[TL R&D] T.R.O.L.L.S. - Page 55

A number of topics have been tested enough for our purposes. Further testing of these concepts requires a more stable, coordinated team practicing against players of a higher caliber. At the moment, T.R.O.L.L.S. does not have the resources to continue testing these topics in a meaningful way (though they remain fun). These topics include:

• Support Nasus
  
• AD Thresh
  
• AP+Support Duo Lanes
  
• Tower Rush Compositions
  
• Mid Maokai

Some other topics are simply beyond our skill level to test effectively, and have also been removed. Specifically, Baron Rush compositions never worked largely due to execution issues inherent in a random gathering of players.

Some testing has been done for Gragas, with fairly dismal results thus far. More testing should be done, but barring some rune/itemization breakthrough this may not work out.

Last week this was tested during one of the games under the category of AP junglers, and was a fairly decent success. This demands further, focused testing.

I need to go over the details with Tarte again. Hopefully he'll be around.

TheYango has theorized that Corki is actually a better candidate for the "blue build" than Ezreal. While I'm not sure he's technically better, TheYango has some good points. This build should be tested.

Skill Order: QWQE R>Q>W>E
Primary Items: Philo Stone, Kage's, Sightstone
Secondary Items: Deathcap, Shurelya's, Crucible, Shard, Tear
Abilities:

• Heightened Learning: Beyond simply assuring that his team will generally have a level advantage, the exp boost gives all his lanes the potential to hit level 6 first. This provides a potential timing for a sudden kill.
  
• Time Bomb: When cast one bomb at a time this is a very sustainable and deadly form of harass. The high base damage and potent scaling makes Zilean one of the hardest hitting harass supports in the game, and also a good source of wave clear later.
  
• Rewind: More bombs, slows, and ultimates. This is why you make sure you cap CDR on Zilean.
  
• Time Warp: Speeding up a lane ganking jungler, slowing down an out of place opponent, helping a carry escape to safety. There are a plethora of applications for this ability. This is actually longest duration CC in the entire game, clocking in at 5.5 seconds, and with CDR Zilean can keep it up permanently.
  
• Chronoshift: The reason to use Zilean in any role. Having a GA available for every team fight is incredibly powerful, especially as it's independent of maximum health. With maximum CDR and back to back Rewinds, it has an effective cooldown of a mere 30 seconds.

Best AD Carries:

• Twitch: The amount of early pressure this pair can put down is absolutely brutal, and having a get out of jail free card for Twitch later is extremely valuable.
  
• Graves: A tanky AD carry combined with a revive is extremely difficult to deal with.
  
• Kog'maw: Let's be clear, any hard carry with a revive every teamfight is difficult to deal with. Zilean's ability to help Kog'maw from getting overwhelmed by a hard push is also useful.
  
• Tristana: Having a revive available for overly gung-ho Tristana players is a literal life-saver. Zilean's strong mid-game, even as a support, helps make up for Tristana's lack of one.
  
• Jayce: Stacking movement speed boosts is fun, and slowed targets are easy targets for Shock Blast.

Notes: Like Nasus, Zilean needs capped CDR to truly realize his potential. Unlike Nasus, he also needs a lot of mana and mana regeneration to support his spell usage. Acquiring some considerable amount of AP is also desirable as it greatly increases the potency of his ultimate, clear, and harass.

Skill Order: QEQW R>Q>W>E
Primary Items: Bloodthirster, Brutalizer
Secondary Items: Black Cleaver, Last Whisper, Warmog's Armor, Infinity Edge

Best Supports::

• Leona: Her ability to lock down a target gives Jayce ample time to set up a Shock Blast -> all-in, and his acceleration gate can greatly help her initiation.
  
• Taric: His stun and armor shred is a perfect setup for a Shock Blast -> all-in. The sustain he brings and beneficial auras are icing on the cake.
  
• Alistar: The combination of not one, but two displacement abilities is extremely nasty for both engaging and disengaging.
  
• Zilean: Throwing a bomb on Jayce's head as he zooms headlong into a heavily harassed opponent, followed by a revive in case of emergency, is a thing of beauty.
  
• Nasus: It's impossible to dodge Shock Blast when Withered, and oh do they hurt when you have zero armor.

Abilities excluded in favor of simply discussing such matters in the Notes section.

Notes: Jayce does not fit the standard AD carry paradigm. Unlike almost every other AD carry, Attack Speed is largely an irrelevant stat for him. Instead, Jayce derives an incredible amount of power from CDR. With capped CDR Jayce's Cannon-W is roughly equivalent to a 130% Attack Speed steroid (without accounting for the increased damage). In many ways it is superior to such a steroid, as Jayce can burst an opponent with four quick attacks, disengage, and then reengage once the cooldown returns. Combined with his built-in speed boosts and above average (for an AD carry) movement speed, Jayce can afford to completely ignore AS/Movement itemization vital to other AD carries.

