EPT![[image loading]](http://i45.tinypic.com/2eajrio.jpg)
Season 2 for League of Legends is coming to a close, and with it comes end-of-season rewards. For those of us that struggle with proper League of Legends (5 on 5 arranged play) or it's secondary mode (solo queue), RIOT has blessed/cursed us with another queue to try to reach gold rating and earn War Hero Janna. Some of the braver among us will even try for loftier goals - being ranked in all queues, platinum or diamond. As someone who has gained a lot of knowledge on League from TL, I want to give back a bit. Here is all my knowledge about the map Twisted Treeline that I've learned from spamming games going for multiple diamond ratings. I'm not trying to insinuate that I'm the best Twisted Treeline player in the game or even on this board. But I am a diamond-rated player, so please take as much as you'd like to learn from me and my limited TT experience.
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![[image loading]](http://i48.tinypic.com/2u76a2d.jpg)
What you need to play Twisted Treeline
1. A team that you're comfortable communicating and teamfighting with. Twisted Treeline is a team game through and through, and 3 pubstars will get wrecked every time by coordinated players. If you're not using vent or skype, you're going to run into trouble.
2. An iron resolve, if you're shooting for higher than gold. Twisted Treeline is a relatively small community. As such, you'll run into the same players over and over again, and you will probably lose a lot when you run into the more seasoned TT players. Which leads to the next point...
3. A masochistic personality. Twisted Treeline is not fun at all. The map is poorly designed and can be extremely exploitable. When you lose you will feel cheated, and when you win you won't feel fulfilled. When you lose several games in a row you will hate your teammates and when you win several in a row you will feel like you're getting worse at League of Legends. It sucks and the prize isn't worth it.
Do you meet the above criteria? ... And you still want to play? Alright then, let's get into the basics.
The Basics
Twisted Treeline is about buff control and champion kills. In order of importance here's what you should be trying to do:
- 1. Control dragon buff - dragon is worth 280 gold for each player and gives a damage bonus about relative to Baron buff on Summoner's Rift. If you give up 2 or 3 dragons, you will have a very hard time winning.
- 2. Base turret - this beast of a structure regens at a massive rate, but once you have it down, the nexus is exposed permanently.
- 3. Control red buff - red buff is akin to dragon on Summoner's Rift. You should always sneak it when you can, and getting it will give you a big boost in the early game. As an added bonus, it's also like red buff on SR in that it will make your ganks really beastly.
- 4. Take outer towers - The towers outside the base are your lunch, you should be taking these as soon as physically possible, meaning if you can pick up a kill and 3man push a tower at level 2, do it. There's no reason to leave them standing.
- 5. Control top jungle - a wealth of experience, the top jungle is also really tough. You'll almost always get low trying to take these buffs and if you get caught here, you're done. Remember the first time you jungled on SR at summoner level 10 and you got wiped out because you had no runes? It's a lot like that in the top jungle, except now you're fully runed and level 30 and these creeps will still make you their bitch.
- 6. Champ kills - any time you can catch an enemy champion in a position to kill them, do it, no matter what it takes (short of your own life). 3v2 is unloseable so if you get a kill, you have free reign of any buff you want. After champ kills, rush dragon, red, towers, top jungle, in that order.
- 7. Inner towers - any time you secure an ace or double kill, and outer towers are down, take an inner tower if possible. JUST the tower though.
- 8. Basically everything else on the map, whatever that is.
- 9. Inhibitors - the quickest way to ensure a miserably long and drawn out game is to kill an inhibitor at a point that you can't kill the base turret or nexus. Due to the poorly designed map, minions can be easily dragged into the enemy fountain and killed for free experience with no danger to the base tower while the champions are healed by the turret. Super minions will also always push down the inhibitor once you've killed it once, so the enemy team can stall the game infinitely once you've taken an inhib unless you end it. Just don't do it. It's the biggest noob trap.
Somewhat limited tier list, based on only ~70 games watched or played, and conversations with top TT players.
These are the champs that I think are playable on Twisted Treeline based on tiers. Within the tiers, there's some wiggle room, but the tiers themselves are pretty distinct from each other. Basically, champions are strong in 3 categories on TT: mobility, burst damage, CC. Tankiness is secondary, sustained damage is tertiary, mana costs are trivial, and not much else is super important on the map, imo.
