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Well... That was unpleasant.
Provisional 2
Top and bot fed. Hard. My lane was relatively neutral but I couldn't get Malz out so I could go roaming. In terms of my own lane, I think I should have abused his CDs. When he's blown his silence and DoT for waveclear I should have skirted around minions and punished him, taking care to keep up my own CS. Fiddle taking most blues crippled my counterpushing power, however. I don't see Malz much so I'm really not sure how to combat him.
What I really needed was to get fiddle to gank again after his first one (which blew flash). Malz was an easy kill, no defensive runes or masteries. That would have got me ahead in lane, I could have crushed him and roamed. This happens way too much. Okay, I understand that fiddle was trying to help the failing lanes, but I don't get why whenever I point out that my laning opponent is really squishy I don't seem to get ganks.
Team was pretty negative. No flaming, thankfully, but a lot of "this is lost" or "we have no damage". Which is false, I had a lot of damage, at one point a single QW would take off half of Malz' health. I was pushing out lanes a lot, but should I have stuck with the team more? Because they really didn't use their heads, they kept picking fights when they're main damage source was not there. What do you think? I mean, I did stick by them when it was obvious fights were likely to happen. I'm referring to them picking fights in the enemy jungle when we didn't even have towers.
My play was less than stellar and I do think the game could have been carriable, but it was less about mechanics and more about leadership. Getting that fiddle gank I needed to start snowballing, rallying people up and getting them to make smart engagements. But it's kind of hard to do that stuff in solo Q. Even harder when you're not really sure what the solution is, just what stuff is going wrong and needs to be changed.
Provisional 2Top and bot fed. Hard. My lane was relatively neutral but I couldn't get Malz out so I could go roaming. In terms of my own lane, I think I should have abused his CDs. When he's blown his silence and DoT for waveclear I should have skirted around minions and punished him, taking care to keep up my own CS. Fiddle taking most blues crippled my counterpushing power, however. I don't see Malz much so I'm really not sure how to combat him.
What I really needed was to get fiddle to gank again after his first one (which blew flash). Malz was an easy kill, no defensive runes or masteries. That would have got me ahead in lane, I could have crushed him and roamed. This happens way too much. Okay, I understand that fiddle was trying to help the failing lanes, but I don't get why whenever I point out that my laning opponent is really squishy I don't seem to get ganks.
Team was pretty negative. No flaming, thankfully, but a lot of "this is lost" or "we have no damage". Which is false, I had a lot of damage, at one point a single QW would take off half of Malz' health. I was pushing out lanes a lot, but should I have stuck with the team more? Because they really didn't use their heads, they kept picking fights when they're main damage source was not there. What do you think? I mean, I did stick by them when it was obvious fights were likely to happen. I'm referring to them picking fights in the enemy jungle when we didn't even have towers.
My play was less than stellar and I do think the game could have been carriable, but it was less about mechanics and more about leadership. Getting that fiddle gank I needed to start snowballing, rallying people up and getting them to make smart engagements. But it's kind of hard to do that stuff in solo Q. Even harder when you're not really sure what the solution is, just what stuff is going wrong and needs to be changed.
Provisional 3Not a great deal to say about this game. It was a stomp like the first. Ryze was pathetically easy to abuse. Kinda annoyed to have missed a kill which needed like one more tick of ignite. I could have flashed after him for another AA. I don't think I ever needed to use flash defensively in that game.
Glad I didn't queue dodge it. "Support" Morde (wtf) is a dreadful idea and I don't think I saw him buy a ward all game, but it all worked out. Aatrox seems to have quit/DCed shortly before they surrendered. It's worth noting that in the previous game my laning a opponent was a silver III duo queue-er, whereas, like game 1, I was faced against a seeding player in lane this time.
I think I'm definitely improving with Ori. My sense of projectile travel speeds is greatly improving, although the movements of my foes there was highly predictable.
Look at those CS. I thought mine was a little weak!
gj so far! :3
But for heavens sake don't go all vapora and play only ori. In higher elo it's easier to get the role you want so it's fine but if you get forced to play something else you're most likely gonna struggle D: (I know since I also mained one champion in s2. I was maining janna in s2 so I had like no problems cause nobody denied me my support, but mid is a very contested role and chances are you wont get it often.)
But for heavens sake don't go all vapora and play only ori. In higher elo it's easier to get the role you want so it's fine but if you get forced to play something else you're most likely gonna struggle D: (I know since I also mained one champion in s2. I was maining janna in s2 so I had like no problems cause nobody denied me my support, but mid is a very contested role and chances are you wont get it often.)
