***THIS BUILD IS BY REGINAID OF SOLOMID. READ HIS GUIDE HERE***

Click Here for a more colorful description of the same build!

My ranked stats with Corki(1500 ELO)

Everything written in this guide is by me, however the build is regi's. Bringing his build to mobafire because I have been able to consistently rape with it. I want to share it with you. All credit goes to him! Locodoco also uses this build, with a slightly different start. This is probably the last guide I am going to be making for a long time so I hope you guys enjoy it :) Now, without further adieu...

Please try out the build before voting/commenting and please leave a comment if you have any questions/criticisms of the build. Thanks and enjoy!

So you want your wings do yah? Welcome to flight school. Corki is my main ranged DPS and due how much I've been playing with him recently... Maybe my main champion. Corki is not your typical ranged DPS as his abilities mean just as much as his normal attacks. He is tough to learn and master, however he is fun as hell to play. This is probably going to be my last guide for a while as I have covered my main champion in every class except support (I don't play support), so I have made sure it is good! I am going to teach you everything I know about the Bombardier and hopefully I can help you become a feared aviator. Maybe, someday, you can achieve this:

In champion select? The load screen? Panicking and going WTF I NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW! Well here you go.

-Take a solo lane!!!!!
- Farm. Farm. Farm. That is all.
- Spam Phosphorus Bomb. A lot.
- Build either Cloth Armor+5HP or Mana Crystal+2HP as starting items based on who you are laning against.
- When chasing and fighting, make sure your Gatling Gun is close enough to do damage.
-Red buff is Corki's buff.
- Farm.
- Be aggressive.
- Always be aware of the map and think before pushing.
- In teamfights your goal is not to get kills, it is to do as much sustained damage as possible while staying alive. Kills will come if you do this.
- Positioning is key!
- Forgot to mention... YOU NEED TO FARM!!!!

3/25/11 - Build is new! No changes yet.
3/27/11 - Color scheme changed due to some feedback in the comments. First replay added.
4/6/11 - B3HP added as an optional starting item.
6/1/11 - B3HP is now the standard way to start with corki. I will make changes to the guide when I get less lazy.

Let me start by saying that runes are COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY personal preference. Here I am going to suggest some good sets that you may want to try out. Build for your playstyle!

Greater Mark of Desolation

Armor pen marks because you know they are the best. Attack speed seals and glyphs are going to be very noticeable both in early game and later on and are a nice choice. Flat health quints are for survivability early game for winning the lane.

Alternate set:

Greater Mark of Desolation

This is a set more geared towards survivability if you think you need it. This can also work fine on corki and is what I was running before I could buy my attack speed runes.

Passive: Hextech Shrapnel Shells - Corki's basic attacks deal 10% additional true damage to minions, monsters, and champions.

10% true damage... What's not to like? This is a very under rated passive. It is noticable both early and late game. Very nice for farming. There's no real "skill" needed to utilize this passive. Just know that it's there.

Q: Phosphorus Bomb - Deals 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+50% of ability power) damage to enemies in a target area. In addition, the blast reduces an enemy's chance to hit by 35%.

Far and above corki's best skill, Phosphorus Bomb has many uses. First of all, combined with your ult it turns you into a farming beast. It also makes you an extremely strong laner as you can harass the **** out of your opponent. Although it doesn't appear to have a long range, it is actually fairly decent as it extends farther than the circle suggests. Finally, the miss chance is going to hurt their carry in team fights and give you a great advantage in 1v1s. Spam this thing. Believe me, it's worth it.

W: Valkyrie - Corki surges to target location dealing 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+40% of ability power) damage per second to enemies in the fire left along his path.

Not really going to use this for damage unless in a balls out 1 on 1. Essentially a flash for you as many ranged DPS champions have. Ranged DPS champions have these flast abilities because if a melee champion gets on you, you are basically screwed. For the most part, you will want to use Valkyrie defensively. Add it with flash and you can escape pretty much every gank to mid. However, if you are going for the kill at the end of the fight and the enemy is running away, feel free to pop it.

E: Gatling Gun - Corki's gatling gun fires at all targets in front of him for 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5 seconds, dealing a quarter of his total damage and shredding 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 armor with each shot. The armor reduction persists as long as the enemy is under continuous fire.

