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Recommended Items
Spells:
Ignite
Flash
Items
Ability Order
New Destiny (PASSIVE)
Graves Passive Ability
Graves - The Verdict is Vengeance
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Welcome to my second in-depth guide!
This time around I am pleased to present...
Graves - The Verdict is Vengeance
This is a sinister guide to playing
Graves in bottom lane.
For those of you that did not notice. The title is a "V For Vendetta" reference in conjuncture with Graves being driven by his vendettas ;)
Preferably you will want to take a support with you. Although an off-tank with heavy CC is great as well (e.g. Leona). I will provide a section detailing which supports have what bonuses/minuses.
As with all guides you should not acknowledge my build as you would the Bible.Please do not down-vote this guide if you disagree with the cheat sheet item build. This is one of many build variations you could do with Graves, all are a preference. This is a guide for Graves and the build is simply an included part of it =) I ask that you judge the guide itself rather than just the build =P
Please do not down-vote my guide because you don't agree with the specific build listed above. I will include alternative items in this guide =)
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Thank you to all of those who have supported this guide making it the #1 Graves guide!
Thank you all for your support. It's been a fun ride so far and I'm happy to see it has hit #1!
What's Great!
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What's Not so Great
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Greater Mark of Armor Penetration | SPACE | SPACE |
Armor Penetration (More Damage Against Your Opponents)Greater Mark of armor penetration, these are what you take if you want to deal more damage to your opponents. I would advise taking the attack damage quints if you need the last hitting boost. These armor penetration marks will allow you to do extra damage to those who do not build very much armor and will allow you to eat through your bottom lane opponents. It's up to what you feel you need, last hitting power or extra damage against your opponents. *Note* - I decided to place these as my new recommended Marks. This is because the attack damage marks are only useful if you want the extra last hitting power. Otherwise, you want to take the best increase of damage against your opponents in order to control and dominate your lane. |
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ArmorGreater Seal of Armor, these runes are pretty set in stone, to be honest. (I won't include any other seals in the alternative runes section) You will be facing another ranged AD almost 100% of the time. You will need these runes if you plan on standing ground against them as they will also have these runes. You also should try to use Flat Armor Seals instead of per level this is because scaling runes are more for when you do not have to immediately face that threat. (e.g. magic resist per level at solo top for when Ahri comes and ganks later in the game) |
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Per-Level Magic ResistGreater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist, Once again I will bring up per-level vs. flat. Since you will be laning against another ranged AD and a support you don't see too much threat from ability power until ganks come. So, you should take per-level magic resist to get better resistances against those mentioned ganks. These will provide that as well as give a nice bonus to MR against their support, if the support has some harass (e.g. Soraka). |
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Attack DamageGreater Quintessence of Attack Damage, you already have +8.55 Physical Damage from your Marks but you want more right? Or you have 15 armor penetration from your greater mark of armor penetration's. I highly recommend keeping these quintessences the same no matter which marks you chose to take. The extra last hitting power and the slight boost to your auto-attack damage/ability burst will pair nicely with armor penetration and it will stack well if you are trying to buff your last hitting ability. These will add +6.75 Physical Damage by themselves. |
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Flat Attack Damage (More Last Hitting Ability)Greater Mark of Attack Damage, Well, these marks alone will give you a bonus +8.55 Physical Damage. Not too shabby, combine these with your Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage's and you will get another +6.75 Physical Damage at the start of the game. This all together gives you a total of Bonus +15.3 Physical Damage solely from runes! This is optimal if you want the most last hitting power you can get. If you want to deal more damage to the enemy you will want to replace these marks with greater mark of armor penetration's. |
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Flat Magic ResistGreater Glyph of Magic Resist, these are the other variation of magic resist you could take. Just note that flat magic resist is a better option if you will have an immediate ability power champion threat. Otherwise, you should take per-level magic resistance since they surpass flat runes after around level 10 I believe. |
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Movement Speed?Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed, Oh Graves, how slow you are. I don't know about you but every single game I play Graves without fail I will tell Graves that he is a slow a** hippo and to go faster. If you want to try something new on Graves or do not have the aforementioned, "better", runes then don't hesitate to pop these in the mix. They will allow you to be quite the annoying harasser and they will also add a good amount of escape-ability/chase when combined with Quickdraw. |
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Offensive Tree
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Defensive Tree
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Recommended Spells
Ignite
SPACE | SPACE | Ignite, this spell is currently becoming the most preferable spell to take as a ranged ad carry. The recent patch nerfed Heal enough that you should seriously consider taking Ignite instead. You can pop it on the AD carry and focus him down with your burst with his/her healer being unable to over-heal your burst. You can also pop it on champions who will get away with low life to secure the kill, obviously. A very great skill. | SPACE | SPACE |
Flash
