r/summonerschool

Hi, I'm practically a zeri otp and I do pretty well most games but any game that has an assassin midlaner and an assassin jungler is just instaloss for me, especially if they're smart enough to not waste all their abilities on my tanky allies (if there is any), I've seen people say build zhonya's on zeri but that's a big sacrifice especially because I have to build it 3rd or 4th for it to be useful.

Is there any tips or anything on how to play against them? or a pocket pick that I should learn or something

Ok, so I am a long time player since season 2 and I'd say I've mastered all the basics of the game and have a lot of experience playing at the gold-plat level in normals and ranked. Of course patches change things all the time so that experience sometimes doesn't help much if I don't keep up and play the game/read patch notes as frequently as I used to.

I now mostly play all 5 roles (mained jungle/support for 10 or so years before) and just played normals and arams for the last 6 years or so and I just got back into playing ranked/draft more often for the first time in years. I feel its harder to play passively in every role now but top is the worst so I will be focusing on top. I know about when to freeze, abusing level 2/6 spikes, how to deny if I'm ahead in a winning matchup and that i need to sit under tower if I died too many times or am in a hard counter lane. So those basic laning tips aren't helpful to me here.

That worked fairly well for a long time for me playing against better mechanical top mains as I never mained top. My macro knowledge is probably my best skill so I'd know how to affect the game without winning lane. However, in the last 3 or so years but especially this season it seems to be getting harder and harder to play passively and now its reached a point this season where it feels almost impossible in top lane.

Its the same types of champions that are the biggest offenders (aatrox, urgot, garen, gnar, gwen, quinn, sett, teemo, yone, warwick, yorick, illaoi, kench, malphite vs ad tops) and thats across multiple seasons not just one. These champions now seem so strong and unbalanced this season that its nearly inconceivable to win lane as a tank or weak matchup unless they're just a much worse player. Some of those were more popular in previous seasons like gwen or kench but my point remains.

What happens to me nearly every scaling lane is I end up 0/2/0 or at worst 0/7/0 because I can't do anything at all to defend myself and just die to tower dives over and over, also down at least 30cs. If I play as passive as possible I get denied hard and the enemy top has total pressure advantage so I will be down 40-80 cs by the end of lane and he can roam to grubs/herald/mid anytime and I cannot follow him because hes 2-3x stronger than me even without a kill. So its just as bad as dying 3 times giving up that much farm and pressure. Also, if I'm trying to play to win lane as bruiser vs bruiser, if they have a winning matchup it seems to be extremely hard now to 'outplay' them to win it. Even if they miss abilities or they fight you in the creep wave you still lose and fall behind they have to play so much worse than they used to for you to even have a chance of winning lane. Even so in the past if I died more than I shouldn't have I could scale up and eventually match or outscale the bruiser/carry top in teamfights but it doesn't even seem like that works either anymore. They are so strong they often are stronger than a late game tank in teamfights if they're ahead and roll through the whole team (especially yone, aatrox, kench and garen). In the past if you played it right you could easily shut down a fed bruiser top with strong tank play in teamfights. It just seems like the power gap is so big in a lot of top matchups and its so snowbally now the only success I have is if I'm in a winning matchup or if the enemy player is just really bad. And I'll be honest if I get 1 kill in a winning matchup I feel invincible also and the enemy top can't do anything either to come back. I almost never lose a lead in that state now they're just behind all game long until the end. Also get every objective topside in those games unless they send more people.

Sorry for the long post it was hard for me to shorten it I literally could write 2000 words describing every nuance and everything I've tried but it would not be readable just for help.

Ultimately, what are you supposed to do vs these champions trying to scale or play from behind? Is it just me having so much trouble this season laning vs them compared to the past? To me theres definitely a major problem if top lane only feels playable if you counter their champion. It has to be either major mistakes I'm unaware I'm making or the game balance is way off.

I totally get it when talking about adcs or mages. Those champions have range, they usually don't need to be durable.

However on champions like Diana, Briar, Gwen, Jarvan IV, and so forth, I worry a lot about CC and burst damage. When I get a couple of kills on those champions and finish my two items, like Lich Bane+Shadowflame or Profane Hydra+The Collector, I feel tempted to buy a big HP+resist tank item, because at that point the enemy champions finish their first damage items too and they group up more, which increases the likelihood that I'll get hit by CC and eat a bunch of damage.

Am I wrong to feel that way? If I look at Master+ rank builds, it is always an "either/or" thing. If they buy big damage, they never buy HP and vice-versa. Don't get me wrong, I've seen games where the glass cannon builds pay off and they never stop snowballing, but I've also seen games where they get repeatedly nuked and throw the game, like when a fed full AP Diana keeps getting hit by Ashe arrows or Syndra QE and then dies to a couple of basic skillshots without accomplishing anything.

So i've been playing off and on for a while nothing serious until my closest friend really got into it. He plays jungle. I play either Mid (akali syndra vex) or support (milio Rakan Thresh)
The issue is i really really really hate this game. I hate the horrible champ designs (durrr i point and click you i win) to the casino style matchmaking. (lets all tower dive the jinx and thresh what could ever go wrong)

I'm at the point the only way i tolerate playing this game is playing milio and blasting music because nothing you do in this game is ever good enough to prevent point and click, trolling or any others unnecessary BS this game offers.