Rengar Tier - champions that are must ban, and if not banned, must first-pick, regardless of their position on the map.
- Yorick - the power of turning a fight from 3v3 to 4v3 is so much more pronounced than turning a 5v5 to a 6v5 in SR. His ghouls are also imbalanced for blocking skillshots (especially Lee's Q!) as well as making him very hard to kill (again, 15% damage reduction is much more pronounced against only 3 champs focusing you rather than 5).
- Nunu - has no real burst to speak of, but is strong in the other 2 categories. Unlimited mobility with his W, for him and his teammate, and unlimited CC from snowball and ult. He's the best laner on TT, and the best jungler. He's also the best support hero. In fact, Nunu is so rubbish that you can build him AD, AP, tank, or hybrid and still find success with him.
![[image loading]](http://i45.tinypic.com/9bkgox.jpg)
- Rengar - Rengar's kit screams Twisted Treeline dominance, and his numbers scream overpowered. When his numbers get normalized to a balanced level, he'll still be extremely strong on TT. Too much burst, too much utility with ult, too much mobility with brush jumps. No one can escape you or kill you ever. I've seen Rengar lose exactly twice and both times the skill differential between the winning and losing teams was extreme enough that the winners could have afk'd and won. Just pick him.
- Lee Sin - The second best jungler, second best support hero, and a top tier laner. Lee's the only non-brain-dead champ in the top tier, he actually takes skill to play. If you suck with Lee, don't pick him... but if you leave him open, the other team will abuse Lee and crush you. OP.
Top Tier - excellent secondary bans and first picks. You will see at least 2 of these champions every single game on TT.
- Darius - too much damage with no items. He will eat any lane alive. Hook gives him the lategame utility to completely fuck over the enemy team even if you're behind.
- Ezreal - mobility and poke. Lacks CC and is fragile, so make sure you ban at least 2 gap-closers (Irelia, Jax, for example) or pick peelers (Cho'gath, Leona) if you plan to play Ez. Lategame once he has some lifesteal he's the hardest TT carry thanks to his slipperiness.
- Jax - invulnerability during stun makes him too strong, especially against all the heavy auto attackers on this map. Gap closer and tons of sustain push him from good to best.
- Jayce - once he gets some more nerfs he'll move to a "best of the rest" status but for now, too abusable. Really underplayed, you can get Jayce every game if you know how to play him. His ranged EQ is essential for dragon/red sieges. His QE in melee makes every lane a breeze and he's very slippery with tons of mobility for his teammates.
- Singed - for a long time, Singed was king of TT. The strategy with singed was to push your lane like crazy, then use poison to farm the jungle camps. Since then, much stronger bruisers have come out that can disrupt this pattern. He's still a king, just no longer the god of farm. Very hard to kill and strong disruption and utility.
Next Best Champs by Lane
Jungle:
- Shaco - another champ that can hit level 3 or 4 basically instantly and get a huge gank on top. But just like in 5s, if you fuck up your gank it's over, you lose. Pick with care.
- Alistar - early ganks, late CC. Pick if Nunu/Lee/Shaco are banned and the enemy has at least 1 champ that has a channel (Fiddle, Kat, etc.) or you have a very AOE-centric comp. Build AP.
- Shyvana - if you have to jungle, take Shyv. Her gank is meh but she can engage/disengage lategame and she will at least be somewhat farmed. You'll want a Wriggle's. She's better as a top laner that can take jungle camps than a dedicated jungler.
- No one - Seriously, the jungle on TT is much harder than on SR. It's even harder than pre-remake SR jungle. You will fucking die if you try to jungle anyone else. And even if you survive, you won't have very strong ganks or much impact. It's better to put 2 in a lane if you can't secure Nunu/Lee/Shaco/Ali.
1v1 Lane:
- Riven - CC, damage, mobility, shield. No mana. Perfect TT champ. Struggles against a lot of the higher picks though, which is why she isn't higher. Lee, Nunu, Yorick can all fuck your world.
- Irelia - her passive hits the sweetspot at 3 opponents, she'll never get CC'd down, and she does a ton of damage even building tanky. Nice!
- Diana - CC, mobility, shield, great damage.
- Rumble - too much damage, too much lane control. Is also great in the 2v1 lane.
- Pantheon - a gapcloser that stuns, tons of damage, mobility with ult. Pantheon is who you pick if you know you're against someone worse than yourself because he's so easy to abuse large skill gaps with.
