Hello all! Competitive gamer seeks tips.

[quote=Lord Rygor]First off I want to say hi and thanks to all of you who provide wonderful guides, tips, tricks, and strategies to the community. My summoner name is Lord Rygor, I'm a US military member and I spend a lot of my free time in-between deployments and work ups enjoying a good read to enhance my gameplay. I've only been playing LoL for a few months now but I've found I've hit a wall early; I'm a horrible AD carry yet I love trying to get kills. I most excel at playing a support champion or a tank, while the rest of my team sows most of the chaos and carnage. The only exception to this is I play a mean [[Karthus]], but then again I find him an extremely easy champion to play and I don't think that's something to brag on. What I crave is to improve my skills as a carry. I want to be able to bring more kills to my team if I notice a random que needs some of these viable champions. Don't get me wrong, I love playing my supporting role - but I think we know every team needs a carry and sometimes there is no one to step up to that role and be effective (more so considering I am only a level 19 player so some of us are still learning). My question is, what champions can I look to play if I want to carry a team? What if I want to carry and still have a lot of survivability? I know there are many guides out there - trust me I've read a ton via iPhone while I was on watch. What would really help me out is if I could get in touch with members of the community in-game who would perhaps give me pointers in real time. I suppose that is what I'm really asking for, and I have yet to establish any long-term friendships over random queing. In any case, I will give you a small list of the champions I play often or like to play and feel I play well - though there is lots of room to grow on. Feel free to give me some feedback on how I play them or if I should look to a different option. [[Taric]] - I hate this guy's skins but when I play him as a support I rarely lose with a 1 good carry and 1 good tank. [[Karthus]] - He is my go to guy if I need a win for the day. I've "mastered" his Q and have become extremely good at map awareness to capitalize on my ultimate. I get a lot of grief for playing him due to the kills I get with R. [[Pantheon]] - I really like this champion but I honestly suck at landing my heartseeker strike. I die easily late game, but I love his ultimate and I feel like it brings amazing gankability to a team. If only I could build him to survive better or learn to master him - but I've heard he's "low tier" [[Swain]] - I randomly bought him with riot points because no one uses him in level 10-20 games that I've seen and I fell in love with him. I like his crowd control and we just "meshed" as champion and player. You'll notice a pattern here is that I favor long-range casters. [[Ezreal]] - I've been trying to AD carry with him but I'm failing. I die fast, but I snipe very well. He's really helped me get good at last hitting, but I want to master him so I can compete on a higher level. [[Rammus]] - I can tank pretty well with him but again I die a lot. [[Kog'Maw]] - I think I first fell in love with this guy when I built him pure attack speed and AD. Since I happen to die often due to my love of squishy characters his ultimate is deadly in my hands. Again though.. I die too much. [[Teemo]] - I really like planting mushrooms.. everywhere, but I don't get many kills with him. Strangely enough I don't die much either, I get a lot of assists. I think you'll see my pattern is I'm playing too many range characters and not enough melee, and worse yet I'm not good at melee because I feel I die too much when I'm in thick of things. I want to survive AND get kills. Anyway, if you read all of this thanks! And please hit me up in-game if you wish to put in the time for REAL-TIME tips for a competitive player with a high learning curve. Thank you.[/quote]

[quote=Zeprido]Sounds like you should be playing Tanky DPS or offtanks since your looking to deal damage but have survivability. Swain is a great mage offtank/tanky DPS. Other than long range casters, are there any other champions that you have tried and like but don't own or haven't played a lot?[/quote]

[quote=Lord Rygor][quote=Zeprido] Sounds like you should be playing Tanky DPS or offtanks since your looking to deal damage but have survivability. Swain is a great mage offtank/tanky DPS. Other than long range casters, are there any other champions that you have tried and like but don't own or haven't played a lot? [/quote] I like Alistar, but I feel like I don't contribute very well to my team when I chose him. The last game I played as Alistar I believe I died 7 times, without any kills and a decent number of assists. I was playing him as a healer and interupter, but when it came to ANY 1v1 match I was screwed which frustrated me. It could be that I was either running off alone or my team wasn't playing aggresive enough to support me as I iniated - which I'm not even sure was a good idea on Alistar. I would pop his ultimate, initiate, pulverize, headbutt their DPS into my team and they would run away leaving me for a 5v1. I also like Blitzcrank and have a lot of luck with his skill-shot when it comes to pulling. I've played Sion twice and failed horribly as him, perhaps I built him wrong both times. I have access to the Gamer's Edition Champion Bundle as well as the Collecter's champion bundle if that gives you any idea to which champions I can choose from. However, other than the ones listed in my first post I don't believe I've tried many melee champions and proved successful.[/quote]

[quote=Zeprido]Ah, so you have basically the same champion pool as me. I think one of the issues is that you are still level 19, most players under level 30 do not play as a team, or are very selfish, so will not recognize you Alistar play. Also, don't pop his ultimate until you start getting attacked or CC'd (stuns/slows/snares), that's why they are killing you. I highly suggest running Ghost/Flash on him for greater mobility, also the flash --> ghost combo will allow you to get out if you team doesn't go in. Another thing you could do is tell your team you are going in, ping your target, and then go in. Also learn Alistars Headbutt --> Pulverize combo (basically you cast pulverize as you are traveling to them with headbutt allowing you to hit them with both at the same time). You MIGHT like Twisted Fate despite his lack of survivability, his [[Wild Cards]] are just amazing, and if you get good with his ult ([[destiny]] --> [[Gate]]) you get be in perfect positioning every time and be able to carry your team whether AP, or AD. If you like Blitz, and are truly good with his pulls, keep playing him and get better. A good Blitz player is rare. Honestly, the best thing to do is to sit down and play 2-3 games of each champion (coop vs ai is ok) so you at least understand how they work and what they are capable so when you are up against them you can counter them. This will also allow you to see who you like.[/quote]

[quote=wRAthoFVuLK]Interesting arsenal of champions :3 I would play with you, and help where I can. My summoner name is: wRAthoFVuLcAn ;)[/quote]

[quote=Dakirokor]If you are looking for tanky-DPS champions look into [[nasus]], [[renekton]], [[olaf]], [[udyr]], [[jarvan IV]], [[jax]], [[trundle]][/quote]

[quote=Lord Rygor]Thanks! I tried [[Nasus]] but I wasn't able to kill very many other champions with him, though I could take down turrets like a beast. Overall though, it didn't feel like I was being very effective throughout the match as I had to spend so much time farming my Siphon Strike. [[Renekton]] [[Olaf]] [[Udyr]] [[Jarvan IV]] [[Trundle]] - I don't own any of these champions. Maybe I should look into them?! [[Jax]] I have been recently trying and I like him a lot. Personally I think he is pretty easy to get accustomed too but he's very timing dependent so you don't get focused on and owned. When he has the element of surprise or is coming to gank, I feel he's vastly superior.[/quote]