SPACE | SPACE | Flash, as an AD Ranged carry you need the versatility in mobility that this spell provides you with. Just like with Exhaust this spell has so many possibilities. Use this spell to quickly close the gap for a finishing blow on a kill, for escaping unseen ganks, escaping out of a bad position (Over walls), dodging huge enemy spell nukes that would otherwise be devastating, and much more. I highly recommend taking this skill, especially for Ranked games. | SPACE | SPACE |
In Order of Usefulness
Barrier
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Barrier, once this skill came to 5's in became a huge hit. Especially with ranged AD carries. It only lasts 2 seconds so be sure to time it's use wisely. But, this skill can prove to be very helpful and can be used in a variety of ways. Use it to absorb incoming nuke damage (generally big cooldown with big damage moves), or to block the enemies return harassment when you dash in and burst them leaving them hurt and you unscathed. Many people insist that Barrier is a better choice over Ignite. However, I disagree, and I especially disagree with how graves is built. If you were Quinn or one of many other champions that have the right criteria for Barrier to be their most effective compliment then sure. But, Graves is an up close, bursty, tanky champion. If you do NOT know how to be strategically aggressive, then sure take Barrier and it'll probably save your life. But, if you can burst and get away without being harassed then take Ignite for easy domination. |
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Cleanse
SPACE | SPACE | Cleanse, as ranged AD carry you WILL be focused, especially in team fights. Having Cleanse can prove to be very valuable since you can take off that pesky Exhaust or escape anyone's stun/slow to get to a safer position or to finish the job you started. A very good and very underrated spell. Only take this spell, however, if you know you will be against a heavy CC team. | SPACE | SPACE |
Heal
SPACE | SPACE | Heal, this spell used to be the standard for a ranged ad carry to take in bottom lane. However, since the recent patch it was nerfed and it is much less useful now. The more favorable spell is becoming Ignite so consider taking it instead of Heal. However, it is still more useful than a lot of other summoner spells and some people might enjoy taking it in non-ranked games. For instance, to heal bait =P | SPACE | SPACE |
Exhaust
SPACE | SPACE | Exhaust, this spell is amazing without a doubt. However, you should try to have your Support take it instead of you since it will have the same effect and that way you can take something else for yourself. With it you can do a multitude of powerful things. You could use it offensively in bot-lane to make sure someone doesn't escape your wrath. You could use it defensively to escape someone else's unforeseen wrath. You could use it in a team fight on the enemy ranged AD carry to greatly help your team and ensure he does not snipe your teammates down in the first few seconds. You could bait someone into a tower dive only to Exhaust them while kiting them to their death. A Very good spell to have for any ranged AD carry, just remember that your support can take it instead of you. | SPACE | SPACE |
Ghost
SPACE | SPACE | Ghost, if you are someone who absolutely despises Flash you could possibly replace it with Ghost. However, I wouldn't advise taking Ghost over Flash since Graves is a burst oriented AD carry. Being able to chase someone with the lack of CC proves rather pointless. The only reason I could see taking this spell would be if you knew you were going to have to be at a lot of places that were far away and frequently. Take Flash or a different spell mentioned above this one unless you reeeeally want Ghost, lol. | SPACE | SPACE |
Passive
True Grit
Max First
Buckshot
How to use this skill...(Optional Reading)
- Use it to harass your opponents from long range, if you need to. This can be effective despite Buckshot doing more damage if you hit the enemy with multiple bullets (close range). Sometimes the enemy composition will be too dangerous for you to dash up to and blast in the face, although you should try to coordinate with your support in order to allow you to get close to your opponents, burst them, then back out of the fight before they can return the damage.
- Try to let your support setup a safe path to you opponents, or be ready to heal you, and then Quickdraw right in front of the enemy (or to their side to avoid skill shots) and shoot your Buckshot in close range in order to get the three bullet bonus damage and then run into the bush to avoid them from returning the damage. This is a great way to repeatedly out-burst and harass your opponents. If you need to you can toss a Smoke Screen as you are retreating to disallow the other ranged ad carry from auto-attack targeting you as well as to slow them.
- If you know your opponents are in the bush you can throw a Smoke Screen at them and then move a little closer (at a unique angle to avoid skill shots) to shoot off a Buckshot in order to safely get some burst off.
- Buckshot is crucial in team fights as it can do massive burst damage to the entire enemy team whenever it is off cooldown. Make sure to try and hit as many of your opponents as you can with each use of Buckshot.
Buckshot Range
Max Second
Quickdraw
How to use this skill...(Optional Reading)
- Quickdraw is a very versatile skill. First I will explain the offensive uses. You can Quickdraw right in front of you opponent in order to close the gap and dish some serious burst damage with Buckshot. You could also use it to chase your opponent by using Quickdraw to wall jump (I show locations in my "Dashing to Victory" section). Lastly, you could Quickdraw towards your opponent, if he/she is just running away from the lane or a team fight, in order to shoot off your Collateral Damage and pick up the kill.
- Now, the defensive uses of Quickdraw. First off, you can/should/will use Quickdraw in order to quickly dash out of the way of many skill shots (such as Rocket Grab or Chain of Corruption), this is one of the greatest uses for Quickdraw depending on the nuking power of the skill shots you are facing. Second, you can use it simply to dash away from an incoming gank, I do this very frequently, it will act as a mini flash giving you the space to simply run away that you need. Lastly, you could use Quickdraw to dash over certain walls, which, again, I outline in "Dashing to Victory". This is also one of the best ways to avoid a gank or almost certain death. Learn which walls you can jump and get in the habit of running directly to them to wall jump when you are in trouble.
