Best AP Mid

[quote=GrandmasterD][quote=Djlynx] Xerath hands down. His range, crowd control and burst make him an excellent choice. His price sure is high though. (Don't forget his awsome dance moves and design) [/quote] I'm an avid Xerath player; in fact I main Xerath. Xerath gets shit on by [[Kassadin]] after level six, nothing you can do about it. Silence shuts Xerath down; completely![/quote]

[quote=albableat]I don't know how to explain it, then... I've won every single Talon-Kass lane by doing exactly what I described. You've seen how LeBlanc lanes work, haven't you? LeBlanc never ever pushes the lane, because it's a retarded choice for her. Works the same on Talon. Pushing the lane is not necessarily the only way to deny someone in lane. Kassadin just can't farm uninterrupted in a Talon lane. Every time he goes for last hit, you Q or E-Q or just auto attack him. And that hurts a lot if Q is maxed out ASAP. After, if Kassadin decides to stay and fight, you just keep autoattacking as Talon, you win because his auto attacks deal more damage then Kass's and Q has quite a short cooldown, so you can repeat it in next couple of seconds. The reason why Talon counters Kassadin is not the pushing. Otherwise, any hard pushing champion would deny him just as hard. Yet Kass can shit on Ziggs, Cassio, Brand etc. Talon does to Kassadin what Kassadin does to others, jumps in his face, silences and deals lots of damage. And this absolutely does not require lane pushing. Moreover, it's safer to do with creeps positioned closer to your side of the lane.[/quote]

[quote=Luther3000]Leblanc doesn't push the lane because she CAN'T push the lane, just saying. If she could, rapidly pushing and ganking sidelanes would be a ridiculously strong tactic on her.[/quote]

[quote=GrandmasterD][quote=albableat] I don't know how to explain it, then... I've won every single Talon-Kass lane by doing exactly what I described. You've seen how LeBlanc lanes work, haven't you? LeBlanc never ever pushes the lane, because it's a retarded choice for her. Works the same on Talon. Pushing the lane is not necessarily the only way to deny someone in lane. Kassadin just can't farm uninterrupted in a Talon lane. Every time he goes for last hit, you Q or E-Q or just auto attack him. And that hurts a lot if Q is maxed out ASAP. After, if Kassadin decides to stay and fight, you just keep autoattacking as Talon, you win because his auto attacks deal more damage then Kass's and Q has quite a short cooldown, so you can repeat it in next couple of seconds. The reason why Talon counters Kassadin is not the pushing. Otherwise, any hard pushing champion would deny him just as hard. Yet Kass can shit on Ziggs, Cassio, Brand etc. Talon does to Kassadin what Kassadin does to others, jumps in his face, silences and deals lots of damage. And this absolutely does not require lane pushing. Moreover, it's safer to do with creeps positioned closer to your side of the lane. [/quote] If I play Kassadin against Talon; I simply max out [[nether blade]] first and build some armor. If he goes the way you described he is completely screwed.[/quote]

[quote=albableat]Try leveling out W on LeBlanc once and you will be surprised by how well she can push the lane, just saying. Same with Kass and his E. It's a tradeoff between being a powerful anticarry with huge single target damage or being able to push the lane, but having no direct pressure on your opponent.[/quote]

[quote=albableat]@GrandmasterD, how many people do you think would do that? It's a huge sacrifice, if you will look at broader picture. I mean, I usually play LeBlanc as solo top or at bot if I'm ever up against Talon in mid or I build tankblanc... All these are ways to outsmart the counter, but it's not a good choice, because besides that Talon, everyone on enemy team benefit because that Kass/LB can't do what they would normally do such as bursting people down. Isn't it clear? <.<[/quote]

[quote=Luther3000][quote=albableat] Try leveling out W on LeBlanc once and you will be surprised by how well she can push the lane, just saying. [/quote] And then you gimp the hell out of your damage, just saying. Additionally her W has like a 20 second cooldown and all smart opponents know this and will use it as the time to play aggressively. By the way I'm not actually sure what this argument's about, I just stumbled in and saw the bit about Leblanc. :P[/quote]

[quote=albableat][quote=luther3000]And then you gimp the hell out of your damage, just saying.[/quote] >_< That's exactly what I'm trying to imply :D It's a tradeoff between high damage and lane pushing capability. If Kass/LB/Talon would be able to push lanes just as hard as other mids and still do the same damage and have the same mobility, they would be considered top picks for mid lane, im over 9000% sure. Btw, if you level out [[Distortion]] it reduces to around 10 sec which is ok ;) I've played several games specifically dedicated to testing that out. Maxing W-E-Q, pushing up the lane, ganking bot. Gotta say feels a lot like [[morgana]] :D As long as you land a nice double chain, your enemies are dead. Burst drops down dramatically, however. You are correct on that part.[/quote]

[quote=animorte][[Deathfire Grasp]] + [[LeBlanc]] doesn't care what you level first. :P Aside from that statement, I have nothing further to add. You already have it figured out. :)[/quote]

[quote=Temzilla][quote=GrandmasterD] [quote=Djlynx] Xerath hands down. His range, crowd control and burst make him an excellent choice. His price sure is high though. (Don't forget his awsome dance moves and design) [/quote] I'm an avid Xerath player; in fact I main Xerath. Xerath gets shit on by [[Kassadin]] after level six, nothing you can do about it. Silence shuts Xerath down; completely! [/quote] How? Kassadin's R+Q is shorter range than Xerath's Q with W...[/quote]