prioritizes nearby units instead of striking randomly, a skilled Master Yi player can carefully aim his attacks while a canny opponent can avoid damage through careful positioning. Meanwhile, the cooldown reduction from basic attacks allows Yi to Alpha Strike more often, and the bonus minion damage helps him clear waves and maintain lane pressure. Also, the changes to Meditate make it a more potent option in emergency situations, but prevent Yi from simply spamming it to top his health off every time he takes damage.

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In the jungle

To compensate for reduced early game damage on Alpha Strike, we've made the bonus damage to minions and monsters guaranteed to smooth out his jungle time. The cooldown reduction he gets from basic attacks should also allow him to Alpha Strike more often, allowing for a more consistent clear time. Also, since Double Strike now deals less damage more frequently and requires Yi to stay in combat, it should be harder for him to queue up a double attack, then come tearing out of the jungle to score a massive burst combo onto an opponent.

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Late game

As the action edges into late game and the team fights begin, the changes to Highlander start to shine. The new passive gives Master Yi the ability to stay alive in rough situations by lowering the cooldown on Meditate and Alpha Strike. The true damage on Wuju Style gives Master Yi the freedom to initially focus tankier targets while waiting for the right moment to open up on vulnerable targets. Then, when the time's right, he can open up with Alpha Strike and punish the enemy team's more delicate back line. Meanwhile, the changes to Meditate increase its lifesaving potential when he's under significant focus fire, and the added damage and crit on Alpha Strike help it scale to keep up with his basic attack damage in late game scenarios.

Overall, the changes should help Master Yi play more consistently by combining the sustained damage of his AD playstyle with some of the nuke-and-juke utility of his AP build.

2013 Champion Tier List - Solo Queue - Patch 3.9 Updated July

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SEASON 3 - PATCH 3.9  SOLO QUEUE TIER LIST

Preface Chatter
This tier list is coming up quite fast after the latest patch, earlier than usual. This means that I'll likely have to do another one in a week or two once the changes have set into place...anyway Patch 3.9's brought quite a few changes, including some much needed nerfs and buffs:

Nerfs: Hecarim, Kayle, Kennen, Nunu
Buffs: Corki, Malzahar, Shyvana, Ziggs
Tweaks: Brand, Draven, Jayce, Leblanc

Also in this list I'd like to note that all the AD carries seem pretty even at the moment.

The Tier List

God Tier: 
Mid-Lane Gods: Kassadin, Twisted Fate
Jungle Gods: Amumu, Fiddlesticks, Rammus, Sejuani
AD Gods: 
Top Lane Gods: Singed, Wukong
Support Gods:  Janna, Sona, Thresh

Tier 1:
Mid-Lane: Zyra, Kennen, Malzahar, Diana, Jayce
Jungle: Jarvan IV, Zac, Nasus, Hecarim, Nunu, Cho'Gath, Evelynn, Nautilus, Lee Sin, Volibear, Maokai, Elise
AD Carry: Varus, Caitlyn, Ezreal, Vayne, Draven, Graves, Twitch
Top Lane: Tryndamere, Kennen, Elise, Renekton, Yorick, Jayce, Nidalee, Irelia, Riven, Lee Sin, Udyr
Support: Nami, Taric, Blitzcrank, Leona

Tier 2:
Mid-Lane: Brand, Kayle, Ryze, Mordekaiser, Talon, Vladimir, Elise, Fizz, Ahri, Viktor, Lux, Anivia, Nidalee, Zed, Cho'Gath, Xerath, Swain, Karthus, Katarina, Evelynn, Orianna, Ziggs
Jungle: Udyr, Warwick, Shen, Kha'Zix, Nocturne, Malphite, Leona, Shaco, Vi, Trundle,Xin Zhao, Diana, Shyvana, Zed
AD Carry: Miss Fortune, Tristana, Kog'Maw, Corki, Ashe, Sivir
Top Lane: Jax, Kayle, Rumble, Ryze, Teemo, Aatrox, Kha'Zix, Vladimir, Nasus, Shen, Cho'gath, Zac, Darius, Volibear, Garen, Zed, Malphite
Support: Soraka, Lulu, Zyra, Alistar