Quickdraw Range
Max Last
Smoke Screen
How to use this skill...(Optional Reading)
- At its most basic level you can toss Smoke Screen down right on top of your opponents or the enemy team in order to blind them and give your teammate/s visual advantage and to make it easier to land skill shots.
- You could wait in the bush for the enemy to walk into range and throw Smoke Screen down barely on top of them and more so behind them. Then, lead into a Buckshot with a Quickdraw to give you the attackspeed buff and close the gap as well as get your three shot burst off before auto-attacking them.
- You could toss a Smoke Screen down to cut off a section of the battlefield, or a narrow path enemies must walk through to get to the battlefield, instead of throwing it right on top of some enemies. This would be viable in a situation where some of your opponent are coming from a different direction and you want to cut them off so that your team can jump the other group before their help gets there.
- You could use Smoke Screen to displace the enemy ranged ad carry so that he has to miss creep kills in order to keep your gold advantage.
- Defensive uses are a little more straight forward. Most of the time you will toss Smoke Screen down in the most direct path to you as you run, slowing the enemy as well as blinding them to prevent them from landing skill shot. There aren't many other defensive uses since the above mentioned one is the most effective usually. But, it has a blind and a slow so you can play around with it in order to save you/your teammates life/lives =P
Smoke Screen Range
Smoke Screen AOE Range When Used + What it Looks Like
Max Whenever Possible
Collateral Damage
How to use Collateral Damage...(Optional Reading)
- If your team is about to initiate a team fight and the enemy team is stacked together you could fire Collateral Damage at the entire team and it will deal good poke damage to them all before your team engages giving your team a health advantage in that fight.
- In it's more traditional use you could use it to finish off an escaping opponent who is at low life. Fire your Collateral Damage through trees/down lanes to pick up kills and give yourself a nice gold/experience advantage.
- Sometimes someone will initiate a 1v1 against you if you are out of position. If this happens you might need to add Collateral Damage into your burst rotation, using it right after your Buckshot in order to make sure you finish him/her before he/she finishes you. I often have to do this if I get caught by Jarvan IV in blind pick games.
Collateral Damage Range
Collateral Damage Explosion Range
Boots + Health Potions
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SPACE | SPACE | Boots and Health Potion's x4, this is what I take in 100% of my games with Graves. Therefore, I highly recommend taking this setup as it will almost always prove to be more effective than taking a Doran's Blade. You will especially want to take these items instead of a Doran's Blade if any of the situations bulleted below apply. | SPACE |
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When do I NEED to take Boots and Health Pots?
- Your Support is NOT a Sustain Support. (e.g. Leona)
If your support is someone without sustainability capabilities you should take Boots and Health Potions instead of the Doran's Blade. This includes champions like Blitzcrank, Leona, Lulu (Although she has her ultimate to sort of heal you), etc...
- Your Enemy is a Lulu Support + a Long Ranged AD (e.g. Caitlyn )
This kind of comp' can prove to be very difficult for Graves since he has a lower range than most other ranged carries. Lulu will consistently throw her slow at you with no remorse, a Doran's Blade is not the best choice, if you have trouble against these kinds of comps with a Doran's Blade then try using Boots and Pots to start the game off.
- Kill Lane (e.g. Jarvan IV + Leona)
If your opponent bottom lane is a kill-oriented lane like the example above, or anything overly aggressive you will want to take Boots and Pots to start off the match. This way you can avoid all of the harass much easier (You are inherently slow) and you can also avoid tower dives by retreating far behind your turret before they can catch you.
- Feeling Iffy About Your Matchup?
If you are unsure about how you will fare against your matchup then you should strongly consider taking Boots and Health Potion's x4. This is because you are a non-sustain champion and if it turns out you are going to have issues in your lane taking a Doran's Blade first could result in a tougher than it needs to be early game.
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Doran's Blade
SPACE | SPACE | Doran's Blade, this item is to add bulkiness to your stats. I do not advise taking a Doran's Blade over Boots and Pots but everyone has their preferences so take it if you want to. This item does not build into anything which makes it a sink hole for money, the more you buy the deeper you sink. Because of this, be sure to never buy more than 3 Doran's items. If you wanted to be more aggressive in the beginning of the match you might want to consider picking up a Doran's Blade rather than Boots and Health pots. However, you will have to be confident that you can do well enough against your opponent that you can make up for the sink costs of buying your Doran's Blade. | SPACE |
Stacking Doran's Blades
Do This if You're Having a Rough Time
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Stacking Doran's Blades, this is something you would do before building your first B. F. Sword. It's a very sacrificial option as it includes 3 sink items and it is not something I would advise. However, many people like to do it so I will include what it has to offer in this guide. Building more than one Doran's Blade (Never more than 3!) will give you very strong early game health, a hefty amount of life steal, and a nice damage boost. These items are the most inexpensive for the effects in the game, but they do not build into anything, so we don't want to stack them unless we need to in order to control our lane and get a nice farm. They are, however a great route to take if you want to have a safe time farming in your lane. This is because they will allow you to tank many additional hits than you otherwise could and stacked Doran's Blade's will give you a great damage boost and life steal to help you last hit and stay in your lane longer. They are basically your, "****, I had to back to base and only have 557 gold but am not controlling my lane very well...Doran's Blade time." |
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B. F. Sword
Recommended Route
SPACE | SPACE | B. F. Sword, you should stay in your lane until you have at least 1550 gold which should be around 45 creep kills. If you are doing alright in your lane and can stay longer it's always good to stay until you have 1950 gold in order to purchase both your B. F. Sword and as much of your Berserker's Greaves as possible. If you want to buy your full Berserker's Greaves as well as your B. F. Sword on your first return then save up 2125 gold. Also consider restocking on Health Potion's, up to x3. I only advise restocking Health Potion's if you need to in order to farm and withstand harass while doing so. | SPACE |
Alternative Choices?