I play plenty of support, to be honest being forced to support is a relief sometimes because we actually get decent ward coverage! Woot! I don't think I've lost a single Janna game since picking her up again, probably won't last long, but I'm pretty chuffed. Her lane is boring compared to Sona or Zyra, but I feel so powerful outside of lane because of all that delicious peel. My top skills suck but I have to play that once in a blue moon, so I'm not too fussed. Still, I'm looking at some stuff. At the moment it's Jayce/Elise, but I'm trying out various AP tops. Karma and Vlad are up next. Jungle and ADC are kinda meh but I'm practicing.
Thanks for the support :3
I grabbed a screeny of an empty graph rather than the score screen for the last game. Apparently we had a plat III smurf in our team. He wanted mid but I was sceptical from looking at his match history so I took mid (Ori again, of course). He went Annie support, actually did the most damage out of all us to champs. Of course, he did build full AP. I think I was the only one warding later on, which makes me really sceptical that he was a smurf, what kind of plat III doesn't buy wards? I guess he felt he could carry it easy cakes without them. Oh yeah, we had a duo top too.
I was against a Diana lane. I hate them, especially as Ori. Syndra would be my champ of choice against Diana, or maybe Cass to bully her hard early on and super push-farm cycle if I struggle post-6. I suck at avoiding that Q, but I zoned her pretty hard early on despite barely hitting her and survived post-6 just fine. My farm was lower than I liked but I had to go help bot a lot because of Diana and Master Yi making it 4v2, so I guess that's okay. 290 by the end of it is nice and my in-lane farming was pretty decent, I'm definitely getting better at that. Died twice, I can't remember when the first was, the last was just as we killed the Nexus. Yi chased me half way across the map while Cait was pounding on the Nexus.
So, that's me 3-1 so far. One more game tonight, then rest.
Thanks for the support :3
I grabbed a screeny of an empty graph rather than the score screen for the last game. Apparently we had a plat III smurf in our team. He wanted mid but I was sceptical from looking at his match history so I took mid (Ori again, of course). He went Annie support, actually did the most damage out of all us to champs. Of course, he did build full AP. I think I was the only one warding later on, which makes me really sceptical that he was a smurf, what kind of plat III doesn't buy wards? I guess he felt he could carry it easy cakes without them. Oh yeah, we had a duo top too.
I was against a Diana lane. I hate them, especially as Ori. Syndra would be my champ of choice against Diana, or maybe Cass to bully her hard early on and super push-farm cycle if I struggle post-6. I suck at avoiding that Q, but I zoned her pretty hard early on despite barely hitting her and survived post-6 just fine. My farm was lower than I liked but I had to go help bot a lot because of Diana and Master Yi making it 4v2, so I guess that's okay. 290 by the end of it is nice and my in-lane farming was pretty decent, I'm definitely getting better at that. Died twice, I can't remember when the first was, the last was just as we killed the Nexus. Yi chased me half way across the map while Cait was pounding on the Nexus.
So, that's me 3-1 so far. One more game tonight, then rest.
You seem to be doing really good against these players! I think you should be able to get silver like this.
But yeah, I agree with Xeres, try to learn one or to champions besides Orianna because it will make you more flexible.
Anyway, good to see you going into ranked and improving a lot :)
EDIT: I was replying before your previous post so didnt read it yet: A plat 3 that is smurfing can actually not buy wads, it all depends on how serious he is taking the game (and a smurf won't tryhard that much)
Good luck!
But yeah, I agree with Xeres, try to learn one or to champions besides
Orianna because it will make you more flexible.Anyway, good to see you going into ranked and improving a lot :)
EDIT: I was replying before your previous post so didnt read it yet: A plat 3 that is smurfing can actually not buy wads, it all depends on how serious he is taking the game (and a smurf won't tryhard that much)
Good luck!
I have no idea...
Provisional 5
Every lane fed. Fiora was level 2 to Riven's 5 at one point. Ahri died on her own too, Trist started getting kills after a fiddle gank. I had no idea what to do to swing that game. I wanted to gank Brand because he had zero defensive runes, but I didn't get chance when things were alright and then I was caught between trying to salvage top and the suddenly failing bottom. I made a good gank at bot and burned flashes early on, came back 30 secs later, alas no kill, Tristana is a slippery one. Not really sure how to gank her. Oh, and at some point I should probably have counterjungled fiddle. He's supposed to suffer if you steal his blue, right? And I should probably try to farm camps at some point... I don't think there was anything I could do for that game even if I did know what I was doing. A good jungler might have salvaged mid or top and gotten them ahead, I guess, and perhaps screwed up fiddle's jungle, but that top lane was horrendous. Also, fed Rivens. They are a pain in the ***.