Tier 3:
Mid-Lane: Morgana, Kha'Zix, Akali, Pantheon, Cassiopeia, Galio, Annie, Master Yi, Sion, Gragas, Lulu, Fiddlesticks
Jungle: Riven, Pantheon, Dr. Mundo,  Skarner, Jax, Kayle, Darius
AD Carry: Quinn
Top Lane:  Jarvan IV, Warwick, Fiora, Xin Zhao, Pantheon, Akali, Galio, Talon, Trundle, Dr. Mundo, Poppy
Support: Nunu, Nautilus, Shen, Morgana, Nidalee, Lux,

Tier 4:
Mid-Lane:  Lissandra, Syndra, Veigar, Kog'maw, Zilean, Leblanc, Tristana, Janna, Ezreal, Heimerdinger, Karma
Jungle: Rengar, Olaf, Master Yi (AD), Tryndamere, Gangplank, Fiora, Blitzcrank, Alistar
AD Carry: Urgot
Top Lane:  Rengar,Gangplank, Shyvana, Olaf
Support: Kayle, Elise, Maokai, Yorick, Lissandra, Karma, Ashe, Zilean, Leblanc, Fiddlesticks, Ryze, Caitlyn

• Heroes in BOLD I will talk about shortly
• Heroes in Italics may be over/undervalued, but aren't/haven't played enough for me to make a better judgement.
• Within each tier the champions are strongest from left to right, but within a tier each champion's strength is relatively close. This is especially true for Tiers 2 and 3 where these heroes are ALL highly playable and player dependent on how strong they are in-game.

Click Here for a description of the tiers

God Tier: These champions are almost impossible to keep down. If your team doesn't make it a priority to shut down these champions and shut them down hard, even if they lose their lane, lose in CS, and it's their first time playing the champion, they can be a massive nuisance for your team. On the other hand, if they're actually good at the champion...that's when it's time to throw in the towel.

Tier 1: These champions generally do very well regardless, and have some sort of advantage over most other champions. When they do well, their team does well. Even when they don't do well, their team still has a good chance of a comeback victory by utilizing one or more aspects of their late game utility.

Tier 2: This is the Tier of balanced champions where Riot shoots to place their designs. These champions generally do well in their own right, and are very strong picks with a good chance of winning. However, they're not overpowered by any means and do have their weaknesses.

Tier 3: These champions can still do very well, but tend to need a little more snowballing to get rolling. Even if they get an early lead, it's still very possible to turn the tides on them with just a mistake or two. They may also have some weaknesses that can be capitalized on.

Tier 4: These champions are either underpowered or offer less reward than other champions for the same amount of effort. These champions basically start winning from the get-go or get made fun of for the rest of the game. They need gold to do their job correctly, and if they don't get enough of it, they become sandbags for the enemy team to punch. Chances of a comeback with one of these champions feeding on your team is almost none.