Jayce excels as an AD who can largely protect himself. His Hammer-Q -> Hammer-W combo on an adjacent target slows them and creates distance simultaneously (while also doing significant damage). Switching back to Cannon mode gives him a 25% Armor/MR reduction on the aggressor, which assures that the incoming burst will hurt like hell. With capped CDR this pattern can be repeated every 3.6 seconds, putting all but the most dogged of opponents in an impossible position.

Jayce's primary weakness is mana, but then other prominent ADs are also common recipients of Blue buff (Ezreal, Urgot). Jayce also works best with aggressive supports who can create space for Jayce to harass and farm.

Skill Order: QEW R>W>E>Q
Primary Items: Bloodthirster, Infinity Edge
Secondary Items: Blade of the Ruined King, Phantom Dancer, Last Whisper

Best Supports::

• Leona: Nami's sustain makes up for Leona's primary weakness, and it's extremely easy to follow up Leona's CC with Nami's. This super-heavy CC combination should be able to punish a large variety of lanes.
  
• Thresh: Any successful hook should essentially be a kill given proper coordination. The sheer amount of CC in this lane should make it an easy gank even for oddball junglers who have no CC or even gap closers.
  
• Alistar: Nami's speed boost, slow from her autos, and (again) chain CC makes this a frightening lane. The double sustain combo should also make it extremely resilient.
  
• Sona: Double poke, double sustain. Nami's CC makes up for Sona's lake thereof, and she can easily help keep Sona out of danger.

Abilities excluded in favor of simply discussing such matters in the Notes section.

Notes: Nami lacks any true AD steroid or scaling, but her base Attack Speed and level scaling are decent. While she won't be terrible late game, she won't be able to match the power of late-game carries. As a result she, like Ashe, relies heavily on utility to be useful later, whatever her item build.

Nami's built in sustain makes her strong with supports lacking it, and her CC complements her support's. A Nami lane should thus be played aggressively, wearing down opponents until an opportunity arises for an all-in.

This showed considerable promise in last week's testing. While the matchup and execution thereof didn't make it definitive, the potential for Sejuani as a top laner should be examined.

Skill Order: QWE R>W>Q>E
Primary Items: Warmog's Armor, Locket
Secondary Items: Haunting Guise, Aegis/Bulwark, Sunfire Cape, Randuin's Omen, Spirit Visage, Rylai's, Void Staff
Abilities:

• Frost: Not as amazing as a Frozen Mallet, but useful nonetheless.
  
• Arctic Assault: Sejuani's gap closer/escape. The cooldown is nearly halved by rank 5, making it a priority to max this second. Note that it applies Frost, and your escape can be blocked as it stops upon collision with an enemy champion.
  
• Northern Winds: This is Sejuani's core ability. Its Health -> Damage ratio is based on rank, making it important to max this first. A Frosted target takes 396 + 18% of Sejuani's Maximum Health in damage over the duration, making it hard for any opponent to win in an extended trade.
  
• Permafrost: The slow's efficacy increases greatly with rank, but little else improves significantly. While a very valuable skill it's arguably the least important to rank up.
  
• Glacial Prison: An incredible initiation tool or gank assist. Sejuani can suddenly dive forward with Arctic Assault and launch this long range stun, or simply dive headlong into the enemy team herself before firing it point blank. Combined with Permafrost as soon as the stun fades, Sejuani is a strong initiator.

Notes: It's important to Sejuani to make every trade an extended one. Brief, fleeting trades hurt her significantly. For this reason Sejuani should hold onto her Q whenever dealing with opponents who possess an escape, so that she can close on them and punish them for trading.

Notes: We've had significant success with Jungle Karthus, and given discussion of Jungle Morgana I'd like to expand our testing in this area. There are a number of AP champions with plenty of potential in the jungle, and who deserve analysis. Testing for this week will focus on the following champions:

• Morgana
  
• Gragas
  
• Fizz
  
• Any other possibilities who are not wholly screwed without blue on their first clear.

I'm really emphasizing blue-independence because you simply can't assume you'll have blue, especially as unorthodox junglers tend to invite invasions. While champions like Cassiopeia, Malzahar, and Galio might seem like good options, they simply cannot jungle with any effectiveness unless they have blue buff.

Notes: In the past we played around with the Hook composition, consisting of Darius Top, Diana Mid, Nautilus Jungle, Thresh AD, and Blitz Support. It was obnoxious, but brittle in the face of bans and counter-picks. However, the possibility of expanding the notion out into an Abduction composition (which has fallen by the way side) came up in discussion.

The most important pick for this strategy is Thresh, as he can literally play any role while still fitting into the composition. All other picks are essentially optional, but should consist of a balance between isolating an opponent and preventing the opposing team from rushing to their rescue. As such, potential picks include (but are not limited to):

• Solo A: Darius, Singed, Lee Sin
  
• Solo B: Diana, Orianna, Anivia, Gragas, Ahri
  
• Jungle: Nautilus, Volibear, Lee Sin, Hecarim, Skarner
  
• Support: Blitz, Alistar, Janna
  
• AD: Tristana, Vayne, Jayce, Urgot

Some key champions to ban or counter-pick include Kayle, Lulu, Shen, Thresh or any other champion who excels at saving an isolated ally.