Blagh, there's so much stuff to know about jungle. Who to be wary of counter jungling from, who you should usually counter jungle. How to gank different lanes, urgh... It makes my head spin. Their Fiddle and Riven were premade, had gold in season two and should both have gone 10/0 in their provisionals now according to LolNexus.
Is it ironic that I earlier complained about jungler not ganking no MR/Arm rune escape-less mids yet barely did so myself? I think I just gave up at something like 11 minutes.
Provisional 5Every lane fed. Fiora was level 2 to Riven's 5 at one point. Ahri died on her own too, Trist started getting kills after a fiddle gank. I had no idea what to do to swing that game. I wanted to gank Brand because he had zero defensive runes, but I didn't get chance when things were alright and then I was caught between trying to salvage top and the suddenly failing bottom. I made a good gank at bot and burned flashes early on, came back 30 secs later, alas no kill, Tristana is a slippery one. Not really sure how to gank her. Oh, and at some point I should probably have counterjungled fiddle. He's supposed to suffer if you steal his blue, right? And I should probably try to farm camps at some point... I don't think there was anything I could do for that game even if I did know what I was doing. A good jungler might have salvaged mid or top and gotten them ahead, I guess, and perhaps screwed up fiddle's jungle, but that top lane was horrendous. Also, fed Rivens. They are a pain in the ***.
Blagh, there's so much stuff to know about jungle. Who to be wary of counter jungling from, who you should usually counter jungle. How to gank different lanes, urgh... It makes my head spin. Their Fiddle and Riven were premade, had gold in season two and should both have gone 10/0 in their provisionals now according to LolNexus.
Is it ironic that I earlier complained about jungler not ganking no MR/Arm rune escape-less mids yet barely did so myself? I think I just gave up at something like 11 minutes.
I lied. Here's another one. Last one was so awful that I didn't care. It didn't feel like a game at all. If I went in to a decent game and played badly I'd take a break, but that last one was an utter stomp, it's hard to feel much about it other than annoyance.
Provisional 6 Victory
Yup. Ori again. That game was more like my normals in terms of champion mechanics, although my Swain was kinda easy to abuse in lane. I could probably have gotten a kill pre-6 if I was more ballsy (ka-pun!). Warding and organisation and play making still feels a little weaker. Anyway, that was pretty fun. First death was bad. I strongly suspected that Swain was going to steal our blue with Shen, so me and Zac headed there. I though Swain was already there so walked around the edges of Blue and got killed from the bush (well, there was a bit of a chase). I should have gone around wolves and we might have gotten double kills, although I was pretty OOM. Second death was trying too hard to be the hero and save Zac. He did escape though!.
In response to my champion roster, I actually did a blog series a bit ago in which I went through various mids that interested me. I kind of feel I'm back to square one on that, though. I've been trying to learn Syndra. It's proceeding slowly, but I'm improving. I seem to get *****ed at more when I err as Syndra than as any other champion for some reason. But, in short, Ahri, Cassiopeia, Syndra, Lux and I could always relearn Xerath or Zyra (I play her support too). I definitely want Cass, Syndra or Ahri in the roster so I have a more kill oriented pick. I like picking Syndra into jumpy-escapy things like Nidalee or against that dreaded laner, Diana. I don't actually play Orianna in normals anymore, ranked is enough practice.
As it stands, Ori's my safe pick. If I'm first, it's hard for me to go wrong with her. Her utility is great and I'm confident enough in my skills with her to go into a bad lane under the assumption I can pull my weight late game even if I've been getting zoned, which is something I don't feel with Syndra or Ahri. Other picks come in when I can start counter-picking. As for other roles, I'm pretty diverse in them, although my skills outside of mid and support are lacklustre. I don't think I can carry a game as an ADC or Jungler, but I can pull my weight and not drag the team down, however as top I am generally a liability. Guess it's time for me to start first-picking top in normals.
Gonna finish provisionals tomorrow unless I go on tilt or something like that. Funny fact, it was only today that I realised that the ball applies a larger damage radius when it reaches it destination, or more correctly, that it damages in a smaller radius when on the move. I'd always assumed for some reason that the radius of that circle on the targeting reticule applied throughout flight.