This ability is going to ring in the enemy's ears for a lonnnnnng time. Although gatling has a pretty short range do not underestimate its damage. It only does more damage as the duration continues, so be sure to keep it on the enemy for as long as possible. When you are chasing an enemy, you want to develop a sort of "stutter step" combo. If you play terran in SC2, this is very similar to marine micro. While you have Gatling Gun popped, the goal is to keep the enemy in range as long as possible. You want to autoattack, move forward while it's on "cooldown", autoattack, move forward, repeat. This is going to ensure you do as much damage as possible while chasing. Do not just stand there and autoattack them with your gatling doing no damage out of range!

Ultimate: Missile Barrage -Corki fires a missile towards his targeted location that will collide with the first enemy it hits. Each missile deals 125 / 200 / 275 (+30% of ability power) area magic damage.

Corki stores one missile every 14 seconds up to 7 missiles at any given time. Every 4th missile will be a Big One.

This is what really makes corki so much different from other ranged carries. At level 7, combine Phosphorus Bomb with a missle on the caster minions and they are gone. Once you hit level 6 you become a farming BEAST. I prefer to save up on these in lane except for farming. At long range they are pretty easy for the enemy to dodge if they are smart. Stockpile most of your missiles for a fight, as the dps they add will turn the fight to your favor. Also, if you can't have someone help you take red buff, you can unload your stockpile on the lizard to take him out quickly. Later on in the game, the main use of this ability will be for farming and poking.

Also note that you CAN check bushes with this! I know it's tempting to do it with Phosphorus Bomb but just shooting a missile in the brush and listening for the sound will save you a lot of mana and risk in getting too close to the brush.

Start With:

OR
- - - - - -


Your starting items are going to be completely dependent on who your mid opponent is. More on this in a later section. As a rule of thumb, you want to buy the Cloth Armor + 5HP when facing strong laning opponents. Although corki is a very strong solo laner, you want to assure that against other strong solo laners you have the upper hand. The Cloth Armor will be sold at a later time. Otherwise you are going to go with Sapphire Crystal + 2HP as it builds directly into your core build.

Fasten your Seatbelts: Lane Phase

PLAY. CORKI. SOLO. If their team has no jungle (or your team) you must go mid. There are no exceptions. A fed or farmed corki will pretty much be gg. You want those minions all to yourself. Early game is probably the most important part of playing corki. If you start off 0/2 it can mean game over. If you start off 2/0 you now have sole ownership of your lane and do as you please. The lane phase can be organized by this priority list. Integrate these priorities gradually into your play and become a beast in the mid lane.

1) Farming - Your main focus during this phase is to get as many minion kills(cs) as possible. Killing the opposing champion will come, however if you are just starting out with corki make last hitting your primary goal. Once you hit level 7, one Phosphorus Bomb and one Missile Barrage will clear the caster minions as well as the wraith camp. Control the wraith camp whenever it is up.. 100 gold should not just chill in their little pit the whole game.

2) Harassment - Now, having said that, you want to harass the opponent as much as possible. Poke him all the time with Phosphorus Bomb. Spam this a lot, however you need to make sure that you hit your target and you also need to make sure you keep enough mana for a Valkyrie in case their jungler tries their luck at a gank.

3) Combat - If your opponent decides eff it, it's time to kill this midget, consider the following.
3a. If he is playing defensive and you are out harassing him, most likely this sudden impulse to attack you is not only out of frustration.. You are about to get ganked. This is why I URGE map awareness with corki. You can't always depend on mias and if you get ganked and die it's your fault. Junglers are a different story, however based on their actions you should anticipate this gank to happen. When you are 100% sure the gank is there, either you ghost to the nearest edge of the river and Valkyrie over it(screenshot below), or you flash back into a Valkyrie to safety. For top lane, get a ward for their gank path as much as possible, and get back as soon as you see someone, popping summoners if necessary.

3b. If you are at relatively even health and they just decide to go for it, and you feel a gank is unlikely, Phosphorus Bomb them at the beginning, pop Gatling Gun(make sure that you are in range for this! and let 'er rip, spamming Missile Barrage if you are level 6. I tend to save Valkyrie for either an escape or a way to catch them after you just smashed their face, but do note it does damage too.