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Having a Really Rough Start? Or Simply Need More Mobility?
In both cases you can instead get your Berserker's Greaves and then a Zeal before getting your B. F. Sword.
If you are still having issues getting to your B. F. Sword then you can build your last place holder item, Vampiric Scepter before saving up for your B. F. Sword. I often do this when I'm having a really rough start since I will need both/all of those items later in the game anyways and they can substitute my killing ability while I try to gather 1550 gold at one time for the B. F. Sword.
Other than the listed alternative above, remember that, as mentioned in the beginning, you could always stack Doran's Blade x3 as an alternative to rushing the B. F. Sword.
Berserker's Greaves
SPACE | SPACE | Berserker's Greaves, now that you have your B. F. Sword you want to finish increasing your mobility and attack speed so that you can utilize that +45 damage. | SPACE |
Infinity Edge
SPACE | SPACE | Infinity Edge, Okay, you have a support in your lane so you don't need to rush sustainability with a Bloodthirster. Instead, we rush an Infinity Edge after getting the B. F. Sword. Buy the Pickaxe first then the Cloak of Agility. The reason we opt for this item is because your role is purely to damage the other team, you will be protected by your team, so naturally we take the most potent Ranged AD Item =P | SPACE |
Vampiric Scepter (Completely Optional/Highly Recommended)
SPACE | SPACE | Vampiric Scepter, At this point you might want to consider taking a Vampiric Scepter so that you have some level of self-sustain. I highly recommend this but it is, however, completely optional. I do NOT recommend building any more parts of the Bloodthirster until I say to build the Bloodthirster later in the build. This is because the Vampiric Scepter is plenty enough life steal to sustain yourself if you get poked/harassed by your opponents. If you do NOT want the 800 gold sustainability you can feel free to skip this step and continue on to the Phantom Dancer which will make you even more potent, however you better be confident in your ability to dodge nuke damage and stay alive as well as having a lot of damage output if you do not take the Vampiric Scepter at this point. | SPACE |
Last Whisper
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Last Whisper, this should be your 3rd completed item. After your Infinity Edge or after your Vampiric Scepter if you chose to purchase one. At this point in the game many champions will have plenty of armor, so much so that all of those damage items you purchased are nerfed against these stacked armor opponents. Take this 40% armor penetration item along with its +40 damage so that you can get back to taking fat chunks out of everyone's health. And yes, you will notice the difference. |
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Phantom Dancer
SPACE | SPACE | Phantom Dancer, Now you have plenty of damage/burst, however your attack speed doesn't allow you to fully utilize your damage and the enemy is getting pretty powerful so you need more mobility. Take a Phantom Dancer to give you the stats you need most at this point. | SPACE |
Want/Need More Damage and or Self-Sustain Instead?
*Under Rework, but do get the bloodthirster here. Ignore any inconsistencies with secondary reccomendations. =). Soon I will re-do much of this guide and re-publish it for you guys because I appreciate the support even though I had to abandon it to some extent.*
- Now that we have all other means of damage we need self-sustainability. This way we can roam and murder people as well as maintain our own health is we avoid nuke damage in team fights. Build a Bloodthirster to essentially inject graves with a next level potency. Now you can do as I mentioned above and operate as an individual unit that can devour entire teams if played smart.
Better Yet! Just Get The Scepter!
- If you chose not to opt for the vampiric scepter before and find that now you need some self-sustain get the Vampiric Scepter now and then continue getting your Phantom Dancer. This is a much more effective way of gaining some sustainability without sacrificing your damage output and mobility. I highly recommended just getting the Vampiric Scepter over completing the full Bloodthirster before getting your Phantom Dancer. Get this if you are looking for some sustainability at this point!
Bloodthirster
Prefer to Have Straight Survivability? Instead of the Blade of the Ruined King take a...
- If you are someone who prefers straight survivability, probably starting in late mid-game, then you can consider taking a Guardian Angel at this point. This will allow you to kind of be your own person a little more instead of relying on sticking with your team, although I highly recommend sticking with your team even if you are in low enough elo that you can roam by yourself, it's just safer and more reliable. This item will, however, give you great magic resist and armor bonuses as well as a second chance to live! Always fun and always nice! Again, however, if you are sticking with your team or in a ranked game, I Strongly advise against hindering your damage output/self-sustain for flat survivability! Instead get the Bloodthirster and let this be your LAST item =)
Situational Last Item (Pick One)
(Defensive Recommendation)
- Again, if you are having serious issues with dying too early in team fights (not too often but too early) then consider taking this item. Now, is a much better time to take this item as an alternative but if you don't need it don't take it! Take more damage if you can! It will allow you to stick around past the initial nuking stage in team fights so that you can utilize your damage output.