Provisional 6 VictoryYup. Ori again. That game was more like my normals in terms of champion mechanics, although my Swain was kinda easy to abuse in lane. I could probably have gotten a kill pre-6 if I was more ballsy (ka-pun!). Warding and organisation and play making still feels a little weaker. Anyway, that was pretty fun. First death was bad. I strongly suspected that Swain was going to steal our blue with Shen, so me and Zac headed there. I though Swain was already there so walked around the edges of Blue and got killed from the bush (well, there was a bit of a chase). I should have gone around wolves and we might have gotten double kills, although I was pretty OOM. Second death was trying too hard to be the hero and save Zac. He did escape though!.
In response to my champion roster, I actually did a blog series a bit ago in which I went through various mids that interested me. I kind of feel I'm back to square one on that, though. I've been trying to learn Syndra. It's proceeding slowly, but I'm improving. I seem to get *****ed at more when I err as Syndra than as any other champion for some reason. But, in short, Ahri, Cassiopeia, Syndra, Lux and I could always relearn Xerath or Zyra (I play her support too). I definitely want Cass, Syndra or Ahri in the roster so I have a more kill oriented pick. I like picking Syndra into jumpy-escapy things like Nidalee or against that dreaded laner, Diana. I don't actually play Orianna in normals anymore, ranked is enough practice.
As it stands, Ori's my safe pick. If I'm first, it's hard for me to go wrong with her. Her utility is great and I'm confident enough in my skills with her to go into a bad lane under the assumption I can pull my weight late game even if I've been getting zoned, which is something I don't feel with Syndra or Ahri. Other picks come in when I can start counter-picking. As for other roles, I'm pretty diverse in them, although my skills outside of mid and support are lacklustre. I don't think I can carry a game as an ADC or Jungler, but I can pull my weight and not drag the team down, however as top I am generally a liability. Guess it's time for me to start first-picking top in normals.
Gonna finish provisionals tomorrow unless I go on tilt or something like that. Funny fact, it was only today that I realised that the ball applies a larger damage radius when it reaches it destination, or more correctly, that it damages in a smaller radius when on the move. I'd always assumed for some reason that the radius of that circle on the targeting reticule applied throughout flight.
I cocked up :/
Provisional 7 Defeat
Well, had top done alright I think we could have pulled things around. Still, I messed up. It was like playing top, I had no idea what to expect from Wukong. How does he work, what sort of combos does he make, what's his damage like, his range? 2 Deaths in lane got him snowballing, 3rd death occurred due to a lack of vision in jungle. I checked the bush I entered with my ball, sadly Wukong and Diana were in a different, nearby bush. My CSing was really poor early on as well and I didn't transition to farming well. Worst part of that lane was I couldn't really push and then leach jungle safely.
Provisional 7 DefeatWell, had top done alright I think we could have pulled things around. Still, I messed up. It was like playing top, I had no idea what to expect from Wukong. How does he work, what sort of combos does he make, what's his damage like, his range? 2 Deaths in lane got him snowballing, 3rd death occurred due to a lack of vision in jungle. I checked the bush I entered with my ball, sadly Wukong and Diana were in a different, nearby bush. My CSing was really poor early on as well and I didn't transition to farming well. Worst part of that lane was I couldn't really push and then leach jungle safely.
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SO IT BEGINS!11!!!1!
Well... That was easy. Hah, the death was stupid though, I went straight into the middle of a 3v5 and never even used my Zhonya's. I assume things get harder from here because that wasn't even like a stompy normal. Everything was just so readable.
I have a funny relationship with ignite. Either I ignite late and have to flash to make it or I ignite soon and they never actually die. Obviously, I need to learn what engagements I can make kills with and which I can't and ignite not too soon so as not to scare them away (assuming I'm not instagibbing them) but not so late that they might be out of range. Nidalee especially, if I ignited right after shockwave I could have avoided blowing flashes for her leap. I stopped bothering to kill her and just took turret and roamed once she was 0/3/0 because it wasn't worth the resources for the gold.
I can't believe the only one who built MR was Leona while I was getting ludicrously fed (who really should not have built that visage, they needed ward coverage). Towards the end I wound up wiping off 70% of Draven's health with one QW :/
And today I learned that the ban stage only shows champions available to the opponents. That explains so much. I'm like "I want to ban J4. I WANT TO BAN J4! WHERE IS HE!" and now I know.