4) Pushing. Once you hit level 7, the inability to last hit creeps is just flat out misplay. At this point if you are dominating your lane, last hit and push, push push to that tower. This is going to significantly reduce the number of last hits your enemy will get, allowing you to further increase your advantage.

Refueling:



Time to grab a tear on your first time back so you can get that mana up for your Manamune. Early on corki has some rough mana problems, but as time passes it's going to get easier and easier to keep that mana up and you will have a lot of room for spamming spells.[/color]

Refueling... Again:



Next you are going to finish up that Manamune. Now your mana problems are solved and your damage is going to get a nice boost.

The next two items are going to add a significant boost on damage output. Sheen is an amazing item on corki since you spam abilities (mainly missiles) a BUNCH. Try to make the most out of this item the entire game. Get as many Sheen procs as possible during fights. When you are pushing a lane shoot off random missiles for the sole purpose of bursting down the tower as fast as possible. Yes, towers take damage from Sheen procs... Abuse it! Berserker's Greaves are the obvious choice for your boots. Why would you need merc's? You have double flash and build a Banshee's Veil anyways. Swiftness are a waste and Tabi are pretty pointless.

Mid Game: Farming/Ganks

Your primary goal here is to continue to farm. Get that cs up high! Every enemy minion on the map is your minion. Try to achieve as much farm as possible. This means if there is an empty lane, you go to it. Additionally, the red buff is YOUR red buff. Not your jungler's, not your melee dps, it's all yours because you are corki. If someone else steals it from them ***** at them, because they are wrong to steal red buff from corki... It's a huge mistake to deny a great ranged carry the ability to easily chase and kite.

Pretty much at this point you are capable of 1v1ing just about everyone.. Be aggressive in lane, however stay aware. Even if you are capable of 1v1, you are still gankable... So don't get too cocky.

If at this point mid game is basically just an extended lane phase, you want to push and harass your opponent as much as possible and focus on winning your own lane. When they go back you have two options.
1) If you have the opportunity to push down the turret (be weary of jungler ganks if you do not have high health), do so. You get money and you get the ability to roam the map and help out other lanes. Once you get that turret the enemy mid laner will not be able to push without help as they will be an easy gank. Pushing for you is also going to be dangerous, however so you should move on to other lanes to farm, push, and gank.
2) Just go gank. Unless the enemy has completely pushed the sidelane and your team mates have enough cc, you are going to want to make sure you have red buff for your ganks. To gank, your best option is to just run in and autoattack to slow them, pop Gatling Gun and Phosphorus Bomb, and continue to bombard them with missiles for the kill. The only time you are going to initiate with a Valkyrie; or pop it at any time is when you absolutely NEED it for a successful gank. Usually Valkyrie is going to be used for finishing off enemies who try to flash away.

I'm up to snuff, and gots me an ace machine!



Time for the big hitters. At the end of mid game you are going to go for these bad boys. I find that when corki gets these two items his build is pretty much complete. If you reach the point of a Banshee's Veil you pretty much are going to dominate the rest of the game.

Once you buy your Black Cleaver you have all the damage you need to completely demolish everything. The Black Cleaver is the perfect item on corki. It gives a high amount of AD, very nice attack speed, and with three attacks you have reduced your enemy's armor by 45 before they can even blink. Combine this with Gatling Gun and even tanks are going to become jello at the foot of your epic nosestache.

Next up is a Banshee's Veil. This is going to make your enemies say "man I really hate corki". As if your range wasn't annoying enough! With a Banshee's Veil(and with smart play) you are going to become an unstoppable killing machine. I find that a lot of the time I don't even need a Banshee's Veil because they can't kill me anyways, however since your damage is already so great, having protection is going to cover up your only weakness.

Late Game: Takeoff

Now it's your time to shine. You've been building up for this time allll game. You've farmed a bunch, have a killing spree, and bought that Black Cleaver and Banshee's Veil. Now comes the fun part. Completely raping everything that moves. At this point in the game you are going to take red every time it is up. If the game is permitting, push lanes as much as you can until a teamfight is imminent. Turn on some Pendulum and start Bombardiering.