(Defensive Recommendation)
- This is the defensive item you will want to get if the enemy team has more Ability Power Carries than Attack Damage Carries. Or if a particular Ability Power Carry tends to nuke you down/out of the fight every team fight.
(Defensive Recommendation)
- This is the defensive item you will want to get if the enemy team tends to lock you up with CC or use Exhaust on you every team fight. If you have desire to get this item you will want to implement it into your build earlier in the game so it is at its most useful. Not sure when you would want to do this, but use your own discretion, take it when you need it and when it won't hinder your ability to kill the enemy team in team fights.
Why Take A Support With You?
Early Game Strategy
Tips and Tricks:
- In an effort to last hit every minion you should pace back and forth or use "S" to stop and not auto-attack (Although I highly recommend pacing so that you don't get caught by skill shots). Watch the creeps as you pace back and forth and in random directions, once a creep is low enough to last hit, take it out for the gold. This is by far the best strategy if you plan on farming your lane safely and effectively.
- Use your Smoke Screen both defensively and offensively. Defensively, by tossing it in the path of advancing enemies (Especially ranged/skill shot champions) and then if they have a skill shot do not move in the same pattern you were when they entered the Smoke Screen, dodge them they can't see =P. Offensively, by tossing it where the enemy carry must stand in order to last hit creeps (Works especially well if they are pacing all over the place to avoid you hitting them). This is a quick and very easy way to gain gold advantage over your opponent!
- Let your support harass the enemy while you farm freely and only intervene if they decide to approach your support (Granted some supports can't really harass).
- Buckshot can be used to very easily harass enemy champions without having to deviate from focusing on last hitting creeps. Use it frequently!
Mid-Game Strategy
Tips and Tricks:
- Use Collateral Damage to try and kill-steal Dragon if the enemy team is taking it and your team has a ward there. It's pretty tough, but very worth the try! (Unless a team fight is about to break out over Dragon, then save your ultimate for the enemy team).
- Try organizing your team to take Dragon and try to start taking Red Buff from your jungler if he will allow it (Which he should).
- Once you take the enemy bottom tower, make sure not to over-commit too far when farming, and only cross the river at all if you have wards up. A common mistake people will make is pushing the bottom wave in an effort to farm and ending up way out of position.
- Gank Mid Lane if your opponents are pushed far up and or are not in the lane. (Also call MIA's!)
Late-Game Strategy
Tips and Tricks:
- When thinking of where to position yourself just keep in mind that you should let your Tank lead and you should preferably wait to commit to a fight. Only commit wholly to a kill if you know where the rest of the enemy team is and someone has initiated the fight for you (Especially with a CC).
- When a team fight collapses be sure to throw a Smoke Screen right smack in the middle of the action. This is an amazing skill especially when the enemy team is gathered closely.
- Instead of using Collateral Damage at the end of a team fight to secure a kill. Consider using it at the start of a fight if the enemy team is gathered close together or funneled together by terrain/positioning. It will hit all of them for a nice chunk!
In Alphabetical Order For Your Convenience
Alistar
- Has a decent heal.
- Has Amazing CC.
- Is tanky so he won't be feeding your enemy.
- Can knock over-committing enemies into tower range.
- Can tower dive at level 6 with his ultimate.
- Has long cooldowns on all abilities.
- He can have trouble harassing the enemy due to his melee range. He can also be kited if he doesn't have his abilities on cooldown.
- His Triumphant Roar while great for sustain is rather weak in a clutch situation compared to the heals of other supports such as Astral Blessing.
- Aggressive supports, such as Alistar, can often rely on brush cover (dwelling within bushes) in order to zone and set up kills. If the enemy employs sight ward's these types of supports can suffer in effectiveness.
Blitzcrank
- His Grab can setup kills very easily.
- Has a relatively short cooldown knock-up skill.
- His Ultimate AOE Silences (Pretty Short CD Too)
- Can pull over-committing opponents into tower range for an easy kill.
- His grab can put the enemy in close range of your Buckshot enabling max damage harassment. Very effective.
- Is just plain fun to lane with!
- Has No Heal
- Has No Slow/Stun (Although his Pull/Knock-up essentially stun briefly)
- Aggressive supports, such as Blitzcrank, can often rely on brush cover (dwelling within bushes) in order to zone and set up kills. If the enemy employs sight ward's these types of supports can suffer slightly in effectiveness.
Janna
- Her ultimate will save your a** many times over.
- Gives you a strong shield.
- Her Tornado can setup kills for you pretty easily.
- Can knock over-committing enemies into tower range.
- Is rarely at risk of dying.
- Her only heal is her ultimate which has a long cooldown.
- Setting up kills depends on her accuracy with Tornadoes.
Leona
- Has many great stuns.
- Sets up kills incredibly easily.
- Is tanky so she won't be feeding your enemy.
- Can tower dive easily with how tanky she is.
- Debuffs the enemy so that you do increased damage to them.
- Has no heal.
- Reliant on skill-shots.
- She can have trouble harassing the enemy due to her melee range. She can also be kited if she doesn't have her abilities on cooldown.
- Aggressive supports, such as Leona, can often rely on brush cover (dwelling within bushes) in order to zone and set up kills. If the enemy employs sight ward's these types of supports can suffer in effectiveness.