- Renekton - dashes, cc, survivability and sustainability.
1v2 Lane:
- Gragas - can farm from a distance even when zoned. And then, even if he doesn't get a ton of farm, his ult is a gamewinner.
- Olaf - can farm from a distance with axe and is an excellent gank-assister.
- Morde - an iffy pick if they have CC, but if they for some reason pick champs without it (for example, Rumble Shyvana Ezreal, which is a viable comp) then you should take Morde. He's not a tank btw, he's an AP caster.
- Kayle - press E, farm from safety. Slippery and hard to gank.
- Katarina - can farm from safey, has a ton of mobility and damage reduction, and is a great gank assister.
- Kennen - can't be forced out of lane, period. Great teamfight ult even if underfarmed
- Galio - sleeper OP on TT. His ult is great even if underfarmed, but the real power is his W, which turns anyone into a tank, especially against only 3 people.
2v1 Lane:
- Pantheon - just shove your spear up their ass.
- Rumble - free harass with harpoons. Overpowered flamethrower to finish them off once your lane partner commits.
- Ahri - long-ranged skills make harassment and zoning a breeze. Can't be ganked past level 6. Is better as a support hero than a primary carry.
- Malphite - you'll run him as a support since he needs so little farm to be effective. Just max Q with mana regen and chalice, and then zone at will.
- Blitzcrank - GODHAND
- Any support + AD carry combo - specifically supports with peeling ability like Janna/Lulu, and ADs with displace or dash abilities (Vayne with cleanse is god on this map if she has 2 peelers).
Other Completely Viable Champs That I Didn't See A Ton Of
Cho'Gath, Leona, Xin Zhao, Brand, Kha'Zix, Annie, Akali, Nidalee, Jarvan IV, Fiora, Fizz, Kassadin, Shen, Mundo, Urgot, Ziggs, Vladimir, Warwick, Volibear, Zyra, Wukong, Garen, Gangplank.
Noob Trap Tier - bad champs that bads think are good.
- Tryndamere - lategame champs are not ideal on TT. Tryndamere needs at least a Wriggles and a PD before he gets strong, and good luck getting that kind of farm against Darius, Jayce, Jax, or any other anti-autoattack bruiser. He is mobile but has no real burst to speak of, and absolutely no utility.
- Poppy - "Poppy is great on TT because there are so many walls" is like the #1 thing I've heard from people inexperienced on TT. She sucks ass. She can't lane against anyone, and this entire game is about the laning phase/early game. She has no early game whatsoever and the entire game can be decided in the first 4 minutes. Don't pick her.
- Sion - AP sion would be viable if his spells cost less than 2901532 mana. AD sion is just out. Not enough time to get strong.
- Nasus - a situational pick, maybe against Irelia. You won't get massive levels of Q-farm, you'll be relying on your ult for damage, and your wither/zone for utility.
- Master Yi - can actually do decently if they have no CC, but he also requires a lot of farm which is hard to come by.
- Karthus - you lose 40% of his ult's effect because there are less opponents, and the small map means you're losing the "global" effect too. Also too blue reliant. Why do people think he's good? O_o
Dos, Don'ts, and Lategame Quandaries
Do
- Take Smite on your jungler, or a laner if you have no jungler. Buff control is everything.
- Take Flash if you're in the solo lane. You will get ganked and camped and you will need an escape.
- Learn spots that you CAN and CAN'T flash. Here's a terrible flash followed by an excellent flash:
![[image loading]](http://i46.tinypic.com/2m4828x.jpg)
- Utilize your skills on champs only. Don't go OOM trying to kill creeps (except buffs). Utilize the max range of your skills to get the most out of them:
![[image loading]](http://i49.tinypic.com/2wg9bbn.jpg)
Don't
- Jungle, unless you have a page for it. You need at the very minimum armor yellows and offensive reds. Jungling when you aren't prepared to jungle is a recipe to remain level 3 forever!
- Skill your first point until you know if you're engaging the enemy or if the enemy is engaging you. Consume is a great skill to jungle with but a poor level-1 fight ability. Consider Ice Ball if you plan on engaging instead.
- Get cocky or go man-mode. Facechecking is a surefire way to lose. Here's a quick flowchart on brushes on TT: Is there a brush anywhere near you? Yes -> The enemy is inside it. There you go.