When you are pushing with your team you want to start spamming some rockets at them to poke. Abuse your crazy range BEFORE the fight starts to instantly gain an advantage. Make sure that you have good positioning; you want to put a lot of distance between you and your enemy and abuse your range! Eventually it's going to be time to do battle, so be ready to go. Make sure your team NEVER initiates when you are gone. Without you, they are nothing.

Fast forward! One of the teams has initiated and the fight has commenced. Your wings are pimped out and ready for combat. Your main focus is not to kill here, it's to do as much damage as possible while staying alive. So don't just go - I CARRY I KILL KAMIKAZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. No. Stay alive, stay calm, and do some awesome damage. In a fight, this is how you should go about things:

1) Unload your Missile Barrage first before moving in.
2) Phosphorus Bomb one of their carries. Preferably their melee carry.
3) Bring out the pain. Pop Gatling Gun and spam missiles whenever you can. Your target is going to be whoever you can safely shoot, once again, preferably their melee carry.
4) Save Valkyrie until you need it. This is a very powerful ability for both offensive and defensive purposes(mainly defensive), however you are only going to be able to use it once so you'd better be pretty damn sure you use it at the right time.

Consider yourself spanked, nuggit:



Time to finish the game off with some more damage. Since you have your Sheen already, the obvious item to build it into is a Trinity Force. This item works well for you in every aspect besides the crit chance which is negligible. It gives health, some slow utility for the times you don't have red, attack speed, movement speed, and of course the Sheen proc. Very nice all around late game item on corki for those games that just don't want to end.

Finally, if the game STILL isn't over, it's time to buy a Bloodthirster. This is going to give you all the damage you need as well as some awesome lifesteal for additional survivability and stayability. Since corki can farm with ease getting stacks up on it isn't very hard, and it's already a great item right out of the box.

Wtf man... Where's my IE...

People seem to think that every ranged DPS besides Urgot and maybe Ezreal should build an Infinity Edge. Well you need to add one more to that list. Corki does not need one either! Even though your autoattacks hit hard as hell, you still do at least 40-50% of your damage with your abilities. Missiles don't crit. Additionally, critting on 35% of your autoattacks is not ideal... With as much burst as you have you shouldn't have to pay so much to get a 35% crit chance. You can achieve much more AD (better for abilities as well) with a Bloodthirster than with an IE, and it costs 800 less gold.

Here I am going to make a list of how to play corki against other common solo champions. I will also recommend your starting items. These are only going to be a few quick sentences, so find the champion that you are midding against and read 'em real quick! They are in alphabetical order. If you have a champion whom you would like added to this list, let me know. Wall of text incoming folks, sorry.

C5HP = Cloth Armor, 5 health pots
M2HP = Mana Crystal, 2 health pots
B3HP = Boots, 3 health pots

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Anivia ~ M2HP - Anivia is pretty easy to beat until she hits level 6. You will need to pay close attention so you can dodge her stun, however pretty much if you dodge her stun you dodge her damage. Once she hits 6 beating her becomes much more difficult, so try to gain an advantage early, keep your distance, and ask for a gank.

Annie ~ M2HP - If you beat annie mid you basically have just won the game for your team because annie is an early game champion. However it isn't that easy. Again, annie is a very weak champion until level 6, so just harass her and force her to waste her mana on you. Stay away from her when she has her stun up, especially if she has Tibbers.

Ashe ~ C5HP - Ashe is pretty easy to beat, and if she is not building C5HP as well, she is going to get dominated. Not much to beating ashe, just harass the **** out of her, get into a couple autoattack fights, and heal up with your health advantage. Watch for that ult, only thing that can screw you over. Valkyrie right when you see it.

Caitlyn ~ C5HP - Cait is basically the same as ashe, except she does have a better early game. Key here is to dodge her Q and to not let her poke you. Try to fight her straight up as you have a clear advantage in damage and health pots.

Cassiopeia ~ B3HP - Cass has a very strong early game and is extremely difficult to lane against. I start with boots here because it makes it much easier to dodge her abilities. Once you have boots dodging her abilities is much easier, and you can start to farm and win your lane.

Cho'Gath ~ C5HP - Thankfully, most of the time Cho will solo top and not mid. Cho is pretty damn impossible to lane against as corki because he is so hard to kill and has too much cc and damage to fight 1v1. A well played Cho'Gath is a headache for corki. Avoid.