Lulu
- Amazing harass damage.
- Consistent slow.
- Great buff for you which will make you a murderer.
- Polymorph CC.
- Sets up kills all day long.
- Has no heal.
Sona
- Great heal
- Great movement speed buff.
- Great harass.
- Ultimate is an amazing Stun which can setup kills easily.
- Can do pretty much anything you need her to.
- Sona has to choose between maxing Hymn of Valor and maxing Aria of Perseverance. Forcing her to max Aria of Perseverance will lower her aggression while maxing Hymn of Valor will make her and her carry more susceptible to harass.
Soraka
- Has an Amazing/Consistent Heal
- Has an awesome give-you-mana move.
- Has an Amazing healing Ultimate with unlimited range.
- Has a silence with decent harass damage.
- Her passive gives you magic resistance.
- Squishy/low heal pool.
- Can be forced to use her heal on herself rather easily.
- Is bad against an offensive combo.
Taric
- Has a great heal which can heal both of you.
- Has a long range stun.
- Has great armor/magic resist debuffs.
- Is very tanky and shouldn't feed your enemy.
- Can actually dish some damage if needed.
- Cooldowns are decently long.
- He can have trouble harassing the enemy due to his melee range. He can also be kited if he doesn't have his abilities on cooldown.
Below I will provide a quick summary of the Champion and their Threatening attributes. Then I will provide Tips which will outline how to handle them in a lane.
In Alphabetical Order For Your Convenience
Ashe
Tips and Tricks:
- Avoid being in a bad position, Ashe isn't too strong of an opponent, however, she is built around capitalizing on out of position enemies.
- Cleanse counters Ashe HARD. Take it if you know you will be laning against her. (Thanks to GrandmasterD for pointing this out to me)
- Move around a lot! Don't stand still for very long when you're in a lane against Ashe, she will toss an Enchanted Crystal Arrow right in your face.
- At the start of the game do not let her get her first shot off on you, it will have a 100% chance to critical strike because of Focus. Let her use it on a creep before being too bold in the lane.
- She is strong but delicate. Be aggressive towards her health, a couple well placed Buckshot's and she will be hiding in the back (Unless her support is healing her a lot).
- If the support is healing her too effectively for you to dwindle her life down with your burst then consider saving all of your cooldowns for a quick burst all at once in coordination with your support using what they have.
- Make sure to Warn teammates when Ashe launches an Enchanted Crystal Arrow across the map! They need to know!
Caitlyn
Tips and Tricks:
- Don't initiate on her until a support can CC her then burst her and kill her or back off.
- Be very aware of your health and make sure you are close to your support at all times to avoid getting bursted and then Locked onto by Caitlyn.
- Have your support stand in her traps when it's safe so that you don't get forced into one yourself.
- Try to bait her 90 Caliber Net before you attempt to gank her. That way she has no escape.
Corki
Tips and Tricks:
- Save some abilities at all times in case he should assault you and shred your armor. You can burst him very well but he can come back at you after when you have no cooldowns.
- Greater Glyph of Magic Resist, flat magic resist is good against this opponent, consider taking it if you know you will face them.
- Before a gank comes for him try throwing your Smoke Screen to avoid him from using his escape to completely avoid the gank (Which he would with its range).
Ezreal
Tips and Tricks:
- Dodge his skill shots with your Quickdraw.
- Warn your team if he fires off his Ultimate!
- Wait to burst him down and assault him until after he uses his Arcane Shift, which is his flash.
Kog'Maw
Tips and Tricks:
- Burst him down frequently, if he is hurt enough he can't attempt to harass you with his long range attacks.
- Greater Glyph of Magic Resist, flat magic resist is good against this opponent, consider taking it if you know you will face them.
- Move around a lot after he gets level 6. He will be spamming his Ultimate at you if you have forced him away from the creeps.
- If you know you can secure the kill without using your Quickdraw then do it so that you can use it to instead juke his passive.
Miss Fortune
Tips and Tricks:
- Avoid standing behind lone creeps or she will hit you with her Double Up.
- Greater Glyph of Magic Resist, flat magic resist is good against this opponent, consider taking it if you know you will face them.
- If she catches you with Make it Rain dash out of it with Quickdraw.
- If she catches you in full effect with Bullet Time, her ultimate, you should try to get out of it asap. Dashing out with Quickdraw is very effective.
- Try to over-power her in the lane or she will control you like her dog.
Sivir
Tips and Tricks:
- Try to move around a lot while farming to avoid getting hit by her Boomerang Blade.
- If she pops her spell shield use your Smoke Screen to remove it before bursting her down. She won't take the damage but she will still be blinded and then you can hit her with a Buckshot. Preferably, however, you want your support to use something to get rid of her shield.
- Try to run her out of mana, she goes OOM relatively fast.
- Watch out for Ricochet it has more bounce range than most people assume.
Tristana
Tips and Tricks:
- Try to focus on farming, if a kill is setup on her then take it, but more often than not she will escape, so just focus on beating her in farm.
- Greater Glyph of Magic Resist, flat magic resist is good against this opponent, consider taking it if you know you will face them.
- Use your Quickdraw to avoid her Rocket Jump, this will greatly keep the favor of the fight in your hands.
