Hello everybody!

Week 5 rotation was not very interesting to me at the first sight. Some of the champions I have already, the rest never caught my eye as something I would like to try. But I did it. Again it was a nice experience, I learned something new about the champion's abilities and found out few good champs. And I rediscovered Fidel!! :D

W5 FREE CHAMPIONS

CHO'GATH
This champion is a real monster with very funny ultimate. He is a great tank and a living shield, especially if he gets 6 stacks in his R (that is when he grows enormously large). Shielding team mates in game, making them untargetable for oyur enemies is very fun (and annoying for enemies). Tried him on top (as I couldn't get mid). With his usual, tank build, I was very beefy, no problem tanking towers or burst damage. Then I tried full AP build (I heard about AP Cho'Gath mid in some podcast).

It was insane! With my full build, all my abilities dealt between 800-980 magic damage and my R dealt 1000 true damage. Crazy stuff :D Only downside was, my armor was about 70-90, so in team fight I could be bursted down in a second. My friend occasionally plays this champ on top, with his Gentleman skin. Very funny. This champ is also not expensive, so my guess is, he is viable for top lane, if you look for a match to have fun in.


FIDDLESTICKS
I bought him for jungling, at the very beginning, because somewhere I read he is awesome in there. After I fed horribly in few games, I stoped, and tried him as a support (another fail). Then I got other champs and while I still liked Fidel, I didn't play him anymore. Which was also a reason I don't buy imo the only viable winter games skin - Union jack Fiddle.

Since recent nerfs of his range and duration of Terrify, I don't see anyone supporting with him, just occasionally jungling (is he jungled in high elo as well, or is it just down here?). For the sake of the free week, I tried him as a support again, and did unexpectedly well. Actually I felt so good about this, I even took him into the troll pick pvp - and we won! My score was 5/8/19 and I think I'm going to support with him some more.

I guess the trick is not to use his ulti so much (then you get focused), just to mop up nearly dead, running enemies. Now, as I am writing this... to hell with it! Maybe I get that skin afterall. :P


GRAVES
I really like this ADC. His ability kit is really good for killing, and for catching up running enemies. His ulti is awesome as well - if you hit an enemy with it (or creep) it deals double damage - one to the anyone who is hit, then AoE dmg. Great stuff, if the enemy is stupid enough to stick together when running away.

He has no slows, but at least his E allows you to run from Cataclysm and some thin walls. The only reason I didn't put this cool guy on my wishlist, is his terrible range. I can't count how many enemies run away from me with 10hp, because I was not able to finish them, not even my Q or R. He needs to get really close, which - for an ADC - is never a good thing. If they buffed his AA range at least to be like the other ADC's range, then I would go for him.


IRELIA
Top lane champion I did not enjoy. Her abilities are good - she has a gap closer, heal, that ulti is pure "no-you're-not-running-away-from-me-alive-dear" skill, but something didn't feel right about her. I understand why she can be strong, why I was always losing against her before, and can imagine why she was nerfed (and why nobody plays her nowadays). But again - I was not enjoying the game with this champ. She got her moments, but overall I was bored. Also her AA animation, when she doesn't hold her blades, just waves her hand around... meh.


QUINN
Oh wow! Quinn got into the free week, how awesome! It's not like she was free 2 weeks ago and a week before that as well! :D

Is Riot trying to force us to like this champ, and play her more? And another question for high elo players: Here in Bronze, people love to play her on top lane, they all say she is so awesome she can go any lane she wants, and do great. Is it just a noob thing, or do you see Quinn on top lane as well?


SHACO
Oh, I can't express how much I love this champion and it pains me I can't play him well. I bought him for jungling, but he is a glass cannon that needs high amount of skill, to perform greatly. Main reasons people don't like him nowadays are two: he was nerfed badly, and he falls off in late game. But I think if you main him, he can be still viable throughout the whole game. For nerfs (mainly to his E) you can make up with smart plays, and for the late game - just splitpush.