Ezreal ~ C5HP - Dodge and fight. Ez is going to try to kite you around and that's how he will beat you. Be aggressive and dodge his Qs in order to force some fights. Not too hard to beat but it takes your full attention.

Fiddlesticks ~ M2HP - Fiddle is annoying and difficult to kill, however he is not going to stop you from farming at all. Just farm with some occasional harassment, and Valkyrie away if he fears/drains you. Always be careful when he is MIA at level 6.

Heimerdinger ~ M2HP - Heimerdinger can't really beat you, but you can't really beat him either. He is going to push the tower and hurt your farming. Gank him early and often to shut him down. He is pretty easy to gank.

Karthus ~ B3HP - The second champion you are going to use this start with, this should make dodging his Lay Waste easy peezy lemon squeezy and you can focus on getting your cs up. If you are a very good player or he isn't a good Karthus you can try to harass him a bit, but your primary goal here is to dodge, dodge, dodge, last hit, last hit, last hit. Oh.. And if you get caught in his slow GTFO.

Kassadin ~ C5HP - This is only for the health pots. Corki can actually handle kass a lot better than most champions. For every sphere he throws, you throw him a Phosphorus Bomb back. When he does his ult combo and tries to kill you, stand your ground and 1v1 him, you can win, but be sure to get off your abilities before his silence.

Katarina ~ M2HP - Kat is very strong at harassment but isn't very good at farming. You probably won't kill her but make sure you are spamming Phosphorus Bombs and save Valkyrie for her ult. You may have to go back a couple times, just ghost back to lane and you won't lose much time.

Kennen ~ M2HP - Dodge and win. That's pretty much it. When she shruikens you Valkyrie. Just avoid getting marked and you will be fine. Be sure to have flash up.. You will need it when she ults. Remember to harass.

Kog'Maw ~ C5HP - He's tough man, real tough. His range is just amazing. If he is well played he will be tough to beat. Your best bet is to be very agressive towards him and when he uses his range ability get in range to attack him. If he tries to kite then you Valkyrie away.

LeBlanc ~ M2HP - Leblanc has crazy burst but weak range, so just stay away from her and avoid pushing the lane. She is pretty difficult to mid against, you may need to go back a lot.

Lux ~ M2HP - Dodge and be aggressive. That's pretty much all you need to do against Lux.

Malzahar ~ M2HP - Early on malz relies on his Q for damage, so focus on dodging that and harassing him. If you get him to use his E on you it's just an advantage for you as he loses his main farm ability to a cooldown. Once he hits 6 keep your distance and kite him. When he lays null zone down instantly Valkyrie away as he is setting up his ult. If you do it at the right time you can even cancel it.

Miss Fortune ~ C5HP - MF is a worthy opponent for sure. Just harass her with your Q as she harasses you with hers. Being aggressive is best for the most part especially if you have the pot advantage.

Mordekaiser ~ M2HP - Another very annoying opponent to mid against because of how strong a pusher he is and how difficult he is to kill. Harassing is pretty useless vs. Morde and you are probably just going to want to focus on last hits as much as possible and call for ganks. The only time you are clear to harass him is when his shield is down, otherwise you are just wasting mana.

Morgana ~ M2HP - Dodge and harass. You should definitely be able to farm efficiently vs morg.

Nidalee ~ M2HP - Vs. Nid harassment is not a good option. You want to just slam her early so she can't rebound. Be aggressive early on and try to get that first blood.

Pantheon ~ C5HP - Pantheon isn't as good earlygame as he used to be but he is still a threat. Until you get level 6 he can still be a pretty bad pain in the ***. After he stuns you sidestep his W and proceed to do as much damage to him as possible before he retreats. Let pantheon be the aggressor here, but know that you probably have the advantage.

Ryze ~ M2HP - Your main goal against ryze is to deny him farm and force him to spam his Q at you. So harass him. If you do this you are winning the lane.

Sivir ~ M2HP - Sivir is pretty weak mid so just harass her and dodge her Q. She is quite easy to control and beat 1v1.

Swain ~ C5HP - Avoid his snare at all costs! If he lands this huge amounts of damage are inc. This means the moment you see it you Valkyrie away. Swain is another tough matchup for corki because of his high survivability and will need to be ganked.