- Don't stand too close to your own creeps as her ability will explode them on you and dwindle your health down.
Twitch
Tips and Tricks:
- Have your support buy Vision Wards.
- Call out MIA when he is gone, his ganks are very deadly if unforeseen.
- If you see him going invisible shoot a Buckshot at him so he is forced to instead retreat from whatever devious plan he had.
Varus
Tips and Tricks:
- Move around a lot, all of his skills are skill shots. Just make him waste his mana which he eats up very fast.
- Don't get caught by him and a defensive support or it will be devastating.
- Trade with him while dodging his skills and he will be at your mercy.
- When he is chasing you, do NOT run in a straight line, move randomly to avoid getting hit by his ultimate which shoots forward.
Vayne
Tips and Tricks:
- Stay away from Walls so she can't pin and stun you.
- If she is chasing you don't let her angle herself so that she can barely pin you against a wall, watch her angle.
- Burst her and back off, she auto-attacks, you burst, you can out-damage her easily because of this if you are smart about it.
- Use Smoke Screen to give yourself an opportunity to avoid her sitting there like a turret on you.
- Simply avoid her if she uses her ultimate as best you can. It gives her too much advantage.
Below I will quickly explain the enemy supports threatening attributes and then list some tips and tricks. You can just read the tips and tricks if you just want to know how to handle them.
In Alphabetical Order For Your Convenience
Alistar
Summary
Alistar is one of the best supports in the game. He is very defensive and can setup kills for his support very easily, especially under the right circumstances (e.g. you over-committing etc..). He also has a minor heal that is off cooldown relatively frequently. His biggest threat is that he can stun lock you and toss you around while his carry eats your health away. Just play very defensively against an Alistar + Ranged AD combo.
Tips and Tricks:
- Never over-commit, especially into their tower range, unless there are outstanding circumstances and your team is viciously begging you to in order to get the kill on the carry.
- If you find yourself some-what out of position and you see Alistar coming at you for a combo and the enemy carry looks ready to jump on you, don't be afraid to Flash out of there, this is especially true if he catches you with a Pulverize you might need to consider using Flash to escape a well placed Headbutt.
- Be very aware of the fact that Alistar can tower dive at level 6 pretty well and especially well after level 11 or a Heart of Gold.
- His heal isn't too strong but it's consistent. So, you won't be able to harass the enemy champion down unless you get strong burst combos off. Auto-attacks on him will result in an instant Triumphant Roar.
Blitzcrank
Summary
Blitzcrank, although he has no heal, can be a pretty effective support. He can, however, be countered on some level. You can also simply stay behind your creeps and pay attention so that he can't grab you. His silencing Ultimate will cause your support issues if your lane decides to clash. Simply stay on top of your movement and make sure he never has an angle to grab you and you should do very good against his lane since he has no heal and heavily relies on his skill shot to setup kills.
Tips and Tricks:
- Have your support purchase wards for bottom lane bushes. This will make it much easier to avoid his Rocket Grab.
- Try to harass with your Buckshot against this support. He has no heal and assuming your support has one you can be the aggressor in the lane as long as you do not get out of position and get grabbed by a Rocket Grab.
- If you decide to assault the enemy carry stay out of Blitzcrank's range if you can. His Silencing ultimate is harsh and does a decent amount of damage and his Power Fist actually has a low cooldown. (It's a knock-up)
- Do not let your creep wave deplete while being across river. Blitzcrank has Overdrive which he can use to quickly close the gap if there are no creeps and land a Rocket Grab with you having no creeps to hide behind.
Janna
Summary
Janna is actually one of the best supports as well. It depends on who she is paired with, obviously, but she has amazing defensive abilities making her ideal for strong auto-attack carries (e.g. Vayne). You need to watch out for her Ultimate which will knock you back, she can place this very well if done right and hit you into her teammates/tower. Her other biggest threat, besides her consistent Shield on the Carry, would be her tornadoes. These tornadoes have a short build-up time and show a marker on the ground, so just make sure to dodge these.
Tips and Tricks:
- Have your support ward your bottom lane bushes. This way you can see her hidden tornadoes building up and easily dodge them.
- Try to get her to waste her Eye of the Storm without actually initiating a fight. This is because you NEVER want to fight the enemy carry while he has this buff on. It's strong and adds attack damage to the carry.
Leona
Summary
Leona is a unique support in that she is a tank with multiple stuns...too many in my opinion, lol. She has no heal so you're in luck in that aspect. However, she can and will setup kills for her carry, or at least try repeatedly. The biggest threats with her are the prospect of being chain stunned with a small defense debuff added in. You need to be very cautious and defensive in a lane against Leona or you will get chain stunned to death before you can even try to flash away.
Tips and Tricks:
- Have your support ward your bottom lane bushes. This way you won't get unexpectedly caught by her Zenith Blade and then chain stunned ending with a well placed Solar Flare.
- Play defensively and do NOT over-commit unless you know for fact that you can safely. Especially do NOT over-commit past river if you do not have river warded or a gank will end you fast with Leona stunning you.
- Move around a lot, she tends to rely on Zenith Blade hitting before she stun combos you. Although skilled Leona players may use different skill orders if they can't close the gap with Zenith Blade.
