A world without Flash? - Challenger Week 7

Riot·Apr 15, 2015·1 votes·19,596 views

Over the past few weeks, we’ve covered a lot from the strange and wild world of the Challenger Series. This week we’re not only highlighting a new champion, but also the emergence of a Flash-less meta! The Finals might be over, but the reverberations from the meta breakers in the Challenger Series will be felt for months to come.

Up a River without a Flash

As Flash is one of the best Summoner Spells in the game both offensively and defensively, going into a lane without it seems to be a death sentence to most players. But is it really necessary? What if one could get away with going Teleport/Ghost or Smite/Teleport? Reason Gaming's top laner Jakub "Kubon" Turewicz did just that this week with both Hecarim and Shyvana. "Having Smite outweighs the risk of having to take Flash champions like Shyvana who have escape mechanics," remarks Kubon. "With Smite as a top laner you buff your 1 vs. 1 potential with true damage and damage reduction from red Smite." Essentially, champions with a "free" Ghost or Flash, like Shyvana’s Burnout (W) and Dragon’s Descent (R), don’t need the crutch of an extra escape and instead benefit more from having offensive damage spells. Smite is an obvious choice due to the synergy with HP scaling champions like Shyvana and Mundo and the Cinderhulk Enchantment, says Kubon. He also encourages players to feel free to tax the jungler back if they start taxing the lanes!

The Daughter of Noxus

Katarina has always been a Solo Queue favorite, but she had a hard time breaking into the competitive scene as a viable mid laner due to being destroyed by the tiniest amount of crowd control. This week, NME eSports' mid laner Tyson "Innox" Kapler cracked the Katarina code, employing her talents to not only decimate mid lane, but also to secure a spot in the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split! "Katarina has incredible late game scaling through item choices and ratios," comments Innox. "She can potentially destroy a team by herself if gone unnoticed for a second or two." He also states that in addition to her team fight prowess, Katarina is able to consistently pressure teams for objectives thanks to her reset potential coupled with the low cooldown of her Death Lotus (R).

Alongside Katarina's rise through the ranks, Luden’s Echo has also become a staple item in most mid laners arsenals. Though the Sinister Blade's rise isn’t solely due to Luden’s Echo, it has boosted the power of many assassin picks since the removal of Deathfire Grasp. “With Luden’s Echo being there, champion diversity has gone up a lot seeing as there's now new styles of play brought in," remarks Innox. "You can go for pokes and strong trades with Luden's or you can go for the full all in with Deathcap." See which Challengers team make it into the LCS during the upcoming Promotion Tournament on April 25-26 right here on Lolesports. If you've missed any of the 2015 CS Spring Split, catch up over on the spoiler-free VODs page.

12 Comments

Troll PoolApr 15, 20154 votes

Hecarim and Cinderhulk are both just overpowered. What a dumb article. You don't see any toplaners building devourer, warrior or magus. Cinderhulk is clearly the only reason why they take smite.

JorienApr 16, 20156 votes

Because we all know Sunfire Cape is nothing like the cinderhulk jungle item............ ........... ...........

Tew LiterApr 20, 20153 votes

You know besides the +25% bonus health........................... .................... ....................

Troll PoolApr 23, 20151 votes

I can't believe this dumb comment of yours actually got upvoted: 1: Cinderhulk is signficantly stronger then sunfire. Just needs a couple more seconds to build-up. Which doesn't matter as tanks are nearly unkillable in this meta. And the effect is very easy to sustain in teamfights. 2: You pay 500 gold for the sunfire effect. While cinderhulk's effect is free with just health scaling runes and a randuins. 3: Cinderhulk becomes even more cost effective lategame 4: Cinderhulk allows for double smite for baron and dragon 5: Cinderhulk allows easy counterjungling 6: Cinderhulk allows Easy lvl 1 jungle clear to get advantage in lane 7: Cinderhulk has a mini-exhaust on a low cooldown which can make you easily outtrade your lane-opponent.

The only thing sunfirecape has over Cinderhulk is the fact you can still have flash. But that's easily made-up for by all the above advantages and the fact that smite is still a mini-exhaust.

Everyone knows Cinderhulk is OP. The pro's say it, the winrates of tanky junglers prove it. And any logical analysis of the item cost and stats easily proves it.

ltshaftApr 16, 20154 votes

It's not changing the meta. There have always been certain champions that can get away without bringing flash (Olaf's of old come to mind immediately). Only a select few top lane/jungle bruisers can pull off going into the game without bringing flash. That'll never change unless Riot nerfs flash into the ground or come out with an even better summoner spell.

xNotoriousThiefxApr 16, 20151 votes

The only thing that comes to mind is to make cinderhulk like the old spectral wraith, but where killing monsters would add like 10hp and 1 point of damage per sec, up to like 10 large monsters or something. Most top laners won't be taking 10 large monsters early game anyway, whereas a jungler would have it in slightly over 2 jungle clears.

TrollFan01Apr 15, 20151 votes

NEVER underestimate the might of NOXUS!

Garlyle WildsApr 16, 20151 votes

Not gonna lie, I'm still unconvinced about Smite Shyvana.

Maybe there's a game out there somewhere which shows off what it can do but every time I've seen it played it seems to do very little... beyond being a lategame wall - which several other champions could do as well.

ToMlfwOU6TApr 16, 20153 votes

it's not just about the cinderhulk bonus health you get, its that top lane for the most part is melee 1v1. red blade gives bonus dmg to the enemy while receiving 20% less dmg. 20% less dmg can be a game changer in a 1v1 especially if you are behind.

tplegs0708Apr 17, 20151 votes

idk about shyv i dont play her much but if u wanna see a strong smite top get challenge smite and then taunt them using TANK shen...the amount of true damage from the smite alone bcuz they taunted wins u the trade along wiht ur sustain using q...its just dam op! im over 75% win rate on that alone!

BryndilleApr 18, 20151 votes

Well, Shyvana or Hecarim are champions with a lot of mobility ion their kit. I don't follow enough the LCS NA to speak about it, but if you haven't see Huni with the tp/smite you should do it immediately. The smite allows an easy laning phase, first of all, and it allows a super objective control in early and late game. How can you contest a drake or nashor when there's Nunu jungle and a smite on top ? 3000 true damage in one second. I think the objective thing is the most powerful thing by taking smite. (Sry for my english i'm french)