- Build tanky unless you get offensive stats from your tanky build (Galio, Malphite, Rammus) or you are the support champ. Generally you want 3 bursters rather than 3 tanks. There are always exceptions, of course! Against a triple physical damage team, someone should get a Frozen Heart and someone an Aegis. But generally, build offensive items.
How to Play Twisted Treeline
- Pick synergistic champs. Just picking 3 champs from the top tier isn't enough to win. Xin Zhao, Darius, Kha'Zix are all good champs, but lack the CC to shut down an enemy Nunu ult. Vayne and Ezreal are gods on this map, but not when paired together. Get 2 champs to defend 1, not 1 champ to defend 2.
- Push your lane, then gank the other lane. This forces your opponent to CS under the tower, likely missing gold. Otherwise they can follow you out of lane and lose experience. It's win-win for you.
- Hide in brushes, use hooks, pulls, do anything you can to catch the opposing team off-guard.
- Do not take any inhibitor unless you can end the game. This is especially true against teams with a ranged champion (unless you have a ranged champ yourself). The ability to turtle is too strong in this map.
- Be better than your opponent. This seems like the most obvious thing ever, but it needs to be said. There's no comebacks on Twisted Treeline. If your opponent out plays you, you will lose. It's better to afk and let your opponents push at 6 minutes because you fucked up your first teamfight than to drag out the game for 85 minutes (which I made the mistake of doing once during this run) and completely demoralize yourself, which will cause you to snowball more losses.
- If you're playing against a ranged AD and (one or two) support(s) champ, and you don't massively dominate them early, just surrender. Ezreal and Vayne especially become too strong if they get a kill or two. You're wasting your time and demoralizing yourself if you aren't winning teamfights consistently against ranged ADs, because ranged ADs are literally impossible to push against with all melee champs.
- Have confidence, play with assertion, put the enemy team on /ignore, and focus only on the game. Like I said in the intro section, Twisted Treeline is not anywhere near fun. This guide is to help you grind out digital rewards. If you find yourself going at your teammates for mistakes, it's time to quit, because it's not worth it. If you want to have fun, go play ARAM
Tested and True Comps
- Vayne, Cho'gath, Leona: Vayne and Leona go top lane, zone the enemy 2v1. Cho'gath either pushes bot 1v1 and takes camps, or farms 1v2 and plays passively depending on if you have a jungler. Vayne (with cleanse) is the majority of the damage output, Leona and Cho are there for their combined 5 CCs and true damage nuke. Cho builds AP, Leona builds auras and CDR. Smite not necessary in this comp.
- Riven, Shyvana, whatever: Manaless champs that are dominant early game, provide mixed damage and CC, and are extremely mobile. Shyvana top lane, Riven bot lane with a support hero (such as Nunu, Malphite, Galio, etc). Riven has smite. Shyvana pushes top to tower then farms top jungle, Riven pushes bot to tower then farms mid jungle. Stack D-blades and Wriggles' and go for every dragon as early as level 4.
- Rumble, Lee Sin, Ezreal: Lee Sin is the support hero here, using his CC and kick to protect Ezreal. Rumble builds tanky AP items so that your opponents have to choose between focusing an AP tank that will do damage regardless of your focus, or 2 slippery ADs that can disengage at will.
- Warwick, Cho'gath, Mordekaiser: Cho'gath builds AD/AS, uses his CC in conjunction with Morde and Warwick's ults to grab an enemy ghost off the bat. All three champs are tanky but do massive damage. Careful fighting when your ults are down or if you fail to secure an enemy ghost immediately.
- Jarvan, Annie, Wukong: Jarvan's battle pit ensures that Tibbers and Wukong do maximum damage. Tons of mixed damage. When this was run against us, Wukong didn't even build boots until about 12 minutes in, he focused only on damage. Annie stayed in the back when her cooldowns were down.
Twisted Treeline is a hard path... but if you persist... you can make it to diamond even if you're bad like me:
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![[image loading]](http://i46.tinypic.com/5b9yjc.jpg)
Thanks for reading! Extra special thanks to ShakeDrizzle, FGxL Hao, Yiruru, i am Shihao, 408, Aerodactyl, LovelyChris, Veetine, Xzevz, RF Legendary, and getonmehlvl for playing with me, teaching me, and letting me spectate their games.
. They run it everygame and it's really strong. Leona goes kind of tanky brusier style.