Champion Explanations

• Brand - Brand's always been a powerhouse in terms of damage, and deals a decent amount. The main reason why his strength fell was a mixture of AD burst assassins coupled with people getting used to dodging his skillshots and damage. However, with the minor buffs, Brand's definitely been brought back into spotlight with heavy nerfs on a lot of other champions across the board. I think we'll definitely see a comeback. Luckily I have Zombie Brand waiting...
• Corki - Corki's buff was pretty decent, and I think he's very on par with other AD champions now. With his reduction in playability for the last few months, I think he's also got a decent surprise factor in place.
• Draven - Nerfs hurt. He's still viable.
• Ezreal - Although a fed Ezreal is strong, we can't really say he's any better than any other AD carry at the moment. This tier's all pretty even...
• Fiora - Fiora's numbers are actually a lot better than I initialy gave her credit for. With the continual nerfs on tank items across the board, her ability to win trades with pure damage has increased, and while she's not overpowered by any means, she's at least playable against some common top lane champions.
• Hecarim - Continual minor nerfs have brought him down from overpowered to viable. He's still good, just not an auto-ban.
• Kassadin - Kassadin is seriously overpowered right now. With Nunu nerfed, you'll be seeing more twisted fate and kassadin bans for sure. Even if you shut him down, he'll always come back with a vengeance. 
• Leblanc - She did get some changes, but she's still not popular, and her late game still isn't that good without some early snowballing. Plus her waveclear is still pretty bad, which doesn't work well in the current meta.
• Malphite - Malphite's been getting some very low playability lately...of course with AP mages all the rage lately it's no wonder, but I think his ultimate is still very good.
• Malzahar - I know I've owed you guys an explanation on Malzahar for a while now, and I've been putting it off since I knew he was insanely strong, but I couldn't really explain why. Here's what it is in a nutshell: His poke has always been good, and his voidlings are strong. But the reason why he's REALLY good is because he has the ability to kill almost any tank in 2~4 seconds seconds flat with his W + R combo, and his E can chunk half of a squishy's life by itself. With that amount of peel and continuous damage, he's pretty much a one-man army. After soloing a Nautilus, Leblanc, and Shen simultaneously, you'll understand what I mean when I say he's ridiculously strong. 
• Nautilus - After the initial wow factor when he came back into play, people are now back to being cautious of his ganks, and are willing to flash to prevent a hook. He's still a pretty slow jungler, and easily counterjungled. Although he's good, without some ganks he falls behind other junglers quickly...his ultimate is still insanely good though.
• Nunu - He was nerfed. Still playable, but no longer Nunu Norris.
• Rumble - I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so...Rumble simply isn't as good as he used to be, and the stats prove it as he stands at a 50.08% win rate - hence he'll stay in Tier 2, the balanced tier.
• Shyvana - Her buff was pretty decent, and I think she's viable now. Pretty simple character, so it's really a matter of numbers.
• Tryndamere - Top lane Tryndamere...I considered putting him in god tier, but after all the complaining I get about Wukong I'm a little hesitant (seriously, Wukong has the second highest win rate in the game and there are still people who don't believe me when I say he's op?) Anyway, Tryndamere's trading power is decent, his sustain is good, and his pushing power is insane. Even if you manage to beat him once or twice in trades early on, unless you can build enough health to sustain through his invulnerability and enough damage to kill him through his lifesteal, his late game is an unstoppable pushing force.
• Twisted Fate - He's still good, but I'm considering moving him down...a lot of champions that counter him are becoming FOTM, and with teleport becoming a popular summoner mid lane he's losing some effectiveness via getting counter-ganked. He's still real good though, just with his wave clear, sustain, and ability to stun from jumping outside of ward range.
• Vayne - Draven nerfed you say?
• Viktor - Okay, Viktor's pretty decent, I'll accept that he's playable since his CCs are good and he does have the ability to 100-0 an enemy champion even if he misses his laser. I still think he's unreliable, but his damage is definitely there and his AOE is hard to outdamage in tight quarters.
• Wukong - Out of all the flack I get on my tier list I'd say that Wukong by far gets me the most moans and groans. I'm not sure why I still have to explain why he's OP, his trades are good, his initiation is good (really, who's going to get an oracle for Wukong?) and his ultimate is insanity. He's had a top 5 win rate for 4 patches in a row, and currently holds the #2 spot in win rates. When he becomes the #1 ban in LCS and gets nerfed by Riot, I expect some humble e-mails admitting the monkey's power.
• Ziggs - Ziggs got so many buffs, I mean wow. I still don't think he's OP by any means, but anybody against a Ziggs with blue buff and some CDR certainly will, I may move him up in the future, but he's still pretty squishy and can be unreliable in a pinch.

Disclaimer:

• The purpose of this list is for discussion and to provide a starting point for hero selection.

Agree? Disagree? Comment below!