Teemo ~ M2HP - Eaaaaaaasyyyyyyyyy. Be mega agressive vs teemo, spamming Phosphorus Bomb whenever it is up. He has no real answer to this besides his blind, which does less damage. Since teemo is soo squishy you have the upper hand 1v1. Just watch out for shrooms!

Tristana ~ C5HP - Another strong mid opponent. Trist has better range, however she has fairly weak harass. Her way of damage is her huge burst combo. Pretty much a corki vs trist is just a farm fest. Hope you come out on top!

Twisted Fate ~ M2HP - When TF has his yellow card and Stacked Deck, get away from him. Your range is much better than TF so abuse it and farm. When TF hits 6 and goes back to base, he is most likely going to gank so alert your team mates.

Twitch ~ M2HP - Grow some balls and just stick around when twitch goes invisible. If he pops out and goes for the kill just kill him. You win 1v1 especially with Phosphorus Bomb.

Urgot ~ C5HP - Hate this fat crab thing. In my opinion he is the best early game champion in the game. Avoid his poison lock on ability at all costs, or you are about to take a ton of damage. Fighting him 1v1 is a risk, but can be successful.

Veigar ~ M2HP - Pretty simple... Harass him. Force him to waste abilities and mana on you rather than him farming. You can pretty much completely have your way against veigar. Just beware of ganks as that's the only way you are going to die.

Vladimir ~ M2HP - Note: Someone suggested B3HP vs Vlad and I have yet to try it yet. Give it a shot. Very tough to beat a vlad mid. But since you have good range he cant really deny you farm. Which is going to suffice. Harass him as much as possible early on because until he hits level 9 (really 7 tho imo) he doesn't really have an answer.

Xin Zhao ~ C5HP - Corki counters Xin pretty hard with Phosphorus Bomb. Since Xin is so dependent on being melee, just Valkyrie away if you fear him killing you, otherwise just fight him straight up.

Zilean ~ M2HP - If Zil is mid most likely someone else on his team needs it more, so that is already an advantage for you. He has some nasty harass, there's no denying that, but once you hit level 7 you will be able to farm, farm, farm, and there's nothing he can do about that.

To watch these you are going to need LoL Replay

Replay 1 - Pretty much saved the game for my team then my bro Furber took over. Good thing too because I started getting wreckless at the end :P

Replay 2 - Carrying my team in ranked *crosses arms like a bro*. This one should help you with laning against Caitlyn, whom many think is a very strong solo laner.

Phosphorus Bomb is maxed first to maximize farming and harassment potential. It is an amazing skill on corki both early and late game. Next up is Gatling Gun for that crucial armor pen and damage... You don't want to level this one up last.. It may be too late! Valkyrie is pretty much only used for its flash utility, so it is maxed last. Missile Barrage is of course taken every time it is available.

This list is organized from what I feel to be most viable to least viable.

What I use:

- Ghost is for both chasing and escaping, both of which corki excells at.

- Same with flash. It can be used to get that last autoattack or missile off to get the kill and can also cover quite the distance when combined with your W.

What you can use:

- Exhaust is going to pretty much win any 1v1s early on, however because of its short range it is going to be tough to exhaust a good target in teamfights.

- If you are struggling with winning mid, go with ignite. This is another 1v1 summoner that is going to wonders early on.

- Teleport is a nice spell for pretty much any champion, and can help you get to a lane faster for farming and pushing.

- I really think you should be fine without this if you are a smart and aware player. Go ahead and take it if you are struggling with ganks.

- Because corki has rough mana problems early on I will throw clarity in this section... Is going to be a total waste late game though.

What I don't Recommend:

- Useless lategame and pretty much useless early game. Corki is pretty beefy compared to other ranged carries... Don't need this.

- Your job is to kill towers, not protect them.

- You already buy a banshee's veil. If you are getting cced enough to need cleanse you are doing something wrong.

- Nope.

- You aren't a jungler or a buff stealer, leave that to others on the team.

- What does this even do?

First off, that awesome pic in the items/playstyle section was made by spooon. Check out Spoon's Kissing Booth to get an awesome pic of your own! Thanks bro <3

Hope this helped you guys out ;) If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will address it the best I can. If you would like something added to the build feel free to ask as well. Take care and keep owning!