Like i just can't bring myself to enjoy this game no matter what i do but its the only game my friend will play and i want to game with him. I tried to get him to play other games but due to the way the game works it caters to his addictive personality.

So the big question is how are you suppose to actually enjoy a game that is designed around being unenjoyable?

I've been playing for about 3 years on and off I peaked plat 4 80 lp and im currently around gold 3-2 and im unsure about how to improve and i feel pretty stuck I've played about 180 games this season I play JG/Support however ive been messing about with other roles/champs just to try things but yeah i feel pretty stuck and idk how to improve I want to climb as jg mainly tho so tips around that would help best or just improvement tips anything lol

I am level 27 and only played jungle with few champs and only want to play jungle now .

But in draft pick it just random lane pick and I dont know any champ to play mid/top/bot. Is this how is it in ranked you need to play every lane not just one.

Is there anyway to preselect always jungle ?

I am gold 4 currently and am hoping to at least hit plat this season. My main role has been jungle and is steady with master yi and viego where I pretty consistently win, however almost every other game I get as my second role which switches from mid to top and it's a loss almost every time. I think saying its my teams fault every game is just lazy but I can't seem to find champs that can reliably carry a game regardless of my team when i usually win lane. For me, Master yi and viego work very well and allow me to practically 1v9 since I keep consistent cs so there is always comback potential and clutch opportunities but having played champs like Dr mundo top or syndra mid for a bit just hasn't yielded as good results.

I win/go even and just try my best to turn my lead into objectives or kills and it never works so I am making this post to help give a rough idea of champs for top lane and mid lane (whichever one will be better for climbing, which i also don't know) that I should play if I want to win more consistently or at least align better with my own playstyle where I can win it even with a bad team. the following I've looked over as champs who can *more or less* do what im looking for but I would also be open to suggestoins

Top lane I've considered champs such as: kled, garen, darius, mordekaiser, zaahen, nasus, renekton, trundle, yone, gwen, jax, ambessa, kayle

While in Mid lane I've thought of: viktor, syndra, veigar, sylas, yasuo, qiyana, kayle, kassadin, aurelion sol, smolder, vex

if someone could suggest the best champs in my climb and what role would be best i'd greatly appreciate it

Im new to the game and would hate to get used to a set of binds to later find out i couldve had a more important ability in a better key for me.

so far i have:

Q - ability
W - ability
E - ability
R - ability
F - Flash

all in the most important comfortable places for me.

What would be the next most important things in order?

When I did the math it kinda looked like Void Staff gives about the same resault as having both Cryptbloom and Shadowflame together. Am I missing somthing or is that actualy how it works?

Heres the math I did using a tank with alot of magic resist (sorry if I got anyhting wrong lol, feel free to corect me):

Scenario: enemy team has two tanks like Maphite top and Tahm Kench support both havin 200 MR.

Void Staff (40%):
200 → 120 MR

Cryptbloom (30%) + Shadowflame (~15 flat):
200 → 140 MR (after 30%)
140 → 125 MR (after flat pen)

Result:

as you can see, Void Staff is a tiny bit better here, but its only by a small ammount. So most of the time you can just buy Void Staff instead of getting both Shadowflame and Cryptbloom.

The extra 10% magic pen from Void Staff 40% magic pen kinda makes up for buying another flat magic pen item like Shadowflame or Stormsurge. Becuz of that, u dont really need another magic pen item. Void Staff pretty much does the job by itself, so you can use that extra item slot for any other AP item you want, as long as you already have Rabadons Deathcap. stuff like Zhonya Hourglass or Banshee Veil are both good picks, so you can buy them without really worring about it.

The only time this doesnt really work is if your against a team where 4 or 5 champs have built magic resist. Then its worth getting Void Staff with Shadowflame or Stormsurge so you can do as much damage as posible.

Any help much appreciated cause Im not too sure if Im correct and want someone to verify. Thankss

TLDR: Im trying to understand whether these are basically equivalent. I’m not interested in the AP provided by these items, only in comparing the magic penetration on Cryptbloom. I’m debating whether it’s worth buying two items Cryptbloom (30%) + Shadowflame, or just buying Void Staff and then a high AP snowball item (that doesn’t have magic penetration).

I didn't get into league initially since It would probably takes a while for me to learn it due to League making me not able to check opponent or allies skills.

People tell me to go to the wiki page to learn an enemy ability was a turn off for me and also having to grind to get a character you want just for me to hate the kit.

seeing Jynxzi grinding to silver in league makes me want to try league again.

I am looking for a character that I can snowball one trick with. Is there a specific item build should I follow? What role should I take and what does that role mostly do?