- If she has Eclipse up get out of its range, she tends to try and harass you with it since she is a tank and it debuffs your defenses.
Lulu
Summary
Lulu has no heal which again works in your favor. However, she, like leona, tends to consistently harass you and tries to setup kills for her carry. You need to move around a lot in order to face a Lulu effectively, her most useful harass move is a skill-shot. She also has a shield however and a buff which she will toss on her carry. Don't forget her oh-so-annoying Whimsy which is a polymorph. Oh yeah, did I mention her Ultimate will effectively heal her carry by adding a set amount of life and knocking you up in the air if you are near him?
Tips and Tricks:
- As usual have your Support ward your bushes so that she doesn't have free reign to harass you and slow you.
- Move around a lot to avoid her glitterdance which have a VERY strong slow.
- You need to be aware that she has Whimsy which will CC you by polymorphing you.
- Be aware as well that her Wild Growth ultimate will effectively heal her carry and knock you/your support up in the air if you are near the ally she buffs.
Sona
Summary
Sona is incredibly diverse. She will give her carry whatever he needs, whether it be movement speed, a heal, harass on the enemy, a stun, you name it! I'm not that acquainted with Sona so I won't explain the best strategy against her until I learn what it is. However, her biggest threat factors include her versatility with skills, her strong and consistent harass, her buffs to her carry, and her stun ultimate which sets up kills very easily.
Tips and Tricks:
- Having your support ward your bottom bushes is still nice obviously but it's less necessary against Sona than others.
- Be very aware of her ultimate and your positioning or she will capitalize on the situation and get her carry and easy kill.
- Stay at a decent distance from her or she will harass her with champion seeking harassment.
- She is squishy so you can burst her and her carries life down slowly with cautious Buckshot's.
Soraka
Summary
Oh Soraka, how you annoy me sometimes. She has incredibly strong heals on decently long cooldowns. She has a healing ultimate as well and a decently long silence. Soraka is straight forward, she is a burst healing machine but that's all she's got. She is terrible against offensive compositions (e.g. Leona and Graves). This is because she can't do much besides burst heal, so if you out damage her heals with your burst combination she is worthless.
Tips and Tricks:
- Pick an offensive composition against her if you can.
- Burst combinations are her worst nightmare, try to organize this if you have the ability.
- If you for the life of you can't take out the carry with your burst combinations then try taking Soraka out first. She will die very fast and then you only have the Carry to worry about.
- Do not lightly harass the enemy carry since it will be rendered useless because of Soraka's heal. The only exception would be if you could manage to auto-attack the carry low enough where she had to heal (without you getting hurt) and then go in for a burst combination directly after her heal.
Taric
Summary
Taric is a very good support. He has a great and ranged stun, a great heal, a great defense debuff, and his Ultimate will buff his own carries damage. You need to be defensive and cautious in a lane against Taric.
Tips and Tricks:
- Try to bait his Dazzle in a way where you can run to safety by the time it hits you. This way you can initiate on him with ease of mind and advantage in your hands instead of his and his carry's.
- Always back up/away from Taric after he lands a Dazzle before he can debuff you with Shatter.
- Taric is very tank-oriented, even naturally, so do not harass him, just go for his carry with burst combinations when it's safe to.
Quickdraw
I attempted to fix all of the GIFs. I believe they are all fixed now, let me know if you find otherwise!
Thank you so much for reading this guide!
I had a lot of fun making this guide. I will be taking in criticism with extreme care, so don't forget to comment! Please up-vote if you enjoyed the guide or found it useful in some way! I spent a loooot of time making this guide and viewed it over 150 times before deciding to publish! Haha!
Oh yah, don't forget, in the words of Natalie Portman in "V for Vendetta"...
Very Special Thanks/Mention to...
May 2012
5/25/2012
5/27/2012
5/27/2012
5/27/2012
5/29/2012
5/29/2012
~ Attempted to fix all of the GIFs in the "Dashing to Victory" section, I believe they should all work properly now.
~ Also added the Vampiric Scepter after the Infinity Edge and implemented this into my "Insatiable Items" section. I felt that some self-sustainability was vital to this build and needed to be implemented.
June 2012
6/1/2012
~ Updated the masteries and the masteries section to reflect the recent updates and changes regarding Ignite replacing Heal as the recommended spell to take.
6/2/2012
6/5/2012
~ Did a massive update in the "Shoot 'em Dead - Skill Sequence" section adding extensive descriptions on how to use each skill as well as their potential uses.
August 2013
8/6/2013
8/27/2013
Draven Patch - 6/6/2012
Smoke Screen Duration decreased to 4 seconds, from 5 seconds.
What does this mean?
This means that, theoretically, with a maxed level Buckshot, if you hit someone, with 0 bonus physical damage, with a single bullet you will deal 40 less damage than before. If you hit them with all 3 bullets, again, with 0 bonus physical damage, you will deal only 20 less damage.
In other words, get close and personal, it's what you were built for in the first place. Also, you will actually deal MORE damage than before, if you hit someone with all three bullets, once you obtain around 40 bonus physical damage or so. This is because of the 25% to 35% increase for the damage for each additional bullet. Hurray!
In terms of Smoke Screen, it simply has a 1 second shorter duration, nothing to worry about.
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