Every time I was doing bad and feeding, I just went to the abandoned lane, spawned shacoheads all around the way to be safe, and pushed. I got money, towers, and if the enemy wanted a team fight, they had to make a choice. Either go 4v5 and lose a tower or two, or send 1-2 people after me (so no team fight happened). Most of the time I managed to escape. Few days ago I faced really good Shaco in game. He always went after our ADC and many times I couldn't do shiet about it. He died a lot, but so did our ADC. Very annoying!! (I had to honor that guy afterwards :D).


JANNA
Very good and cheap support, totally worth to buy. She has no heal, except her ultimate, and passive movement speed is not global anymore, but I found her really fun to play. Cooldowns are a joke, so if you get your mana regen item, you can spam shield, whirlwind and slow all day long, without penalty.

This champ taught me a lesson as well. Lesson of - always read the ability description to the full extent. I talked about this champ to my friend on Skype and told him she is OK, but that Q is very annoying, as it takes 10 minutes to launch. That is also what I saw in pvp or rankeds, when facing Janna. And that is why I never understood, how my friends, or other random ADC I supported, get ALWAYS caught in that Howling Gale. Then I was told you can press Q again, to release it immediately, but it does less damage. O M G !!! :D

So I tried her for the 3rd time and it was fun to the max. I never cared about the dmg output of that Q, as I saw many supports steal CS with it, when they tried to run it through creeps, to hit me or my ADC. I maxed it always last and I am definately going to get this champion. For 1350 IP it is just too good to let it be. Thank you free week rotation :)


VLADIMIR
I really can't B Negative about this champion. He is a top laner with ranged AA, which is always a good thing. He doesn't need mana, which is another + for him, and I had quite fun with him. People play him mid as well.

But in the end I think I pass. I don't understand this champion - I can't predict who will be hit by his E, his ulti seems to be nerfed very badly, as even bots could just walked over it like nothing's going on (late game as well). And his W - maybe it is just the animation or something, but I always felt like he slowed down while in liquid state. Another put down is his low tier rank in current meta. 4800 IP seems like not a good deal to me. If he was cheaper, I think I would be intrigued to try him some more, get to know his abilities and how does he work, then purchasing him. But there are better champs for that price for me.


ZED
Highly skill capped and risk-reward champion. Good Zed is not a big threat but great Zed is a nightmare. You can't catch him, The Box him or whatever, his only problems are non skillshot CCs and silences like Infuse, Reap or Terrify (and so on).

You can recognize skilled Zed, if his shadow always hits the target he is focusing. You can't catch him unless he makes a mistake and his burst damage is insane. He is like HITMAN of LoL. A shadowy assasin, that does the job then dissapears. Also he is energy driven, which is nice.

But since he is too much skill dependant and I rather spend my time in game learning game mechanics and tactics than new champion, gl hf - I pass for now :)


ZYRA
Meh... I don't know about this one. Everybody was scaring me about her being OP counter to Thresh. Since I've never faced good Zyra, I can't tell. So I tried her this time, but can't say I enjoyed the games.

Only fun was catching folks with my E and watching team mates to finish them off. Those seeds she plants all around I rarely used, as if you evolve them, they tend to steal CS from your carry, which is not a thing I like to see when I support. Also replanting them every second is annoying. Ulti is nice, but has to be placed and timed well, otherwise everybody just walks away. Passive is nice but nothing special.

If I was about to play her, I would use her in mid lane. I would always put some seeds to bushes or those ramps near wraiths to have extra free vision, but I really don't find her interesting. Definately not as interesting as Orianna, or funny as Gragas.

So as far as I am concerned, she can stay in her garden and look after the plants. Not my cup of tea.


Thanks for reading and see you next week, sumoners :)



Previous reviews:
Week 4 - Kayle, Master Yi, Soraka, Warwick, Ezreal, Leona, Ziggs, Varus, Darius, Aatrox
Week 3 - Anivia, Karthus, Malphite, Sivir, Shen, Orianna, Draven, Kha'Zix, Elise, Nami
Week 2 - Ashe, Pantheon, Kennen, Xin Zhao, Sona, Nocturne, Fiora, Lulu, Jayce, Quinn