I came up with a cool idea in the middle of a game earlier today. Playing MF with 4 items completed and Soul was spawning in 1 min. I was sitting on 800g and I figured the next fight could be game deciding (spoiler, it was.) I was weighing my options of a control ward, executioner’s, crit cloak, etc. I couldn’t see much value in another component so I was rereading the elixir’s description: “Grants 300 bonus health, 25% Tenacity and 15% increased size for 180 seconds. While active, moving leaves behind a path briefly that grants 15% bonus movement speedto allied champions within”

I mainly focused on the +300 bonus health and thought about how much survivability that with be Barrier, which would be a 375hp shield. I ended up buying it and popped it mid fight as I baited the enemy Yone. We secured Soul, and I barely survived the teamfight all thanks to the Iron pot. I rewatched the VOD and I can confirm my hp went from 350 to 650 in an instant. Made me think of the old days of going top lane with a red pot level 1 lol.

Even if I got ignited or tagged by something with Grievous, the HP bonus wouldn’t be affected since it’s not a heal and basically a Level 1 Lulu Ult. I would say it’s similar to when mages don’t have enough money for a Seeker’s or a Needless so they go for Elixir of Sorcery. I recall Showmaker doing this one time at Worlds when he was playing Syndra. Has anyone else done this or considered this mid-late game as a squishy?

I haven’t seen this done in pro-play or from any streamers so I figured I’d ask yall. I think it’s most relevant when you play a bot-laner because you have an extra item slot with quest completion. If you were sitting with 900g, you could technically buy a Giant’s belt for the +350 hp and then sell it later for net loss of -270g but I haven’t seen anyone do that either.

I'm thinking a lot of the common knowledge on this is just based on how it works in high elo and doesn't really apply in lower elos.

Like one of the best examples to this for me is Nasus. People say he spikes hard in mid game and then starts falling off. I guess bc if you're in higher elo once ADC has 100% crit and LDR you're just going to get cc'd and they're going to one shot you before you can get on anyone. But that doesn't really happen in low elo because 1 the ADCs position very badly and 2 the supports and anyone else doesn't peel ever, they only engage. As a result it feels like the champ never falls off and just infinite scales.

An opposite example of this is ranged champs that are supposed to scale well. Like Vayne or Kayle are two big ones. They don't seem to scale that well in low elo bc its too hard to position and play mechanically well enough in 5v5s late game when a lot of things can one shot you and a lot is going on. I see a lot of Vayne's stomping lane then being useless later bc the mechanics in teamfights are too hard.

Hello redditors, I am tired of trying to climb and just losing games bc of teammates who played a bad game. Just rn I got demoted from an s+ game and it makes me feel apathy towards my actual contributions to the game. I know the usual argument is that you are the only one across all your games, but when there are 10 champs, statistically you are only going to be the impact 10% of the games so that means for one win due to yourself you have to play 10x games.

Any advice on how I should view this? Is the correct view justy that it is a grind and if I want to get higher I need lots of games?

it feels like to me, if I don't play a 1 v 9 champ, (and carry) then realistically i will come down to the other players. For example, I like to play anti carries, which I view has a good use in my elo (as im low elo so many games someone is super fed), but that remo0ves my ability to actually make plays it seems.

Used to play league back in high-school quite a lot. Back when everyone were summoners and there was a weekly in-game newspaper. I'd consider myself pretty good at the time, having been gold in NA prior to the introduction of OCE servers and then diamond. That said I stopped playing back in 2017 and I'd like to check in on how much has changed and get some advice for getting back into it. I suspect the days of Shyvana and Mundo being the only good top laners and Zed being insta ban are long gone.

From what I've seen on Reddit, roles don't really exist anymore? It seems like the most bizarre champions are being played, primarily in bot and jg. What caused this transition? I can recall people trying to play Ziggs or Ryze APC back in the day and it was dogwater. You'd only see them score horribly.

I used to play Lulu, Renekton and Jax top and Lee Sin and Nunu jg. From what I've seen Lulu is exclusively support now, Lee Sin and Renekton have been nerfed a lot and Nunu has been reworked. Is it still worth trying to bust out the Lee Sin flexes or is he heavily outdated now? Any recommendations for top laners that play like Lulu? Heck any champion recommendations at all. Who's new and fun, who's strong and oppressive, who hasn't been touched at all so I'll actually know what I'm doing?

Cheers ears

Edit: is Janna shit now? Why does no one play Janna? Janna rocks!

Sometimes (especially when I’m near a promo I want) I find myself playing with full intensity. Like I’m trying to force a win to happen no matter what and play perfectly and 1v9. And I have occasionally been successful and made a win happen by myself like that against all odds. My mental stack is at max capacity and I’m looking everywhere on the map and trying to track everything.

Other times I’m just vibing and playing intuitively. Like “meh i think I’ll freeze now” or “meh looks like a good roam I’ll just Taliyah ult over there and send it and see what happens”.

When I’m vibing i feel like the games not even up to me. Ima just do my little part well as mid, keep tempo advantage, and if the team decides to win then cool. If they Throw then whatever that’s on them.

Lately I’ve been wondering if I even play better at full intensity or if just vibing is lowkey overpowered because you wait for the enemy mistakes more and you get less tilted, and force stuff less.

What do you guys think, do yall play better locked in or kind of relaxed and a little mindlessly following your own habits and subconscious learnings?